Happy first day of Spring! It’s been a crazy weekend here, weather-wise. Friday night actually covered our yard with hail-snow, and last night the wind shook the house and did something to the heater (the wind drafts through it) so our back room smells like heating gas. Not good!
We’ve mostly been hibernating, still. This Thursday I go in to try to get my crossed eyes fixed. I’m scared of the MRI and I’m scared it’ll mess my eyeballs up more, but I can’t really keep not being able to see. Nerve-wracking!
I’ve been feeling pretty stunned and it’s been hard to get SUPER ACTION POWER on anything on my to do list. Not sure what’s up with that except maybe overwhelm & depression from all the destruction around the world.
We had a pot pie dinner on Friday – best thing in my face, ever. We used this recipe with a gluten-free crust. Diet? What diet?? Cooking & shopping, that’s what I do when stressed and overwhelmed. Good times. Oh! You know what else? We ordered a plain white porcelain dish set! Place settings for 8! I feel grownup – our dishes are a deranged mix of me thrifting weird patterns (see below) and Sean having black IKEA plates left over from college. We made a wedding registry but we don’t have the type of family who do things like use wedding registries, so we’ve been ticking things off on our own. Towels? Pots & pans? Plates? Yes, I got to be 35 years old without having proper place settings. Or um, drinking glasses, as you can see. Next up – cloth napkins. Though paper towels are pretty fetching. My Nana is rolling in her niche, for real.
Hard to see, but that’s snow-hail, on the roof! & it lasted over an hour! It’s so so so so rare here.
Some good thrifts lately – but I need to be more careful shopping without having an Etsy shop.
Little tiny grey leather box bag, 1970s I. Magnin.
1960s lady bag with a bow.
& I got this tiny porcelain jar to use as a salt cellar.
Those thrifted plates are charming! Did you use the puff pastry called for in the recipe? Was it a gluten free one, I guess? Or did you make your make your own? It looks delicious!
Are you gluten-intolerant? Or is your husband? (is that a personal question? You don’t have to answer, I don’t mean to pry) I just wondered if you were going gluten free because you had to, or if you were eliminating it from your diet for…other reasons?
I’m curious because while many of my customers at my part time job in the health shoppe have issues with gluten, I also have a few of them who give it up…just because(?), and they find that they actually feel better for it.
I used a gluten free mix – I get stupidly sick when I eat wheat, I guess it’s genetic as it showed up in my DNA test – throwing up, burning in my ears & throat, throat closing, joints hurting. AND I STILL EAT IT. So I try not to when I can. But, come ON, bagels?!??!!?!? So I manage to be gluten free maybe 4 days a week. Dumb.
I wonder if they feel better because they’re eating less carbs, too?
Oh, without a doubt! When you give things like that up, you have to get creative with the other things you eat and so I imagine they were (for the most part) probably more conscious of the things they were putting in their mouth and eating better all around.
I know that 2 years ago, when I stopped eating meat, I felt amazing. HA. Sorry, just saw your twitter post on the usage of that word. I’ll give you a dollar. But seriously – in figuring out what to eat, I wound up eating much better and trying new things that I would not have otherwise. Unfortunately though, I am back to eating the animal fleshes.
I say amazing so much. This amazing thing is so amazing. Amazing! Anyway.
I didn’t eat meat for 21 years, but have been for the last few. I stick to ethically sourced but I still feel horrible and think about little animals while I eat. But I feel much, much better & less crazy in the head when I eat meat. & I can’t eat soy because of fibroids. Eating is a pain in the damn ass, that’s what.
i was a vegetarian with a soy allergy for 18 years. i know i didn’t get sufficient nutrients (like, ever) and was just too weak to fight off anything, and got super-duper sick a few years ago. i’ve been eating meat since. i can still only eat small portions because if i have time to think about where it came from, i start to feel queazy.
i’m worried about what will happen when shane and i finally get married; i fear i have some guitar-shaped wine racks and pasta bowls with pictures of olives on them in my future! ayeeeee! we already have pretty much everything we need, so, it’s bound to happen!
congratulations on your new plates!
Matching drinking glasses are for chumps! Nothing feels quite as satisfying as drinking from a big, old mason jar. Also, my boyfriend and I are very devoted to our mismatched tableware- differing shapes and sizes seems to give each item a preferred purpose, such as the bowl that is the best for cereal versus the bowl that is the best for soup as well as “Dave’s favorite ice cream spoon”. On the other hand, a vague standardization is key. I can’t stand that hippie potluck style of “plates picked from the garbage” or “mugs that people have left here” that so often ends not having enough fr everyone and me having to eat cake out of a bowl with a dull knife.
I adore your heart shaped Dutch oven. We’ve just acquired a set of white dishes ourselves. It’s odd how exciting something so simple can be.
I hope that your MRI goes well. I just had my first one a of couple weeks ago for some mysterious eye problems. I was a little nervous, but happily discovered that not only did I only have to “go in” to just above my knee, but the tech was also happy to rest her hand on my foot if needed which, for some reason, made all the difference in the world.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any answers on my eye problems though. I have a strange issue where my eyes feel like they are constantly involuntarily blurring and “vibrating”. It’s hard to describe and every silly test I’ve taken insists that I’m normal… Anyways just curious if you are experiencing anything similar?
Happy Spring to you! That pot pie looks so good and I love mismatched dishes….
Oh, that does sound comforting. My Dr said it was full body, but I don’t know. I am so claustrophobic it’s not even funny.
I have this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabismus
Genetic but recently exacerbated by stress and up-close computing to the point where it isn’t self correcting like it used to and even my prism lenses arent helping. So I’m trying this injection “surgery” which is totally nervous making but less so than CUTTING MY EYES.
Have you researched this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathologic_nystagmus
Are you going to an eye dr or a neurologist?
WOW!
This may change my life. I have had this problem on and off for years and eye tests always show my vision is fine. It has started getting unmanageable since I went back to staring at dual monitors 8+ hours a day at work. I saw a neurologist who wanted me to get the MRI. But the MRI shows all is “fine” with my brain. My vision insurance just kicked in so thats next. For years I’ve been told it could possibly be everything from allergies to imagination. Now at least I have something to ask about.
THANK YOU!
My husband’s dad is a ridiculously smart OD, PHD so we’re down with the eye problems in this household. I’ll email him to see if he has any other ideas.
It took me AGES for someone to figure out what was wrong with my eyes! What the heck, doctors!
Wow thanks so much!
In the past my eye doctor literally told me my vision was perfect and not to come back. Uhhh, OK? So I’ve been to several regular doctors, the neurologist, and then the MRI. It certainly is frustrating because even with insurance it all adds up… I’ve been almost ready to give up altogether, but when it’s really bad I can’t even drive.
For the MRI: having someone touch my foot at the beginning calmed me WAY down because it really cut down the feeling of being isolated and trapped. I just closed my eyes, concentrated on breathing, and focused very hard on the idea of being somewhere else.
I hope all is well for you this week. Thanks again, this really gives me hope!
I have to say that buying cloth napkins for every day use might just be one of the best things I’ve ever purchased. It elevates you daily dinner in such a lovely way, and you also don’t feel so wasteful for throwing away so much paper. Bed, Bath and Beyond has $1 cloth napkins that stand up to washings. We use the napkin two or three times before washing it (unless the meal is particularly messy).
Sending you good vibes for you eye appointment!
When it’s just us we use linen tea towels (um, we’re messy?) but I need something small and cute for guests. Simple! I have some crazy patterned ones stashed away but I want plain, soft, white napkins. I looked at Sur la Table and Crate & Barrel yesterday but they were all cheap and rough and Made in China, which I don’t support. So I’ll track down some vintage I think, or wait til we go home and raid my moms stash.
Thanks for the eye vibes!!
Our dishes were a mish-mash from Ross and Goodwill until the wedding (and not nearly as lovely as yours). Now we have matching whites from W&S. Love them.
Good luck with your eye appointment!
I am sure you have researched your options already, but just as a fellow sufferer of eye issues, it made a lot of difference for me when I stopped going to opthalmologists and started going to behavioral optometrists. I don’t have strabismus, but I know they have non-surgical techniques for fixing it. My old behavioral optometrist had a room full of props and instruments specifically for that purpose.
I have that exact same le creuset heart shaped pot!!