long time no blog

It's been a couple weeks, so I should probably update and write a bit. Food, car troubs, dating and more!

#45 - Recipes galore:

1. Two smaller recipes to make one: Black Bean dish and Walnut Cranberry Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

2. Amazing BLT Pizza - I cooked a thin crust wheat Boboli for 10 mins or so, and topped it with smashed avocado, halved grape tomatoes/shallots mixed with grape seed oil, balsamic vinegar and S&P, a mix of chopped spinach and flat leaf parsley, and then of course bacon. It was seriously awesome...I highly recommend for a party app situation. Good and good for you!!

3. Pat's Favorite Sweet & Sour Meatloaf (via Monica's blog!) - And if the pizza wasn't enough this week, let's talk about this meatloaf. Or should I say LOVEloaf?! The only change I made to Monica/Lorie's recipe was that I used rasp jelly and cooked the loveloaf for an hour. I think my oven's just on the cooler side...it usually takes a little longer than usual with that thing. Plus most loafs cook for about an hour I'd say. TRY IT TONIGHT!!

#50 - Atypical Veggie
Alright so Metro Market's produce section screwed me again. The reason I found the BLT pizza was because it had watercress as the "lettuce". Met Mark ALWAYS has watercress!! Except for now apparently. Foiled again. So like I said, I used spinach and parsley instead which worked really well (parsley has a similar "peppery" flavor). In any case, I'm switching my veggie to Arugula as I know Met Mark has this in stock. Bah, just sticking with watercress.

#87 - Bands
So I've got TWO this month, which is good because I think last month I cheated and didn't really have one.
The Kooks - your Brit Rock which is always a good time, recommend their tune "See the Sun".
Angels & Airwaves - Blink 182's Tom DeLonge's band...GOOD stuff!! They've got a U2 guitar thing happening which is never a bad thing.


And in LIFE news, things have been hectic per usual! I had this whole crazy tire fiasco happen this past weekend. My sis and I both "coincidentally" got flats the same day. I don't know. I wanted to be my own mechanic and change them...I got her lug nuts off, but the tire/wheel was corroded to the car. Then MY lug nuts were way too tight and there was no way I was taking my tire off either. 3-4 hrs later in the chilly drizzle, we gave up. I called for a tow the next morning to take off my tire, and bring Mandsi's car (and my tire) into Firestone. Both needed actual replacing, and I purchased this tire warranty at my dealership, so this involved me driving my car the 15 mi/45 min side street trek all the way over there as I couldn't go over 50mph on the spare. Long story long, they didn't have a tire for me, so I had to do it all over again the next day and I'm canceling my warranty asap because the dealership service dept likes to give a gal attitude.

And in other news, I will mention that the dating life has been relatively splendid as of late. Yep I'm typing it outloud. Ha! Stuff was a little intense and swirly at first and I wasn't so much down with that coming out of a nearly three year relationship, but things have calmed down and it's just nice and casual. I use the term "casual" loosely though because it depends on who you ask. "You call that casual?" Well, by 1950s standards, perhaps not so much. But in today's day and age, yeah I think so. I guess I'm really trying to keep this particular boy at an arm's length, but he tends to reel me in with his charms. Haha! I keep telling myself life's too short. I went through a week long phase where I was mad that I've always been the "good girl" playing by the rules and regulations of life. But here I get this opportunity to sort of get out there and have fun...be a little "bad" if you will. And when I'm 50 and married with who knows what responsibilities, I'd rather look back and be satisfied with the fact that I did XYZ without too much regret. So with that said, the warmer months are fast approaching and how often do you get to experience that all too classic summer romance, its endurance the furthest thing from your mind?

may day! may day!

Alright, May 1st and time to get caught up, set up this next month:

#45 Recipe: My last recipe for April was this crab bake sort of thing, SUPER good! From the outset, it seemed like a strange combination of flavors, but it works! The recipe is below...

#50 My atypical produce item for May will be watercress.

#51 So my April Sans Meat worked out splendidly! Like I said in another post, the only 'cheat' was the bacon bits in the tator tot batter waaaaay at the beginning of the month. Since then I didn't have to cheat at all and I'm quite proud of myself! Although I could seriously sink my teeth into a burger today ;) Or bacon...I could definitely go for some bacon. An interesting observation: for the first half of the month, I honestly thought totally giving up meat wouldn't be all that bad. I mean as long as I could have fish and dairy. But during the second half of the month, I really did miss my meat (ohhh yeah). Above all, wings. Just your average chicken wings. You can't get those meat free! So I'm going to have to get over to BW3's this month. No more putting that off!

May's give-up is just going to be soda because I'm lazy and can't think of anything else right now. But hey, that means no mixed drinks (aside from tonic), so that can be difficult.

#68 I didn't really go to town on some food splurge this month. I kinda forgot about it. So this morning, I had a half bagel and half donut for breakfast and am NOT exercising at noon...haha! Oh well, I tried.

#87 Speaking of slacking, I have NOT been up on this 'new band/artist' task. I suck. So how about my new artist for April will be David Cook from American Idol bwah!! He's way hot though and is voice is brilliant. I rarely embed videos on this blog, but here's his rendition of "Eleanor Rigby"...pretty rad!



Sooooo yep, that's it. I haven't really rocked the list for awhile, so I'm just in complete slack mode right now. Well, Ninja Report is in full swing, so that's what my focus is at this time. My OTHER focus is trying to figure out various dramas going on these days. May day indeed!

Ok Southwestern Crab Bake recipe!
I made it one way, but in the following recipe I'm changing the chip idea. They originally called for chips to cover the bottom of the baking dish, but ya know, they get pretty mushy...so I think crumbling them over the top halfway through sounds good to me!

8 oz. Crab Classic, Leg Style, cubed
1 can tomatoes with diced chilies
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 small can whole kernel corn
1 pkg shredded cheese
green onions, olives, salsa, whatever you like for toppings!
1 bag tortilla chips (I used these newish BEST EVER Tostitos flour chips)

In a saucepan add tomatoes with chilies, cream of mushroom soup, milk, mushrooms and corn. Stir well, heating to simmer. Butter a 10 x 13 inch baking dish. Cut crab into cubes and place in the bottom of the dish. Pour soup mixture over the crab and top with shredded cheese and green onions, olives, etc. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes. Top with crushed chips and bake another 10 minutes. Then let stand for 10 minutes as the dish is SUPER hot! Enjoy!

Red warning box over the state of Katie

Back in the blogging world, after a small hiatus! Well, a hiatus considering the amount of updates I had been writing lately. Things have been quite whirlwindy in my life as of late, and without going into any details, I'll just say that I'm simply thankful to have the opportunity to experience life's little tornadoes here and there. It is indeed tornado season, both meteorologically AND figuratively (spring fevah!!) and this time of year always makes for an amusing time. Yes, when it rains it certainly pours!

In updateland, I'm steadily knocking tasks off my side bar to-do list. I worked on the Ninja Report this weekend, finished Bright Lights and started Mere Christianity, started the Buckley's project and am almost done, etc. The projects on my horizon don't look as daunting so that's good! For a moment there this weekend, in the middle of my 'storm', I felt my grasp on Lil Miss Organizized loosening...but I think I've got her back now.

List updates:
#17 - boy DID I! And it was the best medicine a girl could have, let me tell you.
#45 & #50 - Endive and burnt pine nuts ;)
#95 - Bright Lights

In other news, I'm not sure who caught The Office last week, but I finally got to watch it last night and oh me oh my!! Talk about apropos!! I think THIS sums it up best. Because it's true: nothing is sexier than a guy who wants you. I know that Life certainly isn't Television, but hey, The Office is as close as you can get ;) Art imitates life, and this show is more real than most reality tv out there in my opinion! And the message from this particular plotline in this particular episode is simple. Love doesn't have to be all that complicated. In any case, I have no idea whether a certain ex of mine watched said television program, and even if he did, who knows if the message seeped in at all!

Ahhh life.

BLOODBALL IS MINE!!!

Haha! I got the car, I really got it! It's a match made in heaven...

Here are some baby pictures of my new 2004 Hyundai Elantra GT hatchback:




-I got hooked up at the ghetto DMV just fine.
-I test drove the car on the freeway and it was nice and smooth!
-I got the deal price of $8990 from the original price that was $11K!!
-The reason it was "gone" on Saturday is because it really was! Two separate people "bought" the car within this last week, but their financing fell through. Amazing right?? Dino, my dealership dude, was like "you're really lucky...it's such a great car!" So let's hope he's right and it doesn't fall apart in a month ;)
-It has a Kenwood cd/stereo with MP3 something or other? I still have to investigate...it took Mandsi and I like 20 minutes to figure out where a cd would go in (pop open the face and it goes behind...ahhhh).
-I forgot to say goodbye to Floyd :( He ended up being worth $1000 which is about what I thought. Turns out he needed a timing belt at 80K miles (and he was actually at $89K last night). Thanks Firestone for letting me know...bluhh. But anyway, maybe someone will fix him up and re sell to some high school student who needs a car for like $2500.

Mandsi and I were trying to come up with a name in the lobby whilst waiting for the financing guy. I thought of Bloodball, but that's weird, so his "legal name" is Dezzie! Just gotta take care of a few things this afternoon and I'll be set! Hopefully my parking passes will carry over without too much fuss.

YAY NEW CAR!!!

PS I like how I have to upload my photos to myspace instead of photobucket because p'bucket refuses to let me post their pix. Really annoying!

New Car?!?!

So this is pretty random, but here's the deal:

1. Floyd the Car is dying a slow painful death.

2. At 11 years and 87,000 miles old, he needs to be put down and REPLACED.

3. Last week I found my dream car...a 2004 Hyundai Elantra HATCHBACK, pretty deep red, features a-plenty...it was around $10K.

4. This Saturday when I went over to my parents to clean Floyd out for trade-in, I looked the car up online and it had dropped a grand in price!!

5. I immediately called Hall, but the guy said it was....sold :'( NOOO!!!

6. Yesterday I was walking to work and I saw a dark red Hyundai Elantra hatchback?!!!! Just parked a couple blocks from our apartment! "What are the odds?!" I asked myself. I mean seriously??

7. Today after lunch I looked up used Elantra's again and...huh?? The very same one I wanted is still up on like 348203 different used car sites! Wouldn't they have taken it down by now?

8. I contact Hall and sure enough, according to two different people, it's still there!!!! Omgomgomg, could this really happen? I was REALLY bummed about the fact that I didn't get on it because I really like this car! And there aren't any other Elantra hatchbacks at this price with such low miles.

In conclusion...I'm going over there tonight to check it out! But other problems are still in my way, namely:
-I still need a replacement title for Floyd as the original got lost in the two moves since I bought him. But I cleaned him up (thanks mom for taking off the bumper stickers as best you could!!), and I'll probably get $1000 for him.
-What if the car bites? What if it's semi broken and I buy a lemon? I'll have to ask about a warranty. Usually Hyundai's have that 50-60K mile warranty, and this one only has 40K miles.

BWAH I'M SO EXCITED!!! I hope this works out...I feel like all the stars are aligned!! please! please! please!!!

rainy days Thursdays always gettin' me down

No, I'm not really all that down, but it's so yuck outside right now. I'm all for some April showers, but not when the high is only 39! What is with this weather?? I honestly feel like it's never going to be warm. Or like this summer is seriously going to be two months long (July and August) and then September will roll around and will have this freak cold snap and it'll be back in the 30s. Wow.

To update!

45. Recipe: I've only made one so far, yip! But it was crazy good...Crab Caper I'll call it: imitation crab, miracle whip and sour cream, garlic, lemon juice/zest, and capers. Good and good for you! Tonight I'll hopefully make some kind of scallop asian dish...

51. Give up: This meat thing is a piece of cake! I think I just don't eat meat all that much. But it's really easy to find replacements between all the other proteins like eggs, veggie burgers, almonds, black and 'bonzo beans, and of course seafood of all kinds. The only hiccup that came about was that at Houlihans this past weekend, I did partake in these blue cheese tato tots that contained bacon bits. But you could barely taste them and who knows, maybe it was fake bacon? ha! But speaking of the tots, I indulged during my trip down to Chicagoland during which Monica was sweet enough to make sure we had several meatless meals! Friday she made tilapia, Saturday we had grilled cheese for lunch, and Sunday morning, we made veggie omelets. Yay!

54. Haircut: Katie's New Short Hair Phase II! I just came back from my appt at lunch. Fun!

74. Parking Ticket: This is nice! Ok so on my way to work I passed this car with a parking ticket in the window and thought: I should really fulfill my 'pay someone else's ticket' task soon...especially since *I haven't had a ticket in ages (knocking on all wood everywhere!!!). Well there were all kinds of people around, so I chickened out. Coming back at lunch, however, I saw the ticket was still there...and I also remembered that I could just write down the plate number because that's all you need to pay online! Done. And when I got to the citation on the website, it turns out the ticket was only $15. Wow I lucked out! But it also made me want to do it more often, so we'll see. Maybe it'll be an occasional good deed in my life! Although I did pass by the same car yesterday and it was parked in the same place, sans ticket, but with no money in the meter. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKE! ;)

95. Books books books: I finished On a Pale Horse at the hospital this weekend whilst waiting for new Baby Bianca to be born! Good stuff. It was a little difficult reading the last few chapters post my John breakup as he's the one who gave it to me for Christmas and I had read most of it relaxing on the sunny patio in Arizona :\ Not a caaaare in the woooorld....... Anyway! Now I'm reading the always daring Jay McInerney (read Story of My Life a little while ago, I THINK post breakup the last time?). This one is his first novel Bright Lights Big City which came highly recommended from my sis. The book's uniqueness comes from the fact that it's written in second person, very rare. I feel as if it reads like American Psycho, without the psycho. Very Patrick Bateman, which makes sense as Bret Easton Ellis is sort of inspired by McInerney. It won't take me too long to get through and the next book on the agenda is Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis. My mom's a huge fan and he's all she can read lately ;)

And that's what I got. Tomorrow is John's birthday bash at Genie...we'll see how that goes? Hopefully it isn't too awkward. I mean the JOHN part won't be weird because we've actually been on pretty good terms. It'll be everyone else from John's brother/brother-in-law to our mutual friend couple who were together less than John and I, but just got engaged, to those who DON'T know "the news," but might find out. Wah wah waaaaah.

But on that note, like I said, John and I are now doing ok with the anti-awkward. It's easy to be angry or bitter or whatever, but that puts me in a really sour mood. I spent all of Monday crying and that was NOT fun. Since then though, I'm trying to keep things pretty normal. We chat in the morning about whatever's going on, etc etc. And it's nice because it doesn't feel like such a drastic life change. Lately I get these flashes of a memory together. Like when he bought me this Asian sushi plate set at Target one night just for the fun of it, which lead me to thinking about the two of us driving in Little Black Car and deciding to go get drinks at Chilli's for fun. But when that happens, I mentally bury the memory almost like a funeral! ha! Just say goodbye to it I guess. Interestingly enough, bad memories will pop into my head as well...like fights we had or something and I'll kinda smile a little ;)

That's me in a nutshell for now!

boop booping through my day

If my life was recorded on tivo, that's what I'd do today. It's Friday and I can't get out of here soon enough! I'm off to a super rad weekend in Chicagoland with Monica, Tim, and all that goes with...where ever the weekend takes us! Adult Chuck E. Cheese aka NOT Steve and Barry's? Guitar Hero to my heart's content? Helping Monica get kitties get ready for the adoption show? Monica performing for me (twss!)? A new baby? Any and all of this is possible and I'm looking forward to the getaway.

I haven't updated for the start of April, so I'll do that real quickly here.
#50 Atypical produce - Endive (perfect for baby showers! if I were going to one?)
#51 Give up food - MEAT! And in more ways than one I guess? OH! Ok anyway, I'm not going vegan for the month, so eggs, dairy, and fish are still a go. And it's also ok if I am in a sitch where meat is the only option (like going to a dinner party...because that happens).

Earlier in the week, I changed a bunch of list items, changed and adjusted, I should say. And I'm just not going to use my 'nixables' because it's far too much and I'm over it. I'm bending the rules this one time.
# 7 is no longer graphic novel and now some TBD artistic project
Hey Love has merged into the Socialite division and thus...
#16 is now just going to the lakefront for a picnic with anyone who wants to join me!
#20 likewise, heading to Jazz in the Park with whoever's game
#27 and likewise, anyone want to go to the art museum with me? Let's do it. Perhaps I'll make it like my first date or something?
#25 I'm going to bring carving pumpkins back into style and coolness sans a family
#26 My sis and Nicole already discussed rockin the old school slumber party at her place, only we're adding a bottle of Vodka to the mix
#41 No John's gym, I gave him back those oh-so symbolic condo keys of course, so I'm going to desperately try to keep up with my lunch workout three times a week (although this week I only got up to twice)
#66 I have since discussed with Mandsi that we should take a road trip to Iowa this summer to visit our old stomping grounds. There's a balloonfest in Indianola at the end of July? I'm SUCH a hardcore geek, aren't I? No wonder I'm single ;)
#89 Hmm learn to drive stick shift will be replaced by something, I just don't know what...
#18 & 19 are SUPER tricky...I guess anything's possible!

Not too horrible I guess. At least most were adjustable.

And that's April! And I guess I'll just carry on the rest of my boring Friday...emailing, internet whatnot, and listening to my Breakup Mix on itunes (I'm such a cliché).

I got on the plane and went through a wormhole

No seriously I did! I sat in the PHX airport...had a conversation...and while I didn't crash on a mysterious island like my Lost pals, I did go through some kind of time glitch and I landed back in March of 2007...only they're telling me it's 2008. Two words: I'm Desmond.

I read my February 07 post and I must say that I am not feeling like I did then thank all that is holy. My heart is heavy and I'm sad, but I'm not shocked or abandoned. For one year, I gave John's and my relationship a shot. He did some crazy convincing, but come April I was hooked and decided to give it another go. Tomorrow April is once more upon us. In 2007 I had two paths from which to choose. I chose one...made a ginormous loop...and this weekend I came to the exact same crossroads. Now I must choose the other path that life offered to me at the time. Hence my sneaking suspicion that I'm repeating 2007 over again ;)

At first, when I sensed the crumbling of the relationship, my initial thoughts were blazing anger that this was happening to me all over again. Like I was tricked. I've said this to way too many people way too many times, but: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I thought I was the biggest idiot in the world for falling for the big rouse. BUT! After the dust has settled, I realized that John was right that awful February 16th a year ago: "We want different things." If only he had stuck to his guns back then ;) We do indeed. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew my answer. Many people are going to say I gave John an ultimatum. And I did. No I didn't tell him Marry Me Or Else. I told him to get help. Commitment-phobia is a real thing and the trouble with this world is that a lot of people don't take it seriously, and it happens time and time again...hearts breaking all over the place simply because someone wasn't honest with themselves.

And speaking of honesty, the one thing I do thank John for is being honest once I finally confronted him. I hope to thank him personally one day. Many commitment-phobes force themselves into a relationship they are afraid of and pay the consequences later. The fact that John stood by his decision to "not get help" made the next step easy for me. Almost as if it were the best decision I "never" made. Now, yes, I did know about this commitment-phobia of John's a year ago. And it was the very reason I told him we were NOT going to get back together...I knew he wouldn't change. I read a whole book on the subject and it was clear as crystal. But he puts on a good show, and I loved him, and I wanted to be happy too (I was feeling a little miserable without him at the time). And at the end of the day, everyone deserves a second shot. It's the "third shot" that gets messy. Then I'm just a glutton for punishment. Which brings us to March 2008, my OWN second shot at my OWN happiness. For now I can start over, figure out what I honestly want out of life and out of a life mate! I never mind sacrificing here and there (ok I AM a glutton for punishment!), but I now see that there is a fine line between compromising WITH someone and sacrificing FOR someone. And in my case the smoking, not being able to have a child, or even a cat, of my own, and finally the probability of no marriage either...my fate is no longer sealed.

To conclude, I know I'm going to have some really rough days ahead of me. It will be hard to let go of nearly three years of memories and my first and only true love. During those rough moments, however, I have to remember The Bike. Once upon a time John bought a bike from Craigslist with the intention of fixing it up. Much like a bunch of John's past and defunct dream hobbies (skateboarding, geo-caching, flipping houses in Arizona), I was skeptical. Sure enough, I found out recently that he threw the bike away. All he had done was take off a bunch of the parts. I don't want to be one of John's hobbies that collects dust on the shelf. And if I had just sat back, been "content" with a stagnant relationship, that's what would've happened. And hey, like I said in my last post, I don't mean to write myself a symphony, but I do NOT deserve to sit on some shelf collecting dust!

Time DOES heal all wounds (thank you April 07), and with that said, I look forward to taking the other path now. I hope John does too...he also stands to be much happier!

Now let's hope this time NEXT year is completely different!

Treating myself

So I've been a blogging fiend lately, haven't I? I guess it's just been one of those catch up weeks or something. It's been a semi dramatic week as well. And with that said, I'm changing one of the items on my list for now. I'm going to treat myself once a month! Not necessarily a food type situation, but do something for myself that makes me happy. So before the month ends, the treat for March is to make a list of reasons why I'm a great person. Sounds a little conceited hey? ;) Well, when you feel down in the dumps like maybe something's wrong with you, it's definitely the type of list you need to snap you back into place and realize that you kick ass! Try it sometime and, trust me, you'll feel loads better!! Well at lunch here, I came up with 50 really nice things on my list. Things that are very true and gave me that kick in the pants I needed, making me realize that I have a lot to offer this world and the people in it if I keep doing what I'm doing. Perhaps other people may not recognize and appreciate these things about me, but sometimes people just don't get it. What's important is that *I know it and keep positive so I can share that good, pass it on. Someone somewhere will get it eventually :)

p'bucket blows

Photobucket doesn't seem to want to work at this time. I can log on, I can load photos, but it won't recognize said photos or even a link to an album within my post. So "'zona pix" will sit in draft form until this changes. In the meanwhile, two additional recipes to complete the month of March. These aren't complicated at all, so coupled with the Faux Mac invention, the three can equal two (#'s 45 & 46)
1. Crispy Broccoli with Spicy Garlic (I also added red peppers and carrots to the stir fry)...made broccoli so much better!! Not bland at all! Plus I used this "newish" Uncle Ben's brown rice that was super delish.
2. Bean salad for my lunches this week (just black/kidney beans with pickled asparagus and olive oil/cider vinegar/hot sauce/spices...needs celery and onions!)

Slow blood and The Faux Mac

My arm SUCKS! I failed failed failed to donate blood. I've always had this weird issue where my blood is super slow. Which I guess is a good thing if I ever cut off my arm...maybe I won't bleed to death? But it makes for a frustrating donation process. I mean you read all the materials that you've read 8432349 times before, you fill out the survey, you answer the technicians questions, they test your temperature, your blood pressure, your iron count. And then they get you all prepared and slather on the iodine, stick you with the big needle, only to (in my case) dig around in there for ten minutes trying to get your blood to pour out faster, only to finally get that fateful look on the technician's face: "It doesn't look like you're going to make it in time". (For those of you have never donated before, they only allow you 15 minutes in which to donate your blood, for fear of it clotting.) Sigh. Oddly enough, however, over the past ten years, I guess I've donated some 30 times and honestly I've been given the heave 'slow' less than a dozen, maybe even only half a dozen times. So that's not too bad really, in the grand scheme of things. Awhile back, however, maybe four years ago, I really got discouraged and stopped donating all together! Now, of course, my List binds me to keep donating, but what happens after the list? As I sat in that vinyl chair last night, I watched a woman who had been pierced some 5-10 minutes AFTER me finish her pint in less than five minutes. So discouraging. See, practically everyone I know won't donate because they're afraid of needles or blood. And here I am totally willing to put myself through the slight pain (especially all the digging they have to do in my arm) and the inconvenience of driving to the burbs, only to be sent home sans donation. And PS what do they do with my blood if I don't make the whole pint? They throw it out :( WHY?!! Well, after some googling I discovered that the following could be a good reason:

"The collection bags have a certain amount of anti-coagulant in them to keep the blood from clotting while it’s being collected (the bag is rocked back and forth on a machine, to help with this as well.) The amount of anti-coagulant is based on the volume of blood the bag can hold (these ones expect a donation of ~400- 450 mL). If there is not enough blood in the bag, the ratio of anti-coagulant to blood will be off, which will somehow render the blood unusable for donation purposes" - Fellow Blogger

In my google frenzy, I did find a lot of other people who have this problem and started to feel a little more comforted. Perhaps a combination of my low blood pressure (last night 104/60, normal is 120/80; according to this chart I'm on the border of "low normal" and hypotension!) and a slight dehydration (instead camel'ing up the day before, I should pound the H20 a week or more ahead of time, although that didn't even work for my fellow mud-blood, David).

At the end of the day it's easy to feel discouraged, but even with the trek to the burbs, the questionaires, the tests, and the vein digging, it really is the easiest thing in the world to donate blood (barring any severe phobia). And it really is no skin off my back if they end up throwing away my half filled bag. At least I'm giving it the ol' Harvard try. So I'll try once again come May 20th or so. After that I'll donate twice in the summer (July 20thish and Sept 20thish) to try to make up for my lack of a donation in the winter. If I get another heave 'slow' I'll make up for it in some other way...maybe donate money to the Blood Center of WI or something.

Moving along here, and to conclude this post with something that has nothing at all to do with blood, I have to write about how I sort of reinvented a "healthy" Big Mac! With the help of my sister's Boca Burger suggestion (I used the "flame grilled" kind), I mixed together some relish/ketchup/light miracle whip, topped with lettuce and provolone, slapped it all between two pieces of Natural Ovens Healthy Beginnings Honey Wheat and grilled to melt the cheese. Obviously it really is nothing like an ACTUAL Big Mac, but honestly tastes just as good! The Boca Burgers are DELISH (I'm such a late bandwagon jumper) and like three grams of fat. The white cheese and light whip really don't add too much more fat to it.

Yum.
The Faux Mac.

listy updates mmmm....

I'm back from my trip and I enjoyed an Easter weekend full of church, 19 inches of snow, and my first cup of coffee in six weeks!! Now I have some updates to attend to...

#15 - Last night I started organizing INKYTNMO stuff for the big scrapbook! I could stand to go to town on this thing with fun little popouts and booklets and stuff, so I'm real stoked!!

#49 - Two new recipes:
1. I made mashed cauliflower which rocked my world. Seriously a REAL good alternative to mashed tatos. You just boil them in chicken stock until they're mashable, then add S&P and cheese...it's just that easy!

2. For our Easter Brunch, I literally made up a recipe. So in my mind, I had this idea for a "root hash"...hashbrowns, but made with regular shredded tatos, but also shredded sweet tatos, parsnips, and turnips. (I wanted rutabagas, but apparently Metro Market doesn't have rutabagas right now...blah) Anyway, in my mind, I imagined these hashbrowns with some sort of gravy or au jus just like on the east coast where you have "wet fries" or fries with gravy. So you'd get the crispiness of the hash, but some moisture with the gravy/au jus. Well it was quite an endeavor, but the recipe was a relative success!! I added some rosemary to the hashbrowns, as well as sauteed onions of course. And the sauce did turn out to be more of a gravy than au jus (beef stock, Worchester, and a little apple cider vinegar added to a roux)...but it was good. It was SOOOO much more flavorful than the typical hashbrowns you get. Much more depth because of the different root veggies. And the onions made it sweet! I think I'm going to experiment a bit with it...make the hashbrowns even more crispy (you really gotta stop those starches from exploding all over the place!), and try to make more of an au jus. In any case, the entire Easter Brunch as a whole was amazing. My mom made a spinach soufflé that was absolutely delicious. I don't know if I could make a soufflé! My sister made corn bread muffins from scratch (!) with maple butter...as well as a quick fruit salad (bananas, mango, honeydew). And of course brunch isn't brunch without bacon :) Later in the afternoon we had this outstanding orange cake my mom made for my grandpa for his birthday. It's got triple sec in it I think? Totally soaked in it!! Just to die for...I think I want to start requesting it for MY birthday ;)

#50 - See #49, I switched 'er up to the Turnip which I, of course, added to the hash. Yum stuff!

#54 - I have to make an appt...my hair is getting way too long!

#64 - I made it to the Grand Canyon YIPPIE!!!!!! I will post some AZ pix tomorrow if I get some time :) as well as a nice discussion...

#69 - Well, I completely forgot to donate blood during winter. I was supposed to on Dec 27th but that got pushed back. Then I got the flu and didn't want to endanger anyone? Well, I feel like if I at least get the donation in before March ends, that's fair enough, so I'm donating tonight. Hopefully my arm doesn't suck and I succeed!

#95 - On a Pale Horse is reading real quick! I love it!

Alright more tomorrow...

Please go on an upDate with me?

It feels like it's been awhile! I'm only a weekend and a loooong Monday away from my fabulous vacation in Arizona for a week! Totally exciting!! The wee hours of this morning, however, were not exciting. I had THEE worst dream about the trip...one of your classic trying to pack, trying to get to the airport, and it all failing miserably dreams. We were SUPER late and I forgot my purse at home, so I had to have Mandsi go and get it. She was all frantic and getting lost, but finally made it, only with some other random purse (claaaassic). I mean looking back, the events weren't really that bad, and I'm sure I would've handled them much calmer in real life, but you know how dreams are. I even woke up with a start and had to calm down for a few minutes to convince myself it was 'only a dream'. I blame it on Lost...it definitely had a Lost vibe. Only LAST Friday morning I had a LOVELY dream about Daniel Faraday ;)

Well, a new month is upon us, so on to the update!

#45 Recipes:
For my last Feb recipe, I made this wonderful chicken dish: chicken breasts covered with chopped portobellos, muenster cheese, and chicken stock baked for about 40 mins. I served it with some easy 90 second Uncle Ben's chicken rice and the whole thing was totally on point!
For my first March recipe, last night I made cauliflower "mashed potatoes"...mashed cauliflower essentially :) I didn't have a recipe, but have seen Rachael Ray make them, so I threw together the basic ingredients: boil cauliflower in 3cups chicken broth for 8mins or so until soft. Drain most of the broth, and smash cauliflower with a fork. In another pan, melt butter and sauté a couple garlic cloves...add smashed cauliflower, a tsp of dijon mustard, pepper, dill, and any kind of melty cheese. Stir all together and top with green onions. YUM!!! It was actually a lot better than I expected! And of course a nice healthy alternative to regular mashed tatos!

#50 - My atypical produce item this month will be rutabagas! I've never had them before, so this will be interesting. I found a recipe in my Women's Health so I'm down.

#51 - The sweet bakery give-up from Feb was brutal! But on March 1st at Maggiano's, I indulged in some tiramisu as well as some pound cake covered with hot fudge and sautéed bananas! I also got to have Oreos finally as everyone decided to wave them in front of me all month! ;) And finally, my bestest friend Monica sent me a COOKIE bouquet themed "Thanks a Latté!" So even though I still can't have coffee, I can enjoy a coffee mug shaped cookie ;) Anyway, March's give-up will be chips. I needed something super easy with being on vacay for a week and everything. One of these months, I'm seriously considering giving up meat for a month for kicks! It'll be hard and I know I'll crave meat (that's what she said) like nobody's biz ...but I gotta try it! Plus I have like two dozen veggie recipes in a recent Women's Health that all look really good.

#64 - On the aforementioned trip to AZ, I have the chance to go to the Grand Canyon. WILL it happen??? I just don't know. Fingers crossed!!

#68 - My feeding frenzy for March is definitely the dinner at Maggiano's where not only did I indulge in tiramisu and pound cake, but I also ingested chopped salad, fried zucchini, stuffed mushrooms, gnocchi, four cheese ravioli, garlic mashed potatoes, buttery asparagus, chicken parm, and chicken saltimbocca. Oh...my...god. I thought I was going to explode. Only in America folks. Needless to say, I worked out a lot this week ;)

#87 - new band...that's a big ol' question mark. So in it's place I'm going to put the website Pandora Radio. Just type in any band or artist your little heart desires and they give you an entire "radio station" of similar bands and artists. Registration is free! It's a great way to listen to your old faves and discover new ones!

#95 - I have 30 pages left in A Tale of Two Cities which I will finish this weekend for sure! (The last 100pgs have been fabulous by the way! I can't wait to finish!) Next on the docket is On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony: the book John gave me for Christmas! I'm going to read on the plane and such :)

And that's that! A good weekend to all and I'll HOPEFULLY chat again on the other side of my vacation!

Dad

This will be a completely random post, but I was listening to Alphaville today and it reminded me of when my sis and I visited my dad in Madison, and, while he was at work, we would play his Alphaville's Forever Young cd over and over. I even sneakily dubbed "Forever Young" onto a mix tape I had with me. This past November 27th marked five years since his death...it's crazy to think that it's been five years already. Well, for some reason this past weekend, I thought about him a lot. Perhaps it was due to the late night dessert with Z at The Knick on Friday, or how Katie asked me if I had any contact with my dad's 'partner' Jeff on Saturday, or maybe the fact that Sunday was Oscar Night...my dad was everywhere! And like I told Z at the Knick, it's so strange but, to this day, I still feel like I see him and when I do, I ALWAYS do a double take to make sure it isn't him. She does the same thing, so I'm not crazy ;) In any case, listening to Alphaville, I was flooded with all kinds of memories of my dad and I thought I'd list a few of them for the heck of it.

In a sort of chronological order:

-When I watched my dad deliver sermons, I'd think he was Jesus? Which is funny because he sooo wasn't, but isn't it a tad adorable coming from a four year old?

-He, my sis, and I would go to Adventureland (a poor man's Six Flag's) in Altoona, IA. And just as we were coming up on the entrance, my dad would stop and say "Wait a minute, this isn't where I want to turn, we're actually going to the dentist!" and it would crack us up!

-Dancing in the living room to Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" and knowing, at age 6, that it was my dad's favorite song, YET completely unaware that he was gay!

-Seeing BOTH my parents dress up as Rocky Horror characters to go to the midnight showing...still oblivious to my dad's homosexuality. Jeez.

-Watching To Kill A Mockingbird in his studio apartment, which was on Cass and very near to where I live now! It could honestly be south of our apartment building right across the parking lot!

-When he took Mandsi and I to La Péniche several times when we visited him in New Orleans circa'93. She and I gave every waiter there a nickname, like after Soap characters and whatnot? Likewise when he took us to Cafe du Monde for late night hot chocolate and beignets.

-Going to the three hour, late night Easter Vigil at St. John's Cathedral and then grabbing some dessert afterwards at what I think was Ma Fischer's or perhaps Annie's cafe (which was replaced by Kohl's and then replaced by my beloved Metro Market!)

-Going to see Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Chicago and then heading to this diner afterward where this gay guy pretended to strut a runway during the breakdown in Wilson Phillips' "Hold On".

-Driving to Madison late at night in his teal Pontiac Sunbird, the cozy dark countryside, and the sleep inducing buzz of talk radio.

-Being all stoked and feeling awesome when I walked into his favorite bar, the Crystal Corner, to partake in Jeopardy shenanigans after getting my tattoo when I was 18.

-"Letting me" order a rum and coke at a restaurant when I was so not 21!

-The dinners he'd make when we'd visit...nothing extravagant, but there was something about them that rocked. Especially that special barbecue sauce he had.

-His and Jeff's joint birthday parties in October: their apartment stuffed with all kinds of interesting folk, young and old: the air filled with cigarette smoke, we all drank red wine, and Abba, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, The Talented Mr. Ripley soundtrack, etc would play in the background.

-Many viewings of our favorite musicals: Hair, JC Superstar, Evita...

-His hilarious rants about some customer he had at [insert sales company here, i.e. Steinhafels, Ruben's, the jewelry store in N.O., Jack's Shoes...]

-When he wrote me this very out-of-the-blue email that simply said I love you not too far before he commit suicide.

-And all the little things: his cotton vertical striped dress shirts, when he'd raise one eyebrow to let us know we were in trouble, his singing voice at church, his crazy voice pretending to be a customer, when he'd say "Pardon?" even when we didn't say anything (he had no hearing in his right ear), his kickass apartment in Madison and rad furniture, his record collection, his hilarious sense of humor and his, infrequent, but really great hugs.

To conclude, I think that if my dad were still alive today, he'd get a real kick out of all our lives. I think he'd really enjoy the fact that my mom was writing erotica. I think he'd LOVE the fact that Mandsi lives and breathes film. He'd probably really like our cat Floyd and say that he reminded him of our old cat Steve. He'd enjoy John's decorating style and roll his eyes when I'd tell him that John sort of reminds me of him in some vague way though they're nothing alike! He'd enjoy the fact that I still go to St. John's Cathedral, and am now a member and a Eucharistic minister. And he'd definitely be amazed that Z and I live in the same neighborhood he did after he and my mom separated. Some days I feel like he knows, some days I feel like he doesn't. And I wish we could just grab some coffee and chat for a few hours. The spookiest part is that I feel that that wish isn't all that far fetched. Like one of those things that's so close yet so far away...just out of reach. Because even after five years, it still seems so strange that he's gone. And at the end of the day, maybe that's why I always do double takes when I see a short gray haired man or a teal Sunbird pass me by.

Lunar Mooner Eclipse Slideshow!