Cheesy

One of my favorite foods is cheese.  I simply love it and can eat it at every meal.  My college roommates and I used to have havarti parties (so cheesy, I know).  So, I decided to try to make macaroni and cheese some from scratch.  Thanks to The Pioneer Woman, I had me some yummy mac and cheese.  Thought I'd share the link to the recipe with y'all!

Click here for the most scrumptious mac and cheese you'll ever taste :)

Thanks, Shabby Blogs!

I just wanted to thank Shabby Blogs for my new blog design.  And for the amaaaaaaaazing tutorial on how to add all the stuff for non-computer people like me.  It was so easy to understand - she even has screen shots to show you what to look for :)  Thanks for the pretty stuff, Shabby Blogs!

Crossing My Fingers For A Green Thumb

This is what my back deck looked like this morning:

My first attempt at growing an edible container garden is exciting, but somewhat disconcerting since I have a history of having a black thumb.

How are these cute little sprouts supposed to stay alive under my care for the next few months?!

Yellow squash and zucchini plants in the foreground. 

An impatient dog in the background.

I do love the early morning rays that stream through the trees!

Will these tomato plants survive my black thumb?  Ummm, they already have yellow leaves...and I can't tell if I've over or underwatered them. 

I will keep you updated on my progress.  I am hoping to have an overabundance of tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, yellow squash, and zucchini this summer!  Oh, and the other somewhat nonsensical thing is that I'm hoping for all this produce that I don't even eat on a regular basis.  Maybe I think that if I grow the stuff, having it around will miraculously change my unhealthy eating habits.  I wish I had a chicken nugget and fries plant.

Wordless Wednesday

Donate Your Stuff!

Usually when I have a picture of food on here, it's a picture from a recent grocery trip where I scored an amazing deal.  Well, this is one of those, but I'm posting for a different reason.  Using three coupons from last Sunday's paper, I was able to score 15 cans of dog food for FREE!  So, what did I do with them?

I donated it all to the SPCA of Wake County, a place that does a ton for animals.  Before Abigail came, I used to volunteer there, exercising the dogs and loving on the ones that were up for adoption.  Sometimes I snuck into the puppy room to cuddle with the little fur balls before the center was open to the public for the day.  There is nothing like puppy smell!  It was something that I looked forward to...and something that I want to be able to do again in the future.

In the meantime, I'm donating food and supplies that the SPCA needs.  Kroger (on Six Forks and Wake Forest) has a collection bin in the front, which makes it easy to donate.  So, why not donate the free or cheap stuff that you score?  What a great way to help out!  And, by the way, if you're thinking about getting a dog or cat, check out your local SPCA or animal shelter.  There are so many animals that need homes!

And now a little video showing how much our family loves dogs :)



The next donation stop?  I'm collecting extra personal care items to donate to the Raleigh Rescue Mission...join me!

Which Bubble is Abigail?

I never thought that filling out the 2010 Census would cause somewhat of a crisis for me.  I blackened all the bubbles for Matt and myself, and became slightly amused starting in on Abigail's section.  It felt great to declare her as a "real" person to the government!  What kept me from easily finishing the census in 5 minutes was choosing which bubble to fill in for Abigail's race.  Granted, I was skimming the questions and didn't see the part which said you could fill in more than one bubble for that section.  So, until I reread it and realized I could describe her as both Caucasian and Chinese (sigh of relief!), I was stuck.  For a minute, I thought I had to pick just one and didn't know what to do.  I guess you could say I had a quick existential crisis...well, not my own, but Abigail's.

I flashed back to elementary school and remembered that this question came up for a biracial classmate of mine while taking some standardized test.  Unlike the U.S. Census, this particular test only allowed for one race to be declared.  I don't know which he ended up choosing. 

For those that know me, my Chinese heritage is not too influential in my life.  I honestly wish it was a little more and for that, I blame my parents (just kidding, Mom and Dad!).  How will Abigail identify herself?  I know this question is not new, and is one that most of my extended family has dealt with in the lives of their kids.  However, it struck me personally as I thought about how we would raise Abigail.  It will be interesting to see how her American-Chinese-English-Irish identity will play out in her sense of self and relationships with others as she gets older.

Wordless Wednesday