Life: Fear and Agony

Photo via Oprah.com

I watched Oprah's Lifeclass featuring Dr. Phil last night. The subject was how to be a star in your own life. Now, based off of some of the things I blog or tweet about, I have probably given you the impression that I am a star in my own mind. Sometimes that can't be further than the truth.

After the show, I went on Oprah's website and looked at some of the exercises that were provided in order to focus in on your goals. To be completely honest, I have been feeling kind of lost and without a compass for a couple of weeks. So I was looking for something to provoke me in thought and kind of guide me into the right frame of mind. Of course Mother Oprah and her sidekick Dr. Phil would list some questions that gave me a nice little gut check. Click here to see them.

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Mother's Day Reflections

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there, and especially to my beautiful mom. I spent the weekend with my mom, and had some time to think about her through the years. Like many children, I never fully appreciated my mom until I got older. It didn't come all at once, more so in phases.

The first phase was when I moved out on my own for the first time. I was 20 years old, in college, and had gotten a cute two bedroom apartment near campus. I thought I was doing big things and you could't tell me nothing! My mom was visiting my brother back in Kansas at the time, and I didn't tell her that I was moving out until moving day. She called and asked me to wait until she got back, but I was anxious for my freedom.

My boyfriend at the time borrowed his friend's truck and we packed up all my earthly belongings in one load and drove across town. I think we moved everything inside in less than an hour. My cable wasn't hooked up yet, the apartment looked like the inside of a thrift store, and my refrigerator was empty. I had spent all of my little money on the first month's rent and deposit, and I was stunned at how expensive food was at the grocery store. My mom told me to go home and go shopping in her freezer and pantry until she got home. When she did get back, she helped me shop for decor and brought me groceries. I had always taken for granted the things she provided for me, but she taught me how to take care of my household on a budget.

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What I Did While I Was on Hold...

I have a confession: I hate talking on the phone. Even worse, I hate calling someone and sitting on hold. I am trying to take care of some business, which I have been putting off mainly because I have to sit on hold for a very long time. Using up all my precious daytime minutes and eating up my rollover minutes too! Grrrrrrrrrrr!

I called this organization last week and sat on hold for 18 minutes, only to be hung up on. Talk about discouraged! Today I called back, and I decided to play a game in order to alleviate that sense of dread. It's called "What I Did While I Was on Hold", where I list out all that I got accomplished while I was on hold. Ready? In 32 minutes and 34 seconds I :

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I Pinned and I Conquered: Fish in Sriracha Lime Sauce

Tonight I made Tilapia using Gwyneth Paltrow's Sriracha Lime sauce. It was DELICIOUS! I'd post a plate picture, but I have not mastered plating and I'm still playing with my new camera, so I will not have you calling my dinner a struggle plate! LOL

For those of you not on Pinterest, the link to the recipe is here.

Just to note: after I put the fish in to bake, I made an additional batch of sauce to serve the fish with. The recipe calls for salmon, but I happened to have some fresh tilapia on hand, and it was equally delicious. I served it with steamed broccoli, cous cous and a salad packed with vegetables. This is our family's (at least the adults in the family) new favorite dish!

What have you found on Pinterest that you conquered? Tell me about it in the comments! Also leave me your Pinterest name so we can follow each other!

Updated to add: This recipe is so good, my husband asked me to make it again for dinner tonight! This time I actually marinated the fish in the sauce for about 5 hours and then baked it. It was even better! Again, I made a separate batch to top the fish off and we devoured it. Tonight I served the fish with grilled asparagus and hubby made garlic steamed artichokes with sriracha mayonnaise dipping sauce. So freakin' good!

Book Report: My Reading List

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I thought it would be cool to share what's on my Kindle. My reading list goes from highbrow to pure ratchetness, but this is a no judgement zone!



My husband and I decided to start reading books together. "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu was the first book we could agree upon. This ancient book of military strategy has been regarded as the corporate raider's bible. It's been on my must read list for a few years, so I'll be starting it tonight.



"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho is one of those books I have been longing to read, but didn't have enough time to really focus on it. Sometimes I have so much going on I just need to escape in some fluff (see the end of this post).  This is one of those books that will have my mind blown, so I need to have a clear head to take everything in.

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Life: Somebody's Sleeping in my Bed...

Living in Arizona has provided me with a set of new challenges. I was totally unprepared for scorpion home invasions. About a month ago I tweeted about a scorpion in my kitchen. I thought that was a random, one off situation but nooooooo. About two weeks after the kitchen incident, I was in bed asleep. I felt something under my back and figured it was my hair band that fell out like usual, so I flung it out of the bed.

The next morning I got up and went about my normal routine. I go to make the bed, and remembered that I threw the hair band on my side, so I go to retrieve it. Except there was no hair band, it was a cot. damn. scorpion. A MOTHER FREAKIN' SCORPION!!!! A scorpion... was in my bed... crawling on me... and oh lawd, what if I was bit?!?

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On My Soapbox: Gun Control

I have a bone to pick with the US Senate. I am angry that simple gun control legislation could not get passed yesterday. I don't understand how people could be against requiring background checks to purchase firearms, it's common sense legislation. People always say "Guns don't kill people, people kill people", so why wouldn't you want to ensure that the people purchasing guns aren't stone crazy or dangerous?

I heard a soundbite on the news today from some Senator basically saying that the measure didn't pass because "criminals don't legally purchase firearms". Well, duh!!! No matter what laws are in effect, criminals won't abide by them because they're CRIMINALS.

Let us be clear, the call for gun reform did not go out in response to excessive gun violence in Chicago. The call went out in response to Newtown, Aurora, Tucson and many other places where we don't expect to get to shot at. Gangbangers and drug dealers can have at it with their illegal guns, terrorizing people in their neighborhoods, but when the violence touches children in school, and moviegoers, then something needs to be done. At least that was the message I was getting.

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