Last night for dinner I made Beef Stroganoff from Let's Dish. I thought it was excellent. It was certainly better than the Beef Stroganoff that I normally make which consists of ground beef, a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, Sour Lean and egg noodles. What can I say? I like that, too. I served last night's Beef Stroganoff spring mix grapefruit salad and garlic crescent rolls. I don't think that Pink and Lawyerette enjoyed it quite as much as my summertime CSA box feasts but it was about twenty times easier to cook. They were smart enough not to complain. Tonight I made Artichoke Mushroom Chicken - also a Let's Dish meal. I supplemented with baked potatoes and infamous lettuce. It wasn't as good as the beef, but I'm not dreading eating the other half of it. Most notably, I cooked real dinner two nights in a row. Gather your sick and indigent, miracles are happening at Anna's house!
The Colts lost the Superbowl which is relevant to me only in that the Midget Cowboy is going to be unbearable.
Tonight we went to Let's Dish, which is one of those destination kitchens where you do the cooking. It was fun! I made at least seven meals for Pink and I - all for less than a hundred dollars. Pretty reasonable, I thought, especially since two of my meals include roasts. It took me less than an hour to do it, too. I have high hopes for the flavor of the food. If it turns out to be good, reasonable and healthy (Let's Dish builds in WW points) and fast - that will be awesome for me. I'm back to tracking Weight Watchers points. This week, I'm trying to enforce the habit of writing everything down without worrying about limits or the weigh-in. I currently lack both resolve and enthusiasm, but I know I can't go back to living on Black Beans and Rice and Wendy's. Eating like that makes me feel terrible.
I haven't been taking care of myself. I woke up this morning (a term I'm using liberally) sick from too much sleep, sinuses blazing from not using the nasal spray, rich with PMS, and anxiety ridden from forgetting to take my anti-depressants for the last four days. A state, I'm embarrassed to admit, I've found myself in multiple times this winter. I'm not quite sure what to do about it, either, rather than just tell myself to "do better" which of course is not at all effective.
While I was forcing myself to leave the house this afternoon, I went to the consignment shop where I picked up the best dress ever. It's just a little knit black thing but it fits perfectly and looks fantastic. Machine washable, too! It's going to be absolutely dreamy for winter and summer, provided I don't wear it to death before then. Summer, oh summer. Where are thou, summer? I am so ready for you.
Yesterday, I accepted a friends request on Facebook from my scary ex-roommate from 15 years ago. I waffled about it considerably. I weighed chaos versus forgiveness in my mind, but in the end I did it just because I found I wanted to. Very strange indeed.
I came into work at five this morning to cover for a co-worker (and because the universe hates me). Of course, I'm going to work for my co-worker if she needs me to do so, but being here at five when I don't get out of class until nine? I really suck at that. I left the house this morning with wet hair and my socks and underwear in my purse. That's some brutal shit. I planned on going directly to bed as soon as I got home last night at 21:30, but it's impossible to go right to bed without dinner and at least an hour to unwind. The good news about being here so early is that I get to leave early, too. I should able to nap before class. The bad news is being up this early in the morning makes me powerfully nauseated.
I'm going to go try to put something into my stomach now. Yeah, it's going to be a Kit Kat from the vending machine. Don't judge me.
Isn't it? Am I living in Q-tip denial because of the history in Puritanism in our culture? They appear attractive. I hate running out.
Today in class, I learned that if you part your hair on the left you are more likely to be perceived as happy and friendly. I forgot to ask whether it was your left or the left of the person perceiving you.
Bedtime for me. Gotta work at five tomorrow.
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aflamingstar. After that, I crawled into bed and fell fast asleep in a husband and cat sandwich. All is well that ends well.I feels like the last week has been hectic, but I suspect it's just life returning to normal. Now that I'm feeling better, I actually got things done on my day off. Work has been busy. The blissful and effortless first week of classes is over. Folks are crawling out of their post holiday caves and expecting me to be social again. It's exhausting really. I got four hours of sleep last night. That does not work for me.
I heard a story on MPR about a study on cognitive function and healthy food choices. They gave each research subject a number to memorize. Then, while the subjects were walking down a hallway, someone from the study offered them a snack. There options were chocolate cake or fresh fruit. The more digits the number the subject was expected to remember, the more likely the subject was to choose cake over fruit. No other factor - gender, age, weight, cholesterol levels, etc.- had as striking an affect on their snack choice as the length of the number they were asked to memorize. Isn't that fascinating? I'll tell you what I don't like about the study. As a Fatty, I resent the implied hypothesis that my desire for cake could be correlated to limited cognitive function. It begs some really interesting questions, though. It would seem logical to equate the popularity of fast food with the relative ease or acquiring it, but maybe that's not it at all. Maybe high fat, high sugar foods appeal to us on an evolutionary level? After all, our brains were able to develop due in great part to "high quality" (re: high calorie) food. Is that still programmed into us somehow? And if so, does the increase in obesity in our culture correlate directly with ways which we now use our brains?
That's all I've got for today. In other news, hijab serves the added benefit of hiding a double chin!
I picked up a sandwich maker today at Target. It's not even the good one, and it squishes my grilled cheese into caramalized melty bliss. Ten dollars, my friends.
Today is the day. I'm going to get some things done on my day off. I already washed the china, which has been sitting there dirty since January 11th. Yeah, I'm that kind of nasty lately.
I'm beginning to wonder if the garage guy is really going to show up.
I lost a week. Maybe a month? If I were smart, I would update my calendar from now until the end of the semester with every deadline that I can predict. Papers and tests, mandatory work events, the better half of opera season, visiting my parents in St. Louis over spring break,
lonely_doll's shower and wedding, my mother's 60th birthday, scentedwoods' 40th birthday, Easter dinner, and a weekend visit from my niece at some point - possible for Anime Detour. I struggle with the "no time for myself" people. Perhaps I am critically lazy (almost certainly), but at a certain point - my body just stops. That's what happened to January, I think. If I don't plan the crap out of my responsibilities for the next four months, they won't get done. And half my responsibilities are fun things. I'm working two tens this weekend. To reward myself, I'm going to buy a sandwich maker for work. It's going to be epic.
Tonight, my ovary hurt. Not like before - I could still move and think - but a lot. I recognized the feeling and deemed it Mittelschmerz. It felt a bit like someone was trying to dig my ovary out with wire hanger. So, I drank too much. I would say that was wrong, but it helped. A lot. Provided I got home safe and didn't make too much of a spectacle at scentedwoods' dinner party, I don't know that I see the harm.
It's been a very low key weekend. I didn't leave the house at all on Friday or Saturday. Mostly Pink and I are did homework. His frustration revolved around the Cisco emulator, which didn't allow him to to complete the lessons outlined in his Cisco textbook. I've been reading about the idiosyncrasies of "hello" for several hours. Specifically in situations where you have cause to greet someone multiple times in one day. Fascinating shit, I tell you!
Now I'm at home, in front of a hot fire and curled up with kitties. Can't complain.
Pink tends to watch streaming Netflix on the laptop. Tonight, desperate for company, I curled up next to him during Torchwood Season 1, Episode 10. Eventually, I asked him to take off the headphones and play it aloud. In courtesy, he rolled the episode back to the beginning. Queue Anna crack in four, three, two...We watched through to the end of Season 1 and then started over at the beginning. I've been listening to y'all rave for so long. I don't know what I was waiting for! Episode 10 was the perfect way to lure me in. For one - OMG sexy pilot. And two, IT'S PRACTICALLY PORN. Porn with sexually ambiguous superheros.
It's bedtime for Bonzo. Sweet dreams!
I have a blistering headache today. I blame the Supreme Court. Also implicated is lack of coffee, water, Nasonex, and a hot shower. I went out last night, too, and drank rail Greyhounds. Sugar and cheap vodka will give you a hangover without the benefit of drunkeness. Lawyerette (who probably needs another moniker on account of her fully formed lawyer status) and I went to see my cousin's band, The Running Scared, at the Kitty Cat Klub. They were so cute and good! My cousin is just a pup (20) and this is her first real band. I was prepared for mediocrity, but I was blown away. Gloria was a total rockstar and she's on lead guitar! I loved it.
I made myself a list of things to do today so I wouldn't sit around like a lump (again), but so far I'm blowing it off. Meh.
Should I go to law school?
There's an unbelievably pudgy cardinal perched on the tall lilac outside my window.
It struck me this morning that spring my Mother turns 60. Oy vey. I'd really like to plan a trip to Vegas and be done with it. I'll have to figure out if I can afford to take them and me.
I fell asleep at 7:30 last night and slept straight through until Pink left for work this morning. One would think that eleven and a half hours of sleep would be enough, but I fell asleep in front of the fire at noon. Now it's four and all I've done is take a shower and sew a bra. Is it possible to save a bra once the underwire has gone AWOL? I'm going to try.
Since we got the fireplace up and running, I've been burning the junk mail. This is immensely satisfying.
Planned ParenthoodFeline RescueAnimal Humane Society
MPRWikepedia
ACLU
NARALElectronic Frontier Foundation
Minnesota Literacy CouncilCenter for Victims of Torture
Escapepod.org
It's that time again! These are the hippy, liberal and nerd charities we're donating to this year. Crossed out means checks have been sent (via Paypal, natch). I suppose I'll also be giving to the MIA (since I'm too lazy to cancel) and the United Way through payroll deduction at work. What non-profits do you support? Is there a great place out there I'm overlooking?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17
So. Flat screen TV above the fireplace?
Yahoo! Love the look.
3 (17.6%)
Eh. 9 (52.9%)
So tacky I might die. 2 (11.8%)
Other which I will detail in the comments: 3 (17.6%)