Difficult decision

I've been getting updates about my aunt in San Francisco and the news isn't good. Basically, she's getting liquids via IV for comfort, but nothing else. I suspect it will be less than a week before she goes.

So now the decision part. Should I go up for the funeral? A and I have plans for a mini vacation. Is vacation more important than showing support for the family (which is what I think funerals are for)? Usually, I would say not. But we haven't taken a vacation in two years. I know A would understand, but I would feel terrible canceling.

If I do go to the funeral, it would be to support my mom. A little to support my uncle. But really, if I hadn't gone to China this year, I wouldn't have seen my aunt and uncle. Before this, I hadn't seen them since my wedding, oh so many years ago. So I probably wouldn't have even considered going (except to support my mom). I'm all torn up over this. I hate having to make these kinds of decisions.

Cardstock craziness

Lifetime Moments is clearancing out their 8.5x11 Bazzill cardstock. If you hurry, there's still a few sheets left (very few). I myself lost my mind and purchased over 200 sheets, it might be closer to 300 sheets. Hey, it was all 50% off (because of how much I purchased). Plus I was so close to free shipping, it was better to spend more to save the minimum $9, probably more, in shipping. Plus, most of it was free since I won a GC. How's that for lots of justification. I have noooooo idea where in the heck I'm going to put all of this. I really don't have room for it, sigh. So if you need any letter-size cardstock (perfect for cards), you know where to find me.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We've got an appetizer baking in the oven, then we need to pack up the car with gifts and more food for the drive over to M&C's. It will be a small gathering tonight, only our side of the family (which I will enjoy). Tomorrow, there will be twice as many people with C's side there also. Should be interesting with a 3 year old, the twins, and a newborn. I'm looking forward to all the kid time.

Thus far, it has been our easiest Christmas. The timing was right so I wasn't too stressed out for work. We're not going out of town. Shopping was easy. I got almost all my cards out (still looking for a few addresses ).

I'm especially thrilled with the gifts I got for A. His big gift came to the office a couple weeks ago and I bought his little gift on the way home on Friday. He took care of his dad and brothers (without too much prompting) and we even got a couple extra things for people. My side of the family decided to not exchange gifts, which worked out for the best since we were all running around with the funeral plans and such. Shipped gifts would have probably ended up on empty doorsteps which would have been bad.

Well, A's loading up the car and I need to finish getting ready. Merry Christmas and hope Santa's good to you this year!

Coupon fun and frustration

Did my usual Sunday grocery shopping this morning, but had to go by myself because A was working. On the one hand, I like shopping by myself because I can wander up and down each aisle looking for unadvertised specials and combine them with coupons. On the other hand, I can't watch the cashier because I'm too busy unloading the cart, so it is difficult for me to check prices (more on that later).

I'm still debating which store to shop at. I used to go to the one down the street (less than two miles), but they are always running out of the advertised specials because it is such a popular location. But then they opened a branch less than half a mile away so I started shopping there. Much quieter, but smaller and not quite as large a selection. For example, today I went to the larger store and they had several items I could not find at the smaller store. On the other hand, the smaller store is in my city so my tax dollars would benefit me more (not that I spend that much, see below, lol).

Today, I spent $33.38; coupon savings was $23 (woo hoo!) and some change. Of course, I had my grocery store club card or the total would have been another $30 more. Ridiculous, isn't it? Yeah, some people don't like giving up their personal info. If so, sign up and give a fake name/address. But then, you wouldn't get the extra coupons in the mail which saved me $5 today. So yeah, you wanna help me save money? I've give you my name and address. (I used to be much more careful about that stuff, but with computers and the internet being what it is today, I figure privacy is a lost cause.)

I scored huge in the meat dept. There were a bunch of markdowns for meat with sell-by dates for next week. Since I'll cook most of it today, no problem. Chicken thighs for 65 cents/pound. Ground beef (yeah, it was the high fat version, but oh well) for 99 cents/pound. But my best score was cornish game hens. It was an advertised special, and I had a coupon so two hens cost me 13 cents! And since they were already frozen, I just stuck them in the freezer for later. I still have to make another trip to the a different store since I refuse to buy vegetables at their outrageous prices.

Back to my frustration at the checkout. I should have checked my recipt while I was there, but I had a cart full of groceries (even though I originally had four items on my shopping list, lol) and there was a huge line. Turns out, I was overcharged $2.50 on the clearance vitamins I bought. That's a lot! Plus, it is the principle of it all. So I will be making a trip to the grocery store tomorrow after work (it is literally on the way home). And I'll pick up another pack of cornish game hens. I've already made room in the freezer, lol.

Japanese spaghetti and meatballs

No, I'm not talking about the Japanese-style spaghetti you get in Japan or Little Tokyo. I'm talking about the yummy dinner A made last night. We had some leftover sauce from this oddly named recipe, which tasted like soy sauce chicken. A bought some ground turkey and made healthy meatballs with oatmeal and flax seed for filler. Then he cooked up some udon noodles and added the leftover sauce. Add in some steamed asparagus and yum! Hope he continues with this cooking trend; he's cooked three nights this week already!

Old technology to the rescue

We're one of the few people on the planet without cable, satellite, fiber optics, or some other form of television besides the regular ol' network stations. My bil just called to ask us to tape "Heros" since his satellite is out. Of course, this means he'll have to dust off and hook up his old VHS machine to watch the tape, lol.

It's December

Can you believe that it's December already? So what's going on with my roses? I usually trim them back after Christmas. But I'm getting lots of new growth right now. On all of the bushes, front and back yard. Crazy isn't it? Hmmmmm, global warming anyone?

Haven't started Christmas cards. Still need to decide if we'll do photos. I bought Santa hats last year on clearance and A agreed that we could do a photo shoot with them. Now, just to remind him of that.

Still have lots of Christmas shopping to do. Bought A a really great gift (at least I think it is great, lol). Spent a LOT more than I usually do. Good thing we cut back on other people, lol.

Actually, we don't spend that much at Christmas. People talk about spending hundreds of dollars on their kids. On the one hand, I am shocked. If they took that money every year and put it into a 529 account for their kids, think of the gain on the kid's college fund. On the other hand, if you bought them a computer, that's way more than a couple hundred bucks. How much do kids really need anyway? Do they really have to have the latest gaming console, and new clothes from American Eagle, and an iPod, plus stocking stuffers? Yeah, just call me Scrooge.

Domestication

I'm no Martha Stewart, though I put forth some domestic effort this weekend. Made chicken soup with matzo balls yesterday. Took some over to bil's today. They're all sick so I thought sil might not feel like cooking, plus isn't chicken soup the universal cure all?

At bil's, the girls were bawling their heads off. Poor kids were over tired, with stuffed up noses. Finally, we took C out of the crib in the hopes that E would fall asleep. Little C's nose started running and she was fussy, but I didn't mind. There will come a time when the girls won't want to be held so I need to enjoy this while I can. C fell asleep in my arms, sooo sweet!

Did a bit of Christmas shopping. Only got one present out of the way; A really wasn't interested in shopping. :(

Then for dinner tonight, I tried a new recipe. It was a variation of soy sauce chicken. A liked it so I think it will go into the rotation. Then I tried a new muffin recipe. Another hit. I told A not to expect this every weekend, lol. I'm definitely better on the cooking front than the cleaning front, though I've been putting some effort into that also.

Talk about cruel

On the way home, A went to the grocery store. Since we were gone for Thanksgiving, our fridge was pretty bare. I had asked him to pick up bananas and apples since he usually has a banana at breakfast and I had eaten half an apple without losing it. Safe foods, right? Since last night's disaster, I figured a modifed BRAT diet was the way to go. Of course, he couldn't resist and brought home a pie and just asked me to bake it. Ummmmm, isn't that rather cruel since I can't eat pie right now? Plus he bought ice cream so he could have it a la mode. He had taquitos for lunch, which I love and also couldn't eat. Which part of I can't eat much doesn't he get? And why does he have to eat all these yummy things in front of me?

Typos galore

Considering what I do for a living, it is embarrassing how many typos are in my posts here and on the various message boards I frequent. Yes, I try to do a preview so I can catch them, but you know what they say--it is easier to proofread someone else's words than your own. What does it matter really, that I have typos? I wonder if people will think that English isn't my first language. Or that I'm stupid. Or that I'm not good at my job (I'm very good at my job, by the way).

I don't think that message board posts should be held to the same standard as my professional life, though I do try to maintain a polite, but fun tone in my posts. No "shouting," no put downs, no political statements. But I try not to be boring. I want my personality to shine through. After all, if you're reading this, you must be somewhat interested in me, lol.

Progress

I had half of an apple this morning and so far so good (even though my stomach has been making horrible noises). I'm making jook aka rice porridge for lunch. Should have made it yesterday, but didn't feel like it. I was foolishly optimistic last night and had some xiao long bao (dumplings) for dinner. My stomach was gurgling so loud, A could hear it across the room. How embarrassing! But still, I was optimistic that I'd be able to go to work today. Unfortunately, I was up several times in the middle of the night, which caused me to oversleep and thus missed my carpool partner.

After more self-diagnosis and research online, I decided I do have food poisoning and not the flu. Who knows? Since I am slowly getting better, I decided to skip the doctor and hope that rest and light foods will get me back on my feet. Mom says to drink tea, honey water, and avoid fats. Cousin says to drink whiskey honey water and avoid cold foods. Online says to avoid caffeine and alcohol and diary. Me, I'm just happy if something stays in my system for more than a few minutes (or hours if I'm lucky).

This is my first (as far as I know) bout of food poisoning. I've got a pretty tough stomach and also have a sensitive nose and taste buds when it comes to off flavors. I'm much more likely than A to toss food or detect moldy cheese or the like so I think I'm pretty good at avoiding spoiled foods. I have no idea what could have caused this since everything I ate was also consumed by several other people. Guess I was just the (un)lucky one.

So why haven't I lost any weight?

Yesterday, I had a cup of coffee, half a Luna bar, a few sips of a milkshake, and some water. And none of it stayed in me. Today I had a bit of oatmeal, which didn't stay in me. Though the half cup of broth did. Along with half a package of ramen. Considering how many calories I've consumed (and lost), shouldn't I weigh less? I figure I should get something for my pain these past two days.

Thankful for

Family, especially A since he had to put up with me on the long drive home, friends, food. I'm thankful for a safe drive to and from visiting family for Thanksgiving. But I'm not thankful for the flu. I thought I had food poisoning, which I'm sure you can imagine made for an uncomfortable drive home. I slept almost the whole ride home. Had some water, half a Luna bar (and neither stayed in my system for long). But now I think I've got the flu. I'm feeling quite miserable at the moment.

Two left hands

That's what it looks like I have based on my dishwashing gloves. Sometimes it is three left hands. Somehow, the right gloves always get a hole, tear, or somehow wear out before the left gloves. So I always have an abundance of left gloves, at least until I get frustrated and throw them out.

Help me spend some (SB) money

Can you believe I'm asking? My favorite online scrapbook store is having a sale with free shipping (over $20, but that's way too easy to do), plus I have a gift certificate to spend there. Unfortunately, a lot of what I want is out of stock. Even though my wish list a mile long, I still haven't come up with $20 of stuff to buy. Guess I'm not in a buying mood.

A la Victoria Beckham

I'm still getting used to it. It is weird shampooing my hair because there isn't a lot of hair to lather. How do guys wash their hair? Also, my neck is always cold so I've taken to wearing scarves again.

Free rice

Check out this website. It is a fun way to test your vocabulary and get rice donated to the UN World Food Program. Each time you get a word wrong, the vocabulary level drops by one. If you get three right in a row, the vocabulary level increases by one. So it is really easy to drop levels, but not so easy to go up.

What I find surprising is I'm getting so many words correct. If you asked me to define, use the word in a sentence, or even pronounce the words, I couldn't do any of that for even half of them. What the heck does pellucid or homburg mean? Yet, by calculated guesswork, I'm getting most of them right.

In less than 24 hours, I've donated a few thousand grains of rice. :)

A little variety please

As I noted a few days ago, I made shepard's pie on Sunday. On Monday, A baked a meatloaf freezer dinner. Hmmmm, ground beef two days in a row? Then last night we had hot dogs. Yet another form of ground up meat. A little variety please! What about some chicken? shrimp? or even no meat? I guess I shouldn't' complain since A fixed dinner two nights in a row. But he just doesn't get that I need more variety since I bring leftovers for lunch. I had shepard's pie for lunch Monday and Tuesday. Can you tell I'm getting a little tired of meat and potatoes? Good thing I'm working offsite today so I'll have something different for lunch. It will be catered and I'm pretty sure shepard's pie and meatloaf are not standard on catering menus, lol.

Back to cooking

After a hiatus from cooking, I'm getting back into the swing of things. A is thrilled with the freezer dinners, but I'm not. But if it gets him to "cook" (throw the foil pan in the oven), that's one less dinner I have to plan.

So to combat that (and save $), I've gotta get back to cooking. Tonight's dinner wasn't totally from scratch, but I had a bunch of stuff to use up so I had to be creative. I had leftover gravy in the fridge, plus 10 lbs of potatoes. What does that sound like to you? To me, that sounds like shepard's pie. Browned a pound of ground beef with chopped onions. Added a pound of frozen mixed veggies and the gravy. Cooked up half the potatoes and mashed them (still have some left and will make corn potato chowder with it). Should have made the mashed potatoes a little drier, but still, the dish was tasty. And relatively cheap. We each had a huge serving, I made two lunches, and we've got enough for another dinner, if not two.

Had a bunch of apples and pears that were gonna go bad so made a crisp. It was a little too sweet and A thought the oatmeal in the topping was a little too raw, but not bad for making it up. On the other hand, anything with one and a half sticks of butter and one and a quarter cup of sugar has got to taste good, right?

Make and Take Freezer Dinners, take 2

Last Saturday, I did one of those freezer dinner things again. This time, I was by myself since A had to help his dad. It took me just over 2 hours to prepare 10 dinners. I went to Dinner My Way again since I had a coupon for their $199 special (12 entrees for $199). Now you're say, but wait, you just said that you prepared 10 dinners, what happened to the other two? This leads me to my tips for using these places.

First, don't go on the last day of the menu. There's a good chance that some of the ingredients aren't fresh or that they may even run out of ingredients. That's why I said I prepared 10 meals. Meal 11, she ran out of ingredients, but had one frozen already. That was okay with me. Meal 12, I thought the chicken had freezer burn so I asked for something else. She didn't have any more chicken for that dish so she gave me another meal that had been prepared. And, I didn't have to make the sauce for one dish because she had extras frozen. If I didn't have all that, I probably would have been there another 15-20 minutes.

Second, prepare the most complicated dishes first. You're not as tired and it is easier to follow the directions.

Third, it helps to have a large cooler (or two) to bring the food home in.

Fourth, before you go make these dinners, clear out at least two shelves in your freezer. I filled two freezer shelves and half a fridge shelf.

We're averaging 5 servings per meal. Not too bad, but still, more than what we'd spend on our own. It has been nice to not have to do any prep work though.