First day back at school.

[chochiyo_sama]

Well, the "New Year" has started in earnest now.  I am back at school.  The day was quiet and went by pretty quickly.  I threw together a turkey and mustard sandwich for lunch and a roast beef sandwich for breakfast.  I didn't plan ahead, so I was sort of "deer in the headlights" this morning getting ready for school.

Tomorrow will be somewhat better as I put my oatmeal together and have it ready to mix with water in the microwave in the morning.  I also have my tea cup ready for some good ginger spice tea.  I did not get my lunch packed, which is something that works out better for me if I do it ahead of time.  However, I have some baked chicken and rice which turned out really good when I put in carrots.  I had it for supper tonight and it was quite tasty.  A little salty, which must have been the result of putting in too much soy sauce, but it has a nice flavor any how.

The one thing I did not get done over Christmas vacation was the correcting that I had to do.  I put my shoulder to the wheel today and powered through most of it at school today.  I have just a few things left, and I brought thme home with me tonight, but didn't get to them.

When I got home, I sat down in my chair a while and just relaxed and petted the cat.  Then I ate some potato chips that were left over from New Year's Eve.  After that I cleaned up the kitchen, heated up the chicken and rice hot dish, took my supper time meds, did the dishes, and cleaned the cat box.  Wooo.....hot times! 

I decided I would go upstairs and play Sims for an hour or so, then correct the papers I had brought home with me tonight.  Well, I fell asleep instead.  I woke up about 20 minutes ago, and figured it was too late to correct anything now.  I brushed my teeth, laid out my clothes for tomorrow (which also makes the morning go much smoother), and took my bed time meds.

I really want to work on eating healthier (and saving money) by not eating fast food anymore.  Now that the main areas of my house are clean, I really want to work on KEEPING them clean.  I forgot to get the last load of laundry out of the dryer tonight, and now I am upstairs and am NOT going all the way to the basement to get them now. 

The big thing I want to accomplish tomorrow (in addition to getting the laundry up and put away) is clearing off my dining room table.  The whole downstairs looks junky when that thing is a mess.  Also, I have four big bags of garbage to haul to the curb tomorrow.  Ugh. 

Not much else on my mind today.

The parking lot and sidewalk at school today were HORRIBLE--just a sheet of ice.  I sure hope that is not going to be in that condition for the rest of the winter.  I will by a bag of cat litter and pour it all over the parking lot myself, if something isn't done.

At some point, someone gave me a little book called Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People.    I have had it for several years, and I have decided it is probably time to read it.  I started today, and caught myself up to January 5.  The little readings are short and to the point. 

In the readings I read today, this one quote stood out:  "If we want to change a situation, we first have to change ourselves."  That really rings true to me.  I am trying to change myself by being more proactive about things that will make my life run more smoothly.

Well, it is now almost 10 pm.  I didn't have any thrilling adventures of any kind today (other than cleaning out the litter box), so there isn't much of note to talk about.

Comments

[mistress-laurie.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you'd be interested, but the Campbell's Soup website has a ton of recipes for casseroles, main dishes and side dishes. Most are easy (and fast) to make, healthy if you use low-sodium, low-fat soups, and quite inexpensive. I've made a lot of them -- many are incredibly yummy.

Check them out at:

http://www.campbellskitchen.com/

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

ooh, thanks! I love hotdishes, and I always buy the low fat, low sodium soups. I don't like salt all that much, and I can live without the fat too.

What a great day.

[the_godiva]

See, you didn't really need to spend your vacation grading papers. The world did not end.

And I'm sure I didn't give you that book. I would have given you a book like "Daily complaints of highly dysfunctional whackjobs" or something like that.

I cleared off the side table next to my chair in the living room. The one I watch TV in. I even waxed it. I've also started to rearrange my kitchen cabinets. I emptied half of the spice cupboard as I'm going to move some of the baking stuff in there; sprinkles, baking chocolate, molasses, etc. I tossed some really old stuff. And I took half of the stuff out of the cabinet above the refrigerator and moved some stuff from the sideboard up there. Tomorrow I'll be moving the mixer attachments from the other cupboards down to the sideboard where I keep the mixer and bowls. I'll toss some more really old stuff, then see where I am.

I made four of the five voting "bottles" for the CA young reader medal books. One to go. I have to finish one last liter bottle of soda. No problem. I'm cutting off the tops, rinsing them off, then taping laminated book covers around them so the kids can vote by dropping glass pebbles in them.

I'm not going to accomplish everything. But I think I can get sort through all of the VHS tapes in the living room, finish the kitchen and bathroom and maybe make a path in my bedroom to the closet. One where I don't have to step over things. A bonus is if I get the cedar chest with the dog toys over under the window in the foyer.

I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow, then I'm eating the rest of my hoppin' john and then I'm going to....cook. Spinach Feta quiche I think. Then I'm going to run the dishwasher. And maybe do laundry.

You are such a bad influence on me. Before you know it my house will be as clean as yours.

Re: What a great day.

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

LOL.

I love being a bad influence.

What exactly IS hoppin' john?

Spinach Feta quiche....my mouth is watering right now. I love quiche, and I love spinach and feta. *drool*

I didn't do anything tonight. Sigh. I had to go to a meeting.

I hate meetings.

Here you go.

[the_godiva]

Hoppin' John is black eyed peas, usually cooked for New Year's. I make mine just like I make lentils.

Soak lentils or black eyed peas overnight. Drain. Simmer until almost tender enough in enough water to cover. Add salt, pepper, 1 cut up tomato, 2 buds garlic on toothpicks, 2 TBSP olive oil and a few slices of onion. Simmer until tender.

To make lentils into a meal, I boil medium elbow macaroni according to package directions and add to lentils. For one cup cooked lentils add about 1-2 cups cooked macaroni. You figure it out. And make sure to fish out the garlic. You will be unpleasantly surprised if you mistake it for a macaroni.

Make Hoppin' John without the macaroni. I like to stir in some fresh spinach at the last minute, then spoon it over basmati rice.

For spinach feta quiche:

Whole Wheat Crust

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp tsp salt

6 TBSP butter

approx. 2 TBSP whipping cream

In a bowl mix together 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 tsp salt. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut 6 TBSP butter into flour mixture until it resembles course crumbs.

With a fork, gradually blend in just enough whipping cream to moisten dough. Press pastry into a ball with your hands. On a board floured with all-purpose flour, roll out dough 1/4 inch thick. Fit pastry into a 9 inch pan at least 1 1/4 inches deep.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 10 min. Let cool.


Spinach Feta Quiche


1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen spinach or two bunches of fresh, cooked

6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup cottage cheese

6 green onions, including tops, sliced

1 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp dry basil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic salt

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from spinach, set aside. In a blender or food processor, whirl feta cheese, cottage cheese, onions, oil, basil, pepper and garlic salt until smooth. Add eggs and milk and blend well. Add spinach and whirl briefly to mix. Pour into whole wheat pastry shell.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 20 min, reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 15 to 20 min or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let stand on a wire rack for 10 min or bring to room temperature before cutting into wedges to serve. Makes 6 servings.

Right now I'm trying to sprout wheat berries to make diastatic malt to try to reproduce Royal Lunch Milk crackers. So far....wheat berries will not sprout.

I got my crock pot down from the attic and I bought a recipe book on crock pot meals.

[daisycake.livejournal.com]

one of my lj friends posted this and i thought it was funny.

A mother was working in the kitchen listening to her 5 -year-old son playing with his new electric train in the living room.

She heard the train stop and her son saying, "All of you sons of bitches who want off, get the hell off now... cause this is the last stop! And all of you sons of bitches who are getting on, get your asses on the train...cause we're going down the tracks.The horrified mother went in and told her son, "We don't use that kind of language in this house. Now I want you to go to your room and you are to stay there for TWO HOURS. When you come out, you may play with your
train...but I want you to use nice language."

Two hours later, the boy came out of the bedroom and resumed playing with his train.

Soon the train stopped and the mother heard her son say... "All passengers, please remember your things, thank you and hope your trip was a pleasant one. We hope you will ride with us again soon."

She heard her little darling continue..."For those of you just boarding, remember, there is no smoking in the train. We hope you will have a pleasant and relaxing journey with us today."

As the mother began to smile, the child added, "For those of you who are pissed off about the TWO HOUR delay, please see the bitch in the kitchen."

also! i'd like it if you watched the yodeling song :) it's actually called "she taught me how to yodel" and it is from one of my insane asian movies - not horror though.

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

Asian boy yodeling. That was a very interesting experience. That girl's facial expressions were a bit disturbing though....

LOL..

[daisycake.livejournal.com]

"asian boy" is actually a really famous pop star in korea. he's like their equivalent of justin timberlake or some shit.