I ended 2009 with a stomach bug.  I’ve started 2010 with a sinus infection and conjunctivitis (otherwise known as pink eye).  Happy new year!

Making a reappearance

Yup, I have to wear my glasses again.  I only have to use the drops for five days this time, though, and I’ll be putting in my contacts right after that.  As long as the eye isn’t still red and nasty, that is.  In the meantime, my sinuses are clogged, my hands are being washed even more frequently (I didn’t think that was possible), and I’m just gross.  Oh, and did I mention that I took a personal day on the first day of the year?  And the best part of that personal day had to be the two hours spent waiting to be seen at urgent care!  I would’ve gone to see my own doctor, but apparently my doctor’s office doesn’t make time to see sick people.

Anyway, I promised myself that I would blog more in 2010.  I mentioned last year that I’d like to blog more of my meals in an effort to keep myself accountable, but I haven’t done that.  Hey, I haven’t even updated the blog in weeks.  So this is a start.  I’m going to try to be better about it, but no more promising myself anything.  Not only is that setting myself up for disappointment, but I’m also not going to force myself to write when I don’t feel inspired.

So what have I been doing for the last few weeks (besides catching nasty illnesses)?  I’ve been spending time with my family.  The northerners arrived on Christmas Eve, and the southerners arrived in parts (my mom and I picked up my sister-in-law and JP last Wednesday, and my brother arrived on New Year’s Day and immediately turned into a penguin in order to adapt to the weather).  All the kids (The Pie, Mowgli, and The Duck were all here in addition to JP) are adorable, hilarious, and wonderful.  Having them around makes me a happy auntie!  Everyone left today; I miss them all already.  (Editor’s note: They actually all left yesterday when I wrote this part.  I still miss them today, too.)

Before their arrival, but after my last post, I did a lot of baking.  I took some photos of some of my cookies for the blog, but they seem irrelevant now…since I ate them all.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  A lot of them were gifts for coworkers (mine and Miriam’s), but then we (yes, I’m blaming others, too) ate most of the leftovers.  A few things may have ended up in the fuh-ree-zuh.

Speaking of freezers, I hate winter.  It’s been bitter cold here.  But it’s worse elsewhere.  Miriam landed in Michigan today (to go to the same hospital for treatment that I wrote about here), where it’s 2 degrees!  Poor Moo.  Send some good thoughts her way; let’s hope she’s admitted to the program quickly and feels well  soon so she can come home where it’s warmer (although not much; I’m wearing two pairs of socks and my toes are still icicles).   In the meantime, I’m off to thaw out in a hot shower followed by a cup of tea to warm up the insides.  Later, gators.

Although this was taken on the third night.

Happy Chanukah, everyone!  I received some great gifts from my family, including snow tires from my mom (seriously, great gift) and The Beatles Monopoly game from Miriam!

Money can’t buy me love!

I also finally bought a real lunch bag with my Target gift card from Lil.  Thanks, Lil!

In other news, it’s freezing here.  Winter has finally set in for good, methinks.  But it won’t stop me from getting out of the house!  This past weekend, I went out for a run on Saturday and on Sunday.  It was also not quite 30 degrees, so I had to dress appropriately.

Fuzzy photo.  And I look wide.  What a tool.

Here’s my ridiculous getup: Two long-sleeved shirts made of wick-away fabric, a fleece jacket, and thin long johns under my pants.  Plus gloves and a hat.  And sunglasses, of course.  Don’t I look ready to go?  (Actually, this was taken after I got back.)  So was this:

Can’t you see me running?  This was taken in real time.  Yes, I’m that slow.

I have more to write, but I just remembered that I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning, which comes with an early wake-up call.  Sure wish I remembered that an hour ago.  Goodnight!

…for some cheers and jeers!

Cheers to Thanksgiving!

Appetizers and wine.  I ate and drank while I cooked.

Dinner (for three!) included spinach salad with walnuts and strawberries, cranberry crunch, a fake meatloaf, roasted root vegetables, and close-up shots of the salad and vegetables (the other food, while delicious, is not photogenic when separated from its serving dish).

Thanksgiving was spent at home with Mama and Miriam.  I woke up in the morning, went for a run, and prepared most of the food you see above (Mama made the cranberry crunch).   I also made Miriam an unpictured cocktail!  Vodka and pineapple juice.  She’s declared herself a vodka girl.  Cheers to that!

Cheers to my family.  Thanks for spending the holiday with me.  And thanks for eating my food, even if it wasn’t as tasty as I would’ve liked.  I wish the whole family could’ve spent Thanksgiving together!

Cheers to other good food I’ve enjoyed recently.

Another dish I made: quinoa topped with sautéed vegetables (I’m sure there’s onions, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach in there) and baked tofu (with some marinade I threw together).  Delicious!

Jeers to cancer and lives lost too soon. 

Cheers to a night filled with karaoke and Elvis!  That would be three guys dressed up as Elvis: one Afro Elvis (he was about seven feet tall with a wig and a white Elvis suit); one Pompadour Elvis (with the aforementioned hairstyle and a black Elvis suit); and Mexican Elvis (complete with sombrero and glasses; for all we know, Elvis has been hiding south of the border all these years and resurfaced at our local karaoke bar!).  Good times were had by all, especially me, since I, as designated drinker, enjoyed the shot that the Elvises (Elvi?) bought for Lil!

Cheers to free stuff!  I almost forgot about the giveaway I won!  Thanks to Feed Me I’m Cranky; she always posts giveaways that are happening around the blogs, and through her site, I found a giveaway and won!

Thanks to the folks at Mix My Granola for the gift certificate toward my very own granola mix!  It contains (in case you can’t read it in the photo) organic granola, cranberries, roasted almonds, organic flax seeds, chocolate mini morsels, and lots of LOVE!  And it’s delicious.  I especially like it sprinkled on top of my oatmeal, which means it’s lasted a while, since I only have time to make oatmeal on the weekend.  Go check it out and make your own mix (or you can use mine!). 

Jeers to my computer.  It’s so slow lately, making it nearly impossible to get things done.   So, while I’m at it, I’ll end this post with a few things that I was going to post separately. 

Cheers to The Beatles!  As I mentioned a couple of posts back, my Beatles box set arrived just in time for my trip to Toronto!  Only two months after I ordered it.  Huzzah!

 I ripped open the package and immediately hugged the set.

I love you, boys.

And speaking of The Beatles…

Cheers to John Lennon.  Jeers, again, to lives lost too soon.  John Lennon died 29 years ago today.  Cheers to the music left behind.

Dearest blog reader(s),

I haven’t forgotten about you.  I know you are anxiously awaiting my next post.  It must be hard sitting there, day after day, longing for my quick wit and fabulous photography to appear on your screen.  I promise you a Thanksgiving weekend (and month of November, really) update soon.  In the next day or so even!  But in the meantime, I’ve broken a promise to myself: I didn’t go to sleep early.  And can you guess one reason why I’m still awake?  That’s right, the lack of blog post; it keeps me up at night.  See, I’m always thinking of you, reader(s).   And in return, I’m hoping you’ll come back when I replace this placeholder with a real post.

Sweet dreams!

Actually, I’m sure no one has been missing this blogger.  I keep meaning to sit down and write, but I haven’t.  But here I am now!

Last weekend, I went up to Toronto to visit my sister, #1 brother-in-law, and my nieces and nephew.  Although my brother-in-law says he doesn’t care if I put the kids photos up on the blog, my sister has asked me in the past not to.  But I think I finally found some that are a good compromise:

The Pie	Mowgli	The Duck

Aren’t they adorable?!  Actually, they are super cute.  And you can’t see Mowgli’s hair, but it’s so short now!  But since it took me so long to settle on that name, I’m just going to stick with it, big hair or not.  You also can’t see his shoes, but I just realized that I bought all of them these shoes.  The Pie and the boy got new running shoes from Auntie Sara this summer, and I brought the girls new boots on this trip.  Useful gifts are good, too!  Anyway, as you can see, after I arrived on Saturday, we went to the park.  On Sunday, after I took The Duck on a long walk on which I bored her to sleep, we went on a family nature walk.  The Pie wrote a list of things for us to find (such as a flat rock, animals, and different colored leaves), and we found most of them, including this misplaced comma:

Yes, there are signs in nature.  And seriously, Sara, leave the work at home.

The older kids had a day off from school on Monday, so while The Duck went to daycare, we spent the day together.  First, we played Hullabaloo.  Then we dressed up.

The Pie provided me with princess gear.  And this is not the only photo that proves that I need longer arms in order to take such photos.

We then took a long walk to get some lunch, then came back to have an Oreo licking race!  The Pie beat out Mowgli, who didn’t even bother to eat the chocolate parts of the cookie.  The kids then took turns on the swing in the backyard.  It was a beautiful day to be outside!  We had a great day, and I had a fantastic weekend with my northern family. 

Oh, I almost forgot to show you photos from the ride up:

The scenery	My serious driving face (actually, I apparently need stronger sunglasses)

My Beatles box set came just in time to entertain me on my trip!  They sound amazing.  And after taking that picture, I noticed that I was approaching Liverpool!  Coincidence?

Now I’ve renamed this post because I told you about being in Canada before I wrote about getting there.  And the title of the post is also the title of a Paul McCartney song (which is why I spelled it that way)!  Obviously, I always have Paul McCartney on the brain.  And speaking of brains, mine is completely fried.  I’m up way too late once again.  Goodnight tonight (another Paul song; see what I did there?!).

Well, I’ll go back as far as two weeks ago.

After I posted about the impending (now completed) move, I got lazy, so I never wished Adam and Lil a very public happy birthday!  See last year’s birthday post for a great video.

So now we no longer live across the hall from the smoke monster.  But here are a few fun facts about our second-to-last weekend in our apartment. I walked in on Friday afternoon and told a very sleepy Miriam, "We can’t get out of here fast enough."  "I know," she responded, except she didn’t know what I had just found out: I walked into the building and through a circle of people talking.  One guy asked me if I noticed anything suspicious in the parking lot the night before because his car was stolen!  From our parking lot!  Scary.  Later that night, we heard a huge thud from our furnace closet.  Miriam looked in there and found a rock on top of the furnace.  I was almost asleep a bit later when I was awoken by more sounds coming from in there.  I looked the next day and found more rock.  I’m guessing it’s the stone walls in there crumbling from the dripping water we complained about for over a year.  Have fun with that, folks!  Anyway, we moved this past Sunday.  Our movers were great, we found places in the house for all our stuff (except for our couch, which wouldn’t make it down the stairs to the basement, so now it’s in the garage), and we’re settling back in to the Marwood Compound. 

Another fun fact: Cars suck.  Seriously.  I’ve had a problem with my car (a Honda Civic, in case you’re wondering) since July or August; I brought the car in to the dealer (hoping whatever it was would be covered by my Honda Care coverage plan) only to be told that there’s nothing wrong with it.  Sure there is.  It jumps when idle.  It’s totally noticeable (but not to them, apparently).  And the first time I brought it in, it was making a grinding sound that you could hear coming a mile away.  However, they didn’t hear it.  Instead, they asked me a series of questions, including, "Now, when other people are in the car with you, do they hear the noise?"  No, sir, it’s just the voices in my head talking.  And growling in my engine.  Anyway, I brought the car in again recently because I’m planning a trip, and it’s still jumping.  Instead of diagnosing it, they do a bunch of maintenance work that was supposed to be done at 30,000 miles (I have over 70,000 miles on my car), charge me $500, and say "that should fix it!"  It didn’t.  And on Sunday, I went to get gas in my car, but I couldn’t because the gas cover wouldn’t pop open!  That they can fix; they’ve ordered the part and it’s covered by my plan.  Thank goodness; the guy told me they’ll have to take the seat out in order to fix it!  I’m guessing that would be expensive otherwise.  Anyway, I hate cars.

In other news, I eat a lot.  OK, that’s not news, but I had mentioned before that I was going to write more about my meals to try to make myself more accountable for all the food I stuff down my gullet.  Clearly, I haven’t done that (I don’t have that kind of time, really).  But you may see stuff here and there.  For example, I took these photos the other night after plating my food so beautifully:

The bottom layer is whole wheat couscous covered with a vegetable stir fry and topped with Quorn naked cutlet.  I highly recommend Quorn products, by the way.  They’re the best vegetarian products I’ve had. 

And we’ve had a couple of pizza nights:

Those look good, don’t they?  Two different pizzas, almost the same ingredients (one has spinach, one doesn’t).  Otherwise, they both are on a whole wheat crust and topped with sauce, cheese, sautéed broccoli, peppers, and zucchini, and sliced tomatoes. 

I made this creation tonight with my leftover couscous:                                                                                                                                           

It’s a couscous salad: leftover couscous topped with chopped cucumbers, red and orange peppers, tomatoes, spinach, and cilantro (fresh basil would’ve been great, too, but I only had fresh cilantro), feta cheese (I didn’t like the kind we have too much), a little olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Very tasty!  And there’s another batch for lunch tomorrow.

 All mixed up!  And with the best accessory: a glass of wine.  Why not?  It’s almost the end of the week.

I’ve left out a lot, obviously, and I’d write more, but my computer is being super slow, which I’m taking as a sign that I should go to bed.  But those are the best of the good eats anyway.  Except for the carrots.  My mom asked if I’ve been eating a lot of carrots lately (I have, actually!) because apparently my skin is turning orange.  I don’t see it.  Do you?

Well, that’s definitely my spacey grin!

Since I wrote about looking for a new place to live, I thought I’d post an update on what Miriam and I have decided to do.  After searching for a new apartment and coming up short financially, we’ve taken our mother up on her offer of moving back home.  For now.  A few things about this decision:

1) We are not freeloaders.  Not that it’s anyone’s business, but since I graduated from college, I’ve always paid my way.  I’ve always paid some sort of rent (at times more than others), but it’s been enough to cover extra expenses in the household. 

2) I’m thankful to have a parent who is willing to help me out when times are tough.  Thank you, Mama, for always being there when I need you and for offering to help us out.

3) I’m not looking for anyone’s approval of my situation.  I don’t care what you think.  The fact is this: I have a lot of debt that needs to get paid off.  I’m tired of struggling.  I’m tired of crying over my bills and not being able to make a dent in them.  This situation should help alleviate some of the struggle, and (hopefully) I’ll be able to actually have a life instead of sitting home all the time not being able to do anything because I can’t afford to do anything.

Do I feel defeated?  Perhaps.  Embarrassed?  Maybe a little.  But I’m not above taking help when I need it.  Miriam and I have been calling this a temporary solution to a financial problem.  And that’s the issue here: money.  As it always is.  And moving back home to try to get out of this financial hole is the best decision I can make for myself right now.  It’s been a tough process, but it’s my decision.   And this is the last time I’m going to explain myself because, well, I don’t need to. 

Now we just need a fourth:

Fine.  I’m a slacker.  I’ve been updating my blog for weeks now.  Couldn’t you tell?

So.  Happy new year!  We (Mama, Miriam, and I) went to Syracuse to spend Rosh Hashanah with Granny.  Luckily, we didn’t experience a celebration like last year’s.  We had a good time (mostly).  Mama and I took some long walks through the hills in Granny’s neighborhood.  We ate a lot (I love brownies a bit too much).  And we sat.  A lot.

 Three generations sitting on a wall.

And only the middle generation is a good sport.

       Ridiculous.  Granny, me and all my chins, and Mama, who I’m sure will be thrilled that I’ve shown off her hair secrets.  

There was a better one, but it was fuzzy.  Please note: The hair is done!

Miriam refused to smile.

Later on, I met up with my friend (and former coworker) Allison, who moved back to the Syracuse area a couple of years ago.  I haven’t seen her since we worked together and took advantage of the extra-long weekend in Syracuse to catch up a bit.  We went to have some tasty beverages.  Unfortunately, the bees kept chasing us and really enjoyed Allison’s latte.

This one sacrificed itself for a sip of pumpkin spice deliciousness.

Allison loves a hot bee-verage!   

Another unfortunate part of this day: I didn’t get a shot of Allison’s chicken impression.  Coo-coo-coo-chaw!

The only other thing going on around here besides the usual is the Great Apartment Search of 2009.  Miriam and I must be out of our current place at the end of the month, but we haven’t found a new place yet.  So far, we’ve seen one place, which is a consideration, and have a lot of phones calls out to other places.  If you have a flat or a house you want to rent us for cheap, let me know. Otherwise, move over, Mama!