About Me

I am Vanessa aka The Domestic Dame… I’m very newly thirty something, single mother to a high school-er, working on growing my first garden, puppy mama, who works full time, cooks part time, and hates cleaning with a passion.

I began cooking as a very young child… 5-6yrs old, my mom would give me a stool and place random ingredients on the counter so that I could cook along with her. It was probably my fondest childhood memory. My mother was a beautiful vibrant and very sick young woman, we lost her too early during a heart and lung transplant, she was only 34… I was 7. Now I’m not going to turn this in to a pity part or sob story but when I cook it brings back all those warm happy feelings of my childhood. So no matter how busy things in my life get when I come home and make dinner it always cheers me up.

I see so many amazing blogs out on the net with colorful rich pictures and perfect recipe results loads of creativity well that’s not me! My pictures are taken with a point and shoot camera, my recipes are often trial and error, and my grammer, punctuation and spelling are horrendous! My site is focused on the average person who may be broke, tried, lazy or may even set the kitchen on fire from time to time, cause that’s me! So if your looking for some honest recipes, interesting reads, or just want to laugh at my screw ups you’ve come to the right place!

So on to some randomness:

I love randomness
I drink Dr. Pepper by the case load
With the exception of a year long period in Texas, I’ve lived in Southern CA my whole life, currently I live about 1/2 mile from the ocean… I know I’m spoiled!
My world would fall apart if I didn’t have my planner with me at all times
In 2009 I was the recipient of two wonderful donor corneas… yup you read that right… I had a cornea transplant in both eyes… I used to be legally blind… no joke! Don’t forgot to put the donor sticker on your drivers license!!
I make lists for everything
I have lists for my lists… I bet you think I’m kidding?
I loveeeee tacky retro chachkies
Ice cream is the best thing in the world
I was a Christian school girl for most of my childhood
I am the least creative person you’ll ever meet… but I try try try… and fail fail fail!
I am addicted to Farmville and Frontierville and spend way too much time playing them

And now for an introduction to the cast members in my life story:

The kid: Upon entering high school and he tried out for several sports to no avail and happened upon track as a last resort. After realizing he is a track superstar he developed a new interest in eating healthy and working out… go figure. At present he is probably the healthiest member of my family and constantly requests the nutritional value of every meal put in front of him. Typical teen? I think not! And don’t get me started on the vanity! He takes longer to get ready then all of us and has to look in the mirror at least ten times before leaving the house! (He’ll kill me if he ever reads this!)

Check him out… 1st place!! Woohooo!! Also take note of his white legs!! HAHAHA

The hunnie: My amazing handyman boyfriend who although he will eat almost any meal put in front of him he has a hatred for all veggies (Lima beans being at the top of that list) and meatloaf, both of which I repeatedly trick him in to eating. He secretly consumes 25% of his daily food intake snacking after dinner, how this man does not weight 300lbs is one of natures wonders. He strongly dislikes social settings, uses a clean towel everyday but will wear the same pair of pants for a week and has to google EVERYTHING… but hey you might need to know the intelligence level of crows, the history of HR puffin stuff, or what body parts are currently being sold on ebay… you know those things come in handy!

The fur babies:

Zombie: My newest child… A 5 month old pit & lab/corgi mix (I have no idea how that happened). If I were only able to save one family member in a fire it would be a tough call but I think the dog would end up winning! She was named zombie because when we got her she slept so much and she was a total zombie when woken up. That is no longer true, now she doesn’t sleep… EVER! She has more energy then a Tasmanian devil on speed and will eat everything and anything within her path… bowls, wood and all my new plants are the latest additions.

Spaz: My lost child :*( he is was my very hyper, extremely ADD, 3 year old Italian Greyhound / Chihuahua mix. He escaped from our backyard on 2/2/10 never to be heard from again (maybe someday he’ll return I haven’t lost hope).

Kitty: The oldest member of our furry family at 14 or 15 years old, my adorable tabby cat whom I rescued from certain death (at a shelter) over 10 years ago. After we moved in to our house she decided she no longer wanted to be a house cat and now lives in the neighbors front yard. Returning to greet everyone who walks in our front door and to eat!

Our non furry friends

Fishies: Cute?? Think again, these are our six five piranhas. I really don’t have much to say about these guys other then they hang out in our living room and offer our company an interesting talking point!

So there you have it a brief run down of our colorful family! Any other questions shoot me an email and ask!

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