Avocado Salad

I've pinned two versions of this recipe on my Pinterest recipe boards and they're both very similar.  This one uses lettuce, but I made this version with no lettuce.  It's basically the same ingredients you would need to make guacamole.

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados, sliced

red onion, thinly sliced

cilantro, chopped

1 tomato, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1.  Slice avocados, onion, cilantro, and tomato.

2.  Combine lime juice, Tabasco sauce, and olive oil.  Drizzle over salad.

3.   Season to taste with salt and pepper.

It's really important to use ripe avocados.  When choosing avocados, I look at the color of the skin.  If the avocado is bright green and rock hard, it's not ripe yet.  If the skin is almost black and the avocado is very soft, then it's too ripe.  A nice dark green is what you're looking for.  Also, when you gently squeeze the avocado, it should give just a little.  On Pinterest, I found another good way to tell if an avocado is ripe.  Just look under the stem!

How To Peel Garlic The Easy Way

I love finding easy ways to do things on Pinterest.  I found this pin for peeling garlic and decided to try it out.

 Start with a whole garlic bulb.

Use a bowl or the palm of your hand to break apart the bulb of garlic.

The garlic will look like this.

Put the garlic cloves in a seal-able container and shake.  A ziplock bag won't work.  The container needs to be something hard.  The garlic knocks against the sides of the container and that's what knocks the skins off.

Dump everything out and separate the garlic cloves from the skins.

Now you have peeled garlic that's ready to use!

Where has this tip been all my life!  No special tools and saves so much time!  

I love it!

Plant Markers

Here's an easy way to mark your plants.  Just use rocks!  The original pin I used for inspiration used paint, but I just used a sharpie marker.  The hardest part of this project is finding the right rocks.  You could use smooth, round river rocks.  I used rocks that had flat, angled sides so they would stand up and have a flat face to write on.  I don't have a vegetable garden, so I made some plant markers for my herb garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was in my back yard making my plant markers, I noticed our turtles were out.  They're desert box turtles and are native to our area.

I thought they might be hungry after hibernating all winter, so I gave them a treat.  They love to eat strawberries, cantaloupe, and tomatoes!

I also noticed the chocolate flower in bloom in my backyard.
Chocolate flower (berlandiera lyrata) is also native to our area and it's called chocolate flower because it really does smell like chocolate! 

Friday Link Party #17

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you had a good week.  

Here's a quick recap of mine.

Sunday morning I saw a hot air balloon 

flying over our neighborhood!

I made microwave mug brownies

I tried to look at the
bright side of dirty dishes.

I started a conversation about

 Pinterest causing stress.

Now it's your turn to share what you've been working on.  Scroll to the bottom of the page to link up your projects, crafts, and recipes!  But first, take a look at some features from last week's party.

Claire at A Little CLAIREification cuted up some thrift store shoes.

Courtney at Optimistic Mommy made
an adorable Daisy Grass Wreath.

Beth at The First Year Blog made
Coffee Oreo Fudge Ice Cream Pops.

Now it's your turn to share what you've been working on.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to link up your projects, crafts, and recipes! 

If you were featured, grab a button and show it off!

<a href="http://thepinjunkie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k586/bbrewer99/Iwasfeaturedbuttonpinjunkie_zpseb8dfa85.jpg" alt="ThePinJunkie" width="150" height="150" /></a>

The rules for this link party are easy!
Here's what you need to know:

1.  Link back in some way.  You can use this button:

<a href="http://thepinjunkie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k586/bbrewer99/pinjunkiebutton2_zps09f97038.jpg" alt="ThePinJunkie" width="190" height="190" /></a>

2.  Link up something YOU made - it can be a craft, recipe, or project as long as YOU did it. (No giveaways, contests, or link parties please).
3.  Follow The Pin Junkie on Pinterest, GFC, or Facebook.

4.  Link directly to a specific post - not your main blog (Keep it family friendly, please)

5.  Show some love by checking out some of the other links and HAVE FUN!

Does Pinterest Cause You Stress?

A recent article in the Huffington Post Pinterest Stress: Close To Half Of Mothers Stressed By Social Media Site, Survey Finds discusses the stress and anxiety that women are feeling as a result of the idealized images seen on Pinterest.  The article states "Pinterest culture can generate feelings of inadequacy by creating a pressure to throw elaborate birthday parties, attempt intimidating DIYs and bake picture-perfect cupcakes."

However, I don't think it's the women who are feeling stress from Pinterest.  I think it's the men.  If you are a pin junkie, the man in your life is undoubtedly going to be affected by your Pinterest addiction and may suffer some stress because of it.  I can't tell you how many times I've called my husband to stop at the store to pick up something I needed for a project.  He's been subjected to strange foods (read vegetables) like vegetarian lasagna and zucchini and onion pie for dinner.  His concern and alarm were evident when he saw that I'd glued fabric to our closet doors.  Is that PERMANENT!

The author of Pinterest Stress Not Just For Moms asserts that much of men's Pinterest stress comes from men having to help with Pinterest projects.  "Certain Pinterest projects require some assistance from the member of the household with a little more experience with various power tools, epoxies, and soldering."  I'm sure there are women who are handy with power tools, epoxies, and soldering, but I'm not one of them and I certainty needed my husband's help with the laundry room makeover.  

I can honestly say that Pinterest doesn't cause me stress.  I like Pinterest because I think it motivates me try new things.  I've tried crafts, home improvement projects, and new recipes.  They don't always turn out well.  My attempts at making blueberry breakfast cake, a dirty girl scout, and slow cooker swiss chicken are some great examples.  Most of the time, the projects I've tried have been successful and I've been very pleased with the results.  When my attempts at Pinterest projects don't turn out well, I've had a good laugh.  As with most things in life, you need to have some perspective.

Idealized images aren't reality

Pinterest isn't the only source for idealized images.  You can find them on Instagram as well as just about any magazine and many blogs.  The images aren't a true depiction of real life.  The images that we love so much on Pinterest or in the glossy magazines have been edited.  Think about how long it took for the subject of the photo to be artfully and carefully staged.  Then think about how many shots were taken to get the right picture.  Then that picture was cropped and edited to make it look just right.  (I can honestly say I look at pictures much differently since I started blogging.)

Don't compare yourself to others

This is something my mom always told me and I think it's good advice.  Each person is different with different strengths and talents.  No one is perfect.  You're bound to make mistakes at some point.   Enjoy it and have a good laugh, even if that means sometimes you might be laughing at yourself.

Have fun 

Pinterest is supposed to be fun and that's how I view it.  I'm sure there are some men who wish Pinterest had never been created because they now spend more time than they'd like helping their wives with Pinterest projects!   I have a lot of fun with Pinterest because I've tried many new things and have learned some new things in the process.   

What do you think?

Do social media sites like Pinterest cause stress because of pressure to be perfect?
Does Pinterest cause you stress?
Does Pinterest cause your husband stress?