Today

Today I woke up and decided I was going to be productive. By the end of the day, I learned I am not very good at being productive. First, I slept in late. I justified my 11 hour slumber by thinking, "Wow, I must've been really tired. I obviously needed some sleep." Genius. Next, I decided I ought to celebrate Mother's Day (because it has sooo much to do with me) by having breakfast in bed. A breakfast that consisted of a mug of Trader Joes new Joe Joes Ice Cream. Mid-way through "breakfast," I got a text from Jessica asking if I wanted to grab brunch. To avoid confusion, brunch is a term used by my friends and I for a mid-day meal, often consisting of coffee and breakfast items. Sometimes bloody marys or mimosas as well. It is NOT an expensive all-you-can-eat buffet. Of course I agreed, so Jessica and I headed to Heirloom. Luckily, the mother's day crowd had either risen much earlier than us, or were chased away by the clouds. Either way, we breezed in for coffee, a sandwich (as we had missed breakfast by an hour), and conversation. Notice at this point in the day, nothing of any substance had been accomplished. It was 2:00.

After returning home, Jessica asked me to upload some songs onto her ipod, of which I readily agreed. Finally, at this point, I can say I achieved something. And by I, I mean Jessica did my dishes in exchange for an ipod mix. With the dishes sparkling, Jessica left. At this point my dreams of cleaning my entire house seemed impossible. The fact that I am easily distracted does not help my lofty "clean my whole house" goals. So, while my house is not white glove clean, I did make some steps in the right direction: washed and folded laundry (including sheets and towels), made bed, washed couch and chair slip covers, vacuumed living room and hall (including use of attachment for corners and cobwebs), painted toenails (counts right?), conversation with friend regarding baby shower we're planning, put give-away clothes in car, watered plants, tidied living room, made dinner. Oh, and I watched 3 episodes of Project Runway. Really, looking at the list, I did okay. Maybe I didn't purge my apartment of unnecessary items, as was my original goal, but maybe chipping away at things little by little is more my style.

Oh, and yes, I did call my mom and wish her a happy Mother's Day. But that could never be considered a chore. On that note, I did make a rather delicious, easy, inexpensive meal from items in my pantry. Here's the recipe just in case you like things like that.

Lentil Stew with Sausage

1 T Olive oil

2 onions, chopped (about 2 cups)

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 carrots, coarsely chopped or sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 lb Smoked Sausage, sliced

1 lb lentils, rinsed and drained

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt or to taste

1 lb fresh kale or spinach, stems trimmed, leaves chopped (about 8 cups)

In a 6-8 quart pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over med-high heat. Saute onions, garlic and carrots until soft, about 10 minutes. Add sausage lentils, broth, sage, thyme, pepper and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until lentils are barely tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in kale or spinach. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes or until lentils are tender. Ladle into soup bowls.

Makes 8 servings

My notes: I halved the recipe. I didn't have carrots or kale/spinach, so I added some frozen peas at the same time as the sausage. I also added extra broth, but I think this might have been necessary because of the peas. I used fresh thyme instead of dry since I had some. The sausage I used was Trader Joes Smoked Andouille Chicken Sausage, which was perfect. It's a thick, chili-like consistency when it's all cooked up. I think it would be yummy with some bacon in it. And celery. I also for a moment thought to Greek-ify it by adding kalamata olives and feta. I'll let you know if I try any of these variations.