B'klynHeart: Three Notes Of Happy

The Husband... Action shot!

So, my impending weigh-in (where I'll receive official confirmation of going up) is tomorrow. I think it is okay... as could be surmised from my post, I was a little surprised 4 pounds came off to begin with... and I know I'm not 4 pounds back up. Could be regular fluctuation and dehydration.

However, I also recognize that while it shouldn't affect me greatly, it is affecting me (and more than it should). So my homework between now and next blog (tomorrow's blog, I promise) is to come up with 10 NSVs (non-scale victories) so that I can crow and also remember why it doesn't matter and celebrate how far I've come.

So bear with me. :)

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So yesterday was Valentine's Day, the "hallmark" of all things marketed to remove one from one's money, and one of the many holidays to bridge the gap between Christmas and Christmas in July.

Yeah, witness me in my glass house throwing stones! I do like it, because my partner in life and crime gets particularly sweet.

In fact, The Husband did two things all for me!

Most beautiful thing I've received for
Romantic Capitalism Day.

For one, in lieu of flowers or candy, he got me yarn! He who thinks I have too much yarn actually added to my stash! Sure, I did mention to him that one of my favorite yarn stores, The Sanguine Gryphon (yarn and mythological, dragon-y steam punk passion, AKA right up my alley!) was selling yarn bonbons in gorgeous colors, and they had a Valentine's pack. How beautiful is it? Ah, I can't wait to make something fabulous out of all of it... they are all my favorite. The non-chocolate treat was packed with a trio of chocolates (nestled there in the middle). I chose one of the three and gave him the rest... my treat was Dove Chocolate Dark Chocolate and Cherry Swirl... That was utterly fantastic. I am glad there was only one!

You'll eat when it's ready!

The second gift The Husband bestowed upon me was the gift of me not having to cook! I do enjoy cooking, but sometimes I enjoy a break, so he was more than happy to take a crack at Spicy Seafood Stew... but he decided to kick it up a notch!

If you think you see tentacle, let me assure
you that your eyes do not deceive.

Let me just say this; this is one of the recipes I made last week when we had our friend over, and it was made as listed in the recipe (except replacing quinoa with bulgur... because I had bulgur and I love bulgur). As is, the recipe is pretty perfect, aside from the fact that this does not serve 4. Sincerely, I don't know when this recipe was made, but I find with a lot of older recipes... serving 4 means you get a huge honkin' amount of food that I don't think any one person was meant to eat. My only thought was to make it a 6-serving dish.

This little dish packs a lot of food.
You will not be hungry after.

The husband had other ideas, however, and I think he made a pretty perfect dish even more perfect. He kicked up the heat by using habanero pepper instead of jalapeño, he increased the calamari (yes, you do see tentacles in there! and added clams! He did have mercy and reduced the number of servings to 6... and let me say it is still too much food. But only just too much, not entirely roll-home like it was the first time (which I should note that I did turn into 5 servings at the time when I saw the food piling up into the dishes). I highly recommend you give this dish a try!

Thank you, The Husband. Valentine's was very spicy, tasty, fiber-filled even indeed! <3

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As they say, "Certainly not your grandfather's tweed."

My final note of happy (after yarn and stew) comes in the form of portable organization. I moved from a purse that was cute and made me mildly unhappy to a purse that was less cute and made me incredibly annoyed... when my friend, who introduces me to many things cool (she is also one-half of the fabulous duo who run Ariadne Yarns and Fiber) got this fabulous bag... super cute and ... is that organization I see?

Much to her non-surprise, I did almost immediately purchase one of my own. Rickshaw bags has rocked my world! I now have a fabulous bag that's not hard to open and close, I can reach in and almost immediately find my keys... and I think that I even have room for a small knitting project. I'm over the moon!

This thing is flipping huge inside... yet
I can find my keys!

Now these guys make bags in all sorts of sizes, and you can even get yours customized... but they had one that had me at Hello... and here it is, for your viewing pleasure. I think when finance allows I may buy another bag (maybe a big one for larger trips, or a teeny-tiny one... I think I'm in trouble!)