Rants, Recipes, and Running

Happy Tueday, everyone! Although I have about a million things I should be doing, I'm choosing to be not-so-productive and participate in the 10 on Tuesday this week. I love all things summer. So here we go! 1. From your childhood, what do you miss most about summer vacation? Very easy to answer this one -- family!! Don't get me wrong, I cannot complain about the fun-filled summer we're having so far...but I really miss the luxury of seeing family pretty much every weekend. I also miss lakes, water, rain, and wakeboarding -- which are other commodities that I do not get in Arizona. 2. Are you going anywhere on vacation this summer? Yes! In a few weeks we are going to my favorite place in the world to get some much-needed family time!! We will be heading to Minnesota and staying at my family's lake cabin for a long weekend. I am SO excited!! We're also going to San Diego in August to celebrate our 2 year wedding Anniversary. :) 3. What foods do you like ...

So I have a new recipe to share, that was seriously delicious, elegant, and savory. I will definitely be making it again! (but probably making a little change...which I will explain later) The Grocery List - Boneless, skinless chicken breasts - Sundried tomatoes (there are different varieties of these. You can buy the ones in oil in the jar - that's I opted to buy the plain, dried tomatoes at the farmers market I shop at!) - Feta Cheese ("President" brand makes a Fat Free Feta -- wahoo!) - Olive Oil -Balsalmic or Red Wine vinegar (whichever you fancy, in my opinion..I chose Red-Wine) - Lemon juice & zest -Fresh Basil - Oregano - Mint Leaves (this is probably optional, but I threw them in since they're in my garden) - S & P - Crushed Red Pepper Instructions (I'm going to apologize ahead of tijme on my lack of measurements. I made this up, so I did the "throw a little in, do a few shakes method") Place chicken breasts between 2...

Hm... We water our grass, vegetables, & flowers 4 times/day for 10 minutes. (automated sprinkler system). And things still seem to appear dry at times, yet I have to weed the garden 2 times/week. The weeds appear strong & green as can be! Hm... We have this rooster-sounding bird that "cock-a-doodle-doo's" every morning. Except it's not when the sun comes up. He chimes in around 4:30, and does it repetitively. And then he returns in the late afternoon just to remind us he's still around. Hm... How do I operate Ryan's shot gun he uses for bird hunting...? Hm... Swimming suit shopping was so fun and exciting when I was a young, hipster, college chick. Now it's just annoying. Hm... Is anyone else following American Idol this year? I am very disappointed that it is down to two country folk. Anyone can get a country career. I wanted my jazzy, blues-singing, talented Hailey to win. Hm... Why do I even watch that silly show? Hm.. (after...

Happy Tuesday, everyone! As I write this post on my Monday evening...I'm feeling cynical. The past 2 days at work have made me grumpy. So let's just move on. Isn't it exciting that the world didn't end? I thought I'd never do a Ten On Tuesday again. 1. Have you ever used Craigslist? Yes. My husband uses it a lot whenever we can't go to the UA football games that we have season tickets for. We also get lots of bites! We also found the house we're currently renting on Craig's list! 2. Can you sew? I learned how to sew. Let's end the conversation there. I would do it for 20 minutes and go absolutely loca! However, I haven't tried sewing since I was about 11 years old. When something needs patching, or buttons need sewing around our house? My husband does it! 3. Do you pour syrup on your pancakes or dip your pancakes in the syrup? I don't eat pancakes. Never really liked them. And now I'm Gluten free. I'm a good person to...

So there I was, curled up on a couch with a heating pad to my stomach, calamine lotion caked on my legs, elbows, and arms.....feeling extraordinarily grumpy. I was taking 3 different pills for my stomach daily, and popping benedryl every night so I don't itch my skin bloody. Several family members have been mentioning, "do you think you have a gluten intolerance?" (it seems to run in our family). I blew them off. " I've been eating gluten my whole life, why would it all of a sudden cause a flare-up ", was my response. All it took was a little research, and my husband to finally say, "Abby, just give it a try for me." So here I am, week 2 of no gluten! I've had ongoing stomach & skin issues. I can't even count how many "date-nights" or evenings out I've ruined due to stomach aches. It's just not fun or worth it! When I went to a doctor a few weeks ago, she just told me I'm eating a poor diet. Which I reall...

Yes, I am well aware it is Wednesday today. But yesterday when I got home at 8:30 pm, I just didn't feel like running around taking pictures of random things & blogging! 1. A picture of your favorite piece of furniture in your home. The couch is especially a favorite of mine when it's cold out for the whole month in Tucson that it gets cold - and we can run our gas fireplace. 2. Your favorite thing on your wall. Hi, I'm lazy! I don't feel like going around taking alll new pictures -- since my camera is super slow on uploading. So I'm using pictures from when I took pics of our house back in December. I tried zooming in, but that was ineffective as well. But this Last Supper picture is my favorite. It's gorgeous. We bought it in Mexico a few years ago. 3. Your bed as it looks right now. I am one of these, like my sister said he her blog, who HAS to make the bed every day. I wonder if it has to do with the house we grew up in? And our Mom who had us d...

Let me just start out by saying that last night may have been the worst night of sleep I've ever gotten. What was Abby doing at 3am? Sitting in the living room, crying, and googling eye issues. My allergies are in crazy-mode right now. And I woke up to find myself itching my eyes, unfortunately. When I looked in the mirror, I found that the sclera (whites of my eyes) were sticking out further than the iris (colored part). Also, there was a giant growth/bump on my eyeball! ...I freaked out a little. I worried I had cough some crazy infectious disease...being all my patients this weekend were fighting weird parasites, infections, MRSA, etc. (...and I work on a cardiac floor? Weird, huh) Anyways.. Turns it, my eyes are just really fricking irritated & pist off at Palo Verde trees & Dust. So now my eyeballs have bumps on them. Going to the Optometrist on Wedensday. So I"m going to focus on "happy". Growth. Yesterday marks 3 years of growth. 3 years ago...