Friday, April 30, 2010

Sending vibes today...

...to a good friend and her hubby who are in the middle bringing a new life into the world.

Can't wait to see the new little one...better get knitting!!!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

It rained again this morning...

...but nevermind. The sun is trying to shine, I saw a rainbow on the way to the bus stop this morning and I've lost weight.

Trying to focus on the positive as there are so many things now that could possibly be negative in my current brain-fried state of mind.

My body needs a rest. Rain threatened this morning, so I didn't ride. If I can't give my body a rest during the night (sleeping issues again), I can at least give it a break during the day every so often.

Job Update: The job is going well as can be for a newbie who has never ever ever done this before. Ever.

KublaCon Update: Still suffering from the worst case of creating block yet. KublaCon is 4.5 weeks away. I've got a flea market table. I've got NUTTIN' to sell people. N.O.T.H.I.N.G.

What I do have is a bead stash that has been culled, arranged, rearranged and rearranged again. Time to stop "playing" with the pretty, shiny beads and make something. Seriously.

Every weekend until KublaCon and a few after it are full. Busy busy busy.

I miss sleeping in. I really really really do. Really.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Peppered out...

OK, so I just had the soup for dinner. It was good and filling and yum. Only problem? Got a bit heavy-handed on the pepper and spices. I'd say one less tsp of the "21 Spice" stuff and grind in a bit less pepper. Other than that, I'd add more zucchini, more carrots and probably more of something else I have yet to think of...

So, if any of you can suggest any other veggies that would be yummy in a soup besides what's in the recipe and what I've added already, please let me know.

Oh, and I'd add more water.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Someone's in my kitchen cooking all day...

...oh yeah, that would be me!

Started off today with a short ride to the farmer's market down the street. Note to self, drag your bum out earlier and you won't have to dig and dig for the few really good veggies that are left.

Anyways, got some fresh ingredients for some healthy veggie soup. Healthy as in not so full of sodium, but still tasty. I've tried just about every low-sodium canned soup out there and have yet to find one that I like, so I decided to try my hand at making my own. I was channel surfing last night and came upon the Dr. Oz show and lo and behold, they were talking about a healthy veggie soup that this woman made that helped her lose weight. I thought I'd give it a try. Don't care whether it helps me lose weight, but being that I am currently obsessed with finding a tasty low-sodium soup, well, there you go.

Since I wanted it low-sodium, I substituted 4 tsp. of Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute spice mix (no salt in it that I could find in the ingredients) for the 4 cubes of chicken bouillon (which is way too salty for me). It still has an hour to cook, but so far, the broth tastes good.

I added zucchini and cut back on the celery and cabbage cos we don't like those too much here in the Chaos. Also, the cans of Plum Tomatoes at TJ's are a bit smaller than needed, so put in all of the two rather than waste the extra, so now it's a bit more. I believe I also cut back to 3 cans of water instead of four.

I'm going to make some Mexican Star pasta later (since I'm using my pasta pot to cook the soup) and will add that if I want to make more of a meal out of it. It's an uber chunky veggie soup, which is what we like here. And oh boy does it smell GOOD. My turn to fill up the hallway with the smell of what I'm cooking. Hee hee.

The only problem I have is...how to store it all? Not sure if I have enough containers....I'm pretty sure I'll be using them ALL...sigh.

Can't wait to take this to work for lunch!!!!!

Friday, April 23, 2010

A Good Day

Woke up extremely tired this morning. Promise not to whine about getting old, etc tho.

Weighed myself last night and saw the little red thingy pointing at a smaller number. Hmmmm....weighed myself this morning and saw the little red thingy pointy to an even smaller number.

I knew I had probably lost a few pounds as I have been eating sensibly/healthy and riding my bike almost every day. The biggest clue is how baggy my jeans are...I had to dig out my belt.

It may sound like I've lost a lot, but it's only been a few lbs. I'm happy tho as the baggy pants bit tells the bigger story. Things are shifting, I'm gaining muscle, etc etc. If I could only stop having to bundle up so much, you could actually see my curves trying to reappear.

It's fascinating watching my body react to what I've been doing. It changes almost daily.

And that's a very good thing.

The temptations are extreme tho. Spence made the most awesome lemon bars I've ever tasted last night. He's going to a community service thing today and baked them (from scratch no less) to take along. I'll post a photo and a link to the recipe sometime this weekend.

OMG they were good, but I only had a few little bites. Good thing he took them out of the house!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Yawn!

Not cos I'm bored, but because I'm tired.

Antonella and I did most of what we planned for Saturday. We got out to the Art Show, the Bead Shop, the other stores on the way home.

What we didn't do was make anything. We were out running about from 11am until 4:30pm and pretty much wore ourselves out. We got to my place, I made dinner, she "shopped" in my bead stash and that was pretty much the end of that. We even went to sleep early!

We're going to have to try and get together for jewelry making on another weekend. The next time, we're not going out beforehand!

We came home with some cool stuff from all the places we went - and were very well behaved at the bead store (not very much wallet abuse at all!).

I have more energy after work now - that only means I sit on the couch, but don't fall asleep. Hah. Last night while on the couch, I culled my bead stash. And part of my fabric stash. Tonight I'm going to try and get some stuff made for KublaCon. Dunno tho, as I'm biking off to Kohl's for some shopping. This is the last day I can use my Kohl's bucks so I don't want to lose that $20 coupon I got a few weekends ago. Plus I've got a $20 store credit and also will be retunring something. Hopefully I can spend it all tonight as I don't get to Kohl's very often.

After all that (it's a long ride home - with potentially full paniers), I just might sit on the couch and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Drive by Update...

Still adjusting to the work routine. Getting quicker on my rides to BART, but they still wear me out. Just wish it wasn't so darn cold in the mornings still...

Haven't done much crafting/knitting -wise. With all this coming home and falling asleep on the couch after work, things have gotten rather cluttered and creativity-stifling.

For a few nights this week, I have been putting things away and so on, so I should be able to get back to all my projects soon. This weekend as a matter of fact.

This weekend is a busy one. Antonella and I are off to San Francisco for a friend's Art Showing, some bead store blitzing (mostly of our wallets, I'm sure) and a stop off at our fav stores on the way home if we're still standing by then (and if we have anything left in those poor abused wallets).

Then we're off to my place for a girl's-night-in-crafting. I've been teaching Antonella how to make jewelry, so we're going to make some stuff for ourselves, then she's agreed to help me get some work done on some things for KublaCon.

There will be my 30min Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner, some snackage, and prob some instant viewing on Xbox while we work.

A full day!

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Been busy...

...working.

Yes, you read that right. I'm employed again! As of April 1st - and no, it's not an April Fool's joke. It's for real.

It's going to take a while to get back into "working mode". You know, the whole having to get up early, make myself human, and then commute thing.

I've been riding my bike to BART every day, so I'm tired at the end of the day.

I'll be ok tho...the steady paycheck will help me adjust. :)

Starting major production on stuff for the KublaCon Flea Market, still knitting on my Juliet (had to take a break for the wrist), bought yarn for the mystery baby gift, still have yarn left to make more beanies (taking a break from that too).

Things are going back to what they used to be (uber chaotic), but part of me likes that...and the "old lady" part of me will eventually get back into the swing of things.

Now I just need to stay away from the damn Xbox...I downloaded a game and was on until 3:30am Sunday morning.

No more starting a game at midnight...