dagnabbit already

menu plan monday - 4/21

2008-04-21T08:15:00.001-04:00

first things first, having my menu planned out in advance last week was huge for me. i wasn't in the middle of doing one thing, then suddenly realizing that, crap! i have no clue what dinner is and it's 4:30! i made sure that in my day planner i made as a task for the day before to take out what i needed from the freezer so i wasn't hoist on my own petard.

just as a recap for my own neediness in this endeavor, a recap: monday through thursday pretty much went off as planned; friday j went out with the boys from work after a busy day/week, so i nuked some leftovers; by saturday, j was very very sick - not hungover, mind you, honest to goodness sick - so we had chef boyardee ravioli for dinner instead of the dijon rice and egg dish; hence it reappears on this week's menu (boys need comfort food, too!); and sunday i roasted the chicken, but we kind of picked at it - j's appetite still isn't up to par and i'm hoping that all he has is a bad cold, not the flu.

and now for the menu for the coming week:

monday: spanish rice casserole - this sounds so very yummy; most likely i'll make it with ground beef, but i've got some ground chicken that would also do well, i think. we'll have it with white rice, because i absolutely hate the texture of brown rice, i do not know why. apparently i'm unhealthy to the very core of my being, lol...but we will probably have a veggie alongside, like corn or broccoli, because i'm not all terrible.

tuesday: herbed pork chops with raspberry sauce - i knew when i saw this that i'd have to make it. j is a little twitchy about pork chops, but he yummed when i showed him this recipe. most likely i'll make this with blackberry jam, because that's what i've got hanging around at the moment.

wednesday: leftover veggie frittata - this just sounded awesome, and i'm really looking for ways to work more "not as heavy on meat" ideas into our regular rotation. both of us are definite carnivores, so left to our own devices, we tend to aim for meat. we try to balance that out, but both of us like egg dishes, so...this will likely have some leftover roast chicken in it, and we're both really looking forward to trying it.

thursday: SOS - bless my honey's heart, he confessed while we were talking food that he's had a hankering for some SOS, so we're a havin' it. i've found a few recipes for it, here and here most notably (probably will use one of the recipes from the second link), but the gist of it, for the uninitiated, involves ground or chipped beef browned then heated with a white(ish) gravy of some sort, then served over toast. it's an old military recipe, and is pretty good from what i remember, depending on who made it and how. haven't had it in years, but it's thursday's dinner and it sounds easy - sold!

friday: spaghetti with meat sauce - no recipe for this, but i think this is really my go-to meal. when i'm tired and cranky and don't wanna cook, this gets made more than anything else in our arsenal. j absolutely loves pasta and meat individually, but put them together and he's one of the happiest campers ever. i do it the simplest way possible: brown ground beef, pour off the fat, dump in a can of hunt's spaghetti sauce, heat through, ladle over cooked spaghetti. i've tried getting all super domestic and making my own sauce, but my attempts - although none have really flopped except one that i can remember - just haven't had the same joyous taste to j that hunt's has...so hunt's he gets... :)

saturday: dijon rice and egg skillet - i don't know why i'm so fascinated by this dish, but i cannot wait to try it.

sunday: leftovers - something from the freezer or from this week's adventures.

for more menu adventures for this week, head on over to the organizing junkie and share the menu love!

expired coupons and coupon trains

2008-04-20T15:00:00.005-04:00

i just finished going through all of my coupons and pulling the expired (or the ones that are about to expire) ones. some i knew i probably wouldn't end up using, some i genuinely thought that i'd find a use for, and others i wanted to use but the item even *with* the coupon just didn't warrant what various places wanted to charge for it.

it's been a few months since i've done this, but i've put all of the coupons that i've pulled into an envelope and i'm getting ready to send them off to a navy base where i hope someone is able to get some use out of them. in case you hadn't heard, families on military bases are able to use expired coupons on base up to 6 months past the expiration date. the list i use most frequently i found here, and it's broken down by branch of the military, so if you'd rather send to one branch or another, you certainly can. i chose a navy base in japan simply because j's son is in the navy and is currently stationed in japan...very complex system i use to select a destination, i know...

i'd love to start a coupon train. they can be very fun, and it gives you a chance to get coupons that you might not have seen otherwise, or gives you duplicates for things that you actually would buy and use. for example, this morning there were a *ton* of baby coupons that i clipped because i know *someone* will be able to use 'em...but i don't have any real need for them. now, pet coupons? send 'em my way, pretty please... :D

i've only done a coupon train a few times, and it was something on a forum that i frequent. someone else organized it, and i was just a car on the train. i know there are pros and cons, but overall it was a positive experience for me and i know it has been for many others. plus, it's probably fairly difficult to get off the gound...so, the debate rages on for me. if you're interested, let me know in the comments, or feel free to send me an email at cricket@dagnabbitalready.com.

chicken stroganoff

2008-04-17T17:49:00.002-04:00

i didn't have a specific recipe when i made this the other night, was more winging it than anything else, but it turned out fabulous, and here's what i did...

what you need:
1 pound ground chicken (or beef, whichever)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can milk
1/2 envelope onion soup mix
8 oz cream cheese
olive oil

first off, brown the mean in olive oil with the onion soup mix. since i was using chicken, there wasn't anything really to drain off. add the can of soup and the milk. i cut the cream cheese into chunks to make it a bit easier to incorporate, then i just stirred over low heat until everything was all melted together and looked heavenly.

i served it over rice, but i bet it would be equally delicious over egg noodles. enjoy!!

menu plan monday!

2008-04-14T13:08:00.006-04:00

in keeping with my "to do" list, here's what (tentatively) we've got going in terms of our weekly menu:

monday: chicken alfredo (no recipe, using last week's roast chicken leftovers and bottled alfredo sauce)
tuesday: pork roast, veggies, mashed potatoes
wednesday: "chicken stroganoff" with rice
thursday: beefy mac skillet (from the campbell's kitchen meal mail that i can't remember exactly how i signed up...probably just from a link on their site)
friday: leftovers (or "breakfast for dinner", whichever is most appealing by then)
saturday: dijon rice and egg skillet (i found this recipe on the incredible egg site, i don't think it'll let me link to it directly, but i will likely reproduce the recipe here if it's any good...very like a sopa seca recipe - never mind, the link works now! *happy dance*)
sunday: whole roast chicken, veggies, rice

visit menu plan monday over at the organizing junkie's blog for more ideas!

hopefully this becomes an easy habit for me to keep...happy "menuing", all!

wow. just wow.

2008-04-02T17:00:00.004-04:00

first there was a bit of a "thought drought", but recently i've just been so busy working and trying to work and holding down various forts that i haven't really had the energy to get out here. and that sucks, because blogging always has been an outlet for me to get and keep things straight in my head.

what's on tap around here...let's see...

i've had some really great frugal shopping moments that i'd love to share about even if they are after the fact
i've been sent two or three really awesome samples that i want to sit down and write some worthwhile reviews about
i need to get more mentally organized in terms of menu planning and such, especially considering my schedule is so freaky of late, and that may be something that i can do here to not only get/keep it organized but also give me that measure of accountability that i always seem to need
time. i had some...now where did i put it??

and on that note, it's time for me to pull dinner out of the crockpot and get the dog, the cat and the man fed...

linky lurve: the random edition

2008-03-20T10:00:00.000-04:00

i'm hoping sharing some of what i've been reading lately will jumpstart that writing thing that seems to have eluded me of late. today's grouping, frugal links that have caught my eye over the last few days.

wendy at more than enough has a great list of 800 numbers for companies. call, let them know you'd like some coupons, and poof...they arrive. i've only just discovered wendy's blog, but i'm enjoying it; lots of interesting posts. unlike here, of late. ;)

something else from wendy: coupons.com has hit mypoints. i've been using mypoints for years, and i've been using coupons.com to print out coupons for what feels like forever. but i didn't know that they recently teamed up! very good news!

i'm very excited about the idea of making both cloth napkins and fabric bags...i've borrowed mom's sewing machine, now i've just got to figure out how to use it....got any great links towards that end? lemme know!

everybody's talking spring cleaning, which i don't think i've ever done....hmmmm....the lovely ladies over at home ec 101 have a post just for me! well, ok, my home isn't disastrously messy, but it would never pass a white glove test. the ideas are simple enough that i'm sure i can baby step my way to pristine. maybe. a detailed room by room plan is just what i needed! thanks, ivy! :)

i know if i could get myself into a better morning routine, my day would go much smoother. as it is, i've got the "getting up to get j's day going" routine pretty much in hand, i just need to get the rest of my morning into ship shape...

bread bricks

2008-03-19T17:17:00.002-04:00

i've been cooking my fool head off today. nothing else has cooperated, so at least i accomplished something.

i made some split pea soup and decided that since we were having a hearty soup for dinner in honor of the rainy/thunderstormy/nastiness that is today, i'd bake a loaf of yummy crusty bread.

the beauty of both of these is that with the joy of mechanical assistance (hellllooooo, bread machine!), both the soup and the bread didn't have to be pampered or watched much. which left me free to deal with assorted other dilemmas. my soup? looks and smells yummy. my bread? is a brick.

a somewhat flat, hard brick.

ahem. this is not what the bread machine and i discussed.

i dutifully measured out each ingredient and made sure that each was at the right temperature before placing them in the machine in the exact order prescribed. all should have gone quite according to plan. but no, i have a brick.

i remember reading somewhere, i apologize for not recalling where, that bread dough is something you just have to learn. kinda in a zen way. hopefully soon i'll get to that point. i do think that i'm close...i peeked in on this batch (as i always do...can't. leave. the. machine. alone.) and noticed that the dough did look a smidge dry...but i had put in all the right measurements, so surely all would turn out well, right? not so right.

once i learn to trust my instincts i'm sure that i'll have far fewer final products like the one today, but i'd be lying if i didn't say it was a bit disheartening.

shopping but not spending

2008-03-18T17:06:00.004-04:00

that's my goal lately....

i've been following money saving mom and her cvs tips for a couple of months now, and it really amazes me how many great deals can be had. i've impressed j a couple of times with some great deals (recently we got 4 2-liter bottles of coke, 1 2-liter bottle of dr. pepper and a 12 pack of coke for $.50...i loves me some coupons when they work like that!), but that is far from the norm for me. i do ok with coupons, but other than that one trip, i haven't really had anything where i've handed anybody $1 and walked away with half the store. baby steps.

today i ran two errands...i got some dog and cat food over at petsmart first. i had coupons, and i was gonna use 'em. i got a 5lb bag of nature's best dog food for clio, and a 3 1/2lb bag of iams digestive for the minouzer. i had $3 off coupons for both bags of pet food, which is why i bought those particular ones. i also had a buy one/get one free coupon for some cat food in a pouch. all told, $6.50 in coupons on what would have cost me $22.66. handed over my $16.16 gladly and skipped on over to cvs.

this month - or is it week? i never remember unless i'm looking at it :/ - if you buy $15 worth of certain dove products, you get $5 back in extra care bucks. i just got a *ton* of dove coupons in the mail, so i went to see what i could get into.

i bought 1 2pack of dove soap (2.50), 2 dove cream oil body washes (3.99 each), one dove cream oil lotion (6.99), and 2 lypsyl lip moisturizers (2.99 each)...i used one $5 off of $15 cvs coupon, one $3 off of $15 worth of beauty purchases coupon from cvs, 2 $2 off dove cream oil body wash coupons, 1 $1.50 off one dove cream oil lotion coupon, and 2 $1 off lypsyl tubes coupons. that took my total down from $23.45 to $8.88. *happy dance*

i also earned $10.98 in ECB's that i can use on a future purchase! (the lypsyl gave me $2.99 each in ECB's too) couple those with the $6 in ECB's that i already had and the $10 cvs gift card that i just got in the mail from redeeming some points on mypoints and i've got $26.98 to spend on toiletries and household stuffs...

i stumbled across this site today, and she has got the niftiest little cvs tracking spreadsheet that you can download to keep track of spending with your cvs card.

also, if you're new to couponing and want some tips on getting started with ecb's or with walgreen's and their rebate program, money saving mom is the place to go! her cvs beginner's tutorial and her walgreen's beginner's tutorial are both wonderful resources.

linky lurve: feeeeed me!

2008-03-17T05:34:00.000-04:00

i've been heavily into the bread thing lately, and i would desperately love to finally find a recipe that gives me a loaf similar in consistency to the sandwich bread we get at the store so that i can stop buying it. something about the preservatives and all just really turns me off, plus i am getting a kick out of making our bread. not to mention the fact that i've got all the ingredients on hand, so it's not costing a ton of money to make a few loaves. this has led me to what feels like thousands of variations on my theme. i'll let you know what if anything finally works...

i liked this article on organic food myths. yes, i like the overall idea of organic food, i don't like preservatives and pesticides, but there are some parts of this that make sense. i don't believe that organic food is the be all and end all to all of our troubles in the world, as many try to make it out to be. with everything in life, i think we need to approach the concept of organic food in moderation.

these cinnamon sugar muffins look absolutely heavenly! i may have to take a break from bread and bake some of these...

cheese toast is one of my favorite snacks...a slice of tomato underneath and a smidge of salt and pepper before topping with cheese? heavenly...

this post over at money saving mom has some great links to frugal menus and budgeting while still eating healthy. i've loved reading meredith's series on the 50's style menu. i'm not nearly as adept as either of these ladies yet, but i'm learning more and more. baby steps.

i totally want to do this. i don't use buttermilk often, mainly because i'd have to buy it and it just isn't something that really fits into the budget. if it's this easy to make though? wow, that would be great to have around. i had a wonderful recipe to make my own yogurt, too, and i cannot find it to. save. my. life. grrrr.

linky lurve: the blogging edition

2008-03-16T05:11:00.000-04:00

amanda at blogger buster has completely revamped the site, and it's mighty purty. she continues her blogger template design series with this post on backgrounds and borders. if you've been thinking that you have to hire a professional or be an artist of some sort yourself in order to have a decent looking blog, just take a deep breath and follow some of amanda's tutorials. she's developed a very user-friendly approach and you can't go wrong if you take things just one step at a time.

if you've been looking for ways to monetize your site, blogging gal has been checking out pepperjam...might be worth looking into.

blissfully domestic started off their blog info series with some information about basic bling for your blog, including links to my favorite favicon maker, my equally favorite mini-button maker, and various other bits and bobs. incidentally, if you're using blogger and think you can't have your own favicon, you actually can. check out annie's great tutorial on adding your own favicon!

linky lurve

2008-03-15T16:45:00.004-04:00

been drowning in my reader again, all 111 subscriptions...oh my...

some that have stood out the most for me of late:

i've been wondering if it's time to switch to cfl lights....this post gives me pause, however. i'm a colossal klutz and i've got a dog and a cat who both want to be involved in whatever crisis is occurring at any given time. dunno that i'd be able to give this situation the full hazmat treatment.

it seems like the biggest excuse i've got for not getting more done on my personal goal list is time. something else always needs more attention, more time, more more. zen habits has a lovely article on how to make time for those personal goals.

multitasking drives me crazy sometimes, but if i didn't do it, i don't know how i'd get *anything* done. most of the time, it isn't a big deal, but here are some tips on how to back down on the madness that can ensue...

another interview with merlin mann, how to take back your time and attention. as soon as i have some of both, i'll be tackling this as well...

ohhhh, i do love me some stores that offer free shipping, no matter how much or little i'm spending... freeshippingon makes it easier to find items that won't kill you with shipping charges.

my least favorite question during any type of interview is anything concerning describing my weakenesses. argh. wikihow has a blurb on how to communicate our weaknesses effectively.

later this week i'll share more articles that i've been knee-deep into...

what's been cooking

2008-03-04T14:25:00.002-05:00

just because i haven't been typing, surely that doesn't imply we haven't been eating or i haven't been cooking. let's see, where to begin...

i was ecstatic when i found this recipe. j and i both love granola, but it is hella expensive. i've made this several times now, and it's just awesome. the first batch, i went way overboard with the cinnamon. when you were munching it dry, it wasn't noticeable, but wow, pour some milk on that bad boy and the cinnamon practically carjacked ya. the second time i made it, i forgot the vanilla, but you almost didn't notice because it was so damned yummy.

i haven't made this yet, but it's on the short list for this week, i think. we inherited a bread machine this weekend, and i've been learning how to use it and making a few loaves of bread. next item that's coming out of that thing? the dough for these. and if i can figure out how to make a decent sandwich style bread dough? ohhhhh, that will rock mightily.

something else that we've made a weekend event is ham and egg cupcakes. i ran across the recipe a couple of weeks ago when i was cleaning out some old 3 ring binders. i've got a link for the recipe, but it seems to be a dead link now, and i can find some things that are close, but not quite this. so here's the scoop:

- 6 slices of shaved ham
- 6 eggs
- 1 T cream (i used half&half, and it worked great)
- 1/2 t salt
- 3/4 t pepper
- 2-3 T sliced mushrooms (i've left those out each time...gotta be judicious with my mushroom use around here, or j will rebel entirely... :D)
- 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese (i'll be honest here and say i hate shredding cheese. plus i'm not wild about the texture of melted cheddar with eggs. i know, i'm a pita. so i used american cheese slices instead. not gourmet, by any stretch, but it melts well and i like american cheese better in eggs.)

mkay, now spray down a 6 cup muffin tin lightly with cooking spray. line each cup with 1 slice of shaved ham, forming a little cup. in a mixing bowl, beat eggs with the cream, salt and pepper until frothy. add mushrooms and cheese. (i tear the slices up and add them to the individual muffin cups after i pour.) stir until blended, then spoon 1/2 cup of the egg mixture into each ham cup. bake at 375 for 20 - 25 minutes or until eggs are puffed and set.

yumminess, and perfect for those sunday brunches where you don't know what you want but it's getting to that point where you know you've gotta eat...

grovel, grovel, plead, plead

2008-02-26T14:34:00.003-05:00

hi there, internetz...i have lots of stuff to say...no, no, no, take your hands off of your ears, i won't be saying much of any of that today. no, today i have a shameless plea. listening again? groovy...

pretty please with sugar on top, go here and vote for my dog's picture? i'll be ever so grateful, and i'll even dig out a working camera - if one can be found here - and show you a picture of my prize if i'm fortunate enough to get enough folks to vote for us...well, that is jumping the gun quite a bit, i admit, but hey...power of positive thinking, right?

thanks much, internetz! *smooches*

when good ideas take that wrong turn...

2008-02-19T19:56:00.003-05:00

i should know better. truly. every now and then, i get a fantastic idea and then my tiny voice (eh, or voices. whatever.) says, but wait....it would be so much better if we did this. c'mon, do it!!!

this time it started with pork chops and slow cooking them, then shredding them, dousing it all in some lovely barbecue sauce, and narfing them down with hubby for dinner. then those blasted creative juices started firing off. waaaait...there's that can of pickled jalapeno peppers in the pantry that you've been shuffling around for months now. what would happen if we drained that, threw in a can of diced tomatoes and their juice, and let everything simmer a bit??

you'll singe the fuck out of your mouth just from the fumes, that's what'll happen. dumbass.

it wasn't a total loss. i learned all kinds of nifty things from the internet about what will help cut the fire out of a spicy dish. never got everything to die off completely, but there was *significant* improvement.

the resulting hot mess (and i mean that in every way that you could possibly interpret that phrase) was served over rice and was edible. and i'm just now getting the feeling back in my lips and tongue. j luckily is much fonder of the spicy foods than i am, and he proclaimed it to be yummy, if a bit still on the spicy side.

me 'n my bright ideas...

also. if anyone ever tells you that it's easy to rinse hellfire off of shredded pork to rescue it? they're totally lying.

codependent crazies

2008-02-18T17:54:00.001-05:00

there are a metric ton of definitions for codependency on the interwebz, ranging from being an alcoholic's or an addict's loved one all the way up to having unhealthy boundaries and poor coping skills. one i tend to agree with the most i found at all about counseling, to wit:

...a set of *maladaptive, *compulsive behaviors learned by family members in order to survive in a family which is experiencing *great emotional pain and stress.

*maladaptive - inability for a person to develop behaviors which get needs met.

*compulsive - psychological state where a person acts against their own will or conscious desires in which to behave.

*sources of great emotional pain and stress - chemical dependency; chronic mental illness; chronic physical illness; physical abuse; sexual abuse; emotional abuse; divorce; hypercritical or non-loving environment.

as the codependent daughter of a codependent daughter of several codependents, it's safe to say i've danced with what brung me, if you will. i won't go the route of blaming my childhood, but these patterns certainly developed at an early age. looking back, i can remember situations where i needed to be codependent in order to cope and, ironically, stay sane. i say "ironically" because these are the same coping skills that are driving me batshit now.

one of the things that challenges me the most as i work through my codependency issues - and there are many - is the fact that the actions of other people are not my responsibility or my problem, and that the consequences that they must face for their actions are just that. the consequences that they must face.

it is such a fine line for me to cross over from taking care of my family and loved ones to getting into a dangerous caretaking mindset. (by caretaking, i refer specifically to more of the controlling aspects of codependence, notably: believing, however subconsciously, that most other people are incapable of taking care of themselves and must be looked after; becoming resentful when others will not let me help them; offering advice and directions without being asked; etc...) j has more than once turned to me during one of my "overly helpful" moments to remind me that he is not a 4 year old and is perfectly capable of performing whatever activity he is engaged in. and he is. i'm the one with the issue.

one of my goals for this year is to reign in my "codependent crazies." namely, get my boundaries into shape, limit my caretaking reactions, release myself from "perfectionism purgatory", dial down my hypervigilance (a heightened awareness for potential threat/danger), and generally learn what it's like to feel healthy for more than a few days at a time.

the first step, as they say, is laying those cards out on the table.

wherein i learn something new...perhaps...

2008-02-15T16:13:00.006-05:00

as we speak - more accurately, as i type - i'm roasting a whole chicken. it's only a little over 4 pounds, but it's my first one. it's just this side of terrifying, i must admit. i checked the neck...or what i assume was the neck? was a large cavity...for the oft rumored "bag o' giblets" that notoriously has been accidentally roasted within the bird a billion and one times. i found what i can only presume was the neck bone? ew. and something else that also got tossed, but no bag o' stuff. i'm hoping against hope that the folks who sent this thing to the grocery store just knew that i would be the one purchasing it and therefore took care of this little problem already.

it's a fairly small bird. maybe they didn't have room for it? pardon while i go stare at the nesco intently and will this thing to cook...

ETA: yummmmminess...beautifully roasted, and yes, there was a heart and a liver and something else that i don't really wanna know about in there when i pulled the chicken out of the roaster. luckily, they weren't in any sort of bag or anything...yes, i can be a right dumbass... :) however, the chicken fell off the bones it was so tender, and i made the best gravy. plus clio got a bit of a treat with her dinner tonight in the form of roasted heart/liver...win/win for everybody...

how many topics can i fit in one post???

2008-02-14T17:13:00.011-05:00

i currently have 100 links in my reader. oh my holy hell. there was a time not too long ago when that was de rigeur for me, but that time was quite a while ago.

some of the sites i've thrown in there have gotten overwhelming. like lifehacker. there's a new post every 2.5 seconds it seems like. wtf. every time i'm about to pull the trigger on unsubscribing from it, some post from heaven appears in its feed that i would probably not have found immediately otherwise, and i think, but lifehacker totally has its useful times....i shall keep it... and so it goes...

other than codependently wracking my brain about whether or not to keep lifehacker in my feed reader, today has been fairly quiet and serene. j was able to come home early and is grabbing a nap, which is awesome. he posted the most lovely post today, you can find it here. he's very thoughtful and sweet, my honey.

i have been off a day all week. tuesday i kept thinking it was wednesday, although wednesday i was fine, then today i've thought it was friday twice. i'm not sure why the internal clock is off so much. the good part is that tomorrow actually is friday, thank biff...

i'm toying with giving my mom the link out here. she never had the other link - oh, the horror if that had happened...oh mah gah... - and i never mentioned it to her. but a couple of months ago, oddly enough while i was quietly debating blogging again, she mentioned out of the blue, "have you ever thought of starting a blog?" ohhhh mom, if you only knew... this is definitely a different space, and i don't have a problem with her reading out here. it's just old hangups, i suppose...she knows that writing has always been an outlet for me. would be nice if i accomplished something with it, however...

if you haven't heard of or been out to the league of extraordinary wives, you might wanna take a toodle over. it's a lovely (i think) approach to improving relationships. j and i work very hard at our relationship, but most of it is not *work* so much as wanting to make our partner happy and content. we seem to be very much in tune with making sure that we each have what we need in our relationship. not that we're perfect - no one is - but, for example, we don't nag each other, we don't put each other down, we fight clean - on those rare times we fight, that is. i can only count on one hand the times we've argued, and each time it was because one of us was upset about something totally different and just didn't talk about it and we ended up fighting about something stupid instead. we work very very hard at communicating, which i think is essential. anyway, my point is, there is some excellent stuff over there, take a peek.

i think that minou is teething. she's cranky and listless. she's still eating, and is healthy otherwise. poor thing...i pried her little mouth open to peek this afternoon and i see where she's lost a couple of her baby teeth. hell, i'd be cranky too if i had teeth coming in again and pushing my old teeth out. clio could care less about this event, as long as it means the cat is not getting attention.

and i think that's it for now...felt good to purge the brain a bit...happy valentine's day, folks!

links and randomness, 2/12/08

2008-02-12T10:16:00.001-05:00

i've got a post brewing that i've been laboring over for days...it was time to get out of my head for a bit, and i stumbled across this little beauty:

sooo would have thought that i was a middle-of-the-nighter, but the description is so very me...well, except for the no worries bit, because anyone who knows me knows that i'm just a giant ball of constant worry...i wish i'd copied the full description, but it mentioned things that were very true for me...

other things distracting me from my current bout of introspection-slash-navel gazing:

i so want to make this soup very soon...
speaking of awesome foodstuffs, the pioneer woman defies description....go! read! drool!
i see a pattern here with food...hmmm...but how awesome would it be to be able to make my own pita bread??? now if i can only find that recipe for homemade yogurt as well as the one for that other thing that sounded awesome....
more from the motherload...i'm about 50/50 on whether i rinse our ground beef or not. i'll probably do it more often now, this was an interesting read.
and, to keep all this food in, more bento info! i truly covet the lock & lock lunch sets, featured here, but they are infamously impossible to find in the us and even online, really. i found a couple of online stores, but they don't ship to the us. probably i will just bide my time and wait, but as perfect as it looks like it would be for j, there are things about it that wouldn't work...for example, there is the ubiquitous pb&j that wouldn't fit and would need its own container, or mushing...then there's the fact that i would probably send water or some other good for him drink in the hella cool drink container, but i doubt that he'd be into that...so maybe what i'll do instead is seek out some single lock & lock containers and use them in our adapted system...ha! i said system. like there's some sort of system in use here. i crack me up.... :)
sandy rocks! ran across her the other day on an organizing website, heaven help me if i remember where now...she is a personal virtual assistant, and will remind you of whatever you need reminding. she can manage your calendar, help you in scheduling meetings and appointments with others, keep lists for you, maintain bookmarks and notes...pretty much anything a real assistant would do...within limits, of course....

happy surfing!

not exactly wine and roses...

2008-02-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

but not so terrible as the title might hint, either... :)

the stepford wife has started a weekly series - sweet wine, red roses - and as soon as i read her post, i wanted to contribute something, but i was a bit stumped. i started several posts, but tossed them as being rambling and nowhere near what i wanted to say.

then i remembered something that i wrote for jay for our "first date anniversary" this past december...we haven't technically tied the knot yet, so this is the closest thing we've got to an anniversary, but we both feel as though we're already married. (to each other, of course... *g* )

two years ago, we met for the first time...

we'd had that awful ice storm, and you'd been without power for almost a week. i was running late, a combination of nerves and poor time management, and the restaurant was packed.

we sat at the bar, talking and laughing as we waited for our table. and waited...and waited...and waited...

finally we noticed the bar area was looking pretty sparse, and the bartender asked, "um, did you guys want to order something to eat?"

we had that moment of pure synchronicity as we looked at each other, then her, and you said, "well, we've been waiting for a table, we had a reservation."

the blood rushing from her face was almost comical when she blurted out, "i'll be right back," and scurried off.

i had my suspicions, so i stood and looked over the half wall and - to my horror - spotted a mostly empty restaurant. i glanced back at you and advised, "don't stand up!"

but oh you did - and within a few short minutes we were able to laugh, and a shame-faced assistant manager seated us at a "real" table, just in time to eat before the movie.

i knew then that if we made a go of this thing, we would be able to face the tough stuff together.

and you know what? we have.

i love you, honey. more than i can tell you...

happy first date anniversary!!

intentions

2008-02-06T14:33:00.000-05:00

i've had a post rumbling around in my head lately which has been rather distracting and caused me to just not post anything. that's how i usually end up, actually, paralyzed by doubt. but this time around, i blog guilt free...even if this is one of the few places where i manage to check my guilt at the door.

i almost created a new blog for posts of the sort taking up real estate space in my head, because i felt that, well, it probably didn't mesh well with what was already out here. then i thought, ok, well then, probably you need someplace for the recipes then. and then there's the kid stuff...and then i thought, hell, you have no real purpose behind the place anyway, so why bother to create some new url?

i've heard and read a lot lately about knowing the purpose for your blog when you start it, thereby giving you the best results, blah blah blah. so many are trying to become the next dooce. cracks me up, because i had no real intent with this the first time around other than finding my own voice. ended up selling off my original domain for about a billion zillion percent of what i paid for it. my, i had quite a bit of traffic...and traffic as they say is money.

but i never monetized anything, didn't have so much as a single ad. wasn't my purpose then, and isn't my purpose now. although i do have a lonely little adsense ad down there in the corner. *waves at text ad* was just curious since i've heard so much about it all, so figured i'd give it a whirl. i've already warned it not to get comfy down there as it probably won't be sticking around terribly long.

so i guess this is my statement of intent, to myself as much as to anyone who might stumble along here. this small cubit of web space will likely be as chaotic and diverse as i am, and i'm ok with it not being a relationship blog or a food blog or a "mom to furry kids" blog. just like i'm not any one of those things...

ham and mixed bean soup

2008-02-02T22:10:00.001-05:00

incredibly easy soup...i didn't start from a recipe, so i don't have a link to share unfortunately, but the good news is that my experiment was yummy!

ingredients:

- 1 C cubed ham
- 1 lb mixed dried beans, soaked overnight
- 3 or 4 medium carrots
- 2 medium onions
- 1 - 2 stalks celery
- 64 oz chicken broth - i actually used 32 oz chicken broth, 32 oz water, and 5 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1 T cornstarch mixed with 1/3 C cold water, optional
- 1 T butter

to start, i got the butter melting on medium heat in the bottom of a stock pot and dumped in the cubed ham while i chopped the carrots, celery, and onions. as i chopped each, into the pot they went. did a semi-saute for a bit, and when the onions were mostly translucent, i put in the chicken broth. i held off on the rest of the water and the bouillon until after i'd put the pre-soaked beans in the pot. wanted to make sure the ratio of "stuff" to liquids worked out well...

simmered everything on low all day, then put a little cornstarch in at the end to thicken a smidge before inhaling two bowls of it...very yummy, very filling, and we've got plenty of leftovers, half of which i froze. i'd love to hear if you try it!

friday's feast

2008-02-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

for some reason, i never really did these on any of my other blogs, but today feels like a good day for a feast...

Feast One Hundred & Seventy Eight

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of cereal?

would have to be bite-sized mini-wheats...so yummy...

Soup
When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go?

argh...something for my home...hmmm...probably the last thing we bought for our home was a new mattress and bed last summer. there was a sale at a local furniture shop, and we needed a new mattress desperately. it's a beautiful oak sleigh bed, and i splurged on a new bedding set as well. *le sigh*

Salad
What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen?

tough one...there are too many really funny commercials, and i've got a mind like a steel sieve...everything just slides right through lately. i'd have to go with the world of warcraft commercial with william shatner...i love me some william shatner, and the commercial is just priceless.

Main Course
Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey).

lemon pepper walrus

um, ew.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I haven’t ______ since ______.

i haven't knitted since right before christmas. damn scarf is never gonna get finished...

you can play friday's feast here:

bento

2008-01-31T14:31:00.000-05:00

i've become fascinated in the last few days with something called bento. it's not a new concept, by any stretch, but the details are new...i love stumbling across new - to me, at any rate - ways to do the same ol' things.

blogs abound on the subject, much to the chagrin of my already over-burdened rss reader. take a quick peek at all of that adorableness:

- just bento (and its sister site, just hungry)
- bento corner
- lunch in a box

i'm terrible at making lunches for myself, but for some reason i'm able to pack a lunch and snack for j every morning. i'd love to have the creativity to make them as cute and nutritious as the bentos you'll find on these pages, but at 645am i'm not all that in. well, plus i'm not making a bento for a preschooler, so probably a lot of the really kawaii stuff is out...

lunch for the man typically consists of leftovers, since those are easiest and usually after dinner there's enough left to package into one or two plastic containers. then i just pop them into a bag for him in the morning with a snack - classic pb&j with seedless blackberry jam :) - and he's ready to scoop it up with his coffee on his way out the door.

most of the time that seems to work out quite well for him, unless i inadvertently pack something that he wasn't all that wild about when we had it the first time. the pb&j started about a year and a half ago, and he's as amazed as the rest of the world that he's not tired of it yet. the blackberry jam is his favorite, and the protein is just right for a mid-morning blood sugar boost.

i'll definitely be exploring this more, if i can manage to get that "wake up a little earlier" thing under my belt...and i'm sure adapting some of these ideas to our life won't be as complicated as it seems on the surface...

chicken divan

2008-01-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

i made this last night, although i pretty much rewrote the hell out of the recipe, so i'm not sure if i can even say that's what i made...

instead of broccoli, i used a bag of frozen cauliflower and broccoli...i only used one 4 ounce can of mushrooms...left out the water chestnuts, but only because i didn't have any, love water chestnuts...used 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of cream of celery soup...and i bumped up the cheese to a full cup, because mama needs not only a cocktail, but also her cheese.

i layered everything according to the directions - amazingly, that part i did follow - in the 4 quart nesco i recently inherited from mom since she - she says - doesn't cook any more. (side note: i also got her 18 quart nesco, and it was perfect for the turkey breast i cooked for christmas dinner. i'm scaring me now.) the 4 quart has pretty much taken the place completely of my slow cooker, since i can do everything with it that the slow cooker did, plus bake, roast, and god only knows what else...still learning... :)

let everything cook and do its thing, and 45 minutes later, spooned some of the best smelling stuff ever over some rice and fed it up to hubby. i don't believe i've ever had chicken divan, but let me say, this was awesome. the curry and the lemon juice were just perfect together, and the whole thing just melts in your mouth. i should also add, when i saw the recipe i initially thought, shred the chicken? screw that... but honest to all that is holy, the shredding totally makes the recipe...the texture of chicken chunks just would not have been the same.

tonight's dinner is still up in the air, unfortunately...but last night's leftovers on a baked potato were a very yummy lunch...

clio's story, part two

2008-01-20T15:02:00.000-05:00

we left our fearless heroine snuggled up next to me on her first night inside my apartment. she adapted very easily to our morning routine, and i felt horrible for whoever might have lost her. had she been *my* dog, i would be terrified at not being able to find her.

since she did have a collar, i knew that there must be someone somewhere missing her...i put up fliers and left signs at pet shops, put ads in the paper, halfway hoping all along that no one called. a few people called, but it always turned out that the dog i had was not the one they had lost. i found myself holding my breath every time i heard someone say, "i'm calling about your found dog ad in the paper..."

one morning, clio wouldn't come back in after i'd let her out. she knew that our morning routine went as follows:

-lady gets up and takes precious and clio out
-lady feeds us, takes a shower, gets dressed
-lady takes us out again
-lady LEAVES.

she didn't like that last one. truthfully i wasn't wild about it myself, but someone had to bring home the kibble.

so...there i was, begging a stray dog to get back into my apartment. she wouldn't budge. i was going to be late. as a teacher, this was totally unacceptable. i got in the car and started to drive away. she chased me. i got out of the car, hoping she'd come to her senses, no dice.

driving away that morning is one of the hardest things i have ever ever done in my life. i cannot explain fully how awful that felt.

all day long, all i did was worry about her.

i got home to find that she'd made friends with the local crazy guy, and he'd opted to call animal control. i won't even begin to describe what that did to me.

the animal control officer came over to talk to me - blubbering fool that i'm sure i was - and assured me that if no one claimed her within a week, i could pick her up and either keep her or continue to try finding her home.

i cried all night that first night. kicking myself repeatedly for leaving her. blaming myself for the whole lousy situation. she wasn't even my dog, a few friends said...

but she was. i hadn't named her and i hadn't let myself say it, but she *was* mine. she was happy and thriving with me, and she'd brought joy into my days and evenings.

i called the city animal control office daily. several times daily. it may come as no surprise at all when i tell you that at the end of the third day of these calls, they told me, "um, yeah...come get her please..."

when i pulled into the parking lot, i caught sight of her...she was tied to the side of a barnlike building, with straw for a bed. she recognized my car immediately, the full-body wag and leaping convinced me she'd missed me too.

little side-effect of this whole thing? no matter what, last 9 years that dog comes when i call her now... :D

i brought her home and set about the task of naming her...so many tried and discarded...my mom suggested cleopatra as a joke, mostly...but the fact that the dog had such regal bearing about her sort of begged a regal name. i liked the thought and the sound of it, but...wow, what a moniker to hang on someone.

and then i started thinking about how she felt like such a gift to my life...and the clio award occurred to me...an award, a gift....clio...

she responded to it readily, and it seemed like something we could both live with.

precious passed away five years ago, and clio mourned her in her own way - although she knew as well as i did that i had made precious hang on way too long - and she helped me to mourn.

if i'd been looking for her, i'd likely have never found her. what wonderful fortune that she was able to find me...