Into the Wild

Hey Friends!

Guess where I’ve been?

THE WOODS

That’s right, the woods.

The husband and I spent Memorial Day like true ‘mericans. Camping.

We went to Link Creek Campground, on Suttle Lake. It’s not terribly far from Sisters, in Central Oregon.

Life lessons: camping in Oregon in May is COLD. Thankfully, we had a yurt

Baby Brother tried to tell me about the yurt he stayed in at Glacier National Park, and how it had electricity and Wifi.

But we were in Oregon. We’re really outdoorsy here. We had a wood stove

Which was rad honestly.

And not just because making fires makes me happy.

(We also had no cell reception! Who knew such a thing existed!)

The lake was redic

All of Central Oregon is kinda redic really. I adore Bend a lot.

Our first night involved some rain (which was oh so shocking for Oregon Spring. We learned on our trip that real oregonians take shelters to cover their table and firepit so they can be outside in the rain. Hadn’t occurred to us) , so we had our super fancy camping meal inside the yurt

That little plastic cup? Wine. Klassy.

Also, life lessons, cans of pork and beans are amazing when you add sriracha.

Thankfully, we woke up to sunshine the next day. We had oatmeal

(I’m a REAL BLOGGER sometimes and eat my oats!)

Did a pretty run around the lake

And then set off on a hike so epic it’s going to get it’s own post tomorrow.

 

Camping, you a fan? Someone I went to college with called it “glorified homelessness”. Which I suppose is kinda true.

But I like drinking in the woods.

Ash Wednesday

Hey friends!

It’s Ash Wednesday! Which means I’m rockin’ some sweet forehead smudges

They’re totally in this season.

I used to go to 6:30 am mass on Ash Wednesday growing up. While it was great in some ways it meant I inevitably had someone tell me “there’s something on your forehead!”

I’m not sure how I’d manage to get a big old black cross smudged across my forehead without noticing, but thanks everyone, thanks.

I go to evening mass now, which saves that fun.

Ash Wednesday also means no meat, and fasting.

Catholics have a very lose definition of fasting-it’s more or less “don’t eat quite as much as normal”. Here were my Ash Wednesday eats:

Breakfast was oat bran with a tablespoon of peanut butter thrown on so that I wouldn’t chew my arm off. Jesus wants you to keep both arms

Lunch was curry quinoa, spinach, and lentils

Because Jesus and I both love lentils

And dinner was the old Catholic staple (right behind fish sticks and Papa Murphy’s veggie pizza) of grilled cheese and tomato soup

Ash Wednesday also means that I, yet again, forgot to take last year’s palms to be burned

(They go back the Sunday before to be burned for the year’s ashes. I ALWAYS forget)

I’ve already been asked a few times… I don’t give up anything for Lent. I could give you a whole CCD lesson on why, but basically I work on adding things to my life, rather than subtracting . Going to Mass more, following the Church’s commands for abstaining from meat on Fridays, read a religious book or two (like my catechism I had out in the picture above!), things like that. Cause really, personally I’ve found that giving up candy doesn’t bring me closer to God. Which is, you know, kinda the whole point of lent….

You doing anything for lent?

Basics

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I looked through my pictures today, and wasn’t sure what to write about…. Yesterday was just so…. basic.

The most exciting thing I’ve been doing lately is watching the cat play with her pepper box

(that’s a box. With peppers in it.  She loves it.  She drags those stupid peppers everywhere.  I found seven in the kitchen today.  And one in the guest room.  She’s advanced for her age)

But really?  Are basics so bad?

Yesterday I made us both oats for breakfast

(yup I followed up a salad with the most normal breakfast evahhh.  I am large, I contain multitudes.)

My husband has oats for breakfast a lot.  I lovingly make them.  In the microwave, with water.

Since I was having some too they were made on the stove, with part milk, and were also half oat bran, rather than just normal oats.

He loved them.

I feel a little guilty now.

(So guilty in fact that I made him French Toast today.  Seriously.)

I put some pumpkin and pumpkin cream cheese on mine

Is cream cheese a weird choice?  I don’t know.  But I have some in the fridge, and I’m perpetually convinced food is about to go bad.  So I have to use it before my brain is convinced it’s coated in microscopic mold.

Breakfast also calls for some coffee

Carbs and caffiene.  The basics to get your day going.

(Know what’s not basic?  Water.  I didn’t drink any till after work yesterday.  Whoops.)

Lunch was, again, basic

Yogurt (that’s a half full container, with peanut flour and enough cinnamon to kill a puppy), banana, carrots.

And I had a day of teaching kindergarten that was basically a blast.

Dinner was something I don’t make nearly enough

Chicken veggie soup.

I always get all these ideas of soups to make and ignore the basic chicken soup.  And that’s silly of me because it’s so darn good!  And easy.

With bread

I could feed my husband basically anything with bread on the side and he’d be happy.

Not going to lie, I like me some basics.

What’s a super basic meal you love?

I like toast.  A lot.  Like a weird weird lot.   But only if it’s made in the oven.

Win

See this?

It went into this

ALL DONE!

Happy happy Kalin.

And look guys!  I’ve been a real blogger

OATMEAL

with raspberry jam, almonds, and brown sugahhh.  Heaven.

I’ve been working every day.  Madness.  We’re out of a lot of crucial things in this house (celery, hummus, crackers, you get the idea…) so I did something crazy

Sandwich for lunch!

With an apple

Because I am, after all, a teacher.

Lame post, yes.  But I’m getting ready to head off to the ‘hood and learn some second graders.

What are you doing for Memorial Day?  We’re going to surreal America for my bridal shower.  This is going to be our first time leaving Takeout, and we’re totally paranoid.  Which means we’re spending 45 bucks to board her somewhere, even though I had a ton of cat owners tell me she’d be fine on her own.

Could you leave this little bear-face without love for a weekend?  We clearly can’t.

Off to see my Friends!

I’m teaching kindergarten the next three days thanks to my secretary friend!

Yesterday I made good use of my day off and got a ton done.  We bought a new bed that was delivered, had a contractor come see about fixing some drainage issues we have in the yard ($1600.  Lame.  Being an adult is expensive!), cleaned, and made brownies and hamburger buns.

I ate in there too of course.

Breakfast was green oats because I wanted warmth and spinach.

What?  That’s not what you crave in the morning?

Lunch was quinoa mixed with some French lentils, corn, and (shocking) spinach.  With sour cream, salsa, and avocado on top.

I tend to either cook or open a can of beans most week to add to salads and things-the french lentils are me mixing it up.

You know you’re old when cooking lentils is your idea of “mixing it up”

For dinner I finally used the grill that is on our stove!

It works!

Homemade WW bun for the burger, plus sweet potato fries I made in the oven

Yummmm.

Oh and the brownies I made?

Whole wheat.  Less fat.  And amazinnnnng.

Whole wheat means they’re good for me, right?