June 2003 – Not Content to Crawl

I’m such a girl

Posted onJune 29, 2003July 11, 2008

I’ve been in a bad mood all weekend, so Joe took me shopping today to make me feel better. Probably not the wisest thing, considering we need to be saving as much money as possible, but I didn’t spend much, so it’s all good. I bought a few new shirts, that’s all really. But it’s funny that it would cheer me up, because I never realized what a girl I am. I never used to be into perfume, clothes, etc like I am now. And although this time around I got mostly black, it’s the first time in awhile that I’ve bought such dark colors. I find myself attracted more and more to bright fun colors instead. Normally I’d say because they reflect my mood, as generally I’m a happy person, but right now I’m pretty depressed because of Joe’s whole divorce situation, but oh well.

Anyway, it was a good day. We dropped the kids off, did some shopping, came home to have lunch, went out to the movies (saw Charlies Angels), and went to the nature center to take photos. Now we’re just hanging out and relaxing while doing a few loads of laundry. I wish I didn’t have to work tomorrow, but at least it’s a 4-day week. I really need the 3-day weekend to unwind and try to stop stressing over our money situation. My stomach has been hurting all weekend.

Louder!

Posted onJune 27, 2003July 11, 20082 Comments

Whenever the kids are playing Tekken on the Playstation, they tend to get quite loud, esp. the boy. They scream in excitement and all that. Normally, we’d ask them to quiet down. But you know what? I’ve had it with the loud upstairs neighbors and the barking dog across the hall. So let’s see how they like it. The kids can scream away for all I care. And I know those buttholes are home, because I hear them walking around up there. It might be my imagination, but I think I may have heard some pounding going on. Haha.

Yummy in my tummy

Posted onJune 26, 2003July 11, 20082 Comments

Pictured to the left is a close-up shot of the most delicious cake in the world™. I didn’t make it, however, my supervisor did. Originally, she made it for a party about a month ago. I was impressed when she told me it was sugar-free. So I got the recipe from her and tried my hand at it. The cake itself turned out ok, but the recipe calls for Cool-Whip as frosting, and I’ve never used it before, so I didn’t realize it’s a cardinal sin to mix it up until it’s smooth. It gets all runny and never firms up again.

So, we were talking about recipes and whatnot the other day, and I told my supervisor I’d pay her to bake me a cake. She said if I just brought in the ingredients, she’d make it for me. So I did just that. Of course, my coworker made me feel guilty because my supervisor is two weeks from her due date, but when I checked with her, she said she was fine with it. Yea, that’s right, I made a pregnant lady bake me a cake. You gotta problem whit that? ;)

So now we’ve got cake to last us the next week or so. It took everything in my power not to have a slice when I first got home, but I knew if I did, I’d just have another when Joe got home, which is bad. I’ve been doing better with the eating and exercising thing, and even lost a bit more weight, so I don’t want to mess that up.

Of course, as I was leaving work with my beautiful cake, I learned that my supervisor might not be back to work as apparently she’s been having contractions the past two days. I guess I got my cake just in the nick of time. Haha.

Here’s the recipe in case you’re interested. Use sugar and/or fat-free versions of the ingredients if you’re diabetic or watching your weight. Trust me – there’s no sacrifice in taste whatsoever.

White Cake Mix
3 oz (or is it 0.3 oz) Strawberry Jell-O
8 oz Cool whip
Fresh Stawberries (optional)

Make cake according to directions. (I do not use the egg yolks, in order to keep the cake white). Make Jell-O according to directions. (Do not refrigerate, you want it to be liquid). When cake is cool, poke holes with a fork all over (don’t go all the way to the pan for every hole). Pour Jell-O over cake, slowly. Frost with cool whip. Add fresh-cut strawberries to the top if you want.

Enjoy!

Patio Garden

Posted onJune 25, 2003August 14, 20051 Comment

As I mentioned previously, we bought all new flowers and plants this year for our patio garden. I stuck with the pink and purples this time around too, but I couldn’t resist the Orange Symphony flowers we found at the nursery this past weekend. They are so pretty, and it’s cute how they close up a bit at night. This time around I’m being much more attentive to the plants too. Last year days would go by before I remembered that they needed watering, and by then they’d be all crispy! So now I’ve gotten into the routine of checking them when I get home from work. I usually end up watering them a bit because they are all “full sun” flowers, so the dirt dries up quickly, particularly with the 90-degree weather we’ve had the past few days.

Dinner

Posted onJune 25, 2003August 14, 20051 Comment

A cook, I am not. And that’s not to say I can’t cook, because I can, but I don’t like it so much. Dinner was good, don’t get me wrong, but not good enough to make up for all the preparation, mess, and cleanup. No thanks. And just for the record, I won’t be eating asparagus again. I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it. The mashed potatos came out delicious, though, so I’ll be making those again. Here’s the recipe in case you’re interested (although I also added a bit of butter). It comes from Rachel Ray’s show, 30 Minute Meals.

2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
Salt
1/2 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese
1 small onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, optional

Cover potatoes with water and season with salt. Cover pan to bring potatoes to a quick boil. Boil potatoes until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and return them to the hot pot to dry. Set aside. Heat milk, cream cheese and onion over medium low heat until cream cheese melts into milk and mixture bubbles. Pour hot milk and cream cheese into the potatoes and mash to desired consistency. Add a little extra milk for softer potatoes. Season with salt, to your taste, and transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with chopped chives.