Photo 36/365

A bit of hope that the storm is over (it rained again that night).

Photo 35/365

How I'm trying to keep warm. I need some new flavors of tea.

Photo 34/365

We finally opened a new bottle of dish soap. This bottle goes with the whole going "green" movement, kind of. Somehow, I don't of large corporations as green.

PSA - Back up your photos

Anyone who has a computer knows you're supposed to back up important information. And anyone who takes digital photos knows you're supposed to back up your photos. And I thought I did. Obviously, I can't find my photos and I'm just sick about it. I'm okay with no having them, but I promised copies to someone and now I can't come through.

I know I printed some of the photos (but I can't find them now, of course), so I assumed I copied them to my hard drive. But I can't find them. So maybe I used my PictureMate to print them, which doesn't involve the computer.

I looked on my work computer, I looked on my home computer, I looked on every memory card I have. I even downloaded a recovery program and ran it on every card I have. But no luck.

So before deleting photos from your memory card, be sure you've copied them to at least two different places. I never thought I'd be the one giving this PSA.

Photo 33/365

A thank you card from a friend. I love getting mail!

Photo 32/354 health

My new pedometer. Doesn't do much good since I haven't turned it on yet.

Beauty experiment

When I bought my make-up last month, I received some lotion and "serum" samples. I'm a sucker for any lotion that's been rebranded as serum. I dunno. I guess it sounds more scientific so maybe it will work better, lol. I've been using the samples on one side of my face and my regular moisturizer on the other side. Mr. Fix-it thought the side with the samples looked better. My co-worker thought the other side looked more moisurized. Hmmmm, still trying to decide if I should spring the big bucks for more serum. Too bad wrinkles and age spots aren't in fashion.

Photo 31/365 food

All that's left after a day of blood, sweat, and tears. Well, actually, there wasn't any sweat, just a bit of blood from when I cut my finger and tears when Mr. Fix-it finished chopping the onions for me. I (we) made five quarts, gave three away, and then had soup for dinner.

Photo 30/365 Twins

The girls are getting really good at using utensils.

Photo 29/365

Backyard color. I never pay too much attention to this Christmas catus so I'm always pleasantly surprised when it blooms.

Photo 28/365

Not a new interior design statement. It's to prevent the twins from climbing onto the counter.

Photo 27/365

Another card to use up my scraps. The stickers at the bottom were so old, I had to glue them on.

Photo 26/365

What I made for lunch (tortellini and sausage soup with Swiss chard from the garden). The problem with making a nice lunch is figuring out what to do for dinner.

Photo 25/365

Why we couldn't get reception last night. Yes, we still use rabbit ears and haven't joined the cable or fiber optics crowd.

$2.03

Down a bit. Better than nothing.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year to you! May this coming year be filled with prosperity and health for you and your family.

Photo 24/365

Happy birthday girls! And it looks like G can't wait for cake either, lol.

Photo 23/365

I had to take a picture of the crowd waiting to get into CHA. I'm glad I was already inside. The guys in suits on the right are security/crowd control/big guys to keep buyers out until the CHA show opened.

Photo 22/365

Bad pic, but you take the bad with the good, right? There were bagpipers to open CHA. I LOVE bagpipers. By the way, I'd like bagpipers at my funeral, or at least bagpiper music. Not a lot, just a song or two.

Almost caught up

I finally finished posting all the photos I took this month. Actually, I should say I've finished posting all the photos I wanted for my 365 project. So I'm caught up in terms of the photos, just not in the number of photos. As I said in my original post, I hope to post 365 photos. So I think that multiple of an event will be what gets me up to 365.

The photos are pretty much in the order I took them, they're just not always posted on the day I took them.

Photo 21/365

Miss E didn't want anything to do with me after she woke up from her (3 hour!) nap and I took her binkie away. Hey, mom said binkie is only for naptime and I always obey the mom.

Photo 21/365

I love Target clearance! I always browse the end caps for sale items and I found this KI kit, regularly $24.99. It was marked down to $17.48, not that great of a discount. It was the only one on the shelf, whereas before Christmas, two shelves on the end cap were filled with them. On a hunch, I took it over to the price scanner and almost started hyperventilating. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But at $6.24, I couldn't pass it up. Let's just ignore the fact that I've got waaaay too much stuff and I'm trying to destash. It's an addiction, I tell ya.

Photo 20/365

This is why it is so difficult for me to prune roses in January. But my master gardener friend said I had to so I did. I filled a vase with the buds I cut off

Photo 19/365

Yum! I love these! They are one of my favorite candies. We bought these after Christmas for 75% off. I figured they taste the same after Christmas as before. Or maybe even better since I got them on sale.

Photo 18/365

I made a bunch of cards for cardsforheros.org to use up my scraps. Unfortunately, I still have tons of paper to use up. My goal is to fill a priority mail box. I have a long ways to go.

Photo 17/365 Garden

I just love how the garden looks and smells after the rain.

Photo 16/365 Webkinz

My new friend, Roar. Thanks S!

Photo 15/365

Winter melon soup. I didn't like it, partly because the stock wasn't clear. That's because I used a different brand of stock and also didn't skim the chicken scum since it was cooked in the crockpot while I was at work. But Mr. Fix-it liked it better than any other version I ever made so I guess it was a success.

Photo 14/365

Bank statements and cancelled checks from eight years ago. I hope I don't need them. They're worm food now.

Photo 13/386

Some of my make-up purchases for the wedding. It will probably be another year before I use them again.

Facebook, yes or no?

I received an invitation to Facebook and am finally tempted to join. My SIL asked so the potential exists I'd see more pics of the kids. But I'd have to overcome my fear of social networking sites, my need for privacy. I need to think about this some more.

Photos 11-12/365

Mr. Fix-it made pizza for dinner. Yum!

(Two pizzas, two photos. That's one way to try and catch up with the photos, lol.)

Photo 10/365

Winter melon. Mom usually grows barrel-shaped ones (like watermelon), so these are unusual to me. I stuck my foot in the photo so you could see how big they are.

Photo 9/365

mojito pie, made by a friend.

Photo 8/365 D&S

The happy bride and groom to be at their rehersal dinner.

Photo 7/365

Not my flowers. They were sent to my coworker from her husband for her birthday. It was a nice surprise for her since he usually doesn't do things like this.

Photo 6/365

No, this isn't an alien, it is white fungus that I was preparing for soup.

(Boy, I'm gonna be happy when I hit the double digits and even happier when I get caught up with posting photos.)

Photo 5/365 Salsa chicken

Ingredients: skinless chicken thighs (Mr. Fix-it took off the skin and I saved it to make stock), jarred salsa, chopped onion.

Ddirections: chop onion, mix with salsa, pour over chicken, cover and bake at 325 degrees till done (45 minutes or so). We ate it over rice (you know how I like my rice), but it would be good shredded in tortillas or even without any starch.

Next time I think I'll saute the onion first. They were a little undercooked for my taste. Other than that, this was a winner. Super simple and didn't take any time at all.

(With photos like these, I'll never be able to make a living as a food photographer, lol.)

Photo 4/365

When we got back from vacation, there weren't any suicide tomatoes. It turns out they just wanted to wait until we got home, sigh.

Photos 1-3/365 Catalina

I'm finally getting around to doing my version of a photo a day, week, whatever. My version is to post 365 photos this year. Since I don't want to start yet another blog, all the photos will be here. My ground rules are multiple photos from a day are okay. All the photos have to be taken by me or have me in the photo. And with that, here we go!

We went to Catalina for a little vacation. Both our companies were shut down for the holidays and I was determined to go somewhere, anywhere, lol. Since I had never been to Catalina, Mr. Fix-it suggested it and even though our trip coincided with new year's, we still got a good deal on our hotel.

Catalina is famous for their tile (well, their old tile), but there's tile everywhere so of course I had to take some photos. If the weather had been warmer, I would have considered renting a kayak, but since I was wearing multiple layers, a coat, and scarf, it was a little too cold for me to go out in the water. And last, but not least, I was amused by these sea gulls drinking from the fountain. Who knows how clean that water was since the drinking fountain didn't drain.

CHA this weekend

The Craft and Hobby Association trade show is this weekend. It will be interesting to see how crowded the show is, who's there, and who's not there. Already there have been announcements of major magazines shutting down, people being laid off, and whole companies folding. All this right before the show.

I've been watching the sneak peaks on the various scrapbook boards and I must say that most of the releases from established companies are not doing it for me. Maybe because I've already got such a huge stash? But I am excited about a couple of new companies. One of them is Bella Blvd. Take a peek! The designer used to work for one of my favorite companies. I love the clean lines and bright colors in her papers. I wish them lots of sales at the show.

$2.09

Ouch! I should have filled up this weekend, but I was too lazy to. So I ended up paying four cents more a gallon by waiting. Add that to this weekend's $80 in groceries and I'm feeling poor.

How to look skinny

Tuck in your shirt and wear pants that are one size too big. A cinched belt completes the look. At least that's what's working for me today, lol.

Project 365, POTD

With the new year, the blogosphere is buzzing with new projects. The one that seems to be resonating the most with scrapbookers and photographers (yes, they are related) is the concept of taking a photo a day. The purpose is to capture the everyday moments in your life, improve your photography skills, share with your friends, clog the information superhighway with more crap (opps, that last one just slipped in, sorry). But hey, not wanting to miss out on being part of the crowd, I am going to attempt to take (and post) 365 photos this year. Of course, I'm already way behind. Stay tuned.

Chinese fire drill

That's what Mr. Fix-it called it when we were visiting my dad. As soon as he stopped the car, everyone would hop out and one person helped dad out of the car, one person grabbed his walker, one person helped whoever was stuck in the back seat, and one person grabbed whatever we forgot in the car, and one person walked ahead and opened the door. And since there weren't that many people in the car, someone would have to do double duty.

(Yes, I know it is a pejorative term, but I thought it was apt.)

No more dieting!

The wedding is over, family photos are done, so I don't have to worry about looking "not thin" any more (I was afraid if I said fat, some of you would be over to give me a slap upside the head). Woo hoo! Chocolate, here I come! Well, not really. I still have those pesky five pounds from a few years ago hanging around my middle and I still want to get rid of them.

My health goals this year are to walk more, eat more fruit, and eat more vegetarian meals. Pretty reasonable and doable, right? Still, if you want help keep me on track, don't send chocolate, but do send encouragement.

Christmas presents

This is how a certain family member wraps Christmas. Mom (she didn't wrap these, she's much neater than this) has saved every ribbon, every piece of tissue paper, and every bit of wrapping paper that has ever come into the house. So every year, this person uses Mom's stash and "wraps" our presents. And after we've unwrapped our gifts, all the wrappings go back into the stash for future use. I'm not sure what else to say about this, other than my family is weird (and frugal!), but we all get a kick out it.

Waaay behind on blogging

I'm finally back to the old grind or I will be tomorrow. We're back from the wedding, so no more out of town trips, no excuses for not posting. I've stuff from Christmas to post still so if it seems like I'm behind the times with my posts and photos, I'm just trying to get caught up.

Taking out the garbage, finally

We finally were able to take out the garbage can (and recycling can and green waste can) this week. We were out of town for the previous two pick up days and didn't have enough stuff to put out the week before that. So it was a month's worth of stuff. Granted, we were gone for a week of that, but still I'm pretty proud of the fact we don't produce much garbage in our household. The garbage can was less than half full (it is a HUGE 95 gallon can) and the recycle can was about half full. Back when we had regular garbage cans, we'd rarely filled our 32 gallon can. The only reason we took it out every week was it was stored in the garage and we didn't want it to stink in the summer. These huge cans are stored outside and in the winter, we take them out every other week.

I'm not sure why we're producing less garbage lately. Maybe because we're buying less? I'm not consciously buying less, but I am trying to spend less money which amounts to the same thing.

The gluttony continues

Yesterday was my first day back in the office after two weeks off (where I ate lots of Chinese food and restaurant food, if you recall, and before that it was cookies, Sees candy and Thanksgiving). I came back to more Sees candy (Toffee-ettes, yum), pineapple cakes from Taiwan, plus other assorted candy. Today we had more Sees candy and fresh pastries. I resisted the candy, but couldn't resist the pastries especially since they were still warm.

Playing dress up

My nephew's getting married soon so I spent the past couple months sort of trying to lose weight so it would balance out the five pounds the camera adds in photos. I didn't put a lot of effort into it, but at least I didn't gain any weight.

I did decide to get serious about finding a dress. I tried on a couple dozen dresses at various stores and nothing fit, looked right, was in the right price range, so it was a frustrating experience. I can squeeze into a dress I already own and hopefully the shoes I have still fit. Guess I should check that out.

A couple weeks ago, I thought I'd wax my legs and then do some touch ups before the wedding. That was an adventure. It isn't like I haven't done it before, but this is the first time I spilled wax all over the counter, the floor, oh, and me. No matter what I tried, I just ended up getting more and more things stuck to me so I panicked and called my esthetician friend. Ever try dialing a phone with your fingers glued together? I opted not to hold the phone for fear I might glue the phone to my hair so I shouted to her over speaker phone. Or maybe I was just raising my voice in panic. Thank goodness she was available to talk. Since the oil and soap I tried didn't do any good and I didn't have anyone to send to the store (there was no way I could drive), she suggested paint thinner. Great, I'm going to kill myself with toxic fumes...I hope my nephew appreciates this. I'm sure Mr. Fix-it was shaking his head when I called him and asked if we had any paint thinner (I looked, but couldn't find it). Guess he knew better than to ask any questions. I did read all the warnings and open the windows (even though it was freezing), then proceeded to remove the gobs of wax from me. Then I worked on the counter and floor. The good news is once the wax cooled, it was pretty easy to chip away. The bad thing is sometimes it would chip away in tiny pieces and fly all over the kitchen and I'm still finding bits...when something sticks to them. And no, I never finished waxing my legs.

That might have been the pièce de résistance, but I've got one more thing to add. I decided to buy some new makeup (even though I don't normally wear makeup anymore). It has been so long since I bought any new makeup, they don't make the styles or colors I used to use and no one at the counter recognized what I had. Yes, I don't toss my makeup after six months. I had actually kept what I had in case I wanted to buy more. For all the good that did. I went to a couple different counters at the department store with varying results. Do you have any idea how much makeup costs nowadays? A couple items and that's my grocery bill for a week! But it gets better. I decided to try a new line (Estee Lauder) since Shiseido didn't make what I wanted anymore. Now my whole face itches. Was it the makeup? Was it the lotion I tried on afterwards? Why won't I stop itching? Let's hope I look okay tomorrow (and the next day and the next...).

Oldies music

When we were at S's, her son asked us what kind of music we listen to (probably in hopes of enticing us to play Guitar Hero). I said "Oldies." He asked, "Like the 80s"?

Back to the old grind

Unpackinging, I hate unpacking, but I better get it done today. Otherwise I won't be able to take care of the next item on my list.

Laundry, not too bad since I did all of our laundry before Christmas and then washed all our travel clothes when we got back.

Grocery shopping, since we were gone for almost two weeks, the fridge was empty. We bought take-out on the way home yesterday since we were starving and I made mac 'n cheese (from a box) for dinner. I jazzed it up with peas and tomatoes and shallots and as I was browning the shallots, I wondered why I don't just learn how to make mac 'n cheese from scratch?

As I made my grocery list, of course, I quickly reverted back to my old self and obsessed over what was on sale, what I had coupons for, and what I'd have time to cook next week. Sigh, I wish saving $ and eating right wasn't soo much work.

Vacuuming, a never-ending task. I wish I could hire a housecleaner.

Taxes, gotta start pulling together the paperwork for this.

Busy, busy, busy

We've been so busy these past few weeks, we've hardly had time to catch our breaths (except for the past few days, more on that later). Work was crazy for both of us trying to get everything done before leaving for the Christmas break. I never got all my Christmas cards out so if you didn't get one, please don't feel slighted. I was happy I was able to get them out to most of the relatives on time. I was hoping Mr. Fix-it would get home early on the 23rd since we were traveling for Christmas, but alas, he came home later than usual.

Here's how our Christmas and the past week went:
Dec. 24, drive across the state, check into hotel, pick up mom, drive to airport and pick up J and B, go out to dinner (Chinese food).

Dec. 25, drive to Uncle B's (a little over an hour), then to the cemetery to visit Auntie M. Have lunch (Asian buffet) with Uncle B, Uncle J, and Cousin E. Visit for a while, then drive back (two hours-traffic sucked). On the way back, stop by Cousin D's. Her whole family was there, along with all our cousins and her parents. Visit for a while then head home. No dinner since we're still full from lunch (although they were having prime rib, one of my favorites and it was hard to pass that up).

Dec. 26th, have lunch and dinner with Dad (Chinese food, of course), visit a little with the rest of the family.

Dec. 27th, have lunch with Dad (dim sum, at least it was a different kind of Chinese food, lol), visit with family, have a traditional Christmas dinner with S and family. It was delicious and when I get a chance, I need to get some recipes from her.

An aside, lest my family is in a rut, we like and some of us crave the style of food we get when we go home for a visit. We ate a different restaurant each time and there were enough leftovers for a couple more meals.

Dec. 28th, head home feeling like there was too much visiting with some people and not enough visiting with others. I thought that Christmas would be less running around since Uncle T is gone, but it seems that whenever time was opened by his absence was filled by something new.

Dec. 29th, catch up on laundry, check in with a few relatives.

Dec. 30 to January 2, vacation! A real vacation!!! We decided to splurge (well, it was a splurge for us) and booked this last week. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Of course, it took us (well, really, me) two days to even begin to relax. The massage helped, lol. Then it was time to head back home.

We didn't have any mini 2009 calendars (we usually keep one next to the computer) so I decided to make a little calendar to remind us of the fun time we had. I guess you could count it as my foray into digital scrapping. :)

I'm not looking forward to going back to work next week. Sigh. Reality, it sucks.

Happy New Year!

I hope this year brings you happiness, prosperity, and lots of fun! And if you've already got all three, how about more of the same? We're just relaxing over here. Hope the new year brings more relaxing times for us.

The trauma of being off line

We were offline for 4 and half days and we survived! Of course, we turned on the computer as soon as we got home, but honestly, we were too busy to get online while we were gone. We could have gotten online, but the hotel would have charged us $9.95 (or was it $9.99?) for 24 hours. Totally not worth it since we were out and about for most of the day, not getting back in until after dinner. It was good to be disconnected for a while.

Suicide tomatoes

I enjoy watching the growth in my garden. In the spring and summer, there's enough daylight that I can check in the morning or evening, whichever is more convenient. During the winter, there isn't as much to see, which is good since I usually only have time on weekends. But, this year, I'm going out more often because of an oddity. Every few days, I find an unripe tomato lying on the ground. I wonder why they're falling off the bush. They ripen just fine in the house and are very tasty. Are they trying to escape being picked and eaten? I've taken to calling them "suicide tomatoes."

Just a few gifts

I finally got all the shopping and gift wrapping done. Seems like an awful lot considering we're not exchanging gifts with one side of the family and it is just "token" gifts for the other side. Add in a few other relatives and friends and there you have it. BTW, the bags are color coded, but I will also be adding labels to make sure Mr. Fix-it grabs the right bag for the right people.

Fun times at the mall

I decided to brave the mall today. I ended up buying one last gift at a great price so it was worth the trip. I also bought a dress for my nephew's wedding, though I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it. Nothing like trying on a couple dozen dresses to make you feel like you have no style and no shape. I was desperate enough to browse the Junior dresses; not surprisingly, nothing caught my eye. But I am feeling desperate about what to wear to the wedding. Maybe I can lose five pounds in the next couple weeks and wear a dress I have the closet from a couple years ago.

The mall was crowded; people were circling for parking spaces. Almost everyone was carrying multiple bags and there were long lines at most registers so maybe people are finally shopping. Hope this bodes well for the economy.

$1.75

Oh no! Gas prices are creeping up again!

Almost ready for Christmas

Just a few more cards to go. Should I brave the bad weather and take these to the post office myself?

Found some gifts in my gift closet so now I only have one more gift to buy, which I may forego since none of the stores half dozen stores I went to have what I want (yeah Dad, like I'm going to be able to find you another shirt like I bought you eight years ago...sorry, you didn't really think I got finally found the Christmas spirit, did you?). Still gotta wrap, still gotta clean house, still wanna take advantage of the sales for ME (again, no Christmas spirit)! Ack, I really do dislike the holidays.

Money musings

With the poor economy, I've really held back on my shopping these past several months. My holiday gift from work was significantly less this year, but I'm grateful to even receive the gift and have a job. And lest I get the lecture that a gift is a gift and a bonus is a bonus and should not be counted on and I'm lucky to get them, note that they are a significant part of my income and this year the two are less than what I received in 2001. Add in that my salary increase percent is usually less than what my mom gets for social security COLA and I get pretty depressed with my lack of buying power.

$1 soup

I made an incredibly cheap soup the other night. I had saved the water from cooking beans to make soup. Maybe it sounds cheap, but honestly, the water is flavorful and makes the soup creamier without adding any fattening ingredients. I had some leftover chicken bones from another dish so I simmered those in the bean water, along with some leftover chopped onion. Picked the meat off the bones, added a can of mixed veggies and some leftover cilantro, and voila, soup! I figure it costs about $2 (probably a little less) to make, so $1 per very large serving.

After so many years together, I'm finally figuring out some of our different food preferences. I like broth-based soups. Mr. Fix-it likes thicker soups. A couple of my coworkers finally clued me in that this could be cultural. Doh! I grew up with soups made with clear chicken or pork stocks. Mr. Fix-it had soups that were thick, full of pasta and beans and topped with shredded Parmesan. He loved the soup! Too bad I won't be able to duplicate it exactly.

Healthy and mad about it

Truthfully, I'm not mad, just annoyed that I had to go to the doctors (yes, plural) and have a bunch of tests done at the end of year when 1) I haven't met my deductible (which is something to be thankful for actually), 2) I don't have any more FSA money (thank goodness I have savings to pay for this), and 3) we're incredibly busy at work so it was inconvenient for me to leave early today for tests.

I passed with flying colors, but there are no answers as to what caused my symptoms in the first place. The symptoms are gone now. Should I be worried or not? This is so frustrating!

A litany of gluttony

Two chocolate balls, lasagna (made with homemade noodles), corn casserole, enchiladas, injera (Ethiopian bread), doro wat (Ethiopian chicken stew), siga alicha (Ethiopian beef dish), Ayib (Ethiopian cottage cheese), Ethiopian lentils, salad nicoise, lumpia (Filipino egg rolls), brie, other cheeses, blueberries, toasted pecans, potato salad, Fumi salad (ramen and cabbage), couscous salad, stir-fried noodles, chicken alfredo, french fry (yes, only one), chocolate pie, lemon pound cake, shortbread, lemon cookie, chocolate peanut butter ball, sugar cookies. That's not everything we had at our work potluck today, but it was all I could fit in, lol.

Cookie Day

Today I joined some friends for our annual cookie baking day, a variation of the season's traditional cookie exchange. One friend generously opens her house and we all bake there. We each make a variety or two and bring home several dozen cookies. There's flour and sugar and nuts and butter and chocolate everywhere, lol, plus a line for the oven.

Each year, we get a little more organized and of course, there's a few surprises. Sometimes we bake old favorites, but usually, we try new recipes. I decided to make Hyacinth’s “Everything Cookies” from The Pioneer Woman. I heard some favorable reports from some LMers, plus favorable comments on the original cookie recipe post, so I decided to try it. Note that it isn't a cheap recipe to make, but I got over 9 dozen cookies out of it. I highly recommend using a stand mixer to mix the dough. There's no way a hand mixer could handle the dough and it sure would be tiring to mix it by hand. They are sweet and chewy (from the dried fruit), and crunchy (from the oatmeal and granola). Definitely a hit!

As I was browsing Tastespotting.com last week, I noticed an abundance of snickerdoodle recipes (was there some sort of web contest going on?) and went with this classic. Another hit!

We also had thumbprint cookies, macaroons topped with chocolate and macadamia nuts, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (a classic for us), and a couple others. This is one of few years I didn't make some sort of shortbread cookies. And I even bought a pastry blender (finally) for the event. Maybe I'll make use of it next year.

If you have a few friends who like to bake, this is a fun gathering. With a little planning, it is fun (but exhausting) day. Here are some tips if you decide to try this.
* Communicate ahead of time so you don't end up with all chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal cookies, lol.
* Have plenty of room to work. My friend borrows a six foot table for added workspace and uses her dining room table for cooling cookies (and we need all that space).
* Avoid delicate cookies or those that take more than 15 minutes to bake.
* Decide if everyone should bring their own ingredients or just their own specialty ingredients.
* If people bring their own tools, mark them so they get them back. We finally wised up and wrote our initials on our cookie sheets. Have a couple of sets of mixing bowls and measuring utensils.
* Bring lots of Tupperware to carry the cookies home.
* Have fun.

Bah humbug!

Argghhhhh! I had started a post about the commercialism of Christmas and accidentally closed my browser, so poof! it's gone. :( Now I have something else to vent about, lol.

I'm not looking forward to sending Christmas cards (I want to include a photo, but we don't have any good ones of the two of us). I really hate addressing them, but I love getting them so I guess I better get going (though the reality is I probably won't be sending my cards until the 22nd). And shopping. Yuck. Black Friday really turned me off. In fact, I really haven't enjoyed shopping for the past few years. We're not exchanging gifts this year on one side of the family and are not sure about the other side. I'm just not in the mood to shop. Probably because I need to buy a new dress for my nephew's wedding and am carrying a little too much weight right now. And I doubt I'll be able to take much off in the next month.

All the cookies and candy that show up this time of year aren't welcome since I need to loose weight. I expect to see a couple pounds of See's candy in the next week (we already devoured one pound today), plus an abundance of cookies. I'm going a cookie exchange this weekend and will bring in the goodies to work so as not to tempt myself at home. Maybe we'll get some vendor gifts this year (usually we get food though sometimes we get calendars). Or maybe not with the bad economy.

I really hate the commercialism and money grab this time of the year. Shouldn't we be giving year round? Please remember to donate to the food banks in February/March. That's when they run of the food and funds from the Thanksgiving/Christmas donations. Though it might be sooner since they've gotten fewer donations this year.

If you enjoy the holidays, I salute you!

$1.73

That's what I paid for gas yesterday. You may have noticed I haven't been posting gas prices as often. That's because 1) I have another carpool partner so I've been carpooling more and 2) I drive our other car when it is my turn to drive because my carpooler is a big guy and fits better in our other car, lol.

I'm so tired of trying to save money

A few weeks ago, our grocery store was having mix and match buy 10 and get an extra $5 off your grocery bill. Some of the items were already on sale for a good price, then add in my coupons and the $5 and some of the stuff was free or practically free. Although you were supposedly limited to three deals, I went back on a different day to try again. And it worked! The bad thing is, both times, a couple items did not ring up as part of the deal even though they were so I had to go back and ask the cashier to adjust the price. Grrrrr.

This week, Kmart is doubling coupons so off we went to pick up some things. Since their shelves are not well stocked and all mixed up, it took a while to match my coupons to the item. Then there was the fun at the checkout. I purchased multiple items of the same brand and since they had different SKUs, the cashier had to match each coupon to each item so I had to keep fishing things out of my bag so she could match them. In the mean time, there were five people in line who wised up and moved to different lines. Then, one coupon still didn't match an item according to the computer so we had to wait for an overide from a supervisor. All that to save $28. Never again.

I'm not ready to join the CVS crowd since I have enough trouble tracking the coupons for stuff I want, much less stuff I'd buy just to get a deal. But I may have to resort to that if it is the best way to get stuff cheap.

No good deed goes unpunished

Per the previous post, I decided to walk(!) to the grocery store to buy some food to donate. I bought 10 one pound bags of rice and a case of canned corn. I was planning on dropping the food directly in the donation barrel, but I didn't see it. I thought I had seen a donation barrel there, but perhaps it was at the grocery store across the street (we had been to both this morning). In any case, no donation barrel and I didn't want to walk across the (very busy) street in case it wasn't there either. So I walked home with over 20 pounds of food, sigh. I'll try to find a place to drop it off later today.

Guilty and grateful

I've been feeling down in the dumps for the past day or so; I'm not sure why. The ebates thing was bothering me. All the crazy Black Friday shoppers were bothering me (did you hear about the poor Walmart employee that was trampled to death?). I was trying to fill a box to donate to the food bank and I felt guilty that I didn't want to give up the food in my cupboards. How selfish is that??? So to make up for that, I'm going to go to the grocery store and buy some stuff to give. Also, I took two minutes and wrote down some things I'm grateful for. Some of the items surprised me. Here they are, in no particular order of importance:

Hot water, especially for showers, whenever I want
Able to get network broadcasts clearly (thus no need for cable)
NPR
Fresh vegetables and meat year round
Friends
The internet
Free long distance on my cell phone
Debt-free (except for our mortgage)
My dependable 14 year old car
My health
My family
Mr. Fix-it
Safe roads
Public transportation

Interesting mix, isn't it? What are you grateful for?

Kicking myself

I ordered my nephew's wedding present online. Found an online coupon which saved 20%, but forgot to go through ebates which would have gotten me $20 in my account. Argghhhhh!

What down economy?

I can't believe we braved the Black Friday crowds. Mr. Fix-it never shops on Black Friday and for the past few years, I've been lukewarm about it. After perusing the ads yesterday, we decided to go for it. I guess it would have been better if we had gotten up early, but I slept in...til 6:15, lol. Mr. Fix-it was already at Lowes picking up some tool thingie (that's the technical term) and then made a stop at Target (if I had known he was going to Target, I might have gotten up earlier). Then he came home to enjoy some coffee and pick me up for the next round: Walmart, the mall, and the grocery store. Yes, Walmart, please don't judge me. We can discuss the merits and problems of Walmart some other time.

Walmart had a full parking lot and was a zoo. I picked up some jeans for $8 and a crockpot for $15. Note to shoppers: If you fold the clothing up and put it back approximately where you got it, it would make shopping so much easier for the next person. I'm not asking for perfection. I just think it is rude for you to grab a pair of jeans, look at them, toss them randomly back on the shelf and then repeat the process several times. Walmart had one girl there just refolding jeans. She did that the entire time we were there (the jeans were the first thing I looked for and we passed her on the way to the checkstand).

The mall wasn't any better. We were shocked at how full the parking lot was. On top of that, everyone had several shopping bags, though most were from toy stores and major retailers rather than independent or high-end stores. There were huge lines in all the stores we visited. All we ended up with was two pairs of shoes for me. $46 for two pairs, not bad. It was crazy trying to get out of the parking lot. We went out the "back" and drove several blocks to a different freeway onramp that was farther away, but ultimately, I think it probably saved us at least 15 minutes.

Our best deals were at the grocery store. As I suspected, there were lots of foods marked down half price (this particular store is famous for doing that and I figured it would be even better the day after a holiday) so we ended up with three bags of groceries. We'll still need to get some fresh stuff at the regular grocery store, but I'm happy with our haul.

The retail stores were just crazy! The grocery store was empty. I didn't attempt to go to Michaels, even though there's stuff I want. There's limits to Mr. Fix-it's patience, lol. Maybe I'll go tomorrow.

The down economy hasn't hit everyone

Mr. Fix-it has a side job as an agent for an auto appraisal group. They appraise old, new, vintage, any car really, for sales or insurance purposes (if you watch Antiques Roadshow, you know the sale value is different from insurance value). Last week, he did a pre-sales appraisal on a car worth over $100,000. Nope, I didn't make a mistake in the number of zeros. In some parts of the country, you could buy a house for $100K. Or pay for a couple years of college at a private school. Isn't it amazing that a car can sell for that much? I guess if you can afford to spend $100,000 on a collector car that needs extra insurance and special housing, you aren't really worried about your finances.

Toot! Toot!

I'm so excited! I just received my first request for publication so I had to take remove my card from my online gallery and put this up instead.


Note that I have no idea why scrapbookers use the term "toot" to announce they're being published. Maybe it comes from "tooting your own horn."

I won't be making any $ from this, but you never know what will happen in the future. Did I mention that I'm excited, lol?

$2.33

Less than $20 to fill my (not quite empty) tank. Now that's exciting!

Contest

Head on over to Steamy Kitchen for your chance to win an awesome kitchen knife. Jaden has posted some great knife sharpening tips, plus a giveaway. Then, if you like Asian cooking, check out the rest of her blog for some quick and easy recipes.

Queen of leftovers

Good thing Mr. Fix-it likes leftovers since I like to cook in large quantities and then eat the leftovers throughout the week. My maximum tolerance used to be eight meals (lunch and dinner) in row, but now it's about four meals. Last week, I made a huge pot of chicken stew. Had that for dinner and then lunch for the rest of the week. Of course, I didn't want to have chicken stew for dinner every night so I had to start getting creative. I turned some into matzo ball soup one night and I used some of the chicken to make a casserole another night. In between, we had some other things so we wouldn't get burnt out on chicken. (Obviously, I don't have any issues with keeping food in the fridge for several days.)

Yesterday, I made a small roast and I was surprised at how little was left. Enough for a couple more meals, but still, not as much as I thought. I took the bones and made soup tonight. Then it's back to the roast for a couple days.

Saving pennies - books

I took advantage of having the day off and took a pile of books to the used book store. I thought about selling them on half.com, but would have gotten even less than what the book store offered (if they even sold). And I thought about paperbackswap.com, but that meant keeping the books around and also taking the time to send them out. So I've got $16 in credit to use (I did end up finding one book I liked). If J comes to visit, she can use it (hint, hint).

Actually, I'm happiest that the books are gone, gone, gone! We've got waaaay too many books and magazines around here and it is so difficult to part with them.

Not feeling the blogging mojo

A week without posting, ack! Not a good way to keep my readers engaged. Sorry.

I could have posted about the election, our politic process, the hypocrites out there, but this isn't a political blog and I'm no expert on the subject. I don't even have very strong opinions on the subject, if you can believe that. Hopefully, I'll be posting more soon.

Rainmaker

Yep, you can blame me for the rain. I watered one of the vegetable beds yesterday, forgot and left the water on all night (but it was set to a trickle so I really didn't waste too much water), and then watered the rest of the yard this morning. Now it's pouring. Surprise! Ahh, the first rain of the season and it smells wonderful!

$2.89

Even lower than the price I saw earlier this week. Woo hoo! Can I hope for under $2/gallon someday again?

$2.97

I actually gasped when I saw the gas price, lol. I didn't buy gas today, but will later this week. I'm so excited to see it under $3/gallon.

Saving pennies - coupons

Last week, the weekly freebie paper had a $1 coupon for the coffee we liked. Woo hoo! So the next time we went for a walk around the neighborhood, we picked up the newspapers that had been sitting on driveways for a couple of days. The interesting thing was the houses that looked empty didn't have any papers; the few we picked up all had cars in the driveway. Was it stealing? I don't think so. The papers are free and I'm probably saving them from being washed down the storm drain. Anyway, a little walk to save a few bucks is worth it to me.

Are you a coupon clipper? I'm not so much anymore since our local store changed their doubling policy. Even though I keep my coupon box stuffed, there's really only a few things I regularly use coupons for (like our favorite coffee). It's harder to get good deals if you're not a CVSer or you don't have stores that double coupons.

I've been sending coupons to a few friends and acquaintances and that was getting to be a hassle (even though I'm the one who offered to send them). Then out of the blue, I got a wonderful surprise. One of my friends sent me an envelope full of envelopes and stamps. I was running out of envelopes so both were appreciated. But nicest of all was the note she enclosed. K, thanks! You didn't have to, but I sure appreciate it.

Saving pennies - green onions

I heard that you if put the root ends of green onions back in the ground, they'll grow back. So I did. And now I've got little green shoots so it looks like it is working. Actually, I'm not doing this to save money. I'm doing it because it will be so much more convenient to go out in the backyard and pick what I need rather than buying a bunch and trying to use them before they go bad.

Parlez-vous français ?

Non. Nope. I've pretty much forgotten the two years of high school French I had. Even so, I spent part of today and will spend tomorrow morning inputting an index into a French language manual. Talented aren't I? How do I do it? I look at the English version of the manual, see what the French translation of the section says, then look at the index for a similar product and match up the words. It helps that I know the product and DTP software. Don't worry, our French editor will check my work. Yes, it is taking me about ten times longer than it would take her, but since she's got a million and one projects on her plate and I don't, I volunteered to help. It's a fun distraction from my usual work.

Saving pennies - soap

Whenever we stay at a hotel, I bring home the used little bottles of shampoo or the bars of soap. I figure the hotel is just going to throw them away so why not bring them home and get more use out of them? I'm still using the bar soap from our hotel stay last month and I expect it to last a couple months more. I just use the soap to wash my hands, which is why it lasts so long.

Mr. Fix-it prefers liquid hand soap so I buy that for him and for the guest bathroom. Good thing it's on sale this week. With coupons, I should be able to get the bottles for less then 50 cents each. Not as good as how you CVSers do, but still, a good deal.

The gluttony season has started

People have been bringing in Halloween candy all month. Then it was chocolate chip cookies (and ice cream) over the weekend. Yesterday, a coworker brought in shortbread cookies and chocolate. And there were cream puffs in another department; I was invited to partake so I couldn't be rude and turn them down, right? Today, a coworker brought in donuts. What will tomorrow bring, lol?

Meat+Tofu+Veggie+Oyster Sauce

(This is a repost from my food blog. The photo and instructions have been updated.)
I have no idea what to call this dish and its various variations, hence the odd title. This is one of those homey dishes that you won't find in cookbooks. I never measure anything when I make this so I'm just estimating the proportions. The great thing about this dish is that you can modify it to your tastes, plus it is cheap. I use anywhere from 1/4 lb to 1 and 1/4 pound of meat. Just depends on how "meaty" you want the dish to be. It makes 3 to 6 servings (maybe more), depending on ingredients and appetites.

Ingredients
1/4 to 1 pound of ground pork or beef or turkey. I prefer beef or pork.
1 cube of firm tofu, cut into small squares or small cubes. The kind at my grocery store is 14 or 15 oz.
1 small or medium onion, finely chopped
some sort of veggie. I suggest two bundles of Chinese long beans (put your thumb and forefinger together, that's about a bundle), cut into tiny rounds or 1/2 head cabbage, shredded (I suppose you could chop it also)
Optional: Chinese mushrooms, reconstituted and finely chopped

Sauce
cornstarch
water
soy sauce
oyster sauce (regular or vegetarian, I like a mix of the two)
white pepper
salt (optional, I usually don't add salt, but you might like your food saltier than I do. I figure the oyster sauce and soy sauce have enough salt)

Optional garnish: Sliced green onion or cilantro

Directions
1. Brown the meat and chopped onions. If you're using mushrooms, cook them with the meat and onions.
2. Add the tofu till heated through
3. Add the veggies (I suppose you can stir fry them first, but why dirty another pan?) and cook till almost done.
4. As the veggies are cooking, make the sauce. Start with about two teaspoons of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. When the cornstarch is dissolved, add several shakes of oyster sauce, a dash of soy sauce, and a dash of white pepper. Stir to blend, then add another 3/4 cup of water. (By shake, I mean you shake the bottle and whatever comes out is what you use, lol. If you're not sure if you like oyster sauce, I'd go really light on it.)
5. When the veggies are done cooking and everything is simmering, stir in the sauce. It should thicken immediately. If it is too thick, immediately add some water.
6. Bring the everything back to a simmer and it's done.
7. Serve over rice with the optional garnish.

Other variations
* Add minced garlic to the meat or garlic powder to the sauce
* Brown the tofu first (before the meat). If you do this, use a non-stick pan. Cut the tofu into squares about 1/2 x 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 inches. Place them in the pan and turn after they brown; then brown the other side. The tofu gets chewy and more meat-like. After browning the tofu, remove it from the pan and start with step 1 above. Note that the tofu doesn't get really brown, more like a golden yellow.
* Use bean sauce in addition to or instead of the oyster sauce.

Notes
The dish in the above photo included 1/4 of ground pork, about 10 small Chinese mushrooms, 1 huge bunch of Chinese string beans, and then the usual ingredients. There was enough for three (large) dinners and two lunches (with rice) so this is one way to stretch your meat/protein dollars.

The result of being bored

This weekend, I was bored so I baked some chocolate chip cookies. I substituted 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour and decreased the sugar by a scant 1/2 cup. That was probably too much. The cookies taste a little too healthy, despite containing 1/2 cup of butter (that's two sticks for those of you who don't bake). Then I was out of butter and low on sugar so it's a good thing we went grocery shopping the next day.

Saving pennies, making pennies

In my quest to save money, I've started saving veggies trimmings in the freezer. Stuff like celery leaves, the last bit of tomato leftover after making a sandwich, stuff that used to get tossed. I plan on making some vegetable stock with it. I already make chicken stock so why not? Oh you might be asking why I don't put the veggies in with the chicken stock. Because I don't want those flavors if I'm making Chinese soup. My chicken stock is chicken only.

And we're making a bit of $ on ebay. I've sold some Quickutz dies. I'm not making a killing ($3 on the last item I sold), but I'm not losing money either. Well, I am if you count our time, but I have one less thing in the house and more $ in my account so thus far it is worth it to me.

Could you be any cuter?

Over at Linnecards, we had an Inspiration Relay Challenge. That means person #1 makes a layout and emails it to person #2. Then person #2 uses that layout as inspiration (design, color, embellishments, whatever) and makes her own layout. Repeat for person #3, #4, and so on. No one sees all the layouts together until we're done. Here's mine. I had been looking for a chance to scrap this photo and the challenge came just at the right time.
You can see all the layouts (in reverse order) here. This was great fun and easy too. You could easily set this up among a group of scrapping friends. You don't have to be on the same message board; you could do it all by e-mail.

I'm torturing myself

I've been checking my retirement and savings accounts almost daily and the steady decline is unsettling, to say the least. I suppose I should be happy that I have savings to lose, well, not to lose, but that I actually have savings, you know what I mean.

Mr. Fix-it and I have sacrificed a lot in order to have a cushion. Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have to start dipping into it. Work has been slow for him and my salary increases for the past few years haven't kept up with inflation. So we're making fewer real dollars than we were four years ago. Plus expensese are going up. And then there are the surprises.

Okay, this one wasn't a surprise, but I had hoped it wouldn't happen for a long time and that our financial outlook would be a little brighter. Dad's retirement doesn't cover his assisted living expenses and his cushion is long gone. Of course we'll contribute. But it sure is painful in this economy.

$3.37

I hope this downward trend continues.

Linnecards sale

In case you're not at work today (unlike me) and need to do some scrapbook shopping, Linnecards is having a Columbus Day sale.