Lifestyle | Better than a Cookbook

My thoughtful friend, KET gifted me "Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express" last fall. I am typically overwhelmed by cookbooks - never knowing where to begin, & foolishly planning to make four new recipes in one week.  

However, her gift accounted for such nonsense by including post-it notes by recipes she's actually made & enjoyed. I received the best of both worlds - new, easy, interesting recipes & KET tested & approved starting points. : ) 

 

Here's what I've made thus far:

Curried Chicken Salad (pg 171)

Black Bean Soup (pg 120)

Left: Chicken Curry (pg 137)

Right: Cauliflower Soup with Raisins (pg 117)

So if you're looking for a practical & thoughtful gift - a cookbook you love with handwritten notes is a great suggestion! 

To the kitchen,

SJW

Peanut Butter Squabbles

Mr. Fleece prefers creamy peanut butter but I prefer crunchy. Whatever is a married couple to do? Perhaps the most obvious choice is to purchase one jar of each...
However, here's the latest solution in our household: 

Mmmm peanuts,

SJW

An email to Airbnb

I love Mr. Fleece for many reasons. This is one of them.

Hello, 

I have an interesting situation that I've gotten myself into and I'm hoping to get out of. Buckle up, it's a bit complicated. It all started with American Express's promotion where if I spent $100 on Airbnb, I'd get $50 back. This sounded immediately like a great present to give to my wife for Valentine's day, since she loves Airbnb! I needed to make the purchase prior to Valentine's day since the promotion was going to run out before then. So I decided that I would just purchase the giftcard for myself and then somehow transfer it to my lovely wife later so that I could surprise her on Valentine's day. So I created an Airbnb account (never having had one before) to make my purchase. 

Much to my dismay, I found that I could not buy the giftcard for myself! I had to send it to another email address. Not to be discouraged, I created a second account with my business email address, and had the giftcard sent to that one. Success! I repeated the offer again with my second American Express credit card to obtain a total of $200! On Valentine's day, I "gave" her the giftcards (just paper with the Airbnb logo and $100 printed on them). She was incredibly happy and it was a big success. I go to redeem the giftcards and I find that I can only redeem them to my business email. I redeem them and don't worry about them for a while since my lovely wife wasn't yet ready to book a trip.

Over the next couple of months, I begin to worry that the $200 of giftcards might be trapped on my account. I have very little of an online presence and it may not be possible for me to get verified. My lovely wife, on the other hand, is a bit more of a social network butterfly and has always been the one who books our Airbnb stays. The time has arrived where we are trying to book a trip and I must free the $200 from the grips of my unverified, socially depressed account and liberate them to the account of my lovely wife. 

Do you know how I could go about doing that? I also wouldn't mind consolidating my two accounts down into one and verifying it, but I worry that I'm too much of an online hermit for me to be verified. Let me know what I must do to bring this saga to a close. Thanks!

Planning a trip to the San Juan Islands,

SJW

Life Wright Now | April

Subtitle: What you do when your husband studies all day & night morning.

Mr. Fleece takes his exam this Wednesday & as always, we are praying for God's kindness & mercy for him to pass! These exams are brutal - 300+ study hours, 40% pass rate, & a truck load of information and formulas to cram in to your brain. Will be excited when we're out of this season! 

WATCH

One morning I walked Ebony along Alki Beach & watched several TED talks/Youtube videos by Brene Brown about her extensive research on the topic of shame. She is an engaging, authentic, & funny speaker. I'd recommend taking a peek at her presentations & reflecting on how shame has impacted you. I also just started to read her book, "I thought it was Just me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from 'What Will People Think?' to 'I am Enough'."

The Power of Vulnerability

Listening to Shame

READ

I'm such a word of mouth girl. Sometimes I'll do a bit of research on my own, but that is a rare occasion...much to the dismay of Mr. Fleece! Whether it's what to make for dinner, where to go for dinner, what & how to plant in our garden (so that we can one day eat it for dinner)...you get the picture. This is also true for what I read - sometimes I'll go back to the classics (I just finished Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen) but often, I'm reading a book that someone mentioned or recommended in passing. I'm looking forward to starting The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin per a friend's suggestion. I'm going in blind - no idea what it's about!

EAT 

I've actually been cooking a bunch this month! My friend LN & I made a batch of of Hawaiian Fried Rice. I liked it so much I made it again for Mr. Fleece & myself a few days later : ) can't go wrong with a combo like rice + mushrooms + green onions + ground sausage + bell pepper + pineapple + eggs + avocado.

LISTEN 

I went to a concert last night at the Sunset Tavern & fell for Mimi Gilbert. I love her folksy singer songwriter style & she was very adorable & raw in person. Glad I discovered her music. My two favorites on the album are "Genevieve" & "Daily Glacier" 

Enjoying the today & now,

SJW