I have been working on a post for this site since the official quarantine date of March 13th.....
This is not that post.
I am just drawing a creative blank on how to wrap up my "I Tried My Great Grandmother's Skincare Routine". The words just are not coming. So, to try to get my writing juices flowing again, I thought I would do another post of things that you can do on a lazy Sunday. Or, in this crazy world that we are currently living in, things that we can do during Quarantine.
Yesterday, I spent the day deep scrubbing the kitchen, therefore I felt that I could laze around this Sunday and not feel guilty or like I should do something more industrious. Thus the inspiration for this post.
I started out the day by making brunch.
My husband took Moss, our adventurous French Bulldog, on a trip to the coffee house to get me some fancy froo-froo coffee and I started preparing an omelette.
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| This is Moss splooting and tormenting the cat at the same time. He is a professional splooter. |
Here is what I created....
French Country Omlette
This recipe was inspired by items that I had in my refrigerator that needed eating and my driving need to pretend like I am eating healthily even when I am not.
Ingredients
1/4 -1/3 cup cooked chicken, diced1 slice cooked bacon, diced
3 eggs
Half a celery stalk, diced
1 green onion, diced
1 tbsp. onion, diced
2-3 baby carrots, diced
2 tbsp -1/4 cup Caramelized Onion Cheese, Shredded
1/4 tsp. dry dill
1/4 tsp. Herb de Provence
1/4 tsp. dry Basil
Salt and pepper to taste (Or Creole seasoning)
1 tbsp. milk (optional)
Instructions
I find that it is easier, since eggs cook so quickly, to get all of my ingredients ready before I start cooking. So, technically, preparing all of your ingredients should be your first step.1. In a small bowl whisk eggs, milk, salt, and pepper (or Creole seasoning) together until eggs are a pale yellow color and look creamy. Set aside.
2. In a small, non-stick omelette pan, melt butter, bacon grease, or olive oil on med heat. Once the oil has heated and is slightly shimmery, add the green onion, onion, carrots, and celery. Stir to mix ingredients.
3. Add dill, Herb de Provence and Basil to the vegetable mixture and stir to mix.
4. Cook the vegetables on medium heat, stirring frequently until the onions are sightly caramelized and the carrots and celery have become crisp tender. (About five-10 minutes.)
5. Add diced chicken and stir into the vegetable mixture, cook until the chicken has been heated through.
6. Spread the chicken and vegetable mixture along the bottom of the pan.
7. Pouring slowly and carefully, so as not to dislodge the vegetable chicken mixture, add the eggs to the pan.
8. Let the eggs sit undisturbed for a little bit to help set the bottom of the egg. Once the sides of the eggs can be lifted from the pan, use a spatula to separate the egg from the side of the pan, then carefully tip the omelette pan so that uncooked egg goes under the cooked egg mixture. Do this on all sides of the pan until most of the uncooked egg has been distributed under the cooked egg. Cook for about 30-45 seconds to set the egg.
9. Now comes the tricky part, flipping your eggs. Some people, and I am not one of them, can flip an omelette in the pan. If you are one of these people, I am jealous and wish I had your skill. But for those people, like myself, who have not mastered the flip, take two spatulas and using them together, very carefully flip your eggs, trying your best to keep the egg in one piece.
10. Once the egg is flipped, sprinkle the cheese and the bacon, making certain to keep the cheese and bacon to one side of your omelette.
11. After about 15-30 seconds, depending on how wet your egg was before you flipped it, gently fold one side of the egg mixture over the other half. Covering the cheese and bacon and forming a half circle omelette.
12. Slide the omelette out of the pan and onto a plate.
Bon Apetit!
This really is very good and you're starting the day with vegetables, so you can pretend that you are starting your day in a healthy way.
While we were eating, I played a Spotify list that I discovered thanks to the show "What We Do In the Shadows". Which is one of my favorite shows to watch right now and really is just as good as the movie, which I didn't think was possible.
One of the things I love about the show, is the soundtrack, which is very interesting and contains songs and artists I have never heard of before. I love the opening theme song and in one of the episodes they end the show with a vintage song called "The Devil Caught me Nappin" which has quickly become one of my favorite songs and will be added to my Halloween mix every year simply just because it mentions the devil. (It really has nothing else to do with Halloween and isn't paticularly spooky.) I had to hear this song in its entirety after listening to part of it during the credits and found a Spotify channel that has the song. It also has some other great vintage songs that I adore so this was quickly added to my library as one of my favorite "channels".
You can just go to Spotify and search for "The Devil Caught Me Nappin". But, if I did it right, there should be the link underneath to my creepy collection and the song should be there as well.
https://open.spotify.com/?_ga=2.37865443.1189384008.1588544767-191395943.1588544767
After breakfast, one of my super-awesome neighbors had purchased a New York Times for herself and was able to get another one for free. She thought that my husband and I would like the other copy, rightly so, and left it outside of our door for us to peruse.
Can I just say that the New York Times is doing a stellar job, and least in its Sunday paper, of coming up with puzzles and things to keep the housebound individual entertained. My husband and I worked together on the crossword puzzle. (Which together we finished.) And then I decided that I deserved a mani/pedi.
I don't know about other people, but doing my own manicure and pedicure is a very time consuming activity, so it is not something I usually do if I plan on doing other activities. I did do my manicure while working on the crossword, because my husband was the one writing the answers we were coming up with, so I could let my many layers of polish, etc. dry while trying to figure out the clues for the various numbers, but I decided that I would do my pedicure in my hammock along with working on this blog.
HOWEVER, the last time that I hung out in my hammock, I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. (Little blood-sucking monsters.) One mosquito had the gall to land on my face and leave a bite on my forehead! Not wanting to add even more bites to my already abused body, I decided that I needed a mosquito repellent. I am of the generation that has heard all my life that DEET is bad. I don't even really know what DEET is, or why it is bad, but I remember the campaign and I knew that it was an active ingredient in OFF, so I decided I wanted to make my own version of off, but without the evil that is DEET.
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| I get a kick out of the name of this repellent. |
So I went online to see if I could find anything that would really work. After a few hours of research, yeah that was fun rabbit hole to go down, I decided that the ingredient that actually works, according to many studies and articles is eucalyptus lemon essential oil. Great!!! And I actually had some because it came in a set of essential oils that I had purchased previously to make room deodorizer spray. Next, I had to figure out how I would apply it. I saw that some people used alcohol, (um, no) others put it in olive oil, (a little more oily than I am comfortable with and harder to apply than I wanted), and others used witch hazel. Eureaka!
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| This is a 1940s ad for mosquito repellent. I love the name, but having never heard of it, I doubt it is something that still exists. |
I love witch hazel and use it as a facial toner before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning. In a perfect world, I would have lavender scented witch hazel because lavender also repels mosquitoes as they do not like the smell. But this is not a perfect world, and I did not have lavender scented witch hazel - but I did have regular non-scented witch hazel, so that is what I used to make my repellent. I then went to go sit outside and relax in my hammock for a minimum of four hours while I dared mosquitoes to bite me while wearing short shorts and a sleeveless shirt , doused in my natural mosquito repellent to see if my concoction actually worked. For Science!!!
(Not because I wanted to relax in my hammock during unseasonably nice Louisiana weather.)
I also decided to do this during peak mosquito times, between the hours of 4pm and 8pm, right around dusk when mosquitoes seem to come out enforce. I also felt that, living in Louisiana, that I was already in mosquito infested territory, so I did not go out to a swamp or anything searching for mosquitoes as my backyard had already proven itself worthy.
To my absolute astonishment, it worked!
I actually saw a mosquito hover above my arm go in to land, think better about, go into land somewhere else, think better about it, and then fly away! I was stunned.
It only lasts for about four hours and then you have to reapply, but I don't feel that is all that awful as that is about the same amount of time that you have before you have to reapply sunscreen. The smell also is fairly pleasant as well. I do think, with the lavender witch hazel it may smell even better, and I may try that the next time I make it, but, then again, I may not.
Want to try it?
Here you go.
Natural Mosquito Repellent
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| From Private Snafu vs. Malaria. |
Warnings:
1. This should be tested on the skin first to make certain that you are not allergic to the essential oil or the witch hazel. (I have never heard of anyone being allergic to witch hazel, but I am certain that is a thing as well.) So put a small amount on your skin and wait an hour to make certain that you do not have a reaction.
2. I don't think this should be used on children that are three years and under. I don't know for sure that it will be harm them, but I know that some essential oils are not good for small children and I would rather be safe than sorry.
Ingredients
45 drops lemon eucalyptus essential oil6 ounces witch hazel
Spray Bottle
Instructions
1 In a six ounce spray bottle, i had one made of aluminum that I had purchased to make homemade poo-pouri but that I had not used yet, but I am certain that any small spray bottle will work, pour a small amount of witch hazel into the spray bottle.2. Add 45 drop of lemon eucalyptus oil.
3. Add more witch hazel until you reach close to the top of the bottle.
4. Screw the spray cap onto the bottle and then shake to mix the oil and the witch hazel together.
To Use:
Spray on any part of your skin that would be exposed to mosquitoes. I even sprayed it on my face and experienced no problems, but again you may want to test this before you go crazy spraying it on your face.
The witch hazel works like an emulsifier, but it would not hurt to shake the mixture every time that you use it.
While I was writing this post and testing the mosquito repellent, I was watching/listening to YouTube. Here are some of my favorites that I am listening/watching (depending on what I am doing) right now:
(Quick disclaimer. I found the images for these channels on the internet. I do not know who took them, so I am not sure who to credit with them. I hope no one gets angry that I am using them since I am not profiting from this blog, I just do it for fun.)
Timeline Channel
This YouTube channel contains many differently historical documentaries. Personally, I love the ones about ancient civilizations, but there are also videos for WWII buffs and more.
BuzzFeed Unsolved
Hosted by Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, this one makes me smile every time that I watch it. Despite the fact that many times the two hosts are talking about grisly murders. I like to watch both their true crime unsolved and their supernatural unsolved for very different reason. The crime one has very interesting crime stories that one aspect of them still remains unsolved. The supernatural one they go places that are reported to be haunted and try to prove the existence of ghosts. These are arguably the funniest because Ryan is a fervent believer in the supernatural and Shane is the most skeptical of skeptics that I have ever seen. The interaction between the two of them during their supernatural videos makes me laugh out loud.
TwoSet Violin
Hosted by two classical violin musicians, Brett and Eddy, these guys are hilarious to anyone who does some sort of performing or knows even a tiny bit about music. They have a variety of videos where they roast movies where the actors "play" the violin badly, violin charades, and many other videos. If you start watching them regularly, you will be using Ling Ling in your daily lexicon. My husband and I have gotten so hooked on this duo we even bought their merch.
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| Here are Knick and I in our Two Set t-shirts |
Poppen Atelier
She posts every Friday and all she does is repaint dolls. (Usually from the Monster High Doll series.)
I know, it doesn't sound that interesting but it so is!!!
This one I came across as a fluke while I was trying to figure out how to fix my vintage Barbie and the Rockers curly hair, and ended up watching her videos for three solid hours.
It's so soothing and relaxing. I can't explain why, and I have no intentions of ever painting dolls, but I love this channel.
Baumgartner Restoration
I really don't know how I found this channel, maybe because I was watching some Bob Ross videos, but once found, I was hooked.
I find his videos fascinating.
His whole channel is just him filming the steps he uses to restore old paintings brought to his studio, and it is amazing. You would not believe the difference between the paintings as he receives them and what they look like when he is finished. The picture above gives you just an inkling of an idea, you really have to watch his videos. This is another one that I have sucked my husband into watching and we now watch together.
Rachel Maksy
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| Rachel probably took this picture for her Instagram - its just a guess, but....there you go. This is from one of my favorite of her videos where she embroiders Ron Weasley's sweater......poorly, but with enthusiasm - which is why it is one of my favorites. |
Without a doubt my favorite channel.
Her channel used to be known as the Pinup Companion and I found her because she also dresses vintage like me and does vintage lookbooks. After watching a few videos I became obsessed with her. I find her hilarious, her dog Frodo is super cute, and she does a multitude of different types of videos. Some of my favorites are her craft videos. She isn't afraid to do videos where she has no idea what she is doing. Which is the complete opposite of what I try to do for this blog, but I find very entertaining when it is not myself.
My husband says that I should include some of my fails so that people don't think that everything comes easy. I might....... I'm thinking about it.
But back to Rachel!
I have, literally, spent an entire day just watching/listening to her videos, so, yeah there is that.
And that was, pretty much, my Sunday.
So those are some of my ideas for spending a relaxing Sunday OR day in quarantine. What are yours? Is there anything that you enjoy that you think I should take a look at?
I hope you found this post helpful or entertaining and I promise I will try to be back soon!
