Category Archive

Anyone want a free month to try Netflix? I have some coupon codes I could share.

Also: cannot wait to get our fed rebate! Where is it?? We have direct deposit and everyone we know already got it.

There have been some updates to the whole THH fiasco, but I don’t want to say anything until things are final.

It has been so rainy and our yard is still so wet that we haven’t been able to plant the tomato plants we bought Saturday. I want to get them in the ground!

That is all!

I’ve been in talks with the studio’s lawyer and a studio-sent contractor is coming over today to assess the kitchen and see if the studio should pay to have the work redone. I am still trying to get them to adjust the taxes. I just want this to be over! It has taken up so much time and mental energy. I’m sick of it.

Matt’s promotion came through finally! He got a 10% raise and a new title. He’s working double shifts this week and next because his coworker is in Thailand so he’s gone from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM. It’s weird having him come home so late, normally he’s home by 4. The upside is that his next few paychecks should be great between the raise and the working all these extra hours.

Besides that, not much going on. It’s freakishly damp and chilly out and the dogs are getting restless. Sunday we are going to Sheep & Wool with a friend mostly to look at the sheep. I want to put some tomato plants in (we’ve already planted three blueberry bushes and some giant sunflowers this year) but it is so chilly and the yard is a swamp I’ve had to put it off.

Where did you grow up: Baltimore, MD

WHAT DO YOU CALL:

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
stream

2. Whats the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
shopping cart

3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
lunch box

4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
frying pan

5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
sofa

6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
rain gutter

7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
gazebo

8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.
soda

9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
pancakes

10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
a sub

11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
trunks

12. Shoes worn for sports.
tennis shoes

13. Putting a room in order.
cleaning

14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
lightening bug

15.The children’s playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down.
see-saw

16. How do you eat your pizza?
with my hands but no folding!

17. What’s it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
yard sale

18. What’s the evening meal?
dinner

19. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
water fountain

20. What do you call the clothing covering for legs worn on the outside?
pants

Thanks Aimee!

Anyone else have different answers?

My radio interview is available for download. Get the podcast here.

That I feel busier working from home than I did when I was working part time? I think I am trying to cram a lot more things in and some more opprotunities have become available-more about that later. I have also been trying to really stay on task when I am home, it is all work, work, let the dogs out, work so I can be pretty much done with things by the time Matt gets home at 4. We’ve both been getting up before 6AM, which is actually pretty good for me, I get more work done between 6:30-9 than I do the rest of the day because the dogs go back to sleep and require little attention from me.

It is nice to be home when people call and to be able to get right back to people! Just in the last 3 weeks I’ve had 2 interviews for NY  newspapers about various holiday foods,  taped a segment about Spring food for NPR and was just published in some Bulgarian magazine- all of which would have been tricky to schedule if I had been working. And I also did pretty well with ad sales this month, even took on a new client who paid up front! And my proposal in the final stages. So I don’t want to jinx it but it seems like this working at home thing might actually have been a good idea. Not to mention how much happier and better feeling I am staying home all day!

Pippi is doing well too. She is adjusting to the other dogs and is pretty much house-trained. She has finally made the connection that if she tries to tell me something (like “I need to go outside”, “I need more water”) I will notice and help which has made a huge difference.

Matt and I submitted a design to Threadless and it is up for voting!

• People keep coming up to me and Matt (and calling my mother!) about the article that was in the paper yesterday. I am suprised how many people read the food section! I’m also in an article about Purim in the Jewish Times but I think that will be less of a fuss.
• Pippi is finally almost stitch-free. It is so weird how dogs don’t seem to find the whole spay thing traumatic at all. As soon as she came home, she acted completly normal.
• Our three year anniversary is next week! I can’t beleive we’ve been married for only three years (and we only dated a year before that) it seems like forever (in a good way) and I can’t remember not living here together.
• I didn’t decorate for Easter this year. Which makes me a little sad because Easter is my second favorite holiday (and the one holiday I actually have decorations for) but it came so close after Valentine’s Day I didn’t really think about it until recently.
• We have worked our way through Felicity, which we both actually enjoyed. One disc left in the whole series. Now we are going to try Alias (same producer and even a lot of the same cast as Felicity) even though some of the shows we actually watch on TV are airing new episodes. I like finding shows that are all on DVD but where we haven’t seen any of the episodes.
• Did anyone else see the new Amy Sherman Palladino show? Parker Posey was so awful in it. I bet it doesn’t even make it to the third episode. I taped the new Judy Greer show, I hope it is better! I love Judy Greer so much!
• Anyone else watching Eli Stone?
• I wish we were like the rest of America and had Tivo but we don’t have cable so it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Using a VCR seems so dated though. I am excited that TV is going digital so we can get the digitable box and get rid of the antenna. Maybe we will actually get clear pictures on all of the channels now.

I was interviewed for an article about marshmallows last month and it appeared in the Baltimore Sun food section today. Read the online version here. It was actually a lot of fun, the reporter and photographer came to my house to interview me and document the marshmallow making process. There’s even a how-to photo gallery of me making the marshmallows.

How fun is that? I feel almost famous, it’s the big story in the food section today.

We met with a nice contractor yesterday about the kitchen. He is going to draw up a plan and send us an estimate. He even offered to write a letter about how the work done by THH was substandard to send to the studio, which I think is a great idea. What we’d like them to do is adjust the taxes to reflect the actual value of the “prize” and hopefully pay to have the kitchen fixed. 

Anyway, my days are spent puppy training and working on my proposal. I think I might take a break today and go to Target and see if there are any dog carrier bags that will fit  a long, skinny dog. Pippi, the big chub, had her check up and she weighs a whopping 7.8 lbs which seems small enough that I could get little tote to carry her in. Normally I am all for dogs walking all the time, but as evidenced in our day at the park this past weekend, Elvis and Violet have much more stamina then she does when it comes to walking. We’re going to NYC this weekend and I want to be prepared. Matt’s parents don’t have a fenced in yard so we always end up doing a tremendous amount of dog walking. Not to mention the fact that there are rumours of getting deli in the city or going to the cupcake meet up in Queens and it would be great if we could take her with us. Elvis and Violet are used to being left loose at the in-laws house while we are out but I think it might be too much change for Pippi and we’d have to crate her, which I prefer not to do during the day. Plus she has to go outside pretty often. It’s New York, people tote their dogs everywhere.

I am  having a craving for an egg mcmuffin, which I haven’t had in years. Maybe it is really just a Canadian bacon craving. Either way, I’m starving!

*Answer: tons.

There seems to be months were nothing happens and we barely leave the house, then we go through a phase where we are almost over booked. February was really busy and March is shaping up to be the same- a lot of odd little things that take up a lot of time.

 Last week we got Pippi (hard to believe that this time last week I didn’t even know she existed!) . Saturday we went to see Dengue Fever (great show but a lot of standing- can you believe that my back still hurts after my fall near Valentine’s Day?)  then yesterday we went to a park down in Annapolis where the dogs really had a good time. There’s a dog park and trails that go right to the water and it was a lot of fun and not too cold. Today we have to take the dogs to $2 rabies shots all the way across town and to visit with my mom. Tomorrow Pippi has a vet appointment, then on Wednesday and Thursday we are having contractors to the house to give estimates for what was done/broken by THH. We’re going to submit it to the studio and hope for a check that will cover fixing all the subpar work. Friday night we are going to NYC (cross your fingers that all three dogs behave themselves) and hopefully staying until Monday and going to a cupcake meet up in Queens on Sunday. So that puts us into next week before we have an uninterrupted, unscheduled day. But, I do like getting things done all at once and getting them over with.

But I have some good news, Pippi is getting into the routine of things and still isn’t a big chewer, cross your fingers that continues! The dogs spend most of the day snoozing in the living room. Matt bought Pippi the cutest sweater:

And in very good news, I quit my job! It is a little worrying but I think it will work out. Matt is supposedly being promoted to a new position on April 1st so we really only need to make it through March. Which might be a little tricky but I should be getting one more paycheck, payment for a magazine article and hopefully a final blogads payment (over due for about 3 months now!) and maybe my first payment from the new ad company. Unfortunately, we also have to take Pippi to the vet and get her spayed in March (which costs a fortune) but we’ve already paid for some of that through the SNAP program which should offset the cost some.

And in very, very good news, my meeting went well and I am now in the book proposal stage. Which isn’t a guarantee of anything but a great first step!

Pippi is already fitting into the routine, she went back to sleep this morning after Matt fed her (successfully!) and has been making small ventures into the kitchen. She’s been going to the bathroom outside and responding to her new name and the word “come”. I love how she is so alert and active but then also knows how to settle down when nothing is going on. And Elvis and Violet seem to have really accepted her.

I looked at the Sun classifieds online and found a puppy. Not from a breeder or rescue group but a 5 month old from a couple that couldn’t keep up with her when their scheduled changed. I was really suprised that I was the first to call, she was so cute in the ad. She was a bit more pricey ($500 to the $300-$350 the rescue groups wanted) than we were expecting BUT she came with a year’s worth of heartguard, a crate, food, bowls, toys, a bed AND all of her shots are done (even the second round of puppy shots) all of which would have cost us more than $200 to buy on our own and we didn’t have to drive to NJ or Tennessee to pick her up like we would have if we got one of the other puppies we applied for. Which is a savings in itself-no gas, no tolls, no hotel.

When we went to see her she seemed thrilled to meet us and was very snuggly and playful. She has such a personality. And she was very alert and not a barker! We haven’t heard her bark yet. The owners seemed nice and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her that would make them give her up but they do shift work and wouldn’t be home for her.  I think they underestimated how much work a puppy is. At least they had the sense to give her up!

 Her name was Sadie, but we are changing it to….Pippi Longbody. I know, I know! I wanted Olive but Matt said she looked like a Pippi so we chose that. She is really is a pip.

 On to more interesting bits, she is so cute. I think she going to be on the small side of the doxie scale, she’s about 8 lbs right now. She barely puts any pressure on you when she sits on your lap or puts her paw on you. I think the previous owners must of carried her everywhere because she constantly wants to get picked up, but I am already breaking her of that habit. I’ll carry her up and down the steps but she can walk on the floor by herself! Anyway, so far she isn’t getting into anything or chewing so I am hoping she is past her teething stage-5 months should be at the tail end of that. My mom gave us Patches’ old leash and two tiny dog beds that are just right. Right now she is on one staring at me and wagging her tail.

 Bedtime was a little tricky, we kept her in the crate so she didn’t get into anything and while she seems love playing in her crate and according to the previous owners, normally sleeps in it (although I think with it open in a secured room) she cried until we turned off the lights and fell asleep. At least she didn’t cry all night but she hasn’t figured out how mornings work. She was too excited to eat this morning (and we can’t leave food out all day because of the other dogs-read: Elvis) and then didn’t want to go back to sleep (as is our routine, Matt does all of the morning dog stuff while I am still in bed) when he brought the dogs back up to bed at 6:20 AM. So I am up super early! Ugh. Now she is perfectly quiet. Once we know she won’t destroy the place, we can stop crating her at night. So far she is pretty active-all of the pictures I took of her look like a giant blur but she does settle down and leave you alone and does her own thing. She is very smart and alert and has been very politely sniffing and exploring the house and not getting in to things.  Elvis and Violet seem to like her quite a bit, they’ve all been playing together and running around in the yard and they were quite patient when she was still sniffing in the yard and they wanted to go in. She is just so tiny next to them.

The weirdest thing is that for some reason she is scared to go in the kitchen. She will walk just inside the doorway  but then back up into the dining room or living room. I don’t know why. Doesn’t like the checkered floor? The slight hum from the Aerogarden or refrigerator? Knows that THH messed up the floor, cabinets and countertops? Very odd and unfortunate as the backdoor is located in the kitchen and that is the only way to get to the yard.

So, I am staying home today with her (possibly to never go back, we are doing the budget, with Matt’s recent raise he is making roughly the same amount extra each month as I was working part time with my paltry salary and my car has like one more payment on it and he is scheduled for his promotion April 1 which should have a raise attached to it). Plus I am doing the new ads on the blog which should pay well and a regular column in this local magazine that pays okay and is every other month which is all new income.

 Tomorrow I have a lunch with a book agent (!) so Pippi will have to be home alone then. Crated? Secured in one room? But I think it will work out.

Video

here

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The home visit went well. We are approved for puppies but now they tell us so are like 35 other people have applied (for just that one puppy) and things are up in the air. Very frustrating. Especially since they had sent us an updated picture of the puppy and suggested we adopt that one over other dogs in the litter because she was bigger and more adventurous and would fit in better with Violet and Elvis. We had thought that we were the front runners.

They also have this weird thing where you have to live near a vet that does discount spaying for rescue dogs in order to get a puppy. They also wanted to know if we wanted to get a dog that was rescued from a puppy mill. While it is great that they rescue these dogs but I would never buy a puppy from a pet shop because it was from a puppy mill, which is addition to being horrible places breed dogs with a lot of health problems and defects. So why would I want a rescued one? It is really frustrating and now we are a little uncertain if a puppy would ever be able to come home with us from this organization because of the vet issue and they seem a little disorganized. And what kind of place sends you a “valentine” from a puppy you might not even get? Unfortunately, they are like the only active doxie rescue on the East Coast.

We are still looking at the animal shelters but it is hard in our area to find dogs that aren’t pit bulls or pit mixes up for adoption and even harder to find puppies. There also aren’t very many shelters locally (the closest is about 30 or so minutes away and none are  near work) which makes it difficult to go and look at dogs frequently and a lot of the shelter websites don’t seem to be updated frequently.

 I just feel like I am a responsible pet owner and I know people are really anti buying from a breeder these days and we don’t even need a purebred dog but the rescue groups are  really strangely run, have long waiting lists, weird requirements and it is almost as expensive as adopting a puppy from a breeder but it might be a puppy mill dog or a poorly trained, abused dog instead of a puppy I could train from practically birth. I know lots of great rescue dogs (Elvis!) but the ordeal of adoption is daunting.

We’ve been watching Felicity season 1 and it is pretty good. Not an all time favorite but it has the good quality of when you think it is going to go somewhere predictable and hokey (case in point, Noel has to pretend to be a girl’s boyfriend to get a good deal on a vending machine from her apparent Russian mob family) it veers  away (instead of the Noel getting in trouble with the mob for some reason-like getting caught with Felicity when some relative comes to visit the Russian girl-her brother figures it out and just thanks him for keeping an eye on his sister) and ends without any unnecessary high drama.  It has a very My So-Called Life feel about it too. Possibly because the guy who plays Brian Kracow has a some what upsetting cameo in a few episodes but more likely because of the endless obsessing over things Felicity does (like Angela), the voice over (like Angela), the smart girl in love with a barely literate but cute guy storyline (Ben is Jordan Catalano v.2.0- how did he get into fake NYU? ). The only thing missing is Rayanne (Julie isn’t quite there despite giving off a self professed slut vibe), the little sister and Felicity is more of an overacheiver than Angela was. Anyway, I am enjoying it more than I thought I would and it is actually rather soothing.

So, in keeping with the recent theme of illness and holidays I had a bad fall the day before Valentine’s Day. Luckily I didn’t break anything but it was pretty scary and my back, leg and left hand still hurt. I went to put Netflix in our mailbox to go back and fell down the steps. We have this weird carpety stuff on the front steps and it looked really dark but since it was raining (not even freezing rain) I just thought it was saturated with water. It wasn’t. It was ice. So I slipped, fell down all of the steps and landed on the cement. The rest of the day was spent telling my mom she didn’t need to come over and watching Gilmore Girls in bed.

 I stayed home today and spent most of the day immobile. Matt came home early and brought lunch so that was nice. I felt better in the evening and we had dinner and Matt gave me a bunch of fun presents. But my hand and back still really hurt. It is hard to pick things up which is unfortunate because I want to make sure the house is really clean for the home visit on Sunday. I don’t want anything puppy-chewable laying around. I’m not sure what they are really looking for so I am trying to be prepared for everything.

In other news: I hate how Amazon moves things to the “ready to ship” category so you can’t cancel your order. We ordered Gilmore season 7 and Kontrol  a week ago and it immediately went to shipping soon, but according to them they will not ship until Feb 20-March 4th. Delivery isn’t expected until the second week in March. What is that about? And of course we only ordered Gilmore on Amazon because they had it for $19 (instead of nearly double that at the store) and now Target has it for the same price. And we can’t cancel the order.

So, we were able to get all of our files off the old, dead hard drive. Thank god. And we came to a few conclusions. Instead of buying a new computer for me this year, we are upgrading the current one (we already bought a new hard drive, so we are getting more RAM, a new graphics card, new keyboard and speakers) for under $200 which is much, much less than a new computer. Matt doesn’t use the computer as much as I do at home anyway, so having two seemed silly and if this one is faster than it is now, there is no reason to get a new one.

We also decided to get a new little computer desk and move the computer to the dining room. It’s on the dining room table now (we needed room to spread out while the repairs were going on) and I love having it here. There is plenty of room and it is great not having to run up and down the steps to check recipes and write things down, I am only a few steps from the kitchen. No more printing out recipes either.

 Finally, we are getting a puppy! A lady from a rescue group is doing a home visit Sunday afternoon for this really cute half doxie puppy we found online. So cross your fingers we get it! I’ve been wanting a little sister for Violet and Elvis and I have more time to be home now so it seemed like the time to do it. If we don’t get this puppy, we are going to keep looking. Actually warmer weather might be better (they can stay outside longer) but it is hard to find puppies through rescue groups so if this one is available, we’ll take it. Spring isn’t too far off.

When I went to turn on the computer this past weekend I was faced with what Matt calls “the blue screen of death”. It just wouldn’t start up. So, this prompted several days worth of worry, running around trying to find hard drives to install (we found one for $60! score!) and my using the laptop which among other things doesn’t have Photoshop and on which the internet is inordinately slow. We have hopes that we can get the info off the the old hard-drive and transfer to the new this weekend. The error code we got was something that lead us to believe (wish, hope) that whatever the problem was, it might not have effected the actual data on the hard drive. I am really hoping we can get at least some of our files off the other hard drive, I have a ton of pictures and food articles and pitches and recipes that I really would like to have. And some other things like music files and saved games that would be nice to get back as well. I had sort of thought Matt was backing these things up, but apparently not. So wish us luck.

 I am happy that we were able to get a new hard drive and reinstall Office and Photoshop etc so I can use it all again today, the laptop is just not made for lots of long hours and photo-editing. And the internet on the laptop (for no real reason, it is plugged in the same slot as the regular computer was) is so slow, I literally wanted to claw my eyes out waiting for my email to load.

In other news, Grandpop is turning 94 tomorrow. I’m bring macaroni salad for the birthday lunch. He really likes getting it from the deli, so I thought I’d make a homemade version. Oddly, I’ve never made macaroni salad before, so we’ll see how it goes. It can’t be hard.

Today is my first Friday off and I got up even earlier than I normally get up when I go to work and it was all in vain. My mom has been wanting to make a trip to the “new” Wegmans for ages now. It’s pretty far from her house (maybe an hour?) and she thought it would be fun to go together since I live halfway between here and there. We finally made the date to go today. She was going to come here at 8:30 AM, go over Tupperware stuff and then drive to Wegmans, shop, eat lunch come back. Wegmans is a good 1/2 hour away, so that would take up the majority of the morning/afternoon.

 Anyway, she got up this morning, saw a bad weather report, decided to cancel the whole thing and waited until 8 AM to tell me. After I cleaned the house, crammed all of the work I needed to do today into Wednesday, got library books together (she offered to take them back for me since the the library is about 1/2 hour in the other direction, near her house) and got up at the crack of dawn.

It isn’t even raining here. It had been freezing rain briefly, then rain, then by 8, nothing. So frustrating. She also has some books for me so now I will have to go to her house and the library sometime this weekend and I still have to go grocery shopping and what I need is at Wegmans. Or maybe H Mart. So now I have to make a special trip to one of two far away stores, when I could have just gone earlier in the week when I was right near the Weg. Which isn’t the worse thing in the world, but it just drags what I could have gotten done in a single morning into a 2-3 day affair. And it isn’t even raining!

I got a lot of things done today but I always feel like there is more to do and not enough time to do it in. I did manage to make something for lunch tomorrow, which is a relief. There isn’t a place to refrigerate anything at work or heat things up* so I always bring things that will be safe to eat at room temperature. Actually, if I leave something in the car it normally stays really cold (during the winter, anyway) so I don’t worry about it. But it limits lunch to sandwiches, carrots, pasta salad. Ugh. But I did make a good pasta salad with some fake crab (which I secretly like) today so lunch won’t suck.

And am still annoyed with Netflix. I mailed back a movie on Friday and they got it Monday. They said a movie would be sent out right away but they lied and instead it was sent out late Tuesday, along with 2 other discs from movies they got yesterday. Good news: they sent out Big Love. Bad news: they sent out disc 2 last and from SC. So in today’s mail? Disc 3 & 4. So I  have to wait to this weekend to watch any Big Love, and again, I am not getting my Netflix money’s worth. What is about me that attracts bad customer service? I don’t even know these people!

*Well, there is, but is it seriously gross and I don’t want to be placed on cleaning duty. Plus there is no place to sit, not even the tiniest of breakrooms so after you get your lunch/heat it up, you have to go back to….work. Yeah. I just leave.

We decided I am going to switch to working 2 days a week instead of 3 with the idea that sometime (hopefully soon) I will just quit altogether. I think it will make it easier to get things done. I will have more days that people can contact me, more time to cook/write and contact people so I can get published more. I already have some articles coming out this Spring in a couple of regional magazines and would really like to get some more out there.

I don’t think it will make much a difference pay-wise (we’ve already had plenty of weeks where I worked only 2 days due to holidays/funerals/emergencies) and having an extra day at home will make things much easier and will hopefully lead to opportunities that pay much more than I would have made in that one day. As it is I am working many more hours from home than I am out. Having an extra day off means I can get more done, be able to connect with people easier and not have to cram so much into 2 days.  And maybe one day soon I can quit altogether but working less makes the prospect of working there a little easier. 

 I am going to tell them I need Fridays off. That way I would only work Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was thinking Tuesday would make the most sense to take off (so I would have 3 consecutive days “off” to work) but I think Fridays might make more sense- trips to NYC will be easier as will other travel and it would be good pacing for the blog if I knew I could cook and post on Friday in addition to everything else I am doing. Plus I have class on Fridays now. As it is, working  on Thursdays and Fridays, in order to post anything after Wednesday (especially in the winter when I can’t take pictures after 5PM) I have to make multiple things on Monday or Wednesday which cuts into my time for other writing and pitch making. And if I don’t post at least 3xs a week, my stats go down and that means less money from ads and less attention to the blog, which, in turn means less attention and credibility for my writing.

Netflix is out to get me. About 2 months ago I got disc one of Big Love  season two. Then all the rest went to “very long wait” and Netflix skipped over them dozens of times, often to number 15 or so on my queue. Frustrating and I wish they hadn’t sent any if they couldn’t send them all but I figured as time went on, I’d get them all at once and be done with them.

I mailed back 3 movies yesterday. Today I logged on and they had received them and said they would send out my next 3 movies today. Big Love no longer had a wait in any disc. I thought that they would finally send out the last 3 discs of Big Love. But they didn’t- they skipped down to #10 and sent out another movie.  So I thought, well, the next two (surely!) would be Big Love. NO! They are sending out movies from #20 & #21  in my queue (after Felicitywhich despite being years old, is suddenly a “long” wait).  Why? Honestly, I half want to leave Netflix, but I have so many “saved” movies in my queue (and only about 60 released movies) it would be such a hassle to switch to something else. And with not having cable and the writer’s strike, we are pretty low on things to watch.

In other news, I miss Patches and am dreading going to my mom’s house and her not being there.

In good news, it looks like I am going to sign with that media co for my ads on the food blog. I have to change the layout a bit and I hate having a bunch of ads but I am guaranteed a minimum CPM  which is pretty good with the amount of visitors I get (about 75,000 a month or so) and if I have more than one ad above the fold, I get that same revenue from both.  And I don’t have to wait until advertisers contact me, they handle it all and pay even if the space hasn’t been bought.

And Matt, while he is still waiting for his promotion, got a big raise-about 10%! It was unexpected. I am hoping that between the ad revenue and his raise I can finally quit my job and do the food stuff full time. As it is, I am cramming it in where I can and it is becoming very stressful, all this cooking and picture taking (esp. because I have to cook before the sun goes down @ 5PM or the pictures don’t turn out) and writing.

Well, I had work today but when I left at 1:30 for lunch, it was so snowy, sleet-y and slippery I just went home.  I barely made it out of the steep parking lot and almost drove off the side of the road more than once. It took me over an hour to go just a few miles and I saw quite a few accidents. I am glad to be home though, I think it would have been awful to navigate all of those narrow streets during rush hour. The streets weren’t plowed or salted at all. I think we are getting more snow than they had anticipated, it started around 11AM and they had said it would turn to rain soon, but it pretty much stayed snow with some sleet mixed in. My tires are pretty much bald so that makes snow driving tricky.

Unfortunately, the snow means that my mom had to reschedule poor Patches’ appointment for this Monday, so maybe I will stop by to see her this weekend before they take her in. Apparently she has been happily eating her favorite food (grape tomatoes) which makes me extra sad. Poor girl.

 I’ve heard that my workplace doesn’t close down at all for snow (and I am sure they didn’t close early today) but if it is bad tomorrow morning, I might just have to call out. Our street is narrow and one way and hard to get off of and all of the streets I take to work are pretty much the same. They don’t pay enough for me to risk my life getting there.

watch Felicity? Back when it was on, I had no interest but lately it seems like every actor and director I like either gueststarred, wrote or directed an episode. Is it worth adding to my queue? With the writers strike, we’ve been whipping through the DVDs even faster than normal and I’ve been wanting to add a new TV show to the list.

I am feeling better, finally. Yesterday we had an exciting trip to Target where I discovered that the Valentine’s Day theme this year is cupcakes. I had to buy some towels. They are too cute and under $4. They also had some cute Deery Lou stuff on sale, but not the carryon bag I wanted. Today we went to H Mart and bought tons of veggies, seafood and odds and ends and only spent $80. Not bad for a whole trunk full of food.

I am looking forward to our ’70s night extravagnza tomorrow- So far on the menu are Whatchamacallit (1976), Twix (introduced in the US in 1979), homemade California rolls (Ichiro Mashita, sushi chef at the LA Tokyo Kaikan invented the roll in the early 1970s), and fondue (nondessert fondue cookbooks first started appearing in the US in the early 1970s). We bought stuff for homemade broth, seafood and mini potatoes for the fondue today.

We are watching Private Parts (directed by Paul Bartel! I wonder if Mary Woronov might make an apperance), Marathon Man, Straight Time (slight Dustin Hoffman overload), O Lucky Man, Smile (I am most looking forward to this one) and Lovers and Other Strangers. We tried to stick to movies we either haven’t seen or haven’t seen in many years. I think we have a good assortment: satire, Nazi chasing, an allegory on life in a capitalist society, criminals, Paul Bartel.

 I think tomorrow will be spent making dips for the fondue and getting everything ready. I am so excited I have a day off to prepare! I also wanted to make a ’70s dessert but am not sure what. Any suggestions?

When I was little, I frequently would get sick on the holidays. I remember the Easter I was three being so woozy and feverish I could hardly stand, much less try out my new Strawberry Shortcake tricycle. I kind of thought I outgrew that but then this year, I was too sick to go to NYC for Thanksgiving and my mom came and brought me food and then I was just sick on Christmas too! On Monday I had a fever of about 102 degrees and though I made a yummy cake, we stayed home from Christmas too! My mom came over with food and stockings (which she tied to the staircase with care) and candy for us. It is starting to be a regular thing with me. I feel a bit better now, and oddly, I was just feverish, uncomfortable and achy-no sore throat, no real cough, no runny nose.

I keep missing work lately. Well, I can’t say I miss it, but I’ve had an awful lot of no work days lately. Thanksgiving knocked out couple, then the funeral last week (which was very very cold and snowy and odd since no one was terribly close to or fond of the person) I’ve barely worked a full week in a month. And both Christmas and New Year’s fall on work days so the trend will continue. I really, really want to stop working there soon. I have some new opportunities coming up in the world of food and blogging and it is quickly getting to the point where having 2 days a week to deal with it just isn’t enough. Between the writing, recipe testing and responding to literally dozens of emails and requests each day it is really becoming more and more of a full time job. Unfortunately, it is a sporadically paying job so I can’t really count on regular income from it. I do feel like I can parlay it into something even bigger, but it is hard to get things done with such little time to do it in. If I could only stay home, I could really concentrate on making more contacts in publishing and working on my pitches. I do have to say that I am rather pleased with how much I have published/been written about in the last year. Since February really. My first glossy magazine article will be published this Spring and I’ve already had a lot published online and been interviewed-including a magazine cover story about me- locally and nationally.

In good news: at my company’s surprisingly lavish holiday party, each employee was given $200 in cash. Then I came home to a huge water bill (still contesting the $200 one from May) which was upsetting, but also a $50 Hanukkah check from Matt’s aunt. Then today I was pleased to find that $300  had been deposited  from some blogads that had run  in September and not paid until now. So, now we have money for my car payment, the phone and the water bill without it having to come out of anyone’s paycheck. My favorite way to pay bills.

I finally did it: I became a Tupperware lady. Click below

to place an order online-you don’t even have to be local! Just make sure that when you place an order, you see my name as your consultant.

1. Things in the kitchen are already falling apart. I don’t even want to talk about it.

2. The cleaners came today, I wish we could pay someone to clean the house all the time. It is so clean, I don’t want to touch anything. And they used all organic products so there is no stinky chemical smell. This may be the only bright spot in this whole ordeal.

3. Elvis and Violet had a rumble and Violet cut her toe and bled every where. Oy. She will be okay, I think. We bandaged it up.

4. We’ve been watching My So-Called Life on DVD and it is really good (well, except for the cheesy Christmas episode) but kind of depressing. A little too real, you know?

So I am on my way to becoming something I’ve always dreamed of…a tupperware lady. Not that I plan on throwing any parties but I am on my way for a license to sell.

So if anyone is interested in placing an order so I earn my wings check out Tupperware.com and email me your order. It might make you pick a consultant so pick one, just email me the order rather than placing it through them. You send me the money, I’ll place the order and the Tupperware will be shipped to you.  Tupperware has all this fancy stuff now that would make great presents (and a pepper shaped pepper keeper)  and licensed stuff like this whole Disney Princess line that is actually pretty cute. So if you want to help a girl out, take a peek!

In the midst of a dark week, there is some light.

Our kitchen is still not finished, I had to bully them into sending someone out to finish the job sooner rather than later and now they are over 2 hours late. Their incompetence has really ruined what could have been a really fun experience. Instead, it has been a headache marked by weeks of prep and rescheduling, an unfinished kitchen,  $70 in waterproofing supplies (that Matt had to buy and spend a whole day applying) to get the kitchen to the point where we can actually run water in it (still waiting to be reimbursed for that), days of cleaning all of our pots, pans, cups, dishes, silverware, measuring spoons/cups, utentils, glasses because dust got every where and we still can’t put things away! I am relegated to cooking one pot meals or using the slow cooker.

In other news, I think Matt is trying to turn me into a super nerd. He sucked me in to Buffy (which I have resisted watching since high school !) and now of my own free will I added Eureka season one (which is a SciFi network show! I cringe!) to my queue and am really enjoying it. It is sort of like a grown up version of my favorite show from childhood, Eerie, Indiana. And I liked The Lost Room, also a SciFi production. Oh, and I watched (and liked!) Doctor Who (although in my opinion, David Tennant is the lesser doctor) and am looking forward to Torchwood. In my defense, all of these shows are on the light side of the scifi scale. I am still holding strong against BattleStar Galactica. I have to draw a line somewhere.

They are gone. They left at 3 AM. I was mostly bored, tired and hungry yesterday but the first two days were fun. Everyone was super nice and they kitchen looks good but what’s that? It isn’t finished. They have to come back. Not a happy camper. Some more details here.

I never, ever want to clean anything ever again. I don’t know if it is because the house is old (1930s) or what, but dust really accumilates in our house. Even after stepping up the weekly cleaning to include washing the molding along the floor and washing all of the doors, they were still full of dust. We spent the whole weekend washing dishes, blinds, windows, mowing the lawn, cleaning every crevice, cleaning the basement, the office, kitchen, sweeping, cleaning the front porch, under the bed, on and on. It’s not that the house was dirty, but we wanted to get as much stuff out of the way and for everything to be as clean as possible because we don’t know where they might go. And we did lots and lots of laundry-quilts, blankets, pillows…. Yuck.

 Right now I am baking muffins just in case they don’t provide breakfast. Not that I’d eat it anyway. I am planning to eat as little as possible over the next few days to keep my stomach under control. I hate eating food from unknown sources because I don’t know what ingredients they might use that would then upset my stomach. I wish I could just eat sushi for the next few days. That always works out.

 We stilll have to clean 1 bathroom, touch up some paint in the living room, and wash the downstairs floors. The kitchen floor is white, so that always has to be cleaned last. Oh and wipe down the cabinets/countertops.

We’re dropping the dogs off at my mom’s tonight so that will be a big help-no escapes, no dog food, beds, toys or bowls to trip over but it is always weird being home without the dogs. We might not see them again until Friday!

In fashion related news: for the second two days I am going to wear my dark aqua (short sleeved) shirt I wore for the photo shot with an optional cardigan if it is chilly. For the shopping day I am going to wear my new Lilly Pulitzer aqua cashmire sweater I got at Filene’s Basement for $60…marked down from $250.  I wasn’t going to spend that much, but if I had gotten a shirt and a cardigan or something, it would have been the same amount of money for something I liked less. I also got a cute pair of Rocket Dog slip on shoes (for $9, down from $45) for the closed toe shoe days because I didn’t have any shoes I could wear without socks. 

Cross your fingers all goes well and that whatever gets done actually benefits us!

So, we’ve been watching and reevaluated some of this year’s TV choices:

New this week:

Pushing Daisies: I looked forward to this most of all but am not being sucked in. I know people seem to really like it but the ponderous voice over turned me off. I like the concept, most of the characters and the visual style though, so maybe it will be get better.

Aliens in America-cute, with a touch of wacky. Not my new favorite, but not bad. I think I would have really liked it when I was a kid.

Other new shows:

We’re dumping Dirty Sexy Money (sorry Peter!) in favor of Life, which was totally under the radar until I read a good review of it in the LA Times. It is really good and quirky.

Reaper-still not a favorite. Too much of the same thing in the second episode.

Still love Gossip Girl. Am I too old to admit that? Just a great young cast and great pacing.

 Returning shows:

Criminal Mind’s episode this week was better than last week’s dismal premiere, but I am not sure if we will be regular watchers anymore.

 Heroes seems to be losing some of the edge it had for 99% of last season. Mostly with Milo’s character-the box? Why can’t he just take it? Why can’t he remember who he is? Ick. Loved that the Haitian Sensation is back though.

Re: other shows

I know that for 90% of America, Thursday is the biggest day for TV but not for us. I want to love Ugly Betty but for some reason I just don’t. Same with the Office and 30 Rock. People I know and trust love these shows but I just can’t get into them. Part of it is how much I hate 1/2 hr sitcoms. I like major character development and plot and I am not a laugh out loud at the TV sort of person.

Our busy TV nights are Monday (HIMYM & Heroes) and Wednesday (Pushing Daisies, Gossip Girl and Life) and we really don’t watch any other TV. Some times we do watch Beauty and the Geek, but I am ashamed to admit that and will leave it off the list. Not having cable really cuts down on your choices and penchant for passive TV watching.

I love September because it is premiere month.  I am most looking forward to Pushing Daisies on Wednesday because it is by Bryan Fuller who created two of my favorite shows of all time: Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me. He also is a producer on Heroes. I hope it stays on the air longer than Wonderfalls, they are promoting it pretty heavily so I have high hopes.

Anyway, I may or may not have printed out a calender to keep all of the premieres straight, and have been taping and watching so here are my thoughts:

New shows:

Chuck-cute idea, but didn’t really grab me. There are some shows were you watch them and you are instantly sucked in but this wasn’t one of them. I’m not sure how they are going to keep a flimsy premise  going for a whole season and keep it fresh.

Reaper: another cute idea (and Laura Palmer’s dad as the devil!) but again, didn’t suck me in. Maybe if I was younger. The shows I like about teenagers/college age people also have some sort of adult subplot. This was all slacker boys all the time.

Gossip Girl-I actually really liked this. Good balance of teenage/adult storylines, lots of places they could go with the subplots, good casting.

Dirty Sexy Money-okay…but sort of over the top. I mean it is a soap opera type show, but does something so over the top and dramatic have to happen to every single cast member. Not one is “normal”? Too much going on. Matt liked it and we both love Peter Krause so we’ll probably tune in again.

Returning shows:
Heroes: looking good, but amnesia? Really? So 1970s soap opera. And what is Nathan seeing in the mirror? Can’t wait for Kristen Bell to join the cast.

Criminal Minds: Mandy Patinkin is leaving and so might we. I liked the show because I like crime dramas and unlike CSI, it doesn’t feature a dead hooker/stripper in every episode. I heard Mandy wanted out, so they are writing him out in a  lame way (although it did involve Louise from Gilmore Girls, which I enjoyed) in a really poorly written episode that doesn’t leave me with much hope for the future. I do love Matthew Gray Gubler though, so it will be hard give up.

How I Met Your Mother-Continues to be the only sitcom I have ever liked and one of the only shows ever I have actually laughed out loud at.

Brothers & Sisters-we didn’t like the first few episodes last year, but then it got better. Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Emily VanCamp? You can’t go wrong. Plus it comes on late on Sundays when we are  often out of Netflix.

Waiting to see:
Men in Trees- I kind of liked it last year  until they stopped airing new episodes halfway through the season. I heard this season is going to be long with no interruptions and will start with the episodes that weren’t aired last spring, so we will see.

Aliens in America-frankly we need a 1/2 hr show to fill in after How I Met Your Mother and before Heroes and that “Big Bang” show (the few bits I saw of it) was AWFUL. And Luke is in it, so it might be okay.

Viva Laughlin-a musical drama?? Can’t miss that, even if it probably will be cancelled.

• I almost do this anyway.
• I want to make something exciting (food wise) but can’t think of anything to make.
• I am hoping I will be inspired by going to the farmers market tomorrow.
• I also hope it is good weather so I can take some good photos for the guest posting thing I am doing about farmers markets.
• I have a couple of articles to write.
• I really need a regular freelance job! Or a more exciting part time job. I need to quit my current job.
• The health dept. came out to my workplace after someone complained about the bugs. Wonder who that could have been?
• There are a lot of book blogs out there. I am scared to really look at them-I don’t want to get sucked in.
• I’m very tentativly about thinking about going to grad school. Again. Would having two Masters be too much? It sounds sort of over the top. Not that my first one is doing me any good anyway.

We got a really big charge for internet use on the cell phone bill this month. Normally I don’t use that feature but the guy at the store said it was free for the first month on our new plan. Well, it turns out it isn’t and all the customer service reps keep repeating is that “we no longer offer that”. How are we supposed to know that?  When I ask how I was supposed to know that the store rep gave me outdated information they are totally dumbfounded and keep repeating that the computer shows them the charge so we have to pay it. I’m waiting for a manager to call me back. The one funny moment of the whole thing was when the girl asked for my phone number so her manager could call me back. Um, you have it?

I feel like I am spending all of my time waiting. The magazine photo shoot has been rescheduled for today (so cross your fingers that happens) but the filming has been pushed back. Maybe to the middle of next week, but maybe to as late as mid-October. Some sort of production/editing hold up. Which is fine, but I would like to get it over with. We had cancelled our purely for fun trip to NYC this past weekend (the first one of the year! We were going to go to a cupcake meet up!)  so we could clean and be ready for next weekend’s filming but now we’re not filming next weekend and we didn’t get the news until it was too late to leave for NYC. Not to mention how tricky it is for Matt to keep switching these days off. This is will be the third time he needs to rearrange things, and since he is in charge of the help desk and runs meetings and things, it is always an ordeal to get off and plan for coverage. Which is doable, but not ideal.

I am also tired of cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom again and again. Not that it gets horrendously dirty, but we cook A LOT and dishes need to be cleaned and put away (no dishwasher, you know) and counters and appliances wiped down. And our floor (which I hate) is white and has to be cleaned all the time. We let it slide a few days when it is just us (it really needs to be cleaned every day or so), but poor Matt’s been washing it constantly lately. Even if we wash it the day before, if anyone walks on it, it immediately looks dirty. Who thought that was a good idea?

Anyway, everything that is happening is a good thing, but I just want it all to happen already! I haven’t been feeling well and can’t really relax until all of this is done.

We have this built in, knotty pine closet along one wall in the office. In the narrow end section, we store towels and blankets and things. Well, normally when I am on the computer, I put down a towel or pillow for Elvis to lay on (since he follows me every where all day) but today I forgot. This afternoon I was typing up some updates to my website and I heard a lot of snoring. I couldn’t find Elvis anywhere-he had climbed into the closet! So funny! He has never done anything like that before, but it is the perfect place for him-he can watch me and snooze at the same time!

For years (since elementary school, actually) I’ve wanted a Moonbeam clock. It originally came out in the 1950s and wakes you up with light instead of an alarm.  I would have bought one ages ago, but it only came in yellow and well, yellow is just not my color. Then I got an unsolicited L.L Bean catalogue and noticed they have them in different colors now. I ordered the blue. I was tempted by the pink, but it looks a little red in the picture. Who would think L.L Bean would have something I’d actually want?

So after all the drama, the photographer got into a car accident on the way here and had to cancel. She’s fine (just a fender-bender) and we rescheduled for next Monday so that’s fine too, but I was totally ready and had spent the whole morning cleaning everything-even the appliances. Sigh. I hate getting my picture taken, I was really happy to be getting it over with.  At least the kitchen is super clean now. Maybe I should take some “before” pictures?

What should I wear for my(magazine)  photo shoot tomorrow?

Choices:

• One of my new(ish) dresses. Matt’s vote. The major objection I have to this is that they don’t coordinate with the aqua kitchen I am going to be photographed in.
• Something neutral: jeans, plain v-neck  t-shirt, pretty necklace
• The fancy, beautiful aqua apron I saw at Anthropologie. Major objection: price (like $45) and I don’t generally wear aprons. However, it might come in handy for other photo ops, should the need arrive.
• Some sort of shirt/sweater or jacket combo w/jeans

I have been hoping to find a shirt that would work for both this photo shoot and the excitment later in the month*, but that has proven to be an impossible task and ended after weeks of looking yesterday when I hit my elbow in an dressing room of an Eddie Bauer and nearly blacked out from the pain.  I hate having my picture taken.

*Did I mention? It all has been moved to the weekend after next so nothing is going on this Tuesday. I am staying home from work anyway though. Did I mention that I was bit by a spider  at work? Think pus & swelling. Ew. I am in no hurry to go back.

I am so tired and overwhelmed lately. There is just so much going on and I didn’t feel well this weekend and ended up being sick and napping for most of it. Every thing that is happening is good (teaching private cooking lessons, planning for teaching cooking classes at the community college, the show, being interviewed for a magazine, invites to food/drink tastings) but it is just so much and all at once.

 Plus I have my crappy job which takes up too much time.  I keep missing important calls because I am at work and I had to do the entire 50 minute magazine interview on the phone while driving and while at CVS buying my migraine meds on my lunch hour today-no time for a breath, much less eating. Then I came home and dealt with the dozens of cooking related emails I get each day and plan for my cooking lesson tomorrow morning, and fill out a questionaire about the house and it is all.too.much. I really wish something well paying and regular will come along (or Matt will get that big promotion he’s up for) so I can quit the crappy low paying job and just focus on the food stuff. I know some people have it worse, but I am just over extended. It is like I am working two jobs at once and not getting paid enough for either. And when there is too much going on, the Crohn’s acts up and that makes things worse.

or else my phone is trying to gaslight me. Every time I look at it, it looks like it is blinking, like I have a message. I think it is just really shiny, but I have been getting an exceptional amount of cell phone calls lately. I am used to doing everything via email, but apparently some people still pick up the phone. How last century.

The misuse of the word simplistic. It really isn’t just a fancy word for simple.

Or people who use the (non)word “conversate” instead of “talk to”, “to converse” or “have a conversation with”.

The last couple weeks have been unusually busy, even the days that are normally quite calm have been action packed.  I just feel like I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to do.

Tonight we’re having the Baltimore food bloggers/friends cocktail party. Which should be fun, but we have to get the house straight. Last night there was an emergency involving a too big piece of pork (only in my house would that happen) which resulted in a lot of extra cleaning and  Matt had to go to the store at 7 AM to get more meat for the slow cooker now shredded chicken dish. I am doing everything to insure that we do not create dishes or heat up the house today. It has been very cool the whole last week, and then today it will be near 100. We set up an air conditioner in the dining room to help cool things off and it seems to be working. Now it is cleaning and straightening time. Which has the added stress of the whole house having to be really clean for Monday and our interview, rather than just getting the downstairs in order.

 And I have to plan the baking class I am going to be teaching in the Spring by Sunday night. Which I was just given the directions for on Friday.

You can call me adjunct professor Rachel now, I will be teaching 2 continuing ed classes through the community college system this Fall and then at least one this Spring. They are short classes (about 3 hours each week for 4 weeks) so while it isn’t my new career, it should be fun.

Well, I am now officially 28. Which sounds inordinately old and so close to 30.  Matt is busy in the kitchen making chocolate malted cupcakes (using a recipe I created) and they smell really good. I hope it works, I’ve never baked with malted milk powder before so the recipe involved a fair amount of guesswork.

So far the weekend was fun. We got caught in a storm driving to New York on Friday (violent rain, hail!) twice and ran into some traffic so it ended up taking about 5-6 hours to get there. We arrived in time for dinner though and to watch High School Musical 2, which the girls said was so not as good as the first one. On Saturday we helped set up for the party and got to meet this nice French couple that was living in an apartment in the house we were staying in. They were really nice and funny. They said that they were so excited to live there because it looks just like America in the movies, a leafy suburban community, a pool in the yard, landscaping and for some reason, they were really excited by the mailboxes everyone had on their lawn. Apparently mailboxes are very different in France.  There was also a funny bit when they asked “Where is Vivian?” and we replied “She is in the kitchen”. They said it reminded them of dialogues they had to memorize when they were learning English but that they never thought they’d actually use in real life. Which reminded me of taking French in high school and all the “Where is the post office” dialogues we had to do.

So, the party was fun, I am glad we got to hang out with the cousins and the ride home was much quicker-only about 4 hours long and we stopped to  get gas and then to pick up takeout on the way home. We even had time to make the brownies for today before we went to bed. My mom is supposed to be dropping the dogs off this morning (maybe afternoon now) . It was so weird to come home and not have the dogs waiting. Or not being woken up by Violet in the morning.

Later today Heather and Chris are coming over for sushi (we’re taking out from Asahi, I am so tired, the idea of dining out sounded daunting) and cupcake/brownies around 4:30. I’m excited. I’ve been wanting Asahi sushi for ages and we bought some fun sake to drink in our sushi print sake glasses.

An article I wrote for an online food magazine went live today!

And it looks like an opprotunity might be opening up to do something I’d actually like  and get paid for it. Maybe not enough to quit my beloved cube job, but something.

I am off to make dinner, I stopped at the store today and bought some ground pork and shrimp and to me, that means Vietnamese food.

Is no way to make a living. At least not for me. Thank god it is only three days a week. I work on Tuesdays which is odd and great at the same time. Since I am off on Mondays and Wednesdays to work on Tuesdays disrupts my rhythm a bit, but I do love going to work on Tuesday knowing that I am off the next day. I am working hard on the whole plan to not work. I’ve finished two book proposals (anyone know a good cookbook agent??), several articles for publication (sold) and am starting to teach private cooking lessons. Surely something will work out, right? Because working in a beige office in a cube is not for me.

 Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen and made muffins. Matt’s making mango chicken tonight so I better make something new and interesting tomorrow or I won’t have anything to post until my birthday Sunday since we will be away Friday/Saturday. We’re making vegan brownies and nonvegan cupcakes for that. I’m thinking chocolate malt cupcakes and a vegan brownie verison of this.

 Today I returned two books I got free and got two books I really wanted in exchange. Does this make me a bad person? I was never going to read them, they were brand new and they can resell them. Win-win, right?

I was talking to my mom on the phone and thought some some fun recipe to make, then it totally went out of my mind. It is driving me crazy! What was it?

I think today it might actually be under 90. Finally. I was melting here. Temps near 100 for weeks on end is just how I enjoy summer. The crazy rain we just had knocked over some of the tomato plants, but the watermelon is sprouting and growing again, so is it sort of a wash. At least we didn’t get a tornado like they did in NYC!

 We’ve finished watching Weeds (s. 2) and Bad Girls (British  series about a women’s prison, s. 1) and I already wish the next seasons were out! I know season three of Weeds is airing now but they are at least eight  seasons of Bad Girls and the first season is the only one out on DVD. Drives me crazy. One of our other British favorites, Cold Feet, never came out fully on DVD either-just the first 3 seasons and then just stopped. Why must they tease us?

I am tempted to bake something today to celebrate the cooler weather but I doubt I will get around to it. I have to make some retro jello thing for a round up I am hosting and I have some heavy cream set to go bad. Maybe caramels? With rum? To use up the cream?

 We are trying to get things done this weekend. Next Sunday is my birthday and the Friday and Saturday we are going to be in NY and driving back late Saturday/early Sunday. Then on Sunday we’re  going see my mom, make cupcakes/brownies and have sushi with Heather and Chris. Then the next Saturday is our cocktail party (I already picked up all the goods) so we have to get ready for that too because we are not going to have time to do that next weekend. So, cleaning and finishing ripping up the carpet on the steps is in order. I also think we are making a little run to H Mart for some azuki beans and pandan extract today. Not a big shop, just a run in and out to pick up some items we’re out of. I don’t even think we’re going to get much produce ( we normally stock up)  since we will be away and not using it later in the week. We probably won’t even cook much on Thursday so we don’t have leftovers that will only spoil over the weekend.

In good news: Matt’s raise finally went into effect with this paycheck and they made it retroactive so they paid them 8 months in back pay. Yes, it did take that long to process his review. It got taxed heavily, but hopefully that will just make our refund that much better! Anyway, we went ahead and prepaid my car payment for the next few months (my next payment won’t be until Nov. 31st!)  and the car insurence until March and some other bills and still have some leftover. I’d really like to get this chair for the living room but I am not sure if we are going to now or if we are going to hold off. Right now we just have a sofa and one chair, and a second chair would be great so we have some more seating.

Sometimes Netflix drives me crazy. Like when it takes days for them to recieve a movie I sent back, how nearly every Monday we are movie-less despite having 2 three-at-a-time accounts but there are other times when they are okay. Like their view it now option. I was able to watch (and sometimes minimize in the background) the documentry Small Town Gay Bar right on the computer. It had been in my queue, but I kept bumping it down as it was only about 80 minutes long and I generally (esp. in the summer when there is nothing on television) like to rent longer movies or tv series. Anyway, I am glad I did, it was a interesting movie that gave a glimpse into the working class gay community in the Deep South but I would have felt sort of cheated if it had come in the mail instead of a longer, more involved movie.

Another reason why Netflix is in my good graces today is that they sent out the second season of Weeds. Weeds has been at the top of my queue for months but it has been marked ”very long wait” since it officially came out so they kept skipping it and sending me movies further down the queue. Yesterday I added another show to the top of my queue that was available for immediate shipping and today they sent me an email that says they had skipped down my queue and are shipping out disc one of Weeds .  Why, I don’t know, but YAY! That’s really what I wanted anyway.

We took the dogs to the vet. It wasn’t too expensive: $180 for the two of them including shots for Violet, blood tests and 2 six month supplies of Heartguard. Last year their check up was $400 so $180 seems like a bargin. 

Then we went to the Sprint store and signed up for a family plan. I think we are going to be saving about $40 a month and I got a new phone! It is pink and pretty cute. I have had the same, basic beat up looking phone forever so I am pretty excited. Now I have to add everyone’s numbers in again.

I stayed home from work today because I woke up all headachy and hot and nauseous. I feel a little better now. I think it is a combination of the heat and the migraines I get from the noise at work. Yuck.

 I am excited about the food blogger cocktail party we’re having (although right now it is about 1/2 food blogger 1/2 other people) later this month. I think it will be a lot of fun. Matt is making pulled pork (and I am making some thing vegan-any suggestions?) and everyone is bringing a fun bottle of booze to share and most people are bringing food too. We found some cute disposable martini glasses that I think we are going to get-no clean up!

We have been doing some easy cost cutting measures, like getting rid of caller id and voicemail on our home phone and just using the fancy answering machine we already had. It is cutting our phone bills in half! We are also going to looking into combining our cell phone accounts into a “family” plan which might be cheaper. I am hoping I can get a new phone out of the deal. I’ve had the same phone for over 3 years now and I am so tired of it. We tried to get me a pink one for my birthday last year and there was some problem on my account we could never resolve and then they didn’t have the phone I wanted any more. And we found out that by telling our car insurance people that we both have a MA and that I am a writer and Matt works with computers (all true) that we can save on our car insurance. I guess we are responsible people now. I like saving money by doing things that don’t really make that much a difference in our day to day lives.

Today at lunch I ran into Victoria’s Secret because I had a coupon for free flip flops (who knew they even sold flip flops?) and they had a whole display of cupcake print underwear. I may  or may not have bought a cupcake bra and whole slew of various cupcake print underpants. It was like they made them just for me. It was especially exciting because I needed to buy underwear anyway and it was all on sale.

In unrelated news, I am not sure what do about my fast approaching birthday this year. It’s on a Sunday (the 19th). I had sort of thought of going for dinner on the day before, but we were invited to Matt’s cousins’ graduation party (one from college, one from high school) that’s on Saturday in upstate NY. We are going up Friday night and then coming back late at night on Saturday, too late to do anything.

I am so worn out! We had a good weekend (saw Hairspray, went to Wegmans, visited grandpop) but then Monday was packed with sending out resumes, last minute edits to my mango article and writing this frozen treats article. Today wasn’t too bad at work, but the receptionist was out so the phone was ringing  all day and I got a migraine. Anyone else have problems with repetative noise like that? I can’t stand  ringing or tapping for more than a few seconds.

In good news, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman is FINALLY out on DVD. I am getting 3 of the discs in the mail tomorrow and I am so excited. I’ve always wanted to see it. Check out the description:

Emmy nominee Louise Lasser stars in Norman Lear’s classic soap opera comedy about an average American housewife in Ohio who must deal with everyday stressors such as adultery, impotence, cults, UFOs, mass murder, exhibitionism and, of course, yellow wax buildup.

Who wouldn’t love that?? I am happy I am off tomorrow and have (for the first time in WEEKS) nothing planned, no  deadlines looming, no doctor appointment, no place to be. Hopefully no one will call and wake me up in the early AM.

I came across this Lily Allen Sims 2 music video on YouTube. I do love Sims.

Also:Thanks for the money mongering tips, the problem is that we really don’t have anything left to sell (we did a major plurge when we moved here) and the few things I do sell online don’t really bring in much money. I did sell an ad on the food blog, so that is about $80. But our mortgage just went up $60 a month, so it is sort of a wash. Ugh. I wish I didn’t need to have a car, we could save hundreds each month!

I sort of wish I was back at the mango festival.  In a way I feel like I just left, I am still working my way through the mangos I was given and am currently writing a mango article for an online food magazine. In other ways (my soul sucking job, lack of being wa