I made up a recipe tonight and it turned out pretty great.
Amanda's Pasta Creation
Ingredients
1 large chicken breast - cubed/cooked
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 package pepperoni, chopped
12 oz bowtie pasta
1 Bag spinach
1/4 cup italian dressing
1/2 jar of marinara sauce
Some Cheese (I used shredded Mozzarella and Romano)
Spices
Olive Oil
1. Cook the pasta per package instructions
2. Heat some olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions and red peppers, as well as a bit of paprika and Italian seasoning, for about a minute
3. Add the spinach, cover and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes
4. Add the chicken, pepperoni, and tomato. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes
5. Add the pasta, marinara sauce, and Italian dressing, stir well
6. Mix in a handful or two of cheese (to taste).
It is really good. I like cheese so I mixed even more into my bowl at the table. The only thing that could make it better is if you had time to cook the chicken the same day, you could cook it in the spices as well and add more flavor. I had cooked the chicken in advance so I didn't have this option.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
The Perfect Pregnancy Omelet
If I had no filter, then I would post something about food on Facebook about every five minutes. I also would tell at least 4-5 stories about things my son did every five minutes.
But I do have a filter. Except to my poor coworker who hears all my food thoughts as we sit next to each other and I blabber on. Poor Lyz, I apologize,
But this is my blog, so I can blog about food if I want to! And stories about my son.
First, the food.
Yesterday, I craved eggs. ALL DAY. I got an egg&cheese omelet in the morning, which was a nice stop gap, but wasn't going to cut it for a solution.
So when I got home, I started chopping. I chopped up a third of a large onion, and threw it on my omelet skillet (yes. I have an omelet skillet, one of the few speciality pans I have, thanks Dad!). Then I chopped about half of a green pepper, through that on. Then a few slices of roast beef sandwhich meat. Then an entire avacado. After the onions had started to soften I dumped all that into a bowl and added a shake of cumin and dash of onion salt. I beat four eggs and poured them onto the omelet pan, let it cook most the way through, then sprinkled it generously with shredded gouda and cheddar (Target brand has shredded gouda! Best purchase ever...), put the veggies on top, folded it over, and let it cook for a few more minutes with a pan lid over it.
After that, I dumped it on a plate, slathered it with sour cream, and put a generous pool of sriracha on my plate for dipping. It was so amazingly good. I "paired" it with a pile of fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries), and a couple blueberry pancakes. It was pretty much the perfect meal.
But enough about food.
Two Benjamin stories for you. The first was already put on facebook, but I want it in this record book.
I have been reading Benjamin a text-heavy picture book version of The Wizard of Oz. It is illustrated by Charles Santore, and I am very interested in getting some of his other books. This adapation of The Wizard of Oz uses only original Baum language, but condenses the story considerably. Pretty cool. Anyways, I have been reading it to Ben. It has taken probably 5-6 sessions spread over 2 weeks to finish. I have asked him some questions along the way to see what he was comprehending, but its hard to tell how much he is enjoying/following the story and how much he is zoning out in a pre-bedtime stupor. So we finished it a few nights ago. We were taking a walk around the high school here and they have some red sidewalk pieces along the curb. DH and I made a comment like "Oh its a red brick road", and Benjamin added his contribution - "Dorothy followed the yellow brick road". It was pretty cool, he knew the character name and everything. He hasn't seen the movie, but we sang the yellow brick road song for him now and he loves it. I am hoping he wants to read this story again, maybe it is his first "fantasy" book... a great intro for when I want to read him Harry Potter some day... LOL
The second Benjamin story is a toddler story. While I was finishing up my excellent Brinner feast last night, talking to DH, Benjamin was in the other room playing. All the sudden, he runs into the dining room and very proudly states "I got the bubbles out". uh oh. LOL. I sent DH in there while I ate the last couple bites. Benjamin had taken out his bubble solution from where I keep it near the front door, opened it himself, and poured it as best he could into the little dish we put it in... About a tablespoon made it into the dish... the rest was all over the shoe rack, shoes, mittens, and floor. He was so proud though, I couldn't be mad. LOL. I did say "next time, maybe you should ask for help so you don't spill so much". We will be needing to purchase some additional bubble solution soon. LOL. On a related note, we got him a Spiderman Bubble Blower for Easter. (THIS ONE - but no we did not pay $30 for it, more like $5 at Walgreens). Anyways, it is great for a toddler because it is easier to dip into that tray then into the bottle, and it offers a mouthpiece to blow rather than counting on a toddler to judge where they need to blow and how hard. He loves it.
Thats my thoughts for the day... hope you enjoyed them.
But I do have a filter. Except to my poor coworker who hears all my food thoughts as we sit next to each other and I blabber on. Poor Lyz, I apologize,
But this is my blog, so I can blog about food if I want to! And stories about my son.
First, the food.
Yesterday, I craved eggs. ALL DAY. I got an egg&cheese omelet in the morning, which was a nice stop gap, but wasn't going to cut it for a solution.
So when I got home, I started chopping. I chopped up a third of a large onion, and threw it on my omelet skillet (yes. I have an omelet skillet, one of the few speciality pans I have, thanks Dad!). Then I chopped about half of a green pepper, through that on. Then a few slices of roast beef sandwhich meat. Then an entire avacado. After the onions had started to soften I dumped all that into a bowl and added a shake of cumin and dash of onion salt. I beat four eggs and poured them onto the omelet pan, let it cook most the way through, then sprinkled it generously with shredded gouda and cheddar (Target brand has shredded gouda! Best purchase ever...), put the veggies on top, folded it over, and let it cook for a few more minutes with a pan lid over it.
After that, I dumped it on a plate, slathered it with sour cream, and put a generous pool of sriracha on my plate for dipping. It was so amazingly good. I "paired" it with a pile of fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries), and a couple blueberry pancakes. It was pretty much the perfect meal.
But enough about food.
Two Benjamin stories for you. The first was already put on facebook, but I want it in this record book.
I have been reading Benjamin a text-heavy picture book version of The Wizard of Oz. It is illustrated by Charles Santore, and I am very interested in getting some of his other books. This adapation of The Wizard of Oz uses only original Baum language, but condenses the story considerably. Pretty cool. Anyways, I have been reading it to Ben. It has taken probably 5-6 sessions spread over 2 weeks to finish. I have asked him some questions along the way to see what he was comprehending, but its hard to tell how much he is enjoying/following the story and how much he is zoning out in a pre-bedtime stupor. So we finished it a few nights ago. We were taking a walk around the high school here and they have some red sidewalk pieces along the curb. DH and I made a comment like "Oh its a red brick road", and Benjamin added his contribution - "Dorothy followed the yellow brick road". It was pretty cool, he knew the character name and everything. He hasn't seen the movie, but we sang the yellow brick road song for him now and he loves it. I am hoping he wants to read this story again, maybe it is his first "fantasy" book... a great intro for when I want to read him Harry Potter some day... LOL
The second Benjamin story is a toddler story. While I was finishing up my excellent Brinner feast last night, talking to DH, Benjamin was in the other room playing. All the sudden, he runs into the dining room and very proudly states "I got the bubbles out". uh oh. LOL. I sent DH in there while I ate the last couple bites. Benjamin had taken out his bubble solution from where I keep it near the front door, opened it himself, and poured it as best he could into the little dish we put it in... About a tablespoon made it into the dish... the rest was all over the shoe rack, shoes, mittens, and floor. He was so proud though, I couldn't be mad. LOL. I did say "next time, maybe you should ask for help so you don't spill so much". We will be needing to purchase some additional bubble solution soon. LOL. On a related note, we got him a Spiderman Bubble Blower for Easter. (THIS ONE - but no we did not pay $30 for it, more like $5 at Walgreens). Anyways, it is great for a toddler because it is easier to dip into that tray then into the bottle, and it offers a mouthpiece to blow rather than counting on a toddler to judge where they need to blow and how hard. He loves it.
Thats my thoughts for the day... hope you enjoyed them.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Diet
Ok, I lied yesterday when I said that I did "nothing" to lose weight.
I have changed some habits. But they don't feel like I am doing anything. Maybe that is why they say you should change your lifestyle instead of dieting or something. And of course the breastfeeding is a must. LOL.
When I started work I changed my diet as well, and by diet I mean the whole of what I eat, not a temporary change or fad. Being at work limits my access to food, which is great. When I am organized I pack my lunch and snacks. When I am not organized I am stuck with the cafeteria, which has more healthy options than unhealthy ones. And it does not hurt that I enjoy most healthy foods. Here is what my "food" day looks like:
- I eat breakfast everyday. If I am organized, it would be a half bagel w liberal amounts of cream cheese, or multigrain hot cereal mixed with frozen berries. If I am unorganized, yogurt and a "NUTrition" bar, or hummus &pita from the cafeteria, or fresh fruit. I also have coffee or tea.
- Packed lunch and snacks typically includes a sandwhich (on pumpernickel, with meat, cheese and mustard), a salad (or lately, with all the fresh produce available, 2 salads) with liberal amounts of dressing, a piece of fresh fruit, and one or more yogurts.
- I have been trying to drink more water. I was struggling with this so my sister suggested I bribe myself. So at work I have a water bottle and a 12 pack of rootbeer. If I drink enough bottles of water by lunchtime or afternoon, I get a rootbeer.
- I keep fun size m&ms at my desk for that afternoon sweet tooth, no trips to the vending machine
- I don't forgo indulgences. If I feel like getting a cookie from the cafeteria, or my coworker offers to run for starbucks, I do it and don't feel guilty, but it does not happen every day because I have my small sweet stuff and enough yummy food to eat.
- For dinner, if I am organized, I am cooking something healthy for Benjamin, so I am eating healthy too. Also, I find that I actually spend more attention on watching him eat then I do on eating, so I eat less overall.
- For awhile there I had forgone all soda and most sweets in the house except a little something sweet for dessert. I was having that and lots of ice water. The past week or so I have drifted back towards a soda&larger dessert, but I am sure it will swing the other direction when I run out of Soda.
Also, did I mention I really love my cafeteria? It has so many yummy options and so many of them are healthy, and its not too expensive, so even when I am unorganized I might have a salad or a wrap for lunch, or a veggie pasta saute, etc.
I think these things are pretty sustainable because I don't feel like I am giving up anything. I love all of the tomato/basil/mozerella salad I am having this week with the fresh tomatoes from my parents, delicious!
I have changed some habits. But they don't feel like I am doing anything. Maybe that is why they say you should change your lifestyle instead of dieting or something. And of course the breastfeeding is a must. LOL.
When I started work I changed my diet as well, and by diet I mean the whole of what I eat, not a temporary change or fad. Being at work limits my access to food, which is great. When I am organized I pack my lunch and snacks. When I am not organized I am stuck with the cafeteria, which has more healthy options than unhealthy ones. And it does not hurt that I enjoy most healthy foods. Here is what my "food" day looks like:
- I eat breakfast everyday. If I am organized, it would be a half bagel w liberal amounts of cream cheese, or multigrain hot cereal mixed with frozen berries. If I am unorganized, yogurt and a "NUTrition" bar, or hummus &pita from the cafeteria, or fresh fruit. I also have coffee or tea.
- Packed lunch and snacks typically includes a sandwhich (on pumpernickel, with meat, cheese and mustard), a salad (or lately, with all the fresh produce available, 2 salads) with liberal amounts of dressing, a piece of fresh fruit, and one or more yogurts.
- I have been trying to drink more water. I was struggling with this so my sister suggested I bribe myself. So at work I have a water bottle and a 12 pack of rootbeer. If I drink enough bottles of water by lunchtime or afternoon, I get a rootbeer.
- I keep fun size m&ms at my desk for that afternoon sweet tooth, no trips to the vending machine
- I don't forgo indulgences. If I feel like getting a cookie from the cafeteria, or my coworker offers to run for starbucks, I do it and don't feel guilty, but it does not happen every day because I have my small sweet stuff and enough yummy food to eat.
- For dinner, if I am organized, I am cooking something healthy for Benjamin, so I am eating healthy too. Also, I find that I actually spend more attention on watching him eat then I do on eating, so I eat less overall.
- For awhile there I had forgone all soda and most sweets in the house except a little something sweet for dessert. I was having that and lots of ice water. The past week or so I have drifted back towards a soda&larger dessert, but I am sure it will swing the other direction when I run out of Soda.
Also, did I mention I really love my cafeteria? It has so many yummy options and so many of them are healthy, and its not too expensive, so even when I am unorganized I might have a salad or a wrap for lunch, or a veggie pasta saute, etc.
I think these things are pretty sustainable because I don't feel like I am giving up anything. I love all of the tomato/basil/mozerella salad I am having this week with the fresh tomatoes from my parents, delicious!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Irish Food
The best thing about St Patrick's Day is the opportunity to make some great Irish food. Yes, I am very food oriented!! I have to say we out did ourselves this year!!
It started about three weeks ago when it occurred to me that we could probably make corned beef from scratch if we planned ahead. So we did! I started researching recipes and eventually settled on this recipe for brine: http://blog.junbelen.com/2010/03/15/how-to-make-corned-beef-brisket-nitrate-free-at-home/ because I did not much fancy trying to find saltpeter, a nitrate used in most corned beef. So I bought a four pound beef roast and made up the brine about 2 weeks ago. It calls for some rare spices like whole Juniper and Allspice berries. I found these at the local Whole Food Coop where they allow you to buy loose spices by weight, meaning I could buy very small amounts - enough just for the recipe, and not have a big jar of something I will never use again in my spice cabinet. So we waited for the two weeks, occasionally shaking the brine up and flipping the meat about a week ago.
When it was time to cook it, my Dad advised me that while that recipe calls for boiling, it was his experience from watching the food network (Mostly "Diners Drive-throughs and Dives") that all the best corned beef is baked, so we googled and for the actual cooking used this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/baked-corned-beef-brisket-410347 . The roast ended up being in the oven for about four and a half hours at 275. To round out the meal we found Colleen's Colcannon Potatoes - a mash with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage. We also had a loaf of sauerkraut bread.
This meal was outstanding. Each piece on its own was wonderful, and the flavors just worked together perfectly. Put a beer along side and it was heaven. I admittedly drank a Belgian style wheat beer with it, which DH says is out of the spirit of St Patty's Day, but it was delicious.
The only thing that could have made the meal better was if I had thought to make a Irish Creme dessert. Maybe next year.
Also, this morning I made what my dad aptly titled "Half Ass Hash". I took some of the leftover mash, cut up corn beef over it and microwaved it, then put an egg cooked over easy on top. Served with coffee sweetened with honey. Delicious!
It started about three weeks ago when it occurred to me that we could probably make corned beef from scratch if we planned ahead. So we did! I started researching recipes and eventually settled on this recipe for brine: http://blog.junbelen.com/2010/03/15/how-to-make-corned-beef-brisket-nitrate-free-at-home/ because I did not much fancy trying to find saltpeter, a nitrate used in most corned beef. So I bought a four pound beef roast and made up the brine about 2 weeks ago. It calls for some rare spices like whole Juniper and Allspice berries. I found these at the local Whole Food Coop where they allow you to buy loose spices by weight, meaning I could buy very small amounts - enough just for the recipe, and not have a big jar of something I will never use again in my spice cabinet. So we waited for the two weeks, occasionally shaking the brine up and flipping the meat about a week ago.
When it was time to cook it, my Dad advised me that while that recipe calls for boiling, it was his experience from watching the food network (Mostly "Diners Drive-throughs and Dives") that all the best corned beef is baked, so we googled and for the actual cooking used this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/baked-corned-beef-brisket-410347 . The roast ended up being in the oven for about four and a half hours at 275. To round out the meal we found Colleen's Colcannon Potatoes - a mash with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage. We also had a loaf of sauerkraut bread.
This meal was outstanding. Each piece on its own was wonderful, and the flavors just worked together perfectly. Put a beer along side and it was heaven. I admittedly drank a Belgian style wheat beer with it, which DH says is out of the spirit of St Patty's Day, but it was delicious.
The only thing that could have made the meal better was if I had thought to make a Irish Creme dessert. Maybe next year.
Also, this morning I made what my dad aptly titled "Half Ass Hash". I took some of the leftover mash, cut up corn beef over it and microwaved it, then put an egg cooked over easy on top. Served with coffee sweetened with honey. Delicious!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Farewell Columbus!
We were in Columbus for five years, and they were five good years! Columbus is a good place to live, it just does not have the family, the natural beauty, and the real weather like Duluth has. There are definitely some things I will miss about Columbus, things that Duluth does not offer. So, I wanted to write a post remembering all the positive things about Columbus!
Food: Lets face it, the food options in Columbus are pretty awesome in many ways! First, there are chain restaurants that are available there that we don't have in Duluth, like Chipotle, Raising Cain, Mellow Mushroom, Red Robin, Ruby Tuesday, BJs, etc etc etc. Then there is local restaurants of Columbus, like The Blue Nile, Hound Dogs Pizza and Banana Leaf. Also there was always new restaurants to try, and all sorts of strange cuisines to try. I never did get around to trying the Indonesian place! Then there is the farmer's market - oh how I will miss thee! I am spoiled rotten by Worthington Farmers Market. I am sure I will be missing it like mad! All the fresh produce and delicious locally made yummies! Duluth has a farmers market and I will utilize it, but I don't expect nearly the selection or experience of Worthington.
Library: Columbus Libraries are consistently ranked 1st or 2nd in the country. You can get pretty much any book, they have good hours, lots of programming, and a number of beautiful buildings. Duluth has a public library with three locations, the main library was built in the 60s/70s and has not been renovated. The selection is limited and the hours are limited. We will adjust, and we have access to two university libraries as well (UMD and UWS), but I will miss the ease and beauty of the Columbus library system.
OSU Football: Of course we will miss the football craziness!! Duluth is not remotely football crazy. Hockey is much bigger and we will enjoy it, but we will miss the OH...IO! We will miss the football parties with friends and occasionally going to games with 100K other screaming fans.
The Crew: There is not professional soccer in Duluth, not even in the state, or a state that MN touches. The closest team is in Chicago, 8 hrs away. We will miss professional soccer and we will continue to cheer for The Crew!
Food: Lets face it, the food options in Columbus are pretty awesome in many ways! First, there are chain restaurants that are available there that we don't have in Duluth, like Chipotle, Raising Cain, Mellow Mushroom, Red Robin, Ruby Tuesday, BJs, etc etc etc. Then there is local restaurants of Columbus, like The Blue Nile, Hound Dogs Pizza and Banana Leaf. Also there was always new restaurants to try, and all sorts of strange cuisines to try. I never did get around to trying the Indonesian place! Then there is the farmer's market - oh how I will miss thee! I am spoiled rotten by Worthington Farmers Market. I am sure I will be missing it like mad! All the fresh produce and delicious locally made yummies! Duluth has a farmers market and I will utilize it, but I don't expect nearly the selection or experience of Worthington.
Library: Columbus Libraries are consistently ranked 1st or 2nd in the country. You can get pretty much any book, they have good hours, lots of programming, and a number of beautiful buildings. Duluth has a public library with three locations, the main library was built in the 60s/70s and has not been renovated. The selection is limited and the hours are limited. We will adjust, and we have access to two university libraries as well (UMD and UWS), but I will miss the ease and beauty of the Columbus library system.
OSU Football: Of course we will miss the football craziness!! Duluth is not remotely football crazy. Hockey is much bigger and we will enjoy it, but we will miss the OH...IO! We will miss the football parties with friends and occasionally going to games with 100K other screaming fans.
The Crew: There is not professional soccer in Duluth, not even in the state, or a state that MN touches. The closest team is in Chicago, 8 hrs away. We will miss professional soccer and we will continue to cheer for The Crew!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Five Weeks (2 Days)
Benjamin is starting to smile and coo and make all sort of funny faces. The smiles are not all that conscious yet, but its showing up. Also, today he rolled over from stomach to back the first time. None of us saw it. He was laying on a blanket (like the pic below), and I was on the laptop. I turned to play with him some, and he was on his back! I was so surprised. I am sure it was a fluke of sorts and he has no idea how he did it, but its still a cool milestone. In general he has been more routine/predictable, which I appreciate. He eats, then is awake for a bit, and then gets fussy, eventually we coax him to sleep, then he sleeps until he wants to eat again. Most of the time this sleep is 30 - 45 minutes, but a few times in the past three days he has slept three hours, making it 4+ hours between feedings. Unfortunately that has all been during the day, never at night!! LOL. He still has very severe baby acne all over his face, and dry skin - possibly baby eczema. We put lotion on it today to see if that helps or hurts. I think its helping but it is too soon to tell.
Also, DH and I went on a date last night! Actually the family pic below was when we were getting ready to leave. We went to a curling class and learned mainly that curling is WAY more physically challenging than it looks! I am not sure I would recommend doing it 5 weeks post partum.... so we left when I got sore and headed to Pizza Luce for deliciousness. It was a nice night out, though I may be that stereotypical parent who goes on date night and has nothing to talk about except the kid. I should work on that. Hopefully I will be able to revisit my new years resolutions soon and let you know how they are going!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Baby Baby Baby Oh
I know, I know.. I spent SO LONG "catching up" on the trip that I now have not had a current post for three weeks... But this is the only place I have that detailed account of my trip because I did not keep a journal on the trip like I normally do, so it was really more for me than for you.
I recently turned one of my old blogs into a book - http://lost-in-europe.livejournal.com/ - into a book. Specifically, the section that talks about my time in Europe, and it sort of reminded me exactly how cool a detailed account of trips and such can be. It jobs so many good memories that I have not thought about in years.
As for the past three weeks since I got back... first, I can't believe it has been that long. My appetite returned about a week after I got out of the hospital, which was really great since I was having to force myself to eat even near 2000 calories for that week. Now I am eating everything in sight, which is good for the most part, though I still have nausea sometimes (mostly in the morning). I also have lots of heartburn. I read in a magazine that I should "eat small meals, avoid spicy foods," etc. I don't follow these rules because they don't actually help. I can eat a single yogurt and get terrible heartburn... so why should I avoid food I want? Thats about as small and mild a meal as you can get...
DH and I went to a baby sale last Saturday (a week ago today). It was a lot of fun. We bought some books and toys and clothes. We even bought a little Christmas outfit. We don't expect the baby to be here by Xmas, but if they show up early, we are ready for an adorable Christmas picture! And since it was all used, it was all nice and cheap. I still need to wash it all, and we need to get somewhere to put it, like a dresser. Its time to really crack down and start getting baby stuff done. So far, our baby items consist of 1 carseat and stroller (will need a second car seat), and the little stuff described above (from the sale). I also got an adorable stuffed elephant from a friend. My shower is set up, which is exciting. I am not planning to register, which I have a feeling will throw some people for a loop. But, I just don't feel the need to pick out every toy and piece of clothing and washcloth etc, the ladies that are coming know WAY more about baby stuff than I do. I don't expect to get any really big items anyways. I hope people don't get annoyed and feel "set free" instead, but we will see what happens. Its all gifts and we are not counting on it to set us up, so I will be thankful for anything I get.
Now, off to watch football for the rest of the weekend. Though if I am good I will spend at least a couple of hours trying to clear out our red office. When we cleaned out the nursery to paint it all of the crap that had been stored in there, a lot of holiday stuff for example, got moved to the red office. Now we need to clean the red office so that we can put the futon in there and have two guest rooms instead of one. I have a feeling that the shower (10/22) will be the first of many times we have multiple guests staying here in the next year or two.
I recently turned one of my old blogs into a book - http://lost-in-europe.livejournal.com/ - into a book. Specifically, the section that talks about my time in Europe, and it sort of reminded me exactly how cool a detailed account of trips and such can be. It jobs so many good memories that I have not thought about in years.
As for the past three weeks since I got back... first, I can't believe it has been that long. My appetite returned about a week after I got out of the hospital, which was really great since I was having to force myself to eat even near 2000 calories for that week. Now I am eating everything in sight, which is good for the most part, though I still have nausea sometimes (mostly in the morning). I also have lots of heartburn. I read in a magazine that I should "eat small meals, avoid spicy foods," etc. I don't follow these rules because they don't actually help. I can eat a single yogurt and get terrible heartburn... so why should I avoid food I want? Thats about as small and mild a meal as you can get...
DH and I went to a baby sale last Saturday (a week ago today). It was a lot of fun. We bought some books and toys and clothes. We even bought a little Christmas outfit. We don't expect the baby to be here by Xmas, but if they show up early, we are ready for an adorable Christmas picture! And since it was all used, it was all nice and cheap. I still need to wash it all, and we need to get somewhere to put it, like a dresser. Its time to really crack down and start getting baby stuff done. So far, our baby items consist of 1 carseat and stroller (will need a second car seat), and the little stuff described above (from the sale). I also got an adorable stuffed elephant from a friend. My shower is set up, which is exciting. I am not planning to register, which I have a feeling will throw some people for a loop. But, I just don't feel the need to pick out every toy and piece of clothing and washcloth etc, the ladies that are coming know WAY more about baby stuff than I do. I don't expect to get any really big items anyways. I hope people don't get annoyed and feel "set free" instead, but we will see what happens. Its all gifts and we are not counting on it to set us up, so I will be thankful for anything I get.
Now, off to watch football for the rest of the weekend. Though if I am good I will spend at least a couple of hours trying to clear out our red office. When we cleaned out the nursery to paint it all of the crap that had been stored in there, a lot of holiday stuff for example, got moved to the red office. Now we need to clean the red office so that we can put the futon in there and have two guest rooms instead of one. I have a feeling that the shower (10/22) will be the first of many times we have multiple guests staying here in the next year or two.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
My First Hospitalization (in my memory at least...)
If you read this blog regularly you are probably either waiting for me to post about my trip to the East Coast, or depending on how you know me, you may be waiting to hear more about my recent hospitalization and how I am feeling. Let me get the bad out of the way before the good, and also talk about what is more immediately relevant to how I am doing at the moment. Don't worry, the story is not that bad, just sucky. gross too probably, TMI, but its what happened.
On Friday we were in Philadelphia. In the morning after waking up normal and a normal breakfast we walked from our hotel by City Hall down to the Independence Hall area. I did fine with that walk, we got tickets for Independence Hall and began to walk over there, and while we were waiting for that I began to feel week and tired. We went ahead with the tour, swung by the Liberty Bell, and then took the subway back to the hotel to get out of town since I was not feeling well. We thought it was just normal pregnancy fatigue. We drove to Baltimore, stopping at Cracker Barrel along the way where I forced some food down, but it did not help like it normally does. We got to our friends house in Baltimore and I was still feeling gross, but I thought it was still just pregnancy nausea and tried to hide/downplay it, made plans to grill dinner, hung out, but then when dinner was set in front of me (a burger), I could only eat a tiny portion of it. I felt gross all night, went to bed early, got up and vomited the burger and juice/soda I had eaten back up at 6am. Got up feeling horrible. I thought by now it might be something more than just pregnancy nausea, but still nothing so extreme that I was sure. I sipped some juice but couldn't eat any breakfast. I did not want to wreck our plans so we went down to the inner harbor in Baltimore and walked around. I was very fatigued and the smells of food were killing me. We walked up and down and saw everything without touring anything, then went to a food court for lunch. I got a mango smoothy and sipped at it, and ate 1 or 2 of the fries. After lunch we dropped our fried off, packed up, and headed out of town. I slept some on the way home, but was really miserable, feeling nausea and muscle soreness and general miserableness. I kept trying to sip juice and water because I knew I must be dehydrated. When we stopped around 4:30, everything I had eaten/drank all day came up again. I continued to try to sip water and we got home around 9:30pm, I pretty much went straight into bed and laid/slept, sipped water a tiny bit, took a Tylenol for the severe muscle pain and eventually fell asleep, until I woke up with diarrhea at 3am, then for diarrhea and vomiting at 5am, 6am I just stayed up and kept getting sick. I was SO THIRSTY, my mouth was so dry, and I just felt miserable. I tried to sip water, and it just came back up, I tried to suck ice and it just came back up. I was so thirsty I did not care it was going to come back up, so I tried a caffeine free Pepsi because it sounded good and used it to take my thyroid meds. I very slowly drank like maybe 1/3 of the can and it seemed to be staying down. By this time DH was up and asked if he could do anything/get me anything. I told him I was going to call the OBGYN as by this time 36 hrs since I had kept any solids down and hardly any liquids in the same time. So I called and they told be to head to labor and delivery at Riverside assessment for dehydration, so we headed straight there. When we got there I was off the charts for keytones in my urine and dehydration (a positive sample ends up as making the strip dark purple, mine was instantly dark purple and ended up turning black). I also had elevated BP (which is the opposite of how my BP has been trending during this pregnancy). They hooked up a monitor to my belly and found the baby right away, the baby had super active throughout the entire illness or I would have been to a doc sooner. Anyways, the baby was doing great, so they took those monitors off and hooked me up to an I.V. and gave me Zofran, then after I had two full bags of IV fluids they asked me to try and drink a half can of pop over the course of an hour and eat a saltine. I didn't make it and managed to throw up the pop they gave me, the pepsi, and loads of other fluid that I had no idea where it came from. At this point they gave me something stronger for the nausea and omitted me. The new med knocked me out for awhile. When I woke up my mouth was SO DRY, I asked and received ice chips and very slowly had some of those. I laid there all day eating an ice chip at a time and watching football with DH, pretty miserable, later in the afternoon I asked for more and was given a Popsicle, which went OK, then cranberry juice. Around the time DH went home to walk the dogs my fever suddenly spiked (it had been very mild). They gave me tylenol, but it still had not broken after an hour. It got up to 101.4F, and then suddenly dropped. I was still physically miserable and had a rough night with diarrhea, chills, hot flashes, but I did not throw up. They came and drew more blood at 5:30am. I woke up with a really bad sinus type headache a bit later and turned the TV on. They came in and said my labs were OK and my temp was fine, so if I could keep down a solid breakfast they would release me. I managed to eat oatmeal, bacon, and orange juice and while it was not super appetizing to me, it did not come back up, so after checking the baby again (still doing great, kicking the monitor, etc), they released me home. They said that there has been a GI bug going around that the OBGYN warned them about and it was probably just this as my other labs came back normal (no infections or anything).
Since getting home I have been trying to eat every couple hours and making myself drink even though I still don't feel great. I have had really bad headache/sinus symptoms but I think they are resolving now. I feel so crazy weak and fatigued, and I feel like its improving so slowly (along with my willingness to eat), that it is going to take me weeks to feel normal again. I hope I am wrong. I am just glad baby has been OK through all of this and I am doing my best to not end up at L&D again. I know I won't feel like going back to work tomorrow, but I am going to try and at least go in for awhile because our sick policies put up a bunch of paperwork/bureaucratic crap if you stay out three days in a row straight. I can always come home if I feel weak or can't keep up with hydrating etc while there. I have plenty of sick time. The only good thing that came out of this? We know our way into Riverside now, so DH will know exactly where to go if there is another emergency or hopefully when its time to deliver!!
What a sucky dramatic ending to a great week... a great week I will hopefully tell you about it soon.
On Friday we were in Philadelphia. In the morning after waking up normal and a normal breakfast we walked from our hotel by City Hall down to the Independence Hall area. I did fine with that walk, we got tickets for Independence Hall and began to walk over there, and while we were waiting for that I began to feel week and tired. We went ahead with the tour, swung by the Liberty Bell, and then took the subway back to the hotel to get out of town since I was not feeling well. We thought it was just normal pregnancy fatigue. We drove to Baltimore, stopping at Cracker Barrel along the way where I forced some food down, but it did not help like it normally does. We got to our friends house in Baltimore and I was still feeling gross, but I thought it was still just pregnancy nausea and tried to hide/downplay it, made plans to grill dinner, hung out, but then when dinner was set in front of me (a burger), I could only eat a tiny portion of it. I felt gross all night, went to bed early, got up and vomited the burger and juice/soda I had eaten back up at 6am. Got up feeling horrible. I thought by now it might be something more than just pregnancy nausea, but still nothing so extreme that I was sure. I sipped some juice but couldn't eat any breakfast. I did not want to wreck our plans so we went down to the inner harbor in Baltimore and walked around. I was very fatigued and the smells of food were killing me. We walked up and down and saw everything without touring anything, then went to a food court for lunch. I got a mango smoothy and sipped at it, and ate 1 or 2 of the fries. After lunch we dropped our fried off, packed up, and headed out of town. I slept some on the way home, but was really miserable, feeling nausea and muscle soreness and general miserableness. I kept trying to sip juice and water because I knew I must be dehydrated. When we stopped around 4:30, everything I had eaten/drank all day came up again. I continued to try to sip water and we got home around 9:30pm, I pretty much went straight into bed and laid/slept, sipped water a tiny bit, took a Tylenol for the severe muscle pain and eventually fell asleep, until I woke up with diarrhea at 3am, then for diarrhea and vomiting at 5am, 6am I just stayed up and kept getting sick. I was SO THIRSTY, my mouth was so dry, and I just felt miserable. I tried to sip water, and it just came back up, I tried to suck ice and it just came back up. I was so thirsty I did not care it was going to come back up, so I tried a caffeine free Pepsi because it sounded good and used it to take my thyroid meds. I very slowly drank like maybe 1/3 of the can and it seemed to be staying down. By this time DH was up and asked if he could do anything/get me anything. I told him I was going to call the OBGYN as by this time 36 hrs since I had kept any solids down and hardly any liquids in the same time. So I called and they told be to head to labor and delivery at Riverside assessment for dehydration, so we headed straight there. When we got there I was off the charts for keytones in my urine and dehydration (a positive sample ends up as making the strip dark purple, mine was instantly dark purple and ended up turning black). I also had elevated BP (which is the opposite of how my BP has been trending during this pregnancy). They hooked up a monitor to my belly and found the baby right away, the baby had super active throughout the entire illness or I would have been to a doc sooner. Anyways, the baby was doing great, so they took those monitors off and hooked me up to an I.V. and gave me Zofran, then after I had two full bags of IV fluids they asked me to try and drink a half can of pop over the course of an hour and eat a saltine. I didn't make it and managed to throw up the pop they gave me, the pepsi, and loads of other fluid that I had no idea where it came from. At this point they gave me something stronger for the nausea and omitted me. The new med knocked me out for awhile. When I woke up my mouth was SO DRY, I asked and received ice chips and very slowly had some of those. I laid there all day eating an ice chip at a time and watching football with DH, pretty miserable, later in the afternoon I asked for more and was given a Popsicle, which went OK, then cranberry juice. Around the time DH went home to walk the dogs my fever suddenly spiked (it had been very mild). They gave me tylenol, but it still had not broken after an hour. It got up to 101.4F, and then suddenly dropped. I was still physically miserable and had a rough night with diarrhea, chills, hot flashes, but I did not throw up. They came and drew more blood at 5:30am. I woke up with a really bad sinus type headache a bit later and turned the TV on. They came in and said my labs were OK and my temp was fine, so if I could keep down a solid breakfast they would release me. I managed to eat oatmeal, bacon, and orange juice and while it was not super appetizing to me, it did not come back up, so after checking the baby again (still doing great, kicking the monitor, etc), they released me home. They said that there has been a GI bug going around that the OBGYN warned them about and it was probably just this as my other labs came back normal (no infections or anything).
Since getting home I have been trying to eat every couple hours and making myself drink even though I still don't feel great. I have had really bad headache/sinus symptoms but I think they are resolving now. I feel so crazy weak and fatigued, and I feel like its improving so slowly (along with my willingness to eat), that it is going to take me weeks to feel normal again. I hope I am wrong. I am just glad baby has been OK through all of this and I am doing my best to not end up at L&D again. I know I won't feel like going back to work tomorrow, but I am going to try and at least go in for awhile because our sick policies put up a bunch of paperwork/bureaucratic crap if you stay out three days in a row straight. I can always come home if I feel weak or can't keep up with hydrating etc while there. I have plenty of sick time. The only good thing that came out of this? We know our way into Riverside now, so DH will know exactly where to go if there is another emergency or hopefully when its time to deliver!!
What a sucky dramatic ending to a great week... a great week I will hopefully tell you about it soon.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Farmer's Market Weekend
I try to go to the farmer's market as awesome as possible, but I have not made it since my parents were here (the first full weekend of August), so to go yesterday and see it in full swing was very exciting, and I could not resist buying quite a few ingredients. And, being excited by those ingredients, I have not been able to resist eating them all weekend...
Saturday evening and Sunday Afternoon: A McIntosh apple, sliced it up and put it lemon juice with a handful of farmer's markets grapes (nothing like grocery store grapes, but more wine-like), drizzled and mixed the fruit with honey, then added enough Fage greek yogurt to coat. Delicious! Would be even better if I had some walnuts to candy or something.
Saturday night and Sunday Noon: ate some of the fresh salsa I bought premade! Spicy and wonderful!
Sunday Morning: Farmer's Market Omelot - three eggs, a big handful of fresh sliced basil, a solid portion of diced tri-color cherry tomatos, and a chunk of fresh feta chopped up. So tasty!
Sunday Afternoon: Homemade, from scratch Coleslaw (my first ever attempt at Freshmade coleslaw) - I mixed together a couple heaping tsps of mayonaise, sour cream, a healthy dose of apple cider vinager, tsp of brown sugar, dash of onion salt. Let that sit and mix together while I sliced up a mini head of cabbage and a fresh sweet red pepper (not a bell pepper - a much thinner, longer sweet pepper, don't remember the name). Mixed the veggies into the sauce and let it sit for a half hour before digging in. Quite yummy!!
What fresh produce does that leave me with for the next few days? 1 small eggplant (I am thinking some sort of eggplant blackbean casserole?), one green sweet pepper (again, not a bell pepper), more tri-colored cherry tomatos, more grapes, more mcintosh apples (I bet one would mix in really well with that last portion of coleslaw...), and a basket of fresh brussel sprouts.
I love fresh produce.
Saturday evening and Sunday Afternoon: A McIntosh apple, sliced it up and put it lemon juice with a handful of farmer's markets grapes (nothing like grocery store grapes, but more wine-like), drizzled and mixed the fruit with honey, then added enough Fage greek yogurt to coat. Delicious! Would be even better if I had some walnuts to candy or something.
Saturday night and Sunday Noon: ate some of the fresh salsa I bought premade! Spicy and wonderful!
Sunday Morning: Farmer's Market Omelot - three eggs, a big handful of fresh sliced basil, a solid portion of diced tri-color cherry tomatos, and a chunk of fresh feta chopped up. So tasty!
Sunday Afternoon: Homemade, from scratch Coleslaw (my first ever attempt at Freshmade coleslaw) - I mixed together a couple heaping tsps of mayonaise, sour cream, a healthy dose of apple cider vinager, tsp of brown sugar, dash of onion salt. Let that sit and mix together while I sliced up a mini head of cabbage and a fresh sweet red pepper (not a bell pepper - a much thinner, longer sweet pepper, don't remember the name). Mixed the veggies into the sauce and let it sit for a half hour before digging in. Quite yummy!!
What fresh produce does that leave me with for the next few days? 1 small eggplant (I am thinking some sort of eggplant blackbean casserole?), one green sweet pepper (again, not a bell pepper), more tri-colored cherry tomatos, more grapes, more mcintosh apples (I bet one would mix in really well with that last portion of coleslaw...), and a basket of fresh brussel sprouts.
I love fresh produce.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Parental Visit
My parents arrived on Monday afternoon for a visit - just in time for my appt, so they got to hear the babies heartbeat, which was a lot of fun! It was 140bpm. I have heard such mixed things about what this means for sex that I am totally going to say it means nothing. I am currently 19w3d. Our big U/S is Monday, Aug 15th. We are still planning to not find out the sex.
Because this was my parent's first full visit to Columbus, I had a list of about a gazillion ideas of options to do - both at my house, around the city, and around the state. They helped us out a ton with the nursery and many many other things around the house - they are crazy productive and motivated!! I don't know where I got my lazy gene, because it did not come from them!! The nursery is now mostly painted except for some touch ups, will post pics soon probably! Our garage is clean, front flower beds planted, law mowed, indoor plant repotted, lamp fixed, cabinet door fixed, and many other little things I am sure I am forgetting. Thank you mom and dad for all of you help!! Also, they made our first baby purchase by ordering a glider for us as an anniversary gift! Thanks so much!!
Along with working on the house a ton, we did manage to squeeze some fun stuff in!! We went out to eat at the Pig Iron, Raising Canes (new to my mom!), Buca de Bepo, and Ruby Tuesday. We also had Hound Dogs pizza, which my mom labelled as some of the best store-bought pizza she has ever had! We did a driving tour of Clintonville, Victorian Village, Downtown, and German Village, walked around on campus, went to the Book Loft in German Village, and found this great craft shop called the Golden Hobby Shop that has awesome prices on lots of handcrafted goods. We did a lot of glider shopping and ended up selecting the perfect chair from My Own Room. We spent a great day at the state fair, where my dad loved watching the kidschase around handle pigs and my mom, despite sayins she did not have a favorte part of the fair, keeps mentioning the pig momma with all of her piglets and the big boar (1200 lbs!). Yesterday we went up to Cleveland and saw my mom's side of the family - all three of her brothers as well as some of my cousins and cousin's children, I believe a good time was had by all!!
Alas, their visit is drawing to a close. They spent last night after the BBQ w/various family members while DH and I came home. In a bit here DH and I will leave for my Grandma's house in Mt Vernon where we are having a BBQ w/my dad's siblings, then my parents will come back here for one last night, and tomorrow morning will head off, back towards Duluth. It has been a really great week and I am not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow!!
Because this was my parent's first full visit to Columbus, I had a list of about a gazillion ideas of options to do - both at my house, around the city, and around the state. They helped us out a ton with the nursery and many many other things around the house - they are crazy productive and motivated!! I don't know where I got my lazy gene, because it did not come from them!! The nursery is now mostly painted except for some touch ups, will post pics soon probably! Our garage is clean, front flower beds planted, law mowed, indoor plant repotted, lamp fixed, cabinet door fixed, and many other little things I am sure I am forgetting. Thank you mom and dad for all of you help!! Also, they made our first baby purchase by ordering a glider for us as an anniversary gift! Thanks so much!!
Along with working on the house a ton, we did manage to squeeze some fun stuff in!! We went out to eat at the Pig Iron, Raising Canes (new to my mom!), Buca de Bepo, and Ruby Tuesday. We also had Hound Dogs pizza, which my mom labelled as some of the best store-bought pizza she has ever had! We did a driving tour of Clintonville, Victorian Village, Downtown, and German Village, walked around on campus, went to the Book Loft in German Village, and found this great craft shop called the Golden Hobby Shop that has awesome prices on lots of handcrafted goods. We did a lot of glider shopping and ended up selecting the perfect chair from My Own Room. We spent a great day at the state fair, where my dad loved watching the kids
Alas, their visit is drawing to a close. They spent last night after the BBQ w/various family members while DH and I came home. In a bit here DH and I will leave for my Grandma's house in Mt Vernon where we are having a BBQ w/my dad's siblings, then my parents will come back here for one last night, and tomorrow morning will head off, back towards Duluth. It has been a really great week and I am not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow!!
Monday, May 2, 2011
The did and didn't of the weekend...
Things that did not get done over the weekend: starting my sewing project, straigtening the disaster that is my office.
I did have a nice weekend though, both in terms of productivity and entertainment. Friday night DH picked up BBQ on the way home. We ordered from Pig Iron because it is the most convenient for him to swing by. On the phone I ordered Potatoa Salad, but when he go there they told him they did not make potatoe salad anymore. Um. What kind of BBQ resteraunt doesn't make potato salad? That is really messed up... I like BBQ a lot. I like the meat, but really my favorite part are all the sides - corn pudding. potato salad. cole slaw. green beans. baked beans. cucumber onion salad. etc etc etc. Mess with my sides and I might just stop using you... Anyways. We ate dinner without potato salad and watched the NFL draft (day 2). Then we walked the dogs. Then we ran to Target to get a bunch of wants and needs, then we went to City BBQ and got potato salad for dessert. LOL.
Saturday I slept in. DH mowed the lawn and I laid around. We went to my coworker's wedding. The ceremony was at 4:30 PM at the Statehouse Atrium. It was very pretty. It was clear the bride was very detail oriented (totally opposite of me). The reception was at the Antheneum, a banquet hall in an old building a few blocks from the State House. It was a beautiful venue with this cool balcony encircling the room. The lighting was very nice and again the decorations and details were meticulous. The food was delicious, the company (my coworkers), was good. We left pretty early, mainly because the dance music did not suit us (we prefer slow songs, things we don't shame ourselves doing), and because all our coworkers left early. They were heading up to meet at a bar where a band was playing that has a member from our work. I told them that a bar with live music very not our scene. We went home and walked the dogs, watched some Dr Who, and went to bed. This morning my coworkers reported they had a great time at the bar and we should have come. I don't regret not going. Seriously, we just don't fit in when it comes to loud live music. My coworkers also said that they really liked DH and he is a great guy and very funny, which I already knew, but was nice to hear again.
Sunday... we both slept in, and because the dogs had been walked so late the night before (10:30pm), they let us sleep in. Nice. In the afternoon I went shopping with the other female guests for our murder mystery party. We were looking for 1930s formal wear. This is challenging. I mean, think about it. If you have average to slightly above average knowledge of fashion history you probably can picture a woman's outfit from 1990, 1980, 1970, 1960, 1950, maybe 1940, and 1920.... but do you have any idea what people were wearing in 1930? I certainly didn't. I did find something though, very authentic/ actual vintage. It is not attractive by today's standard's, but it makes me feel like I am from a different era, which is sort of the point. Now R&T will have to accesorize me. We are meeting again tomorrow night to go over more details. Sunday night we did Laundry and watched some TV. I loaded up some new stuff on my MP3 player (thank you dad!!), nothing resolution related, but stuff that makes me happy. Although, I did finally get the "best of the Eagles" cd from the library, but I have not got it on my Mp3 yet.
This week looks like it will be busy. I have started up with a new round of cooking club, where we get a new recipe everyweek, so tonight I will be trying this weeks - Taco Rice. Tomorrow night is the planning meeting. Wedneday, trivia. Thursday, getting together with a friend J... and hopefully still getting plenty of sleep. I stayed up late last night waiting for Obama, and now I want a nap. :-)
I did have a nice weekend though, both in terms of productivity and entertainment. Friday night DH picked up BBQ on the way home. We ordered from Pig Iron because it is the most convenient for him to swing by. On the phone I ordered Potatoa Salad, but when he go there they told him they did not make potatoe salad anymore. Um. What kind of BBQ resteraunt doesn't make potato salad? That is really messed up... I like BBQ a lot. I like the meat, but really my favorite part are all the sides - corn pudding. potato salad. cole slaw. green beans. baked beans. cucumber onion salad. etc etc etc. Mess with my sides and I might just stop using you... Anyways. We ate dinner without potato salad and watched the NFL draft (day 2). Then we walked the dogs. Then we ran to Target to get a bunch of wants and needs, then we went to City BBQ and got potato salad for dessert. LOL.
Saturday I slept in. DH mowed the lawn and I laid around. We went to my coworker's wedding. The ceremony was at 4:30 PM at the Statehouse Atrium. It was very pretty. It was clear the bride was very detail oriented (totally opposite of me). The reception was at the Antheneum, a banquet hall in an old building a few blocks from the State House. It was a beautiful venue with this cool balcony encircling the room. The lighting was very nice and again the decorations and details were meticulous. The food was delicious, the company (my coworkers), was good. We left pretty early, mainly because the dance music did not suit us (we prefer slow songs, things we don't shame ourselves doing), and because all our coworkers left early. They were heading up to meet at a bar where a band was playing that has a member from our work. I told them that a bar with live music very not our scene. We went home and walked the dogs, watched some Dr Who, and went to bed. This morning my coworkers reported they had a great time at the bar and we should have come. I don't regret not going. Seriously, we just don't fit in when it comes to loud live music. My coworkers also said that they really liked DH and he is a great guy and very funny, which I already knew, but was nice to hear again.
Sunday... we both slept in, and because the dogs had been walked so late the night before (10:30pm), they let us sleep in. Nice. In the afternoon I went shopping with the other female guests for our murder mystery party. We were looking for 1930s formal wear. This is challenging. I mean, think about it. If you have average to slightly above average knowledge of fashion history you probably can picture a woman's outfit from 1990, 1980, 1970, 1960, 1950, maybe 1940, and 1920.... but do you have any idea what people were wearing in 1930? I certainly didn't. I did find something though, very authentic/ actual vintage. It is not attractive by today's standard's, but it makes me feel like I am from a different era, which is sort of the point. Now R&T will have to accesorize me. We are meeting again tomorrow night to go over more details. Sunday night we did Laundry and watched some TV. I loaded up some new stuff on my MP3 player (thank you dad!!), nothing resolution related, but stuff that makes me happy. Although, I did finally get the "best of the Eagles" cd from the library, but I have not got it on my Mp3 yet.
This week looks like it will be busy. I have started up with a new round of cooking club, where we get a new recipe everyweek, so tonight I will be trying this weeks - Taco Rice. Tomorrow night is the planning meeting. Wedneday, trivia. Thursday, getting together with a friend J... and hopefully still getting plenty of sleep. I stayed up late last night waiting for Obama, and now I want a nap. :-)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Two Themes
They have honest-to-god real snow and slush in Duluth today! I am so jealous!! I am burning up here today, its probably 75 degrees outside and feels a gajillion degrees in the building. But, the weird part is, my little sister got the day off school. This is so odd to me! I feel like an old geezer, but I can't help but say that when I was young it took more than a little snow and slush to cancel school!! It took ice coating EVERYTHING, or very rapid snow accumulation, or extremely cold weather (like 20 below w/windchill of 50 below). I know, this is totally a "we walked to school up hill both ways" type of complaint, but I SWEAR things have changed!!
Second, today is my area's recognition event for the quarter. That means we have an area-wide potluck and have a short event where we all talk about how great everyone is and hand out gift cards at random. I was lucky enough to get a Starbucks gift card (I swear, the universe is TRYING to feed my habit!!). My unit provided breakfast. Our supervisor has this thing for breakfast and really went ALL OUT. I brought 4+ dozen mini muffins. Our supervisor brought a whole hot breakfast - cheesy hashbrowns, eggs benedict, waffles, and breakfast meat (bacon, link sausage, AND patty sausage). We also had fruit, cinnamon rolls, donuts, juice, yogurt, and scambled eggs. Remember, this is just our unit that provided breakfast. There is 6 units in our area. We have a full nacho bar, two units worth of desserts, and more meats, salads, and pastas. I think that in the first hour of work I consumed 800 calories and worked on one case. In the second hour I consumed 400 more calories and worked on one more case. I have been eating and then bezzling more ALL DAY. I currently have a bowl of veggies w/dip that I am snacking on. I am SOO FULL. I dont know why I am eating! But it is delicious, and its once every three months. No work, all food, all the time :-)
Second, today is my area's recognition event for the quarter. That means we have an area-wide potluck and have a short event where we all talk about how great everyone is and hand out gift cards at random. I was lucky enough to get a Starbucks gift card (I swear, the universe is TRYING to feed my habit!!). My unit provided breakfast. Our supervisor has this thing for breakfast and really went ALL OUT. I brought 4+ dozen mini muffins. Our supervisor brought a whole hot breakfast - cheesy hashbrowns, eggs benedict, waffles, and breakfast meat (bacon, link sausage, AND patty sausage). We also had fruit, cinnamon rolls, donuts, juice, yogurt, and scambled eggs. Remember, this is just our unit that provided breakfast. There is 6 units in our area. We have a full nacho bar, two units worth of desserts, and more meats, salads, and pastas. I think that in the first hour of work I consumed 800 calories and worked on one case. In the second hour I consumed 400 more calories and worked on one more case. I have been eating and then bezzling more ALL DAY. I currently have a bowl of veggies w/dip that I am snacking on. I am SOO FULL. I dont know why I am eating! But it is delicious, and its once every three months. No work, all food, all the time :-)
Monday, October 18, 2010
Another Weekend Update
This blog is rapidly becoming a slew of weekend updates. I do think of other things to blog about, but typically either don't have time or my enthusiasm wanes before I have the time. I am sure anyone else who tries to keep a blog understands entirely.
This past weekend went by quickly, but was nice. On Friday we watched The Blind Side. It was pretty good, entertaining and interesting, a bit too feel good, which I expected. We are absolutely loving Netflix and can now stream programs through our PS3. Some other things we have watched: Doctor Who, The Guild, A Haunting in Conneticut, and Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog. DH has been watching a lot of documentaries. Its so nice to have all of this good entertainment at the tip of our fingers and not have to rely on television programming.
Saturday I worked a little OT (money money money money money ... Money). After that I spend the afternoon baking a cake and watching football. In the evening we went to a dinner party. DH did not want to go because the OSU-Wisconsin game was on, but alas, social ettiquete. Anyways, it turned out to be good in multiple ways. The dinner party food was good (and more difficult, OK for Aaron), the chocolate cake was a hit, the company was good, and we played a fun game called Acquire (about hotel monopolies). Best of all, we did not watch the blood bath that was OSU getting beaten up by Wisconsin. I am glad I did not see the ridiculous, frustrating game.
Sunday morning we relaxed, got McD breakfast (yum.. I can't help it, I love fast food breakfast!!), watched some Netflix. I did some cleaning. In the afternoon we watched football and I read. I finished my book Mockingjay, which is the third in the series that starts with Hunger Games. It is YA Sci Fi Dystopia. I would post a review here, but it would contain spoilers and I don't know if any of my readers are reading that series. Suffice it to say, I gave it five stars. After I finished I headed up to Grandma's. Unfortunately I had a pretty bad migraine, so I was pretty miserbale company I am afraid, but it was still nice to be up there as it has been awhile. I made it home by 10pm and went pretty much straight to bed.
I have been having a ridiculous # of headaches recently. It has been a long time since I have had these many problems with them. They had become somewhat rare. *sigh*.
This past weekend went by quickly, but was nice. On Friday we watched The Blind Side. It was pretty good, entertaining and interesting, a bit too feel good, which I expected. We are absolutely loving Netflix and can now stream programs through our PS3. Some other things we have watched: Doctor Who, The Guild, A Haunting in Conneticut, and Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog. DH has been watching a lot of documentaries. Its so nice to have all of this good entertainment at the tip of our fingers and not have to rely on television programming.
Saturday I worked a little OT (money money money money money ... Money). After that I spend the afternoon baking a cake and watching football. In the evening we went to a dinner party. DH did not want to go because the OSU-Wisconsin game was on, but alas, social ettiquete. Anyways, it turned out to be good in multiple ways. The dinner party food was good (and more difficult, OK for Aaron), the chocolate cake was a hit, the company was good, and we played a fun game called Acquire (about hotel monopolies). Best of all, we did not watch the blood bath that was OSU getting beaten up by Wisconsin. I am glad I did not see the ridiculous, frustrating game.
Sunday morning we relaxed, got McD breakfast (yum.. I can't help it, I love fast food breakfast!!), watched some Netflix. I did some cleaning. In the afternoon we watched football and I read. I finished my book Mockingjay, which is the third in the series that starts with Hunger Games. It is YA Sci Fi Dystopia. I would post a review here, but it would contain spoilers and I don't know if any of my readers are reading that series. Suffice it to say, I gave it five stars. After I finished I headed up to Grandma's. Unfortunately I had a pretty bad migraine, so I was pretty miserbale company I am afraid, but it was still nice to be up there as it has been awhile. I made it home by 10pm and went pretty much straight to bed.
I have been having a ridiculous # of headaches recently. It has been a long time since I have had these many problems with them. They had become somewhat rare. *sigh*.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Gallavanting Across the Midwest
DH and I headed to St Louis this week to visit his parents. We had a long weekend because of Columbus Day. It was a pleasant and relaxing weekend. FIL was unfortunately sick with a lingering cold/fever. Because of this we kept it low key. MIL and I did some shopping and hung out, the guys mostly watched football. We all watched some football. I bought a pretty new fall jacket from Kohl's. It's orange and it makes me smile. (see if here). I also bought a couple of patterns (a simple skirt, shirt, and dress, as well as a doggie jacket, which may be the first project because River needs it). We had a lot of fun sorting through fabrics and drinking Starbucks.
Saturday night we went out for Mexican (FIL was feeling a bit better), and then watched "Book of Eli", which was terrible in my opinion - boring, preachy, and unrealistic. Great combination. After the movie we bowled, batted, pitched, hoola-hooped, skiied, and flew on the Wii. Lots of friendly competition, lots of fun. By Sunday FIL was mostly better and MIL was starting to go down hill. We watched the Lions beat up on the Rams, did a bit more shopping, and just enjoyed the day and each other's company. We had burgers and fried potatoes for dinner, and my Apple Cake for dessert, all of which was delicious.
Monday morning FIL had to head off to work bright and early. MIL stayed home for a couple of hours to see us off. We watched "The Express", which was pretty good, sorted through some of MILs fabric, and eventually headed off, which is when the real adventure began. DH was driving and I was not paying attention. We crossed the bridge from Missouri to Illinois and thought we were on our merry way across 70E, towards Columbus. WRONG. At the bridge, about 6 gajillion roads all cross the same bridge and then branch off their seperate ways. Apparently while I was babbling about random gossip, or singing along to some song, DH managed to take the wrong lane and head for Chicago on 55N. We did not realize this until we stopped for lunch over an hour later. After eating we went to get back on 70 and realized 70 was not there. By this time we were so far north it did not make sense to just back track. We also managed to do this on the one trip that we did not have our GPS with us (this might actually have contributed to the problem, since when I do have the GPS I check it frequently for fun). So, with no map, and no GPS, I ended up calling home for directions. My mom pulled out her map and directed us across 48 to 72. This new route happened to land us directly in Urbana-Champaign, so we called up our friend who live their and stopped for ice-cream before continuing on. Back on the road, DH managed to get a speeding ticket, so I took over the wheel. It felt like it took FOREVER to get around Indianapolis and back to Ohio. We left St Louis before noon and did not get home until after 10pm. While it was great seeing our friends in Illinois, it was a really long day and rather exhausting. I did not get to sleep until after midnight and had to be up at 6am this morning.
I think I will be hitting the sack early tonight. Now lets just cross our fingers and hope that DH and I did not catch the bug that was going around STL.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Weekend Installment #1: Eggplant Adventure
This weekend was very relaxing and I feel like I have a lot of things to say about it, despite its generally laid-back nature. So, here is installment one: eggplant adventure.
On Saturday morning I went to the farmer's market on my own. I do not know the last time I went alone was, there is always someone willing to meet me there, but unfortunately my normal partner's in crime were celebrating a Jewish holiday and my back-ups were all otherwise occupied. I did quite well for myself though. I recently borrowed a cookbook from the library called Simply in Season. As the title suggests, the book focuses on recipes for produce as it comes into season in the spring, summer, and fall. The recipes sound delicious, although the other notes in the book are both a bit too hippie and a bit to religious for my tastes. Of course, when I say hippie I am using the 90s version of the word (pot smiking, tree hugging, granola eating "one with the earth" types), not the 60s version (pot smoking, other drug taking, rock-festival attending types). Almost every page either included a bible quote, a story about how gardening ties you to the earth and is good for you, or both (or in the rare case, a mini-lecture on the evils of agro-business, of fast food, etc). Anyways, the recipes still are enticing, and they did inspire me to try some new types of produce. I am interested in trying Leeks and Kale, Eggplant, and a number of other things (these being the fall varieties). So, I embraced my book-inspired produce kick at the Farmers market and picked up much more than I normally do, including the first of my experiments: Eggplant.
I have had eggplant before, for sure. But, I have to admit I have never cooked it, and never had it in such a way that I was considering whether I liked it or not. I know that sounds odd, but it has been one of those things that when it came up I ate it and did not give it much thought. Sunday I cooked it up. I used a slightly altered recipe from Simply in Season called "Spicy Eggplant" that called for sliced Eggplant to be coated in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, fresh cilantro, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon, and then broiled. The main alterations I made was replacing the lemon juice with lime juice, and using a curry blend that included coriander in lew of straight coriander. Incedently. I also took the opportunity to try a bit of raw eggplant, as my cookbook said "not normally eaten raw". I don't know why its not normally eaten raw, it was quite tasty, much like summer squash or zuchini raw, only crisper (which in my opinion is a good thing). I totally can see throwing it in a salad or putting it out to dip. Anyways, I also prepared a raw-corn salad of my own design w/raw corn cut off the cobs, plenty of cilantro, sweet peppers, hot banana pepper, and tomatillos (all raw), tossed in lime juice.
The final result? A delicious meal. The eggplant smelled wonderufl cooking with all of those spices on it, and once out was tasty and paired perfectly with the raw-corn salad. It was a hippie meal if I ever saw one, but quite yummy. I did miss having a bit of meat involved, but I think that in all reality we as a society should probably eat a bit less meat and the occasional meat free, wheat free meal could do us a lot of good. I will certainly make this again and continue to experiment w/Eggplant and other new ingredients.
On Saturday morning I went to the farmer's market on my own. I do not know the last time I went alone was, there is always someone willing to meet me there, but unfortunately my normal partner's in crime were celebrating a Jewish holiday and my back-ups were all otherwise occupied. I did quite well for myself though. I recently borrowed a cookbook from the library called Simply in Season. As the title suggests, the book focuses on recipes for produce as it comes into season in the spring, summer, and fall. The recipes sound delicious, although the other notes in the book are both a bit too hippie and a bit to religious for my tastes. Of course, when I say hippie I am using the 90s version of the word (pot smiking, tree hugging, granola eating "one with the earth" types), not the 60s version (pot smoking, other drug taking, rock-festival attending types). Almost every page either included a bible quote, a story about how gardening ties you to the earth and is good for you, or both (or in the rare case, a mini-lecture on the evils of agro-business, of fast food, etc). Anyways, the recipes still are enticing, and they did inspire me to try some new types of produce. I am interested in trying Leeks and Kale, Eggplant, and a number of other things (these being the fall varieties). So, I embraced my book-inspired produce kick at the Farmers market and picked up much more than I normally do, including the first of my experiments: Eggplant.
I have had eggplant before, for sure. But, I have to admit I have never cooked it, and never had it in such a way that I was considering whether I liked it or not. I know that sounds odd, but it has been one of those things that when it came up I ate it and did not give it much thought. Sunday I cooked it up. I used a slightly altered recipe from Simply in Season called "Spicy Eggplant" that called for sliced Eggplant to be coated in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, fresh cilantro, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon, and then broiled. The main alterations I made was replacing the lemon juice with lime juice, and using a curry blend that included coriander in lew of straight coriander. Incedently. I also took the opportunity to try a bit of raw eggplant, as my cookbook said "not normally eaten raw". I don't know why its not normally eaten raw, it was quite tasty, much like summer squash or zuchini raw, only crisper (which in my opinion is a good thing). I totally can see throwing it in a salad or putting it out to dip. Anyways, I also prepared a raw-corn salad of my own design w/raw corn cut off the cobs, plenty of cilantro, sweet peppers, hot banana pepper, and tomatillos (all raw), tossed in lime juice.
The final result? A delicious meal. The eggplant smelled wonderufl cooking with all of those spices on it, and once out was tasty and paired perfectly with the raw-corn salad. It was a hippie meal if I ever saw one, but quite yummy. I did miss having a bit of meat involved, but I think that in all reality we as a society should probably eat a bit less meat and the occasional meat free, wheat free meal could do us a lot of good. I will certainly make this again and continue to experiment w/Eggplant and other new ingredients.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
I need to post more often so the unpleasant posts move more quickly down the page and can be replaced by fun things.
This past weekend was a blur of blanket making. Actually, that blur didn't start until Saturday around 10:30AM. On Friday night DH and I went out with our friend T. We walked from his apt over to the Short North to try out Lemongrass Bistro. The appetizer we had was amazing (seared tuna tar tar). The entrees were pretty good, but not worth the price. I would love to go back there for sushi sometime, but doubt I would go back for a hot meal. After dinner we walked down and got a drink at Rossi, and then walked back south to get some delicious Jeni's ice cream, then back to T's house where we shared a bottle of wine. It was a very fun night and it was great catching up with T after not having seen him for probably 2 months! Saturday morning I got up surprisingly early and felt surprisingly good considering I had drank something near a half bottle of wine. I met R & M at the farmers market. It is in full swing. I think I need to plan meals in advance this coming week if I want to take full advantage of it. After the farmers market, the sewing began. I finished my fifth blanked around 5pm, the sixth I finished around 11pm that night, and the 7th I did entirely on Sunday.
Now I am back to work and officially off probation. That means that I spend the last day and a half in training for the various new claim types we will take on now that we have established we are trustworthy. My one-year anniversary also comes with a nice pay raise and the ability to work overtime, which I am instantly embracing. I am not sure exactly how much I will work, but I will work it. I am saving up my overtime money for new front floors. DH and I are sort of on a savings kick (which we desperately needed). We also have decided to cancel cable and our land line phone. We are looking at switching our Internet to a new company that will be cheaper and more portable (something we could "take along" with the laptop for DH's work).
Overall it has been a very busy but very good few days.
This past weekend was a blur of blanket making. Actually, that blur didn't start until Saturday around 10:30AM. On Friday night DH and I went out with our friend T. We walked from his apt over to the Short North to try out Lemongrass Bistro. The appetizer we had was amazing (seared tuna tar tar). The entrees were pretty good, but not worth the price. I would love to go back there for sushi sometime, but doubt I would go back for a hot meal. After dinner we walked down and got a drink at Rossi, and then walked back south to get some delicious Jeni's ice cream, then back to T's house where we shared a bottle of wine. It was a very fun night and it was great catching up with T after not having seen him for probably 2 months! Saturday morning I got up surprisingly early and felt surprisingly good considering I had drank something near a half bottle of wine. I met R & M at the farmers market. It is in full swing. I think I need to plan meals in advance this coming week if I want to take full advantage of it. After the farmers market, the sewing began. I finished my fifth blanked around 5pm, the sixth I finished around 11pm that night, and the 7th I did entirely on Sunday.
Now I am back to work and officially off probation. That means that I spend the last day and a half in training for the various new claim types we will take on now that we have established we are trustworthy. My one-year anniversary also comes with a nice pay raise and the ability to work overtime, which I am instantly embracing. I am not sure exactly how much I will work, but I will work it. I am saving up my overtime money for new front floors. DH and I are sort of on a savings kick (which we desperately needed). We also have decided to cancel cable and our land line phone. We are looking at switching our Internet to a new company that will be cheaper and more portable (something we could "take along" with the laptop for DH's work).
Overall it has been a very busy but very good few days.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Roadhouse in Hilliard
Last night I went to the monthly Nestie Dinner. It was in Hilliard this month. We actually have a pretty good system going where the dinner rotates days of the week and around the city. For example, last month dinner was on the first Tuesday and was south of Columbus. This month is was the first Wednesday and it was West of Columbus. Next month will be the first Thursday and will be Northwest of Columbus, etc. It's a good system. Dinner was in Hilliard, right near where I normally have trivia. Luckily or unluckily Trivia was cancelled due to a political science conference. Anyways, the restaurant was called Roadhouse Grill and Wings. I managed to arrive a half hour late - not because I was busy or could not get away from work, but because I never looked at the time on the evite. I assumed 7pm. I think that for a long time we were doing 7pm as the start time and then a couple of months ago it switched to 6:30pm. The company was good, SD had her son there, who is about a year old and absolutely adorable. I ordered Mango Habenero wings w/blue cheese. The wings themselves were delicious - crunchy and perfect. I see why they have won some best wings awards. However, the sauce was sugary and I believe it was butter based, it hardly would stick to the wings at all and did not have any zing to it. The blue cheese was.... well let me go back and say the "blue cheese" was no good. I am not sure what the waitress brought me but I will eat my shorts if it actually contained any blue cheese at all. I would go so far as to say it was disgusting. The sides I tried (onion rings, mozeralla sticks), were excellent. The dessert (and our reason for going there- funnel cake), was a bit overcooked. I guess it is a restaurant of extremes.
In summary:
Wings 9/10
Sauce 3/10
Blue Cheese (0/10)
Sides 7/10
Funnel Cake 4/10
I may go back for the wings, and try a different sauce and avoid the blue cheese. Maybe they are not all so buttery?
In summary:
Wings 9/10
Sauce 3/10
Blue Cheese (0/10)
Sides 7/10
Funnel Cake 4/10
I may go back for the wings, and try a different sauce and avoid the blue cheese. Maybe they are not all so buttery?
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Autumn Commeth
Signs are popping up all over the place that summer is over and fall is on its way. There are a handful of leaves on the ground. The farmers market has pie pumpkins, sweet potatoes and gourds. There is pre-season football and we had our fantasy football draft. Halloween stuff is going out in stores. There is rumor that the pumpkin latte is about to return to Starbucks. Most of these signs are welcome. Unfortunately, the sign of fall that I most look forward to just does not want to come -- cooler weather. Today was over 90 degrees. I walked out for lunch and immediately felt like I couldn't breath (I am not sure if that is the temperature alone or the air quality warning). I want the cool bite of frost in the morning and the fresh crispness of fall. I boo this heat.
Fall means a few other things as well. September 1st means that we are about 2/3 of the way through 2010. I think its probably a good time to evaluate how I am doing on my new years resolutions. After all, there is still time to make progress.
(1) Get Organized!!This was my biggest goal of the year, and I knew it would be a big challenge, but I did not realize how difficult it would be to even get started. I am not ready to give up on this though. I have four months left, I should make atleast SOME progress on it. I still hardly know where to start though! I am just not an organized individual. I don't have a plan for how I am going to work on this, but I am going to try again.
(2) Cook More, Eat HealthierWhile I have been cooking more in the past few weeks, I overall have been failing at this. Part of it is the above - ORGANIZATION. Part of it is our current social habits. There is typically at least two nights a week where I am meeting people at a restaurant. However, I hope to continue what I have been doing the last two weeks (and perhaps improve upon it).
(3) ReadingI was kicking this challenge's butt, now I am just keeping pace. If you recall the goal was to read 40,000 pgs this year. My latest stat is that with 64% of the year gone I have read 62% of the needed pages. This means that I am about 800 pages behind. I am confident I will catch up and do fine on this goal. I have taken a "break" from reading somewhat this summer because I have been busy with other things, but I still am going along at a decent pace, and usually the start of the new season motivates me (new seasonal reading challenge). I am currently in the middle of two books, which if I finish them quickly will be enough to catch me up.
Fall means a few other things as well. September 1st means that we are about 2/3 of the way through 2010. I think its probably a good time to evaluate how I am doing on my new years resolutions. After all, there is still time to make progress.
(1) Get Organized!!This was my biggest goal of the year, and I knew it would be a big challenge, but I did not realize how difficult it would be to even get started. I am not ready to give up on this though. I have four months left, I should make atleast SOME progress on it. I still hardly know where to start though! I am just not an organized individual. I don't have a plan for how I am going to work on this, but I am going to try again.
(2) Cook More, Eat HealthierWhile I have been cooking more in the past few weeks, I overall have been failing at this. Part of it is the above - ORGANIZATION. Part of it is our current social habits. There is typically at least two nights a week where I am meeting people at a restaurant. However, I hope to continue what I have been doing the last two weeks (and perhaps improve upon it).
(3) ReadingI was kicking this challenge's butt, now I am just keeping pace. If you recall the goal was to read 40,000 pgs this year. My latest stat is that with 64% of the year gone I have read 62% of the needed pages. This means that I am about 800 pages behind. I am confident I will catch up and do fine on this goal. I have taken a "break" from reading somewhat this summer because I have been busy with other things, but I still am going along at a decent pace, and usually the start of the new season motivates me (new seasonal reading challenge). I am currently in the middle of two books, which if I finish them quickly will be enough to catch me up.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Little Sister, your the one...
OK. Now thay we got that vacuum cleaner issue out of the way, I can tell you more about my little sister MMK being here. She is 16. She got in late Monday night w/Southwest. They unfortunately lost one of her bags and we had to stay a little late in order to put in the report. She had to survive her first 24 hrs here without her shoes and rollerblades. She somehow managed. Anyways, on the way home we stopped at Steak N' Shake for some delicious ice cream. It made for a fun but late evening, and a short night.
While MMK is here she will be spending most of her time home alone unfortunately. DH and I still have to work most of the time. We may let her drive herself around a bit later on in the stay (when we have had a chance to show her around the neighborhood a bit and given her a chance to drive the boat of a car we have), but fo now she is housebound. On top of that, its been rainy so she can't do the rollerblading or running she planned to. I think she should have enough to do with TV, video games, internet, and books for a couple of days at least.
Last night I took her to the monthly Nestie Dinner to meet my Internet Peeps... all of the women I talk to on the Columbus Nestie board. I warned her that we would likely talk about things uninteresting to her (Jobs, Kids, medical problem - old people stuff). But, she said she had a good time and that "it wasn't as bad as I made it sound". She actually said the most boring thing that we talked about all night was our brief discussion of the book Middlemarch that a couple of us our reading together. Back at home we kidnapped DH from his on-callness and walked with the dogs over to DQ where we all got another tasty treat. At the rate we are going, it will be icecream every night and a couple pounds gained before she leaves. I don't mind for now. After that I introduced her to Rock Band. Apparently she has never played, though in my head she has. She has played a little guitar hero, so she knew the general idea. We enjoyed playing together for an hour or so and then I needed to head to bed to make up for my lack of sleep the previous night. I have a feeling she will be doing a bit of practicing on Rock Band over the next couple of days. I know when she was here last time she would practice Mario Kart during the day so that when we got home she had a chance of beating us. Rock Band is not technically competitive, but we sort of make it that way.
I will probably post one more update today, I am in a talkative mood.
While MMK is here she will be spending most of her time home alone unfortunately. DH and I still have to work most of the time. We may let her drive herself around a bit later on in the stay (when we have had a chance to show her around the neighborhood a bit and given her a chance to drive the boat of a car we have), but fo now she is housebound. On top of that, its been rainy so she can't do the rollerblading or running she planned to. I think she should have enough to do with TV, video games, internet, and books for a couple of days at least.
Last night I took her to the monthly Nestie Dinner to meet my Internet Peeps... all of the women I talk to on the Columbus Nestie board. I warned her that we would likely talk about things uninteresting to her (Jobs, Kids, medical problem - old people stuff). But, she said she had a good time and that "it wasn't as bad as I made it sound". She actually said the most boring thing that we talked about all night was our brief discussion of the book Middlemarch that a couple of us our reading together. Back at home we kidnapped DH from his on-callness and walked with the dogs over to DQ where we all got another tasty treat. At the rate we are going, it will be icecream every night and a couple pounds gained before she leaves. I don't mind for now. After that I introduced her to Rock Band. Apparently she has never played, though in my head she has. She has played a little guitar hero, so she knew the general idea. We enjoyed playing together for an hour or so and then I needed to head to bed to make up for my lack of sleep the previous night. I have a feeling she will be doing a bit of practicing on Rock Band over the next couple of days. I know when she was here last time she would practice Mario Kart during the day so that when we got home she had a chance of beating us. Rock Band is not technically competitive, but we sort of make it that way.
I will probably post one more update today, I am in a talkative mood.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Unexplained Blahs, and a Rant
Despite plenty of good things, I have just been sort of blah for the last few days. The plenty of good things include:
- Going out to dinner on Friday and then to see Chicago (the musical) - the off broadway production. I have seen a lot of musicals, mostly movie versions though. I have been to a few live, but never professional (school and college productions, community theater productions, etc). It was cool to see a professional one, it was a lot of fun. This was my belated birthday present and celebration and it was nice to have a night out with the hubby without him worrying about work. (He has been on call almost non-stop due to a combination of it being the end of the fiscal year and us having lots of July plans that he is saving up time NOT on call for).
- Singing on the Rain on the big screen at CAPA Classic Movie Series on Saturday night
- Spent an hour Saturday, and hour Sunday reading in a coffee shop (caribou coffee, my favorite)
- spoke with my family a lot
- I was actually productive on Saturday, got lots of little housework related things done
- had a very efficient and pleasant shopping trip for some small errands on Sunday
Despite all of these nice things, I am just in a bad mood. I have tried a hot bath, a latte, bad television (watched Transformer's last night on TNT, it was horrible!), a massage (thanks DH), productivity, reading. Nothing has kicked it yet. Have to give something else a try tonight. Any ideas?
Now for the "and a rant" section. Saturday night -Singing in the Rain - lots of fun. We were supposed to go out to dinner afterwards. It was like running my head into a brick wall. Here is how the conversation went:
Us (DH and I) vs Them
Them: Why don't we go to Elevator or O'Shaunessey's
Us: Great! We can walk over there!
Them: We don't want to leave the car. Why would we walk?
Us: There is not much parking up there. I wouldnt know where to park up there.
Them: We don't want to leave the car, I am sure there will be parking, there is always parking.
Us: Why don't you park in DH's garage, it is closer and no worries about getting out afterwards.
Them: Oh we don't want to mess with your garage. Why don't you two walk and we will meet you up there, just pick a resteraunt and call us, they are right next to each other.
Us: No, they are not right next to each other.
Them: I am pretty sure they are, atleast in the same block. How far apart do you think they are?
Us: no, they are not in the same block, I am not positive about the location of the elavator but its not realy in the arena district, whereas O'Shaunessey's is.
Them: I am sure they are really close to one another, like no more than a block apart.
Us: We will go to o'shaunessey's and get a table
-We part ways. DH and I walk the 7-8 blocks to the Arena District. O'Shaunessey's is about 4 blocks from the Elevator we discover. We get a table. DH orders a drink. We get a call. They can't find parking. They want us to leave and go somewhere not downtown. We have to tell the waitress we are leaving and I feel very rude, and very pissed. I have the strong urge to shout "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!" but we don't. We go eat dinner at Cap City Diner. It is subdued and slightly awkward. Then we go home.
I enjoy these CAPA movies a lot, but the logistics have been a nightmare. We are supposed to do another on July 1st, and I swear if the others don't agree to meet and walk the whole way, to the movie and dinner, I am not going.
The end.
- Going out to dinner on Friday and then to see Chicago (the musical) - the off broadway production. I have seen a lot of musicals, mostly movie versions though. I have been to a few live, but never professional (school and college productions, community theater productions, etc). It was cool to see a professional one, it was a lot of fun. This was my belated birthday present and celebration and it was nice to have a night out with the hubby without him worrying about work. (He has been on call almost non-stop due to a combination of it being the end of the fiscal year and us having lots of July plans that he is saving up time NOT on call for).
- Singing on the Rain on the big screen at CAPA Classic Movie Series on Saturday night
- Spent an hour Saturday, and hour Sunday reading in a coffee shop (caribou coffee, my favorite)
- spoke with my family a lot
- I was actually productive on Saturday, got lots of little housework related things done
- had a very efficient and pleasant shopping trip for some small errands on Sunday
Despite all of these nice things, I am just in a bad mood. I have tried a hot bath, a latte, bad television (watched Transformer's last night on TNT, it was horrible!), a massage (thanks DH), productivity, reading. Nothing has kicked it yet. Have to give something else a try tonight. Any ideas?
Now for the "and a rant" section. Saturday night -Singing in the Rain - lots of fun. We were supposed to go out to dinner afterwards. It was like running my head into a brick wall. Here is how the conversation went:
Us (DH and I) vs Them
Them: Why don't we go to Elevator or O'Shaunessey's
Us: Great! We can walk over there!
Them: We don't want to leave the car. Why would we walk?
Us: There is not much parking up there. I wouldnt know where to park up there.
Them: We don't want to leave the car, I am sure there will be parking, there is always parking.
Us: Why don't you park in DH's garage, it is closer and no worries about getting out afterwards.
Them: Oh we don't want to mess with your garage. Why don't you two walk and we will meet you up there, just pick a resteraunt and call us, they are right next to each other.
Us: No, they are not right next to each other.
Them: I am pretty sure they are, atleast in the same block. How far apart do you think they are?
Us: no, they are not in the same block, I am not positive about the location of the elavator but its not realy in the arena district, whereas O'Shaunessey's is.
Them: I am sure they are really close to one another, like no more than a block apart.
Us: We will go to o'shaunessey's and get a table
-We part ways. DH and I walk the 7-8 blocks to the Arena District. O'Shaunessey's is about 4 blocks from the Elevator we discover. We get a table. DH orders a drink. We get a call. They can't find parking. They want us to leave and go somewhere not downtown. We have to tell the waitress we are leaving and I feel very rude, and very pissed. I have the strong urge to shout "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!" but we don't. We go eat dinner at Cap City Diner. It is subdued and slightly awkward. Then we go home.
I enjoy these CAPA movies a lot, but the logistics have been a nightmare. We are supposed to do another on July 1st, and I swear if the others don't agree to meet and walk the whole way, to the movie and dinner, I am not going.
The end.
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