A day in the life...

So it's friday, more than two weeks after I went in for the interview at the bank, and i'm pretty much positive they gave the job to someone else. No big deal. I wasn't that attached to it anyway. I'm busy figuring out how to be a housewife still...

Right now I'm focused on cutting our food budget down and figuring out how to get more food for less money. I'm NOT going to turn into one of those crazy extreme coupon people. Because I think they devote their entire life to it and end up with 300 toothbrushes they'll never need. (true story, apparently, based on some tv show TLC did on extreme couponing.)

Don't get me wrong; i do stockpile certain items that we use all the time, such as laundry soap, dish soap, etc. If i can get them SUPER on sale, that works for me, because then I don't have to buy them for a LONG time, and save a little money that way. And it's not like it's going to go bad...

So i'm working on meal planning; because i feel that if I go to the grocery store with an actual plan in mind instead of just a haphazard 'oh that looks good' i'll spend less money. And waste less food. Food is expensive, which is dumb because we kinda have to have it in order to survive as a species.

I'm also trying to figure out freezer cooking; which, in the extreme case, is spending one day making all your meals for the month. I'm not about to do that. I think it's INSANE. But I do routinely cook up enough for two or three meals at a time and stick the extra portions in the freezer. Because, especially on Wednesday and Sundays; I don't always remember we have to leave early to be at the church for youth group. So I can just pull something out and microwave it, which is awesome.

What are your favorite meals? I'm always open to ideas.

Contest at Earth and Skye Photography

So there's this artist i've been looking at for quite a while now; Tina Steinberg. She makes personalized silver jewelry with, among other things, a fingerprint pendant of the fingerprint you send her (a child, spouse, other loved one) And I thought that would be a great idea for when i have Kids! Or if i can get one with Dan's fingerprint; because that would be cool too.

Anyway, http://www.earthandskye.com/archives/1292 is doing a contest to give away one of her jewelry pieces! I'm excited about it, anyway. So check it out; there are a bunch of ways to enter to win!

Life, as we know it

Not a lot going on these days; Dan and I cleaned up our front bedroom today for the first time since we moved into the house three months ago; you could actually fit a blow up mattress on the floor now so it's pretty much ready for guests except for the part where we keep it sealed off to save money on heating rooms we don't use so it's REALLY cold in there...so if you wanna come see me before spring warn me so i have time to warm up the room so you won't freeze to death when you sleep.

Last friday was my birthday; it was a quiet day. I'm not big into making birthdays into a big deal but they're a HUGE deal in Dan's family so we compromised. About the only thing we did was go out to dinner at applebee's...i had STEAK! any birthday involving steak is a good birthday, in my opinion. Dan gave me a pretty necklace and I'm saving up to buy myself a DSLR camera. You know, someday.

We are currently watching through Farscape; i'd kinda forgotten how bizarre this show is. I love it but they totally ignore such fundamental things as...oh, i dunno...the laws of physics! But it's fun. And the aliens come in pretty colors.

Chalkboard

I bought supplies to make myself a chalkboard today; i'm very excited about it! I plan on working on it tomorrow so hopefully by thursday or so i'll have it done. I also asked Dan sister to send me some of her landscape pictures so i can frame them and hang them on the walls. I'm excited about making my house look like a home.

I've had an ear infection for like...a week, and i don't have health insurance yet so...i take lots of ibuprofen. lol.

Beka is coming this weekend! I'm really excited about it. Dan will be out all day on Saturday so it'll be nice to have someone to hang out with. plus i haven't seen her since the wedding. and i miss my beka.

home

We've been in this house for three months now. Three months, exactly, today. Now, granted, we've only had furniture for two and a half of those months. But after three months, it's all I can do to keep the clutter controlled. I haven't bothered to go out and find any awesome decorations. Now, i'm thinking I need to. Because, honestly, my house is boring.

Yes, I know it's a rental. I know I can't do as much to it as I want to since i'm not gonna live here forever and since the house doesn't actually belong to me.

But, surely, there's something I can do. So I scour the internets (you can learn anything from them, I am telling you). So once there's less snow and I can get out, i'm hitting up Hobby Lobby. Because it's my new favorite store. I love to go in there and wander, and wander, and wander. They carry all kinds of awesome craft stuff, and all kinds of BEAUTIFUL home decorating...stuff.

I want a chalkboard. Not a big one, just a fun one that i can hang on the wall and write fun stuff on. And the coolest thing is, you can make your own, thanks to the existence of chalkboard paint. That, and a picture frame, and i'll be set. Oh, I guess i should get chalk, too.

And i want some kind of ornate, wrought-iron decorative thing that has a mirror in the middle.

Because I think they're pretty. I also realize that this thing is WAY too heavy to hang on my wall without nails, and we aren't allowed to put holes in the wall. But, that's not the point. The point is, I want one.

And Meimei is gonna send me a bunch of her art, so I can frame the ones I like and hang them on the walls. I'm really excited about this.

And I'm learning how to use my camera. Because I want to be able to take yummy pictures of everything and everyone I encounter. Not that I have any kind of artistic ability, whatsoever. But I can pretend, right?

Stream of Consciousness

Yeah, i realize nearly all my posts are stream of consciousness but hey, i might as well admit it, right?

I made brownies tonight; for once i think i managed to cook them just the right amount of time. My oven is about a MILLION years old and it doesn't like to cook food at an even temperature, which for meat and whatnot is fine but it's a real pain for baking. I have yet to have a batch of chocolate chip cookies turn out decent; they're either hard as a brick or ubersquishy and flat as a pancake. Don't ask me why; i do the same thing every time.

Once a month Dan has the youth staff over to the house for a meeting; hence the brownies. I don't mind so much as it forces me to get up occasionally and actually clean the house. or at least, the part of the house people can see. So, Living room, Bathroom and (kinda) the kitchen.

I bought a rice cooker this week which is AWESOME because i can finally cook rice that turns out edible! My stove, being attached to the aforementioned oven, is also a MILLION years old and has one setting; ON. Makes things like rice very difficult to cook, and i either end up with rice that's burnt to the pan (which is a pain to clean, and I only own the one pot) or rice that's undercooked and crunchy in the middle, which is gross. But; No More! I now have a cute little rice cooker courtesy of Walmart that makes perfect rice every time! And i know, because i've made rice three times in it since monday, lol. (only the first time wasn't perfect, and i'm pretty sure that's due to operator error.)

I'm considering henna'ing my hair again, only with real henna this time instead of the cheap stuff i usually get at whole foods. A) because the nearest whole foods is an hr away, and they don't carry it, and B) because apparently you get a better color with real henna. Who knew? Actually, i probably did but opted to ignore it because the stuff i was using was cheap, and fairly simple to use.

On the other hand, I might grow my hair out and see what kind of fascinating color it turns out to be in it's virgin state. It's been...um...four years since i've seen that? Maybe longer? No, it can't be longer because i still had natural colored hair when i went to London. So shortly after that, i went red, then brown, then red....then henna which NEVER washes out but it does fade a little if you use the cheap stuff. And if you use the REALLY cheap stuff, it apparently turns your hair green. I was fortunate to avoid that experience. Because my boss probably would have fired me if i'd accidently dyed my hair green.

I had an interview yesterday. I got all dressed up and looked like a real grown up for the first time in...well, ever. I even bought grown up nylons. I think from now on i'll be sticking to my tights because nylons don't do anything to keep your legs warm. I did not, however, wear makeup. Take THAT, socially acceptable standards! Mwahaha.

I've been reading Mercedes Lackey books lately. Because no other book on the face of the planet captures my imagination like hers. I love the story, i love the characters (some, especially) and I love how she weaves them all together.

Yes, that is the real way my brain works. In type. Have fun!

hair

I've been attempting to grow my hair out for...quite a while. Unfortunately, when Dan was in school i'd get bored and scissor happy at least once a semester and chop my hair back to shoulder length...etc.

So i'm at almost midback length now; and i'm looking to hit waist length by the end of the year. And maybe go back to my natural color? Not that i have any idea what that is...lol.

Dan and i have been watching Leverage lately; it's an awesome show. Con artist's as good guys? Sure, it's been done before, but usually it's not this funny.

Dodgeball!

We had a dodgeball tournament tonight at church; the turnout was AWESOME! The best part was that most of the students who came weren't from our church; which was AWESOME! They all had a great time, it seemed like.

I keep finding uses for my amazing lotion bars...i found i can use them on my face to deal with the fact that winter seems determined to suck ALL the moisture from my skin. and it hasn't made be breakout which is even better.

It's been COLD here, and i turned the heat down in hopes that our gas bill would be lower this month. the bill hasn't come yet so i don't know how that's going. but it's always BLANKET time in my house lol.

Lotion

I made lotion bars yesterday, and i'm using them they make my skin so happy! I'm super excited about them; once i added peppermint oil they smell super yummy.

I got new books yesterday too so i'm busy making my way through those. I don't spend a TON of time reading but I do enjoy it.

I'm hoping my new phone comes today; i've only been waiting a week longer than i should have had to, due to the fact that they sent it to my parent's house, which didn't help me at all...

I have a job interview next week! I'm really excited about it because sitting at home all day is BORING. I have got to do something...

Goodbye Christmas

Taking down my tree today; once Dan gets home it'll come down all the way, which is exciting to me. I don't mind the christmas stuff but i want my living room back the way it's supposed to be. Plus it'll give me better access to my gerbils. :)

I took a break on knitting my tom baker scarf so i could make dishclothes because i really have a serious need for them; i'm tired of buying sponges that i mutilate in a week. And making them gives me something to do and a sense of completion because they get done so much faster, lol.

On a totally unrelated note: I've decided to give up (mostly) processed foods. I want to start cooking more and making healthier food for Dan and I. Not that we eat out a lot, or even eat a lot of processed food to begin with (it's expensive. Seriously, that box of toaster strudels? it's not worth the money. Eat cardboard. it has the same nutritional value. ok i feel better.) But i'm going to start incorporating more fruits and veggies into our diet, and less bread products. I'm hoping cutting back on wheat will help us both in the long run; neither of us has a wheat allergy but still...Potatoes and rice are just as tasty. and better for us.

I also totally avoid 'sugar substitutes' like aspertame, etc. Even splenda. Mostly because i think splenda is nasty tasting. But the others i avoid because they make me feel really yucky. ALL THE TIME. So i don't eat them anymore.

2011

First day of 2011: How did you spend new year's eve? Dan and I watched our favorite Doctor Who episodes and attempted to watch the ball drop but apparently you have to do that here at eleven instead of midnight, which is dumb.

Dan also took me to whole foods yesterday; i got shampoo! Which is most exciting for me because I like beauty products lol and all natural, or at least SLS free shampoos make me happy.

So for Christmas I got a Zumba game for the wii; i have SO much fun playing it! Amazing, they finally invented an exercise (besides swimming) that I like! Which is great as I can fulfill my 'lose weight and get in shape' resolution. Even though it's so cold outside i might freeze to the road if I go walking.