Ragweed is Ruthless

Fortunately, I only have a couple of allergies. One is cockroaches. I find avoiding them to be a bit of a pleasure. The other is ragweed. I find avoiding it to be nearly impossible. Especially at this time of the year.

I am in full allergy bloom. The head is stuffed up, the sinuses ache, the throat is dry and scratchy, and I am so very tired. The allergy medicine works, but it makes me more tired...which doesn't work for work. So, I take these weird day-time medicines that help a bit, but not a lot. But hopefully enough to help me make it through the day.

I wonder how long the ragweed season lasts. Next week I am on vacation. It is time to declutter the house. Fortunately, I will be inside for most of that and safely away from the nasty ragweed.

rj

Tater Tot Hotdish

Tater Tot Hotdish
1# hamburger
1 medium onion
12 oz bag of mixed veggies
family size can of cream of mushroom
bag of tater tots

Preheat oven to 350. Brown hamburger and onion. Drain. Add the mixed veggies and cream of mushroom. Mix well.
Pour into a 9x12 pan. Top with a layer of tater tots.
Bake for 25-30 minutes (until tater tots are browned/hot and mixture is heated through).

MN Zoo Visit

We brought the (now) six year old "animal" to the zoo on Sunday. He had a blast...and we may have even worn him out a bit. Though I imagine the cotton candy near the end gave him a good second wind...


He does love wood:

Jordan and Tia climb through the cave in one of the exhibits...

A few animal shots...I mean, it was a zoo after all!

Here are a couple of really cool sculptures they had:

family picnic pictures

A little late (the picnic was two weeks ago), but here are a couple of great pictures from the family picnic...

Grandpa tries to hold the squirmy one!

Chocolate Is

I have broken my own rule again. I do not even know why I have this specific rule. I break it all the time. Other rules seem to exist quite peacefully without being broken...but this rule refuses to stay intact.

Do Not Bring Bags of Chocolate to the Office.

SO simple.

Alas the Hershey's miniature candy bars were on sale "2 pkgs/$4"...plus I had a $1 off coupon. So I got each pkg for $1.50. A great deal.

And one of the bags leaped into my work bag and came to work with me...opened itself and poured itself into my snack jar.

Sadly, it's also time to pour a fresh, hot cup of coffee. I bet a special dark miniature bar would be delicious with it...

Goulosh is good

Tonight's Dinner...

Goulash

1 # hamburger
1 medium onion
1 can hunt's spaghetti sauce
1 can corn (drained)
2 cups uncooked elbow macoroni

Brown the hamburger and onions together. In a separate pot, cook the pasta. Drain the hamburger/onion of extra oil. Add the sauce and corn. After the pasta is cooked and drained, add it to the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.
Salt & Pepper to taste.
Add cheese on top of you want.

Tuesday Mourning.

On frustration.

The report will not run
it crashes every time.
But I must run it. I need the data.
And it is annoying me...to no end.
And still I try it.
One more time.
Maybe this time.
Maybe not.
Sigh.
Six are done.
Two to go.
Hours wasted.

Eddings, David - Enchanters' End Game

And so I have finished The Belgariad. I spent a lovely day yesterday reading and cleaning the house. I'd clean for a bit and the reward myself with reading for a bit...then back to cleaning...then reading. A bit of eating. A three hour nap. Lots of pet-pet time with the cats. It was a wonderful day. I never left the condo once. (Well, I poked my arm out to grab the Sunday paper from right outside the door, but that hardly counts.)

I have so many books to read, but I will add The Mallorean (the next series by Eddings) to the list as well.

This week I'm going to take a break from reading (books) and see if it effects the headaches I've been getting. Plus, I have a stack of about 15 magazines (not joking) that I need to browse through so that I can recycle them.

SO much clutter, so little time...

rj

Eddings, David - Castle of Wizardry

Last night I finished book four in the Belgariad.

Book four is the one where Garion goes off to fight the bad god Torak. Silk and Belgarath go with him. While they're heading toward Mallorea, Polgera and Ce'Nedra work with the other kings to start raising an army...then they too start the march towards Mallorea.

Book 5 promises to bring it all to climax and answer a few questions that roam in the reader's head...

I'll be starting that tonight!
rj

Coupons are Cool!

I love coupons!

All different shapes and sizes and denominations and deals..."buy one/get one" or "$1.00 off of 3" or "buy this particular brand/size get $.50 off". So many details to track. Plus I get to save money. Which I always love.

This morning I stopped at Bruegger's Bagels for a Friday morning breakfast treat. As I was paying, the manager put a flyer in my bagel bag. I say to him, "oooh, I love coupons!" He says, "this is more like reading material. No coupons." Pause. "I don't know why they didn't attach a coupon."

So I say (a bit saucily, but with humor in my voice), "well then, I won't read it." Ending with a bit of fake righteous indignation.

Then I went back to fumbling through my wallet for my money. While I do that, he wanders into his office, grabs a stack of coupons, brings them out...and puts one in my bag. Oh how delightful.

"There you go," he says.

"Oh, that's wonderful," I gush.

And indeed it is. There are 8 coupons on the sheet. I'll use 3 of them for sure...maybe even 4. It is a good Friday indeed.

rj

Mini Chocolate-Chip Cookies

I was thinking about these on the drive in. It's been a long time since I've made them. But now that the memory is in my mind, perhaps I'll make up a batch soon...

Mini Chocolate-Chip Cookies
2 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp table salt
1 large egg white(s)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup

Preheat oven to 375ºF. In a medium bowl, cream butter, oil and brown sugar together. Add vanilla, salt and egg white, and mix together thoroughly. Drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto a nonstick baking sheet. Bake cookies for 4 to 6 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. Yields 1 cookie per serving.
Makes 24 cookies - 1 WW point each

Sometimes when I make these cookies, I'll scoop the batter into my mini-muffin pans (Pampered Chef), with my small scoop (Pampered Chef), and then freeze them. (After they are frozen, I take them out of the pan and put them in a freezer-safe baggie and then back into the freezer.) That way I can bake just a few at a time and have them in the freezer ready when I need a little sweet treat. These are also sometimes called "1 Point Chocolate Chip Cookies"...a classic Weight Watchers' recipe.

Food for thought!

I did it!
Yesterday I had two goals:
1) Write down everything I ate and
2) Stay within my allotted Weight-Watcher's points.

And I did both. I even left 3 points behind (not on purpose...I just over-estimated how many points were in the chili...)

2 hard-boiled eggs
coffee w/cream
banana
grapes
100 calorie pringles
turkey sandwich
butterfinger stick (2 pts)
peanuts
1/2 of a large chili from Wendy's
baked potato
100 cal choc pudding w/cool whip

Today I need to step up the water. I only had two of those yesterday...I'd like to get that back up to 4-6 a day.

I must lose weight. My back hurts more and more each day most likely from gained weight. I can blame the Lyrica for that, but I still need to lose weight and manage it. sigh.

rj

Chili & Baked Potato

1 Small Chili from Wendy's (3.5 WW pts)
1 Baked Potato from Wendy's (4.5 WW pts)
Cheese (optional) (2 WW pts)

Put the potato in the bottom of a big bowl, break it up a bit into chunks. Pour the chili over top. Add cheese (if it's not already on the chili).
Eat.
Very quick. And easy. And inexpensive (like $3.50). And filling. And point-friendly for those who do Weight Watchers.

Eddings, David - Queen of Socery & Magicians Gambit

I spent all of yesterday afternoon reading. I finished up book two of the Belgariad and read book three completely.
A lovely way to spend an afternoon. Lovely indeed.
I should have cleaned or de-cluttered or cooked a dinner...instead I read, and read, and read.

Saturday coffee breaks

We had a fun little adventure on Saturday...running errands with Holly and Jordan. Between one errand and another, we stopped at Dunn Bros for drinks. Jordan loves the Chai Ice Crema, so he got to have one of those. (The sugar kicked in about 1/3 of the way through our Sam's Club trip, and we quickly realized we had made a mistake...wild boy he was!)

Here's my favorite drink: the Mocha Ice Crema! Yum, Yum. I had a coupon for a free drink, so I got the large...I only drank half of it though. It was too much for me!

Isn't he adorable?

These are some pictures from errand running last Friday afternoon. First we went to dairy queen where Henry had his first ice cream cone. He enjoyed it very much and even managed to eat most of it.


Later, after an afternoon of errands, Henry caught a quick nap in the car. Happily he woke up on his own before we had to go into Walmart.

Eddings, David - The Pawn of Prophecy

I have finished book one of the Belgariad. I am actually well into book two already.

I love this story. I read it many years ago and am truly enjoying my re-reading of it. Eddings weaves a wonderful fantasy tale with rich characters who blend together to form a close-knit group who wander off to save the world.

Definitely worth the read!

Braestrup, Kate - Here if You Need Me

Alas, I did not like this book.

It was a wonderful story of how Kate became a chaplain with Maine's fish and game wardens. She superbly wove together details of searches, time out with the wardens, time with her family and her memories of her husband Drew. (Drew had been planning on going to seminary to do what she eventually ended up doing before he died in a car accident.)

But, I did not like the book. I recommend it as a story of someone's life, but I do not recommend her faith. I do not believe that all ways lead to God and that everyone gets to go to heaven. God is Love, yes, but He is also a Holy God who does not allow unholy things into His presence. And the only way to be made Holy is through accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior. He was not just a good teacher equal to other great religious figures. He is God. Fully and completely. He chose to come to earth to live a sinless life and to die for our sins to be an atonement for us so that those who believe in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life with God.

Anyway, I liked the story. And I liked Kate. I just didn't like her take on faith.

rj

Hamburger/Rice Hotdish

The dinner I made Monday night...and leftovers I had yesterday and today for lunch.

Hamburger/Rice Hotdish

1# hambuger
1 medium onion
1 family size can of cream of mushroom
1/2 c milk
1 can corn or frozen mixed veggies
1 cup uncooked rice

Start the rice cooking in the rice cooker.
Brown the hamburger and onion.
Drain any grease from that.
Add the cream of mushroom, milk and frozen veggies. Heat through.
Add the cooked rice.
Add some pepper.

Very easy. Very tasty.

Third Day - Revelation

I bought the new Third Day c.d. this past weekend - Revelation.
I have 10 other c.d.'s by them...I think (I hope) I own every one they've made.
This one was just as awesome as the others. I liked EVERY song on it. Which is so rare for me.
I've already listened to it several times and even put it on my computer so that it is here at work whenever I need it.
One of my favorite thing to do is load up all the Third Day c.d.'s into one play list and set the player on Random. That way I get to hear my favorite songs for hours on ends.

Third Day and Mercy Me are my favorite groups. I wonder when Mercy Me will have a new c.d. out. hmm...maybe a little investigation is in order.
rj

On the day after a sick day...

Do I feel better? Maybe. Well enough to come to work; though now that I'm here I'm feeling a little sick enough to go home. It is always so hard to decide. I know it is just a little virus-bug. Plenty of fluids and rest...blah, blah, blah.
But it's also not a cold or the flu or strep throat. I just feel crappy. My head hurts and my body aches and I run a little fever every couple of hours...though I haven't had one of those since last night.
Anyway, I shall work on perservering.
rj

Home Sick

Such ick
My head hurts
And body aches
So I take time to rest
And wonder why
I am unwell
And wish I felt better.

sigh

And so it was...

Another lovely weekend has come to an end.

I spent a few hours on Saturday showing mom how to do things on her blog. We added a new clock to her site and a bookshelf. I'm going to add the bookshelf to my site too. Hopefully, I'll have some time today.
Saturday afternoon was a nap.
Saturday evening Curt and I went to dinner and then to the Uptown Art Fair.
Then Sunday was church. After church I spent all afternoon lounging on the couch watching season 3 of The Closer. I borrowed the season from Holly. I bought it for her birthday on July 18. Since she still hadn't opened the package by this past Friday (August 1), I felt it was fair game for borrowing. (Over the weekend I watched about 10 episodes.)

rj

Last Night's Sunbeam

Oh my, she is a beauty. Remember though...she has claws.

I love to try to pet her stomach. Somedays she'll let me get away with it for a few seconds before she gently attacks my hands (with claws and then teeth if necessary) to remind me tummy-petting is off limits. But she is so soft, so I continue to try every chance I get.

Sunday Morning Papers/Cat in a Box

Before I head out for church, the cats and I have a habit of reading the Sunday paper together. I curl up at one end of the couch with the paper, and they (after climbing all over me and the paper and determining it's not comfortable) curl up at the other end. Rarely will both of them curl up so close to each other. Usually one's on the floor or across the room. So, when I have them together, I like to snap a picture. This is the first one before they opened their eyes and gave me the "what exactly do you think you're doing" stare.

Cozy doesn't know that she doesn't fit in small boxes. I have told her. She doesn't believe me.

rj