Making Life Hard

Perfectionist, overachiever, OCD, and so on-

Several names (or diagnoses) that can be tricky to live whether its voluntary or not. Things are tricky and you suddenly realize that people are giving you looks and whispering behind your backs- or even thumping you on the back for a job well done if you're lucky.

As for me?

I don't know if it was the last school year, but I received this several times:

"You're making this harder than it needs to be."

I don't know about you, but that is NOT something I want to be hearing! But nonetheless, I was told this at least 5 times in this year alone. And that is so, so far from comforting.

Granted, I'm still trying to figure this out. But it's a process and apparently it's a 'mental block' so it could take a while. However, I'm unopposed to trying because hey, it has to get 'easier' eventually right? So I'm trying to find some ways to make it easier, so you're not always asking questions that people look at you funny.

1. Take a deep breath. 
It's stupid, sure. But the moment you stop staring the problem down so hard, you can learn to see the entire picture and that's what you need to be doing. This allows you to slow down and look over your progress, go through it step by step, and make sure the next step you are working on will correlate.

2. Gauge what you know
Things get harder because you get more confused. I feel like I am constantly getting entangled in a sticky web and I sort of just fall over and flop like a washed up fish on shore. It is not fun and sometimes people laugh because why would a fish voluntarily go on shore to die? Why would I voluntarily entangle myself in something sticky that I don't like? Well, it's because I was confused.

3. The little things
I love poetry. But guess what? Sometimes a blue windowsill is just a blue windowsill and not the symbol of lost love. It's just a color that looked good at the time. And that's the same with some little things. Chill out and know how little it is. I freak out at my jobs because we don't have enough soda for a day, or I didn't get something mailed out in the morning like I was supposed to. Stay calm and like I said, take a deep breath and try to look at the big picture.

4. Consider any mistakes and excuses
"Excuses, excuses, excuses!" If you spend time in my family, you will hear my dad say it without a doubt. No excuse is good enough for him. Because if you look up the definition for excuse, it's not exactly a good thing. It's not the same as reason.  Often I stumble because I've made some silly excuse that has led me off an angle of the path and eventually twist really, really far away from the path I was trying to stick to.

5. Think Ahead
Try to look over the possible outcomes at whatever standstill you are at. Like I said, it's probably small and guess what? People won't die if there's no Diet Coke at the moment and hey, the mail will eventually be sent out. You will (most likely) not die nor cause the death of anyone else. Just putting that out there. So choose two main paths, and consider them carefully and then try going forward.

That's really all I can say. It's a process that is going slowly for me. I have to retrace my steps often, I still ask for help, and I still make some choices that are wrong. It happens. But the important thing is to learn from it.

Eventually you get the hang of things. You know, life. It's what they call wisdom and if you're lucky, you'll have some to pass onto your grandkids. And hopefully they listen to you...

Anyways, best of luck to you!

Food Weeks

Whoops, sorry it's been a while! I was on a roll and then nothing happened.

My apologies. I'm planning a few more of these to come and hopefully I'll even have another out this week. But for the first time here in Arizona, I'm actually a little busy and doing several things daily. I have recently done baptisms in the Mesa Temple (gorgeous), made friends, played soccer, enjoyed Stake Conference, wandered around a museum on my own, and more!

And what this post is about, of course- food! In the last five days I have made about four different things and they were all so delicious! So I had to share :D

THIS IS ALSO GOOD FOR THOSE ON A BUDGET.

First off, and I'm not ashamed of this, but: Mac and Cheese Pizza
I stopped eating that stuff when I was about 14 but this past school year, Katie started eating it and of course she'd share her food and I found myself eating Mac and Cheese again. But it's also really easy to get dull and bland FAST!
So, I fixed it up a bit!

Here's how I did it:
1-Cook the mac and cheese, get it good to go.
2- Make the pizza dough (I used a premade set because I'm cheap and it was a dollar)
3- I added a bit of butter to the dough and included buffalo sauce before putting the mac and cheese on. Seasonings really help out when you're eating this stuff.
4- Add some real cheese. Not necessary, but tasty. I had mozzarella and tried it out and it helped the mac and cheese stay on better. But like I said, not necessary.
5- Cook for however long the pizza dough says.
6- EAT IT
Mac and cheese: 90 cents
Pizza dough (add water): 1$
Buffalo sauce: $2ish?

But most people already own seasonings or their favorite sauce (Ranch could work, just saying), and otherwise that's a $2 meal. And you've only used 1/3 of your mac and cheese! The dough isn't much but it could feed two people perfectly.

Second: Grilled Cheese Mac and Cheese
I know, I know.
I can't help myself.
And you'll see why.
It's delicious.
Plus like I said, a LOT of mac and cheese was left over, okay?
Steps:
1- Butter up or mayo up both sides of 2 pieces of bread
2- Put on stove to start heating up
3- Add some cheese on one side
4- Heat up Mac and cheese to warm
5- Put Mac and Cheese on bread slice with cheese
6- Put other slice on top
7- Toast to preference
8-EAT

Third: Greek Pizza

I referenced this one for ingredients but then did what I wanted after. Baking, I always follow the directions. But in cooking, there's a little more freedom. Plus if it goes wrong, you blame the lack of no recipe. If it goes right, you're a genius. Win-win right?
1- Get everything you want chopped and into nice little piles
2- Start oven
3- use oil and mix in seasonings, and soak spinach
4- Make dough
5-Pile things on! Oil, (I added chicken to half, works great either way!),
6- cover in cheese, feta then mozzarella. Add as much as you would like
7- Put in oven! Bake!
8- Eat and ENJOY
*Really sorry, I forgot a picture of the final product! I had a friend over and she said it was pretty good though, if that helps!

and finally, 4th, OMELET

Generic but definitely delicious! 2-3 eggs, depending on how hungry you really are. If you do 3, you need no sides, that's for sure. I did 4 once and that was insane.
You can also put in or on top whatever you would like! Careful with the avocados, though- I put them inside and it turned the thing green and looked very sketchy. But today, I put it on top and it looked prettier and tasted better. This time, I put in: 3 variations of peppers, onion, chicken, tomato, and sliced spinach. On top, afterwards, I put some salsa, avocado slices, and chips- I like a good solid crunch, so sue me?

Isn't it beautiful?

1- Mix the egg with any seasonings you want, like really mix them
2- Slice all ingredients
3- Put them in the mixing bowl
4- Turn on stove
5- Put some butter on the pan to start sizzling
6-Pour in ingredients!
*Granted, most places just cook the egg completely and bring it out to then put in sauteed vegetables or whatever but personally, I like to make sure I get as much as I can in each bite. So:
7-Mix it up! Keep up the occasional/steady stirring until it's ready (not runny. Unless you like it that way)
8-Take off stove onto plate, and add anything you like!
9- ENJOY

Not one of the mentioned dishes. One of the rice-a-roni boxes, 4Cheese style. Added buffalo sauce and avocado. See a theme going on yet?

And there you have some food fun. My directions are precise because nothing in life is clear and that's that. But enjoy! Because it's delicious and I might be 22 but that means I can definitely eat whatever I want!