This one's about diet food.
Like most of the American female population I freak out about my weight. When I'm single I totally freak out about my weight. But since I'm in a relationship, this is the first time I'm attempting to balance that "Fat and Happy" mindset that I usually get with my issues about being more than a little plus sized.
I've been taking Karate at the United Studios of Self Defense for 9 months. I've lost an inch all the way around and ten pounds. I attempt to go three times a week. On a good week I'll go four times, but usually I skip Wednesday because of Happy Hour at the Belmont Brewing Company. After a hard night of drinking I just want to sleep in till 10 and be sucked into The Boyfriend's bed. When I fall off the wagon and don't go, I notice I'm more moody, sad, and prone to tears. I'm not the best at the actual martial art by any means, but working out three times a week makes me feel like a million bucks.
I also love to cook. If I could cook every weekend I'd be a very very happy woman. I also think, if I cooked more I'd be less likely to pig out on stuff. When I bake, I never want to eat anything I bake, its almost as if, while baking that delicious cake, cookie or brownie, I force out the desire for it. But sadly, with my very awkward schedule and budget living (Mostly my crappy schedule) I am unable to cook. So I don't eat as healthy as I'd like to. But recently I've found a few ways to skirt the corners when packing my own lunches and snacking on things I totally shouldn't be eating.
1. Sarah Lee's 45 Calories and Delightful Sandwich Bread.
I literally can't eat any other bread (except beer bread) with my sandwiches without feeling disgustingly full. This bread comes in four flavors; Honey Wheat, White, Wheat, and Multi Grain. I've only tasted the honey wheat myself, which has a hint of sweetness where the others do not. It does have a SLIGHT tendency to stick to the roof of your mouth if your sandwich is a bit damp from veggies, but doesn't taste rubbery or diet-y at all!
2. Kettle Brand Baked Potato Chips. In Hickory Honey BBQ.
OMG. I love crunchy things. Chips and crackers are like my biggest weakness at bonfires and get togethers. Add dips and cheeses and I want to fucking die! I love love love Kettle Brand's Buffalo Blu with a fucking passion, but they are SO fatty. These Hickory Honey BBQ chips have only 140 calories for 20 chips and don't taste like the nasty Baked Lays. These are a good substitute for the Buffalo Blu. They are hearty, thick chips with the tasty potato edges still on them. While yes, they have that baked snap to them, they have just enough BBQ flavor to drown out the "less fatty" part of it. I may be converted forever! Well, maybe like every other bag I buy.
3. Quaker Chewy Granola Bars in Peanut Butter and Chocolate.
I CRAVE peanut butter and chocolate like a fiend. These totally soothe my craving without making me feel "belch" as I would if I had a peanut butter cup. My only problem? Sometimes they get a little stale. Or if I leave them in my car for too long and they get cold and not as chewy to eat. Despite that, these are totally a plus for when I need that pick me up after karate. They even have ones with extra protein in them! (A plus for building healthy muscles!)
4. Reece's 100 Calorie Peanut Butter Wafer Bars.
Orgasmic! Yes, literally. When I'm craving something really chocolaty I go straight to this! Two per pack they are heavy on the peanut butter and chocolate and light on the wafer. Its just like having a peanut butter cup but not as bad for you! I try to ignore the 2.5 g of saturated fat (a bad fat, good fats are monosaturated and polysaturated) in these, and don't eat them every day. I keep meaning to try their other flavors but really, they had me at peanut butter.
5. I Cant Believe It's Not Butter Spray.
I have a wicked craving for grilled cheese sandwiches after a hang over. They are my poor man's cure, when I cant afford In N Out. This shit is amazing. I don't bake with it, but its great for grilled cheese and any other sauteing I need to do. Mmm thinking about grilled cheese makes me want to bake Billie's beer bread with the BBC's Strawberry Blonde Ale.
Speaking of beer...
6. Becks Premier Light Beer & MGD 64. (no link, because they aren't direct)
I haven't tried any of these, but if I'm sure to be drinking copious amounts of beer for beer pong, BBQ season, bonfires and the like, this is what I'm buying. I can get trashed and not have to worry about my girlish figure. (Well, kinda, they both have a low alcohol content, 2.4%) Both have 64 calories (vs Bud Light's 110 and Michelob Ultra's 94) and according to my Partner in Crime don't taste too bad. I won't be pairing it with my pizza in public (I like dark beers for that) or ordering it at my local brewery (be a locavore for that!), but in Hermosa when I want to fucking shake it, I'll stick with these two.
(p.s. awesome site this beer100.com, I guess I need to say fuck you to MDG and Becks and just drink steel reserve at 8.1%)
Ok, enough for now. Get your vitamin C guys! Oranges are in season! You're sure to get tasty ones. With pig flu (and other flu) going around lots of sleep and lots of oranges will do you wonders!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
On Romance. Trashy Romance at That.
I read a lot. Like in a book every two days. Yes, they are 90 percent of the time trashy romance novels. I'll defend my guilty pleasure till the end of time. Whenever I tell anyone that I love them, that I read them voraciously (a word I learned from said trashy romance novels) and that I read them openly in public, I always get a few typical questions. One of my favorites would have to be "Do you read those novels with the half naked men on them? Haha!" Sigh.
No I don't. First off any of the half naked hero/heroine romances, often called bodice rippers, tend to be published in the1980's 1990's and are usually out of print unless picked up by a large publishing house for a reprint. If I am caught reading one of them they tend to be dog eared and falling apart from moves from one house to the other, rain soaked storage in backpacks and purses and rips from hiding them long ago when I was ashamed of my habit at 11 or 12. The ones that do feature half naked covers tend to be really hilarious Harlequin "Category" romances. Most Harlequin romances are a single in a series, like the hilariously titled: The Greek Millionaires Secret Child or The Ruthless Billionaires Secret Virgin which cater to the poor employee/rich man fantasy. There are genres in the Harlequin world that deal with single fathers, and NASCAR. They have sub genres which include paranormal romance, erotic fiction, and Christianity (which usually have no sex and deal with romance in the scope of God and worship).
One of the reasons I don't read very many category romance writers is because of Harlequin's strict writing guidelines. I find that many of the books are formulaic (duh!) and the characters are hard to develop in 150 pages. But who am I to judge. You have to hand it to them, they know how to produce something that sells and by producing books that follow strict guidelines they are able to appeal to a broader reader base. I'm sure there are some evangelicals who would balk at buying an inspirational Christian romance from a publisher that also publishes novels such as The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover but I am sure there are few publishing companies that crank out as many as Harlequin does. They even publish romance novels in Spanish and have been one of the first to jump on the Ebook wagon, realizing that these do get devoured and need to be purchased in bulk.
My only issue is that they don't publish queer romance, but then again, would I read it? And here is a major side note, I've read my fair share of queer romance. A lot of the time its either straight erotica or the worst purple prosed novel on the planet. On par with Twilight even, and that's the worst insult I can think of.
But this side note leads nicely into my next explanation, while Harlequin to some (even me!) is scoffed at, the romance genre would not be what it is today with out it. Truthfully, with those writing guidelines set out they've crafted I am sure it has made better writers out of some of the crappiest romance novel writers.
The bottom line of this silly post I've been sitting on for like a million years is that there are four stacks I stick the trashy romance novels I buy in.
Stack One: "Dude this was Great! I'm totally glad I paid 7.99 for this piece of fluff! (Emphasis on the fluff part)"
Authors include:
Amanda Quick, a historical novelist, who has a recent annoying tendency to add the paranormal into all her novels no matter what the pseudonym. Yes, all three of them. Her historicals tend to be lighter on that crap.
Linda Howard, a contemporary author who's pretty good about combining the romance with the serial killer action.
Christina Dodd, but only her historical romance. I'm not so much a fan of her contemporary, her plot lines are a little too convenient. Don't even get me started on her paranormal, I like to forget I wasted three hours at the airport on A Touch of Darkness
Stack Two: "OMGOMG I feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head because the story is so riveting and/or because the sex scenes are making me blush like a virgin school girl!"
Authors include:
Sabrina Jeffries. The woman sure does know how to shock me by inserting masturbation and kinky sex scenes into Victorian time periods. Her heroines are feisty
Susan Elizabeth Phillips, another contemporary author who makes me cry every time I read one of her books. Even the really crappy civil war era romance.
Janet Evanovich. Not a romance author per se, but she writes some good romantic tension while making me laugh so hard I pee myself.
Stack Three: "Eh, going in the used bookstore pile. I skimmed the last 50 pages of this book."
Authors include a smattering of the above listed authors. These books once were combined into this last column. Thank god for Book Again. I will never toss another trashy romance novel in the goodwill pile ever again. I can now get more trashy romance novels for half the cover price and twice the lulz because of the cranky old ladies who work there and love romances more than I do. Plus they have a pretty impressive collection of erotic fiction. Oh wow, potential ew factor now that I think about it.
Stack Four. The Wall Dent Pile.
This stack is epic. I don't usually have many of these issues. But since I started going to Book Again and haven't had to count my twenties when the option comes to buy enough books to last me the work week, I've been taking risks on my trashy romance novel obsession. Just this week I had three wall dent books.
Arnette Lamb's, True Heart. I hate, hate, hate, with an epic fury, fake amnesia stories. You know the ones, the heroine has some troubled past, usually of her own making (in this case sneaking away to see her fiancee and gets kidnapped and shipped to America as a bond servant) and fakes amnesia once her loved ones find her so that she doesn't "hurt them once they know about the horrors she experienced." Ugh, I got 50 pages in and tossed it across the room. I was so excited because I had read the book before it and wanted to know how it ended.
The second was Christina Dodd's Treasure of the Sun. I did want to finish it. The plot was clever, set in colonial California, a American housekeeper employed by a rich Mexican. Totally cute what you did there, playing with the status quo, Dodd. Really cute. Too bad you didn't deliver! The story dragged so much I ended up skimming to see if the sex scenes were going to redeem it. Nope. Not at all! The heroine and hero don't even get to have sex in the pages I skimmed, because she's too shy. Fuck that! I don't read trashy romance novels to see the heroine get shy! I like my historicals non historically accurate in that sense. The other "real" sex scenes must have been hidden by her relentlessly slow story line.
The third was Elizabeth Boyle's Confession of a Little Black Gown, which I picked up last minute at Target because I was spending an impromptu night at The Boyfriend's and needed something to read while he was comic making. (Side note: Target = best place to get bestsellers. They are 20%-40% off the cover price sometimes!) This book might not have been as irritating if I had read the first in the series. There is nothing I hate more than buying the book right in the middle of a series and the whole story is a reference to The Secrets of the Little Pink Dress or some such nonsense. Ugh. I am not a big fan of detailed story arcs in romances. An author who is notorious for this is Johanna Lindsey. She spends 90% of her book in back story of secondary characters. It is not worth my time to even pick up anymore.
Really though, just to put it in perspective, none of these are the epic fail of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. I put the book down like a million times with my "Really SMeyer? Really?" face on. The characters were so one dimensional I could see through the pages. The writing was so purple I thought it was bleeding.
Don't even get me started on how I feel about the main characters and what is considered abuse in an unhealthy relationship. Maybe I'll purchase the series and write a paper on it, I have so much ammunition for the Twihards out there who think Meyer is a goddess and LUUUUUUURRRRVVVVV Edward Cullen with every inch of their virgin lives. Oh, I can't forget the twimom's who think about Edward Cullen when their husband is making love to them at night. I really don't know who's more pathetic.
When I finished it and realized it was just a set up for the next book in the series I hurled it across the room. Fuck you Stephanie Meyer. Fuck you. I want three days of my life back. Thank god I bought it used at Powells bookstore, I'm glad I didn't fund you another 15 dollars!
Sigh, I finally think I'm done with this. It took about a week, but I think that's it. I may sit down with the next romance I've got and make notes so I can post a review here. Humph, we'll see how well that idea goes.
No I don't. First off any of the half naked hero/heroine romances, often called bodice rippers, tend to be published in the1980's 1990's and are usually out of print unless picked up by a large publishing house for a reprint. If I am caught reading one of them they tend to be dog eared and falling apart from moves from one house to the other, rain soaked storage in backpacks and purses and rips from hiding them long ago when I was ashamed of my habit at 11 or 12. The ones that do feature half naked covers tend to be really hilarious Harlequin "Category" romances. Most Harlequin romances are a single in a series, like the hilariously titled: The Greek Millionaires Secret Child or The Ruthless Billionaires Secret Virgin which cater to the poor employee/rich man fantasy. There are genres in the Harlequin world that deal with single fathers, and NASCAR. They have sub genres which include paranormal romance, erotic fiction, and Christianity (which usually have no sex and deal with romance in the scope of God and worship).
One of the reasons I don't read very many category romance writers is because of Harlequin's strict writing guidelines. I find that many of the books are formulaic (duh!) and the characters are hard to develop in 150 pages. But who am I to judge. You have to hand it to them, they know how to produce something that sells and by producing books that follow strict guidelines they are able to appeal to a broader reader base. I'm sure there are some evangelicals who would balk at buying an inspirational Christian romance from a publisher that also publishes novels such as The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover but I am sure there are few publishing companies that crank out as many as Harlequin does. They even publish romance novels in Spanish and have been one of the first to jump on the Ebook wagon, realizing that these do get devoured and need to be purchased in bulk.
My only issue is that they don't publish queer romance, but then again, would I read it? And here is a major side note, I've read my fair share of queer romance. A lot of the time its either straight erotica or the worst purple prosed novel on the planet. On par with Twilight even, and that's the worst insult I can think of.
But this side note leads nicely into my next explanation, while Harlequin to some (even me!) is scoffed at, the romance genre would not be what it is today with out it. Truthfully, with those writing guidelines set out they've crafted I am sure it has made better writers out of some of the crappiest romance novel writers.
The bottom line of this silly post I've been sitting on for like a million years is that there are four stacks I stick the trashy romance novels I buy in.
Stack One: "Dude this was Great! I'm totally glad I paid 7.99 for this piece of fluff! (Emphasis on the fluff part)"
Authors include:
Amanda Quick, a historical novelist, who has a recent annoying tendency to add the paranormal into all her novels no matter what the pseudonym. Yes, all three of them. Her historicals tend to be lighter on that crap.
Linda Howard, a contemporary author who's pretty good about combining the romance with the serial killer action.
Christina Dodd, but only her historical romance. I'm not so much a fan of her contemporary, her plot lines are a little too convenient. Don't even get me started on her paranormal, I like to forget I wasted three hours at the airport on A Touch of Darkness
Stack Two: "OMGOMG I feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head because the story is so riveting and/or because the sex scenes are making me blush like a virgin school girl!"
Authors include:
Sabrina Jeffries. The woman sure does know how to shock me by inserting masturbation and kinky sex scenes into Victorian time periods. Her heroines are feisty
Susan Elizabeth Phillips, another contemporary author who makes me cry every time I read one of her books. Even the really crappy civil war era romance.
Janet Evanovich. Not a romance author per se, but she writes some good romantic tension while making me laugh so hard I pee myself.
Stack Three: "Eh, going in the used bookstore pile. I skimmed the last 50 pages of this book."
Authors include a smattering of the above listed authors. These books once were combined into this last column. Thank god for Book Again. I will never toss another trashy romance novel in the goodwill pile ever again. I can now get more trashy romance novels for half the cover price and twice the lulz because of the cranky old ladies who work there and love romances more than I do. Plus they have a pretty impressive collection of erotic fiction. Oh wow, potential ew factor now that I think about it.
Stack Four. The Wall Dent Pile.
This stack is epic. I don't usually have many of these issues. But since I started going to Book Again and haven't had to count my twenties when the option comes to buy enough books to last me the work week, I've been taking risks on my trashy romance novel obsession. Just this week I had three wall dent books.
Arnette Lamb's, True Heart. I hate, hate, hate, with an epic fury, fake amnesia stories. You know the ones, the heroine has some troubled past, usually of her own making (in this case sneaking away to see her fiancee and gets kidnapped and shipped to America as a bond servant) and fakes amnesia once her loved ones find her so that she doesn't "hurt them once they know about the horrors she experienced." Ugh, I got 50 pages in and tossed it across the room. I was so excited because I had read the book before it and wanted to know how it ended.
The second was Christina Dodd's Treasure of the Sun. I did want to finish it. The plot was clever, set in colonial California, a American housekeeper employed by a rich Mexican. Totally cute what you did there, playing with the status quo, Dodd. Really cute. Too bad you didn't deliver! The story dragged so much I ended up skimming to see if the sex scenes were going to redeem it. Nope. Not at all! The heroine and hero don't even get to have sex in the pages I skimmed, because she's too shy. Fuck that! I don't read trashy romance novels to see the heroine get shy! I like my historicals non historically accurate in that sense. The other "real" sex scenes must have been hidden by her relentlessly slow story line.
The third was Elizabeth Boyle's Confession of a Little Black Gown, which I picked up last minute at Target because I was spending an impromptu night at The Boyfriend's and needed something to read while he was comic making. (Side note: Target = best place to get bestsellers. They are 20%-40% off the cover price sometimes!) This book might not have been as irritating if I had read the first in the series. There is nothing I hate more than buying the book right in the middle of a series and the whole story is a reference to The Secrets of the Little Pink Dress or some such nonsense. Ugh. I am not a big fan of detailed story arcs in romances. An author who is notorious for this is Johanna Lindsey. She spends 90% of her book in back story of secondary characters. It is not worth my time to even pick up anymore.
Really though, just to put it in perspective, none of these are the epic fail of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. I put the book down like a million times with my "Really SMeyer? Really?" face on. The characters were so one dimensional I could see through the pages. The writing was so purple I thought it was bleeding.
Don't even get me started on how I feel about the main characters and what is considered abuse in an unhealthy relationship. Maybe I'll purchase the series and write a paper on it, I have so much ammunition for the Twihards out there who think Meyer is a goddess and LUUUUUUURRRRVVVVV Edward Cullen with every inch of their virgin lives. Oh, I can't forget the twimom's who think about Edward Cullen when their husband is making love to them at night. I really don't know who's more pathetic.
When I finished it and realized it was just a set up for the next book in the series I hurled it across the room. Fuck you Stephanie Meyer. Fuck you. I want three days of my life back. Thank god I bought it used at Powells bookstore, I'm glad I didn't fund you another 15 dollars!
Sigh, I finally think I'm done with this. It took about a week, but I think that's it. I may sit down with the next romance I've got and make notes so I can post a review here. Humph, we'll see how well that idea goes.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
No Such Thing as too Much Housewarming...
Unless its 101 degrees outside and my tiny apartment has ten people in it.
This weekend I had my first housewarming party. In hindsight perhaps not the best idea ever.
Friday night I had a spare five seconds between the most recent fight my Stepmom had with my dad and me trying to sleep to get my grocery shopping done. I had mini mac n cheese, "meatless" meat turnovers, home made guacamole and a shit ton of Champagne on the menu. So while listening to my stepmom bitch about things both of us know are never going to change about my father, I picked up my room and whisked Ace hair off everything.
Saturday night after going to an interesting grad show with The Boyfriend, (I say interesting because one artist was a sub par comic strip artist and the other was a pretty amazing digital artist who specialized in fantasy art, not really my cup of tea.) I cleaned like a bitch. I even mopped the floor. I stepped on glass, found enough stray cat litter to fill a box, and washed every dish we owned. I went to bed twitching, trying to figure out how I was going to fit everything I needed to do into the hours before 4pm the next day.
Saturday dawned balls hot. Its never THAT hot in LA. Yeah, it may hit about 100 in the valley, but the South Bay area is NEVER that hot. 91 degrees, is too hot! I delayed the cooking as much as I could. I kept everything in the fridge prepared and ready to stick in the oven. I drank as much water as my bladder would hold in the meantime as I washed dishes and dished out ice water to Ace. I knew I'd be drinking once guests arrived and I did not want to become the one to pass out because I was dehydrated. I am so glad to have moved out and have such a large kitchen at my disposal. It was fantastic despite the heat.
Gem of the Day: Appetizers you can make the night before are amazing! You can make them the night before and stick them in the fridge to be ready to just pop in the oven the next day before your party. This is great so you can focus on more important things like your apperance.
Sadly I didn't plan for this since I was so busy thinking about my dirty faux hardwood floor the night before. So while I wanted to look cute, I instead had messy hair from the oven heat and sweaty clothes. I
I made Mini Mac N Cheese, Meatless Meat Turnovers and Guacamole.
The Mini Mac's came out delicious. Unlike the recipe I did not use american cheese. I hate it with a passion. In hindsight I probably should have since they didn't quite stay mini. They fell apart and I ended up having a plate of macaroni and cheese. I also used cayan pepper instead of paprika, because I like spicy. I think there may have been like a cup full of the stuff left over once everyone was gone.
The Meatless Meat Turnovers are called that because usually one uses ground beef, onion soup mix and browns it then sticks in cheese to melt. You then place the mixture into the triangles of the crecent rolls and bake for 15 mins till they bake. The Boyfriends good friend is a vegitarian so I decided to try using smart meat, with success. I'd never want to eat tacos with the stuff, its much too salty and weirdly flavored but paired with the bread it was just perfect. I'd use it again because its lower in fat, but I would probably not add extra garlic or onion. There were five left over after everyone left, which I ate for breakfast this morning and they were SO good.
Of course despite the fact that I forgot tomatos and added too much jalipeno for most of my guests my Guacamole rocked.
My almost disaster: the couch. Since the only shared space is the Kitchen I had to figure out a way to fit 10 people into my room. Now I definatly didnt think about this all the way through. My mother has a love seat in her bedroom. My brother and I had the WORST time trying to get it out. It involved alot of cussing, some sibling regressive fighting, (you know the kind, where you're a college graduate with a mess of experience under your belt but for some reason your little brother can always bring out the yell-y, scream-y, 'I hate you' claiming bitch in you, never mind that you deal with more irritating people on a daily basis) removed couch legs, and a removed door from its hinges. After all that headache, my brother sits down for, like, five seconds and is able to figure it out himself. Talk about almost tear inducing.
As "payment" I was charged with helping him hang posters. Which was frightening enough. I encouraged him with the phrase "less is more." Thankfully, I only had about enough tacks for 4 posters. Only one which was atrocious, a Gundam Wing poster of some sort.
Once guests started ariving and food was put in the oven, the temperature in the room went up a good ten degrees. Thankfully everyone was a good sport, no one stayed too late, the not so much Star Trek fans left by 6 or 7, and the die hard fans stayed till about 9 and everyone pitched in to help clean.
For my first housewarming party in my new apartment we did pretty well. And now I have enough left over beer to fill a keg. I want to have people over more often. Yay!
This weekend I had my first housewarming party. In hindsight perhaps not the best idea ever.
Friday night I had a spare five seconds between the most recent fight my Stepmom had with my dad and me trying to sleep to get my grocery shopping done. I had mini mac n cheese, "meatless" meat turnovers, home made guacamole and a shit ton of Champagne on the menu. So while listening to my stepmom bitch about things both of us know are never going to change about my father, I picked up my room and whisked Ace hair off everything.
Saturday night after going to an interesting grad show with The Boyfriend, (I say interesting because one artist was a sub par comic strip artist and the other was a pretty amazing digital artist who specialized in fantasy art, not really my cup of tea.) I cleaned like a bitch. I even mopped the floor. I stepped on glass, found enough stray cat litter to fill a box, and washed every dish we owned. I went to bed twitching, trying to figure out how I was going to fit everything I needed to do into the hours before 4pm the next day.
Saturday dawned balls hot. Its never THAT hot in LA. Yeah, it may hit about 100 in the valley, but the South Bay area is NEVER that hot. 91 degrees, is too hot! I delayed the cooking as much as I could. I kept everything in the fridge prepared and ready to stick in the oven. I drank as much water as my bladder would hold in the meantime as I washed dishes and dished out ice water to Ace. I knew I'd be drinking once guests arrived and I did not want to become the one to pass out because I was dehydrated. I am so glad to have moved out and have such a large kitchen at my disposal. It was fantastic despite the heat.
Gem of the Day: Appetizers you can make the night before are amazing! You can make them the night before and stick them in the fridge to be ready to just pop in the oven the next day before your party. This is great so you can focus on more important things like your apperance.
Sadly I didn't plan for this since I was so busy thinking about my dirty faux hardwood floor the night before. So while I wanted to look cute, I instead had messy hair from the oven heat and sweaty clothes. I
I made Mini Mac N Cheese, Meatless Meat Turnovers and Guacamole.
The Mini Mac's came out delicious. Unlike the recipe I did not use american cheese. I hate it with a passion. In hindsight I probably should have since they didn't quite stay mini. They fell apart and I ended up having a plate of macaroni and cheese. I also used cayan pepper instead of paprika, because I like spicy. I think there may have been like a cup full of the stuff left over once everyone was gone.
The Meatless Meat Turnovers are called that because usually one uses ground beef, onion soup mix and browns it then sticks in cheese to melt. You then place the mixture into the triangles of the crecent rolls and bake for 15 mins till they bake. The Boyfriends good friend is a vegitarian so I decided to try using smart meat, with success. I'd never want to eat tacos with the stuff, its much too salty and weirdly flavored but paired with the bread it was just perfect. I'd use it again because its lower in fat, but I would probably not add extra garlic or onion. There were five left over after everyone left, which I ate for breakfast this morning and they were SO good.
Of course despite the fact that I forgot tomatos and added too much jalipeno for most of my guests my Guacamole rocked.
My almost disaster: the couch. Since the only shared space is the Kitchen I had to figure out a way to fit 10 people into my room. Now I definatly didnt think about this all the way through. My mother has a love seat in her bedroom. My brother and I had the WORST time trying to get it out. It involved alot of cussing, some sibling regressive fighting, (you know the kind, where you're a college graduate with a mess of experience under your belt but for some reason your little brother can always bring out the yell-y, scream-y, 'I hate you' claiming bitch in you, never mind that you deal with more irritating people on a daily basis) removed couch legs, and a removed door from its hinges. After all that headache, my brother sits down for, like, five seconds and is able to figure it out himself. Talk about almost tear inducing.
As "payment" I was charged with helping him hang posters. Which was frightening enough. I encouraged him with the phrase "less is more." Thankfully, I only had about enough tacks for 4 posters. Only one which was atrocious, a Gundam Wing poster of some sort.
Once guests started ariving and food was put in the oven, the temperature in the room went up a good ten degrees. Thankfully everyone was a good sport, no one stayed too late, the not so much Star Trek fans left by 6 or 7, and the die hard fans stayed till about 9 and everyone pitched in to help clean.
For my first housewarming party in my new apartment we did pretty well. And now I have enough left over beer to fill a keg. I want to have people over more often. Yay!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Not about moving or beauty...
This one's about cooking.
Well, baking specifically.
One of my FAVORITE things to do.
I made Glazed Apple Oatmeal Muffins last night since I had nothing to do after work.
I had most of the ingredients at home except unflavored oatmeal, lemons and granny smith apples. This was such an easy recipe to make but they didn't come out as nicely as they should.
As you can see they are a bit flat. Compared to the blog above's picture, they are pretty lame. They tasted amazing, but were heavy and not light and fluffy as muffins should be.
They tasted really apple-y, with just a hint of the lemon bite in the lemon/sugar glaze.
I attribute this heaviness to the fact that I may have overmixed the batter, the apples were a tiny bit too juicy, or I may have not cooked them for long enough.
The problem with baking is that one has to be VERY careful about the steps. In some cooking you cant just skip steps, but with baking, there's no cutting corners. Adding an egg when you should have waited till after you combine flour and liquid mixture, is sure to be a disaster. Like I did with my poor lemon chiffon cake, jiggled like jello but with an egg consistency all because I added an extra egg white too early. I'm determined to get these muffins to be light, and fluffy. I have one more granny smith apple waiting at home that I'm going to use to bake another batch on Monday.
Earlier that morning I made The Boyfriend and I french toast. I don't know why I even bother with it anymore. I cannot for the life of me make presentable french toast or pancakes. (Although I did find a recipe for beer pancakes which would be amazing with the Belmont Brewery's Strawberry Blonde Ale) I think I'm just going to stop attempting cute, healthy, breakfast in bed kind of breakfasts. I'm Mexican, and can refry beans and fry potatos like no one's business. My grandma makes this amazing breakfast dish with triangles of corn tortillas and scrambled eggs so its like you have tortilla chips in your scrambled eggs! So totally not healthy for you, but god, so good!
But tonight, once I get out of work, I'm going to make goat cheese twice baked potatoes. And I keep hoping I wont screw up.
Well, baking specifically.
One of my FAVORITE things to do.
I made Glazed Apple Oatmeal Muffins last night since I had nothing to do after work.
I had most of the ingredients at home except unflavored oatmeal, lemons and granny smith apples. This was such an easy recipe to make but they didn't come out as nicely as they should.
As you can see they are a bit flat. Compared to the blog above's picture, they are pretty lame. They tasted amazing, but were heavy and not light and fluffy as muffins should be.They tasted really apple-y, with just a hint of the lemon bite in the lemon/sugar glaze.
I attribute this heaviness to the fact that I may have overmixed the batter, the apples were a tiny bit too juicy, or I may have not cooked them for long enough.
The problem with baking is that one has to be VERY careful about the steps. In some cooking you cant just skip steps, but with baking, there's no cutting corners. Adding an egg when you should have waited till after you combine flour and liquid mixture, is sure to be a disaster. Like I did with my poor lemon chiffon cake, jiggled like jello but with an egg consistency all because I added an extra egg white too early. I'm determined to get these muffins to be light, and fluffy. I have one more granny smith apple waiting at home that I'm going to use to bake another batch on Monday.
Earlier that morning I made The Boyfriend and I french toast. I don't know why I even bother with it anymore. I cannot for the life of me make presentable french toast or pancakes. (Although I did find a recipe for beer pancakes which would be amazing with the Belmont Brewery's Strawberry Blonde Ale) I think I'm just going to stop attempting cute, healthy, breakfast in bed kind of breakfasts. I'm Mexican, and can refry beans and fry potatos like no one's business. My grandma makes this amazing breakfast dish with triangles of corn tortillas and scrambled eggs so its like you have tortilla chips in your scrambled eggs! So totally not healthy for you, but god, so good!
But tonight, once I get out of work, I'm going to make goat cheese twice baked potatoes. And I keep hoping I wont screw up.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
FINALLY!
After it feels like a million years of moving in, I've FINALLY unpacked almost every single one of my boxes. I have to get a few of those stick on hooks for my purses, and figure out what to do with my bag of high heels but... its nice to have a room that looks grown up. So here are said pictures of my new home.This, is obviously my bed. I've had that red comforter since I moved into college. A big purchase that I'm going to have to save up for is a new comforter with a down, or down like alternative in it, (they run about 50 bucks at ikea) and a new duvet cover. The black one I bought hoping to cover this awkward one was too small. (Silly colleges and their extra long twins.) My partner in crime and I are going to craft a headboard at some point. Once I find some good brocade to put to work matching my color scheme. She claims they are really easy to make.
As you can see above my bed I've got my two collages, and various smaller frames. I may get a few more nicer larger frames in the near future as the wall looks a tiny bit bare. This is the FIRST time ever that I've got pictures in FRAMES!
Here is my vanity. (Man this is a way crooked picture, sorry guys) I could not function without it. Its just big enough to see a full length look of that outfit you're not sure of, and is the perfect size for awkward collages, my monthly budget (in lime green) and making sure my winter foundation matches my summer tan. I love it. I keep hoping I'll have time to stain it the same color as the piece that my tv is sitting on. One day...The photographs above my bed are pretty shadily acquired. My ex Michelle had all these way trendy, emo, angsty, indy girls as her friends. Oh, you know the ones, who shop at kid robot and cut up their own clothes but aren't very nice despite their nerdiness. The one's who love photobooths and poloroids. (Ugh, I still gag thinking about "what-if's" and that relationship!) Well, on my last trip up there to see her, one of those friends showed off these proofs of these ferris wheels. I really wanted one. Like, really, really. Michelle refused to give me one, because she liked them so much and they were from HER friend anyway. So since I had a purse, michelle only carried a 12 year old's baby blue backpack, I was stuck holding them. I guess I happened to forget to remind her about them at the end of my trip and came back to LA to, at some point, frame them. I was so torn up about her when we broke up I hid them. And only discovered them when I was moving. Yay for me, I like them as much as I did when I saw them first.
Last but not least, my closet. Which is pretty full. Entirely too full as far as I'm concerned. I need to figure out what to do with everything in there. Maybe next weekend.There's my brand new bookshelf. Which I bought at ikea for 40 bucks. Full to the brim of too many good things to read. I had to resort to filling the top of the shelf full of books so I could get them all to fit. The trick here is ladies and gentelmen, if you have alot of paperbacks, or books that are the same size you stack them horizontally as well as vertically. I hope that tomorrow night I'll be able to get a close up of the two bookshelves in the house, which are literally packed with trashy romance noves and fluffy books. I DO have a pretty impressive collection of books on medieval art, chicano art, and mesoamerican art, which I think I'll try to start reading in conjunction with my trashy romance fix. And what is my room without some cute pinups for me to look at first thing in the morning?
What do you think? I kinda want to squeeze in my really comfy chair from my dad's house in, but that might be overkill. I just get so tired of sitting on my bed and reading. And its a prety ugly olive green color, its just so very nice to sit in. We'll see.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
One room down
Here is a picture of my new bathroom. I didnt realize how hard it was to get any sort of picture of the whole room. The weird cord you see is the sea horse lamp.I haven't decided if I want to put my pin ups on the wall. I'm afraid it will look too cluttered. Maybe I'll just be really discriminating and post only cute ones that match the color scheme of the room on the walls.
I love that boat print by the way. When I did the Acres of Books library shoot at the store last year i found this in a chest along with a pretty hilarious last supper print. For 3 dollars I got both. I've wanted to do something with these prints forever. I'm glad I'll get to use it in the bathroom. I guess with the seahorse lamp and the mother of pearl shell soap dish Olivia got me from the Caribbean (or someplace), a nautical theme is appropriate. Ugh I just think its so trite.
I started hanging things on my walls this morning. I think I went WAY overboard on the framing things. I don't think I have much room left on my walls. And now I think it looks too cluttered. Damn. Oh well. Thankfully I only used tiny nails so the holes wont be so conspicuous. I'm totally going to have to move everything and maybe take some shit down. Lame.
They are changing my hours here at the library. I now will work an even more awkward shift. 1:30 pm to 10pm. FML. I won't even have a social life. No one wants to hang out at freaking 11 pm!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
A Grown Up House
You know what the difference between a grown up house and a college house is?
Frames. Yep, plain old fashioned picture frames. Silly I know.
My coworker and I talked about this a bit at break when she asked how settled I was in my new apartment. I told her I was still drowning in boxes, empty and otherwise. (goddamn trashy romance novels!) And how I spent a ton of money this weekend on frames, and trying to make my room look grown up and not so childish. She related to me her realization on "grown up" homes, when she went to a house party that a friend was throwing with her boyfriend. She walked in and all the dinner and flatware matched. Posters and pictures were in frames and there was a color scheme going. That's when she realized SHE was a grown up.
One of my really good friends from college is living with her much much older boyfriend, and she is/was always the type to worry about matching and stuff. Now that they live in his house she's even more aware, even though she really cant change anything without his consent. My Partner In Crime is similar. She loves the color combination of purple and grass green and has crafted her room at her parents house to showcase those colors. When I was living in the California house I choose every color of red imaginable and decked my room out in that. But it was still a college room, with posters that didn't match and Christmas lights. So I threw out my Christmas lights, and decided on something a little different for a color scheme. Orange, black and golden yellow. My mother and best friend insist that its going to look like Halloween. But I think if I'm careful and go heavy on the black and light on the orange (or tend toward a more bronze orange) I should be ok. I'm kinda nervous. I'll be a grown up.
Yesterday I took one large step in being a grown up and purchased 50 dollars worth of picture frames. Three poster sized ones, one long narrow ones, four 8x10's, and four little ones. I framed some of my favorite pictures from Team Gay in Santa Cruz. I took two of the large poster frames and collaged my last weekend in Santa Cruz Polaroids, juxtaposed with a few of my favorite (This one is called "Wrong Nail") Gil Elvgren pinups. I always had a collage wall in the dorms with things I found interesting; articles, ads, flyers, pictures and bottle caps I found around campus. I decided to toss all that crap and keep only a few cherished ones for my pin up polaroid collage. I have about six or seven fans that I want to put up on the walls also, that I've collected over the years. Now its all about moving things around and getting a stud finder.
Today's Gem: Ikea has the best frames for your money
For fifty bucks I got 14 frames. I bought six black frames and eight clip frames which consist of just glass and particle board for backing with silver clips keeping them together. The tiny clip frames come in a pack of four for 2.99. The large clip frames which were measured about 20x13 or something were only 4.99. The black frames were 4.99 and 7.99. I swear you cant go wrong because they were 20 dollars a piece at Michaels!
These large clip frames are ideal for a collage of pictures. I saw these really cute frames at target which were about the same size that consisted of different panes of glass in one frame which gave each picture placed on each glass panel depth. They were so expensive. So I settled for these clip frames instead. I went to Michaels and got scrapbooking paper in my highlighting colors (orange and gold) and placed them as the backing. Then collaged them to give them some depth all on their own. I tend not to be the type to want symmetry for some reason. I like everything to be a tiny bit asemetrical. So mine are all at odd slants and going wonky directions. We'll see how it looks. For more practical reasons these clip frames are ideal because if you decide your color scheme is different you can change out the back paper for your new color. I have a feeling this will happen every six months or so for me. I get so bored easily.
Gem #2: Michael's > Joann's for crafty stuff, but Joann's > Michael's for price.
Ugh I paid six dollars for yarn for beardaversary. WTF! I'm pretty sure it would have been cheaper at Joann's. And I feel like I'd also get a ton more of selection. My beard btw is going to be rockin'.
Hmm, I think that's about it. Oh, yeah, one more: always always always check the As-Is area of ikea. I snaked a rockin' black shag rug from the As-Is area for 53% off. (And by snaked I mean I literally snaked it out from under some hipster/scenester/goth/punk girl, she was just staring at it with her hands on her hips and Partner in Crime whipped it off its hanger and we stuck it on my cart. Man did we get the stink eye) It was only 24 dollars. It was the floor model so it did have some left over sticky paper residue in the corner but with some tweezers and carpet cleaner it looks as good as new. And now I can use my huge hardwood floor for more than just walking. Like impromptu champagne-taco bell-picnic-framing-parties with the Partner in Crime on my clearance urban outfitters square floor cushions. Or as Partner said, "Now you can have sex on your floor!" Hmph. That'll be the day.
Frames. Yep, plain old fashioned picture frames. Silly I know.
My coworker and I talked about this a bit at break when she asked how settled I was in my new apartment. I told her I was still drowning in boxes, empty and otherwise. (goddamn trashy romance novels!) And how I spent a ton of money this weekend on frames, and trying to make my room look grown up and not so childish. She related to me her realization on "grown up" homes, when she went to a house party that a friend was throwing with her boyfriend. She walked in and all the dinner and flatware matched. Posters and pictures were in frames and there was a color scheme going. That's when she realized SHE was a grown up.
One of my really good friends from college is living with her much much older boyfriend, and she is/was always the type to worry about matching and stuff. Now that they live in his house she's even more aware, even though she really cant change anything without his consent. My Partner In Crime is similar. She loves the color combination of purple and grass green and has crafted her room at her parents house to showcase those colors. When I was living in the California house I choose every color of red imaginable and decked my room out in that. But it was still a college room, with posters that didn't match and Christmas lights. So I threw out my Christmas lights, and decided on something a little different for a color scheme. Orange, black and golden yellow. My mother and best friend insist that its going to look like Halloween. But I think if I'm careful and go heavy on the black and light on the orange (or tend toward a more bronze orange) I should be ok. I'm kinda nervous. I'll be a grown up.
Yesterday I took one large step in being a grown up and purchased 50 dollars worth of picture frames. Three poster sized ones, one long narrow ones, four 8x10's, and four little ones. I framed some of my favorite pictures from Team Gay in Santa Cruz. I took two of the large poster frames and collaged my last weekend in Santa Cruz Polaroids, juxtaposed with a few of my favorite (This one is called "Wrong Nail") Gil Elvgren pinups. I always had a collage wall in the dorms with things I found interesting; articles, ads, flyers, pictures and bottle caps I found around campus. I decided to toss all that crap and keep only a few cherished ones for my pin up polaroid collage. I have about six or seven fans that I want to put up on the walls also, that I've collected over the years. Now its all about moving things around and getting a stud finder.
Today's Gem: Ikea has the best frames for your money
For fifty bucks I got 14 frames. I bought six black frames and eight clip frames which consist of just glass and particle board for backing with silver clips keeping them together. The tiny clip frames come in a pack of four for 2.99. The large clip frames which were measured about 20x13 or something were only 4.99. The black frames were 4.99 and 7.99. I swear you cant go wrong because they were 20 dollars a piece at Michaels!
These large clip frames are ideal for a collage of pictures. I saw these really cute frames at target which were about the same size that consisted of different panes of glass in one frame which gave each picture placed on each glass panel depth. They were so expensive. So I settled for these clip frames instead. I went to Michaels and got scrapbooking paper in my highlighting colors (orange and gold) and placed them as the backing. Then collaged them to give them some depth all on their own. I tend not to be the type to want symmetry for some reason. I like everything to be a tiny bit asemetrical. So mine are all at odd slants and going wonky directions. We'll see how it looks. For more practical reasons these clip frames are ideal because if you decide your color scheme is different you can change out the back paper for your new color. I have a feeling this will happen every six months or so for me. I get so bored easily.
Gem #2: Michael's > Joann's for crafty stuff, but Joann's > Michael's for price.
Ugh I paid six dollars for yarn for beardaversary. WTF! I'm pretty sure it would have been cheaper at Joann's. And I feel like I'd also get a ton more of selection. My beard btw is going to be rockin'.
Hmm, I think that's about it. Oh, yeah, one more: always always always check the As-Is area of ikea. I snaked a rockin' black shag rug from the As-Is area for 53% off. (And by snaked I mean I literally snaked it out from under some hipster/scenester/goth/punk girl, she was just staring at it with her hands on her hips and Partner in Crime whipped it off its hanger and we stuck it on my cart. Man did we get the stink eye) It was only 24 dollars. It was the floor model so it did have some left over sticky paper residue in the corner but with some tweezers and carpet cleaner it looks as good as new. And now I can use my huge hardwood floor for more than just walking. Like impromptu champagne-taco bell-picnic-framing-parties with the Partner in Crime on my clearance urban outfitters square floor cushions. Or as Partner said, "Now you can have sex on your floor!" Hmph. That'll be the day.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Not about moving
Today's post is about beauty.
One old favorite, and one new discovery, each made by Sally Hansen.
I wax my own eyebrows. I've been complimented on it often. I used to use the nasty pot of wax that you microwave but it gets a little icky and old really fast. And that waiting for it to cool, ugh, sucks! So I discovered these they are pre-waxed strips that are lovely to use! No gross mess, no microwave. I cut them to follow my eyebrow line. I am at work and did it in three minutes!
My newest discovery is the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color. I will never go back to any other brand. (ok maybe I lie but...) Its only about 4 bucks, one coat is all you need, they've got some kick ass colors, (I'm wearing sonic bloom) and it drys so fast! And the brush is so perfect! The only crappy part is you have to invest in the top coat. An extra 4 bucks but, it makes it all shiny. And I painted my nails on thursday and it appears they may last through the entire weekend.
that is all!
One old favorite, and one new discovery, each made by Sally Hansen.
I wax my own eyebrows. I've been complimented on it often. I used to use the nasty pot of wax that you microwave but it gets a little icky and old really fast. And that waiting for it to cool, ugh, sucks! So I discovered these they are pre-waxed strips that are lovely to use! No gross mess, no microwave. I cut them to follow my eyebrow line. I am at work and did it in three minutes!
My newest discovery is the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color. I will never go back to any other brand. (ok maybe I lie but...) Its only about 4 bucks, one coat is all you need, they've got some kick ass colors, (I'm wearing sonic bloom) and it drys so fast! And the brush is so perfect! The only crappy part is you have to invest in the top coat. An extra 4 bucks but, it makes it all shiny. And I painted my nails on thursday and it appears they may last through the entire weekend.
that is all!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
mystery bruises.
I didn't want to post today, but I'm silly. This blog is all about moving and I did it! Move that is. My new home is perfect. Sizable and oh so exciting for its decorating possibility. My walls are painted a really neutral peach color with white baseboards and off white closet doors. I refuse to take any pictures until I've completely unpacked everything but my books and hung my pictures. I have put everything away except my arts and crafts stuff, which I have too much of and need to purge like a bitch.
As for the move itself. It went really smoothly. I had my lovely boyfriend and fantastic best friend come over around ten and keep me sane. My brother and his 3 friends did the actual moving of the large items. With Boyfriend and Partner in Crime to help we managed to make the move go a lot smoother than if it was just my brother and my mother. We came up with the original idea to stick the heavy items on a blanket and drag them around on the hardwood floors so it wasn't so difficult to lift everything. It also allowed us greater access to seeing how things fit in rooms and didn't scratch the floor. I kept the movement of boxes and things to a maximum by sticking things that belonged in each room in their respective rooms. It gave us so much more space. I kept my clothes in their drawers. Minus the fact it highlighted my weird phobia about people touching and seeing my underwear, it totally worked. No extra boxes and they stack pretty nicely. Then you can just stick the drawers back into their chest and you have no stray boxes taking up space!
(By the way I looked up phobias and there are no clinical terms for my weird phobia of people touching or looking at my underwear. I hate it. The boyfriend ALWAYS teases me, by getting really close to the discarded underwear near his bed next to my pile of clothes, or covering his eyes and saying "I didn't look! I swear I didn't look at them!" I have since learned to hide my discarded underwear in the pile of clothes.)
I did have two accidents. I ran into the corner of a table while carrying a box. I now have a large bruise the size of Canada on the top of my thigh. Or maybe Wyoming. Maybe even Montana. Maybe all three put together. Either way it hurts like a bitch, and I fell onto the floor in pain. This thrills the boyfriend since he LOVES poking my bruises. This one I have made sure to smack his hands away from. He got in one poke and I howled so loudly in pain he covered my mouth in embarrassment and shame. I have a tiny but dark mystery bruise on my forearm which I have allowed him to poke because he has been such a good sport. I ran into something and cut myself on my foot. It bled for a while and I didn't even bother to clean it since things were so crazy. Mystery injuries are so awkward.
I did a bad thing for my budget. I spent thirty dollars on my credit card and got pretty jewel toned towels and a bathmat. I was so excited to at least have one whole room done. I decided on red, turquoise and a dark orange for the bathroom since its so white and sterile. My brother insisted I stick the orange ikea seahorse light in the bathroom because "its so freaking sweet!" Uh, ok, sir. So I worked around that. I have to get my pin up girls laminated so I can mount them in the bathroom. It gets really steamy so I dont want them to get limp and fall apart. I love them so much! I'd do my whole house with half naked girls if I could.
I am the most unpacked in my house since I had all day Monday to work on my space. The kitchen is in a really awkward stage between unpacked and in shambles. We've been eating pizza for the last three days, because my mother bought all the movers pizza and they didn't eat nearly as much as we thought they were going to. I finally got fed up with it and went to the store after Karate last night. Since we only have my tiny college mini fridge, I had to be frugal for space constraints.
So I started my new decision to eat healthier since my mother and (kinda) my brother are more adventurous eaters than my stepdad was. (I swear the man never ate anything that wasn't frozen or didn't come out of a box. There always had to be a meat, starch and canned veggies. There is nothing grosser than canned green beans! They taste like nast!) When we lived with him we almost had a schedule. There was bbq chicken, pork chops (always way too salty!), roasted chicken (which I will miss forever!), and t-bone steak. Sides consisted of mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and sometimes a rice a roni. We always had a crappy canned veggie. Thrown into the mix was frozen pizza, Hungry Man tv dinners, meatloaf, bisquick casserole and the stray meat n gravy over rice thing my mother would make on occasion. It got SO OLD. I'm not saying I don't like routine. If it were up to me I'd eat chicken or ham sandwiches with goldfish and fruit for lunch every day, but when it comes to dinner, I'd like something special on occasion! As I said I'll miss his roasted chicken with a passion, but I wont despair for too long, because my mom knows how to make it she just doesn't. Since we have this weird gulch of despair thing going on in our parking area, where if you back up too much you'll fall off and your car will get stuck, I'm going to invest in a Weber and get perfect at roasting a whole chicken so that the meat just slides off the bone. (Sorry to any reading vegetarians. I do love chicken!)
For our tiny fridge till we get a full sized one I got granola bars, yogurt, bananas, peanut butter, apples, milk and juice. I never thought such simple fare could be so good! This weekend I'm going to use Billie Murdoch's fantastic beer bread recipe and christen our new stove, for something other than warming pizza, and fill our Virgin Kitchen with the smell of baking bread. I plan on showing my mom that living with me damn well has more perks than just the sudden friendliness and playfulness of my temperamental cat Ace.
Speaking of Ace, he appears to be adjusting to the move swimmingly. He sleeps under my bed for the time being because he is nervous about the moving noises but he's ventured out quite a lot during the night, damn him. Complete with meows, chirps and chasings of weird dust/lint things. He loves the sound of his claws on the hardwood, a sure sign I need to cut them, likes stretching them out. He's got a lot more energy now that the dogs are not there to harass him, which is a blessing, because I was worried he was depressed, and a curse because he freaking wants to play at the most inconvenient hours! "No Ace! Four am is NOT a good time to chase little plastic balls around the room!" He is enamored of my mother's room and won't leave her alone. Nor will he stop trying to get into the windows he's NOT allowed to get into. So I've had to be vigilant with the spray bottle. Its pretty hilarious to see him run away from the water and tear around a corner only to see him skid because he has no carpet to give him traction on. I have renamed him "the hell beast," after last night and his playing. He did come cuddle with me twice, once around five am and again this morning around nine am. He hasn't done that since the dogs have come. Its a nice change.
Too bad I couldn't sleep well last night. Lame I know.
No Gems today, I'm too sore from karate.
As for the move itself. It went really smoothly. I had my lovely boyfriend and fantastic best friend come over around ten and keep me sane. My brother and his 3 friends did the actual moving of the large items. With Boyfriend and Partner in Crime to help we managed to make the move go a lot smoother than if it was just my brother and my mother. We came up with the original idea to stick the heavy items on a blanket and drag them around on the hardwood floors so it wasn't so difficult to lift everything. It also allowed us greater access to seeing how things fit in rooms and didn't scratch the floor. I kept the movement of boxes and things to a maximum by sticking things that belonged in each room in their respective rooms. It gave us so much more space. I kept my clothes in their drawers. Minus the fact it highlighted my weird phobia about people touching and seeing my underwear, it totally worked. No extra boxes and they stack pretty nicely. Then you can just stick the drawers back into their chest and you have no stray boxes taking up space!
(By the way I looked up phobias and there are no clinical terms for my weird phobia of people touching or looking at my underwear. I hate it. The boyfriend ALWAYS teases me, by getting really close to the discarded underwear near his bed next to my pile of clothes, or covering his eyes and saying "I didn't look! I swear I didn't look at them!" I have since learned to hide my discarded underwear in the pile of clothes.)
I did have two accidents. I ran into the corner of a table while carrying a box. I now have a large bruise the size of Canada on the top of my thigh. Or maybe Wyoming. Maybe even Montana. Maybe all three put together. Either way it hurts like a bitch, and I fell onto the floor in pain. This thrills the boyfriend since he LOVES poking my bruises. This one I have made sure to smack his hands away from. He got in one poke and I howled so loudly in pain he covered my mouth in embarrassment and shame. I have a tiny but dark mystery bruise on my forearm which I have allowed him to poke because he has been such a good sport. I ran into something and cut myself on my foot. It bled for a while and I didn't even bother to clean it since things were so crazy. Mystery injuries are so awkward.
I did a bad thing for my budget. I spent thirty dollars on my credit card and got pretty jewel toned towels and a bathmat. I was so excited to at least have one whole room done. I decided on red, turquoise and a dark orange for the bathroom since its so white and sterile. My brother insisted I stick the orange ikea seahorse light in the bathroom because "its so freaking sweet!" Uh, ok, sir. So I worked around that. I have to get my pin up girls laminated so I can mount them in the bathroom. It gets really steamy so I dont want them to get limp and fall apart. I love them so much! I'd do my whole house with half naked girls if I could.
I am the most unpacked in my house since I had all day Monday to work on my space. The kitchen is in a really awkward stage between unpacked and in shambles. We've been eating pizza for the last three days, because my mother bought all the movers pizza and they didn't eat nearly as much as we thought they were going to. I finally got fed up with it and went to the store after Karate last night. Since we only have my tiny college mini fridge, I had to be frugal for space constraints.
So I started my new decision to eat healthier since my mother and (kinda) my brother are more adventurous eaters than my stepdad was. (I swear the man never ate anything that wasn't frozen or didn't come out of a box. There always had to be a meat, starch and canned veggies. There is nothing grosser than canned green beans! They taste like nast!) When we lived with him we almost had a schedule. There was bbq chicken, pork chops (always way too salty!), roasted chicken (which I will miss forever!), and t-bone steak. Sides consisted of mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and sometimes a rice a roni. We always had a crappy canned veggie. Thrown into the mix was frozen pizza, Hungry Man tv dinners, meatloaf, bisquick casserole and the stray meat n gravy over rice thing my mother would make on occasion. It got SO OLD. I'm not saying I don't like routine. If it were up to me I'd eat chicken or ham sandwiches with goldfish and fruit for lunch every day, but when it comes to dinner, I'd like something special on occasion! As I said I'll miss his roasted chicken with a passion, but I wont despair for too long, because my mom knows how to make it she just doesn't. Since we have this weird gulch of despair thing going on in our parking area, where if you back up too much you'll fall off and your car will get stuck, I'm going to invest in a Weber and get perfect at roasting a whole chicken so that the meat just slides off the bone. (Sorry to any reading vegetarians. I do love chicken!)
For our tiny fridge till we get a full sized one I got granola bars, yogurt, bananas, peanut butter, apples, milk and juice. I never thought such simple fare could be so good! This weekend I'm going to use Billie Murdoch's fantastic beer bread recipe and christen our new stove, for something other than warming pizza, and fill our Virgin Kitchen with the smell of baking bread. I plan on showing my mom that living with me damn well has more perks than just the sudden friendliness and playfulness of my temperamental cat Ace.
Speaking of Ace, he appears to be adjusting to the move swimmingly. He sleeps under my bed for the time being because he is nervous about the moving noises but he's ventured out quite a lot during the night, damn him. Complete with meows, chirps and chasings of weird dust/lint things. He loves the sound of his claws on the hardwood, a sure sign I need to cut them, likes stretching them out. He's got a lot more energy now that the dogs are not there to harass him, which is a blessing, because I was worried he was depressed, and a curse because he freaking wants to play at the most inconvenient hours! "No Ace! Four am is NOT a good time to chase little plastic balls around the room!" He is enamored of my mother's room and won't leave her alone. Nor will he stop trying to get into the windows he's NOT allowed to get into. So I've had to be vigilant with the spray bottle. Its pretty hilarious to see him run away from the water and tear around a corner only to see him skid because he has no carpet to give him traction on. I have renamed him "the hell beast," after last night and his playing. He did come cuddle with me twice, once around five am and again this morning around nine am. He hasn't done that since the dogs have come. Its a nice change.
Too bad I couldn't sleep well last night. Lame I know.
No Gems today, I'm too sore from karate.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
On Cleaning, Family and Friends.
Status of the move: 8/10ths done.
If there's one thing I've learned in my moving is that you can NEVER have too many hands. When it comes to hauling boxes and hiking up stairs, one really must have friends to spare. Since I come from a pretty traditional Mexican family, we know how to treat our helpers. Since I'm a raging lush, I know how to treat MY helpers. Why lunch and mimosas of course! They'll deserve them once they have to drag all our furniture up the stairs. We have 8 large pieces, two tvs, and two beds to move tomorrow. My room is almost done, just my clothes, and the bare necessities are left. Oh and another huge under the bed storage box full of books.
About moving: Really, if you're a bibliophile like me, moving is never going to be easy with the books you cannot bear to part with. I even purged them, and planned on taking them to the used book store (so I could get MORE books at some point) and still I have seven boxes of books and no place to put them.
Back to the subject, I am having my fantastic and overwhelmingly lovely boyfriend and equally as charming and wonderful best friend come over and help me move and unpack tomorrow. I have invited a few choice flaky friends to also help, but we'll see if the draw of free booze will be worth them showing up. I plan on putting my two favorite people to work alphabetizing my trashy romance novel collection, and strategizing on where to put my furniture. I have a very worn bedroom set that I am pretty sure dates back to the 1920's. Which is in various states of refinishing. But I could never give it up, I have this HUGE vanity mirror that I adore more than anything. Its just frustrating because its so damn large. And then hopefully, if time permits, I can drag them both to ikea and we can look at bookcases and shelving. Once we have a bit of an understanding of how many books I have and how much space I'll need. I even contemplated making a cinderblock bookcase, but I'm not quite sure how classy that will look.
My grandmother came over today to line the kitchen cabients. Liner keeps dust and other nasty things from invading your dishes. I stole some of the cling liner and lined my medicine cabienet and bathroom drawer. It really makes gross boring drawers look much cleaner and less shady.
Today's Moving Gem: The 99 cent store is god for many things.
I'm sure my college friends would be sure to tell me that the 99 cent store uses sweat shops, cuts down rain forests and child labor. But honestly, at this moment in this economy, I could give a flying fuck less. I was able to buy every single cleaning product (plus shower stuff for my brother, paper towels, toilet paper and toothpaste) for 23 dollars. I'm not kidding when I say every single cleaning supply you'd ever need. It costed more to get a mop and a broom at walgreens (ok so WAY overpriced) than for me to get all that stuff. And I found it quite charming, if inconvienent, that they charge for plastic bags. In addition, they also sell condoms. How win is that?
While my grandma meticulously lines the cabinets, my brother bitches and moans about being unemployed, and living in the living room and how crappy it is. I really am not sure how living with him is going to be. I can't even get into how frustrated I am at his whining. The point of my grandma mention is, that my mom doesnt have a bed yet, so she has to sleep on my air mattress, but like a dumb ass I packed my air mattress with all my sex toys. So this is how the conversation went:
"babe? I'll need the air mattress. Is it in one of the boxes in your room?"
"[shit!] Uhhhh, let me look mom, I think I uh, maybe its still at home."
[Frantically search for the box with air mattress and strap ons in room hoping against hope that it is there and not at my stepdad's house. No such luck.]
"no, um its well, at the house. [stare at grandma guiltily] If you go pick up the boxes dont open them. I uh, well I think there might be some scandalous, and really shady things in there. [please don't let her ask what I mean, please dont let her ask what I mean.]
Thankfully my mom loves my use of the term Shady and Scandalous and laughed awkwardly and let it go. I thank god every moment that my grandmother is hard of hearing, because that would have been difficult to explain.
Gem Number 2: Never Pack Your Sex Toys in a Box Your Mother Would Look in.
Next Post: Just How Many Trashy Romance Novels Does This Slut Have?
(She MUST be exaggerating, no one has seven boxes of books full of bodice rippers.)
If there's one thing I've learned in my moving is that you can NEVER have too many hands. When it comes to hauling boxes and hiking up stairs, one really must have friends to spare. Since I come from a pretty traditional Mexican family, we know how to treat our helpers. Since I'm a raging lush, I know how to treat MY helpers. Why lunch and mimosas of course! They'll deserve them once they have to drag all our furniture up the stairs. We have 8 large pieces, two tvs, and two beds to move tomorrow. My room is almost done, just my clothes, and the bare necessities are left. Oh and another huge under the bed storage box full of books.
About moving: Really, if you're a bibliophile like me, moving is never going to be easy with the books you cannot bear to part with. I even purged them, and planned on taking them to the used book store (so I could get MORE books at some point) and still I have seven boxes of books and no place to put them.
Back to the subject, I am having my fantastic and overwhelmingly lovely boyfriend and equally as charming and wonderful best friend come over and help me move and unpack tomorrow. I have invited a few choice flaky friends to also help, but we'll see if the draw of free booze will be worth them showing up. I plan on putting my two favorite people to work alphabetizing my trashy romance novel collection, and strategizing on where to put my furniture. I have a very worn bedroom set that I am pretty sure dates back to the 1920's. Which is in various states of refinishing. But I could never give it up, I have this HUGE vanity mirror that I adore more than anything. Its just frustrating because its so damn large. And then hopefully, if time permits, I can drag them both to ikea and we can look at bookcases and shelving. Once we have a bit of an understanding of how many books I have and how much space I'll need. I even contemplated making a cinderblock bookcase, but I'm not quite sure how classy that will look.
My grandmother came over today to line the kitchen cabients. Liner keeps dust and other nasty things from invading your dishes. I stole some of the cling liner and lined my medicine cabienet and bathroom drawer. It really makes gross boring drawers look much cleaner and less shady.
Today's Moving Gem: The 99 cent store is god for many things.
I'm sure my college friends would be sure to tell me that the 99 cent store uses sweat shops, cuts down rain forests and child labor. But honestly, at this moment in this economy, I could give a flying fuck less. I was able to buy every single cleaning product (plus shower stuff for my brother, paper towels, toilet paper and toothpaste) for 23 dollars. I'm not kidding when I say every single cleaning supply you'd ever need. It costed more to get a mop and a broom at walgreens (ok so WAY overpriced) than for me to get all that stuff. And I found it quite charming, if inconvienent, that they charge for plastic bags. In addition, they also sell condoms. How win is that?
While my grandma meticulously lines the cabinets, my brother bitches and moans about being unemployed, and living in the living room and how crappy it is. I really am not sure how living with him is going to be. I can't even get into how frustrated I am at his whining. The point of my grandma mention is, that my mom doesnt have a bed yet, so she has to sleep on my air mattress, but like a dumb ass I packed my air mattress with all my sex toys. So this is how the conversation went:
"babe? I'll need the air mattress. Is it in one of the boxes in your room?"
"[shit!] Uhhhh, let me look mom, I think I uh, maybe its still at home."
[Frantically search for the box with air mattress and strap ons in room hoping against hope that it is there and not at my stepdad's house. No such luck.]
"no, um its well, at the house. [stare at grandma guiltily] If you go pick up the boxes dont open them. I uh, well I think there might be some scandalous, and really shady things in there. [please don't let her ask what I mean, please dont let her ask what I mean.]
Thankfully my mom loves my use of the term Shady and Scandalous and laughed awkwardly and let it go. I thank god every moment that my grandmother is hard of hearing, because that would have been difficult to explain.
Gem Number 2: Never Pack Your Sex Toys in a Box Your Mother Would Look in.
Next Post: Just How Many Trashy Romance Novels Does This Slut Have?
(She MUST be exaggerating, no one has seven boxes of books full of bodice rippers.)
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