New Thing: Blood

I gave blood today.  First time ever.

 

I’ve just never gotten around to it before.  I remember volunteering to help with a blood drive in my high school, but I was too young to donate.  And they frequently have them at work, but in the last 2 years that my group has been located in a building near one of the cafeterias, every blood drive has been when I’m out of work or on antibiotics for strep.

 

I think it took longer to fill out all the paperwork than for the blood to actually flow.  Or rather, to wait while my information was typed into the computer. And it’s funny that I was nervous beforehand.  After 2 pregnancies (they take like half a dozen vials of blood early on…right when I had morning sickness) and 2 c-sections (With IV’s and spinals), this was nothing. 

 

And they give you cookies and juice when its over. J

 

I want to spend someone else's money for a while...

I spent about two hours on Friday shopping for clothes. Mainly for myself. In the mall. And I've decided two things:

1) I want more money to spend on clothes. Trying to keep total purchases down to, say, well under $100 doesn't go too anymore far when you're in the mall (not that it ever did). As usual, when I have little or no money allocated to spend on clothing, I find bucketloads of things that I'd like.
2) I want a lifestyle that allows me to wear more of those cute clothes that I didn't buy.

No, the self-imposed $100 limit wasn't my only issue with clothes shopping. It never is. I have a love/hate relationship with clothes.

Growing up, as the second kid in a larger family, I didn't get as many new clothes. Until I grew taller (and larger in general) than my older sister, I received many of her hand-me-downs. And by the time that happened, I started being able to earn my own money (through babysitting, and later, a fast-food job), and ended up funding most of my own wardrobe. Alas, I was always the responsible kid, and saved a lot of my money for college expenses instead of blowing it all on the latest fads.

In college I had zero money for clothes. I'm not talking zero money for new clubbing clothes or for designer clothes, I mean zero money for something-relatively-clean-to-wear-to-class. The staples of my wardrobe were free t-shirts, clearance rack flannel shirts, and about 2 pairs of jeans a year. I hated going to any event that called for "dressing nice" because I never had "nice". I barely had "presentable". Yes, in the mid-90's, grunge was in, but I was quite a bit more grungy than was probably fashionable.

At the same time, I have always loved fashion magazines, and fabrics, and learned to sew and do a bit of pattern drafting with the idea of dressing better. It never worked that well because "better" involved better fabrics than I could afford on my shoestring budget, and the freedom to make mistakes. In college, I had no money to waste on "wadders", and these days I have no time.

Anywho, you get the idea. Poor me, yada yada. These day, I have more of a clothing budget, when I choose to spend it on myself. I just have mommy guilt that drives me to buy the kiddos more stuff than I buy myself.

Which brings me back to Friday. I'm still down that 10 pounds that I worked off this summer, and in mostly single-digit sizes for the first time since I can remember (I think I passed right through them in the free-t-shirt days). My closet is full of tops that are a bit too baggy and pants that will fall off of my hips without a belt. The 60-pound rollercoaster ride of pregnancies and breastfeeding didn't help much either (actually from now to my heaviest is closer to 70 pounds).

And suddenly, I can put on an expensive (to me) outfit and like how I look in it. But then I read the care labels and tags, and feel like I have to put things back on the rack for practicality. "Eveningwear" in my lifestyle is sweats or jeans (when your kids use your shoulder as a Kleenex, you don't wear dry-clean-only clothing). And I could dress up a tad more at work. Suits would be out of place as are many skirts and dresses, but I could definitely trend away from jeans more.

But, I have to allow myself to spend more money on clothes. That's a toughie for someone who's a cheapskate, who doesn't believe in credit card debt, and who has way more things on her wish list than just clothes (like kitchen appliances...). Too bad fairy godmothers are hard to come by these day :)

Dinner: Beef and and Mushrooms

Beef and Mushroom Noodles
Serves 4
Total time: about 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Olive oil (about 4 tbsp, divided)
  
• 1 lb round steak, sliced into 1/8" thick slices
  
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms (or a combination of fresh and re-constituted dried--I used some white button mushrooms plus some dried shitakes)
  
• 1 can low-fat cream of mushroom soup
  
• 3/4 cup (1/2 can) skim milk
  
• 1/2 pound wide egg noodles (4 servings)
  
• salt and pepper
  

Directions:

1. Boil noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
   
2. Sprinkle thinly sliced steak with salt and pepper. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat until shimmering.
   
3. Cook steak in skillet until browned on all sides. Remove to a bowl and cover loosely.
   
4. Add another tbsp of oil to the pan, and heat. Cook the onion, stirring frequently, until translucent.
   
5. Add the mushrooms and remaining oil (the mushrooms soak it up very fast) and cook about 1 more minute.
   
6. Pour about 3/4 cup of water into the hot pan, and stir, scraping the bottom to deglaze (Note, if you're using a non-stick pan, you might be able to skip this step).
   
7. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and add the cream soup and milk. Mix well.
   
8. Add the meat and any accumulated juices to the mushroom soup mixture, and add salt and pepper to taste.
   
9. Toss with the egg noodles, and serve warm.