Blooooooooooooood

I try and do a good deed and give some of my juicy O+ every 8 weeks when the vampire bank calls and makes their request. At least half the time, my iron is too low (barely!) and they won't have me. How dare they? My stuff ain't good enough? Whatever! It's so frustrating! Then they lecture me on what foods to eat and tell me I should take pills, etc. I freaking know. But no, I'm not going to try again in two weeks, thanks... I'll just wait for their cool little motor home to come back to work. Farewell for now, pricks! Needle prick-ers that is!!

Purse Prezies

I've desperately been in need of a new black purse and finally picked one up this week that I totally love! Of course it had to start pouring so I put it away for safe keeping and have continued to rock the narly one. Don't want to ruin the nice new leather in the rain, RIGHT LADIES?

Since I've got it on me, here's a pic of the one I will say goodbye to here shortly... I really do love it. Actually, one of you may have been it's previous owner because I think I snatched it up at the last purse exchange! It's seen it's last days, however. You can tell by the lovely fraying shoulder straps that I've been trimming off once a week. lol

Here is my artistic photo of old purse haning on office door:

Close of us stringy straps (on a good day)

And now for the new one! B. Makowsky Lites Handbag, Greenwich Tote in Black

Then on a whim, I splurged and decided I "needed" a new something brown as well and opted for this less spendy Rampage bag, called the Berlin Flap Shoulder Bag. This one I had to order so hopefully I like it as much in person as I do online!

Gizmos Galore

It’s amazing I can still make room for new appliances…but I DO!! Let’s start with a few little treasures we got for Christmas. Oops, not sure why I just said “we”. It’s really “I”. Actually, I know why I said it. I didn’t want to take full responsibility for wanting the Ice Cream Maker AND Deep Fryer. I’ll take it though. Afterall, I use those appliances to prepare tasty things only for my husband and never, never-ever, do I enjoy the fruits of my labor. It’s a real selfless relationship you see.

Ice Cream Maker
This is the Kitchen Aid attachment that I mentioned before on my wish list. I’ve made two batches of ice cream so far and I absolutely love it! During the first try, I wondered if it would really be worth all the extra time, trouble and expense, but OMG is homemade ice cream to die for!!! The cookies n’ cream tasted like perfect custard and the chocolate peanut butter was just like Baskin Robbins. Ian fell in love with me all over again. I think. Here’s the recipe I used for the Choc PB.

Deep Fryer
I realize it is kind of sick to own this but let’s be honest, how many things are just so much better fried?! I now have a mini deep fat fryer that’s perfect for small batches of fries, onion rings, fish fillets, potato skins, lumpia, taquitos, coconut shrimp, tempura, eggrolls… I could go on and on. It definitely can’t (and won’t) live on the countertop but for special, non-dieting occasions, I’m stoked on having this at my fingertips.

Buddy received this Drinking Fountain from Santa. It took a couple days of exploring and me sticking my fingers in the water before he decided he liked it but he's totally addicted to date.

Now we can move on to the husband-inspired appliances.

Coffee Maker
I’m not sure if it’s because part of his new job IS “coffee maker” at the fire station, but ever since Day 1 at this new gig of his, he’s become a coffee pheen. He started drinking at work only, but recently moved to picking cups of it up from 7-11 on his way to and from, as well as on the weekends. I’ve always drank a cup in the morning at work but am just fine without it. I’m not sure if this is just a phase of Ian’s or what, but it was definitely worth it to invest in a coffee maker at the rate he was going. For whatever reason, we both agreed drinking coffee, and now having a coffee maker on the counter, just makes us feel so adult-like. WEIRD.

Charcoal Smoker
Last, but not least, this is something Ian’s been wanting for a long time. He talks about the best meat he’s ever had being from a smoker so we went ahead and bought the dang thing. It sure is pretty and it sure did make some of the best meat I have ever had! The day after he got it, he and his boyfriend Clint cooked up 8 pounds of smoky tritip melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

Personal Chefs?

I came home the other night to dinner on the table and thought the event was worth sharing with the world. He’s picking up cooking skills and recipes at the fire station and coming home to recreate meals he’s had at work. I could get used to it very easily.

So on this particular night we had a shrimp salad. Pretty easy. Just grilled shrimp on top of mixed greens (mostly cabbage, which was fun) with a little fresh basil, cheese, avocado and Italian dressing. Ian says he was missing some special sauce that was used on the shrimp and in place of the Italian dressing but he had no idea what it was… I’ll report back when he figures it out. Anyway, we had this with garlic bread and wine. I was happy.

But look how Ian and his friend even set the table and lit a candle and everything! Impressive…

And then they prepared meat for the following day. I like to photographically document things like this. How cute are they? Slaving away in the kitchen….

And in no time, it was back to the man cave for Call of Duty. LOUDLY I might add.

Resolutions II, Snooze Fest

Oh, by the way, that last post was a joke. Sorry to disappoint. I might put on some poundage but please know that my husband’s little legs will not be sticking out from under me if I ever get to be that size. He will be long gone. I wouldn’t even blame him. Maybe I should hang that picture on the fridge for motivation? Nevermind…

I don’t have any true New Year’s Resolutions this time around but I thought I would put together a list of things I’m going to strive to, let’s say, make better practice of…

1. Keeping Tidy – Around the house and in my car. I don’t know what my deal is but I feel like I’m starting to struggle more and more with STUFF. Why is it always everywhere? And why is there always more of it? I do blame Ian for a lot of it…the bringing it in part…but even still, I need to get a better handle on keeping things put away. Maybe that means 5 or 10 minutes/day of “picking up” time, who knows.

2. Nighttime Skin Care – I know I did a whole post on this a while back and I never did anything about it. FAIL. I’ve been on top of it since Christmas though and you know what the trick is? White sheets!! We got a set as a gift and as soon as I put them on, I realized I really need to wash my face before bed each night so they don’t get all gunky with my end-of-day icky grossness. Know what’s even grosser?? Ian’s pillow is more dirty than mine these days. He must have a lot of head and face dirt. Ick! I should take a picture. LOL Anyway, it feels good to go to bed with a clean, moisturized face each night. I hope I can keep it up.

3. Being Healthy – Eating smart and exercising…yada yada yada. You know the drill.

4. Cooking at Home – Which I do plenty. But the problem I have is that I get wrapped up in trying to make too much out of it. I have to work on simplifying things and trying out meals that aren’t super involved and will be more inclined to make on a more regular basis. I get discouraged because I tend to want to take on too much at a time and then think “that was good but not realistic for a typical weeknight meal”.

5. Not Being an Old Lady – I predict this is one of the last few (read: 5-ish) years that I will still have my freedom (read: no offspring) so I need to suck it up from time to time, appease my husband, and go to the bar on a weeknight if he so desires. It ain’t gonna kill me to be out until 11 instead of 10. LOL

6. Taking More Pictures – Mostly so I can have them to put on this blog. But I’d also like to improve upon my picture taking skillz… at least the ones of food. It probably helps if the food photos of recipes I post actually look appetizing, huh? Should I buy a nicer camera? Perhaps.

7. Saving Money – For a few things in particular: In the next 1-2 years we’d like to travel to Europe and renovate one or both of our bathrooms. It’s also quite likely that we’ll end up with a new car sometime in there as well. Lofty goals! Gotta set ‘em! ;)

Hmm…what else? I guess that’s all I can think of at the moment.

Now, just cause I said these things today, doesn’t mean I’m going to live by them tomorrow, ok? I don’t want you all on my case because I want to go to bed early or not wash my face one night. Isn’t that what resolutions are? You say something that you stick to for one day? Well, there ya have it. I just might practice the things I spoke of above… then again, I may not. But thanks for listening anyway.

I just thought of one more.

8. Working harder at work - Not yet, but soon. Things at work will be-a-changin’ in the next couple of months and I foresee a real opportunity for professional growth in my future. I really do need to buckle down and apply myself a little more because I think there is a lot to be learned and I need to take advantage. (I thought of this one just as I realized I could use Paint to simulate Ian’s dirty head pillow)

Resolutions

Hey hey everyone and welcome to 2010!! I needed a fresh blog start; no sense in trying to catch up now. I am so horrible at this but I resolve, right now dangit, to kick it up a notch and post to this thing more regularly. Let’s say, once a week at least.. Heck, I had to hurry and get this in before the first week of ’10 was over so I think that’s a pretty lofty goal as it is.

In addition to trying to keep up with the blog, I thought I’d share a few more of my 2010 resolutions with you all.

#1 - Put on some extra poundage, of course. Who doesn’t say this year after year? This is the toughest on the list, by far.



Start hoarding. What can I say? I’m inspired by the show.



Adopt many more cats because this goes hand in hand with hoarding, so it seems.



Read less and watch more reality TV



Take fewer baths (in effort to conserve water). How does once/week sound?



Blow money. Sounds fun and everyone else does it.



Take up smoking. Then I can quit for next year’s resolution.



Cuss more. I’ll implement this on the blog as well, not to worry.




HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
xoxo