Hurricane Prep and Lack There Of

I was much better prepared for Florence than I was for Michael.   I was ready for power outages and knew exactly what I was going to do for food and how we would manage the power being out.
We are on day two of no power and it may not be back on till Monday.   It makes me sick because I had made food to freeze and now it may all be lost.  Things I had frozen from our garden.  We have moved items to coolers filled with ice, we took some freezer stuff to the hubs brother, and I took some things to work to keep in that fridge and freezer.   We have still had to throw things in the garbage.  We were not prepared.
One shudder was completely torn off the front of the house and three more are barely hanging on.  One of my columns on the front of the house has shifted and is going to need some attention.
On the power outage electronic side, I was a little more prepared only because of Florence.   I had purchased a solar powered charger for phones and tablets and such.  Best purchase by far in this situation.   I ordered it from Amazon, do not know exactly what brand it is, they offer a wide variety.  This is very basic and pretty compact.  See the picture below.  Again, I am not being paid for this post nor do I get any kick backs from the company. 
The appealing thing to me about this particular model is  it is small and you can charge two devices at one time and it has a flash light feature.  I charged my phone over night with it the other night.  

We have power now but we lost a lot of food, the upside is my fridge and freezer are clean now.   Now I just have to get my freezer food back from the brother in law, I got my stuff back from work already.  

Instant Pot and Real Food

Yesterday I was off and decided I would clean the expired canned goods out of my kitchen cabinets.  I feel very wasteful right now.  I had so many canned goods that had expired.   I had a couple cans of tomato paste that were near expiration and I decided I would not let them go to waste. 
I decided a vegetable soup in the instant pot would be great.  I started with some chicken broth and my tomato paste and then I looked in the freezer and grabbed some crowder peas and sweet peas we had frozen from our garden.  I threw in a can of Lima beans, and some store bought frozen corn.  Add some garlic powder, onion powder, fresh dried oregano,  and some thyme.  I added some beef broth to give a little more liquid. 
Closed my lid and set my pot for soup.  I started the soup around 430 and we  were enjoying it by 530 ish.  Feeding the hubs and I real food pretty quick.  I did too it with some cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  
Love this pot!!! 
I am not being paid for this, I have said many times I post about things I like and believe in.

Dating and My Boys. . .

Update on Boston:  Sprat has moved on to another female friend and this one goes to his school and play softball for them.  He says he and the other young lady he met at the Red Sox game are just friends.  Funny thing, the hubs and I met the softball players parents at move in day during the parent meeting and family dinner.  She is from California, the hubs and her dad were fast friends, funny how things work.  Sprat seems to be getting along well he has requested that I send him some sweet tea about every time we talk.  The lacrosse team has been doing fundraisers in and around Boston: they have worked the Boston College football games and will be going into the city to work at the Boston Children's museum too. Sprat even volunteered to do an extra game at Boston College to help out the team.  These fundraisers help them pay for their Spring break tournament room and board.  I love this idea, make the boys work to help pay their way rather than begging for money from parents or family.  The high schools could take a lesson here.
Big T informed me the other day that he was in a "relationship."  You can imagine my reaction to this comment from my 15 year old son.  I smiled and simply said, ok.  I was waiting on an explanation,  and decided I better  ask some questions because he was not going to offer up any information willingly.  I asked those typical Mom questions:  how long have you known this young lady?  is she in your grade?  what is her home high school?  If I have shared this already I apologize.   I was immediately told that her mother wanted to meet the hubs and I for dinner.   That actually went very well,  we liked the young lady and her mother and we had a very good time at dinner.  Last night was their first official date, they went to the movies.  The hubs and I got to go on a date too and that was very nice. 
I am not ready for this dating stuff again, bless dear Sprat he did not really date until he was a junior in high school and Big T is a sophomore.  The second usually does things faster than the first, except when it comes to driving.  Big T may be on track to get his license around the same time as Sprat, Big T does not want to drive much either. 
Stay tuned for more dating adventure and Real Food adventure. . .

What's Cooking. . . .

The Salmon last night was great!  It was even very good for lunch today.  The couscous recipe was from my new cook book and the lemon aoli was from pinterest.  Fixed another couscous recipe tonight for dinner, it was actually a mish mash of two different recipes that had a Moroccan flavor.  I really like this pearl couscous, it is larger than the traditional couscous that comes to mind.  I am also using the whole wheat couscous trying to keep it healthy.  The pearl couscous is a larger kernel than traditional. 
Here is my mish mash recipe for Moroccan couscous:
1/4 cup olive oil
2tbs balsamic vinegar
2 cups pearl couscous
2 cloves minced garlic
2 small red peppers chopped
2 green onions chopped
Mozzarella cheese cubed
2 bay leaves
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water


Boil 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup water and a splash of olive oil and 2 bay leaves,  after boil add couscous remove from heat and  cover for 15 minutes, 
mix together:  vinegar, oil, garlic and pour over couscous then add onion and pepper and cheese and toss and refrigerate.
I used Mozzarella instead of Feta. I do not particularly care for Feta cheese and I did not have any on hand. 
 Here is a picture of my lunch today with my Salmon and the other couscous from last night:

It was just as good as it was last night.  

I also made pumpkin muffins tonight, they were a little bland, I think it could use a little more spice maybe.  I am freezing some of them since I am the only one that will eat them.  Stay tuned for more recipe updates as I continue the "Real Food" adventure.                                                                                                                                                   

Another New Cook Book. . .. .

A friend of mine at work shared a cook book with me that she had recently purchased, 100 days of Real Food, by Lisa Leake.  I skimmed through it one night at work in between phone calls and I was intrigued.  You know I am always interested in a good cook book, especially one that has quick simple recipes, the bonus here is that they are also better for you recipes.
When you are working and trying to take care of your family you look for quick ideas to help you along, this is one of those resources. **** Full disclosure I am not being paid for this post, you all should know by now I post what I believe in and share things that I find have value. *****
There are a couple folks at work that are trying to keep everyone motivated with little tasks and helpful hints.  One is walking laps at the office when we are not taking calls to keep our energy up and our metabolism too.  Another couple of gals have created this great board to help keep us motivated and entertained with shout outs to other employees and little funny memes about talking on the phone all the time.  It is a big stress reliever and morale booster in my opinion.
So, with all of that said, my friend at work shared her cook book and I of course loved it.  I bought one of them on Amazon and have been reading it. 
The premise behind the book is to eat real food and cut out all the processed stuff that is available at the store these days.  It also hits home the amount of sugar that we consume on a daily basis.  She even tells what you can get at the different stores that are good choices for eating "real food."  I am off today and had to run some errands and decided I would go by the Whole Foods and pick up a few things suggested in my new book.  I do not normally shop at Whole Foods but I wanted some things that the book suggested that only Whole Food carry.  I am notorious for buying things not on my list and today was no different, we are having Salmon for dinner tonight with fresh dill, lemon, and butter.  I fixed my lunch today with suggestions from the book:   scrambled eggs, avocado, on a small whole wheat pita.  It was very filling and very good. 
Stay tuned, this is going to be an adventure for this crew.  Trying to cut back on eating out, eating more "real food," and cutting back on the soda (me).  This is not about calories it is about "real food."

Missing my Kiddo. . .

I thought I had this being a mom of a college student all in hand, boy was I wrong.   I do not have anything together.  I have been blaming work for not sleeping well since I have been working more nights and the truth is it is plain old worry.  I guess being a mom the worry never stops, I will worry when they are 40.  Kids do not understand that until they are parents themselves.  LOL!!  I sure did not understand.  My sister was quick to point out the worry I must have caused our mom when I was in college, when I was crying on her shoulder last week.
I know the parenting job is suppose to prepare our kids not to need us but must they not need us so soon.  Mine has gone off, Mr. Independent, tooling around the big city like a pro.  He loves it, and is having the time of his life and the worst part for me is that he does not miss home at all.  I know, I know he is suppose to spread his wings and fly to new adventures, I just did not think he would be this good at it. 
I pray every night that he will be safe while he is out tooling around the city and I pray that he does not lose his focus.  Focus being school and studying hard and preparing for his future.  Lots of prayers for all the moms and dads of college students that have gone off to spread their wings to new adventures.  This parenting thing is so hard and painful. 

The Boy is in Boston. . .

Just got home from dropping my oldest at College.  Wheww!!  I must give the school credit, it went very smooth, they had student leaders and student athletes helping the freshman get their stuff moved in to the dorms.  That was a huge help, and they were very organized, the most organized move in process I have ever seen.  I vaguely remember my brother moving in and I do not remember my sister moving in except in her apartment.  I remember my move in and we did not have help of any kind except what came with me. 
Because the school is up North there is no AC only heat.  It was pretty hot moving and setting everything up even with the help.  We got him set up and he has two roommates in a  room built for two people and furniture for two people.  They had events planned throughout the day for everyone and we had planned to leave to come home that afternoon.  Needless to say we stayed and attended all of the events for the family.   I love that this college has a culinary school because the family dinner we had was amazing!!!  We were able to meet several of the boys on the lacrosse team and a couple of the soccer players that helped move us in.  Everyone was very nice and helpful, I feel at ease about my sweet Sprat being there.  I am going to miss him terribly though. 
I was a little worried at first but then he escorted us to the car and told us he had to go find the rest of the team.  I took that to mean, I am ok and ya'll can go now, and the hubbs and I reluctantly left our first born in the big city. 
I left him with the letters I had written him over the years about different things and how he was at certain times of his life. In those letters I also enclosed a little money, which he does not know about yet.  I do not know when he will read them or if he will read them, I hope that he keeps them because I wanted him to have something in my handwriting.  I have some old journals from my mothers father and I cherish them because I never knew him, he had passed away before I was born.  The journals are just about his daily activities but it mentions my mom a couple of times and her sisters and brothers and what they were doing at that time.  I hope that Sprat will keep my letters the same way. 
Here are a few pictures from the day:

Dad giving last minute advice, the building in the background is one of the education buildings.

The trunk covered in stickers to hold all of his extra gear.