Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Tag: Daily Life Page 2 of 3

What I Did On My Winter Vacation – Part 1

Ah, it feels like forever ago I left work and did a happy dance as I left the building for 2 weeks of bliss and awesomeness.  If you’ve been around for a little while, you know about the magic hat.  And if you don’t, you might click over there to see.  If you are truly lazy (it’s ok, I understand), we put some things we wanted to do in a hat and planned to pick one out every day.  Here is a quick play by play before it all fades into a distant memory.

Friday – Not a hat pick – came home and slept because of too much fun the night before.   Seriously, sometimes I wonder what goes through my head staying up until almost 5am drinking heavily.  This is later than I stayed up ALL VACATION.  By far.  On a schoolnight.  Seriously woman… anyway.  We vegged on the couch and I believe we barely made it to 10pm.  It was a perfectly nice way to start break.

Saturday – Not a hat pick – white elephant party #3.  I think there were errands, some gaming, I got an AWESOME 8 mile run in, and some relaxing before we headed out.  Details here.

Here is me laughing at Zliten’s present:

Sunday – Not a hat pick – video games all day.  We decided to start the hat picks the next day and play the hell out of Crystal Defenders and start Brutal Legend.  It was a sacrifice to be so lazy, but I made do.

Monday – Hat pick – clean out the pantry.  Our first pick was so super exciting!  But, it was needed and it was REALLY, REALLY nice to be able to find things, our pantry is very shallow and very big so it’s hard to lose stuff, but things were beginning to fall behind the doors and get stuck on the sides.  We almost painted it but decided against it.  Then, we hit the gym for a super awesome run and otherwise vegged on the couch again.

Tuesday – Hat pick – mini golf.  After a workout and some lunch, we headed out to an outdoor mini-golf course called peter pan.  It’s not changed since the 70’s and has all sorts of classic obstacles including a 15 foot tall peter pan, and a whale that you shoot your ball into and it comes out the butt.  Written on the butt?  San Diego.  Tee hee.  The place is actually BYOB friendly but being 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon, we refrained. Since this afternoon at the mini golf  course, I will be buying a simulator here to play at home.

The coolest thing?  A film crew came into shoot a movie.  They had everything – two big boom mics, cameras, a director, and two dudes dressed up in full golf attire with clubs and bags.  They were shooting on the white rabbit hole.  I wish I knew what it was all about.

The second coolest thing?  We tied on both 18 whole courses!

Wednesday – Hat pick -bbq adventure in Lockheart.  I’m very happy this one came up.  I got my run on early, and we left shortly after noon.  We drove the hour or so out of town and decided to hit up 3 places for lunch.  We brought a cooler to bring back leftovers and only ordered a little bit at each place.  Vegetarians, you might want to skip this part.

Black’s – it was our favorite.  Everything was great, and they had the best selection of side dishes.  This is not my plate of food but very similar.

Smitty’s – was the most expensive, and while the meat was good, the place reeked of bbq smoke so much it was distracting.  Also, the sides were crappy.  There wasn’t much of a selection, they were tiny, and they tasted like they came from the store.

Kreuz – the meat was a little tough, but the sausage was amazing and so were the ribs.  We didn’t bother with sides because they didn’t look good here either.

Verdict – Blacks was the best, but we still like Mann’s best which is within walking distance from our house.  So there.

Thursday – Not a hat pick – X-mas Eve present opening adventure.  I got up early, got in a workout, and then headed to work for a few hours. Pics somewhat unrelated, I just picked out some of my faves from the day.

There was a lot under the tree so we opened a present every 30 minutes.

It was great fun!  I got such awesomeness as a leopard print snuggie, a runner ID tag for my shoes, a poopin’ polar bear, and the last present of the night – a garmin forunner.

Even though it was WAY over what we decided to spend on each other (ahem!), Zliten decided that was what he wanted to get for me so he did.

He got the 205 but decided he wanted to get me a 305 so we took it back and it’s on back order.  Soon, I will play with it!

Zliten baked us computer bread.

And since I am a less awesome present giver, here are some of his favorites, the hot sauces…

…and the Rush Limbaugh book.  Comedy gold he has said so far.

And then, we passed out just after midnight very sleepy-tired.

Friday – Not a hat pick – X-mas fun with the parents.  After a workout in the morning, we headed up north for lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and copious amounts of sweets (candied popcorn, almond roca, fruitcake, pecan pie).  We played games all day – hand and foot (card game), dominos, golf (card game).  We got (beside money) a set of mugs for each card suit and embroidered aprons with our names on them for each of us.  Rock!  My dad ended up winning all games but the last one – I upset the game.  All in all, it was a great day.

Saturday – Hat Pick – Go see a mooovie.  And well, we had wanted to check out Avatar in 3D for a while so it was a good excuse.  Great movie, even though we had to sit in the front row.  I highly recommend seeing this one in the theater, it was good fun.  It was a full day – we started with some pho, then shoppings, then the movie, and then hit the gym for a run.  I’ve never been so late on a weekend day, so I got there about 50 minutes before closing, so I had to modify – I did a quick warmup, 5 miles, and a very quick cooldown.  Then, we watched some really horrible movies (Troll 1 and Troll 2) and played a drinking game to go along with it.  Good fun!

Part 2, tomorrow!

2009 Resolution Round Up

Now as I sit here on the last morning of 2009, I’m waxing philisophic about the year, but not quite as much as normal.  You see, it’s been a very thinky last few months.  I”ve mused on my job.  I’ve mused on my weight.  I”ve mused on my running, and come to a lot of conclusions early, so today was just really to put the proverbial pen to paper and commit to what I want to accomplish in the next year.  I feel like I”m forgetting things, but it’s not as if this is my only chance, right?  I mean there is always my annual “before 31 to do list” and mid-year check in, and all that crap.  Man, I make way too many lists.

Anyhoo, let’s get onto it.  I have a house to clean and then copious amounts of booze to drink.

Kekekekeke ^____^

Kekekekeke ^____^ 12-24-08

Last year’s resolutions:

1.  Body: Will continue to eat in a manner that is mostly healthy as I do now and improve when I can, continue improving my fitness, and work on reaching my goal weight, whatever that ends up being, in 2009.  While I’ll always work on improving my muscles and endurance, I’d like to get to the point where the scale is just a double check a few times a week that I’m not way off track, and food journals are a thing of the past, by the end of 2009.

Did I do it?  …sorta.  I’m more into measuring my progress by my running pace, and how my jeans fit now.  150-ish was not what I envisioned my goal weight, but it’s where my body wants to be.  So there.  I am no longer food tracking, and I’m only weighing about 1-2 times per week.  If you don’t count these two weeks of vacation, at least 80% of what I eat, I consider a healthy diet.  So I’m pretty happy.

2.  Fitness: I will do at least one new exercise-y thing a month.  This cannot include running, DDR, yoga, traditional weights, or Cybil the arc trainer.  By the end of the year, I would like to transition 1-2 days per week to something like dance classes or volleyball or some other competitive sport OR seriously start training distance running/triathalons.  By my 30th birthday, I need to pick ONE of these to focus on and concentrate on it (and make ancillary resolutions/goals based on what I pick).  I guess what I’m trying to say is to start working out for a reason that is not just to make the scale go down.

Did I do it?  …well, I didn’t do this exactly, but I definitely went into the year exercising solely for weight loss, and now I approach it as a sport.  If someone told me that running would never take another pound off me at the beginning of the year, I would have probably stopped.  Now, I could honestly say I would continue.  I think that’s what I was really going for here, and mission accomplished.  I also got a bike and rode it a bit, tried dance, zumba, roller skated, did some diving and swimming, and rediscovered my love for circuits.

3.  Soul: I will pick something creative and establish a plan by my birthday to complete a concrete goal by the end of the year.  Decide if I’m going to pursue writing (maybe actually giving a novel or book of some sort a go), songwriting/recording, pick up drawing/painting again, acting, or work on selling my necklaces.  Maybe take up web design and flesh out this site into a pretty one like I used to do and really give blogging a go beyond just using this for personal theraputic purposes.  Realize that I need to pick ONE of these and focus on it or I’ll feel as lost as I did in 2008.

Did I do it?  …eh.  I tried to do the etsy thing and never got off the ground.  I tried to write a novel and got about 30k words in and threw a tantrum.  This blog is still just my soapbox.  I drew a christmas card for Zliten, but that’s about it.  That’s ok.  I at least stuck my toe into the waters here, that’s at least half credit, right?

4.  Get married sometime this year!  That’s about all there is to say on this one…

…hey, 100% there.  Next!

5.  Allow work to be on the back burner one more year. Of course, be open and receptive to any wonderful opportunities that fall into my lap, but work on enriching my personal life and hobbies instead of focusing on promotions, raises, extra responsibility, etc. Realize that having a 40 hour per week stable job right now that I can pretty much just leave at the office when I walk out the door is a blessing that is giving me opportunities to further the work on my body, fitness, and soul.

…hey, 100% there as well.  Maybe even too much sometimes, tee hee.

All, in all, not bad. It was a rough year in some aspects – shakeups at work, a lot of uncertainty with Zliten’s unemployment stuff, extreme frustration with my lack of weight loss.  However, I still have a job at a company with an awesome, successful, and stable product.  I made huge strides in my running, completing a half marathon and improving my pace at both slow and fast distances all year.  Zliten got a job in the industry right when it was looking grim.  We still own our house and make mortgage and the “oh crap” fund is still there.  We’re making it.  2009 was not the best year ever, but it wasn’t so bad.

So what’s up for 2010?

Need more fiber, apparently.  12-24-09

Need more fiber, apparently. 12-24-09

1.  This is the most important and different one for me – for one year, I am going to not attempt to lose weight.  As long as I maintain under 155, I’m going to put any pressure on myself to take off weight.  I’m going to focus on my running, and continuing to eat healthy.  This break really put into perspective how healthy I usually eat – I’m not eating horribly at all, but I’ve been feeling blech from eating not homecooked food for most meals and the sweet crap around the house (popcorn, almond roca, truffles, etc etc).  Now, if I *do* take off weight somehow, I’m not going to be opposed to it, but the biggest present I’m giving to myself this year is the gift of stepping on the scale, and not wanting to be less than I am, for once in my life.

2.  Running – I want to do a half marathon in under 2 hours, and I want to run a full marathon (no pace goal, just run the whole thing… well, who am I kidding, I’ll have a pace goal by the time I finish training, but anyhoo…) this year.  After that, decide what’s next.  Martial arts?  Triathlons?  More marathons?  Ultras?  Also, I want to make sure to not forget stretching and yoga.  That’s when I start getting injured like I am now with hurty butt.

3.  I will dedicate 6 hours per week to writing, revising, reading other books, or outlining.  I want to finish what I started for NaNoWriMo, and then move on to another one.  It would be peachy keen if I could do some necklaces, I would love to start songwriting, but I think this is my year of writing.

4.  I’m not sure exactly what I want to say here, but I want to figure out what’s next career-wise.  I have spent the last few years keeping my head down and trying to stay out of the way so I can support the creatives, get my check, and go on my way.  That is SO not me.  I can’t continue to do that forever.  I might not have the ability to get what I want just yet, but I want to have a direction by the end of the year.

5.  Some one liners: Travel outside the country.  Be more spontaneous.  Continue to whittle down my smoking.  Try something new with my hair.  Continue to draw things out of the magic hat.  Host some game nights at the house.   Attempt to keep a cleaner house so it’s not embarrassing when someone comes over unannounced.  Do more industry events and get over my boredom with networking for networking sake.  Play more games.  Continue to live a life where I can have at least ONE memorable thing I do each month (2009 has many more than 1 per month, but that’s my absolute minimum requirement).

So there, it looks like I have a lot to do, so I best get crackin’.  How was your 2009?  What are you most looking forward to in 2010?  What is your biggest resolution or goal for the next year?

Happy New Years, and I’ll see ya on the other side…

The Bucket List

Glad I posted yesterday.  This one is going to be short.  Last night was a late (epic-ly fun) night, and I’m paying for it today.  I’m not sure at WHAT point last night I forgot it was a Thursday and not a Friday night, but that’s the only possible explanation.  Just another reason why I am not a role model.  Pictures next week when I sum up all the white elephant parties.  This was number two, number three happens tomorrow.

So, anyhoo, every time we have time off at home over the holidays, we have *big plans*.  We never travel anywhere because traveling this time of year is for the crazy, and our families are both firm believers in “it’s a holiday when we visit no matter what time of year”.  So both in San Diego and Austin, we’ve had a week off (at least) together each December’s end.  And nothing major to do.

We say to ourselves – this will be the year we do <insert lots of random awesome plans here>.  We do one, maybe two things, and then end up with our butts planted on the couch, playing video games and watching movie marathons.  Soul soothing in it’s own right, sure, but not very memorable.  I can honestly not remember much about those weeks beyond takeout, the couch, and the TV, and alcohol.

This year, I’m not settling.  Oh, there will be all those things above, for sure, it wouldn’t be Christmas without it.  Some people think of Santa and presents and reindeer and crap, my favorite holiday tradition is the week of freedom and loafing after the Christmas Stouffers lasagna is consumed.  However, upwards of two weeks of it sound like excess.  I want stories.  I want something blogworthy and more important, memorable.  Without leaving a reasonable driving radius.  So I present to you our concept: the magic hat.

We will be picking one thing out each day and doing it.  Most are fun things, a few are just things we need to get done, but they’re all going in a hat.  We’re not being super strict on it (because what fun would that be), so if we pick something that just doesn’t make sense (a bike adventure after a long run day) or the weather isn’t cooperating for (a day roadtrip on a crappy rainy cold day) or we just plain don’t feel like it, (a beautiful day we wanna get outside and we pick something that doesn’t have us leave the house) we can put it back.  Or save it for tomorrow.  Or something, we haven’t figure out all the rules yet.

Some are all day adventures (or even overnight).  Some are just an hour or two, so if we’re feeling frisky, we might do two in one day!  I do have to work half training in there, but considering that’s my ONLY obligation, I’m feelin’ pretty confident I’ll be ok.

The Awesometastic Holiday Magic Hat Bucket List of Awesomeness:

-Beer and Breakfast in Fredricksburg (like bed and breakfast, but better!)
-BBQ in Lockhart (apparently this is the best place in Texas to get BBQ)
-Salsa dancing at Copa
-Regular silly dancing at a random club
-Gaming all day, ordering delivery, no interruptions, no leaving PJs
-Rock climbing
-Bike adventure
-Roller Skating
-Watch all 3 lord of the rings in one day
-Go to a museum (Austinites, any suggestions?)
-Clean out the pantry (exciting I know)
-Space museum in Houston
-Steak and crab night
-Make a movie
-Upscale thrift shopping (not an oxymoron, I swear.  Hitting the cute little second hand boutiques I see everywhere)
-Esther’s Follies (a comedy show downtown we’ve wanted to see)
-Afternoon cocktails somewhere

We’re adding to the list as we think of things, but that’s what we have so far.  So, I ask, what’s in your bucket?  Any suggestions (keep in mind we are broke so the cheaper the better) for what I should add to mine?

Happy weekend.  Just found out my vacation begins tonight (the shippable is delayed, which is yay), so after last night, I’m thinking the perfect way to kick off vacation is dinner and card games with the parents.

This Is How I Do It…

I was stuck for a post today, so here is a random idea of something that may or may not be interesting that popped into my brain.  I am fascinated by the way other people deal with, shop, cook, eat, think about, and otherwise act around food, so I figured I’d share how I roll with my food habits day by day for a typical week.

Saturday/Sunday morning:

Our food supplies are starting to get picked over.  The easy stuff to make and/or the stuff we were really looking forward to has already been used up for the week, so it’s time to make a list.  I plan out the lunches and dinners we’re going to have for the week, considering our schedules, and assign them to days.  I try not to plan the same things for two days in a row (though it happens), I try not to plan the same meat two times in a row, and I try to make sure that Zliten is on board with the plan or it fails.  Once that’s done, I come up with an ingredient list, and add anything else we need to the list (breakfasts, snacks, sodas, etc) and email it off to both my phone and Zliten’s phone so we have it for reference.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Sunday:

It’s grocery shopping day!  I *try* to get out by 9:30-10am so I can get most of it done while all the good folk are at church and the store is less crowded, but it doesn’t always work.  First, I stop at the local, organic, hippie-dippie grocery store which is closest to my house.  I get almost all my produce there, and other odds and ends.  A lot of their canned and packaged goods are more expensive, but totally better quality, so I’ve stopped shying away from paying more there for it.   Unless it’s ridiculous, like paying 4 bucks for a bag of frozen broccoli instead of a dollar or so for the regular grocery store kind.  As I find everything, I mark it off the list on my phone.  I have reusable bags in my car, but I often forget them.

Then I head to the larger, chain grocery store.   This is where I pick up whatever I couldn’t find there – which usually involves lettuce and fruit (for some reason, lettuce and fruit both SUCK at the hippie place), frozen veggies, sodas, and anything I don’t want the super organic version of (like hot dogs/buns/frozen lasagna/etc).  Oddly enough, I always end up spending more at the regular store even though I swear I buy less there.

Then, I head home and unpack the car, clean out the fridge (if things are starting to grow and/or I need the room), and put away the groceries.  Oh, and Zliten has usually cleaned the kitchen and has dishes going by then.  BTW – Zliten does NOT go grocery shopping with me.  He is like a kid in a candy store and is very grabby – not that all of it is unhealthy, but we’ll come home with 3 different types of hot sauce and odd cans of beans and about 40 bucks of other things that aren’t on the list.  I deviate too, but not NEARLY as much and usually when I remember things I needed that I forgot to list.  Anyhoo, usually by that time we’re so hungry, we end up going out to lunch, heh.  This Sunday, we went to a new little mexican place and it was yummy.  I had a few too many chips, an enchilada, half a flauta, and the toppings of a tostada.

Sunday night though is usually a cook-y night.  There is usually something I’ve purchased from the store that takes a little more prep time than I’d like for a weekday meal or something super healthy because we splurged for lunch.  This week, we had made whole wheat spaghetti with a little bit of super low fat ground beef and meat sauce with tons of veggies because of the latter.  Zliten cooked while I wrote and it was awesome.

Filet mignon, taterflowers (half cauliflower/half potatoes), and asparagus

Filet mignon, taterflowers (half cauliflower/half potatoes), and asparagus

Monday:

Zliten gets fed free breakfast at work so I don’t worry about him (seriously, they cater whole foods breakfast every day for the entire company… so jealous), but he was nice enough to put the beef stew ingredients in the crock pot before he left for work.  I’ve been on a bar kick lately so I alternate between a pro-max bar or a zone bar (both about 15-20g protien, a little fiber, and 180-200 cal).  This perks me up after a workout and keeps me full until lunch.

Around 1pm we both head home for lunch together (he works 1.5 miles away, I work 3 miles away – love it).  On this occasion, we made black bean burgers, which I stuck into pitas and he put into tacos.  I added a little low fat sour cream, salsa, low fat cheese, lettuce, olives, and onions and chowed down on 2 pita pocket halves.

Around 4pm I broke out my half pint of raspberries and ate the whole damn thing.  Because they were just so good.  An hour later, I grabbed a handful of pistachios and enjoyed those too.

Got home around 7 and the beef stew was smelling *ohsogood* in the crockpot.  I tried to stave off the urge to dig in early since Zliten wasn’t home yet from the gym with some turkey pepperoni (I could tell I needed some protein as I hadn’t had meat for lunch), but I gave in and had an appetizer sized bowl of it.  When he got home we ate about 1/3 of the crockpot each and saved the rest.  Later, since I had the calories, I indulged in about 100 calories of halloween candy.

Italian Veggie Pasta Salad

Italian Veggie Pasta Salad

Typical Weekdays:

Pretty much the same as Monday.  If I’m skipping lunch, I’ll usually have a builder bar with more protein and calories for breakfast and either a soup and salad or Amy’s Indian meal for lunch.  I always try to have a piece of fruit in the afternoon, but sometimes I’ll do veggie and hummus instead of nuts or sometimes if I’m having a caloric day I’ll skip it altogether.  Typical lunches are sandwiches, leftovers from dinner, soup and a salad, garden burgers/hot dogs, and in a pinch microwave meals.  Sometimes the salad bar if we really don’t feel like making lunch.

For dinners, we typically cook unless it’s a rare night out somewhere.  This week, on the menu is chicken curry with veggies and saffron rice, grilled fish tacos, shepard’s pie (96/4 ground beef, mixed veggies and tomato sauce smothered with a thin layer of mashed potatoes and light cheese), and tuna veggie pasta (essentially a tuna helper with double protein and a heaping helping of frozen veggies.

Usually before dinners I’ll have a small healthy snack like jerky or turkey pepperoni (it’s a habit I’m trying to break, I just get home and it hits me how STARVING I am).  Usually after dinner I’ll have a sweet of some sort (another habit I’d like to break, but it’s usually something of very little caloric impact if not something healthy like fruit).  Very occasionally, instead of a bigger dinner and a sweet, I’ll have smaller food and few drinks.

Fridays:

These are a different animal.  I’ll usually make sure to have a zone bar or something lighter because lunch is earlier (around 12:30).   We go to pho, which is vietnamese noodle soup.  It’s about 400 calories and amazingly awesome.  I usually try to resist the egg rolls but about once every other month I’ll splurge and have one.  I usually try to go light on snacks because we typically come home and either get somewhat healthy takeout, eat something quick, or fire up the BBQ and have some cocktails.  This week I plan to take it mellow and stay in, but then again last week I was out and about being a party animal.  So it varies.

Saturday:

We wake up and almost invariably go out to lunch even if I have weekend food planned.  Now with Zliten working overtime not as much (if it’s just me I generally poke around and just find something to eat in the house), but generally we don’t want to be buggered cooking anything major.  Saturday night totally depends – if there is something on the menu we are still looking forward to and we don’t have plans, we eat.  If we’re looking for a quick meal before going out, we usually scrounge.  If we don’t have major plans, we might head out to dinner somewhere or get takeout.

Rinse, and repeat.

How do you plan out your weeks?  Do you fly by the seat of your pants?  Batch cook everything on the weekend?  Do you make a menu or do you just eat what you feel like each day?  Like I said, I am totally curious about other people and food so comment away!

Pictures are foods we cooked over the summer…

Five Random Things

I don’t have another coherent post in me today, and I realized that what I was going to post today was much more appropriate for Friday, so welcome to the return of 5 random things.

1.  Somehow, I’m not sure why – but an easy 5k has now dropped to about 28 minutes (so 9 minute miles) – just in the last week or 2.  Is it that the shred strengthening muscles I didn’t know I needed stronger?  I’d say is it the shred warming me up, but it even happened yesterday when I shredded in the morning and ran at night.  Is it the new music I have?  Is it the cooler weather (it’s odd – I wear a sweater and a jacket when I’m out in it to go to work, and then I go running in just a tank and I’m fine)?  Is it that I can run at night again?  I don’t know, but I’ll take it.  Now, just as I’m hitting my short distance stride, I’m about to change it up and start distance training next month.  25 minute 5k, maybe next year…. I’m going to do one more probably next month but I haven’t been training for it so I don’t have high hopes.

2.  I’m playing EverQuest again.  Yes, this game that I spent years and years in front of a computer playing, eating delivery pizza and drinking bourbon.  The fun thing is – we’ve been able to get on and play for an hour or 2 a night in place of just sitting in front of the TV and me dorking on the net and Zliten playing bejeweled for hours.  It’s kinda fun to reconnect with some people we used to play with and relearn how to maneuver our characters again.  It’s always good for the soul to get into a game again.  It’s also reminding me that I do have that chunk of time from about 9-11pm each weekday night to get things accomplished instead of zoning out EVERY night and watching TV.

3.  Speaking of finding time in my day – I’m contemplating NaNoWriMo.  I’ve even got an idea for it.  The only problem is I’m pretty sure the blog will suffer.  Maybe not, but it’s possible.  All I have to say is that wanting to pursue multiple interests sucks when you also are required to get 7-8 hours sleep at night and work full time.  When I’m working out as intensely as I am, having a weekday 4-5 hour night to get caught up is just not an option.  And then when I do it on the weekends it just makes Monday soooo hard.  I figure though – worst case, I come up with the idea, start on it, and even if I don’t finish in November, I’ll can certainly tick one more thing off the 2009 to do list – something creative!

4.  I’ve realized that 30 means being more concerned about fitting in my workouts around a lab appointment to draw blood to check my numbers tomorrow than the needle itself.  Fun fact about Quix: I HATE NEEDLES.  I especially hate needles around where they draw blood (the inside of my arms… I don’t even like people touching me there).  However, I have to watch the entire process, like I’m guiding the nurse’s stabby stabby procedure with my eyes.  I love the idea of tattoos and piercings and would probably have some ink and be pierced a LOT more than 8 times (three in each ear, one in my cartelige, once in my tongue – though the tongue and one in my ear closed up so I only have 6 now) if I could get over that.

5.  We’ve been eating at home a lot more.  We have a constant lunch date on Fridays with a group to eat pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), we typically end up having a meal or two out on the weekends, but that’s about it now.  We come home for lunch just about every weekday and cook dinner every night.  Last year this time, we ate lunch out every day, and most weekend meals out, and generally cooked dinner about 4 days a week and that was it (if we weren’t crunching and getting dinners provided at work).  We are eating a lot healthier (maybe not lower calorie, I got good at that, but definitely more good stuff), it’s saving money, but bugger if the dishes don’t have dish babies in the sink!  I don’t usually make a production out of dinner, it involves maybe a pan, a tupperware, a salad bowl, two plates, and two utensils – but somehow the sink is full every day.  It takes me a long time to notice it’s an issue (if it’s not overflowing then who cares is my motto) and it annoys Zliten to no end.   In fact, he was the one who suggested this topic for my fifth random thing.  We badly need a kitchen fairy that can do dishes for us every night.  Like the gal above.  =)

There is my random stuff.  Tomorrow I forsee work kicking my arse, plus I have aforementioned doctor appointment and a shred and a 5 mile run to do, so I’ll be back Friday for the mysterious post I did not write today.  Ciao, internet!

Page 2 of 3

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén