9/365: What's for breakfast?

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"9/365 Western style scrambled eggs. It's what's for breakfast!"

I'm on a breakfast kick.  I've been having a scrambled egg "Western Omelette" and I'm loving it.  Sometimes with toast and jam, sometimes without.  Always cooked well done.  

I've been thinking it would be good in a warmed tortilla with a little salsa on top too.  Breakfast has always been hard for me since I'm not a morning person.  

I've got waffle batter in the fridge for tomorrow.  We recently bought the waffle iron that was recommended by CI.  I have to say it does a great job.  I'm pretty excited for waffles tomorrow morning.  After that, I'm out of ideas.

 It doesn't have to be on the go, because I'm trying to get up earlier so I can just eat and relax with a cup of coffee.  I'm in a much better mood during the day when I take the time to do this.

What do you all have for breakfast? 

Char

6/365: Relaxing after a long day

6/365: Relaxing after a long day, a photo by AuntCharChar on Flickr.

We spent the day looking after John's dad and decided to go out to dinner and have a few drinks afterwards. We had a great time. I love this picture of John!

5/365: White Pan Bread

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"5/365:  Breakfast bread"

This morning we went to see John's dad for breakfast.  We prepped everything last night.  He requested a Western Omlette and home fries.  We chopped the onions and peppers, cooked the potatoes, and made the bread dough.  Today we chopped the potatoes, baked the bread in our never before used pullman loaf pan and packed everything up for breakfast.  The omlette's were delicious and the potatoes were even better.  I think everyone enjoyed their meal.  

My favorite quote

A few days ago I said that my favorite quote was "An optimist is someone who goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tartar sauce with him" by Zig Ziglar.

Ever since I heard this quote I have loved it.  I love whales, I love the sea, I love tartar sauce, I love the idea that one day I could be an optimist.

I don't know what it is, but I have never considered myself an optimist, though I do strive to be one.  Kind of like I've never been a morning person, but I strive to be one.

Char

If I were president...

Since I'm doing NaBloPoMo and having trouble finding stuff to write about, I've decided to use their prompts when I can't think of something on my own, or if I can't find a meme.  Dying to find a good meme, they don't seem as popular as they used to be.

I digress.  Today's question is What would be the first thing you would do if you became president.  I've thought about this for most of the day and one of the most important things to me is that women continue to have freedom of choice.  It's incredibly important to me that Roe vs Wade never gets overturned.  Therefore the first thing I would do is start researching what can be done in order to preserve this hard earned freedom for women.  I can't say that I would ever get an abortion, but I certainly feel like a woman should have a right to choose what happens to her body. 

Of course I would also want to find a solution to the horrific healthcare system we have in this country where the insurance companies have all the power, and if that wasn't bad enough, millions of people don't even have insurance so they can't get care that they need.  My mother is one of those people right now.  It scares me to death that she is insulin dependent diabetic and she has no way to get her medication right now.  

I'd also like to find a way to keep corporations from funding politicians coffers in exchange for favors.

What would you do?

Link to your blog and I'll check it out.

Char 

Election tomorrow

There isn't a whole lot to say here.  You have the right to vote.  You should go and vote.  At this point, I don't care who you are voting for, and I'm not going to get into the politics here, because it's not my forte.  I just know that as an American, I was given the right to vote, and I have exercised that right.

I voted by absentee ballot.  If you haven't done that, it's wonderful.  The ballot is sent to your home, so you can actually take your time and thoughtfully fill it out.  You can read about the amendments, about who is running for mayor in your town.  You can take time to decide if you should really vote to allow them to put slot machines in your local dog racing park etc.  I am completely for absentee voting.  Take advantage of it if you can!

My boss asked me who I voted for.  Can you believe that?  He actually wanted to know, and then since it was different than who he voted for, he basically wanted to know why I voted that way and back up my choice.  It was surreal.  THEN he asked me who the girl I work with voted for too.  I have very strong opinions, and I'm not always that great at putting them into words, but I was very proud of myself for defending my vote today.  (Not that I should have had to, but that's another show.)

I'm very proud to live in America.  I am blessed with many things, and the right to vote is something I never take for granted.

Get out there and vote!

Char

Pretty toes make me feel good

Now if we can just get rid of these headaches...

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"Cute toes & sandals...

Waiting for the doctor"

Reasons why its gonna be ok

9-11-11

1.  Think of the money we will save
2. Not having to worry about something happening
3. to be continued

Ponderings

There's a lot of crap in my head right now and I want to get it all out, but I can't seem to get my thoughts together.  Here's a list of some of the stuff I want to blog about, but haven't yet:

1 - Getting pulled over on the way home from work Friday night by a cop by a motherf'er that said that I had road rage and at the same time I was on the phone with OnStar having them contact the cops for me because this guy was freaking me the hell out.

2 - The Lemoncello drop martini that I made myself promptly after getting home Friday.

3 - Still upset/sad/moping/depressed about my ex being pregnant, and I'm not.

4 - Money issues that are pissing me the hell off ~ mmmm probably won't  be blogging about that, but it's on my mind anyway, so there.

5 - Rushing around on Saturday morning and making myself appetizers for breakfast and not being able to eat them because of my lap band.

6 - Why my ex-boss never asked me to make coffee for him again.

7 - How another ex-boss complained about how they have no money and then go on a two week trip to California wine country among other ridiculousness!

8 - The great smoked oyster challenge

9 - Squeak and her food issues.

10 - My first time making falafel from scratch, and the recipe.  WIN!

11 - My hair and the annoyance it causes me on a daily basis, plus the cut I just got on Saturday.

12 - Baby carrots.

13 - Staying in bed until 12:30 on Sunday.

14 - Cooking (drying out) an eye round on the big green egg on Sunday.

15 - A word on religion and did you know that some Jewish temples charge people to go there on the High Holy Days?

16 - Mass mailed resumes and my awesome bosses.

17 - Things to do to fight depression.

18 - How the world is too PC these days and how I want to move to California so I can embrace the "Do what is right for YOU ideal".

19 - How people balance the "Do what is right for YOU" ideal when the whole world thinks they are more important.

20 - How you really SHOULDN'T talk about really personal stuff with your bosses, especially health stuff, because it ALWAYS gets thrown in your face.

21 - How I gave my dad three time out chances last night before I was going to send him home in a cab and he only used 1 1/2 of them.

22 - My thoughts on Breaking the Cardinal Rule in the office.  

23 - How all this crap (and other crap) in my head has me very overwhelmed.

C

I'm happy for you, I am. I'm just well... I'm just... I just..well..oh God...

My ex-husband is going to be a father.  He and I are friends now, that "stuff" that happened is mostly water under the bridge.  I'm glad he told me.  I am happy for him.

But holy crap, I'm so sad.  I'm really f'ing ... I just don't know.

Right now I feel super depressed... I spent a lot of time with him.  Ten years of my life.  Ten years of wanting to be a mom. Too bad.

Now, who knows what's in store for me.  I just know I'm not a mom.  Don't know if I ever will be.

It's not looking so good.  My birthday is coming up soon and I'm going to be 39... Not such a good age for a mom.

I can remember my mom telling everyone how amazing it was going to be that by the time she was forty all her kids would be grown and out of the house... and she was right, mostly.  Here I am staring down the barrell of 40, and I've not even got a whiff of a baby. 

All I can hear is my grandmother telling me how I had to have children because if I don't I'd never have anyone to take care of me when I get old.  Every time I think of those words I just want to curl into a ball and cry my eyes out.

Sigh.

I wonder if sleep will ever come tonight...

Charlene

Catria, Cat-Tree-Uh

So here's our little cutie pie Catria.  As beautiful as she is, you would think she would be photogenic, but she is not... really... It's hard to keep her still enough, and she really hates the flash on the camera phone.  I have some awesome pictures of her with the good camera, but well I'm having a hard time getting the 3456 GB of pictures off the camera card(S) and into picasa.  Gosh that is such a PITA.  Anyway, for your viewing enjoyment, here is the beautiful Catria:

This is Catria being patient while I snap 536 pictures of her with the flash.

Action shot of her cleaning her paw, which will then clean her ear...

And then she will be verrrry tired!

Char

Chicken with Indian Spices and Yogurt

For a self professed foodie, I sure don't put many recipes on my blog!  That picture at the header, I made that.  I actually created it from taste after I got it from a local specialty market in town.  I love love love to cook, I love to eat, and I married a chef!  :)


Here's the first of hopefully many recipes with pictures to appear on the blog.

Chicken with Indian Spices and Yogurt
(Adapted From Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything)

Sweet, saucy and warming. Wonderful over rice pilaf, white or brown basmati rice. For extra flavor, start with whole cumin, coriander, cardamom and cinnamon and toast and grind them yourself.

Ingredients:
¼ cup peanut, grapeseed, corn or other neutral oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4-6 chicken thighs or other parts, rinsed and patted dry
1 large or 2 medium onions, chopped
4 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste (I used ¼ tsp.)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups plain yogurt
Minced cilantro leaves for garnish


Directions:
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep skillet, Dutch oven, or casserole. When the oil is hot add chicken skin side down to oil, and brown it well, rotating and turning the pieces as necessary; the process will take 10-15 minutes. (You can skip this part if you like, as noted in the Braised Chicken Parts section; heat a T of oil and go directly to cooking the onions.)

When the chicken is nicely browned, remove it from the skillet and pour off all but a couple of tablespoons of oil. Turn heat to medium, and add the onion along with some salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until they soften, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, ginger and spices along with an additional 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook with the onions, stirring, until very aromatic, about 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in the yogurt, then add the chicken pieces back to the pan.

Cover and cook over medium-low heat so that the mixture doesn’t boil, turning the pieces every 5 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through 10 to 20 minutes (longer if you skipped the browning step); It’s ok if the mixture curdles a bit. The chicken is done when an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 155-165 degrees F, 20 to 30 minutes.

Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish with cilantro and serve.

Bittman says: Boneless chicken breasts are an undeniably convenient weeknight diner choice, but bone-in chicken parts are just as simple to prepare and infinitely more favorful (and less expensive!). When you braise chicken parts in a seasoned liquid, you get a comforting meal with plenty of sauce for rice, noodles or bread – with very little effort, in less than an hour. Chicken with Yogurt and Indian Spices takes only 45 minutes to cook, yet tastes like it’s been braising for much longer. And if you’re really pressed for time, don’t bother to brown the chicken first; just skip Step 1 and proceed with the onions as described in step 2.

Char says:  If you find that your sauce has curdled, puree it to smoothness using a stand or immersion blender. I also ended up adding about ½ cup milk and cream to smooth the mixture out. 1-9-11 John and I really liked this, I think some coconut milk would be a good addition also.



Char

The Neighbors Pig ~ We'll call him BACON

So, I don't want you to get me wrong here.  I AM an animal lover.

BUT, when I went outside this morning, because I couldn't figure out what the sound was outside... and found a brand new PIG PEN installed in my neigbors back yard, 30 feet away from my hot tub, and he was grunting and squealing... I was NOT a happy camper.  Seriously.

Hi, my name is BACON (snort, squeal, grunt)

So yeah.  I don't know how long he's been back there.  But I don't think it's been very long.  It doesn't smell yet.  By the looks of the pen, it's going to very soon.  I am REALLY not a happy camper!!

I'm also hungry for some bacon.

Damn.

Charlene

Daisy's Honey Tea

It is another day for the magical elixir... After a not so pleasant stomach bug today I am turning to Daisy's tea again for some relief.

I'm not usually a fan of honey in my tea, but this tea needs, it, and it is SO SO good and soothing!


Daisy’s Honey Tea
Magical Elixir


In a small saucepan, pour 2 coffee cups water, add
1 cinnamon stick broken in half
1/2 tsp anise seed (I had some star anise so I used that to make the picture pretty)
1/2 tsp dried rosemary (I have a giant bush of fresh, so I used a mix of both)
1/2" piece fresh ginger, peeled, sliced
1/2 - 2 tsp clover honey
A few drops lemon or lime juice to taste (optional)
Simmer together for a few minutes and strain into warmed coffee mug.
SO yummy and calming!
Char
1-1-11 I added a little dried orange peel this time, just a pinch. I really like it!!

Happy New Year

Love to all my friends and family! All three of you that read this :-)
Char


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Well this puts a fine point on the end of the year.

I'm at the doctors office and I'm not happy about it either.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The macabre terpsichorean like unfolding of a car accident...

The macabre terpsichorean like unfolding of a car accident, you know that moment while it is happening.. at least for me... it's in slow motion... you hear the car skidding, even though you have your foot slammed down on the brake pedal as hard as you can... you feel the anti lock brakes pumping, you look left and right to see if there is any escape...you start to see the hood buckling, you hear the horrible sound of metal crunching and plastic parts popping in an awful melody of screech.bang.crunch.pop.hiss.sputter...you look down at your legs, you look up out the windshield...glance to the left, glance to the right...lie back in the seat and look straight forward at the horror that has been wrought upon you, the horror you have wrought upon yourself.

That was my Friday morning.

Fortunately... or not... I happened to be following my husband in to work to sign health insurance paperwork, so the person that I rear ended was him.  The bumper of his truck has been sliced and permanently tattooed with the imprint of the front of my car.

Not two minutes later....screech.crash.bang.pop.crunch.hiss.sputter... a four car pileup right next to us.  This is a new light in this intersection.  Clearly they don't have the timing right yet...

I called my dealership, the service department people that have taken care of me for many years... they said if it is driveable to drive it in, I would be in good hands... my dear friend, and prime handholder JR was on vacation.  Dave did take good care of me.  ... I called work and spoke to the receptionist... the bosses are out of the office today... I called OnStar and had them connect me to the police department the police department give me crap because i called OnStar and didn't hit the red police/fire/emergency button...I'm not damaged I tell her...I hit my husband... do I have to report it... well that depends on your insurance company, in this instance you only have to report it if your insurance company requires a report... called the insurance company... no report is necessary, take it to the garage. Told them where I wanted to take it... where I already had arrangements to take it.. Oh your garage is on our approved list (thank God!)... We walked down to the other accident scene to talk to policeman handling the other accident, explain the situation... he waves us on our way...

Driving slowly and carefully with a buckled hood...morning rush hour... i can feel everyone is staring... why is she driving that pretty car in such a state... they are probably wondering... hisss....smoke puffs.... hisss..... call dealership, thankfully my new BFF Dave answers... uhm I think I punctured the radiator... smoke is coming out pretty hard now... I'm at X and X - less than five minutes away, do you think I can make it to you, or should I pull over... Pull over, here's the number to the towing company we use.  It'll be okay, don't worry, you're in good hands...

Call the towing company... I'm a mess, I can barely talk, the dispatcher can't hear me... I say about three times where I am... John is outside my window holding my hand...I'm pretty sure I'm still in shock...dispatcher tells me to close up the car, leave a note on the window saying that "X Towing company" is coming to get it and leave the key under the mat... uhm..... i sputter... sputter... ma'am... are you ok???  Well I'm afraid to do that... won't someone steal my car... oh...I look out the front windshield... well I guess they won't get very far will they... that was a dumb question... well I don't know... he says "it'll be ok, people do it all the time.."  He says someone will be here within 45 mins to get the car....I mumble again and hang up... I tell John... he asks if I want coffee.... I say YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!.  He goes and gets coffee... I send an email to family letting them know that we won't be going to have a little getaway I had invited everyone to at the beach this Saturday, because I had an accident instead... I'm ok, but my car isn't... (Thanks to Summer and Daisy for the phone calls btw.  I love you two SO.DAMN.MUCH.)

I call my friend in the insurance business... and ask her off the record how screwed I am...  She confirms that I'm pretty screwed... my deductible is only $100 though... but so is John's.  Great... I ask her what I have to do next... she gives me the 800 number to call and open a claim... Why am I screwed you ask... well they will penalize me for having an accident... on my next renewal... which is in January... of COURSE it is.

I call the ins 800#... the lady is very... professional... she almost seems to be...placating me... John points out that she's being empathetic, and trying to make me feel better... I see that he's right and I loosen up a bit.  Coffee is screaming hot... I open the lid so it cools down... I take a sip of John's with a little something to calm me down.... The phone call with the insurance company takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r!  I will get a rental car allotment of $20 per day.  Great news.

Still waiting for the tow truck... I call him back and let him know that we decided to wait for them to show up... he says it'll probably be around 30 more minutes... ok....

I called one of my bosses who is home*... tell him what happened.. he is extremely sweet and kind and caring, and tells me that I don't have to come in, if I think J can handle it all... I tell him I will let him know what I decide to do.  We decide not to bother the other boss who is on vacation out of town... I'm not dying or bleeding, so we'll tell him on Monday. 

Not really feeling much of anything but sadness and disgust really.  Later my body aches my neck, upper and lower back and ribs... John is off this weekend... drinking and debauchery should be in the plans for the weekend...

Tow truck guy comes... told him, I bet I had a worse day than you today... he says yes today.. but yesterday I had to go to an accident where an old man died.... Well yeah, I guess that trumps my bad day by like a million trillion.... perspective... oh hello there you are....

John packs me into the truck with my coffee and my crap from my car... which oh by the way I had to clean out while we were waiting for the tow truck guy because i'm a slacker and my car was a disgusting mess... but that's another show.

We drive to the dealership and I go over and give my friend Dave a hug and thank him profusely... he directs us over to the body shop... and we sit and wait while the semi-nice lady writes everything up... in the meantime the car comes in... I get another look at her and my gut sinks...  The tow truck driver comes in, and I thank him for taking good care of her.  He was really sweet.  The insurance company will pay him directly.  No charge to me.  Thank goodness. 

I decided to go into work because J and I were planning to go see a movie and I am not bleeding, and I feel obligated to go in... plus if I go home by myself, it will be an incredibly bad idea... wallowing in self pity and disgust and lots of crying and feeling sorry for myself... Work would be better.  I can't believe it, but I went to work...

Day is good at work, but a little busy, we go to the movie... Due Date... lots of Robert Downey Jr, and laughing... just what I needed.

Text message to John later that day... Your truck ate my car... uuurp!... I'm sure it made him laugh.

They tell me that my car will be good as new... after $5207.31 in damages... I can't wait to see her look like this again....

*Ironically the day before I put an emergency contact list on the common drive at work so we could all access it in case someone had an emergency.  I had J get me his number, and she mentioned that she got it from there.  He said that I jinxed myself by doing that yesterday.  Very funny guy he is. :)

If you read all the way to the end.. you deserve a prize.  Email me your address and I'll mail you a piece of my broken car :)

Right now

I've not forgotten about the days thing... I'll get back to it, pinky swear.  Right now, I saw this and felt like doing it....

Right now

Time: 10:10 AM


In my mug: Black coffee

In my belly: Publix fruit on the bottom cherry lowfat yogurt.

Last thing on : Lie to me – last night.

In my life: Craziness.

Wanting: My house to be neat and orderly again, I really miss my housekeeper.

Last thing on the laptop: GEFP, probably.

Looking forward to: Thanksgiving, surprisingly.

On my mind: Too much.

What I'm feeling right now: Anxiety.

What I'd like to make again: Grandma’s sugar cookies.

C

30 Days of Truth - Day 3

Day 3 - Something you have to forgive yourself for.

I've really been struggling with this one, and I don't know if it is because I don't think I have anything to forgive myself for, because I don't want other people to read it (not that anyone I know of reads this anymore, except you Bill!  Thanks for the comment :) ), or if I'm just such a perfectionist that I can't just pick one thing.

About that perfectionism thing... When I came back to the computer today.  I was actually thinking, well I'm going to have to go back and do the last two days and backdate them because I missed them and this is supposed to be 30 continuous days blah blah blah... well that's a problem of mine.  I run into a little hiccup... like having my parents over for dinner monday night and not having time to post day 3, and then yesterday the wireless connection is down at the house, and won't be up again until my ex husband can dig a router out of his garage, so I am sitting in the cluttered office typing this on my laptop that is not plugged in and will probably die in a few minutes, oh and the laptop is on top of no less than three canvas bags of stuff that i need to go through... anyway...

I need to forgive myself for lots of things, but I can't really put them into words exactly.  So let's just say I'll promise to ask a professional for help on that one.  Fortunately I go to see one next week :)

I still don't think I'm done with this yet, and I may come back later, I may not, right now, I'm worried the darn computer is going to shut down on me.

And I am very proud of myself for not AGAIN making this all about something else.  I need to quit that, I said I was going to, and I need to.  So I am.  I am I am I am.

Do you need to forgive yourself for anything?  Are you more articulate than I am?  (Not to difficult a thing.. that..) 

Is anyone playing along?  Is anyone besides Bill out there?

Char

30 days of truth - Day 2

Something you love about yourself.

I love that I seem to have the ability to make people laugh.  There is just something about the feeling it gives me that I love.  I can't do it all the time.  Most of the time it backfires on me and I inexplicably offend someone... but I can, and do make people laugh sometimes.  And I like it.

Have I ever made you laugh?


What do you love about yourself?

Char