I'm going to scramble eggs for dinner, and put the pesto on it. :9
- Mood:
accomplished
The UPS truck appeared in front of our house! The driver took it upon himself to check by just one more time before heading back to the depot. BRILLIANT! FANTASTIC!
So I have it all set up at home. It's very cute! And well-designed: the whole top flips back so you can switch out attachments. There's a plastic guard around the perimeter of the bowl so you won't get splashed when you add stuff, plus a nice spout to pour ingredients in. There's a fold setting, which is supposed to be gentler. It has a countdown timer, so you can set it to mix for 3 minutes, and it will mix while you do other stuff and shut itself off after 3 minutes. Best of all, everything can go right in the dishwasher! (Except the mixer base, obviously, but all the other bits and pieces!) Hubby's angling for cookies now, so I suppose we should go through the baking book and find something nice.
NOM!
- Mood:
cheerful
chipper
Thanks to corn subsidies, high fructose corn syrup is super cheap. So families can give that to their growing children instead of milk. And if their teeth fall out? Hey, no problem, they can just use their dental health insurance to pay... oh wait....The U.S. is wrestling with the worst food inflation in 17 years, and analysts expect new data due on Wednesday to show it’s getting worse. That’s putting the squeeze on poor families and forcing bakeries, bagel shops and delis to explain price increases to their customers.
U.S. food prices rose 4 percent in 2007, compared with an average 2.5 percent annual rise for the last 15 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the agency says 2008 could be worse, with a rise of as much as 4.5 percent.
Higher prices for food and energy are again expected to play a leading role in pushing the government’s consumer price index higher for March.
Analysts are forecasting that Wednesday’s Department of Labor report will show the Consumer Price Index rose at a 4 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, up from last year’s overall rise of 2.8 percent.
For the U.S. poor, any increase in food costs sets up an either-or equation: Give something up to pay for food.
“I was talking to people who make $9 an hour, talking about how they might save $5 a week,” said Kathleen DiChiara, president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. “They really felt they couldn’t. That was before. Now, they have to.”
For some, that means adding an extra cup of water to their soup, watering down their milk, or giving their children soda because it’s cheaper than milk, DiChiara said.
(So if you can support your local food bank, please do. We need them more than ever.)
- Mood:
aggravated
- Well halo thar. How are you today?
- I bought one of them there fancy Sonicare plug-in toothbrushes. My dentist Dr. B says they're a waste of money, but I was tired of my $10 Crest Spinbrush running out of batteries. And Amazon had a sale, plus I had a $25 gift certificates, so I got it for a lot less. This Sonicare thing is a srs brush! It feels like you have a lit hummingbird in your mouth! It has a timer, it has three different sensitivity settings, two special "brushing programs," a timer to let you know when to move on to a different section of your mouth. And even a UV filter to specially clean them! (Although I'm not convinced it's not just a tiny blue lightbulb.) At any rate it's fun, and anything that will renew my pursuit of perfect dental hygiene is a Good Thing.
- But man, my teeth are not white. Shocking in someone who drinks at least two big cups of coffee a day. I would do those white strip things, but we had a friend who used those, and her teeth turned blue after drinking red wine! If my choices are off-white or blue, I'll stick with the one closest to Nature.
- We've hit another lull -- not LOL -- in remodeling. Nothing more can happen until the countertops are installed. And they're not coming to do that until this Monday, the 7th. So all has been quiet in the construction zone. I wish they could have at least hooked up the fridge and dishwasher. It would be nice to get rid of the old white fridge in our entryway, and I cherish the thought of machine washing dishes again.
- Georgie, the interior decorator, wasn't able to come over last night after all. Sick child, or sick sitter. Someone was sick. Anyway, we're meeting tomorrow night now.
- She's on the prowl now looking for a TV for us. We've told her that we don't want to decide on chairs until we get the TV hooked up, so we know how far Hubby will need to sit. I figure if it's another month until we can have people over -- with places for them to sit and to eat, you know, the little things -- then it's another month. Which would actually give me a chance to play with all the new appliances, learn their little quirks, and produce earthquakingly good eats.
- I ran a meeting yesterday and was a total bitch about keeping to the agenda, but it worked. We got sooooooo much done in an hour. And we even resolved an issue that'd been floating around since February! Yay for being a complete bitch!
- Hubby and I have decided we will attend my 15th (!!!!!) college reunion in early October. Unfortunately it's the first weekend of October, and past experience tells me there is no decent foliage in the Hudson Valley that early. I'm not much of a one for the rah-rah stuff. I just want to see folks from my class. So we're just going to drive Saturday morning, go to the party that night, then go home the next day.
- Hee, it's amazing to think that Hubby came with me to my 10th reunion too. I remember getting the invitation in March. Hubby & I had only been dating for a few weeks, and this was going to be in October. I decided I would make reservations at a nice B&B anyway. If we were still going out then, fantastic. If not, I would just go myself and enjoy it. I worried about inviting him for something so far in the future. I didn't want him to feel pressured or anything. Well, I had nothing to worry about. And we were living together by the time October rolled around anyway!
- This year, the reunion is 2 days after our 3rd wedding anniversary.
- So anyway, we still need a fall foliage weekend trip. I suggested yesterday to Hubby that perhaps we could go in September up to Maine or something. He likes that idea. Now I just have to find a place! Any suggestions will be cheerfully accepted.
- Speaking of days off, I just reserved my time off days before and after Thanksgiving this year. I'm cooking Thanksgiving, in the new kitchen! First Thanksgiving cooking evar. I've never done the whole thing before. But I feel with help from the Good Book -- Cook's Illustrated -- I can do it.
- Gotta get back to work!
“You still cook dinner every night?” a friend asked incredulously one day recently. We were talking on the phone, and she could hear me rummaging around in the kitchen.
“Sure,” I replied. “Why wouldn’t I?”
The answer, she told me, is that in many households, the pots and pans are all but retired with the emptying of the nest. The phrase “cutting the apron strings” turns out to have literal meaning. As soon as your children are out the door, you get rid of the apron.
No more countless supermarket runs — just the occasional small shopping trip. No more nightly grind of turning out balanced meals with protein, vegetables and a starch. No more scrubbing pots and pans. You trade all that for freedom.
And that’s the part that baffles me. Freedom from what? Eating tasty, home-cooked meals?
We never had a nest, but yeah, we definitely cook. (You know, when we actually have a kitchen.) And I agree: why wouldn't you? Eating frozen dinners almost every night and spending $$$ on dinners out has been fun, but neither of us can wait to have a kitchen again. I keep seeing the prices on fresh asparagus coming down each week. I can't wait to steam or pan-sear some, maybe alongside some salmon and roasted potatoes? YUM. I'm already planning dinner party menus.
We still have a month to go. I think once the countertops are installed, everything will go quickly. But they won't be installed until next week.
I may have to open the tape on the appliances and liberate the operating manuals, just to tide me over.
- Mood:
anxious
Wanted to give you a remodeling update while I enjoy my coffee and Cobblestone. ( Nom nom nom! )
Geez, that Cobblestone was enormous. Salad for me today for lunch! I like their coffee too. There's just a few people trickling in now. There's a big window in front of me. Ah, this is nice. I would take a picture of the window for you, but there's a guy sleeping in an easy chair right in front of it, so that would not be nice.
Have a great day!
- Mood:
Happy happy joy joy!
why I should lift weights? I mean, apart from all the reasons I intellectually already know: maintain lean mass, build strong bones, yadda yadda.
Because I just cannot care about lifting weights right now. I got on the treadmill for a while yesterday, and I think I will do some intervals on my exercise bike when I get home tonight, but getting up in the morning and going to lift weights... meh. Mega-meh.
And yes, if I'm going to go, I have to go in the mornings during the week. After work is just completely packed.
And this morning I got to the gym, worked out, got home, showered & out to work on time for my early shift! It's amazing what I can accomplish when I, y'know, actually get up when the alarm goes off.
So, yay me!
- Mood: w00t~!
How do I learn how to do that?
For lunch I had a black bean burger (no bun) and a salad. I tried some "Caribbean Chicken" soup, but something about the smell put me off it, and I threw it out after only one bite.
Getting rid of the extra dark chocolate lying around in my desk was a good idea. I have a few pieces, but those are earmarked for my back-crackin' friends whom I'll be seeing tomorrow after work.
I feel oogy, and I don't want to dive headfirst into the slices of cheesecake I saw in the cafeteria.
- Posting from Firefox, not Safari, because for some reason Safari doesn't show the Rich Text option when posting via LJ. And I feel too lazy to write my own HTML.
- Busy busy day yesterday: We drove back to Niece Lumber to borrow our cabinet sample again, so we could go floor shopping at Lumber Liquidators. Paint Barn so totally fubar'ed our quote, that we are concerned about working with them. (They had forgotten to include the living room in the quote. So their revised quote is $3500 more than the original.) Lumber Liquidators is basically a warehouse with floor samples set up, and you either haul it away and install yourself, or your contractor organizes the installation. (Yes, we would opt for the second.) We found three samples we liked, and we wrote to Kathy to ask her opinion. Of course our favorite sample was also the most expensive. But it's Brazilian ebony, and the grain is very soft and smooth and consistent. It's supposed to be very hard, and the color is more consistent.)
- We took a gadget back to Best Buy, and were impressed by the streamlining of their return process. In and out of the store in five minutes. Nice!
- We did a little shopping at Target.
- I found a cool camera shop, where I spent some of my birthday/Christmas/camera sale money on a big new camera bag that should hold alll my stuff, a new cushion-y camera strap, and a backup lens cap. Unfortunately it wasn't the right size for my 70-300mm lens, but it works on my 18-70mm. It's a neat place, with tons of old-school metal camera bodies around! Nice to know there's a good place around if I need it.
- Hit the wine store on the way home, and bought a case of mixed bottles. Between sales and some 10% discount they applied, it worked out to about $10 a bottle! I just feel happier with a full wine fridge. Also read that the wine store is creating some kind of membership program with special sales and coupons. We will be signing up for that!
- Came home, chilled out, ate some leftover lasagna, drank a little wine (yum!), and I watched the Patriots-Giants game. What a game! Congrats to the Patriots, Tom Brady & Randy Moss for setting all those records last night. And thank you for beating the Giants. Ha HA.
- OK, to be fair, the Giants played great. Good try, guys. You had 'em scared for most of the game.
- Today, got up, did food shopping, and I took the car to Jiffy Lube. It needed an engine flush, and they recommended the fuel injectors be cleaned. I had thought we hadn't been getting as good gas mileage as we should. I may try taking it to the dealership for its 20,000 mile service (only 3,785 miles overdue!), and maybe they can do that.
- Well, poop, just read a blog post that said engine flushes are not necessary. Grrrr.
- Local dealership lets you e-mail a request for maintenance. Nice.
- Hubby smoked a turkey breast! We will have that later with sweet potatoes. Nummy!
- Watching the Eagles game, although I might decided to switch it off and save my focus for the Colts-Titans game tonight. I've found I can only concentrate on about one game a day for the entire game.
- My copy of Keith's book arrived the other day! I couldn't read the texts of the Special Comments yet -- too painful -- but his introductions to each are really fun and interesting. If you are so inclined, post an honest review over on Amazon. The haters are copying down talking points from Billo and putting them in 1-star reviews. Probably wouldn't even dare to actually read it, in case a contrary viewpoint made its way accidentally into their shrunken frontal lobes.
- OK, back to the L&O: SVU marathon on USA. Heh.
- Mood:
relaxed
But the good thing here is, that Christmas food-for-all would have signaled the beginning of a month-long binge before. So far, since Thursday morning, I'm back doing what I should.
All the sugar I ate must be filtering through my system though, because I woke up today totally zit-faced. Hilarious. Keep drinking water, keep drinking water...
I did exercise on the 24th, but the gym was closed on Christmas Day. I tried working out to that killer legs video, but my knees were not up to it. Between kneeling on the floor taking photos of Nephew and the flying (and the eating!), my knees were pretty uncomfortable. I had to stop 20 minutes into the almost-hour-long video. Better than nothing, I reckon. I wish my in-laws would ditch their elliptical machine for a treadmill; then I wouldn't have to worry about working out at all!
But all in all, it was a nice family Christmas: good presents, cute nephew, family doing well, Grandpa surprisingly lucid. Even church was bearable. The Lutherans have almost all the same Christmas carols as the Catlicks do, and lots of other people didn't know the second and third verses. And the female pastor who gave the sermon rocked, spiritually speaking. Nephew's parents were wise enough to not bring him along, which I commend. My parents didn't take me to Mass till I was 4 and could behave. Not that we were lacking in crying children, but for the most part people were good about taking their kids out.
I actually felt like we didn't spend enough time there this visit. (We arrived mid-Sunday morning and left Wednesday morning.) Maybe next year I'll try to save my vacation time and tack on another day.
Not much going on food-wise except for New Year's Eve! Edison's parents are having a party, and we're invited. So I'm hanging on to my weekly points for that. After that we have three lovely months of winter to muddle through. Oh, and my kitchen will be demolished. So, you know, that'll be fun. My energy levels seem to be getting lower. I need to make sure I'm exercising just like always, or else I'll be a complete mess. Much like my house.
Have a good week folks, and let's power through!
- Mood: full
Also known as, tonight’s lasagna dinner!- Location:In the kitchen
- Mood:
creative
I haven't found a box of their Gingerbread Spice yet, but I'm on the hunt. That stuff is awesome.
OK, carry on.
- Mood:
sleepy
One: During the week, I usually cook oatmeal in my microwave rice cooker and throw it in a Tupperware to eat at work. Hubby eats a big bowl of oatmeal at home that he cooks in a pot. Sunday morning we both wanted oatmeal. I said, “Hey, can I throw my oatmeal in with yours, so we only have to dirty one pot?” DUHHHHHHHH! Why has this never occurred to us before?!
So this morning while I was at the gym, Hubby added extra oatmeal for me. He added skim milk, vanilla and a little Splenda (which is all kosher with Core), put a serving for me in a Tupperware, and put his fixings in his own serving (walnuts and apple butter). It adds zero effort for him (he was going to do it anyway), and it saves me time.
Two: Every morning I go through, “Now did I remember to take my Vitamin W or not?” Usually I do remember, but I kinda have to struggle. On my way home from work tonight, I remember, “Duh!!!! I have one of those travel vitamin pill containers, with markings on it for each day!!!” So when I got home, I put a pill in each little box, from tomorrow through till Sunday. Now I just have to refill it each Sunday for the week.
Once again. DUUUUHHH.
- Mood:
crazy
Hubby and I motored down to my parents' place for an impromptu birthday gathering for yours truly. Also known as, my folks made a huge pot of chili for their friends the night before and still had tons left over so would we like to come down and eat their leftovers? The chili was surprisingly good! They also had nice salad greens with feta, sliced almonds and dried cranberries to put on it. Yummy!
Then prezzie time! Everyone had pretty much bought stuff straight from my Amazon list, so no huge surprises. But I still appreciate the gifts! Parents got me the flexible tripod, the digital field guide on how to use my speedlight flash, and a new extra battery for my camera. Hubby got me a new SD card (great timing, I think my original one is starting to die) and Double Indemnity on DVD!
There was some pretty good cake, and "Party Time" ice cream, vanilla with bits of cake in it. That was pretty nice!
I had seen my friend Suzerella at the mall earlier that day. She has almost-4-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and my mom is completely dotty about them. So I invited her to bring the kids by for dessert. It took a minute for them to warm up, but then they were rabbiting on about pictures they'd drawn and all kinds of stuff. They ate a ton (for little kids) of ice cream and cake, and they played with the Nativities my mom had on the bay window. My parents collect Nativities, everything from traditional sets to potholders and mugs. They have 135 of them. I kid you not. The ones on the windowsill were toys: a Playmobil version, one made of felt that buttoned to a Christmas tree, yadda yadda. The kids must have played with them for almost an hour! (And in their version of the Christmas story, the Three Kings can fly!) It was fun sitting around with Suz just chatting. I showed her all my camera stuff, and we talked cameras for a while. (She's my friend who's trying to get a wedding photography biz off the ground, and if she ever has a solid local gig I'm going to be her assistant!)
The kids and my parents hadn't seen each other in over a year, we think, and Suz felt bad. She said they have to spend more time with their bonus mom-mom and pop-pop. Which Hubby and I are all for. Let them borrow other kids if they feel like they need grandma/grandpa time! They're really sweet kids. But they are exhausting. I can't imagine how Suz gets the energy to get up and moving every day. Just listening to them for a couple hours wore me out!
And actually this was kind of funny. Apparently my dad had lined up the Nativities in the windowsill himself that afternoon. So when he saw the kids messing up his arrangement, he was freaking a little! My mom was all, "But that's what they're for!" Heh.
So after all the errand-running and birthdaying on Saturday -- we didn't get home till after 10:30 -- it was super to have yesterday just for lounging around. Poor Hubby did have to work on a proposal though, but at least he could do it at home in his sweatpants. I chilled out, watched the Eagles game (depressing), hit the treadmill for a while, and made meatloaf and roast cauliflower for dinner. I never even left the house! We didn't get much snow, just some on the grass and cars and roofs. And the rain washed most of it away by evening.
I have Friday off for my birthday. Yay! I've organized my week so I don't have to cook dinner or work out that day! The only thing we have to do is meet with Kathy at a hardware place to pick out fixtures for the powder room. I have no idea what else I'm going to do with my day. I considered going to the movies, but there isn't really anything interesting released this week. I don't want to spend a lot of money, and Hubby's company party is Saturday night so I want to save my points. I don't want to drive down to Philly or take the train into NYC. I'm considering taking the shuttle over to Princeton and just strolling around, maybe take my camera and play. I'll have to see what the weather holds. Or -- oooh! -- I could go to Grounds for Sculpture and check out the art and take pictures! I should be able to find something reasonably fun and cheap to do. Of course, just puttering around the house in my jammies sounds appealing too! If you have any good ideas, put them in the comments!
- Mood: content
- Music:The Pretenders, "2000 Miles"
- Mood:
disappointed
- Today: grilled chicken and barbecue baked beans
- Tomorrow: split pea and barley soup. (Subject to flipping around if it doesn’t stop raining today)
- Monday: Roasted Tofu & Cauliflower Curry, a new WeightWatchers recipe
- Tuesday: Frozen mahi-mahi
- Wednesday: Leftover grilled chicken with tomato sauce and pasta
- Thursday: Frozen tuna
- Friday: Dried black beans and brown rice in the slow cooker, with salsa
The bill this week was $93, a lot more than last week. But last week we were using up stuff we already had. 20% of the bill was for the chicken, and we probably got more than we actually need. Two pounds of chicken breast, and almost 3 pounds of chicken thighs, all boneless. So we’ll freeze what’s left! I need to find more uses for the thigh meat, because that’s $1.50 a pound less than the breast. I wouldn’t want to eat it all the time, but once or twice a week is OK.
So yay! I’m going for a haircut at 11:30. I’m going to try out a thrift store I have heard good things about with Dr. H later this afternoon. And tonight, Hubby’s alma mater takes on Oklahoma State in NCAA Football, and it’s on TV here! Go Jayhawks! Enjoy your Saturday!
- Music:FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, on Spike TV
No, seriously.
I started off searching through the pantry for stuff we already had that wasn’t being used. I found about a cup of red lentils. Hey, red lentil pasta sauce (one of the staples of my diet when I was a stoodint in the UK)! And we have plenty of pasta! Great, one night’s meal plus a lunch for each of us and we didn’t even have to go to the store.
I also found one leftover piece of frozen chicken, and a bag of frozen sugar snap peas. It’s a fairly big piece of chicken, so if I throw that in with a stirfry and brown rice, that should stretch it out.
As I mentioned before, we’re going to try and stick to the following rules: only one meat purchase a week, more frozen fish (much cheaper than fresh), and more meatless entrees. So here’s the list we came up with:
Today: red lentil pasta sauce, makes 4 servingsThe problem I find with doing our grocery shopping on the weekends is that we end up with no fresh fruit or veggies by the weekend. So maybe if we shop on Saturday morning instead, that will be better.
Monday: Slow cooker turkey chili, makes at least 6 servings
Tuesday: Chickpea and spinach curry, 4 servings
Wednesday: Frozen fish with sweet potatoes
Thursday: Chicken and vegetable stirfry
Friday: Leftover chili
Saturday: Go shopping again
I also like having extras and lots of servings, so Hubby has good stuff for lunches and he doesn’t have to buy a sandwiich. This is healthier and cheaper for him! He says he’s going to stay away from the packaged deli meats and Skinny Cows, because they’re very expensive.
OK, so we hit the store, with our nicely typed shopping list. We also brought WF plastic bags, because they give you 5 cents for each bag you reuse.
We stuck to our list with a couple small exceptions, and I picked up some stuff for my office Thanksgiving food drive.
Our total today, after 30 cents’ discount for reusing bags was $60.89!!!
We spend on average around $100 to $110 a week there, easy!
So we were really excited by our economizing. If we can stay in the $70-75 range, we’ll save well over $100 a month, all of which can go towards paying for our remodel!
- Mood: accomplished
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eh_notsomuch- Charity Hussein Froggenhall
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