THE AMUSED LIFE BLOG

OUR FIRST MONTH OF BOXING IN THE KITCHEN: Boxed dinners that is provided by various great options and we have paid for our boxes so these responses and reviews are completely our own and not compensated by anyone; and with that - here we go! THE COOK'S EXPERIENCE (ERIK'S SIDE/HE SAID) When my significant other suggested that we try cooking at home, I was really excited. I was thinking to myself, now I can show off my culinary skills and introduce her to the cooking of my childhood. She suggested that we try the box subscription, Hello Fresh and immediately I could hear my mother in the background of my brain saying, "I taught you how to cook, you're better than that." From a cook's perspective, I really enjoyed cooking the Hello Fresh kits. They came neatly prepared and ready to go. The instructions were so simple, it didn't take a lot of time to prepare them. I get off of work at 5:30 pm so by the time I get home and take the fur kids out for a little bit...

  LOVE SOMETIMES SHOWS UP ON FOUR LEGS. Today is national puppy day and today I had to say goodbye to my first ever puppy. She was the first dog I had who came to Jim and I as a 2 month old little ball of fluff and joy. Easton was so slow to warm up to her but her tenacity won him over. She was our “perma-puppy” because she forever looked in the face like the little girl I first held almost 14 years ago. She loved chicken and steak and pizza crust. She loved to go for rides. She had a tail that had just a bit of hair on it after dealing with some health issues but you could always see how fast it wagged. Her smile was so big...and she could still catch treats like a pro. She was a dedicated advocate of lawns and would bark through the window at anyone who dared to tread on their own lawns....she would say “Get off your lawn, don’t you know you’re stepping on your lawn?!” She originated the “Uulbear Stare” which is the look she would make when she was tired of all the nonsense. She ...

I love bread. Carbs are, in fact, my favorite food group. Beyond that, I believe in body-positivity and health-at-any-size. I don't want anyone in this world to buy into weight loss/exercise obsessions because they feel pressure from any external sources including family, friends, media, society and beyond. So understand that my decision to make some personal changes in my life is in no way because I feel un-loved, under-valued or most of all un-desirable. I love myself most days and the days that I'm angry or sad with myself are built around mental health struggles with depression and anxiety and are actually in no-way related to my feelings about my appearance or my sense of self worth. Alas, I'm 46 as I type this. My mother passed away suddenly at the young age of 58 for reasons I cannot 100% confirm because we didn't have an autopsy (a decision I wish now we had pursued), for multiple reasons.  I'm making some decisions to just focus on reducing my body size a b...

On the third week of my Best Picture A-Z Challenge whereby I watch an Academy Award Best Picture Winner that I have NOT yet seen for each letter of the alphabet plus a numerical entry. This week's challenge features films starting with the letter B and so here were my choices: And after all the votes were in my challenge was to watch: In 1889, adventurous lawyer and newspaper editor Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) convinces his genteel wife, Sabra (Irene Dunne), to join him in the rush to populate Osage, Oklahoma. After they begin to settle into the community, Yancey leaves to go further west. Alone, Sabra inherits his editorial duti es and struggles to bring civilization to the rough frontier town. Over a tumultuous 40 years, the couple are repeatedly separated and reunited as Oklahoma makes its long journey to statehood. And let me tell you...this was a challenge...listen to our TWO CENTS here at:

It's a routine I've known for at least 30 years. I know it like I know the feel of each bump on my skin as I rub my arms. A familiar 8 count of part self-flagellation, part-curiosity it's a dance I do in the wee hours of the morning when my mind is still running around like a kid on pixie sticks at a birthday party rental at the dance studio. I point my toes and leap, deep diving into the familiar dance routine and steps...search google, look up "XYZ" and just tap dance through posts to see how life is treating them.  It's when you stumble trying to remember dance steps that you did when you were in your twenties that you realize you're getting too old. The bones hit the floor harder these days and when you come across a post dated 2015 where you are referenced as a "much-needed and much-desired divorce", you realize that the old wounds from your early years still throb a bit every now and then. Mind you, I wasn't completely floored by that ...

WOULD IT EVER BE THE SAME She wondered if it would ever be the same. The deep breaths that yielded oxygenated lungs, but no sweet scent of the things she longed for. The comfort of the kitchen, the nisus of her handmade dough,  her home-grown vegetables, the milkiness of the fresh mozzarella and the garlic and oregano which she always used abundantly. Which no longer smelled the same. No longer sparked her excitement. The loss of a culinary expectation. Because we had an communal expectation, we listened to the spark of excitement from news reporters who  believed we would care for one another and would do what was right so that the illness would no longer be an issue. As one of those who's symptoms abundantly lingered on the milky fog of her brain, dealing with symptoms no one could see. The illness that was not home-grown  but who's nisus ravaged the world we live in, leaving no one the comfort of connection, that robbed so many people of the sweetness of living and end...

It's the second week of my Best Picture A-Z Challenge whereby I watch an Academy Award Best Picture Winner for each letter of the alphabet plus a numerical entry. However with one additional rule...it has to be a film that I have NOT yet seen. So I build my list and then if there's more than one choice I offer up a vote to suggest which one to watch.  This challenge is the letter B and so here were my choices: R  1995 ‧ War/Drama ‧ 3h 2m [1]  https://www.google.com/search?q=braveheart&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS930US930&oq=brave&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j46i433j69i57j69i59j46i433i457j0i433j0i131i433j69i60.3407j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 AND after the votes were in, my "B" challenge became to watch: William Wallace is the medieval Scottish patriot who is spurred into revolt against the English when the love of his life is slaughtered. Leading his army into battles that become a war, his advance into England threatens King Edward I's throne before he is captured...