The Lumpy

I tried to make a smoothie for breakfast this morning, but I burned out the motor on my blender, so I had a lumpy instead. Lumpy was not as unappetizing as he looks. In fact, he was pretty tasty. I made a version of Crazy Aunt Purl's smoothie recipe. http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2008/03/bliss_with_blue.php

My recipe was:

about 1/2 cup kefir

1 packet vanilla whey protein powder

1 large banana

1/2 package frozen strawberries

I left out the flax oil because, ew! I know it's good for you , but I don't want oil in my smoothies, thanks. And I skipped the psyllium husks because my poor intestines had enough fiber in the banana and strawberries, they didn't need anything else to contend with. (Crohn's is great if you have the taste buds of a 5 year old. If you have a slightly more complicated palate it's a bit of a drag.)

I'd never had kefir before, and that was interesting. Do you know what kefir is? Fermented goat's milk! Sounds delish, huh? I did some research, and kefir can also be made from cow's milk. I'll have to take a look at the bottle and see if it says what kind of milk it is. I was surprised at how thick it is- it basically looked like a slightly runny yogurt. Between the protein powder and the banana, which was mashed up by the blender before it crapped out, I couldn't really tell what the kefir tastes like. Maybe I'll try a little bit by itself, just to see.

It was a pretty good breakfast- tasty and quick to make. But I was starving by eleven, so next time I'll be sure to bring a snack.

In the mean time, does anyone have a recommendation for a really good blender?

Sunday blah, blah, blah

I tried to watch last week's episode of Dexter on my Tivo this morning and discovered a problem. Apparently, something earlier in the evening ran long, which delayed the show before it, which means that I only got the first 10 minutes or so of the episode. Boo! This is the second time something has gone wrong with recording Dexter. I think my Tivo just doesn't like it. So I went to my Netflix account to put season 1 in my Q, and discovered it's available to play instantly on my computer. Yay! It takes so little to make me happy.

They weren't kidding when they said that grocery prices were going up. Have you seen the price of a can of Campbell's soup lately? $1.50 a can at the Kroger down the street! Geeze Louise. I picked up a couple of cans of store brand chicken noodle at HEB for $.54 instead. I was complaining about it to my mom last night, and she said that she gets Campbell's anyway, because the chicken in the store brand stuff is low-quality and there's not much of it. Can I tell you a secret? I don't like the chicken chunks in canned chicken soup anyway.

I finally filed my taxes this afternoon. Yay! I'm not getting much back, but it will just about pay for a new chair. I want to ditch the hand-me-down couch I've been dragging around for five or six years now and get one of those "butt and a half" size chairs with a giant ottoman. And then I want to put a couple of bookshelves in the extra space that used to be taken up by the couch. I need the storage space. The current bookshelf in the living room is going to collapse any minute under the overload, and I need someplace to put my knitting patterns, projects, and some of the yarn. I spotted a chair and ottoman for cheap at Big Lots yesterday, but I wasn't sold on that particular chair. So I'm going to wait until the refund comes and keep looking.

Speaking of Big Lots, I'd heard that they had yarn, so I went looking. Most of it was "muppet" yarn. They had some Lion Brand Magic Stripes, but I didn't like the colorway, and it looked like there were some problems with the dying- blotches and such- so I passed. They had 1 skein of something by Caron that looked interesting, but one was not enough to do anything with, so again I passed. Bummer.

Dinner tonight? Canned chicken soup and homemade bread. Yum!

I wasn't particularly hungry this afternoon, so I decided to skip lunch. And then I remembered I have to eat to take my meds. Otherwise, they'll make me sick. Can I tell you another secret? Sometimes I really hate Crohn's.

Happy Things

Today I'm making a list of things that make me happy, because lists are the topic of the month at NaBlPoMo and I've hardly used them. Also, because I could use the cheering up. So here are some things that make me happy, in no particular order:

• Patons Shetland Chunky yarn
• the Caldwell Banker commercials with the talking portraits
• Trouble the Wonder Cat
• new posts from Crazy Aunt Purl http://crazyauntpurl.com/
• new posts from Jenny Crusie http://www.arghink.com/
• homemade bread
• pilates class
• blogging
• long weekends- only 8 more weeks until the next one!
• quiet weekends at the beach- only 10 more weeks until the next one!
• finishing a project
• tempura roll and Philadelphia roll
• talking to Mom
• comments- I'm really quite silly about these
• a clean apartment- because it's so rare
• cooking in my crock pot
• working in the office by myself- no one to hassle me! lots of surfing opportunities!
• Ravelry- more free patterns than I could ever hope to knit. But I'll certainly try!
• making my critique partners laugh
• how excited my friends and family get when I give them something I've knitted
• Cynthia and Dr. Madriz- it's nice to have medical professionals that I actually like
• plants (3!) that I haven't managed to kill (yet)
• watching my savings account balance grow
• being 2 months away from paying off my car loan
• having so many things to be happy about

Well, I feel better now! How about you?

"If I had a million dollars"

"I'd buy you a monkey.
Haven't you always wanted a monkey?"

Recently I've been reading a book about a woman who inherits fifty million dollars. I haven't finished it yet, but so far she's decided not to quit her two jobs or move out of her crappy apartment. That's not what I would do.

If I ever inherited fifty million dollars (which is unlikely, because if you added together all the assets of all of my relatives, we wouldn't come anywhere near fifty million) the first thing I'd do is quit my job. It's not a bad job, but do you know any one who wakes up in the morning, yearning to push paperwork? Yeah, didn't think so. I'd buy myself a house on a beach somewhere. Then I'd go on a long vacation at Disney World. And I'd stay in the special suite in Cinderella's castle.

What else would I do? I'd hire a personal trainer to come work out with me four or five days a week. And I'd hire someone to come clean my beach house. So that takes care of the unpleasant stuff.

I'd pick a room and fill it with all the yarn it could hold. And I'd spend my days knitting whatever I wanted. I'd keep a massage therapist on retainer to help treat the inevitable carpal tunnel syndrome. I already have a great massage therapist, so that part would be easy.

Until I win the lottery or some rich relative I've never met drops dead and leaves me all their money, I guess I'll just have to keep on keeping on. Knitting in the evenings and on the weekends. Cleaning my own place. (Or not, to be honest.) Getting up in the morning and dragging my sorry butt to work, whether I feel like it or not. I plan to sign up for a weekly pilates class tomorrow. That should help at least.

And don't worry. If I had a million dollars, I wouldn't really buy you a monkey.

I love my mom!

My mom is my best friend. This past year has been rough, medically and emotionally, and Mom's support is the reason I've gotten through. We talk pretty much every day, often twice a day. Yesterday I called her at lunch and then she called me back before bed. She had knee surgery about 6 weeks ago, and since then she's had some trouble sleeping. So when she called me last night, she'd already taken a Tylenol PM. I have never heard my mother so giggly! Before she called me she was watching a PBS production of Madame Butterfly, and you know how male opera singers are usually short and stocky? Well this one was really tall! And not stocky! And they had an interview with him during one of the breaks! And he was really tall! And looked nothing like the typical opera singer! Giggle, giggle! My mom cracks me up. Even when she's not looped on sleeping pills she's entertaining, but last night was funny.

I started on the Mary Jane Socks from the current Creative Knitting. They're coming together quickly, and look like they'll be cute when they're finished. Was anyone else pleasantly surprised by the number of patterns in this issue using Caron Simply Soft? Gotta love the affordable projects.

Recap

My lovely three day weekend is coming to a close. It was everything I could have hoped for, although longer is always nice!

Friday I had a small repair done on my car- I swear I was at the dealership for less than 5 minutes! It was practically a miracle. And then on to the LYS where I spent the gift certificate I got for my birthday 4 months ago (I know, I don't know how I managed to hold on to it that long either) and another $25 bucks besides. I got a couple of addi turbos, and I love them! They're so smooth to knit with. I started the Sweet Baby Cap http://grosblog.wordpress.com/2007/05/16/sweet-baby-cap/ on them last night, and I'm almost finished. It's turned out really cute. I'll take a picture when it's done.

I also finished Jackie's blanket, which was why I was able to start the hat. And I finished a Baby Bib O' Love from Mason Dixon Knitting in a cute pink and purple colorway. Then I started a matching Baby Genius burp cloth. It was a busy knitting weekend.

I watched Enchanted last night. It was cute, but too sugary-sweet for me. The problem could have been my expectations. Bringing cartoon characters into the "real" world, I expected something sharper, maybe more ironic. But really it was just a live action cartoon. Tonight is Dan in Real Life, which I better start soon or I'll be up past my bed time.

And just for fun, here's a picture of the love of my life.

Good News!

I just read an article on "the 10 deadliest FDA approved drugs." I'm on 2 of them. Faaaabulous. If I suddenly stop blogging, it's because I've dropped dead from my scary meds.

In other news, I started a really good book last night. It's called The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne. Really excellent. I poked around on the internet and discovered the sequel is scheduled for release in July. I know what I'll be doing that week.

I've now officially put on all the weight I lost last summer. That's hardly surprising, considering I lost that weight when my body stopped absorbing anything for about 6 weeks. It's a little depressing anyway. It was fun to fit into smaller sizes, and it was nice that my back didn't hurt, even when everything else did. I've been doing pilates with my trainer, and I really like it. It's hard, but it's also really relaxing. But working out once every two weeks isn't enough to do anything. Must work out tonight.