Stuology

I made my trip to Penzeys today, so my spices are once again fully stocked–along with *um* a few that weren’t on the list, but that is okay.

Mac was very kind and made dinner tonight. I haven’t made my meal list for the week. Tomorrow I’m making slow-cooked ribs, but I’m not sure what I’m throwing on the side.

I also picked up more containers for all my various flours. I really wanted ones close to what I already have on my countertop now for my AP flour and sugar, but we could no longer find them in Lawrence. I finally decided to get the cheaper acrylic ones. The lid is easy to get on and off, sealing by pushing a button. Eventually I will have some place to put all my flours inside a cabinet, so the fact that they do not go at all with the rest of my stainless steel kitchen attire is fine. Also, thanks to a tip from Lydia, I picked up a few bags of frozen diced onions.

Ada is getting better at walking around in Animal Crossing. She got a little upset today when she couldn’t go in a house even after an explanation that she can only go in when the light is on. She finally believes me though, so now when she walks up to a house, she announces whether the light is on or off and if she can go in and talk to the animal. She also figured out on her own which button takes pictures and which button looks at the picture. We have a lot of pictures. I showed her the buttons to rotate through her tools, so she can also water stuff and dig a ton of holes.

I feel exhausted though–probably because of the 6 hours of sleep I got last night. However, because I was up late, I got to witness Ada do an awesome thing. She got up around 1:30am, went to the bathroom, and then crawled back into her bed and went back to sleep. The fact that she got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom is awesome! That means we are getting really close to having her housebroken.

My Penzeys shopping list is now sitting at 11 13 items. It is growing as I organize my spice drawer and toss some really old ones. I really need to make a trip soon. If there are others that either want to go with me during the day on a weekend, or would like me to pick some things up for you while I’m there, let me know. I can probably only think of three people that fit this request, so I’d be happy to pick up extras.

The winner for the oldest spice so far is Garlic Bread Sprinkle. It is nearly full and best if used by June 19, 2004. Guess what I never use and don’t intend to replace once I toss it?

Day 191: Why do they keep doing this?

Ada and I went shopping today. I needed a new wallet^*, and Ada needed shoes. I told her we were going out to buy her shoes, and she got really excited. I knew I was in trouble on her first birthday when the only present that got her really excited were her pink chucks. She even tried to put them on her feet. Ada’s heels are now over the edge of her sandals. I tried on a few of her other shoes, and they were way too difficult to put on. This photo is why. The top shoe was bought for her in the spring. They fit her then. I don’t remember when she wore them last, but when she tried them on a month ago, they didn’t fit. The bottom is a shoe we bought today. I had to replace her tennis shoes as well. I decided to not get her any sandals since the weather surely won’t stay warm long enough to make it worth it. She won’t fit in them next summer if I bought her new ones. Look at the difference in these. We picked up one more pair besides these. She would have picked up every shoe in the store if I would have let her.

I also picked her up socks. I had to abandon to the toddler’s section and move to the girl’s section to get socks that fit her.

I have a long time before she stops growing, but I feel like she is doing it too fast.

*I am giving up my monkey wallet that I’ve been carrying for about 8 years, and replacing it with a smaller, not falling apart, grown-up wallet. It was time for a grown-up wallet**, and perhaps I will stop getting carded without the monkey wallet. I gave Ada my monkey wallet and some old appointment cards and receipts.

**And they didn’t have monkey wallets.

Everybody is asleep but me. The television is off. The only noise is the tumbling of the clothes in the dryer. And in a minute, some soft music.

The kids got up before 7:00am. Both of them. I got up, showered while Ada roamed the bathroom. Then I got James up. We all had breakfast. I put away and reloaded the dishwasher. Then I sat down to read some news. By the time that was done, it was only 9:00am. It felt like it should be afternoon already. I decided to take the kids out because Mac has an ear infection and isn’t feeling well. We went to the farmer’s market to get some veges–including corn–bagels to make sandwiches for lunch, and some preserves. I was tempted to pick up some flowers for the table, but decided it was an unneeded expense. Now I kind of wish that I had. It was only 89 when we went there, but it was so humid, it felt like it was over 100. James was one big ball of sweat by the time we got back to the car. The back of my hair was pretty wet too.

Next we made a stop at Target. I picked up a few food items they don’t sell at the market. I looked at more storage solutions for the playroom, and I let Ada pick out her own panties in the hopes that she would actually wear them^*. We ended up with Hello Kitty and Disney princess. Ada also got one more Hello Kitty item that I’ll have to post a photo of.

I just came to get my laptop for some music since the XBox 360 and the Windows Media Center are no longer on speaking terms, so I can’t stream music there. I had better get back to cleaning while I have the chance–floor mopping since there aren’t kids to wreck it before it has a chance to even dry.

ETA: The floor is mopped. I’ll catch up on some RSS feeds while it dries, and then set about cleaning the rest of the kitchen. If I start playing the Wii, I’ll never get the kitchen cleaned, so no Wii. The Wii will be entertainment tonight while I work^**.

I also wanted to go swimming, but I had planned to only take Ada. The way Mac is feeling, I’ll either need to be brave enough to take both kids, or cancel the entire trip. It is hard in a swimming environment to watch both.

*As they are intended to be worn, not on her head. I’m not one of those people that thinks everything has to be done in a conventional manner, but this is one issue where I really, really wish Ada would stick to the norm. She can save wearing her panties on her head for college.

**My job only involves one small piece at 8:00pm, and then one small piece around 10:30pm. In between I wait to see if the other tasks are ahead or behind schedule.

Day 152: Yet Another BBQ Face Photo

The last of the James BBQ Face MF practice session. I like landscape shots so much better. There is another one here, here, and here.

We took our every 6-week trip to Costco today. Mac suggested it this morning along with a trip to Red Robin for lunch. We came back with our usual suspect of bulk items, although the only meat I picked up was one pack of steak and some lamb. We still have plenty of meat leftover from the last trip. I can proudly say that I passed by the double pack of Nutella. The non-food item that we ended up bringing home is a 2QT ice cream maker. And lots of strawberries. Can you guess what kind I’m making tomorrow?

I had a hard time sleeping last night, and now I’m sooooo sleepy. I’m going to try to sneak in a nap.

I was going to make cookies for some friends, but seeing that it is now 9:00pm, and I have to clean-up the counter tops from something, and I have to be in KC tomorrow at 9:30am, I don’t think that I’ll get it done. I did get dinner made for said friends who just had a baby, and man, do I know just how exhausted they are right now. So, I feel like it is too late, which is good because I would just eat some cookies if I made them. I bought more flour and sugar for the first time since December, that is how much I do not bake anymore. The back of the flour bag had a recipe for “The Best Fudge Brownies Ever.” I see this as a challenge. One that I will have to take after mid-June.

I’m taking the day off tomorrow so I can get my hair a much needed cut^*, and then make a trip to Whole Foods, Penzey’s, Friend’s house, and try to get some clothes shopping done since my last-year’s spring/summer clothes are too big. I don’t want to wear my heavy, dark clothes to work anymore. And I have one pair of jeans left and those are getting baggy-assed. Sometimes I like shopping for clothes, and sometimes not. I may even go to the *gasp* mall. Maybe I should hit an outdoor mall instead of Oak Park where I usually go. It may help stave off the headache I always get when spending too much time in a mall.

Mac just brought home a big storage bin that also serves as seating for the deck. He is pulling the pieces out of the box, and Ada is jumping up and down yelling, “Oh wow! That’s a rectangle! That’s a rectangle! It’s big!” Her latest phrase is “my, my, my.” She took Mac’s shoes off today, pointed at his feet and said, “oh, my, my, my!” When I made the mistake of mentioning that I was making cookies, she immediately wanted one, so I had to let her look in the cookie jar to prove that we didn’t have any. She looked in and said, “Oh, no. My, my, my!”

*I looked at my calendar, and I last had my hair done right before James’ birthday. 3 months ago.

My mother and I went shopping today. Mac cringes anytime we decide to go on a shopping trip together because it ends with stuff we don’t need. He never seems to be proud of me when I tell of the things I could of bought but didn’t, thus saving us money. Today, I talked myself out of four different bags, one of them being a cute striped bag that would have been perfect to carry items for visiting the park. I didn’t talk myself out of a new top for work, a couple of candles, 4 picture frames, green stripe socks, a couple of summer shirts for James, a summer shirt and skirt for Ada, and an ultra cute sundress for Ada that will end up being the dress for Spring kiddo portraits. The kids clothes were onsale for about 20%, but the rest of the stuff in that list was on sale for 50-60% off. I always justify these purchases with “But it was on sale!” Mac always counters my argument with I’m “getting ‘on sale’ confused with ‘for sale’.”

Two of my frames are 8×10, the other two hold threes 4×6s — one set portrait and one set landscape. I guess I need to get serious about getting some good photos again instead of just getting quickly shot pictures.

I ran to the store for some out of stock staples–bread, milk, fruit. I also took notes of some prices of the things we bought at Costco. I didn’t think that we had saved any on the Diet Dr. Pepper, but it turns out we saved almost $3.00. I guess I don’t look that closely. We’d save even more if I could convince my mother to just drink water.

When we got home, Ada started taking things out of the bag and taking them to the part of the kitchen where they belong! She couldn’t of course reach, but she’d bring them over, point at the cabinet and say some stuff I couldn’t understand but she sounded excited about it. I’ll take advantage of it by trying to keep her excited about it for as long as I can.

Portebella mushroom ravioli tonight for dinner. I’m going to layer it with a homemade marinara sauce and let it cook in the slow cooker. I tell you, I love my slow cooker in the winter. I’m going to give curry a try in it next week.

Today is the last day of my vacation, although I work from home tomorrow. Hmmmm…what to do?

I just finished up the carrot slurry. It was mainly carrots along with some whole wheat pasta from my leftover pasta jar, fresh broccoli that I had to use or discard, and some beef broth that also needed to be used. I put it in the food processor and pulsed it into a course mash. James and Ada^* will be eating carrots until they turn orange. I’m so very, very, very bad at estimating spaces and I made more than my food freezing bowls can hold. I set one aside in a larger bowl in the fridge. I’m wondering if I can puree it further into a soup to have as a side dish for a meal this week. I took a bite, and the carrot mash tasted fine, so I’m going to give it a shot as a soup base. I’ve never made or eaten carrot soup, so I need to search around for a good recipe. I’m really not sure what spices go great with carrots.

I was going to see how much I ended up paying for all the baby food I just made compared to buying it in jars. I know that the applesauce that I make is not cheaper than buying a big jar of it at the store. I guess I don’t have the buying power that the applesauce makers do Here is the price comparison that I can do now for buying in bulk. I was going to look at the rest when I went to the store (or look it up online since you cna order groceries to be picked up or delivered). There are the ones I can calculate now.

Carrots: $1.24
Dishwasher Gel: $5.24 (different brand)
Dish soap: $6.81 (different brand)
Tomato sauce: $1.25

I’m going to write down the prices of things we normally use so we can better comparison shop during our next Cosco trip. I should probably reload the dishwasher so I can clean up the carrot dishes. Diet Dr. Pepper is exactly the same except you can buy a case with 36 cans. Hopefully that will tide my mother over for awhile. Ground beef was also not cheaper, and they only had the fatty kind. I passed on the ginormous bag of gummy bears too

*I threw Ada in there because she all of the sudden seems to think that she can only eat what James is eating. I’m assuming that this will include my latest batch of carrots.

I don’t know what family day we are on, but this one was spent…at the mall. I think I went to a mall two years ago for Christmas gifts. I think. The memory is hazy. Ada and James have never been to a mall. I had to go to Macy’s, so we headed to Oak Park Mall. I did my Macy’s errand, then we ate in the food court–a pleasure I haven’t partaken in for even longer. We walked the entire length of the mall–both levels. Mac needed a restroom break, so I took the kids into Build A Bear. We didn’t build a bear because everybody else was in there as well. I may take Ada back there when I’m laid off so we can go in the afternoon. I think she would dig it. She has one bear, so we could just buy some new clothes for it.

Oh, wait, now I remember. When Mac and I took our trip to Colorado, we went into a mall then. So, it has been more recently than two years.

Our other adventure was going to Costco. We let our membership expire after Ada was born. I think the last time we went, I was pregnant with her, and it was cold, so probably three years ago. We got some Costco cash from friends for Christmas, so we used it to renew our membership and figured we could go once a month. Some things I buy often enough that I know it is cheaper. Somethings I remember really weren’t cheaper, just bigger. We now have more pasta than I probably need. Really great deal on tomato sauce, but wow, I have a lot. Things like dishsoap and laundry soap are great there. I also ended up with somethings I probably didn’t need like the double big containers of Nutella. Oh, and I don’t imagine that I will have to buy ketchup anytime soon. There wasn’t as much produce as I remember. I really wanted to find a big bag of apples to make sauce for the kids. I did find a big bag of carrots, so James has a batch of food on the stove now. I somehow missed the frozen fruits/veges or they didn’t have them.

For verminiusrex, bread flour is $14.66 and all purpose is $14.69 for a 50lb bag. That’s all the flour that I saw.

Both kids should be exhausted from their busy day. Why are they both still awake?