Seeing Circles in a Square World

This world is full of different shapes. Squares, circles, triangles, octagons, parallelograms... all around us, all the time. Yet most people only see straight lines. People expect things to go strictly from point A to point B. Line segments of varying length yes, but always A to B... and straight.

We know other shapes exist. But we rarely notice them. How many times have you looked at a stop light and thought, 'rectangle'? Or stop sign and thought, 'octagon?'  Do you ever see the route you take as a shape? Or that your closet is a cube?

No, I'm not talking about math or geometry. I'm talking about life. Specifically, how people go from day to day, week to week, year to year never realizing that it's not a strict progression going from point A to point B, but living their life as if it were.

Living life deliberately is living a deliberate life. Let me explain...

Cataloging for the Next Generation

I am by no means, 'old.' I am however, not in the splendor of my youth.
I have a house payment, car payment, matching dishes and the big one, insurance.

I have insurance for health & wellness. I have insurance for the vehicles. But the big, screaming sign that says, 'I AM AN ADULT' is the insurance for my home and belongings and jewelry.

I am frugal enough that no money is spent willy-nilly. I track my finances, balance my bank account, and I've even started bullet journaling to help me keep track of daily things, goals, and productivity.

Just last thanksgiving while at my parents, my father gave me a sheet of paper. It had his and mom's personal information on it, along with bank account numbers, life insurance policy information, stock information and general after-death what-not.

& An Interesting History

from dictionary.com:

This strange punctuation mark has a fascinating past. The ampersand emerged over 2,000 years ago as the Latin word "et" meaning "and."
The cursive writing of Latin scribes often connected the "e" and "t," giving rise to the shape of the ampersand.

The name did not appear until the 1830s when "&" was the 27th letter of the English alphabet.
The mark concluded the alphabet with "X, Y, Z, and per se" with "and per se" meaning "and by itself."
This final phrase was slurred by English school children during recitation and reborn as "ampersand."

My Irish ....Nachos?

I am of Scottish, Irish and German descent. Quite literally....and fairly recently, too.  I am first generation American on one side, and only third generation on the other. My non-American parent became naturalized in the 1970s.
So, my ancestry should lend itself to certain....proclivities. Like love of dark, room temperature beer, or potatoes, or even cabbage and sauerkraut.

Sadly, no. Although I am starting to like darker beers (thank you, husband), I just cannot get behind cabbage of most any kind, prepared in any way.
And potatoes are not far behind in that 'yuck' category.

My mother tells me when I was little, she would feed me potatoes and I would exclaim, 'I gotta go potty!' and run off to the bathroom...where I promptly spit them out.

This dislike of potatoes runs deep.

However, recently I have found that certain potatoes are okay, if doctored up enough. Most people would say I am masking the taste of the potatoes...but that's okay. I do what I want! :)

So imagine my surprise when, at my local Irish pub, I found nachos.

Whaaaa?????

I do love me some nachos!

Apparently, traditional (and I use that term *very* loosely) nachos are made with fried potatoes, and sometimes even layered potatoes in a 9 x 13 pan.
Pish posh!

I wanted crunch! And beef! and cheese!

So, in the same fashion as my local pub, I used corn chips.

Let me tell you, these are fabulous. And easy. And if you ate corned beef and cabbage (to be correct, it's actually called a New England Boiled Dinner) for dinner the night before, make these nachos for lunch or dinner the next day. Your children will thank me.

IRISH NACHOS

Ingredients:

Corn chips
Corned Beef
Plain yogurt
Shredded Cheddar
Nacho Cheese (optional)
Thousand Island dressing
Diced Onions
Diced Tomatoes
Lettuce ( I used a bagged salad, or you can use uncooked cabbage)
Bacon! (cooked crispy and diced)

The Process:

Layer chips on a baking sheet.
Sprinkle corned beef and shredded cheese (nacho cheese if you're using it) on top of the chips.
Bake at 350 until beef is hot and cheese has melted.
While that's baking, mix together 1/3 Thousand Island to 2/3 plain yogurt.
Once chips/beef/cheese is heated through, remove from oven.
Sprinkled lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and more shredded cheese on top.
(If you want to be sneaky, throw on some shredded uncooked cabbage for more veggie health!)
Using a spoon (or a ketchup squirter bottle thingy)- squeeze yogurt dressing over the top.
Add diced bacon.

Serve family style or on individual plates.

Morning Derp

It's very cold outside. Wind Chill (or more appropriately, 'real feel' temperature) is -25 degrees.
The husband went outside to warm us his vehicle. I made his lunch, coffee, etc.
When it came time for him to leave for work, I pull his hat further down over his ears, give him a kiss goodbye and he says, 'We need to start saving the bread bags....you know, for my shoes.'

I look at him puzzled. I have no idea what he's talking about.

He says, 'Bread bags on your shoes....in the winter....don't you remember doing that as a kid?'

uh....

...I grew up in Southern California. I cocked my head to the side and said, 'Where the F did I grow up, honey?'

He laughs. 'Oh yeah....put bread bags on your shoes in SoCal and the other kids would mock you for days!'

Sheesh.