Martha's So-Called Life

lime butter salmon

One of John's employees went fishing with her family last week and caught ton of fish.  It's a good thing that John is a good boss (and you can only consume so much fish before you get tired of eating it) because she was generous enough to give us some. This is especially nice because this is all we have to show for our fishing efforts... Empty nets... My dad and Paula came over for dinner on Sunday night and I tested out a new fish recipe (I made it up from several different recipes I found).  My dad is not a huge fan of red salmon, he swears it's too dry.  So, I figured I would cook it in something that would make it not dry (like butter).  It turned out moist and delicious! Lemon Butter Salmon (serves 4) 2 medium sized fillets (I think we had about 1/2 a fish) 1 clove garlic 1/4 cup lime juice 1 tsp salt (I used less because I salted and peppered the fish before I put it in the pan) 1/2 tsp pepper 1 stick butter (I used 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil) Preheat oven to 400°F Melt the butter (I did mine in the microwave).  Crush the garlic into the melted butter, add oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Salt and pepper the fish and place in a baking dish (if the skin is on, no need to grease, if there's not skin on your fish, I would give the pan a spray of oil).  Pour the butter mixture over the fish. Bake uncovered for 15ish minutes (until the fish is done to your liking).  I pulled it out a couple of times during cooking to baste it with the sauce. Enjoy!

a blanket for ancil

The first project I completed with my new sewing machine was this adorable blanket for "Ancil" (that's the nickname I've given Brittany's baby...it has a funny story, but you kind of had to be there). I sort of followed this pattern from Handmade Baby Clothes and this pattern from Make It and Love It.  I'm not sure that this was the best project to get to know my sewing machine, but it worked out alright.  The material was super stretchy which made it hard to work with (I don't have a lot of experience with this kind of material), but I'm sure baby Ancil won't care that it's not perfect. There's also a pattern on Make It and Love It for a hat to match the blanket which I might try next...

a new addition to my family

No...I did not just have a baby, and no Kiva did not have puppies.  I finally got a new sewing machine.  And not just any sewing machine...a fancy sewing machine (hence the reason it's now part of my family). I've been in the market for a new machine for quite awhile now.  My previous sewing machine was a Singer I got for $99 at Target in Seattle over 6 years ago.  It stopped working over a year ago.  I figured that since it would cost $60 just to have someone look at it, it was probably just time to get a new one.  I decided that I would make an investment so that I potentially will never have to buy another sewing machine...ever. Behold...the fanciest, most high tech thing I've ever owned: She doesn't have a name yet...but I'll think of something (anyone know any good Swedish names?). I won't go into details about everything it does, because it does a lot.  There isn't even a lever to raise and lower the needle, you have to push a button.  I have mixed feelings about this.  I kind of like the lever. The thing I really like is that you just choose your fabric and the kind of stitch you want (seam, zig-zag, etc.) and it will set a length, tension, etc.  No more messing around with little settings (you can override whatever it chooses if you don't like it). There was almost no debate as to what brand of machine I should get (I asked all my friends who sew a lot and all of them said the same thing). I figured, if they make good chainsaws...they probably make good sewing machines too! I think she and I are going to get along just fine...

focus52 {30/52}

I'm back on the Focus52 bandwagon!  I'm not promising that I'll be able to keep up, but I'll try.  Working nights has made it a struggle just to do "normal" things (like get out of bed before 5pm), so some of my extracurricular activities have been pushed aside. I started peppers and tomatoes in my container garden earlier this summer.  I don't have much that is looking promising (I think the bugs are munching away), except for this tiny pepper. Can you see it?  

green smoothie

I've always been skeptical of drinks that are green.  It just seems wrong.  I have no problem eating green food, but green drinks...forget it! That's all changed now.  I'm not sure what prompted my change of heart, it may have been the color of this smoothie and the fact that she made it sound so delicious.  Or it could have been that we have a couple of slightly overripe bananas that need to be put into something where I won't be able to taste them (I am not a huge fan of bananas, but if I'm going to eat them they must still be slightly green).  Perhaps I am tired of my usual smoothie concoction (which is delicious, but it has yogurt in it...and sometimes, I just don't want yogurt). Anyway, I decided to give it a go.  I used 1 banana, 1/2 cup frozen tropical fruit mix (from Costco...it's my favorite smoothie fruit by far), 1/2 cup crushed ice, a handfull of spinach.  Side note: I had no idea that our refrigerator made crushed ice.  I mean, I saw the little button, but never tried it...it really works! I put all my ingredients in a Magic Bullet cup with a little water (I thought this would be gross, but just add enough to make everything blend together) and blended away! I know it looks totally gross...but it wasn't.  You can't really even taste the spinach.  It did taste a little green, but no flavor was directly identifiable as spinach. You should try it...you might like it!

making an old dresser new

John and I have been looking for a dresser for our bedroom for a long time.  Everything we find is way too expensive, like $400 too expensive (even at Costco).  We didn't need a dresser that badly.  Well, by we, I mean I, because I am the one who can't put all of her clothes away when John's clothes are put away.  I guess we could have worked out some sort of laundry/putting away clothes schedule, but that just seems too complicated.  I used to live out of a bag...I can handle living out of a laundry basket. Let me clarify the living out of a bag thing.  When I was a kid, my parents got divorced and I was on a two week rotating schedule (two weeks with mom, two weeks with dad...repeat).  Thus, I lived out of a bag, because who wants to put their clothes every two weeks.  Clean clothes in the bag, wear clothes, wash clothes and put them back in the bag.  Simple. Anyway, back to the dresser.  Some friends from work are moving out of state in a few weeks and were looking to sell all of their stuff.  Lucky for me, one of them had a dresser meeting my dimensional requirements.  It did come with a warning that it was "painted crazy colors."  For $30, I can deal with that.

The only problem with this project is that I really hate painting.  Actually, I hate cleaning up after painting, which makes me dislike painting (I really dislike cleaning in general).  So, in order to avoid the messy painting cleanup step, I thought I would just spray pain the whole thing white.  Well, like any good home improvement project, it took twice as much spray paint as I anticipated which resulted in an extra trip the the store.  It's still not perfect, but it's white, which is what I was going for.  As I pointed out to John, we will probably just give it away when we move (have I mentioned that I'm moving to Utah in 2 1/2 years?), so the overall quality of the paint job is relatively unimportant. Now most of my clothes are happily put away (and John's too)!  Now if I could just make space to hang all of my sweatshirt collection in the closet...

etsy gotta have it: orange & gray

I'm not a huge fan of orange, but lately I've been obsessed with orange and gray as a color combination. Here are some orange and gray things for you to enjoy! (links to items are below photo)

Minimal Pouch - qtipiworkshop | Winking Owl - Bella Blackbird | Custom Stone/Gold Earrings - Made by Sam | Paper Beads - Corso Italia | Everyday Purse - Sinem Inugur | Stacked Deco Pillow - Erin Flett

two for the dough

I know I said I was going to save these for when I needed a quick easy read...but I was having a hard time finding anything else that sounded good to read (hard to believe...I know).

{photo via goodreads.com}

Two for the Dough was not as good as One for the Money, but enjoyable and funny nonetheless.  In this installment of Stephanie Plum's antics, the criminal has shot one of his best friends and continues to cause trouble in "the burg."  The only problem is, he's "like smoke" so it seems as though no one will ever catch him. Again, I don't want to say too much because there isn't a whole lot to the plot...that doesn't make them any less enjoyable though...  

save snail mail!

I just read an article that said that the U.S. Postal Service is considering closing over 3,000 post offices nationwide.  Most of them are in rural areas.  You can read the article from the Wall Street Journal HERE.

{image courtesy of mandy lynne photography via pinterest}

I don't know about you, but every time I go to any of the post offices in Anchorage, always have to wait in a long line.  It doesn't matter when or where I go...there's always a line.  Usually it's because there's only one person working in the front at any given time (even at higher traffic times).  Now, imagine if they closed just one post office nearby, then the lines at all the other post offices will be even longer!

{image from photobucket via pintrest}

Perhaps if we all sent a couple of letters or cards this year (or a couple extra if you already send letters) we could help save those post offices.  At the very least, someone would be happy to receive your note...I know I love getting things in the "real" mail!

why i don ' t diet...and you shouldn ' t either

I posted before about my "non-diet" diet, but my friend Court posted about not dieting, so I thought it was worth mentioning again. After reading Court's post, I was surprised that probably 75% of the food that I eat came from the top two tiers of Michi's Ladder (those are the "good tiers").  As I've said before, there are a few things that I wil never give up no matter how dire the situation (like...coffee...and half-and-half), but I was pretty pleased to see that my food choices passed the test. Most diets are restrictive, so you probably aren't going to get all the nutrients your body needs to function.  Limiting your carbs (which I know actually works well for some people) is not a good idea if you need to use your brain a lot.  Carbs = power for your brain to work.  Ask Court about the time she tried the South Beach Diet...it wasn't so much fun. Also, can I just say (rant alert!) that any diet that tells you NOT to exercise or that your exercise should be limited, is probably not a good idea.  It probably means that you aren't going to be consuming enough calories on said diet to sustain any sort of physical activity. So, before you run out and try the latest diet craze, you should take a good hard look at your eating habits.  Try tweaking your food choices a little and see what happens.  Do you eat fast?  There's a "non-diet" out there (the name is escaping me at the moment) where you are taught to eat lots of small meals very very slowly.  You're allowed to eat whatever you want, just eat slow, and stop when you aren't hungry anymore. I don't diet because I'm lazy and I dislike tracking points or calories (although I did just track a weeks worth of calories to make sure I wasn't starving myself...I randomly gained 5 lbs two weeks in a row and I suspected it was because I wasn't eating enough).  I don't diet because I like food and if I want something I'm going to eat it.  I don't want something that tells me I can't eat ice cream...because then all I will think about is ice cream.  In those situations, I usually follow the three bite rule.  If I really want something (or I think I really want it) I take a bite.  First bite is usually pretty good.  Then if I still want it, I take a second bite.  Most of the time, by the third bite, I don't really want it anymore (this is how I battle the constant stream of donuts that show up at work).  If it's ice cream...I usually eat it all.