Relay For Life, Curry Chicken, and New Perfume

Hi everyone!

So I joined Weight Watchers. Before leaving Oregon, I gained about 25 pounds. I was already upset about that, and then after Mom died, another 20.  Wow, really? 45 pounds? I am BEYOND thrilled with the new Points Plus program, for so many reasons I won't bore you with here. But what it's done, in a nutshell, is made me focus more on nutrition and less on "dieting." I have eaten SO many vegetables, you guys. Seriously. And, as an added bonus, I've lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. Can I get a heck yeah?? The biggest challenge has been the aversion I have to cooking. Last time I did WW, I lost a lot of weight, but found I was eating only pre-packaged food. Soooo boring. I find now, due to the changes in the program, I'm forced to be more creative and it's actually fun! I look forward to planning dinner every night. Can you believe that? So tonight I made something I thought was so especially yummy, I wanted to share. The photo was taken with the intention of only sending it to my best friend, not posting on my blog, so ya know.... it's not the greatest. Also, be advised I am in NO way a recipe writer and tend to just throw things together. :-)

CURRY CHICKEN - serves 2

1 chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup brown rice ( =1 cup cooked)
10-15 asparagus spears
4 cups cauliflower (or more, or less - ya know)
1 TBS ginger root, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 TSP curry powder
1 TSP cumin
1 TSP celery seed
1/2 large onion, diced
1/4 c. cilantro
1 lemon
2 TSP olive oil
1 c chicken broth, 99% fat free
salt and pepper to taste

Cook rice, set aside.

Over medium heat, saute onion, ginger, and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add chicken, asparagus, cumin, celery seed, and curry powder and saute until chicken is cooked through. Add cauliflower and 1/4 c of the chicken broth. Stir until cauliflower is coated in curry mixture. Increase heat to HIGH and continue to cook until liquid is nearly gone. Add 1/4 c more of the broth and repeat until liquid is nearly gone. Add remainder of broth, reduce heat to medium and cook for an additional 1 minute.

Divide rice into 2 bowls and top with curry chicken. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon between the two bowls and top with chopped cilantro.

Oh.....my.....goodness. Seriously, you guys. Cheap, easy and totally lovely. WW value: 8

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On April 30th, I am doing the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life in honor of my mom. As most of you know, I lost my mom in December to cancer. I want to do my part to give more birthdays to people diagnosed with this horrible disease. I will be raising money from now until the relay. If you would like to donate to the cause, my paypal email address is themerrymorbid@gmail.com. Make sure and indicate AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY so I don't get confused.

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New perfumes are hitting the shop very, very soon, and part o the proceeds of everything sold (old and new) will be given to the American Cancer Society the day of my relay. I will keep everyone posted on how much I have raised.

Love you guys! Take care!

SPEECHLESS

I got this feedback today, and although I THINK I know who wrote it, I can't be sure. I have never EVER gotten anything like this and I am sitting here utterly speechless.

"I adore Lysa. The truth is, I will support her even if her products suck so it's a great thing for me, indeed for us all that her creations are every bit as wonderful as she is! :) Besides her immense talent, she works really hard and it shows. Every aspect of her shop is amazing and it sometimes boggles my mind to think that everything we see is done by just one woman. From the branding, design, blending, product description and photography etc right down to the packaging and shipping, it's all down to the work of just two hands. She pours her heart and soul into her work and it shows. I'm so glad I discovered her shop! It was a real eye-opener. She opened the door to indie companies for me. For example, I am in love with this set of perfumes. The descriptions are spot-on. The Lust Trio encapsulates all the reasons why I love indie perfumes. Each one is precious and unique. These are definitely NOT half-assed, blandly crowd-pleasing nondescript department store scents. They are not afraid to be different and they all tell a different tale. I didn't use to know perfumes could do that. I sincerely hope that these ones stick around permanently. The same goes for the rest of the Valentine collection. Two thumbs way up!"

It's been a while.

A few things....

Yesterday I hit 4000 sales over at TMTM. I am really happy about that. I remember starting out and waiting for that FIRST sale to come in! I'm having a few sales at both Odditoria and TMTM. Both shops are Buy Three Solids and Get One Free, both shops are Free Shipping on Orders of $50 or More (code FREESHIP at checkout) and both shops are Buy Two Full Size Perumes Get One Free. I know people are waiting for Moira and Agatha to hit Odditoria and I will do that today! I will also be introducing a few new perfumes (which I'll announce here). I just have to get the labeling done and printed. So much to do!

For those that know me or are friends with me on Facebook, you know Ive been messing around with iPhone photography. Back in the day, I used to shoot with a lot of toy cameras and use a lot of alternative processing in ye olde darkroom, so I thought this might be a fun outlet. I do miss photography. Anyhoo, thought I'd share a few of the photos. If you're so inclined, head over to my Facebook or Flickr to see more. I'm not sure how include a link to either, buy my user name is lysaluna for both. :-)

Here are a few:

I can scarcely believe I'm saying this.

Both TMTM and Odditoria have ZERO outstanding orders as of right now.

----------------ZERO-----------------

I have worked like crazy after the supply snafu and tomorrow's mailings, which includes all the backordered stuff, is sitting by the front door for tomorrow's mail. I seriously cannot remember the last time I had zero orders outstanding. It's crazy and I am proud of myself. I get to hang out with my kid for the rest of the day!!!! YAY!!!

I even got to change my turnaround time.

Wow.

Oh, the irony........

So my supplies finally came in. I got up at 5:00am to start work, with BIG plans to get all outstanding orders out. Go to print shipping labels, and Paypal isn't working. Call Paypal tech support and they tell me to clear my cache and cookies, restart my computer, and try again. All that done, still not working. I try Internet Explorer (usually use Firefox)...still no dice. So I update my Flash player, my Java, download the latest version of both IE and Firefox, restart the computer about 7 times.... nothing. Call tech suppport again and find out they're having technical difficulties. No idea when the site will be back up again. So I'm sitting here with a bunch of outstanding orders and no way to fill them. Seriously, why today of all days?

UGH - finally

Part of my supplies came in today. I'm working like heck to fill orders I can. I'm expecting the rest of them tonight, so tomorrow things should start getting back to normal (after I catch up).