The Small Moments

Follow me to my new home

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I am off to a new home.  I have been on TypePad for a year...and it is almost time to renew.  Only I didn't want to spend the money for the upgrade so I could have more control.

My solution?  Find a new home. 

I did.  And the best part?  I was able to import all of my TypePad and Blogger posts!  So now I have one blog with all of my old posts in one place.  So AWESOME!

Here is my new home:  www.thesmallmoments.wordpress.com

Mid-afternoon Sleepiness

It is 2:00pm.

I am so tired I could fall asleep sitting up.

I hate that feeling.

An Amazing Dinner

Yesterday Nathan and I sat down to meal plan for the week and write out a grocery list.  Good nutrition goes along with working out and we are determined to make this work.  So Nathan poured through my Cooking Light magazines while I dried and flat ironed my hair.  This is what he picked.

Grilled Salmon with Apricot-Mustard Glaze
Time: 39 minutes

Salmon:
4  (6-oz) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
1 1/2 tsps minced garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt (couldn't find this anywhere so I used regular salt)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper (yeah...I used regular black pepper)

Glaze:
1/4 cup apricot nectar
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsps white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsps honey
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1.  Prepare grill.
2. To prepare fish, sprinkle fillets evenly with garlic, salt, and pepper.  Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes.
3.  To prepare glaze, combine nectar and next 6 ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 10 minutes).  Remove from heat; set aside.
5.  Place fillets, skin side up, on a grill rack coated with cooking spray.  Cook 2 minutes; carefully turn over, and grill 4 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.  Brush each fillet with 1 tablespoon glaze; frill 30 seconds.

With the wonderful salmon we had Parmesan-spinach orzo pilaf and pineapple chunks.

It was amazing!  And I actually cooked fish that hadn't been frozen first...and it still had its skin on one side!  It made enough for leftovers tonight.  The best part is that it was easy enough and quick enough to cook on a school night.  We just used the George Foreman grill instead of the big grill outside.

I love good food.

As if I didn't need more excitement

They are opening a Harry Potter Theme Park at Universal Studios in Orlando.

OMG!  I am so totally going!

Our newest family member

Our family grew by one today.  We were out running errands and Nathan suggested we go to PetSmart.  They were having a pet adoption today.  We started looking at all the cats.  We decided that a dog is just out of the question for now.  Our backyard is small.  We aren't home for many hours at a time.  Dogs require more time and attention.  Cats are much less needy and much more independent.  We have both grown up with pets and we have been wanting one. 

We looked at 3 cats.  The first one had issues with kids.  That won't work.  The second one shed way too much.  That won't work either.  But the third one was just right!

He is a 4 year old black cat.  He has furry little feet.  He has a few white hairs.  He has one white whisker.  He has beautiful green eyes.  He weighs 14lbs.  He is a big, affectionate boy.  We love him!

He came with the name Midnight.  But that just didn't feel right.  It is long to say.  It isn't really easy to shorten to a nickname.  On the way home I suggested we name him Harry Potter.  I was kidding...kinda.

Then Nathan suggested the character that turns into a big black dog.  Sirius Black!  PERFECT!  So now Midnight is Sirius.  It isn't like he really knew his name anyway.

He hid for the first few hours.  But Nathan has coaxed him out and he has started exploring.  For the last 30 minutes he has been following Nathan around like a puppy.  Now both of my boys are laying on our bed watching the Rangers.  I think Sirius will fit in perfectly!

The excitement keeps building

In 51 days I will be waiting in line for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I understand that I am quite a Harry Potter freak.  I have read and/or listened to the books more times than I can count.  I visit MuggleNet daily (a Potter fan site).  I listen to MuggleCast (a Potter weekly pod cast).  I own two MuggleNet t-shirts that say "Swish and Click".  My computer wall paper is Harry Potter.  I own the movies.  I have watched the movies more times than I can count.  I cannot convey to you with mere words how much I LOVE. HARRY. POTTER.

MuggleNet has 6 new clips up that I am guessing will start being shown on TV as commercials.  How can you watch the clips and not be totally excited?  Every time I watch the trailer (yes I do watch it regularly) I feel the excitement well up inside of me.  The 5th movie looks SO AWESOME.  Here is the link.  You have to watch the clips. 

OH. MY. GOD.  I. CANNOT. WAIT!

Beauty is painful

My mom and I had hair appointments with my stylist today.  I love my stylist.  She is awesome.  I have been going to her since last August and when my mom colored her hair and it all went wrong I took her to my stylist.  So now my mom goes too.  We make our appointments for the same time and go together.

Mom got colored tonight.

I needed a cut. 

While Virginia (my stylist) was washing my hair she asked, "So...have you ever had your eyebrows waxed?"  I replied with a small laugh and, "No...but I was thinking all day about asking you about it."  She said "GREAT!  We will do it now."

Oh crap.

So I moved seats to the waxing station.  Thank goodness she didn't warn me.  I probably would have flinched and messed the whole thing up.  Waxing hurts.  It hurts like hell.  And it wasn't just two simple little pulls...oh no...apparently because I am a "Waxing Virgin" (her description) it took much more than that.

But now...after all the redness and puffiness is gone I love it!

And I have a great haircut.

I love my stylist!

The wall came tumbling down

Wednesday they finished bricking another wall in our neighborhood.

Wednesday a line of extreme storms blew through North Texas.  And along with the storms came 80-100 mph winds.  Straight line winds.

I blew the new brick wall down.

Thank goodness we cut down that tree in the backyard.  I don't think it would have made it.

Oh...and there was another small tornado about 5 miles north of where we live.  Two tornadoes in our community in one season.  Not to mention the many tornadoes in all of North Texas this spring.  But two less than 5 miles away from our home.  A little too close to comfort for me!

It's a start

Today we went to The Home Depot. 

We bought 4 energy star light bulbs.  You know the funny shaped bulbs that last for 10 years and only use a fraction of the energy that incandescent lights use.  Expect these bulbs have a plastic-like covering over them that make them look like normal bulbs.

We replaced the lights in our living room with them.  They offer great bright light after they warm-up.  I like it.  Now we will replace all the others.

Just doing our part to help the environment.  Even if you don't believe in global warming...you can at least use energy efficient products.  :)  (I do believe in global warming by the way.)

Oh...and Nathan said that I might get my beautiful wild cherry red washer and dryer for my birthday.  Happy Day!!!

I missed my blog!

My self-imposed Internet hiatus is finally over.  Here is what I discovered during my time away.

1.  Cutting out TV did not happen for us.  We did limit the amount of TV we watched which was a BIG improvement.  So in all I was happy.

2.  I successfully cut out all my Internet time except for school work.  I did break down on Friday and finally email Carole.  At this time in life email is really all that connects us and I missed our emails.  But I did make it until Friday.  I had two very tiny moments of failure.  Saturday for about 10 minutes and earlier today for about 15 minutes.  But compared to my 3+ hours a day online that is nothing!

3.  Nathan and I did spend more quality time together.  We did talk more.  We even ate dinner at the table instead of in front of the TV.  That was a nice change.

4.  Monday afternoon when I got home from work and Nathan asked if I had heard the news.  Of course I didn't hear the news.  For one thing I was working.  For the second I hadn't been on the Internet at all that day.  I was horrified to hear the VT shooting news.  It felt weird to not know of such a major event.  I realized how much I rely on knowing current events.  Not just for me but because I am in charge of 170 pre-teens every day.  For many of those children I am a stable adult.  They rely on me like many would rely on a parent.  I am not trying to say I am the most important adult in their lives...or even the only adult.  But teachers play a unique role in the lives of children.  They come to us with concerns.  The worry openly and often about things in the world around them.  They look to us for understand and for assurances.  They want to know why.  They want to know that they are safe.  While I know that most of the time there are not answers to many of their questions, we can talk about it and I can help them work through it.  It would be hard at this point to cut myself off from all news media.

5.  I missed MISSED my blog!  I didn't realize how important my blog had become for me.  It is truly my online journal.  I realized that it doesn't matter if no one reads my blog or if thousands read my blog.  I blog for me.  It is the first form of journaling that I ever stuck with.  It is my outlet.  Without my blog I did write in my non-digital journal more, but it was so slow and my hand would start cramping and I couldn't delete sentences that didn't sound write or tweak my thoughts as easily.  I much prefer my digital journal.

6.  I found plenty of things to fill my time.  I thought for sure I would be wandering around my house aimlessly feeling bored and wishing for my computer.  That didn't happen at all.  I took longer baths.  I went to bed earlier.  I sat on my back porch.  I did some needlework that I have been needing to work on.  I went on my walks.  I went to a baby shower (more on that in another post).

7.  I was surprised at how easy it was to give up my blog reading and email sending ways.  After the first day I would only think about it fleetingly.  Mainly I wished for the Internet when I wanted to look something up.

8.  I was surprised at how much time I waste on the computer.  And I do mean waste.  I am not doing anything productive.  I felt good about doing other things that I wanted to do but didn't think I had the time.  I did have the time...I just had to cut out the wasted time.

9.  I also did more self-searching during the week.  I realized that mindless computer wandering was a way in which I avoided things.  If I was upset or angry or frustrated or irritated or just plain bored I would turn to my computer.  This week I didn't have that option.  I realized that the computer had become an unhealthy escape for me.  This I feel was my most important discovery of the week.

10.  I will not give up my computer world.  I love it too much.  But I am going to be non-work related computer free at least 2 nights a week.  I am going to do less mindless wandering and use the computer as a resource.  I know it will be a hard habit to change...but I think it is worth it.

Overall I am pleased with my success of this week.  I reached my goal of tuning in more with my husband and my life.  I consider this week a soul success!