Tuesday, March 20, 2007

illnesses, meltdowns, and dogfights

It seems like forever since I've written in this blog. About a month has passed. You can imagine from my lack of entries that it probably hasn't been the best month on record. We're having big problems with our dogs and trying to sort out what to do. We've all been sick off and on and for a working mom that's always a really rough deal.

Ugh. Forget about that for a second though. What are the good things that have happened?

  • I inherited my husband's old iPod since he got a new one. I listen to this in the car during my fairly short commute. I like it well enough but I've found that I actually have too many songs on it. You know me-hate superfluous anything and like everything super-duper organized. So every single morning when I start up the car, with the way things are configured, I hear the opening bars of Blackened by Metallica. This in itself isn't a bad thing, but if I feel lazy for a minute...well, I wind up hearing 50% of this song twice daily. Or if I switch to Playlist mode and get caught up with, say, watching the actual traffic around me, I wind up hearing California by Tupac Shakur at least once daily. Don't ask...I have eclectic tastes...
  • Just remember this...California...knows how to party...Cal-i-for-ni-a...knows how to paaaaar-tay-ay...
  • Other than that, I only have these playlists created: All songs (blah), Dave Matthews Band (about 5 zillion songs that I just DON'T NEED-do I honestly need a 16 minute version of Dancing Nancies?), Reggae (no complaints, a good mix), Sublime (fine), Tori Amos (way, way, way too many songs), White Stripes (no complaints) and that's it. I need more time to whip this little iPod's ass into shape!
  • Organized by artists, we have lots, lots, lots more that are mostly contained in the All Songs playlists, but dammit!-why in the hell did I let my husband convince me to retain all of his old crap that I hate??? Scorpions? Fucking Styx? Hello? I'm NEVER going to listen to that stuff! It's all immediately GONGED as soon as it comes on when randomly shuffled onto my stereo! Barry Manilow? GONG! Gap Band? GONG! Do you know how long it takes me to queue up something I truly want to hear, such as Snow by RHCP? I'm practically in Hackensack by the time I get this song going.
  • Buddhism-even reading about it makes me feel more relaxed and optimistic. Cannot commit to not eating animals, but most of the rest makes sense to me. Don't lie or exaggerate, don't be a douchebag to others, avoid promiscuity...I agree!...well, now that I got all of that shit out of my system and realize that it totally sucks in the long run...
  • Exercise...been getting my abs on lately. And dieting too. Although today was a total dietary meltdown which I will expound on in a second...For the most part I have been so good about dieting and exercising and have even lost a little weight. Yay!
  • Cooking-holy shit, you should've eaten at my house tonight. Baconless Clams Casino? Yeah, we had that tonight. Cod cakes? Yep. Freakin' shrimp cocktail? Check! (I even de-veined those raw buggers myself and poached them in court bouillon-same court bouillon that poached the cod.) Can you say Braised Baby Bok Choy? We can. How about fresh strawberries on the side? Maybe some Gavi di Gavi with that?
  • Chuck steak-made this twice. It is extremely cheap which is VERY important in our house right now. Cook it for an hour in some liquid and root vegetables. Sear it first. Delicious.
  • McCormick & Smick's-kind of a rip-off but oh so good. Consider this for an annual splurge. Do not expect a large portion when it comes to the seared Ahi tuna. They made a nice dirty Martini though. Very olive-y. For dinner I got 2 crab cakes, broccoli rabe and rice pilaf and it just shouldn't have cost close to $30 for the plate.
  • Bonefish Grill-LOTS of bang for your buck. Spaghetti squash? Nice... Lots and lots of seared Ahi tuna with this order. Crusted in black and white sesame seeds too. Very lovely. Dirty Martini just as good as M&S's and the wine list is pretty broad. I got the salmon pan-Asian style (teriyaki marinade, grilled, wasabi cream) with vegetable sides for way less than my crab cakes at the other place, a glass of white, the Martini, shared some sides, and it was all delicious.

Enough about food...but seriously...that's kind of been the best thing going lately between the illnesses, meltdowns, and dogfights.