Chocolate Berry Protein Shake {Vegan}

Death. 

It's a factor in life.

 You know it will happen to everyone and everything eventually, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are prepared for it. We've been at the ranch for almost nine years now and in that time I have been able to see the miracle of life many times, but also come to know the heartbreak of death. Earlier Saturday afternoon, my mom and I went to the vet to put Hedgie to sleep. A few months after I got Hedgie, he got cataracts which took his sight and I noticed that he seemed to be having what appeared to be seizures. The last 2 weeks though, I knew something was wrong because he stopped eating, was shaking, and seemed really lethargic. The vet looked him over and said by the state his teeth he was much older than we were aware of. Since the vet and most of the other staff had never seen or treated a hedgehog, he became quite popular even in his sickly state.

He's 4lbs heavier than her yet he likes using her as a pillow.

Gus Gus also has a vet appointment since he hasn't seen a vet in his little life and he also has a little wheezing problem that I first noticed a few months ago. It almost sounds like asthma except he doesn't wheeze all of the time and acts like a normal spoiled kitten, but just to be safe him and Charlie will be going to visit to vet tomorrow afternoon. I doubt they will appreciate it, though.

My mom's birthday is tomorrow so she is treating herself to a 2 hour massage. She isn't the biggest dessert fan besides cookies and sometimes apple pie so she just asked for some cream cheese filled strawberries that I'll dip in chocolate. I'll probably post a pic on instagram.

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake

I have been wanting to publish some new recipes, but the weather here has been anything, but pretty. The days have been switching between 70 to the 40's, raining off and on, and the last few days have been extremely foggy which is not a good thing when needing natural light for photos. My mom actually bought me a inexpensive indoor lighting set, but I need to put stronger bulbs in and I haven't really put the time into experimenting with it lately. 

The fog makes everything look a little creepy.

  Last week my spring class started, but it wasn't until Thursday that I could actually do some work since the online site was having problems and both students and teachers were locked out for several hours. I've been spending most of my time printing and going over specific instructions for each class, compiling all of my due dates into my Iphone calender, and working on a few simple first assignments. Work has been going much better thankfully and I can also start taking my laptop to work on school during my lunch break or it I finish work projects early. Since the new system is up and running, I have been organizing and scanning customer information for my mom along with helping some other coworkers organize their paperwork and help with projects.

I used my Canon 430EX II Speedlite. 

Apple Pecan Cake

  I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this recipe today or one of the other dozen recipes that I have saved as drafts including one for delicious raw brownies, but I picked this recipe since it would be a simple breakfast cake for the holidays. Last week my mom reminded me that it was once again time for me to find a recipe to bake for the church breakfast for Sunday. So far when I have made something it has been these pumpkin muffins which were a hit so I've brought them many times, this zesty lemon blueberry bread, a buttermilk blueberry cake,a cream cheese coffee cake, and a few other treats that I never took pictures of which meant no blog post.

  I wanted to make something with apples since they are in season and one of my favorite snacks. The orange zest and fresh juice gives this cake a slight tang while helping cut through the richness of the cake. I cut a small corner slice from the cake when it was still warm, tasted it, went off to give my mom a small piece and we both felt the same way about this cake..we loved it! I was tempted to keep the cake for us at home and pick up something from the store before church for everyone else, but I didn't.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Oat Pancakes

   This past weekend I discovered a new tasty treat at Central Market: Banyan Vegan Tofu Fried Rice that is also wheat and gluten free. I've tried my fair share of healthy {gluten free, dairy free, and vegan} products that tasted plain to down right disgusting, but this was delicious! One package is enough for 2 meals, one of which I cheated and added leftover chicken, but it was tasty both ways. One really good thing about these is that the packages can be frozen to be enjoyed without having to wait until the next trip to C.M.

 Random Note:I think this sweater from Urban Outfitters is really cute!

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Carrot Cake Oatmeal

  Yesterday was suppose to be a good day, but it turned out to be one of the most frustrating and emotional days that I have had in a while. My mom and I went down to one of the community colleges to try to get me set up for classes and fix some of the information that the computer system messed up. We were shuffled from one office to another to try to fix some information, see what was already set up, and to see what else I needed, but after being told by several people that they weren't sure why things weren't falling into place, my hopes of it being a smooth ride were gone. So, I now have a few days to refresh myself on math subjects that I completed over 4 years ago to take a 4 hour accuplacer test {covering 4 subjects} and then go back a few days later to well.. I'm not sure why I have to go back so soon if they won't have my test results that fast so I guess i'll have to wait and see.

 Question: So what happens when I have a horrible day?
Answer:
1.I listen to some good music by Ray Lamontagne. I love him!
2. Fall in love with a pair of cute slouchy moccasins online, but can't find where to buy them. They said they were Steve Madden but I didn't see them on the site. 
3. Cuddle with the kittens{who have turned into little monsters as seen here} while watching something on t.v. 
3. And finally make some really good comfort food. 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

These last few days have been busy.

 I visited the dentist, taught myself to knit, my mom and I took my car in to get checked, we tried a bowl of Mexican gumbo at Qdoba Mexican Grill which was delicious (It's like a burrito bowl + tortilla soup), I bought Oddball a cute lion costume which he thinks is a new chew toy, took Oddball, Marley, & Dusty to get some shots, did a little shopping, had some extended family come over who were visiting from out of town, went out to dinner with the whole family, and then I had another physical therapy session which has been helping my lupus.

  I had a few golden, spotted bananas left on the counter and I was wondering what to make with them. I found a lot of new recipes like banana oat cookies that are dairy, gluten, and oil free, but the recipe only said 2 bananas, but didn't tell the measurements. Normally that would be okay since the bananas we usually get are average size, but the leftover bananas we had  were really big so I didn't want to mess up a recipe by adding too little or too much banana and having a ruined creation. So I went with a newer banana bread recipe that I found on foodgawker that measured the mashed bananas.

Pumpkin Spice (Steel Cut) Oatmeal

 The aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg to me signify that it's time for the weather to cool down, it's getting closer to the holidays, and to add a little spice to almost every recipe I make, especially baked goods. This pumpkin oatmeal has cinnamon, other warm spices, uses maple syrup instead of refined sugar, and fills you up before you head off to work or school. This is the perfect breakfast for the chilly, rainy mornings that we have been having around here lately.

  Up until maybe two years ago, I'd never tried steel cut oats and when I did I wasn't so sure about if I liked the them that much. Steel oats have a very different texture compared to regular oats because of how they are processed and takes about 3 times longer to cook up. About 5 months ago, I used steel cut oats to make overnight cinnamon apple oatmeal  in a slow cooker which everyone enjoyed for breakfast and it made the house smell delicious!

Almond Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Paleo)

   I have another paleo recipe to share with ya'll. I actually made these Tuesday night since we had a big bunch of bananas that were ripe and it would be the last time I wouldn't be able to eat the rest for about 1 week. Wednesday I has another dentist appointment to fill some cavities that were caused by the amount of medications I take and I ended up being there for 3 hour since my dentist is also the only "main" dentist in the office so she goes between patients. Last time I got work done, I couldn't eat solid food for about a week and now that I have a temporary crown I may go longer since I don't want to mess anything up.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I wanted to share this recipe today since this is going to be a busy week for me and I probably won't have time to post anything again til Thursday or next Monday. 

 It was once again time to make a breakfast item to take to church. I wanted to choose something that was portable, simple, and used fresh summer  fruit.  I found a recipe and seeing that it had over 900 comments and rave reviews I decided to pick that recipe to make. I ended up making 2 cakes since I was sure 1 wouldn't enough for church and I figured that any leftovers would be taken home by the pastors.

 The first cake I made turned out having a little more color on the top and was a little dryer than the second because I added just the amount of buttermilk listed  instead of adding a tab bit more. Even though this cake is labeled as "breakfast" it's basically a cake that you can have it any time of the day since it is slightly sweet.  This cake is dense,  loaded with blueberries, has a good tang from the buttermilk, and the lemon zest lightens it up.

Cream Top Greek Yogurt & My 1st Giveaway

  The other day I received an email from Brown Cow Yogurt asking if I wanted to try their new Cream Top Greek yogurts. I looked it up online after I was contacted and I found nothing, but rave reviews on Brown Cow's other yogurts. I received 4- 6oz Greek flavors which were: vanilla, blueberry, honey, and maple. They also have a 24oz Plain Cream Top Greek, but it isn't available all over the country yet, so you'll have to check you local Whole Foods. If you don't have a Whole Foods near you, you can click here to see if a supermarket near you might carry Brown Cow Yogurt except their Cream Top Greek yogurt which will be exclusively available at Whole Foods until October 1.

  Even if you think that you don't like yogurt, you need to give this brand a try. I'm not a dairy fan. Milk always tastes sour to me, yogurt generally has too much tang and tastes past it's prime no matter what brand or flavor I try, and you will never see me munching on cheese unless its on something like a burger or cheese fries.

Buttermilk Oatcakes & Berry Compote

  

  These oatcakes (like pancakes) are great because they are filling, healthy, and have a good chew from the oats. The creator of this recipe wanted to show how easy a high-fiber & healthy breakfast could be without butter and extra fats. 

   The oatcake recipe can be categorized as having "no refined sugars" if you leave out the sugar which is what I did. This recipe makes 12 pancakes so having only 1 tbsp of sugar doesn't really matter; you could add more sugar if your family likes sweeter pancakes. I left out the sugar and just topped the cakes with the compote and some extra maple syrup and both my dad (who loves sugar) and I were happy with how they tasted. In the magazine, this recipe is labeled as high fiber, heart healthy, low cholesterol, and healthy weight. 

Strawberry Shortcake with Buttermilk Biscuits

 This week has been a busy one with me not feeling so good Sunday, getting blood work done Tuesday, my dad's yearly testing on Tuesday, and I have a dentist app. Thursday.

• Also last Friday, I ended up dying my hair all dark, dark brown which took 2 years for me to convince my mom to let me do it by slowly dying more and more of my hair. A few people even thought I was a natural brunette. 
• Saturday I got my cartilage pierced for the 4th time (the first 3 closed), but this was the first time I got it done professionally.
• Tuesday after coming back from the doctors I got my nose pierced! When it heals, I am going to have this ring.
• We found a little snake in the chicken coop who had eaten Red's egg, but he got away before we could grab him. We found him and released it out into the field, hoping he won't return.

  We got a big box of strawberries from the co-op so I decided to make strawberry shortcakes, but with homemade buttermilk biscuits and whipped cream. You could use the store bought cakes that have the indention to fill with fruit and whip cream, but making it yourself tastes a lot better and it isn't as hard or time consuming as some may think.

  You could even skip making the biscuits & just make a dessert out of the strawberries and whipped cream.

Overnight Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal

  When I first started this blog I would have never thought that I would be so into researching, testing and making my own recipes, photographing the end result, and then submitting my photos to several sites to get traffic and feedback. It can be hectic and tiring when juggling school, home life (owning of a lot of crazy animals), having lupus, and  all the while trying to figure out what I want to really do with my life.

Cinnamon Sticks

   When I first started this blog, I was posting about 4 times per week, but recently I have been posting only about twice each week. It can be somewhat frustrating when I have a good amount of recipes that I want to share all at once, but I also don't want to be that kind blogger who will post 5 times one week and then maybe will skip a week or two (without notice) and then will just post once a week after that. I want to be as  consistent with my posting as I possibly can so I think I will go back to posting 3 times a week; that may mean I might post all food posts one week and then the next I will show some of my recent photos or DIY projects.

  I had originally found a recipe for overnight oatmeal in a food magazine, but when I looked it up on the internet I found that it had really poor reviews. I ended up going with a recipe from Monica's blog The Yummy Life. I made a few changes to fit our tastes and it came out good. I've noticed that when steel cut oatmeal gets cooked, that it can become very thick, sometimes too thick. You can easily fix that by adding some more milk into your bowl and stir until you get the consistency you want. This oatmeal is very fragrant, but isn't too sweet which is good because even though I like sweets, I don't want to have a ton of sugar in my breakfast.

Berry Blast Smoothie

 A lot has gone on this week.

 One of the many tornadoes that hit Texas this week hit on the other side of our town, but as far I know everyone is alright, but some of the houses are damaged and a few small businesses were destroyed. I think this was the first time that we actually stayed in my parents closet during a tornado warning because usually they hit nearby towns or cause very little damage so there usually isn't much cause to hide. I'm glad we don't have to many tornadoes in our area because there were 6 dogs, 3 cats, my dad, I fitting tightly in a walk in closet. I also took my purse with my chargers, my camera bag, a bag of Fritos (which came in handy to keep the dogs calm from both the storm & not to go after the cats), and the blanket I am currently working on. We had 4 dogs in the house when I remember my two, Marley & Oddball and when we went to open the back door to get them, hail came raining down. When we did come out of the closet, the outside was so dark you would have thought it was 8pm, but it was actually just before 5pm.
  There was no damage to out house or animals, except a few shingles on the roof came loose and none of our animals wanted to come out of the hiding places to eat their dinner.

  I have had this post for a while, but never did publish it, until now. I was going to actually post about a recipe I found for sweet -sweet potatoes fries with brown sugar and cinnamon unlike most sweet potatoes fries recipes with paprika and cayenne, but I can't seem to find the recipe today. Instead, I will try to make my own recipe tonight and them post it later.  So I'll share this smoothie recipe with y'all.

Banana Pancakes

 Ya.
 So I only posted once last week and that was because I was busy and not feeling so great.

 I finally got down to 2.5 mg of Predinose, but my body didn't agree with that so now I am back up to 5mg for a while. I also had a doctor's visit since we thought I was getting strep since my throat and ears were painful, but the weird thing was that I could barely eat, talk, and laugh on the right side of my face, but the left felt perfectly fine.
Weird, I know.

 Anyway, my throat is better and I decided that I needed to catch up on posting. I have been thinking about banana pancakes for a while since we have not be eating the banana really fast so they end up getting get too ripe and because I already have like 4 or so banana-based bread/muffin recipes on here already. Around here, pancakes are kind of a rare breakfast unless you count my dad's "hobo pancakes" which is just biscuits split open and smothered in syrup. We only eat it maybe once a month or so; and I only eat my pancakes- the one's at Ihop and such always taste "off" to me and seem to soggy when you add syrup. Uck! My dad is usually happy with plain pancakes, while I like to add pecans or top it off with sliced strawberries that I mix with sugar so the juices come out.
 Also as soon as I thought about making banana pancakes, I though about Jack Johnson's song, Banana Pancakes.

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

    Its time again for me to make something for church. My mom's class usually has a small breakfast of coffee with a sweet store bought item. People take turns bringing breakfast and when it's my mom's turn, I volunteer to bake something. I've made pumpkin muffins, lemon blueberry yogurt bread, and Sunday morning muffins (pumpkin cream cheese muffins).

    I wanted to do something different, but something that everyone would like. For a while I have found recipe that I wanted to make, but didn't because they contained nuts. I like baking with nuts (especially pecans), but I was always worried to make something for Sunday with nuts if anyone had a nut allergy because I didn't want someone to have a reaction or not have breakfast because they don't like nuts. Well, this week I decided to make a recipe with nuts; I chose walnuts since my mom hates pecans.

Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Bread

For the next two Sundays, I am in charge of bringing making breakfast for my mom's sunday school class. I wanted to do something other than pumpkin muffins and I came up with something made with blueberries. I actually found 2 recipes and made both for tomorrow.

The first, Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Bread, is the one I decided to share with you today. The other recipe is for blueberry muffins, which came out good, but the batter could use a few changes to make them even better; so I might tweek it before sharing it with ya'll.

My dad, even enjoyed this, which I was certain he wouldn't because of the strong lemon flavor, but he ate his sample slice (he was my taste tester today) right up.

Love for Kids & a Power Smoothie

     This past weekend my mom and I volunteered at Love for Kids, which is something that some friends of ours have been doing for years. Basically thousands of kids from the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area get to come out to the Circle R Ranch, play games, gets their face painted, ride horses, and eat all they want. So they get the chance to be care free kids if just for a day. Plus, every bus that the kids arrived on (There were over 60 full sized school buses!And then more came in vans)  were packed with presents designated by each child's sex and age group.
  Saturday morning I wasn't feeling to good. Actually I felt awful, but I still was going to go to the camp. By the time we got out there it was freezing cold, but as the day went on it warmed up a tad bit and the wind died down. Time also seemed to fly by and I soon forgot how bad I was feeling. We arrived at 9:15 and we were suppose to be at our first stations by 10, but we were made into "human fenceposts" to guide the kids coming off the buses into the camp entrance which took almost 2 hours.Some of the kids were absolutely adorable! Then Fred (family friend) and I went to our stations which were with the horses. Fred lead the horse (we had a gray gelding named Ghost) and I was a sidekick- basically I walked next to the horse to make sure the kid didn't fall off. We walked Ghost for 1 1/2 hours before putting him to pasture to rest and going to help clean up and eat.
  By 2pm all of the volunteers (there were hundreds) were all lined up, waving goodbye as the buses left with some very happy kids on board.

This was one of those experiences that helps put everything back into perspective and cherish what you have.

Sunday Morning Muffins, Doctor visits, and Tigger the chirping cat

An updated picture from 10-21-12. I used raw sugar instead of the streusel. 

>This post has a few different topics because I decided instead of posting 2 different posts, to just combine them and make it a big post. So sorry in advance for my rambling.

Its 11 pm Saturday night as I'm writing this and I just finished making 3 dozen muffins.
3 dozen pumpkin, cream cheese filled and streusel topped muffins.
Our house smells amazing right now.
Why did I make 3 dozen muffins?
Well this Sunday it was my mom's turn to bring breakfast for her class and I agreed to make it. Plus, some of those muffins are for my class. I didn't know if I wanted to make pumpkin muffins or if i wanted to try something else, but it being last minute I didn't want to try out a new recipe especially on a church full of people.So I went with the pumpkin muffins I posted a while back, but I added some things.
I didn't add nuts to the streusel this time because I don't know if anyone has nut allergies and I really do not not want someone to turn purple and their throat and tongue swelling on a Sunday morning because of me. I would never be able to live it down and I would feel horrible. So no nuts this time. The cream cheese filling is sweet, but not overly sweet and stills has that tang that only cream cheese has.
The cream cheese filling and the streusel topping make enough to fill & top 2-3 batches of  muffins. Extra streusel can be stored in your fridge for at least 4 days.

Practice makes perfect. This was the first time I made muffins with a filling.
The 1st batch I made looked like something you would make for a Halloween party (they looked creepy but tasted yummy), luckily the next two turned out looking a lot better.

Sunday Morning Muffins  (pumpkin muffins with cream cheese and a streusel topping)

Adapted: A Cozy Kitchen (muffin recipe)

Yields: 12 muffins, but enough filling & streusel for 2 1/2- 3 dozen

Muffins:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned solid packed pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin or apple pie spice
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin or apple pie spice

Streusel:
4 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup a.p flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 nuts, chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice or cinnamon


For Cream Cheese Filling: Makes enough to fill 2 1/2- 3 dozen muffins
1. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla, spice/cinnamon, and cream cheese and mix until well combined and smooth.
2. Using a teaspoon, I added about 1/2 tsp. of the cream cheese mix on the batter per muffin.




For the streusel topping: Makes enough for 2 1/2- 3 dozen muffins
1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, nuts, pie spice (or cinnamon), and butter.
2. I use a tablespoon measure to distribute the streusel on each muffin.


Muffins:  yields 12 muffins
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 12 muffin tin with liners.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder.
3. Combine the pumpkin, oil, eggs, pie spice, sugar, baking soda, and salt until smooth.
4. Slowly whisk the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Fill each muffin cup 1/2 full (I use a ice cream scoop), add 1/2 tsp of cream cheese mixture, and then cover that with some more batter so it is 3/4 full. Sprinkle streusel over each muffin.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins from the pan to rack and cool completely.

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Then I have doctors appointments both Monday and Tuesday. One is a hematologist (blood doctor) and then Tuesdays its down to Children's Medical to see my Rheumatologist. So depending how this week goes, depends on what and how often I post. Maybe I'll make french onion soup(one of my mom's favorite) and I might even try out some cookie recipes that I'll will be making for holiday gifts.

    I might regret this, but I'm going to be baking like a crazy person this holiday. I am making the desserts for our "late" Thanksgiving dinner along with all the side dishes, Christmas cookies with icing (all from scratch) for our church's holiday dinner (and maybe some other desserts), pumpkin granola bars among other things for some friends coming into town,  and different cookies and goodies to give as gifts for family and friends. I think this will be a very big test for me. I like baking, but I don't always have the patience for it, especially after having disasters -Once I had 3 baking disasters right after each other and I didn't bake again for 2 weeks; so hopefully all goes well- And I want to bake like a lunatic because its something I've never done before. In our family we don't bake and decorate Christmas cookies or having dessert exchanges during the holidays (or ever) so this will be my time to make up for that. I have a feeling that my dad won't be complaining about the high amount of sweet treats that will be made in our house either.
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Here are some pictures of my cat Tigger. Our neighbor found Tigger in their tree when he was only a few weeks old. Since we only have 1 neighbor and both theirs and our cats were fixed and our dogs would have treed a stray cat, we didn't know where he came from.
Tigger isn't your ordinary cat .

see # 10

Tigger playing with a chicken  that I bought @ World Market

  Facts About Tigger:
1. He is terrified of strangers- the only people to see him is my mom, my dad, and I. No one else-we aren't real sure why because we did get him when he was young and he was exposed to many different people and animals, but he is a big scary cat and hides as soon as he hears other people in the house.
2. He hates dogs- he gets all puffed up and looks like a raccoon.
3. He used to be a great bird hunter, but after loosing some cats to coyotes that live in the back of our property my mom made him and Chex (our other cat) exclusive indoor cats. So now he sits on my couch cushion and watches the birds fly around.
4. Since he is an indoor only cat now, he has become an avid t.v watcher. One of his favorite channels to watch the national geographic channel. He sits on the couch and will watch until he falls asleep or I turn off the t.v.
5. He is a very vocal cat! He chirps like a bird when he gets excited and will talk to me through the day.
6. He is very needy and if he doesn't get attention he will bite or put his paw on my face to get my attention.
7. He is very jealous and whenever I have to become "mom" to orphan baby animals, he will not come into my room (which is where most of them stay if I have to raise them) or let me pet him until that animal is either old enough to not need me anymore or is gone to a new home.
8. He hates being brushed out so I have to use a lint roller to when he sheds.
9. His favorite thing to play with are pipe cleaners and my socks.
10. He has cheek bones that women would die for. And when he sleeps, he looks like a chipmunk.
11. He doesn't like "regular" human food like chicken, but he will gladly eat the ends of toast, apple sauce, and leftover soy milk from my cereal bowl. I can honestly say that out of all the animals we have owned and I've known- Tigger is truly one of a kind.

Lupus. Writing. Baking. And Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

  A lot has been going on latley.

             I've sat in more waiting rooms, had more blood drawn, and seen so many doctors in the last 4 months alone than I think I have in the last year combined. It turns out that I have lupus, but the doctors are still running more tests to see if there is anything else going on because my blood is showing abnormalities. So needless to say, it has been a rough few months.
            I know to a degree what is happening to my body, but at the same time I am absolutly clueless.I've had  the symptoms like the swelling and the butterfly rash for years, but we never put 2 and 2 together. One thing I have noticed though is that I have been writing more. I told my mom that she may be right. She always said that I was a good writer and that I may even make a career out of it, but I never saw it. I usually dread writing essays for school, and yet I find myself writing at 2am because my brain won't shut off. I never really know what im going to write about at the time, I just have this urge.  I guess writing is how I vent. How I let go. You could say that Im a very private person, sure I have a blog and all, but at the same time I hate having attention on me. I don't like to talk about whats really going on, I usually just change the subject to something safe, like cooking or animals.