Back to the 90s

Technically it is back to the 90s since that was when the "My favorite animal is a" etc emails ran rampant. I used to fill them out send them to the friends who basically knew the answers already due to a.) they were already good friends of mine or b.) this was the third email of the sort in the past month.

Emily tagged me when she filled it out and of course I have to fill it out since she is my Frito bus buddy!

1. Four TV shows that I watch

• Greys Anatomy
• Bones
• One Tree Hill
• What Not to Wear

2. Four things that I’m passionate about

• My family/friends
• Knitting
• Rescue animals adoption- as in shelter/stray animals
• Music education in schools

3. Four words/phrases I use a lot

• “Okee”
• “Minus the fact”
• “Hi-ti-buh” (instead of wtf)
• “Anywho”

4. Four things I’ve learned in the past

• "Will it matter in five years?" is a good question to ask for trivial things.
• Emotional vampires will only drain you if you let them.
• Stand up for yourself but don't start it unless you are in a situation where you must do something to help.
• True love will find you when you stop looking.

5. Four places I would like to go

• Seattle
• Maine
• Ireland
• Alaska
  

6. Four things I did yesterday

• Almost cleared out my share of the DVR
• Read the new Women's Day
• Painted my nails - part of my resolution to do little things for myself
• Looked up new recipes

7. Four things I’m looking forward to

• Watching The Lost Boys: The Thirst
• My new laptop battery arriving since I am stuck plugged in if I want it live for more than 30 mins
• Spring so I can work on my garden
• Reading the newest book of the House of Night series
  

8. Four things I love about winter

• Watching the dogs play in the snow
• Peppermint everything
• Lighting our fireplace
• Sleeping under the cats and not melting

9. Tag four people to play along (if you did this, I read it and yet I forgot - sorry!)
Stina

Jess

Erin

Dawn

FIVE!

It is five days until I turn 30. Like I have mentioned before, I am not freaking out. No whatever life crisis. I am working on a 30 before 40 list.

Here is what I have for now:

1. Run a 10 k.
2. Travel to both coasts.
3. Be a mom.
4. Learn to sew.
5. Have a garden that I dream of and keep it looking great


It is just a start and I know there will be more.

Do you have a # before # list? If so what are FIVE things that are part of it?

RunnnnnbrrrRUN?

Hubs and I have been discussing running more since Christmas. With the uber present of the Garmin, which needs to be named eventually since I name my electronics, it makes sense that we are focusing on fitness even more so this year. Yesterday he let me know about a radio program discussing winter running. I caught part of it and am planning to listen to the podcast version of it in the near future.

Then he surprised me with discussing running next month. Next month is February. Febrrrrrrarary! While I will have more time in the evening since the home bound transit method is changing, I don't know if running in the cold at night will be detrimental to my excitement about running. The plan, if it sticks, is to stay small and around 20 mins or so. I get cold pretty quickly especially my feet and my shoes are pretty well vented. It is the question of is is worth wearing an old pair of shoes or will that ruin my running/step later?

On a better note though, with all the discussion of negative influence caused by a spouse in various media outlets here and there, I'm happy that we are being a positive influence on each other in terms of health. When I started paying more attention to the sodium levels in boxed food, he did too. He was the one who noticed I was downing a full bottle of Coke in a day and a half Now with Eat in Month in progress, we are working together so that if one of us falls a bit behind, the other is right there playing catch up.

Speaking of Eat in Month, dinner was chicken fajitas and tamales. Lunch was leftover veggies & BBQ chicken with a roll from dinner last night. Snack was blueberry pie yogurt. Breakfast was toast with almond butter.

Back to The Good Life

Hubs and I went to see Weezer at the Aragon last night. This was night two of the Chicago stop. Friday was Blue Album + greatest hits setlist. Our show was the greatest hits - ie one song from each release as well went on a trip back in time in the"time machine. - and Pinkerton. The set list was a great mix and I totally love that they played b-sides. I need to find the setlist posted because I was rocking out too much to write it down.

I have been a Weezer fan since jr high and have my Blue Album cassette tape that I actually had them sign when I met them back in 2001. It was an amazing moment. I have attended almost every concert in the Chicago area since (I want to say I missed maybe two that were a quite a ways/over an hr as the base of the drive and wasn't able to get there) was a great time and last night didn't disappoint.

The show was sold out in terms of general tickets and the place was packed. If you aren't from the Chicago area and/or never been to the Aragon, it was an old ballroom built in the 20s. My Gram remembers it back from when she used to go dancing. (The Trianon that is mentioned in the linked article is actually where my grandparents met!) While it is not really the same kind of dancing, people were totally rocking out during the show. I was lipsynching along - minus whoah ohs - to save the poor girl in front of me from listening to my off key renditions. (I've had to deal with that before and have since tried not to ruin someone's time.)

If you are a Weezer fan who hasn't attended a concert and have the chance to see them live, I highly recc it.

Case of the Dontwannas

Frankie has the right idea today - rest, relax, and nap (though maybe not in the window for me) because I have a case of the "dontwannas."


Go away I'm napping!





I don't wanna finish putting away the tree and reorganizing that section of the living room.





I don't wanna go through the sales papers and misc stuff to rediscover the top of the coffee table.





I don't wanna clean the bathrooms.




I don't wanna do laundry.




I don't wanna straighten up the pantry so boxes stop falling off the top shelf and almost hitting me in the head.




I have a good reason though.





I just wanna go to WEEZER tonight!

Back from my trip to NYYAAHH NYAAAHH land

I was a serious cranky angrypants last night. In the grand scheme of things the stuff that was going wrong or that was annoying me wasn't that big of a deal. Plus I had had a good day prior to getting on my homebound bus. I just couldn't fully shake the grrrr. Tonight is going so much better. I managed to catch a fast moving train which then let me catch the earlier bus that I usually miss. No being stuck waiting 40 minutes in the cold and the snow today! (Being a high of 23 today made that a super great deal.) Molly is not limping and hopefully the puppy injury scare is over or at least on the way to being healed. No boxed stuff on a trial run for dinner as well. The leftovers that I had as part of my lunch actually ended up better today than yesterday too.

I had forgotten to set up the coffeemaker last night and Hubs was just starting the coffee when I was almost ready to leave this morning. It was cold this morning and I really wanted a small cup so I went to DDonuts since it is cheap. $1.48 = small hazelnut w skim milk & sugar. One dollar bill and two quarters always worked when it was more of a morning routine. While it does add up, it was not as expensive as Starbucks. This morning I was lucky to have an extra quarter since the price increased to $1.75. It's yet another sign that I should have just brought something from home!

Otherwise, Eat in Month went well for today everything but dinner. Tonight is date night with Italian take-out and Inception which I have heard mixed reviews about but overall good ones.

Breakfast = the earlier mentioned price jumping coffee, oatmeal, and Mixed Berries Fruit Naturals which Hubs found on sale this week (Yay to good new easy fruit addition and to saving money at the same time!)

Morning snack = key lime pie - the thick n creamy version that is still my current fav

Lunch = leftover couscous/mushroom/onion adventure, chicken and rice soup, juice and one of the chocolate thingys

Dinner = italian beef sandwich w mozzarella, fries and pasta salad from a local place that we both like (We had significantly cut down out most eating out for dinners prior to the challenge so this ends up more like a treat during the week.)

Super Hubs & EIM

Hubs was up way before me today and managed to surprise me this morning. I included "managed" on purpose because I am a hard person to surprise. I can no longer count the times I have ruined breakfast in bed because I'm dragged halfway down the stairs by the smell of breakfast esp bacon (which we rarely eat so it is more of a treat.) His being up also meant I had one more alarm adjustment that could be made resulting in about 12 more minutes of sleep. Since I am one of the lucky ones who can wake up/fall back asleep generally, this works. This morning I especially needed it since I wasn't feeling that great lately. On a normal day, the extra time would result in a mad dash out of the house fueled by the fear of missing my bus. Today he gave me a ride which rocked since it was probably about 10 degrees out this morning. If not, it sure felt like it.

The actual surprise was that there was an egg/mushroom/sausage sandwich on toast waiting for me. I ended up taking it with me to eat later. PLUS my lunch was packed. Packed, as in completely packed in my lunch bag, zipped up, ready to go. Gumbo, bread/butter, key lime pie yogurt - whipped this time & not as good as the thick n creamy but still good, Odwalla strawberry C - to help w getting rid of this cold, cheddar cheese & black pepper Triscuits, mixed berry fruit bowl - which I didn't eat but will tomorrow since it looks super good, and those chocolate things I adore and am not looking forward to being gone. The blogger in me wanted to line it all up and take a picture or of my lunch bag but the realistic part of me knew it was time to get to the bus stop.

Dinner was a couscous mix that Hubs found for me. While I have had plain couscous before I don't think he has.... yet. We've had bulgar before. Ditto w quinoa. I like both. He just needs more exposure to them in different recipes but I know eventually he will like it too. He just needs to stop calling quinoa "spider eggs."

The mix was in a box and pretty simple - boil water w oil or margarine, add spice packet, add couscous, take off heat and cover.

I got this which wasn't very promising.



This was mushroom and herb. I could smell the herbs but the dried mushroom pieces got lost.


That's fine though since I had planned for this ahead of time.


Extra prep/cooking time means mini snack so I don't end up chewing on the mixing spoons or raiding the pantry for some sort of chips or the fridge for something that would cause a stomach ache.



Black pepper Triscuits and red pepper hummus
(This photo does not do the bowl justice - blue is more aqua. I have three of these that were my great aunt's.)


This was perfect and just enough to tide me over while this cooked.




Mushrooms, garlic, onions, paprika, and cumin cooked in olive oil and a touch of margarine (usually not mixed oil/marg but it was almost burning even on the lowest setting = nonstick pan needed help)


That mix-in saved dinner.



Will I make it again? Yes, since we have a different flavor box already. Will I add some sort of protein to it? Definitely. I can see chicken working well but that is more so since I've made something similar with bulgar and chicken with veggies.

I didn't have the most relaxing dinner though since Molly managed to hurt one of her front paws. There is a good chance it was from playing with Cosmo since they doggie roughhouse play but I can't say for sure. She is moving around and puts some weight on it. I tried seeing what was wrong earlier and she got freaked out and actually peed on me. (Good thing is was my aroudn the house jeans and not my work ones.)Hubs and I figured out it is the side of her outside toe that is hurt. Nothing seems to be stuck in it but she's still not happy. I, being the pet momma, of course is a bit worried. She is dozing on the pet pillow below me now (in the living room to rest on the "doc orders" of the BFF.) She did this once before and it was more so she pulled it/stepped funny. I'm just hoping it is that and nothing more serious. If she was wailing/crying all the time, I would have her at the emergency vet right now.

Please send Molly happy healing vibes!