Superbowl and meatballs.

Nothing has changed at home and I'm still plodding along trying to stretch every dollar still in the bank account. It really sucks when you figure out that you weren't doing too badly all along, as far as income goes, and realize that you wasted a lot of money on absolutely nothing at all while the money was coming in regularly. I have nothing to show for all of the money that we threw away. That is so disappointing.

One way i'm trying to save money is by cooking a lot more often.. like every night. Which was never something I've been really inclined to do. It's not that i don't like to cook, I do. It just stresses me out a little. Planning a meal and then making sure i have all the ingredients and realizing that i don't and going food shopping almost every single night before i go home to cook is really annoying and always makes me wonder if i'm saving any money at all. I guess in the long run I am because i'm collecting ingredients but It's just so hard to tell.

And then getting home around 7:00 and making sure the meat is defrosted and trying to cook so that everything times out right and is done around the same time and I get myself stressed out over nothing, hoping above all hope that the chicken is GOOD. But TheBoy doesn't care. He very rarely tells me that something i've made is disgusting, when i know damn well that it is. I just want to be SUCH A GOOD COOK! I come from a long line of really good cooks and i need to inherit the trait from all of the Italian grandmothers in my family because I'M ITALIAN! Italians need to be good cooks or else they've failed their culture and their family.
Or so it feels.

Hey, do you guys have any easy, weeknight recipes you'd be willing to share? I'm finding that my chicken-cutlet, hamburger, meatloaf, chicken-cutlet repertoire is getting a little monotonous. I don't want to have to spend more than an hour on anything that I'm making after work and would like not to have to buy a whole basket-full of ingredients every time i cook something. Do you have anything simple? I would love to hear from you! My sanity will thank you.

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In other news, TheBoy and I have this weekend to ourselves which is always such a blessing. We normally have his kids 3 out of 4 weekends per month. This kind of arrangement, while great for the kids' parents, (their mom gets to have her weekends to herself and her fiance' and go out on Saturday nights while dad gets to see his kids as often as possible) is absolute torture on me for painfully obvious reasons. 3 out of 4 weekends a month.

But this weekend is just us! We can go out Saturday night! We can walk around the house in our underwear! Naked, even! Such luxuries! Such simple, cost-effective pleasures...

Ugh.. who am i kidding? We'll just stay home all weekend and i'll watch all of season 6 of the Gilmore Girls in my pajamas. Cause i love them and have no life.

This is my 100th post.

It took me a long time, but I've made it - Post #100. Isn't it exciting? I feel like i should decorate with streamers and party hats or something, but I'm really just not in the mood.

To look back at my last post where i apparently made it sound like i was pregnant (First Nations, that's not even a little funny, not a little none at all icky yuck), i would like to clarify a bit and just say that in reality, TheBoy and I will be living off of my ridiculously small salary for a little while until um, a NEW and shiny salary comes into TheBoy's life. See, I'm not going to come out and say what actually happened, because that might be an invasion of someone's privacy and it's not like me to cross those lines.

So with that, I've been very stressy for the past couple of weeks and am now realizing that I've abandoned this here blog and feel kind of stressy about that, too, because i like it here and don't really want to lose it. But, while I've been at work or figuring out how to save money or not spend it at all, i have not had a considerable amount of time to sit down and spill my guts. Though this is much cheaper than therapy, should i ever decide i need some, it would be more economical to keep doing this rather than paying a shrink. You know.

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In other news, and unexpected money-spendingness, BigDog had a bit of a boo-boo on Monday which needed the vet's attention (and my credit card). She had a sebaceous cyst on her back that ruptured suddenly and violently, creating a nickel-sized hole on her shoulder. It is gross. It was still discharging yesterday. It is moist. And a hole.

And now we have to feed her antibiotics - which is fine for me, poke the pills into a spoonful of peanut butter and she's a happy puppy - and apply a topical bacitracin ointment.

I am having a real hard time with the bacitracin. Mostly because i am finding it really hard to smear a glob of stuff into an open wound. It's just gross and really hard to do, especially since the stuff is so gooey. And it must hurt like hell. Poor thing.

The vet said, she'll hardly notice us smearing her with ointment. HA! HAHA! He really shouldn't have said that after it took 4 vet techs to wrestle her down to shave all of her fur out from around the area, give her an injection and while they were at it, try to clip her nails. (Which, by the way, is a good-fucking-luck job for just about anyone. The vet techs have never been able to do it, and our fantastic groomer has finally given up. I don't even want the groomer to do it anymore because BigDog has caused some major bodily damage to an assistant while trying to clip her damn nails. Dogs are fun, eh?) They only got one before they gave up, and really, i wasn't expecting anything more than that.

So now we're dealing with a BigDog who doesn't trust us, "Come here puppy! Let me stick my finger in your boo-boo!" a LittleDog who would like to know why BigDog is getting all the peanut butter, and no money.

Luckily i have off for the rest of the week again, while i eat away at my remaining vacation days. Company policy is Use it or Lose it if you don't use your vacation days before your anniversary, so i am happily fucking off for a couple of days.

Turtles and such.

I just wanted to check in and say that things are going on over here that I'm not too interested in talking about publicly, but that I'm still around and still reading everyone's blogs. I might not be posting very often while i try to get my collective shit together but, you know, Hi!

This week is going to be kind of busy on the home-front. I'm trying to get approved for vacation for this Wednesday thru Friday, but so far i haven't seen my request come back with a signature.

This may sound all cryptic, but don't worry. Nothing scary. Yet. I hope.


Ok, I'm going to stop it now. Here, i leave you with a close-up of that angry turtle i mentioned from Grand Cayman. I am holding him, but I'm all cropped out of the picture, because i can't hold a candle to the angriest turtle in the world:

I really have to get on the ball, here.

Hi! Long time. I've been meaning to come by and see you.. or at least call, you know? But, uh, i've been really busy and i just haven't been able to spare the time to um.. well, say Hi. Though, i've missed you terribly, and feel just so awful for leaving you hanging like this. Um. How's the wife and kids? Good?

I've jumped on the band-wagon and put together the new year's meme thing from Sundry. Though i didn't tell her about it and wish i did, because then i would be linked on her page and maybe considered "cool" like with the other cool kids, because Sundry is totally awesome. Like, in a far out way. Jinkies.

So here is my New Years Meme. I hope you all had a great holiday. I mostly did. It wasn't as lame as i thought it would be, and at the same time not nearly as exciting as i hoped it would be. Eh. At least there was champagne.

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?

Went swimming for my birthday in November.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I did, in fact keep my resolution to lose weight, but then I put it all back on again.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not really. TheBoy’s aunt passed from cancer, but I didn’t know her very well.

5. What countries did you visit?

Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Jamaica

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

Will power, expendable income, higher tolerance for stupidity, etc..

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Uh…oh god, I have no idea… was there anything worth remembering that well? Etched? Really? Uh..

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I graduated with my 2-year degree.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I graduated without ever figuring out what I want to do next.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No, luckily.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Cruise tickets

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

BigDog. She has grown into a decent adult dog. Ie: Less-horrible behavior. Also, the American public for finally getting their shit screwed on straight and pushing the Republicans out of Congress. Thank you, country. It’s about time you did something right-ish. (Or left-ish.... heee.)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

LittleDog. Her ability to jump 7 ft in the air, while amazing, is going to send me over the edge. If she destroys the new fence any further, I am going to have to stop myself from wringing her doggy neck. I’m also appalled by the president. There.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Everywhere! Yay!! You want money? I’m just throwing it away!! Here! Money!!! WEEEEEEE!! Um, mostly the vacation I think. Also, credit card bills (god the credit card bills) and mortgage. Stupid mortgage.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Vacation!! Yay! Bye-bye, money!

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall. Because of that time back in the spring where I was somewhat obsessed with her and her live performances on the late show circuit. Fantastic.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer?

Happier, fatter, and, hard to imagine – maybe a little richer. They actually gave me a raise here. Do you believe? Me. They gave me money. Ha! We’ll see if there’s any difference when I get my first paycheck. Chances are: no.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Exercise, dieting, going out with friends.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Bitched and complained about everything every step of the way.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

We spent Christmas at mom’s with the family. It was really nice. It’s always nice when there are lots of people around… especially if you actually like them.

21. Did you fall in love in 2006?

Yes, with Stop & Shop’s chocolate chip cookies. MMmmmmm…

22. How many one-night stands?

None, thank you.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Veronica Mars and Grey’s Anatomy.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Actually, I don’t think so. Huh. Good for me.

25. What was the best book you read?

Best? God, I don’t know… I really liked “Memoirs of a Geisha”…but best? Why can’t I think…one of the books I read over vacation was fun and quick, “Julie and Julia” by Julie Powell. If you like cooking or Julia Child or blogs or all three, you’ll probably enjoy it.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Dandy Warhols. So catchy.

27. What did you want and get?

A handheld GPS device for Geocaching, Heee! So excited to go treasure hunting.

28. What did you want and not get?

A new car, new house, furniture, new carpeting / flooring, windows, appliances, etc…

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

Snakes on a Plane? Nah. I am so unprepared for this. I really have no idea what my favorite film was. I can’t think of a single movie that I saw this year. How shitty. Um, Little Miss Sunshine was pretty great, and so was Borat… but favorite? I dunno.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 26 this year and spent it poolside on a cruise ship, sunbathing. Was wonderful.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A little more cash flow in order to pay some of my increasing debt in credit card land. Please help me.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

Same as always: Business casual, and quite boring. Another turtleneck? Yes, I’d love one, thank you.

33. What kept you sane?

Impending 2-week vacation.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Well, how can you not just LOVE Brittany and her ho-hos?

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

The midterm elections got me all political-minded again. It’s hard not to care about what’s going on in the government lately when everything about it is like some ass-backwards pissing contest of a soap opera, no?

36. Who did you miss?

Cousin G. She came to Christmas which was nice and awkward, but I miss her the way she was when we were really close.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

Girl in my ceramics class. She was super nice and super helpful. I hope we keep in touch. Must work on that.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.

Be more decisive with the things that really matter. If it is important, take the time to sort out options ahead of time.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I’m sorry, but no. I can’t.

Wooo!! Hello, long post! Maybe i'll tell Sundry i did it anyway... because it took me like 4 days to finally be able to finish this thing and someone, somewhere should know.