Skinny Housewife: Spinach Gratin

 A non-traditional Thanksgiving side, but one that has been met with glee every time I"ve served it.  I found this recipe years ago (think 2014) and took it as a dish to a friendsgiving.  I'm going to share the original recipe, but if you're familiar with me you know I've changed it.  

Makeover Spinach Gratin

Now the original recipe calls for swiss.  I love swiss, but my best friend hates it.  She gets a pass as it is LITERALLY the only cheese she doesn't like.  Since she was going to be at the original event, I chose to use gruyere as suggested in the recipe.  Delicious.  Since that original making though, I've made it a handful more times, and those times I've used asiago.  Also, delicious.  Maybe this year I'll try it with the swiss!  My non-biological daughter and her hubby joined us last year, and when I saw them again a couple weeks ago they mentioned the spinach from thanksgiving, no joke.  I promised it will be served again this year!

Enjoy!

5 words I'd use to describe myself

 1.  Loving 

2.  Loyal

3.  Forgiving

4.  Empathetic

5.  Petty

What are your 5?  Share them in the comments or on social media somewhere!  

November Crystal of the Month: Citrine

 I'm going to start this series off with what I think is my personal favorite stone.  It's hard to choose, that's why it's worded that way.  Citrine. 

I carry crystals on my physical person every single day.  They change often based on my needs/desires for that particular day.  When I meditate in the morning, I think about how I'm feeling on all fronts.  Physically.  Emotionally. Mentally.  And decide what I might need for the day.

I've carried citrine probably 90% of the time for the last year.  So let me tell you about this stone, and why it's so high on my list.  

First let's talk about what it is and what it looks like.  It's quartz, and in it's natural form is quite rare.  It has a yellow/orange color. 

Second, let's talk about why I started using it personally.  I've been focused for the last year-ish on prosperity, success and abundance.  I try to use the principles of Feng Shui and citrine is the stone of abundance and you should keep it in the left rear corner of your home to welcome in prosperity.  That back left corner is the prosperity corner.  Done.  There is a piece in the left rear corner of my home, you can believe.  I gave one to a work-kid and that is the direction I told her to go with it as well.  Bring in the prosperity and abundance.  If you have a business, I suggest you place a citrine there, in your register, or near your computer if that's what you're using to make the moolah. 

Third, it helps with the sacral and solar plexus chakras.  If you these chakras are out of balance or blocked you may experience lots of physical symptoms, and carrying citrine or wearing it in jewelry may be helpful to you.  

Lastly, let's discuss the overall qualities of this stone.  I'm going to do this in list form, since there are quite a few and I don't want these posts to be so lengthy that you don't read them..

1. Positivity
2. Emotional balance
3. Digestion
4. Endurance
5. Joy
6. Enhances contration
7. Promotes Self Esteem
8. Calms fears

After reading, is there any question why this is my favorite?  I have been working on abuncance and prosperity sure, but I also need work (continually ongoing struggles) with emotional balance.  My ulcer/digestive issues as of late point to a solar plexus chakra misalignment or blockage.  For years my morning meditation/prayer is that I radiate joy, enough so that others can feel it and take some of it with them for their own.  

Citrine just speaks to my soul. 

New Series: Crystal of the Month

 This is going to be a new series.  The idea spawned from my list of what's in my bag, which included a protective stone, and some quartz.

I collect crystals, I have books, and I've done a lot of reading and research into the properties of stones.  

My work kids originally called them "my rocks" and then it developed into asking me daily what rocks I had, and wanting to know what that particular rock did or why I was carrying that one.  Eventually, a few of my work kids would ask me to bring them a rock to help them with whatever they had going on in their own life and they would carry the rocks around for the day.  Some of them have begun collecting them, as a result of feeling like they really did help them.  You can think it's hogwash if you like, I'm not offended by others' lack of belief or trust, but I believe and I've seen them help me personally and others I love.  

I make moon water twice a month, and aside from drinking it, I also use it to cleanse and energize my crystals.  I have selenite to charge them as well.  I believe they need to be cleansed because they absorb energy, and that energy needs to be released in order for them to continue to be effective.  

Different things work for different issues.  This is obviously just ONE path I use.  I recently was diagnosed with an ulcer.  I obviously saw a doctor, but I also believe that one of the stones I'm wearing around my neck has helped me feel better so quickly.  I'm taking my medicine, I'm eating differently, I'm abstaining from alcohol, but I'm also wearing bloodstone and moonstone.  At the very least, what could it hurt right?  

So starting tomorrow, I'm going to be doing a monthly series where there will be a blog post about a stone that I choose (or if you want to participate, comment, and I'll do a stone of YOUR choosing.)  Listing the stone's properties, and uses.  

I hope you'll enjoy these posts, I love talking about crystals and looking at crystals and reading about crystals so it's a passionate hobby of mine.  

What's in my bag?

 Last May, I saw a random facebook ad for a Kate Spade Tote and I fell in love.  It made no logical sense.  I don't even carry a purse.  It cost over $100.  I didn't need it.  But I loved it.  I kept thinking about it.  I made a facebook post listing all the reasons I should NOT buy the bag.  People in my life wanted to see pictures, and they oooh'd and aahhhh'd and encouraged me to TREAT MYSELF.  

And I did.  And I love it.  And I carry it more than I've ever carried a purse.  I don't carry it IN, except at work, but it goes from my house to my car on the daily.  My favorite color is blue, and it's a royal blue, it's really well made and it was worth every penny.

Ok, ok, now to the "what's in it" part of the post.  Let me grab it, and let's get into it, shall we...

Top of the bag is candy currently.  I found several new candies at work yesterday, and bought them all for the trying.  Snowball and Sugar Cookie varieties of M&M's, Sugar Cookie Hershey Bars, and a Birthday Cake cookie.  

A wallet, and a FABULOUS Coach wristlet that Two bought me for my birthday in June.  The wallet has cards that I don't use as often but still need to have available, and the wristlet has the cards I use most frequently for easily grabbing it out of the bag and taking it in the store.  I love that it is a wristlet and I don't have to worry about holding it or putting it down somewhere and forgetting it.  Highly recommend a wristlet if you aren't a purse carrier.

A small composition book (slightly bigger than my hand) that I use for affirmations, and manifestations.  

8 medications.  I was diagnosed with an ulcer 10 days ago, and so there's a lot of meds going on currenlty.  Normally I carry 4 medications with me at all times.  Benadryl because I get spontaneous horrendous hives.  Migraine meds.  Dramamine.  Tylenonl.

Hand sanitizer.  Duh.

Lotion.  

A Clif bar (Coconut Chocolate Chip-my fav!)

A Larabar (Coconut Creme Pie-my fav!  see a theme?)

3 hair tie/pony tail holder, whatever you call the things you use to pull your hair up with.  I try to keep an extra in there for work kids.

A bobby pin in case my hair wants to get unruly.

The Four Agreements.  This is a book I highly recommend.  I often will read a few pages of it when I have a few minutes to just remind me of how to keep myself on the right track.

2 tampons.

2 lip balms.  One standard chapstick and one Carmex.  Dependant on need and level of cold outside.

Tide pen.  Necessity!

Another random notebook just for anything I might want to write down.  

Black Tourmaline.  Protective stone against negative energy and helps spiritually grounding.  This stone also has a lot of other wonderful properties that you can look up, or maybe I'll start doing a stone of the month post and talk about some of my favorites...  wait, back to the list.

Some random pieces of quartz I found on a hike back in September.

5 ink pens and a sharpie.  

Ways to win my heart!

 This is a fun subject, and I had to reflect a little bit on the people I love most and why they have won my heart.

Make me laugh has to be the number one.

Show me your loyalty.  I consider myself to be fiercely loyal, and I find it a very lovely quality when I see it in others.

Take care of me. I am "everybody's mama" and as such, I take care of everyone I love and value.  Therefore, if I notice you doing small things to take care of me, love it!

Be a hugger.  :)  

Give me your time.

Buy me presents.  My work kids will often leave me a bag of M&Ms, or a Red Bull in my drawer at work, and I don't think they have any idea how much it means to me.  It's not because they spent their money on me, it's because they thought about me when I wasn't there and left me something to let me know.

What earns someone a spot in your heart?

Favorite Quote

 Truly, this is a toss up for me.  I would say I have two.  The first is one that changed my life, and the second is from a book and it just sums up ME.  

The first:  Children would rather be from a broken home than live in one. 

Uttered by Dr. Phil on my tv when One and Two were very young and I was miserable with their father.  It felt like he was speaking to me about the damage I was doing by staying in a place that wasn't serving any of us any longer.  And it played over and over in my head for months after until I finally had the courage to end that relationship.  lt changed all of our lives.  And 20ish years later, it is still one of my favorite quotes and I share it with people who tell me they are staying in situations "for the children."  Maybe it has spoken to someone else the same way it did me.  

The second:   I don't cause a commotion, I am one.

Spoken by Elphaba in Wicked. Two is obsessed with Elphaba, and I took her to see the Broadway South performance of the play when it was close to us.  When Elphaba spoke this line on stage, I was like "WOAHHHHHH" and it felt like she was talking to me.  I have the quote tattooed on my back even, so it's a permanent favorite.  

Feel free to share YOUR favorite quote(s) in the comments with me!