#i buy 18 packs & always put them at the bottom of my grocery bag & the bottom of my stack in the fridge.

[mildmayfoxe]

HUGE debate at the belated work holiday party over how i carry & store eggs this afternoon. also here’s a picture of the sunset for you all

[wheresmynaya]

Lost in the Lights Ch.18|Brittana

A/N - Just a little something that yall might find some comfort in today so I’ve written a short epilogue. I’m not usually one for fluff, but I figured we might need it. I’ve always considered writing as something I can do to uphold Naya’s legacy because Santana is apart of that legacy and here, she’s always living her best life.

Thinking of you all today 💙

Available on ff.net (x) ao3 (x) & under the cut!

Once again, Brittany finds herself standing alone in her bedroom surrounded by boxes. It’s a little weird seeing her room looking so bare, but this move doesn’t drudge up the same kind of mournful feelings the last one did. This time there’s excitement, there’s anticipation, there’s –

“Hey B,” Santana gives a little tap at Brittany’s bedroom door. “Need a hand?”

Brittany turns to find Santana giving her that same soft grin she has come to adore. She’s leaned against the door frame, clad in her jean cut-offs and a plain t-shirt, and Brittany’s never been so enamored.

“What?” Santana’s grin widens.

Brittany smirks, “Can’t I check out my hot girlfriend?”

Santana rolls her eyes although her cheeks flush, “Smooth as ever.”

“You know it,” Brittany winks before she goes to zip her suitcase. “You’ll be happy to know that I’ve finally finished packing my room. It’s been a super productive afternoon.”

Santana sputters out a laugh as she glances around Brittany’s bedroom. The walls are bare aside from a couple framed pictures Brittany couldn’t find it in herself to take down. The desk by the window is neat and tidy for once too, but what makes Santana stop are the two gold crowns hanging off of one of Brittany’s football trophies.

“Not taking these?”

Brittany turns to find Santana pulling one off and putting it on. She looks just as regal as she did on Prom night and it makes Brittany’s heart feel so full. She can’t help but reminisce at how beautiful Santana looked all done up – she really took her breath away that night.

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Brittany teases, “Too bad Quinn will be at Yale. I’m sure she’s going to miss the constant reminder that we won instead of her and Mike.”

“I can still text her,” Santana quips as she takes off the crown and sets it down where she found it. She goes back to looking around the room again, “It doesn’t look like you in here anymore.”

“Yeah,” Brittany sighs as she looks around too. Her eyes settle on Santana and she begins to grin, “But it’ll be so much fun decorating our own place together. It’ll look like the both of us.”

“True,” Santana grins, “I can’t wait.”

“Me neither!”

“I can’t believe how fast the year went by,” Santana mentions, “It feels like just yesterday that I was jumping off swings with you.”

“You mean head-butting me?” Brittany jokes.

“That too,” Santana laughs, “And now we’re off to college…together.”

“Not just yet,” Brittany reminds her with a pat to her suitcase.

“That’s right,” Santana nods to it, “That everything?

Brittany looks down and smiles, “Yup!”

Santana eyes the lone bag warily, “You’re only bringing one?”

“We’re only going for two weeks,” Brittany replies with a giggle, “You’d be surprised how much I fit in here. Bikinis don’t take up that much space which is a plus.”

She looks to Santana again hoping to see a smile but instead she finds her worrying her bottom lip. It makes Brittany chuckle as she closes the distance between them. Once she’s close enough, her hands land on Santana’s hips.

“Don’t stress,” She tells her sweetly, “That defeats the purpose of a vacation.”

“I’m not stressed,” Santana shrugs, “I’m just wondering…if I packed a little too much now?”

Brittany only giggles before pressing a kiss to Santana’s lips.

“You’re cute,” She says.

Santana only sighs through her smile, “Can you tell I’m a little nervous?”

“A little?”

Santana pouts, “This is my first big road trip. I didn’t want to forget anything.”

Brittany wraps her arms around Santana, holding her close, “I’m sure you’ve got everything and if not we can always buy stuff. You know Florida does have a mall, right?”

Santana was a little hesitant about joining the Pierce Family on their vacation back down to Florida for Summer break because she didn’t want to intrude on their family time, she’s so considerate like that. Brittany couldn’t imagine spending two whole weeks without her though, even Pete and Whitney begged for Santana to go.

Plus, it was the perfect opportunity to show her around Brittany’s old stomping grounds and most importantly, take her to one of her favorite places. With all of that taken into consideration, Santana couldn’t find it in her to deny Brittany this. She also didn’t mind getting out of Lima for the Summer, beats tanning by the pool alone.  

“Babe, this is going to be great,” Brittany says earnestly, “It’s going to be relaxing and we’ll get to spend so much time together doing all kinds of fun things. It’ll be exactly what we need before we have to leave for Columbus, because you know once we get there it’ll be all work. I’ll have to start football training again and you’ll have cheer conditioning.”

“You’re right. Ohio State doesn’t mess around,” Santana nods as she begins smiling again, “This’ll be great. I’ve never been on vacation like this before.”

“Neither,” Brittany grins before grabbing her suitcase again. “Let’s go. We’ve got a lot of road to cover.”

\\

Brittany and Santana decide to drive Santana’s car down to Florida ahead of Whitney and Pete who are catching a flight a couple days later. They take several pit stops along the way, making sure to snap silly photos by all of the state line signs so Santana can text them to Maribel and Hector to keep them updated on their adventure so far.

It probably takes them twice as long to make the trip, but it’s well worth it when Brittany gets to watch Santana’s eyes brighten as they finally cross the Florida state line.

“It’s so much different than Lima,” Santana says as she stares out the window at all the passing palm trees, their fronds waving hello in the warm breeze as they drive by.

Brittany only glances over with this cheek-bunching grin before she’s back to concentrating on the road ahead.

\\

A while later, they pull up to the rental Whitney organized and this time Brittany’s the one who’s in awe.

“No way!” She exclaims as she triple checks the address her mom gave.

“What is it?” Santana questions.

“I used to point this house out all the time when we lived here,” Brittany tells her, “Pete and I called it the Unicorn House because of the pink shutters and the baby blue door. We always thought it was so cool, the most colorful house on the beach. I had no idea it was a rental!”

Santana smiles, “Well let’s go check it out.”

Relieved to stretch their legs and really start their vacation in the sun, Santana and Brittany make quick work of unloading the car and moving everything inside. Just like Brittany figured, the inside of the house was just as cool as the outside. All modern fixtures, colorful artwork decorating the walls, but the real attention-grabber was the view.

“Wow,” They said in unison as they approached the back sliding doors that led out onto the terrace. It was nothing but white sand and clear blue water.

“Let’s open it,” Brittany says and goes to pull open the glass door. There’s a light breeze and the scent of saltwater. Brittany smiles into it; she can’t believe how much she’s missed this.

Lima’s been great to her, it’s the place she met the most perfect girl ever, but this place will always hold a special spot in her heart too. As she glances to her side at her girlfriend, her smile grows because now she gets to share it with her too.

“What do you say we make a quick run to the shops so we can have breakfast out there?” Brittany suggest with a grin, “We can unpack and stuff later.”

“Sounds awesome,” Santana replies, “When’s your mom and Pete flying in again?”

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Brittany says as she gives a little tug at Santana’s shirt, “We’ve got the whole place to ourselves until then.”

Santana’s grin widens, “Even better.”

\\

They decide to load up on fresh fruit, because after so many hours of fast food and gas station snacks they are dying for something healthy. Together they walk the aisles hand in hand, stopping every so often to add something to the basket Brittany carries.

It’s not their first trip to the store together, but it feels different this time knowing that it’s just them. Everyone they know is back in Lima, so doing something like grocery shopping together in Florida makes them feel so grown up and independent.

For a second, Brittany wonders if this is what it’ll feel like once they move away together for college. She’s sure the novelty of it all is bound to wear off the more they do it, but for now she leans into the excitement of it. The thought makes her feel giddy inside because she can’t picture herself doing such a routine thing with anyone other than Santana.

“Should we get anything else?” Santana wonders after adding a punnet of blueberries to the basket.

Brittany looks at their haul so far and shakes her head, “Nah. We can just order take out later if we want?”

Santana nods and they make their way to the check out lane.

\\

Back at the rental, Santana’s in the kitchen getting all of their fruits washed and cut up when Brittany reappears clad in her bright pink bikini.

“Okay! Your turn,” She calls out as she makes her way into the kitchen.

Santana does a quick glance up to reply then does a double take when she sees what Brittany has on. Her jaw drops at the sight and she nearly cuts off a finger!

“Woah,” Santana says in time as her eyes rake up Brittany’s tone figure, “I was not prepared.”

“Should I put on a shirt?” Brittany jokes.

“No, no,” Santana’s quick to respond, “No shirts. You can stay just like that.”

Brittany blushes as Santana continues checking her out. It makes her feel warm all over and a little confident too because usually Santana’s the one getting her worked up. It’s a nice change when the tables are turned.

“So, you want to go change and I’ll finish here?” Brittany asks.

Santana’s still staring as Brittany comes closer. She doesn’t even blink until Brittany’s tapping at the bottom of her chin with this smug grin on her face.

“Hmm?” She hums, “What?”

“Do you want to go change now?”

Santana smirks as she pulls Brittany in and pins her against the counter, “It’s not really the first thing on my mind right now.”

“Oh?” Brittany’s grin turns devilish.

Santana bites her bottom lip as she plays with the knot at Brittany’s hip. “The extra football training you’ve been doing is really paying off. Like I’ve always thought you were the hottest girl to ever walk the surface of the Earth, but damn.”

“Go change,” Brittany tells her with a giggle. “We’ll never get to the beach at this rate.”

“Fine by me,” Santana teases as she wraps her arms around Brittany’s waist and starts littering her neck with soft kisses. “Like so fine by me.”

Brittany struggles because having Santana’s lips on her is always kind of like kryptonite, but her desire to experience Santana’s first trip to the beach outweighs spending the rest of the morning wrapped up in bedsheets. Call her crazy, but they’ve got all day to mess around meanwhile the sun’s only out for so long.  

“Baby, as good as this feels,” Brittany sighs as she pulls away. She stares down at Santana lovingly, “I really want to take you to the beach first. Just you and me.”

Santana cutely pouts and it has Brittany giggling.

“Come on,” She says with a little pinch at Santana’s side, “I think it’ll be worth it.”

“I think it opens up lots of opportunities to be a tease,” Santana complains jokingly.

“Good thing we won’t be far from here then,” Brittany winks in return.

\\

Once Santana finally got changed, she met Brittany back in the kitchen where the blonde had packed a bag with their breakfast and a couple bottles of water along with their beach towels. Brittany had her sunglasses sitting atop her head, her long blonde hair free from its messy bun from earlier.

“Ready?” She asked excitedly.

Santana only grinned as she reached for Brittany’s hand to hold and together they made their way down the wooden terrace steps until their bare feet met warm sand. Brittany was already headed for the coastline, but Santana stopping held her back. She turned, wondering if Santana forgot something, when she realized it wasn’t that at all.

Santana never felt the feeling of sand between her toes before.

A smile formed on Brittany’s face as she watched Santana wiggle her toes. It was only for a moment, a little excited squeak of a giggle escaping the brunette before she looked up again – ready to go. Brittany only wrapped her arm around Santana’s shoulders, kissing the top of her head as they started to walk again.

Picking the perfect spot was always something Brittany took pretty seriously, but on this section of the beach – any spot was perfect. They were just far enough away from the popular areas so it wasn’t too crowded where they were.

“I’ve never seen water so blue,” Santana admires as she stares at the crashing waves. “Beats the lake in Lima.”

“Definitely,” Brittany chuckles.

They end up laying out their blanket a few yards away from the water so they don’t have to walk very far to get in. While Santana smooths out the blanket, Brittany sets down their bag and starts to pull out their towels and breakfast.

Together, they sit side by side and share from one bowl Santana found in the kitchen. It’s a mix of all the fruit they picked up earlier and with their feet in the sand and the sound of the waves and seagulls in the distance they’ve never felt so at peace.

“Is it true that you have to wait thirty minutes after eating before you can swim?” Brittany wonders aloud. She’s resting back on her elbows, her legs outstretched but she’s still too far away to touch the water.

Santana shrugs, “I have no idea. Probably should though just to be safe.”

“True,” Brittany grins as Santana lies back too.

She’s already starting to tan and Brittany can’t take her eyes off of her. It’s almost like this is too good to be true and she finds herself reaching out to touch just to make sure.

\\

Once their thirty minutes are up, Brittany’s on her feet trying to coax Santana into the water but who knew she’d put up such a fight?

“We didn’t come all this way to just sit in the sand,” Brittany teases as she tugs on Santana’s hand, “Come on.”

“That water is about to be cold as hell. No thank you!”

“Hell isn’t cold, Santana.”

“You know what I mean,” Santana then gets up when she finally breaks out of Brittany’s hold, “Now way I’m getting in.”

“But it’s not even cold,” Brittany replies although she’s not really sure since she hasn’t tested it for herself. “Why are you picking right now to play hard to get?”

“You haven’t seen nothing yet!” Santana jokes before taking off.  

Brittany laughs the whole time as Santana ducks and dodges her advances until Brittany’s speed finally does her in. Soon she’s got Santana cradled in her arms bridal-style, carrying her towards the water like she weighs nothing.

“Britt! Brittany! Don’t you dare!” Santana chastises between laughs, “I don’t want to get my hair wet!”

Brittany only stomps her way through the water, “Who goes to the beach and doesn’t want to get their hair wet? That’s silly, San!”

“Me, that’s who!” Santana giggles but she stops putting up a fight and just wraps her arms around Brittany’s shoulders.

Their faces are so close with the way Brittany holds her that their noses brush when the blonde suddenly looks to her. Really, she’s checking if Santana’s actually being serious because if so then she’ll happily take her back to shore but if not it’s fair game. Instead though, she gets sidetracked by the brilliant smile she wears and how beautiful she looks with her hair down.

“I won’t get you wet if that’s really what you want,” Brittany says innocently but there’s a mischievous glint in her eye too.

She’s standing still waist-deep in the water and Santana’s butt is barely touching the surface. Brittany does her best to hop so that the incoming waves don’t splash her which is pretty nice of her with all things considered. She could totally be that person and drop her without a second thought.

“Well, when you say it like that…” Santana starts to smirk.

Brittany lets out a laugh before she leans in for a kiss.

It was meant to be a distraction, but it ended up way steamier than she intended as she slowly  sank to her knee so that they both dipped below the surface. She could feel Santana’s teeth sink into her bottom lip from the initial shock of the water temperature but then it was soothed by her tongue gliding over the nip.

“See?” Brittany teases, “Not that cold.”

Santana only rolls her eyes as Brittany adjusts her hold. She goes from cradling Santana to having her straddle her lap instead. It’s a much riskier position than before, but neither of them complain.  

As they get acclimated to the water, they slowly move from kissing to playfully splashing at each other as they wade around. They go back and forth like that for awhile until they move back to the shore to get their tan on.

“I’m having slight regrets that we’ll be going to school in Ohio,” Santana mentions awhile later as they lie on their stomachs, “Must be nice living close to a beach.”

Brittany grins, “So you’re liking your first trip then?”

“Baby, I love it,” Santana replies happily and leans over to kiss her cheek, “And I love you.”

“I love you too,” Brittany coos before she gets to thinking, “If you love it that much we can always transfer down here? I’m pretty sure there’s a few schools here that would love to poach me. You too.”

“So tempting,” Santana chuckles.

\\

They lie like that for awhile longer before the sun gets to be a little much and they head back to the rental.

It’s one of Brittany’s favorite feelings, that tiredness after spending the day at the beach, and she coaxes Santana into the shower with her to get rid of all the sand and saltwater. Despite finally getting each other this close without any barriers between them, they’re both too tired to actually make any moves.

Instead, they take turns standing underneath the cool water and washing off any residual sand.

Afterwards, they slip into something loose and tumble into bed with a yawn. They don’t even bother getting under the sheets first, their sun-kissed skin still warm from the shower. The just cuddle up to one another and doze off within minutes.  

\\

Hours later, Brittany awakes to Santana tracing her finger along the bridge of her nose. She blinks away the last bit of sleepiness and looks around the room, surprised to see it drenched in hues of orange and gold from the setting sun.

“I think you might’ve gotten sunburnt,” Santana mentions softly, “Your cheeks are a little pink.”

Brittany touches them bashfully, “Yeah. They do that after I’m out too long. Doesn’t hurt though, I put on sunscreen before.”

“Okay,” Santana smiles as her hand moves to rest on Brittany’s hip.

The blonde looks to the window, “What time is it?”

“Almost eight.”

“Shit,” Brittany curses, “I didn’t meant to sleep for that long.”

“It’s okay. You were tired,” Santana replies as she starts circling Brittany’s hipbone, “Hungry?”

There’s a familiar rasp in Santana’s voice and it has Brittany leaning in ever so slightly. She knows that tone, she’s been quite familiar with it since the night she won a championship title with the Titans. It’s come to be a favorite of hers.

“Starving,” Brittany smirks.

Santana bites her lip, “Good.”

“We can order a pizza,” Brittany husks as she slips her thigh between Santana’s, “I know just the place. They’re notorious for taking way too long but the pizza manages to always be hot still.”

“Perfect,” Santana smirks before she’s closing the distance.

\\

The next day, they have a bit of a sleep in due to their…activities carrying on pretty late into the night. Free house to themselves? Of course they couldn’t pass up the opportunity, but they’re well-rested and get up to do a tidy of the house before going to pick up Pete and Whitney from the airport.

Again, Brittany feels that same feeling from the day before when she and Santana were out shopping for breakfast. She can’t help but notice how easy it is for them to fall into such a domestic routine. It makes her feel so grown up, like it was just a couple weeks ago that she was graduating and sure she’s always been pretty independent but it’s different with Santana by her side.

When they get to the airport, they’re only waiting for a little while before Pete’s excitedly waving at them with Whitney trailing behind him. There’s hugs all around when they finally meet before they make their way to baggage claim.

“Did you have fun on the plane ride over?” Santana asks Pete.

“It was okay,” Pete shrugs, “Kind of bumpy but mom let me play games on her phone.”

“Nice,” Santana grins.

“Yup! Did you have fun driving here? Wait, did you guys go to the beach already?” Pete asks as he looks to his sister, “Britt’s cheeks are pink.”

Brittany’s eyes widen, “Uh…”

“We might’ve gone for a little bit,” Santana admits and watches Pete start to frown. He was pretty adamant about them waiting for him but Santana’s quick to recover, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t go again today! You’ll have to check with your mom first.”

Pete’s face fills with a mega-watt smile, so similar to Brittany’s it’s crazy.

“She’ll totally say yes,” He tells Santana, “Mom loves the beach too!”

“Sweet,” Santana grins.

“Alright, we just need to pick up the rental car and we’re out of here,” Whitney says as Brittany follows behind with Pete’s little suitcase.

“You didn’t have to rent a car,” Santana tells her, “I told you I was okay with sharing mine.”

“You’re too kind, honey,” Whitney smiles, “But I’m sure you girls will want to explore the area too.”

Santana just nods as Brittany comes up beside her, their fingers twining so casually.

“Speaking of rentals,” Brittany mentions, “I can’t believe you got the Unicorn House! It’s so cool.”

“We’re staying at the Unicorn House?” Pete asks eagerly. Brittany nods to him and he just about combusts, “No way! That’s the coolest house on the beach!”

“Totally,” Brittany winks, “It’s even cooler inside. Just you wait and see.”

\\

They all head to the rental house and it takes everyone no time at all before they’re making their way out to the beach. Everyone except Whitney who runs to the store for snacks and something to eat for dinner because apparently they can’t have pizza two nights in a row despite Brittany and Pete’s protesting.

Again, it’s nice to just lounge in the sun and cool off in the water whenever they want. Pete’s here too while Whitney’s at the store and Santana watches adoringly as he and Brittany toss their favorite football back and forth.

“Babe! Come play with us,” Brittany calls out to her as she tosses the football to Pete in a perfect spiral.

“Yeah! Come play, Santana!” Pete chimes in.

“I’m fine getting my tan on from here,” Santana answers then starts to smirk at Brittany. The way her muscles tense whenever she throws the ball or how her arms flex, it leaves Santana’s mouth dry, “The view’s not so bad either.”

Brittany lets out a laugh as she readies for Pete to throw the ball back. She’d have to agree about the view though, hers isn’t so bad too with Santana laid out in her maroon bikini on their beach blanket, skin glistening with sweat. She swallows dryly as her thoughts start to wander to the night before.

“Britt!” Pete shouts, “Look out!”

Brittany looks up and catches the football just in time before she’s thumped in the head with it. Good thing her reflexes are as sharp as ever!

“Careful baby,” Santana smirks before she’s rolling onto her stomach to even out her tan.

Brittany only narrows her eyes playfully before she’s throwing another perfect spiral in Pete’s direction.

\\

Once Whitney joins them, Pete goes from playing with Brittany to splashing in the shallow water with their mom. Brittany sits alongside Santana where they both share a bag of chips and watch Pete’s splashes get bigger and bigger.

“You’re so cute with him,” Santana mentions.

Brittany raises her brow, “Speak for yourself.”

Santana lets out a disbelieving laugh, “Right.”

“You are,” Brittany urges with a bump to Santana’s shoulder, “He loves spending time with you. Not as much as I do, of course.”

“Of course.”

“You ever wish you had a younger sibling?” Brittany wonders.

“God, no. Never,” Santana jokes before softening, “But seeing you two kind of makes me second guess it. Then again, Pete’s cool so you’re lucky.”

“True,” Brittany giggles. There’s another pause before Brittany speaks up again in a softer tone, “Thanks for coming out on this trip with us. I know you were a little iffy at first, but it wouldn’t be the same without you.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” Santana replies with this smitten little grin on her face. “We should totally make this an annual thing.”

“Coming back here?”

“Yeah,” Santana nods, “It’s like our reset button. No matter how busy or crazy it gets wherever we are, we can always come back here and just – reset. It would be nice.”

Brittany starts to smile. Santana mentioning doing something every year means she anticipates them being together for a really long time which duh but making plans like that in advance makes it all feel a little more real. She always thought her strong feelings might’ve been a little exaggerated since they’re young and love always feels so all-encompassing, but then Santana goes and says something like that.

This love, it’s bigger than she thought. Maybe it’s even one of those forever kinds of love and that kind of thinking makes Brittany happier than ever.

“We can totally do that,” Brittany agrees before she leans in for a chaste kiss. She can feel Santana smiling too against her lips and she’s never felt more complete.

Whatever this upcoming year plans to throw their way, whether it be on the field or in the classroom or even at home, Brittany’s totally ready for it.

Because together, well…anything is still possible.

[crue-sixx]

Alone Time (Keanu Reeves Imagine)

This was requested.

Summary: You and your husband, Keanu Reeves, can never find any time to be alone. He has a solution to fix that.

Warning: SMUT. 18+ readers!

You and your husband, Keanu Reeves, could never seem to find any time for yourselves. Raising two kids along with both of your busy schedules didn’t leave much room for alone time. Keanu was always busy filming or apperaing at events while you were busy being a stay at home mom. You had quit your job once your second child arrived so that you could be home with them more and that was a job within itself. You shuttled them to and from school while also taking them to their extracurricular activities. Of course there were more things you did for them as well. There was also the task of keeping the house up. You didn’t mind, however. You loved your children and would do anything for them. You just missed spending time with your husband.

It seemed any time you and Keanu would find yourselves alone something would happen whether it be your kids needing something or Keanu having to leave to take care of something work related. It was really becoming quite frustrating.

On one particular day, you went out grocery shopping by yourself. It was Friday and the kids were still in school so they didn’t tag along with you. Keanu had left for work earlier that day, claiming he would be gone for most of the day and well into the night.

You finished doing the grocery shopping fairly quickly since the kids weren’t with you to distract you and beg for other things that weren’t on the list. You headed home, expecting to unload the groceries alone and head right back out to pick the kids up from school, but you were in for a surprise.

As you pulled into the garage, you noticed Keanu’s motorcycle parked in its usual spot. Your brows furrowed at that. Keanu had rode his motorcycle to work that day so that meant that he was home, but why? You parked the car and grabbed as many bags of groceries as you could before you headed inside your home.

“Keanu, are you home?!” You called out as you made your way into the kitchen, sitting the bags down on the island before you put your keys and purse down as well.

You turned and gasped when you found Keanu stood there with a smirk while his arms were crossed over his chest. He had snuck up on you, which was no surprise. He was good at doing that.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he greeted you with a chuckle.

“Why must you do that?” You asked him and sighed. “What are you even doing home? I thought you were going to be gone all day and night?”

“That, my sweet wife, was a lie,” he told you as he walked over to you.

“A lie?” You asked, wondering why he would lie about that.

“Yes,” he said as he placed his hands on the island at each of your sides, leaving you trapped. “A surprise really. We’re spending some time together.”

“Spending some time together? How is that possible? I’m going to have to leave to pick the kids up from school soon.”

“No,” he replied. “Your mother will be taking care of that. In fact, she’s taking the kids for the whole weekend. I already packed them some bags and she dropped by earlier to pick them up. The weekend is all ours, sweetheart.”

You brows raised at that as you felt yourself smile. You had not expected this. You loved your kids, but you and Keanu really needed this time alone together. It had been way too long.

“All ours, huh?” You asked as you wrapped your arms around his neck. His hands came to rest on your waist. “Whatever will we do all weekend?”

“Oh, I have already thought that all out too,” Keanu said with a smirk.

He picked you up and threw you over his shoulder, making you squeal as you giggled. He walked out of the kitchen with you and headed up the stairs as you hit on his back, playfully.

“Keanu, there’s still groceries in the car,” you told him. “There’s milk and popsicles that will ruin!”

“Fuck the milk and popsicles,” he replied as he stepped into your shared bedroom and deposited you onto the bed. “We’ll go out and buy more. Right now I’m spending some time with my beautiful wife and making up for some lost time with her.”

You grinned at that as you sat up on your elbows. Keanu crawled onto the bed with you, placing his body on top of yours as he held himself up on his hands. You kicked your sandals off then opened your legs up to let him nestle himself between them as you laid back on the bed. He placed his lips on yours, kissing you with so much passion right off. You hummed as you felt his beard rub against your skin. You wrapped your arms around his neck and placed your hands in his hair. He nibbled on your bottom lip before he pulled away from the kiss.

“I’ve missed this so much, Y/N,” Keanu said as he looked at you.

“Me too,” you told him as you moved one hand to cup his cheek. “Let’s make up for lost time.”

Keanu smiled and pecked your lips a few times before he sat himself up on his knees. He pulled you to sit up as well before he took his shirt off, throwing it behind him. You bit your lip as his shirtless figure was on display for you. You placed your hands on his sides before you placed your lips on his stomach, kissing along his scar. He hummed as his hands moved into your hair. You continued kissing him in random areas as your hands moved to his belt, unbuckling it along with his jeans. You pulled his jeans down enough to reveal his boxer clad crotch. You moved your lips down over it and kissed him there, finding him already hard. His breath hitched at that as his hands tightened in your hair, slightly.

He pulled away after a few moments, however, and stepped off of the bed. He pulled all of his clothes off until he was left naked and bare before you. Your mouth was practically watering at the delicious sight of him.

Keanu started helping you out of your clothes next. He worked on taking your jeans and panties off of you while you pulled your shirt and bra off. You were both becoming pretty antsy and impatient at this point. He looked you over once you were naked and licked his lips before he knelt down on the floor. He grabbed your legs and pulled you to the edge of the bed more. He let the back of your thighs rest against his shoulders as you leaned up on your elbows to look at him. His face was right in front of your core. You could feel his hot breath on you, making you grow wet. He looked right into your eyes as he licked his lips again before he leaned in and started kissing along your pussy. You gasped at the feeling of his lips on you as you watched him. The scruff of his beard was rubbing against you too, which just added to the pleasure his lips were already giving you.

You reached one hand out and wrapped your fingers in his hair as you bit your bottom lip. The sight of him him buried between your legs was a glorious sight. You were shocked that you didn’t get off right then and there. His tongue soon darted out and swirled around your sensitive bundle of nerves. Your back arched at that as a moan fell from your lips, which was music to Keanu’s ears. It’d been so long since he heard that wonderful sound from you, which only encouraged him to pleasure you more. He let one of your legs fall from his shoulder as he moved his hand to your pussy, sliding one finger into your wet entrance.

“Keanu,” you moaned out as you fell back on the bed, moving your other hand into his hair as you pulled your foot up to rest on the bed. It was giving Keanu even more access to you.

He hummed as he moved his finger in and out of you, quickly adding another one into the mix. He sucked and licked at your clit in a greedy manner, enjoying the sounds he was pulling out of you as well as the taste of you against his tongue. It was making his cock grow harder with each passing second. His fingers curled inside of you, hitting your g-spot. Your hips bucked up into his mouth more as you called out his name. He moaned against you as he basically devoured you. You could feel that knot in the pit of your stomach ready to burst.

“I’m so close,” you moaned out as you gripped his hair a bit tighter. “Fuck, I’m gonna-”

You didn’t even get to finish your sentence before you’re orgasm came over you. You called out Keanu’s name as your back arched off of the bed. He groaned as he continued to work you through your orgasm. He moved his fingers out of you and licked you clean before he pulled back. You glanced down at him and saw your arousal covering his beard. He licked his fingers clean and you swore under your breath. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before he crawled up to your body. He pulled you up the bed with him till you were resting back against the pillows.

“I need you, Y/N,” Keanu groaned out as he nestled himself between your open legs. He grinded his hips into yours and you could feel just how much he needed you.

“Then take me,” you told him as you wrapped your legs around his waist.

Keanu growled as he took one of your hands into his, intertwining your fingers as he rest it by your head. He used his free hand to guide his hard cock to your entrance. He sunk right into you, groaning in pleasure as he did. You moaned at the full feeling he was giving you. He held your other hand down as he captured your lips with his own. You could taste yourself on him as your tongues moved together, passionately. He started pumping himself in and out of you at a good, steady pace. He swallowed down your moans as you did the same with his groans before he started kissing down your jaw.

“Keanu, feels so good,” you breathed out as he kissed around your collarbone.

He hummed his agreement and held your hands tighter in his own as his lips trailed down to one of your breasts. He placed open mouthed kisses on your nipple before his tongue darted out and licked around it. Your chest arched up into his mouth more as you moaned. He nibbled on the hardened bud before he did the same to your other nipple.

“Fuck, please go faster,” you moaned out as your hips moved with his.

Keanu brought his head back up. “Harder, baby?”

“Yes, please,” you begged him as you looked at him.

Keanu let go of your hands as he sat himself up more. One of his hands reached out for the headboard, holding onto it as his hips started snapping harder into your own. You gasped at the feeling and your hands flew up to his back, your nails dragging down the skin. He groaned at the feeling of your nails as his hips began speeding up. He was grunting and groaning with each thrust he made in and out of you. The tip of his cock was hitting your sweet spot right on.

“You feel so fucking good, sweetheart,” Keanu groaned out as he looked down at you, enjoying the way your breasts bounced with each thrust of his hips. “So tight and wet for me.”

You looked like a work of art to him. The way your face contorted in pleasure at what he was doing to you. Your bare body practically glowing. He’d never seen a more beautiful sight. His grip tightened on the headboard to the point that his knuckles were white.

You and Keanu were being as loud and as vocal as you wanted. You didn’t have to keep quiet because it was just the two of you and you both were making the most of it. He’d missed all of the sounds that you were making.

“So close,” you moaned out to him.

“You’re close?” He asked and you nodded your head quickly. “Cum for me then, Y/N. Let me feel you cum around me.”

He moved his free hand down and used his thumb to rub your clit to spur you on as his hips snapped harder. It didn’t take long until you came undone. You clenched around him as your eyes rolled into the back of your head and your toes curled. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d came so hard. Keanu was soon following you after you clenched around him. He groaned your name out in pleasure as his hips continued moving to ride out both of your highs. He stopped after a few moments and collapsed on top of you, making sure not to crush you. You wrapped your arms around him and held him close.

“It’s been way too long since I’ve had an orgasm like that,” you panted out with a giggle.

Keanu chuckled and kissed between your breasts before he raised his head up to look at you. He was panting as well.

“I’m gonna make sure that my baby doesn’t have to go that long again,” he told you and pecked your lips.

You smiled against his lips before he pulled away. You moved your hands up and cupped his cheeks. “Well, we do have the whole weekend to make up for it.”

“And you better believe I’m going to make up for it, sweetheart,” he told you with a smirk. “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll rock your world.”

You giggled at that and leaned into to kiss your attentive husband. It sounded like you would be busy all weekend, but you didn’t mind.

[glamrus-puta]

Help I Start School Tomorrow: A Check List

Do you need some sweet ass advice from somebody who’s spent no less than 18 years struggling through the muck of academia? Of course you do! Here’s a handy-ass dandy-ass guide to wtf should be going on in your pre-school prep!

Let’s get started~

1) What should I do with my day before I go back to the hell hole that is school?

I’m glad you asked! Do things that make the start of the semester feel like a fun and luxurious adventure awaits you! Especially for college and university people, the start of the semester loses pizzazz with age (and time).

Hype yourself up with some simple self care, these things don’t have to be expensive or cost anything at all if you can utilize what’s lying around in your kitchen, bathroom, neighbour’s house or wherever.

Wash your damn hair! Shower and take all the time you need, shave if you want to while you’re in there. The goal is to feel fresh and a lil less greasy the next morning.

Are you a lazy ass that doesn’t have time to moisturize? Me too! Get some Nivea in-shower lotion if you can, and before you towel dry douse yourself with baby oil gel (or literally just some olive oil or coconut oil- whatever you got lying around). Show yourself some love!!

Now is a great time to style your hair for tomorrow and protect it with a low pony or a night cap, btw

Do a face mask! Do a hair mask! Do a foot mask! Do whatever tf kind of mask you got handy! Use foods from your kitchen, or try Freeman masks they’re around 4$ each. Dollar store prices, department store quality.

Take an hour to fix your nails, toe nails, wax the stache or do any body maintenance you usually do. Pretend you’re going to a sick ass party and you’re grooming your meat vessel to perfection.

Lay out your sick outfit for tomorrow- pro tip: you want to be comfy and functional on buses/trains/on foot or however you commute. Think hard about the kind of weather you’ll be up against, and the general state of the terrain on your commute. Put your outfit on a hanger so it’s ready for tomorrow, even if you can’t do this every night during the school year it’ll get you in the right mental state to have your first day

Prep your meds! A big part of feeling good is taking our medications on time to reap their maximum benefits. Put them out on your kitchen counter if you think you’ll forget, go through your medicine cabinet: is there anything you need to remember to take with you to have during the day? Set alarms on your phone if (like me) you’ve got pills to take at different times of day- label them something that you’ll understand. (I use the names of the doctors that prescribed them so I know which pills are physical health and which are mental health).

Pack your lunch for tomorrow. Fruits and veggies bitch none of this “I’ll buy it when I get there” nonesense. Remember to stay hydrated! Bring some kind of receptacle to hold water/tea/coffee whatever. This is a solid habit to have year round, but remember the first couple school days can frazzle you pretty good and it’s good to have snacks on hand.

CLEAN YOUR GODDAMN ROOM. You’re gonna be shooketh in a bad way if you wake up on the first day of classes with a messy bathroom and shit strewn all over your sleeping space. Take all the time you need to put things lovingly away, if you’re feeling ambitious update your calendar and spray a little room spray or light a scented candle. Ooh la la

Do something fun. Do something distracting. Go out with a friend, read a book, take a couple hours of ‘me time’. You’ll be ready to die for it during the semester.

Feeling nervous? Call literally anybody you can stand to talk to for more than five minutes. Talk about dogs, talk about boats, ask them to guess how many jelly beans you’re holding right this second (sike b the answer is 0)- take a couple steps away from the whole school thing.

2) What the hell do I put in my backpack??

So this is where I fly into an unGodly rage. I’m so tired of seeing Instagram posts telling people their make up, perfume and breath mints are the most important of their school arsenal. What’s gonna save you when you bleed through your pants at school cause Aunt Flo decides to come chill on campus? Your perfume? Unlikely.

Here’s the real tea on what you should have in your bag, based on years of oopses, dire situations, and general mishap management.

A pencil case. Preferably full of writing implements. I can’t believe I have to tell people this but like......I do.....y’all childish

MEDICAL BAG: A small pouch is all you need! Tuck this away in your bag’s inside pocket, or in your purse, it could save not only your life but somebody else’s too. Get your prescriptions you need throughout the day like inhalers, anti anxiety meds, lactose intolerance pills, Imodium, symethicone etc.

Pack some ginger gravol (or regular drowsy gravol) for motion sickness or for when the flu season hits

Benadryl pills (and your epipen if you have one!) this is one of those things you should always have lying around at home and in your car

Alcohol swabs and band aids of your choice. Most pharmacies will sell 100 swabs for around 3$, look in dollar stores for discreet 1st aids packs and band aids. Stash them in your little pouch, it might not be you who falls down a flight of stairs and needs to bandage up their elbow- but at least you can help. (Based on a true story!!!!)

Panty liners/ tampons/ pads- this is another one of those things that others may benefit from

Get yourself a mini deodorant (3$ at Walmart) and wrap your hair ties around it. Double trouble, double storage capacity!

Tylenol/Advil, hunt around for little plastic pill holders like Pill Pals, they’re not usually more than 2 or 3 bucks and they hold A TON of pills

Vagina Bonus Round: do you take birth control? Have a tube of Canesten/Monistat/Vagisil or whatever for when the yeast season is upon us

Remember to carry your hospital card and/or medical insurance card on you at all times

Pharmacies will give face wipes individually wrapped for free. Usually brands like Cetaphil will dump them off as testers for customers- ask your local pharmacy cashier for stuff like mini hand creams, spf lip balms and face wipes. We’re happy to give them to you and you’ll get some real use out of them!

ASS WIPES. GET SOME. You can wipe down your bag with them, wipe down tables with them, flush them, and do all kinds of damage control. Trust.

Emergency money- the medical bag is a great place to hide emergency money (think bus fare, or 5$ for emergency food) because people are unlikely to rob what looks like a 1st aid kit

3. Friends come and go but portable chargers are forever- you can find cheap key chain ones at dollar stores. If you’re going to spring for one that lasts a few days on one charge I suggest the OKZU from Amazon. It’s HELLA SLIM and I can hold a charge for about 3 days before it reaches even 75% battery capacity. (It’s also the most budget friendly I’ve found to date about 14$ after shipping).

4. Remember make up, gum, little travel items and perfume can have a place in your bag but I would suggest transferring as much as you can into smaller and smaller containers. A whole bottle of perfume is a lot to carry around, imagine a water bottle bouncing around your bag- that’s the kind of space you’re using up. Be mindful of just how many books/ copy books/ textbooks you’ll be toting around and if it gets to be too much- get an actual tote!

5. A little clip on hand sanitizer never hurt anybody...also Kleenex I promise you’ll use it. (And if you don’t I’ll be there to borrow it lmao) ALLERGY SEASON BONUS ROUND: a small bottle of off brand artificial tears are great to stow in your glasses case for all those shitty October mornings where your eyes refuse to act like eyes and not the Sahara Desert 🐫 off brand artificial tears run for between 2-4$ at most Walmarts!

3) I’ve used my last 24 hours to get my shit together- but I have a horrible impending sense of doom! What should I do?

Ah anozzer day in bikini bottom, which means another day of crippling anxiety for 25% of adult Canadian students! (Wow that’s a lot of students!) Boy do I know how tough it is to be thrown back into the pressure cooker of life that we call school. Here are some tips from me to you that I hope help a little bit:

I believe in you! It’s not a tip, but I want you to know that I do. If you’re feeling unsure/ silly/ out of your element/ etc think about me wandering around just as confused as you are! And have a good laugh at my expense! Shoot me a DM, scroll around my nonesense blog- wow check me out I’m a real living person and I made this post for you- because why? I care about your well being! Sometimes it just helps to know that there’s somebody out there thinking about you and wishing for your safe return home at the end of the day~ for the start of your semester I’ll be that person. *smooch*

Arrive early! My therapist once told me that rolling out of bed five minutes before I have to be somewhere limits my chances of having a calm and meaningful experience where I’m going. I hate to admit it but she makes a good point. Wake up early and do something nice for you: have breakfast, just sit on your balcony and breathe some fresh air, pet your cat and gaze upon their stupid face. Take the time.

Arrive early BONUS TIP: get to where you’re going an hour early and just wander! Window shop, roam the building, learn where the fire exit is, sit outside on a bench and watch the students come in and out. The longer you chill at school the homier it’ll feel, and the more you feel at home somewhere the more you feel at ease. Strike up random convos with strangers if you’re feeling brave, or text an understanding friend to meet you there and roam alongside you.

Plan your day! Get an agenda if it’s in your means, or just scribble on some scrap paper. Make your grocery list, write your tasks of the day, your goals of the day, or even just a positive affirmation. Sometimes even when I know exactly what I’m doing that day, or have something trivial to do (like laundry) I’ll write down “do laundry” to feel like I have a clear path to follow.

Embrace your local accessibility Center and school councellor. Don’t live in fear of the resources your school provides. It seems scary/embarrassing/weird to have to have special accommodations to deal with your anxiety or depression but GIRL once you’re all set with the appropriate tools there’s truely nothing that can stop you. This was my experience anyway, but I strongly urge everybody I meet to take advantage of school services and wring them for all they’ve got. They’re there for you boo!

HOT TIP: feeling dizzy and overwhelmed on the bus? Look at the wall or something that isn’t moving. DONT LOOK OUT THE WINDOWS AS THIS MAKES DIZZINESS WORSE. Breathe in 2 beats and out 3 beats- this cuts your fight or flight. If you’re going to drink take small sips out of a straw or without moving your head. My GP gave me this advice and it’s saved my whole ass quite a few times.

Download free apps that are anti anxiety in the form of fun games. I’ve had positive results with Viridii (where you grow a little succulent garden) Tap Tap Fish (basically you’re a sentient coral that decorates the sea floor) and Polytap (you basically count the vertices of spinning polygons). A cursory google search will reveal more fun games for emergency anxiety relief! I also like to go on YouTube and search for positive affirmation anxiety videos, or storm/white noise/ ocean anti anxiety sounds the night before to get me in the right headspace to sleep!

So this has been your lightning round/ crash course for what to do the 24 hours before school! I hope you feel a little more prepared to take on the start of the semester!

A dios hoes!!

[cannonisland9-blog]

Christmas Beef: A Delicacy for Only Me

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Growing up, I never saw my mother let a bite of barley pass her lips. She grew up poor in post–World War II Japan, when polished white rice was scarce and therefore expensive, so barley was often served in its place. It wasn't the taste so much as the texture that put her off, that reminded her of her once-miserable existence—the ratty clothes, the run-down house, the hopeless prospects for a bookish girl in a sleepy seaside town in a culture she believed devalued women. "Never again," she once said when I asked her about her aversion to barley, and she might as well have been talking about those clothes, that house, being poor, or living in Japan, feeling imprisoned by circumstances beyond her control.

Scarcity has a way of stamping its mark on your life. My mother's dislike of barley was akin to the aversion Depression-era children in this country have to waste of any kind, particularly of luxuries, like pretty paper used for wrapping presents. It doesn't have to be a scarcity borne of privation, either; my father, whose family lacked for nothing except good taste, has spent a lifetime trying to make up for the insipid food he was served as a kid. I suspect that each and every one of us can trace some quirk or predilection or preference in the present to some absence in the past. For my part, I have a periodic need to eat rare or near-raw beef, which I can easily attribute to the fact that I lived in India for 14 years.

From 1986 to 2001, beef was our family's number one luxury, served only on the rarest of occasions, at the most special of meals, which, despite the fact that we weren't especially religious, included Christmas dinner. Foie gras and caviar couldn't even come close; it was possible to buy either if we had the money or the inclination,* but beef was entirely unavailable from butchers and grocery stores in New Delhi, because cows are considered sacred by the country's Hindu majority.

Raw pork was unavailable, too, although I’m not entirely sure why, but it never really rated quite as high on my list of coveted foods. I have no doubt that part of our reverence for beef was due to the fact that while the meat was unavailable, cows were everywhere; small herds of cattle walked the city streets by day, often gumming up traffic, and bedded down in parks at night, making all of us feel a little bit like castaways dying of thirst.

* Fun fact: After the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1991, the Indian black market was flooded with good caviar and high-quality cigarettes, which my parents snapped up for very, very cheap. When I moved to America when I was 18, I'd eaten more good caviar in my life than I had porterhouse steaks.

While beef was inaccessible to us, many other expatriates could get their hands on it—those who, through some affiliation with the various diplomatic missions in the city, had gained the privilege of shopping at the missions' commissaries. This led to some moments of envy that seem odd in retrospect. I clearly remember spending days yearning for the Rice-a-Roni that I'd had at some American kid's sleepover, solely because it'd had a fair amount of hamburger meat, and turning my nose up at some pilaf my mom had made to shut me up.

I felt the daily lack of beef all the more keenly, I think, because of the way my parents sought out and devoured it whenever we went abroad. In the United States, it was rare roast beef sandwiches, the beef sliced thin and topped with salt, pepper, mayo, and red onions—as a kid, I was astonished that this delicacy was available almost anywhere in the country. In Hong Kong, it was bowls of pho, with rounds of raw beef shingled on top. In Japan, when visiting my grandparents, we'd request shabu shabu as one of our first meals, and upon our arrival we'd be presented with platters of thin slices of beautiful beef, folded and layered in such a way as to seem an offering, the marbling so complete it looked like the meat had trapped lightning.

This kind of behavior can give you a reputation. To this day, all of my relatives believe I crave beef at all times, even though I have lived in the US for close to 20 years and am able to eat it whenever I like, and do, quite often.

One of the last times I saw my Japanese grandfather, I was visiting alone. When we sat down to dinner, my grandmother proudly set down a thin ribeye steak in front of me, barely browned on its exterior, raw on the inside. "You all always wanted to eat beef when you came," she said to me, even as she acknowledged that cooking beef, particularly steaks, wasn't her forte. I ate it happily—though it was a bit more on this side of moo than what the French might call bleu—but did forgo some of the gristlier bits, which my grandfather, a product of his times as much as my mother was of hers, didn't hesitate to pop in his mouth and gum until they'd given up their flavor.

A reputation is rarely unearned. Just the other day, my brother and I were reminiscing fondly—rapturously, if I'm being perfectly honest—about a tenderloin my uncle cooked one Christmas. Tenderloin has always been my father's family's traditional Christmas roast, and my uncle, who has a way with the grill, managed to achieve an appealing and totally complete char on the meat's exterior, even though the interior temperature can't have topped 110°F. I don't know that the rest of my family appreciated that meal, but my brother and I, the sole representatives of the family branch who had beef issues, couldn't stop going back for more helpings of that filet, the near-black crust ringing little rounds of meat the color of a bruise.

That's another of the habits scarcity brings into being: The moment that you're presented with whatever it is that you've been denied, your instinct is to gorge yourself beyond reason, to take in as much as you can, while you can. One summer my mother and I got stuck in an airport hotel in Bangkok, and while I can't remember why we were there, I do remember we ordered a Thai beef salad from room service, even though we weren't particularly hungry. I must have been quite young, since I was fiddling with a Game Boy when the salad arrived. When I finally looked up, my mother had already taken a bite. Her face was lit with what I can only describe as joyful determination, and she said, "It's good. Let's order another."

And we did, enjoying every last bite of what I think was sirloin, cooked rare over charcoal, dressed with cilantro, lime, fish sauce, red onion, possibly mint, and an abundance of fresh red Thai chilies. When we got the call that told us our flight had been delayed another couple hours, we ordered a third.

Since we couldn't buy beef in India, our only recourse was to bring it in ourselves, and so we did, every time we returned to the country. Right before we got on the plane, my parents would buy whole, frozen, untrimmed, vacuum-sealed muscles—tenderloins, flanks, strip loins—and we'd pack them in a suitcase that we'd brought along specifically for the purpose, which would then be checked in under the name of either me or my brother, a half-baked attempt to allay suspicion or mitigate whatever punishment we'd deserve from the customs authorities. As we got off the plane, we'd all be afflicted by the same anxieties over the beef in the checked bag: Had it defrosted too much? (Yes, invariably.) Would the bag have been flagged? (Yes, invariably.) Would we be able to get it out of the airport without paying for it, or having to throw it out?

At the baggage carousel, we'd pick up the suitcase, which, more often than not, would exude pink liquid in steady drips, and would have chalk scribbled all over it by the baggage handlers because of said mysterious pink liquid, and we'd place it on the bottom of one of those luggage carts, buried underneath all our other bags. As we walked past the customs officers, down the lane for those with nothing to declare, my brother and I were tasked with keeping pace with the meat-case on either side of the cart, to obscure any telltale chalk marks that might alert the authorities.

One of the benefits of having to buy beef in this way was that, from a very young age, I was able to watch as my father cleaned up the untrimmed muscles, a task he would've been entirely unqualified for were it not for the fact that we owned the first volume of Jacques Pépin's The Art of Cooking. Aside from being one of the most beautiful cookbooks ever published, it shows in clear step-by-step photographs every bit of butchery a cook could ever need, including how to skin a lamb. I'd watch, rapt, as my father used a not-very-sharp knife to cut away the sinew and fat, gradually revealing, like a little meat David, the blue-red beef buried underneath.

My parents weren't the fanciest cooks, so our Christmas meal was pretty straightforward, even if it felt very luxurious. It was the one meal for which we'd use an actual tablecloth, so white it was begging to be stained, and we'd set out the silver cutlery that was otherwise used only at Thanksgiving. We were all terrified that the tenderloin, so dearly purchased, would be cooked past rare, so we had an unspoken agreement that underdone was just as good as properly cooked. The beef was accompanied by nothing more than some sautéed mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and a Caesar-ish salad.

For a number of reasons, my wife and I typically spend Christmas Eve alone together, and we have adopted my family's Christmas dinner tradition as our own, with a few small changes. Of course, I don't have to cart frozen beef across national borders, and I don't have to do any trimming of whole muscles, and the two of us require only two generously sized filet mignons.

But everything else is the same: the mushrooms, the potatoes, the approximation of a Caesar (no egg, no croutons, but a bracing amount of anchovy in the dressing). While I cook my wife's filet to a perfect medium-rare using the reverse sear, I tend to cook mine on the stovetop, butter-basting over a medium flame. Not just because I want to cook my steak to a different temperature, but because I like the exterior to be a bit more well-done, and the interior to be a bit rarer, so that at its very center it's a little raw. It feels appropriate for a holiday spent, for reasons both practical and irrevocable, away from my family. Which is to say: It's a little blue, but not very.

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Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/2018/12/christmas-beef-a-delicacy-for-only-me.html

[secondhand-sheep-shack]

Eating better...or something

So grocery shopping happened last night by head of household. She bought eggs and butter and cat food - because 10 hours gone to do ALL the household shopping meant paper goods and cat food and eggs and butter. (Can I scream?) So I’m trying to make a shopping list to hopefully get 2-3 weeks worth of meals out of it and not break what’s left of my check. My list so far: Big bag of potatoes big bag of shredded cheese (it is the same price per # as the unshredded stuff and I don’t have to spend a day grating cheese) jar of shaker cheese Oatmeal PB (that's mine and I won't get yelled  at for using) PB powder 2 - 18 pk eggs  - again mine.  Dried onion Cheap beef roast that I can slice and saute  Whole milk for mixing with the protein powder I have left  big pack of flour tortillas  2 heads cauliflower Packet of ranch dressing mix Sour cream 2 cucumbers pt plain yogurt small bag mini chocolate chips 3-5# bananas 2-3 large grapefruit 3# bag frozen chicken breasts (probably walmart, aldi’s or the low-end kroger in town) my one splurge is 2 boxes of lipton cold brew teabags a month...though I’m down to using just one box because I can make a pot of tea at work and refrigerate half for the next day.

Pre-existing in house: 1# cream cheese, 16# of ham, strawberries, 6# of bacon (and a bunch of other unhealthy crap I can’t/won’t eat because it’s got mushrooms in it); yeast, flour, sugar, spices, enough fat free flavorless microwave popcorn to supply everyone in a large movie theater at least once, 6 cases of ramen - all of it chicken flavored and a lot of canned soup that would send me to the ER - again mushrooms and like 4 gallons of maple syrup if I cover every cabinet and freezer...and possibly sausage which I’ll check before I go.

Since I’m on the road most of the time and can barely manage single bites of lunch at work on the days I do work I’m thinking things I can eat that are high protein and energy that I can eat on the road or when I get to work a few minutes early. And lighter snacks but still higher in protein for later evening things since the  odds of finding a dinner thing happening when I get home requires days of pre-planning and me doing most of the work the night before (and no one else moving a muscle). My ‘healthy’ snack is always raw cauliflower or broccoli and ranch dressing - I figure I can save $ there and make my own. I usually end up with 3/4 cup of cauliflower and at most 2 tbsp ranch per ‘serving’.  Mostly I’m thinking eggs and potatoes and shit like that for weekday meals when I’m home and/or protein shakes to use up what I have until I find an alternative that doesn’t have artificial sweeteners in it or work out some other option. And protein oatmeal or smoothies or homemade oatmeal breakfast bars for both home and on the road breakfasts.  Meat in the house will disappear unless I pre-cook it into something like a thing we affectionately call “fighter bombs or scooby snacks - depending on who you ask - basically eggs, cheese, sausage, pepperoni and/or bacon (or chicken or beef) baked with a biscuit type bottom in a muffin pan. Mini ones work great for poppable snacks and regular size or large make a good meal or half meal. Things like bananas, eggs, milk, - shit that’s going to spoil and doesn’t handle pre-prep and freezing is going to be bi-weekly purchase. Most bananas will get mixed into bars or oatmeal pucks that I’ll be freezing and portioning out after they’re frozen.   But simply I’m tired of eating the same crap and always being (1) hungry (2) fed up with the option limits in the house (or 3) getting harassed for having a ton of x food in the house. If I pre-make things like oatmeal pucks or breakfast bars I can freeze and eat at work or when desired I can put them in the big freezer and not hear about it being in the way all the time.  This is (1) a stress reliever  and (2) a way to improve my diet AND not get harassed for my food being in the way or me getting home exhausted and bitching about not having anything to eat except fried everything. And it’ll save me buying breakfast or something on the way to work.  There’s always juice in the house, I tend to go for OJ, or something else that only I can have or like - that get’s bought without issue. And other than that I mostly only drink unsweetened black tea. Because I’m fucking weird. Am I insane? Is this going to work? Am I going to feel better because I’m not eating junk? Am I going to see the scale go south of 210 anytime soon doing this? Am I going to have more money each week from NOT having to buy breakfast each day?

[d-i-y--projects]

29 Products That'll Stop You From Wanting To Kill Your Roommate

Because you love EDM...but not at 5 a.m.   April 11, 2017 -  Jeff Barron

 https://www.buzzfeed.com/jeffbarron/things-to-keep-you-from-wanting-to-kill-your-roommate?origin=bru&utm_term=.ccLyaAnXm#.prOmZvLK7

 We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.

 1. This corner caddy to help keep the clutter down in your shared shower. Promising review: "Put it together in less than 10 min and looks very nice. Plenty of tension to hold lots of stuff." —JT9   Price: $30

2. A privacy bed tent that'll let others know when you reaalllllllllly shouldn't be bothered. Most promising review: "This is perfect for any college student or kid who just likes to have their own quiet space. This is tall enough to sit up in, but a cozy fort-like spot for my daughter to have some quiet space. It blocks out light nicely and is warm and cozy in her room, which can get chilly at night. Windows are also located at the top and bottom of the bed, which serve as doggy doors for us so our labs can get in and snuggle at night." —Jennifer Berkheimer  Price: $129.99

 3. A shower locker for insuring that all your expensive hair stuff is only used by *you*. Promising review: "Wow, I ordered this product as a request for my girlfriend (because we share an apartment with other people) and I expected it to be a cheap thing that can easily be tampered with—boy I was wrong! To my surprise, the locker is very high quality and does the job while looking cool in my shower. We're sharing hers right now, but I'm gonna get myself one and I think it's an awesome gift idea." —E   Price: $39.99

 4. A whiteboard/pushpin board so all your messages and bills stay in sight. Promising review: "Works great for leaving notes, writing down rent information, and posting up bills to show the roommates so they remember to pay." —Stephanie   Price: $19.87

 5. This pair of noise-canceling headphones for those times you need to block out the guests who have outstayed their welcome. Promising review: "The noise canceling on these headphones = amazing. Even without them connected, you can power them on and noise is significantly reduced." —Chris Roberts  Price: $99

 6. Plus a jar of sleep supplement gummies to really help you knock out early for that exam in the morning (even with all the noise).  Promising review: "I saw this product at a local store in the travel section and it works magically: I sleep like a baby. I purchased the mini packs for family and friends. I found a bigger bottle here and must say results are the same, I am able to get adequate sleep to function for school. Excellent product." — Pamela  Price: $13.99

 7. This grooming apron for keeping all those tiny shavings off the damn sink. Promising review: "The Beard Bib has been a godsend for solving our problems (a clogged drain and man hair everywhere on the sink, counter, and floor)! Not only did I purchase one for my bearded babe, but I sent my bearded brother one for his birthday. Both of my beard guys love their Beard Bibs; however, they both said to make sure you securely fasten it around the neck to minimize any stray hairs falling through at the neck. Guys, do your lady friends and loved ones a favor by ordering yourself a Beard Bib today! Now if only they would make one for downstairs manscaping....." —C. Andrews   Price: $29.99

 8. An eco trash can that'll make replacing the bag less of a chore.  Promising review: "I love this trash can. It's so convenient for the bathroom where you definitely need a liner bag. A great way to recycle your grocery shopping bags and keep them out of sight. When you're ready to take out the trash, you simply pull the liner out then shimmy up the next bag and you're good to go. The plastic is very durable and sleek looking. The handles on the two side arms are great too, and make this such an awesome overall design!" —J B   Price: $33.95

 9. A fridge locker to keep your most valuable snacks safe from wandering hands. Promising review: "Solid enough, it has little locking tabs that permanently lock it all together. This isn't for someone who has a criminal trying to steal your most valuable possessions, but it does the trick if someone is picking at your stuff and being inconsiderate. I mean, just be realistic with your expectations. I put mine in the fridge at work because I buy the expensive coffee creamer and nobody wants to contribute, so I'm not sharing, lol." —Ben Couse  Price: $19.95

 10. This smart plug that can be programmed to shut off the lights at night...so that no one can ever forget. Promising review: "Solid enough, it has little locking tabs that permanently lock it all together. This isn't for someone who has a criminal trying to steal your most valuable possessions, but it does the trick if someone is picking at your stuff and being inconsiderate. I mean, just be realistic with your expectations. I put mine in the fridge at work because I buy the expensive coffee creamer and nobody wants to contribute, so I'm not sharing, lol." —Ben Couse  Price: $19.95

 11. These padded latch catchers to stop common area doors from being slammed shut.  amazon.com  Promising review: "Does the job! No more clicking while opening or closing the door." —Amazon Customer  Price: $9.50

 12. A noise machine for blocking out sex grunting through paper-thin walls. Promising review: "I have been using this every night for 2 years. It really has changed the quality of my sleep. I really don't think this is a gimmick at all. As a college student who lives in a noisy dorm, this helps to block out a lot of the noise. I bring it home with me anytime I go home. I love this product so much I even chose this as the topic of a presentation for a sales class I was in. The class loved it!" —Amazon Customer   Price: $44.99

 13. This automatic ice maker so you'll never have to refill the ice trays again. Promising review: "This product works great! We use a lot of ice in our family. Our ice maker broke, so we bought this. It gives us plenty of ice, more than we could use most days. So we started bagging it up and putting it in the freezer. The color is a great complement to our kitchen. I would definitely buy it again if we needed one. It would also be a great gift for a college student. Or even to use in an office." —Tammy Turner  JS / Amazon / Via amzn.to   Price: $89

 14. A bill-splitting app to help sort out who pays what on which bill. Promising review: "Hands down the best app for sharing trip expenses and for recording all your money transactions with others." —smankala  Get it from the App Store or the Google Play store for free.   itunes.apple.com

 15. This magnetic dishwasher indicator to rid you of the clean/dirty dish mystery. Promising review: "We have kept saying that we needed a magnet every time that my husband would unload dirty dishes and put them away in the cupboards!! This solves so much frustration! It has a nice magnet backing for use on dishwashers with stainless fronts, and little sticky circles to use on a plastic front." —Never Too Old To Learn    amazon.com   Price: $13.90

 16. This notepad to let others know when you're down to the last bits of your last grocery trip and it's time to go shopping.  Promising review: "I'm going into my third year of college and have tried so many different weekly planning systems that just didn't work out for me. With this, I can just rip out a new sheet each week and stick it in the front of my binder." —Nicole Harris  amazon.com    Price: $7

 17. A letter rack that'll make it easy to sort through all the mail — it even has little hooks for your keys.  amazon.com  Promising review: "I received this product exactly as shown, mounting hardware included. I am incredibly satisfied. The color is more metallic than the picture can convey, but this product is gorgeous. I have roommates and this solved our mail issue. No more cluttered counters or tables." —Amazon Customer   Price: $14.97

 18. Some Poo-Pourri to keep on top of the toilet, because you really just don't want to be that ~acquainted~ with your roommates.

amazon.com

Promising review: "Really everyone should buy this stuff. It actually works and it makes it waaay easier to live with roommates." —Jeanette Decker

Price: $8.99

 19. This TubShroom for stopping all your hair from clogging up the drain.

amazon.com

Promising review: "Ever since I moved into my apartment, I've had trouble with the drain in my tub clogging. I have long hair, my roommate sheds something fierce, I have a cat that enjoys the finer things in life like drinking water from the bottom of the shower, and a dog that needs regular bathing. I'd been buying liquid drain openers and using those zip line uncloggers for over a year before I finally saw a video for TubShroom on my FB feed. I have to say that I'm really glad I did." —Bonnie E. Morton

Price: $12.99

 20. These color-coded bins to make recycling easier and much more clear.

Simon / Amazon / Via amzn.to

Promising review: "It's a huge pain to recycle at my house, so I just didn't do it. My roommate decided he wanted to recycle and brought two trash cans inside where we put our recyclables: this was disgusting to me, so I bought this set. The house is cleaner and smells better. I think he's happier too, because he can separate and bag them up easier to take to the recycling center." —Honest_Reviews

Price: $39.99

 21. Or if you prefer recycling bags, these will also do the job at a cheaper price. amazon.com

Promising review: "I always want to recycle, but never really got myself organized enough to really do it. Bottles and cans would pile up on my counters, and I was too lazy to do anything with them so I'd just throw them away. I'm one of those people, if I have an organized system to follow and spot to put everything, I'll keep up with it. These bags are a huge help." —Liz Price: $19.95

 22. This door guard that'll help block out sound as well as cold drafts.  amazon.com

Promising review: "Sure glad I got this thing. Though I do not use mine for its intended purpose. While it does stop the draft through the big gap under the door between my roommate's room and my area, what I got it for was to block sound, which is also does very well." —Josh P. Price: $14.99

 23. These reusable chalkboard stickers so there's no question as to what's in that weird jar in the pantry.

amazon.com, Lexi Foster / Via amzn.to

Promising review: "This is such a great value for the price! You get 90 in all different shapes and sizes. It also comes with a white paint pen to write on them! I have been doing so much reorganizing and these really come in handy. So far I have used them on clear containers in my pantry and on storage boxes in my craft closet." —Carson Paige Dickens Price: $7.99

 24. Or a label maker to help you keep track of what's yours.  amazon.com

Promising review: "Awesome product! I have two roommates, and this helps me keep track of which things in our kitchen are mine. Helps me keep everything in storage organized for me. Really fun to use!" —sbisese  Price: $14.99

 25. Some pod detergent to keep in your room (so you don't have to lug the jug back and forth to the washer).  amazon.com / Via amzn.to

Promising review: "It makes laundry in college so much easier, enough said." —Maynor Morales   Price: $19.97

 26. These anti-snoring devices for keeing those z's down to a reasonable level. amazon.com

Promising review: "These nose vents are wonderful. I have been using nose strips, but the glue is so hard on the nose. I decided to try these. I can't believe the difference and the effect these have." —Vonnie  Price: $14.70

 27. And a jar of earplugs for the nights when those devices aren't working.  Amazon Customer / Via amzn.to

Promising review: "As a college student with ridiculously loud roommates who blast rap and electronica music at 2 AM in the morning in party central town, these earplugs are a lifesaver." —Andrew  Price: $8.99

 28. A Nest thermostat to put an end to the temperature wars.   amazon.com

Promising review: "I purchased this thermostat for a home I live in with roommates. It works even better than I thought. Not only can I lock the temperature using the app on my iPhone, but it shows me when someone changes the temperature. I keep track of my power bills as well, and over the last 6 months it has reduced them." —SpeedRacerMann  Price: $247

 29. And a personalized mug that no one else will be able to pass off as their own.   amazon.com

Promising review: "A well designed and great mug. Writing was perfect and delivered intact." —Lady Justice  Price: $11.99

 https://www.buzzfeed.com/jeffbarron/things-to-keep-you-from-wanting-to-kill-your-roommate?origin=bru&utm_term=.rf4DLYdl6#.tqABDzXWe

[bubblegumfringe]

TAKING A TRIP - How travelling changed my perspective on just about everything

I was lucky enough to visit my sister all the way in the UK back in 2015. Since I’ve never been to England, this was a very exciting time for me. It wasn’t going to be my first rodeo - I also lived in Holland for a year (I was only 18 - that’s 8 years ago!). I was so young & stupid back then, so I think I never really understood just how lucky I was being in another country, on the other side of the world - 9688.25 km from home.

But oh, how times have changed! Ever since my trip to England, and with age, I have found travelling to be something to treasure forever. It’s something you just simply can’t always put into words; the exploring, the sightseeing; and the mere experience of discovering things you thought you could only dream of. Most of the time it really does feel like a dream.

Travelling has helped me see things differently, experience things more intensely and I believe, has shaped me into the person I am today.

So instead of only treasuring these moments in my mind forever, I thought it would be fitting to share what I’ve learned about travelling - and how crucial I think it is for humankind to explore as much as we possibly can.

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” -  Anita Desai

I think our modern, busy lifestyles have become so ‘normal’ and mediocre, that we start living for the weekends - and I’m talking from an average middle-income citizen perspective. #BlueMonday and #TGIF (Thank God it’s Friday) are always trending on social media networks. And why? Because we don’t do enough to satisfy our natural desire to explore, especially during the week.

Yes, if we’re lucky enough, we have a job/office to go to every week. I mean, I need to work, I need to earn a living and I need to work to survive. But I am simply not made to do only that, and definitely not made to live fully only 2 days of the week.

Where the adventure started

I traveled to Holland a few months after finishing high school. I wasn’t quite certain what I wanted to go study & get a degree in (realizing now that a degree is important, but it’s not all there is to life). I knew I wanted to do something related to the creative industry, but what that something was, I wasn’t sure. So I decided to go study visual arts in Holland - a 4-year degree course. Surely that would be enough time to decide what kind of industry I want to pursue.

I must add, I was quite ‘lucky’ to have parents willing to help me pursue my wants & dreams. I am very thankful for the opportunity to go study overseas & I know not everyone has the privilege to do so.

Knowing this, even at the young age of 18, made me appreciate the experience even more. I will never forget hopping on the plane after saying goodbye to my family, thinking this is my time to figure things out. I was going to go stay in Holland with my boyfriend of 2 years (at that time) and figure out what career path I wanted to pursue (one does stupid things when you’re young & in love).

Every day I would ride my bicycle to and from college, taking in as much as I possibly can at class and working very hard to do the best I possibly can on all my projects. In a few months, I learned to semi-speak Dutch and I could write full essays in another language. (My home language is Afrikaans - a language very similar to Dutch; and with the help of a few language classes, learning Dutch was quite easy).

I did very well in college, as I’ve always been a hard worker, but looking back now, I regret working so hard and not playing more. After about 10 months of living in Holland, I had become quite weird in a sense - I wasn’t myself. As an introvert, I couldn’t easily crack silly jokes with my new Dutch friends. I don’t know if it was a language barrier since I couldn’t speak Dutch fluently or what, but something never felt quite right. I simply couldn’t be ‘myself’. I enjoyed living in Holland a lot, but soon I became bored of my college course; not enjoying the work we did & after long contemplation, I decided I would head back home after the 1st academic year.

Long story short, I got a certificate for finishing my first year at Academie Minerva, I packed my bags and took a flight back to Cape Town. I was now in a long distance relationship that came to an end not long after.

While living in the Netherlands, I traveled a bit during semester breaks. I visited Greece, Paris, Germany and Venice. I will never forget the sights, the people, and the culture during these trips. I live for moments like these - Taking my camera & capturing everything I thought worthy of a photograph.

Till this day, I will never exchange the year I spent in Holland for anything in the world, and looking back now - with more wisdom and experience, I wish I had stayed longer. But I also believe everything happens for a reason.

Once I got back to Cape Town, I decided I wanted to focus on something more specific - so I did a 3 year Graphic design course. Best decision I’ve ever made. College days were rough, projects on projects on projects. Back then, I also lived for weekends.

I made sure that every weekend, I would pack my backpack and head out on a hike with friends or go visit a small nearby town, exploring every corner of every little street. These moments were my high in life.

Discovering what travel means

I got my first full-time job a few months after graduating in 2014. I started working at a digital marketing agency. Started at the bottom - designing web banners and helping out with every small design task that would come into the studio - and there were a lot of small tasks. I worked hard, long hours. Living for weekends.

After working at the studio for about 3 months, my sister invited me to come visit her in the UK. My company was kind enough to allow me 2 weeks of leave to head to England. I believe this trip is what made me fully realize just how amazing our world is & how much there is to see & explore.

As I walked through the streets of Reading (a town just outside of London), snapping pictures left, right and center, I stopped for a moment. I put my camera in my bag and just stood there, taking in all the people walking past: the mom and child hurrying with bags from the grocery store; and the old man walking with his dog. I thought to myself, wow…this place is simply amazing, but just like back home, everybody is simply living - hustling and bustling.

We visited London, saw all the best tourist attractions. I drank coffee and explored Camden with my sister. Remarkably, the coffee stops, street walks and lunch talks with my sister are some of the moments I remember best. I saw things that I used to only see in pictures. Street art that made me stop and stare.

We were having coffee at a Burger King somewhere in London. I was staring out the window, looking at all the people walking past, thinking to myself these people look so interesting, so different to what I’m used to. I don’t know what it was about them that made them different, they were just different. And I liked it.

I stared into the distance of the streets, studying every building and every corner of every shop sign. Everything looks different.

It was in that moment that I realized it’s not necessarily the cities I visit or international places I travel to that makes me want to see more and more, but it’s the feeling I get when I see something I haven’t seen before.

And then I remembered, I’ve had this feeling before. Back when I was on my bicycle riding through the streets in Holland, at 10pm at night. I had stopped and stared up at the buildings next to me, thinking “wow, this place is amazing, this almost feels unreal.” Back then, I couldn’t yet understand what this feeling meant and how to describe it. Now, I know. The mere fact of experiencing or seeing something new, something I haven’t yet experienced or seen, is what made me happy.

England was great. The place is absolutely beautiful. I would go back in a heartbeat if I get the chance. Waking up each day, knowing there are new things to see and do - never knowing what to expect.

This was 2 years ago -  moments of exploration and discovery that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Travel as much as you can

Today I sit in our office, knowing that when I’m done with work I’ll probably be too tired to go on an adventure, but I still try to plan a little something-something at every chance I get. And when I do get to go on an adventure, I feel like myself again. Something in me saying “I have seen and experienced something new today, so it’s okay to call it a day.”

Something as small as going for a walk during lunch time, taking my iPhone with me and capturing a pretty building, is what makes me feel whole. Sitting down, drinking a coffee and staring at different people walking past, people I have never seen before, is what makes me feel alive.

Hopping on a plane is one thing, but to truly travel, you must learn to live in the moment and take in as much as possible. Seeing new things; and not getting stuck in a daily routine of heading to work, walking the same pathway, talking to the same employees, staring at the same equipment, eating dinner and going to bed - is what I live for.

To travel, doesn’t necessarily mean buying a plane ticket to the furthest international place. You don’t have to travel far to feel like you’re on the other side of the world. This is what traveling has made me realize. The world is a big place and I yearn to see it all. One stop at a time. Even if the stop is my hometown for now.

We tend to work ourselves into a coma, put savings aside for holidays, rushing and not really living. Why not live while you’re also saving for your overseas trip?

Reality is that I will probably only be able to go overseas again next year, since I know I can’t afford it right now. But I am planning several explorations for the rest of the week and the week after that. And I will never stop dreaming of (and planning) the exploration after that and the exploration after that.

After all, “people have an innate human desire to just get out there. We are, deep down, a species of people who, for the most part, like to, at least for some time, explore”. - Jofo.

I’m pretty sure a lot of people are content, maybe even super happy spending their whole life in one town, visiting the same bar, the same mall, the same beach. I do, however, believe that travelling makes your soul grow. Travelling in the sense of exploring places you haven’t explored before. 

- Try it, it might surprise you.

Image credit: David Marcu

[ultralifehackerguru-blog]

New Post has been published on http://www.lifehacker.guru/are-meal-kits-really-cheaper-than-groceries/

Are Meal Kits Really Cheaper Than Groceries?

Blue Apron claims the grocery store is “70 percent more expensive” than its service. Home Chef cites a TV news investigation that found a slight savings over groceries. But then I look in my meal kit and see I spent $20 for each meal that barely feeds two people. What gives?

While I enjoy Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, I definitely pay a lot less than $20 for non-kit meals that I make for myself and my husband. So, how can these companies claim they’re cheaper? In part, because they decide what we’ll be comparing. They send out a box with three totally different meals, and to make a fair comparison the experimental grocery shopper buys the exact same ingredients for the exact same menu. Typically the meals don’t share any components, and they often involve an exotic ingredient or two. So yes: if your diet was made entirely of Blue Apron recipes, you’d have a hard time keeping up for $20/meal.

Sensible meal planning, on the other hand, fits your meals together Tetris-style: Monday’s leftover chicken is the base for Tuesday’s dinner, and the scallions you bought for Tuesday will also go into the batch of salsa you’re whipping up this weekend. If you’re smart about this, you can save a ton of money.

It’s this difference in approaches, not the price of ingredients, that affects the bottom line when we compare groceries to meal kits. Let’s take a look at what a week of Blue Apron costs, and what our alternatives are.

Shopping on Blue Apron’s Terms

I looked up prices on FreshDirect for the top three recipes featured on Blue Apron’s website this week: Roasted pork and mustard pan sauce with asparagus and fingerling potatoes, Tandoori style chicken and rice with summer squash and raita, and Nashville style hot catfish with red cabbage, apple, and pecan slaw. Most of the things on my shopping list were not on sale, but I “bought” whatever was the best price, usually for the smallest amount that didn’t look like a ripoff.

Alternative strategy: Build your meal around what’s on sale, and what your store routinely offers at low prices.

Most of the items I put in my cart were bigger than I needed. For example, a five-pound bag of flour when the recipe called for a tablespoon. In real life, I already have a bag of flour at home, because that’s something I’ll use many times before it goes stale. Other items are trickier: I don’t eat much mustard, so an almost-full jar of mustard is, indeed, likely to go to waste. If I really had my heart set on pork with mustard sauce, I’d probably also try to work a few mustard-containing sandwiches into next week’s lunch.

And in that case, I’d probably want to roast enough pork to have leftovers for sandwiches, too. So I’d buy a big tenderloin instead of a one-pound portion. In fact, I could extend this strategy to some of the side dishes. I could buy extra fingerling potatoes and use some of the mayonnaise left over from the catfish recipe to put together a potato salad.

Alternative strategy: make more meals with the same ingredients to get the most out of things you have to purchase in large quantities.

And the Total Is…

I used FreshDirect prices for everything except the Tandoori seasoning, which I found on another website. If I were designing this meal plan myself, I wouldn’t make Tandoori chicken unless I had the seasoning, or knew where to get it. (In fact, I own all the ingredients, so I could mix my own.)

Alternative strategy: Cook what you know (or can reasonably acquire). Less fun but more practical.

The grand totals still show groceries coming in cheaper than Blue Apron, but only when you don’t consider waste or leftovers. (You can see my calculations in this spreadsheet.) Compared to $20 for each two-person meal, my meals came in at $18 for the pork (seems to be an off-season price for the asparagus, hmph), $15 for the Tandoori chicken, and $12.32 for the catfish. That goes down to $10 if I put back the catfish and the spice blend and instead pick up the cajun-seasoned catfish fillets that were on sale.

Here’s what I mean about leftovers. A $3.99 six-pack of Persian cucumbers means I counted a single cucumber as $0.67—but of course I spent a lot more than that. (In real life, I would have to also buy a tub of hummus to ensure I had a tasty way to snack on the cucumbers.)

When Meal Kits Are Worth It

The truth is, meal kits aren’t just a source of food: they are also a service that designs recipes, decides how to combine them, and delivers them to your door. They do this to their liking, so if Blue Apron gets a good deal on bulk Tandoori spices, that’s what you’ll cook with. They give some to you, and some to your neighbor down the street. If you’re doing this all on your own, you get to see to the distribution and consumption of everything yourself.

So as a smart, shopping-savvy consumer, I can conclude that Blue Apron doesn’t plan my meals as well as I would plan them myself.

But I’m not actually that smart and savvy all the time. I’m busy, and when I’m not being busy, I’m kind of lazy. You know what I eat when I don’t have a Blue Apron box on my doorstep? I eat whatever I can buy cheap in the frozen section at Trader Joe’s.

Alternative strategy: Kati pouches, which I am aware are basically hot pockets. Shut up.

So I’m paying the meal kit people to come up with ingredients that taste delicious together (meal kits have rarely let me down), to decide what’s on the menu for this week, and to actually ship it to my house. Sometimes I find recipes I like online, but there’s about a 70 percent chance I’ll let the recipe sit in an open browser tab for literally forever.

On the other hand, $10 for my half of a meal that is still not very filling is what I’d pay at Panera or Chipotle—and there, somebody else cooks it for me. For $13 I can order my favorite Thai curry and not only does someone else cook it, they’ll even deliver it to my door. Those extra few dollars (plus tip) buy me time to sit on my butt during the 30 minutes immediately before eating, instead of standing in the kitchen chopping vegetables and trying to pick all the thyme leaves off their stems.

Alternative strategy: just get something delivered.

In total, the cost of $20 per meal is fine. It’s not amazing, but it’s not a ripoff either. You’re paying for food, delivery, and for freedom from the mental effort of planning meals and using up leftovers. Sometimes I’m a little disappointed when the meal is something I routinely make myself, but other times the kit introduces me to a new flavor (hello, garlic black bean sauce) that I wouldn’t have gambled on otherwise.

Meal kits are only worth it, though, if you enjoy cooking and want to put in the work for a fresh, interesting meal. Otherwise, Trader Joe’s and takeout are always there for you, and they’re cheaper.

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[robertsneagle]

50 Ideas to Organize Your Home

When you have a home, you have a need for home organization. Fact is, we all have “stuff”. And “stuff”, can end up slowing down our day, and ruffling our feathers in the evening. “Stuff” quickly becomes clutter, and who wants that?

If you have stacks of papers that belong no where, crazy and chaotic mornings, or lost car keys, check out these easy ideas.

 Evenings/Mornings:

1. This one is pretty self explanatory… Lay our everything you are going toneed in the morning the night before, and teach your kids to do the same. Photo below by ‘BHG‘.

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2. Have a central area for purses, keys and your wallet. Always put it there. Always.

3. Set out everything for breakfast that is non refrigerated, right down to the spoons. Obviously, this means knowing whats for breakfast the night before. No stops at Krispy Kreme, ok?

  4. Write up a daily to do list for the next morning on your smart phone and put priority items first. Move items from today that didn’t get done into tomorrows list. Update your calendar. We like an app called “Cozi“. It has the capability to handle your whole families activities, and you can even keep your grocery list there. This calendar lets each family member share with one, two or all other members what their schedule is. It can also send you email reminders, like for trash day. Oh, and it’s free. Photo by ‘Container Store‘.

  5. Go get gas, pick up the first graders cupcakes, or get that pencil sharpener that your high schooler can never seem to find. Don’t put off errands ’till morning when everything is busy.

     Bathrooms:

6. Keep your bathroom paraphernalia out of sight when not in use. Buy a plastic carry all with a handle on top, or a pretty basket. Put all of your make up, deodorant, hair spray, razors, etc. into the container and place under the counter. Bring it out when you need it, then always put it right back underneath.

  7. Shower caddies are essential for keeping the shampoos, conditioner, face scrubs and specialty in-shower treatments from taking over the whole space.  (Guilty.) This one is from ‘The Container Store‘.

  8. Squeegee your shower doors after every single shower. Keeping the squeegee right in the shower makes that easier. Add a little suction cup hook if you need. If you have a shower curtain, use a daily shower spray to keep clean up from being impossible when you finally get around to a whole bathroom cleaning.

9. A strip of magnetic tape (any craft store) or a magnetic knife holder can help keep items like nail clippers, tweezers and scissors handy.

10. Use those wasted corners and awkward space to put in a freestanding cabinet to add storage. Photo by ‘BHG‘. Remember to repurpose to save bucks, paint is everything!

  11. Once a month, go through your bathroom cupboards and drawers and throw away old or ineffective products you never use.

12. Roll your towels and use them as decor tucked into pretty baskets on piled on a bench.  Check out our post on DYSS on DIY bathroom towel storage! Photo by ‘BHG“.

  13. Use wall hooks for hanging towels, robes and clothing. Behind the door is a great way to use wasted space.

14. Use drawer organizers for makeup, jewelry, ponytail holders, and other loose items. Or make your own. Try our post on budget make up storage for ideas.

15. Use pretty floating shelves to add storage above the toilet, and add value to the room. Need tutorials? DIY floating shelves.

16. Use a timer in each bathroom, and use it… This is great for getting out the door on time, AND getting teenagers out of the shower.

  Closet:

17. Place color separate baskets in your closet for laundry,  and one for dry cleaning. This will save you time sorting clothes, and you will always know when you have enough colors for a full load.

  18. If you haven’t worn it in a year, donate it. Goodwill and some other charities even take worn out clothes, as it employs people while they are redirected to recyclers.

19. Sort your clothes by season, and only keep the present season in your closet. Pack out of season clothes away in an under bed storage container. DIY under bed storage ideas!

20. Put your clothes in categories that work for you. Color, formality, type or office wear are good places to start. This will save you time putting together outfits, and save you money from re-purchasing items you didn’t remember you had, as they were buried in the closet… somewhere. Inevitably to make their re-appearance right after the return window on your new item has expired.

21. Recycle wire hangers. Clothes simply slide off of them to the floor. Get velvet hangers at Costco to hold even the slinkiest silk dress. Or make your own with this tutorial on no slip hangers by Diane from ‘In My Own Style’.

  22. Use a system for hanging scarves and belts. Shoving them in a drawer is no good for anyone.

23. Use a shoe rack. Rotate out of season shoes just the way you rotate out of season clothes. No reason for six pairs of leather boots to bury all your cute sandals in July.

24. Use hooks on any closet wall space to hang purses, jackets, and accessories. Photo by ‘HGTV‘.

  25. Use vacuum sealed bags to store out of season clothes in a tight space. Just don’t use this method on delicate fabrics, as the wrinkles could become permanent.

  Kitchen:

26. Organize your kitchen cabinets into categories. Make sure your cups are near the fridge so you can easily pour that afternoon juice, and your utensil drawer is near the dishwasher so you don’t have to make ten trips across the kitchen. Pots and pans? Near the stove. Kids plates? On a lower shelf so they can get to them without calling you from the first bath you have had in a month. Getting it?

  27. Keep whatever you use for a pantry immaculate. No where does clutter make more of a mess than with food.  Try our post on organizing your pantry.

28. Add a kitchen island to a small kitchen to increase storage and prep space. No worries, we’ve got that covered for you too. DIY kitchen islands, and more DIY kitchen islands! Want some more? Try this DIY rolling kitchen island from Jen at ‘House of Wood’!

  29. Use an inexpensive plastic lazy-susan in the back of deep cupboards, so you never forget whats hiding back there!

30. Try to store tupperware in a drawer rather than a shelf, as that way you will always be able to find a matching lid.

31. Only keep things on the counter you use often. We only keep the Vita Mix and the Keurig on the counter, even the toaster goes in the pantry and gets brought out daily when needed. And if I could convince my other half, the Vita Mix would go under the counter too! (Not the Keurig folks, at this very minute I’m sipping its second offering of the day.)

32. Do you have cards and scraps of paper with scribbled recipes on them? I don’t even care if they are printed from your computer, time to come into the 21st century people. “Evernote” is a free app, where you can take photos of each recipe with your phone or tablet, add them and even organize them into folders. (Thanks to reader Karen for this tip!)

33. Have a whole closet full of plastic grocery store bags? Tuck 10-20 into one or two bags to hang onto, then recycle your plastic bags folks!

34. Keep your fridge clean. Every time you go to the grocery store, make sure to clean out the old food and toss. Rotate older food into the front so it is used up first. Try these 7 steps to an organized fridge. Jessica at ‘Four Generations, One Roof‘ uses containers to hold containers in her fridge. Love this idea!

  Kid’s Room:

35. Hang a hoop over a laundry basket for slam-dunking dirty clothes.

36. Or, place a two-compartment hamper in your kid’s room so he or she can sort light clothes from dark clothes as they undress.

37. Use poster putty in your child’s room and have your child display his or her favorite artwork all on one wall, gallery style.

38. Hang a net from the ceiling to store stuffed animals, dolls, or action figures.

39. Add wall mounted bookshelves and help your child organize their books. Make sure you remember if you place a large bookshelf in a child’s room, bolt it to the wall for safety. Need ideas? Try our post at DYSS on creative bookshelf projects.

40. Buy the kids their own alarm clocks and teach them how to get up on time. By themselves. Without you.

  Misc.

41. Make sure everything in your house has a home. Teach all family members to mind their own messes. For example, if you take it out, put it back; if you open it, close it; if you throw it down, pick it up; if you make a mess, clean it up; and so on.

42. Put wastebaskets in every room and place several unused trash bags in the bottom of each one. This will eliminate countless trips to retrieve new trash bags and give all family members a place to throw away their trash.

43. Make sure the remotes have a drawer, basket or shelf to live on. How often have you found it under the sofa?

44. Use a plastic caddy to store cleaning supplies in and tote it from room to room.

45. Use a plastic laundry basket for quick pick up and transport of toys to their proper homes each evening.

46. Make a designated area for homework, crafts or sewing. You can create a very organized space in a small area, and that prevents you from having projects strewn all over the house. Photo of this craft area by ‘Country Living‘.

  47. Each night before bedtime, have all family members pick up clutter for 15 minutes. Make a game out of it and see who can pick up the most things in the shortest amount of time.

48. Have one designated spot where kids are to leave school flyers, permission slips that need to be signed and school photo envelopes. Make this part of the nightly “laying out for tomorrow” habit.

49. Make a master grocery list on the app or website of your choice. Categorize the groceries into sections such as frozen, dairy, and so on. In each category, list the most frequent items that you buy. Organize the grocery list according to the way your favorite grocery store’s isles are set up. Make sure each adult or teenager has the app loaded on their phone as well. If they forget to add Pop Tarts to the list, then they are eating oatmeal.

50. Don’t leave things ’till later. Procrastination is the number one cause of clutter and mess. Take care of it right then and there.

Make sure your home runs as smoothly as it can, and that you can take the time to enjoy it, instead of always dealing with clutter and chaos.

Image Credits: Country Living, BHG, Good Housekeeping, Container Store, Interior Design Inspiration, HGTV, House of Wood, Four Generations, One Roof

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Original Entry Source: http://www.thebudgetdecorator.com/50-ideas-to-organize-your-home/

[coolkitchenthings]

Best Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen Like a Pro

Top Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen

   3 Tips for Getting Your Kitchen Organized

by Kimberly Hensle Lowrance

The busy school year is quickly approaching, and to be prepped for the hustle and bustle, your kitchen could probably use a touch up. The fall, right on through the winter, is often our busiest time. And much of that time is spent….in the kitchen.

In anticipation, I’m getting a head start on the back-to-school rush with a kitchen shape up. I’m sharing three no cost (and super easy) ways to get ready for what I know will be a hectic season.

Each of these organization tips can be done in 15 minutes. (Set a timer to keep yourself on track, if you’d like!) Do them all together or spread them out over several days.

1. Clean Out Your Storage Containers

Mismatched storage containers filling up drawers and cabinets in your kitchen? You’re not alone—and now is the time to get rid of the mess.

Take out all of the containers and lids from their hiding places. Place them on your countertop or table for easy access. (Put on some fun music to entertain you while you work!)

Wipe down the drawers and cabinets these containers reside in, and recycle containers and lids that are cracked, broken, or without a match.

Tip!  Recruit your kids to help, making a game of who can match the most bottoms with tops.

Once the tops and bottoms are paired up, put them back in their place and high five your helpers!

2. Consolidate Your Spices

​I’m always surprised how easily spice containers accumulate in my kitchen. Half used containers of rosemary, thyme, and basil tell the story of delicious meals—but overstuff my cabinet. If you have the same problem, consider purging your spices as part of your back-to-school campaign.

Take all of your spices out of their cabinet or drawer, sorting them by type. Wipe down the space where you store them. Throw away expired spices, recycling their containers.

Consolidate multiple jars of the same spice together, and make a list of which spices you’re missing for your next trip to the grocery. Consider adding purchase dates to the tops of your spice containers so you know how long they’ve been in the cabinet.

​Place the spices back, using an organization technique that works best for you—like alphabetical or by use.

​Tip!  Keep out one spice you haven’t used in while, and pledge to cook a meal with it that week; it will be your reward for your hard work!

3. Gather Your Glassware

​From well-beyond-their-time sippy cups to chipped coffee mugs, the shelves that hold glasses and mugs get filled up quickly.

Make time for another kitchen purge by taking all of the glasses and mugs out of your cabinets and cleaning off the shelves once they’re empty (Pause and appreciate that emptiness—looks great, right?).

​Recycle anything that’s damaged. Put the beer glasses from college and the kids’ outgrown cups from toddlerhood in a bag to donate.

​Only put back in the cabinet that which you will use, organizing the glasses by size so you can see what you have with one glance.

Tip!  If possible, move the kids’ cups and glasses to a low shelf so they can help themselves.

You’re done! Pour yourself a glass of something cool to drink, toasting the completion of another organization to-do.

​Did you finish all three steps? Congratulations! Now enjoy how much more organized you are as you bid farewell to summer and say hello to fall!

Source: 3 Tips for Getting Your Kitchen Organized

Making Kitchen Organization a Snap

Kitchen organization is essential – busy lives call for easy and practical solutions. Whether your meals are works of art or your idea of cooking is warming up take-out, you’ll discover easy-as-pie solutions for making your kitchen organization a snap.

Products to Help Organize Your Kitchen

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Made of safe POLYPROPYLENE these containers and lids are engineered for heat and cold resistance. It’s thick walls keep cold items cold and hot items hot. The containers are microwavable making these the ideal take out container. These come highly recommended as food savers for people who like to cook in batches as a perfect meal prep container. They are easy to stack in coolers and picnic baskets. Great to use for assorted chips or fruits. Think outside the box! Also the perfect container for a

      Rubbermaid Easy Find Lid Glass Food Storage Set, 22-piece

Crystal-clear, BPA-free glass is dishwasher, freezer, microwave, and oven-safe to 425°F

Easy-find lids snap to the bases of containers and nest inside each other for easier organization

Built-in lid gaskets prevent leaks to keep foods fresh

Includes: 3 (1.0 Cup), 3 (1.5 Cup), 3 (2.5 Cup), 1 (4 Cup), 1 (5.5 Cup), 11 Lids

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This sleek, crystal clear tempered glass food storage set includes easy-find lids that snap to the bottom of the container and to each other. Bases and lids neatly nest inside each other for compact organization in your cabinets. A built-in gasket creates a leak proof seal to keep out air to help keep foods fresh. These BPA-free glass containers are dishwasher, freezer, microwave, and oven-safe to 425¡F.

      Paksh Novelty Lunch Box Sets / Large Food Container with Lid / 3 Compartment Bento Box, Microwaveable, Freezer & Dishwasher Safe, Leak Proof, 10 Pack

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★ NEW & IMPROVED – airtight lid is leak proof; fastens tightly to keep products fresh; keeps your snacks, chips or fruits separated in container with deep indents on box and lid; divided containers with lids is a neat solution for crafts and fine motor toys; SPACE SAVERS! containers nest together to save space when not in use; stackable, functional & attractive!

Meal Prep your portion control diet in advance! Top choice by fitness experts these handy 3 compartment bento boxes with clear lids are designed for easy meal prep. Made of safe POLYPROPYLENE they are engineered for heat and cold resistance. It’s thick walls keep cold items cold and hot items hot. These versatile lunch containers are microwavable for the ideal take out container. They are easy to stack in coolers and picnic baskets and it’s New & Improved AIRTIGHT lid keeps delicate foods fresh!

    Kitchen Organization Products on Wayfair

 Storage Container (Set of 12) 5 Piece Galvanized Storage Container Set Storvino Nero 6 Bottle Wine Storage Container (Set of 2) Tin Container with Lid Chroma 9 Piece Container Set Color: Crystal, Green, Lavender, Light Blue, Yellow 5 Piece Galvanized Container Set AMAC 5-Piece Container Set AMAC Chroma 760 5-Piece Container Assortment Kartell-One Modular Storage Unit with Feet

  Organizing Your Kitchen Like a Pro

  How To Organize Your Kitchen Like a Pro

Learn more about Secrets of an Organized Mom at http://ift.tt/1JhAoIc;

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Originally posted 2015-08-14 18:58:37.

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