Are You the Food Police??

Warning!  I’m stepping up on my soap box!

My friend Jeni at Jeni Eats recently wrote a post about being a food snob! A food snob, I am not!! (She isn’t either by the way and you can read more about that HERE) but she brings up a very important item of business that I felt so strongly about that I decided to write a post myself…well, to be honest I was commenting on her post and when I looked up after typing with a fury I had written a LARGE paragraph and thought, “someone else’s blog is not the place for my soap box!”  So, here I am asking you, “Are you the food police?”  “Do you have a license to judge me for what I eat and what I feed my family?”  It seems that in today’s world so many people have strayed into a world of being Judgy McJudgerson!  If you don’t agree with me (be it politics, religion, food choices, etc) then you’re wrong and a horrible person.  Whether you are Christian, Jewish, atheist, Republican, Democrat, pro-GMO, non-GMO, vegan, pro-red meat, organic, pro-processed foods it isn’t your place to judge others who may be different than yourself.  Can you disagree with them?  Absolutely!  Do you have to belittle them in the process and push their noses into your beliefs/positions until they give in?  Absolutely not!

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Comments For a Cause: Remembering Baby D!

It’s the beginning of a new month, March is over! Where did that time go? I remember when I was younger hearing the
Amy Elizabeth Hild, 1987-2015
Amy Elizabeth Hild, 1987-2015

“older” generation around me lament that “time just flies by and speeds up every year”! I couldn’t imagine what that felt like, but I do now! I swear (not literally) that every month is going faster and faster! But, I digress. During the month of March, I had declared that my Comments For A Cause was going to the Amy Hild Memorial Fund to remember my dear friend Amy of Modern Rural Living that was taken from us way too soon! I’m excited and sad all at the same time to say that because of your commenting efforts, I will be mailing her parents a check for $50.00.  It is so bittersweet!  I’m happy to continue to honor Amy’s memory this way and yet sad that I’m even having to do it in the first place!  God continues to teach me patience in understanding.

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M is 11!

You’ll forgive me if #TastyTuesday takes a week off so I can recognize M’s 11th birthday right?  I appreciate it!  It’s amazing to me the longer that the boys and I are in each others lives how much I love them and how much more connected to them I become!

Dear M,

You’re 11 today!  I don’t know how it happened!  Do you know that you had just turned 6 when you and your deep brown eyes entered my life?  I could have sworn it was just yesterday!!  I wasn’t there when you were born, or when you took your first steps or said your first words, but you have had, for years now and will continue forever and always, a special place in my heart!  You are such an amazing little boy (and really, not so little anymore as you are on a quest to be bigger than me and you pride yourself in every inch closer that you get!)  I want to keep you little!  I want to keep folding your little clothes, although they keep getting bigger and bigger!  I’m not ready for you to grow up, but I know it’s going to happen no matter what! 

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Dear 16 Year Old Katy…

Do you know one of the coolest things about having friends that are bloggers?  They make you think about things you really hadn’t thought about before.  That’s what Beth Ann of It’s Just Life did when she wrote a letter to her 16-year-old self!  So, after much thought and consideration…here’s my letter to myself at 16! 

Dear 16 Year Old Katy,

First, those braces that make your school pictures just horrible…don’t worry, they are coming off soon and it will be totally worth it because you will get endless compliments on your smile for years to come! Also, thank your mom and dad for their financial investment into your mouth (and remember how thankful you are when you’re the one investing in a mouth full of braces for a kid)! Those fangs you had weren’t very becoming on you and thankfully they recognized it!  The rest of that school picture that is awkward (the weird haircut, the acne, and glasses) those will all go away and you won’t feel so out-of-place!

September 1996 ( I was actually 15)...yuck!
September 1996 ( I was actually 15)…yuck!

There are some additional things you need to know and keep in mind as you grow and mature!

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Chicago, Journey, Jackson, & Heart!

I’m a child of the 80’s. I’m not scared to admit it!  The other day I was participating in a little #FlashbackFriday on Pandora while listening to the 80’s Pop Radio channel.  I can’t help but love that music!  I love the feeling that I get when I hear it!  I love the memories it brings flooding when I hear it!  I can almost lose myself in that music!

I was born in 1981.  I don’t hesitate to put that out there…partially because most people doubt me when I say I’m that old (that old being 33 for those of you who are struggling with the math…did you read my post about not being scared to get older?  You can do it HERE!).  I don’t look it and I know it.  M has told me before that I look like a high school student (and then of course, just the other day he told me I was 46), but 24-26 is the average age that most people guess me at.  I guess I’m lucky!  I feel that I was born right before the era of some of the greatest music of all time!  It doesn’t matter whether you were fond of the big hair bands, the pop sensations, or the down home country…everyone could find something from that era that they liked!  I was raised around music!  There was always music playing in our house!

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Share Your World 2015 – Week 12

I know I’ve missed a few weeks, but I’m feeling a little more on top of my game this week, so I thought I’d throw one of these in!  I hope you enjoy learning just a bit more about me!

When was the last time you sat on a park or garden bench for more than ten minutes? Describe the occasion.  We have a fantastic pergola in our backyard by our garden and it is normal for T and I to sit back there after weeding or picking our produce and just visit or listen to the birds, enjoy the weather, etc.  While it isn’t exactly gardening weather here yet (it sleeted and snowed last night)..a couple weekends ago it was sunny and warm and we actually sat back there for awhile!

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Pizza Taste Off, Second Verse

The North Iowa Bloggers had their pizza taste off a little over a week ago (read about that HERE). While I was attending the event, I received a text from T who told me that he and the boys had decided that we were having a pizza taste test of our own on Sunday…apparently they didn’t want to miss out on all the fun! When I got home, they had decided that we were getting pizzas from Godfathers, Breadeaux, and Caseys in town. They decided that they wanted to get all one flavor to make it (in their words), “a true authentic taste test”. So, after discussion we decided on hamburger as that is a topping that everyone in our house likes.

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#TastyTuesday – The NEW Breakfast Sandwich

I run first thing in the morning! My alarm goes off at 5:01 every weekday (don’t ask why 5:01…it goes back to college) and I get up and run or do core/strength training. When I’m done working out, I traditionally am not hungry nor do I have time to sit down and eat breakfast (if I want to make it to work on time)! So, I’m constantly looking for new healthy breakfasts, which are also yummy! In the last week I’ve stumbled across my new favorite breakfast!

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North Iowa Blogger’s Try a Piece of Pizza Pie…or Several Pieces

8 months ago I attended my first North Iowa Blogger get-together. It was a chip tasting party for Lay’s Do Us A Flavor challenge and met this amazing group of woman. (Read about that experience HERE)  Last week we got together for a Pizza Taste Off party!  It all started with Beth Ann of It’s Just Life mentioning that she had never had Casey’s General Store’s pizza.  Between Twitter and our thoughts…well, the rest is now history!

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