Kristie's Craziness

All the random things in life that I think we should talk about.

Recent Posts

  • Key Lime Lip Balm

    Key Lime Lip Balm

    Hello Lovelies. I hope you are all well. Life is still ridiculously busy over here, making it hard to check off my blog ideas.

    Hannah and I have started to work on making Christmas presents for her friends. She wanted to make them all homemade Key Lime Lip Balm.

    It’s actually super easy to make good, quality beauty products at home. Start by gathering all of your supplies. A double boiler is essential for melting the beeswax. I am also a huge fan of Sun Essential Oils. They has natural smells and don’t add a chemical taste.

    Hannah is getting good at measuring out the ingredients.

    Even more exciting is the fact that she’s no longer scared to using the stove. She just needed a reminder that the pot handles get hot and she needs to stir constantly so that the melting beeswax doesn’t burn.

    I always transfer the liquid lip balm to the an old measuring cup so that Hannah can fill the containers by herself. I both love and hate her blossoming independence.

    Hannah decided to decorate the tops of her lip balms with holiday stickers. I want to grab some green circles to put on the bottoms and label the scent as key lime.

    Key Lime Lip Balm

    Servings 12

    Prep Time 15minutes minutes

    Cook Time 1hour hour

    Total Time 1 hour and 15 Minutes

    Ingredients  

    • 4 TBSP coconut oil
    • 4 tsp cocoa butter
    • 4 tsp beeswax
    • 4 tsp almond oil
    • 30 drops of lime essential oil

    Instructions

    1. Add coconut oil, cocoa butter, beeswax and almond oil to a double boiler over medium heat. Stir frequently until melted. Remove from heat.
    2. Add key lime essential oil and stir. Pour into jars and let cool for one hour before putting on the lid. Use within 3 months

    I love the tangy sent and smooth feel of this lip balm. It reminds me of summer time and pushes away the gray season blahs.

    I guess we will be making extra batches for a holiday craft show in a couple weeks. Wish us luck.

  • Friends: The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate

    Friends: The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate

    Most of us have either watched Friends or at least know the premises of the show. An ensemble cast of 6 characters are trying to figure out how to navigate adulthood in New York City. A lot of it hasn’t aged well, but it still brings up fond memories for a lot of us Gen Xers.

    I don’t want to do a complete rewatch/summary of the show. I want to watch an episode and focus on one character. This episode that’s Monica, after all, her name is in the title.

    We start at Central Perk, a coffee shop where the cast seem to monopolize the cozy couch area. Monica is telling Chandler, Pheobe and Joey about her “non-date”.

    Monica: “It’s just 2 people going out to dinner and not having sex.”

    Chandler: “Sounds like a date to me.”

    I love the camaraderie of the group. Everyone wants that group of friends who you can talk about everything and nothing with at the same time and know that those people just get you.

    Monica’s “non-date” is with Paul the Wine Guy, which I will get into in a minute. First I have to ask the question, What the heck is she wearing?” I remember overalls being a thing in the ‘90s, but I don’t remember wearing what looks like her grandpa’s pants and suspenders being a thing, and definitely not what I’d wear on a first date. There is a shot of her from the back and I swear they aren’t even fastened.

    So back to the date… Here we get our first real moment of not aging well. Paul has spent the majority of the date talking about his relationship and break up with his ex girlfriend. For me that’s a red flag making it seem like he’s not over her yet, but in true ‘90s fashion, Monica feels bad for him and like she wants to fix him. Ladies! You can’t fix a guy. He has to put in the work and do it himself. Also, having a man in your life won’t fix you either.

    So obviously Monica’s heart strings were pulled enough to make her think it was a good idea to continue her “non-date” at home and in the bedroom. No shame. You do you. I’m not upset with her for sleeping with him on the first date, but I am super offended that he lied to her to get her into bed. False representation of yourself should not be considered normal behavior.

    Then again, maybe that’s part of what Monica means when she tells Rachel the real world sucks. You have to go to a job that isn’t always great. People are focused on getting what they want and don’t care who gets hurt in the process. The only person you can depend on is yourself, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find some true friends, who feel like family and you can lean on them when you need to.

    I have a lot of high school friends whom I’ve drifted apart from. I don’t know that I have the open heartedness of Monica to let any of them move in with me. Maybe it would be different if I didn’t have kids, but I don’t know. Part of me thinks we stopped talking all those years ago for a reason, so why go backwards? Maybe Monica is just a better person than I am.

  • Must Read Fantasy: Le Morte d’Arthur

    Must Read Fantasy: Le Morte d’Arthur

    I thought I knew the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table, but I had never read Le Morte d’Arthur.

    I was not prepared for the writing style. It felt a little like reading the Bible. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not what I consider easy reading. I don’t necessarily need to know which knight knocked another knight off his horse, and who noticed and knocked a different knight off his horse to give it to the first horseless knight. It was like a weird way of counting sheep to fall asleep.

    After the first book, I thought I had found a rhythm and would breeze through the rest of the book. What I didn’t prepare myself for was the lineage of Sir Tor. His father was King Pellinore, who raped a virgin, the result of which was Sir Tor. Somehow this is less horrific in King Arthur’s mind, because he describes the rapist as “a good man.”

    And I know, I know. This is just a sign of the times when it was written, but I am loath to think everything is fine when knights are taking women against their will, or wives are cheating on husbands. It offends my moral compass, even if it makes for timeless tales of unrequited love.

    I think my favorite character in the entire book is Sir Tristan. He is faithful to his love, even though he allowed her to marry his uncle due to undeserved loyalty. He does not take advantage of other knights. He is what I always thought all of King Arthur’s knights strove to be.

    This doesn’t go into the realm of my all time favorite books, but I’m glad I read it. I’m glad I know how King Arthur died and what happened to all of the knights of the Round Table. I still wonder if the last followers of Sir Lancelot were the founders of the Knights of Templar, but maybe that’s another story.

  • Healthy Chicken Enchiladas

    Healthy Chicken Enchiladas

    It’s hunting season, which means I’m officially a single parent while my husband hunts the great whitetail buck. I don’t mind, but I do need to plan easy meals to throw together after work.

    Today it was Healthy Chicken Enchiladas. Rotisserie chicken and canned enchilada sauce make this a quick meal I can throw together while helping my daughter with her homework.

    Healthy Chicken Enchiladas

    Ingredients

    • 8 low-carb tortillas
    • 1 lb chicken shredded
    • 4 oz can green chiles
    • 10-12 oz can green enchilada sauce
    • salt and pepper to taste
    • 1 cup mexican cheese shredded
    • 1 cup pepper jack cheese shredded
    • ½ cup plain greek yogurt
    • ½ lime juiced
    • ⅛ cup cilantro

    Instructions

    • Gather all ingredients. 
    • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
    • Combine the shredded chicken, green chilis, ¼ can of green enchilada sauce, and ½ cup of each kind of cheese. Add salt & pepper, to taste. Mix well. 
    • Lay out all tortillas and scoop mixture evenly among all tortillas.
    • Roll each tortilla and place inside a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.
    • In a blender, add remaining enchilada sauce, greek yogurt, lime juice, and cilantro. Blend to make a creamy sauce. Pour the sauce evenly over the top of all enchiladas.
    • Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of all enchiladas.
    • Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and tortillas are crispy. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

    We followed up our meal with Hocus Pocus. Aly loves this movie, and Hannah thinks she would be a good Sarah.

    Enjoy your October friends.

  • The Street Children of Dickens’s London

    The Street Children of Dickens’s London

    Now that I am working full time, I’ve become very particular about how I spend my leisure time. I used to read any book I picked up, and would even force myself to finish it whether I was enjoying it or not. Now I have a cultivated list of books to read based on something I want to learn or characters I have grown to love.

    I have always been intrigued by Victorian London. The stories of Charles Dickens paint a vivid picture, but I am afraid that the conditions of the poor in industrialized London are about to repeat themselves in the cities of America.

    The introduction of The Street Children of Dickens’s London quotes Sybil, stating that between the rich and the poor “there was no intercourse and no sympathy between them; and that they were as ignorant, each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by different breeding, fed by different food; ordered by different manners and governed by different laws.” This is similar to how our government looks at the poor getting poorer while helping the rich get richer, as well as how little concern we have for undocumented immigrants and their children.

    The Street Children of Dickens’s London is divided into two sections. The first section, 1837-1870, describes the different types of children who were living on the streets. Some were innocent and just trying to help their families by begging, selling fruits or shining shoes. Others were orphans, immigrants and runaways with no other options than to steal, cheat or find shady means to survive. I was most disturbed by the stories of the young sex workers. At that time prostitution was not illegal and the age of consent was only twelve, but somehow it was an actual crime to keep a disorderly house. 🤔

    The prevalence of children on the streets of London was alleviated by the introduction of public schools and truancy officers forcing compliance. The point of these schools was to train the children for jobs that suited their station in life. It sounds a lot like American schools now. What is standardized testing other than forced memorization? We aren’t teaching kids to think, to explore or invent when the focus is to pass on specific test.

    It’s funny how a book about the past makes you look for similarities in your own world. It’s like a warning not to make the same mistakes. I wonder if society will listen.

    Kristie