Absent Due To Illness

So, it has been a LOOONG time since I posted. That would be because I typically do the bulk of my posts on the weekend. And I was a sicky last weekend. I literally slept ALL weekend. Which was both good and bad.

I had made a list of 25 things I wanted to get done over the weekend on Friday night, and got like 5 done because I couldn't wake up for longer than a millisecond. But, who doesn't mostly love sleeping?

Last night we went to celebrate a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's, which is really pretty exciting. Don't worry the birthday boy was 2, not like 25 or anything.

Anyhow, I just wanted to check in and say I am alive. I hope to be back to my blogging self this weekendJ

-S-

Brrr...

I have been FREEZING all day today.

So, Ryan and I are going to attempt to get rid of some stuff via Craigslist. I set up a catchy email for it and everything.

I am not good at getting everything I want to sell in one place and taking pictures of all of them and everything. So I am going to follow the lead of my sister-in-law, Mrs. Crafty, and sell one thing a week. Starting next week, haha!

I am still catching up on regular work, okay?

In other fascinating news ... there was another domestic "situation" yesterday in my neighborhood. What the crap?!?! All our LOST friends (hahahahahah, that just cracked me up) were over and all of a sudden we hear pounding, like someone stomping down stairs, followed shortly by yelling and screaming outside by my lovely neighbor.

She is quite the catch. She has told me she has been married four times, once drunkenly ran over her water main to her house causing water to spew everywhere, and likes to sit on her patio talking loudly on the phone with her thonged butt showing from above her jeans (Gag! This is not attractive on ANYONE,ladies, a little modesty PLEASE!). Anyhow, these two guys (another side note, I can't resist, why does one have two random guys in her house at midnight???) start arguing about something.

You could hear a pin drop in my house as we all try to determine a)what they are fighting about, and b)will we need to call the police.

Thankfully we didn't.

This ding dang economy has to turn around, otherwise Lord knows what will happen next in our "'hood". And apparently I am no help because in a healthy economy, people spend money.

Oh well, at least my economy will be healthy. Maybe then I will hire security guards to sit in front of my house. They can wear red outfits, fuzzy, tall, black hats. And I will instruct them not to move when people try to make them laugh.

Alright, going to figure out what dinner will be.

-S-

Vacation, To Spend, or Not To Spend.

Besides food I didn't spend. Yay me.

I did look at everything with a new perspective. Will this thing be something I will even like a year from now? Probably not.

Ryan let me shop for my birthday gift. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I was way more selective. It took me three days to find just the right one. I enjoyed shopping more this way. Not just picking something because I sort of like it and it will do, but instead choosing something that I love, that will last, that will serve me the best it can. I wasn't sticking to a certain price range either. I found the thing I wanted at both ends of the price spectrum.

In the end I found what I wanted for a great price. If money weren't an object, maybe I would have gotten the really expensive thing, but I was sensible. I really love my birthday gift.

We did some wine tasting, found out that we will probably be going back to the coast for our real anniversary, this time sponsored by the Tobin James winery. We were invited to stay in their guest cottage. Ahh the perks of being "in the industry". The folks at Tobin James are super genuine, really friendly people. I can't wait to go back and hang with some good people.

Things we might be "perked" with: a stay in the guest cottage at the vineyard. Dinner with the winemakers at Tobin James. A limo ride to tour and do some tasting the coastal wineries.

Even if we aren't "perked" with those things, the tasting room was seriously full of some really nice, terrifically normal, fun people. I look forward to hanging out there. I say this a lot, but I LOVE CALIFORNIA!

Has anyone made any bread? Do share if you have. My friend R.M. emailed and said she tried making the bread, which she does a lot. She said her husband like it so much, it was the best he ever had! Great recipe, I am telling you!

Stay tuned, I hope to have some money making tips coming this week sometime, but I have lots of work to catch up on, so I will let you know!

Be well!

-S-

Wow. Don't Watch This While Sitting In Your Cubicle At Work, Trying To Be Quiet

Homemade Deliciousness ...

Okay so I didn't call it "It's Bakery Day!" sue me.



MMMM

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon salt

Mix those dry ingredients together first, in a big mixing bowl.

Then add:

2 1/2 cups warm water (like baby bottle warm*)
3 tablespoons oil (I used olive, but any works I think)
3 tablespoons of honey (got some from Denio's mmm!)

stir that all together, it will be kinda wet and pasty/soupy.

Measure out 3 more cups of flour and mix it in a little at a time. When it's too hard to mix with the spoon turn it out to a hard surface to knead and finish adding the flour. Knead for 10 minutes. It shouldn't stick, it should just be smooth and soft.

After you are done kneading for 10 minutes, put into a clean mixing bowl (spray the bowl with cooking spray so it doesn't stick) and let it rise for 30 minutes or so, until it has doubled in size.

Then punch it down, roll it out on a flat, floured surface into a rectangle (maybe 12 inches by 18 inches?) so that you can roll it up into a loaf.

Put your loaf into a sprayed bread pan (so it doesn't stick) and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.

Now, bake for 35 minutes or so until it is golden and pretty! Oh, at 350 degrees!

I am going to use this for sandwiches, and tomorrow morning I am going to make toast with it. Can't wait!


*I have been trying to make a good "rising" bread all week and kept killing the yeast with my last recipe. This one was much easier. But just as my pointer ... use "baby bottle warm" water. Like, test it on your wrist and everything. I think that's what killed my yeast the first time I tried it. And, don't worry, if your yeast dies, it's not as dramatic as it sounds. You will just have a more dense bread, rather than and airy one.

Hugs!

-S-

It's A Spa Day!

Soooo ... today was a spa day and let me tell you it was great! Avocado face mask, eyebrow clean up.

Don't get your panties in a bunch, I had my spa day at home. I made an avocado mask with honey, aspirin, and a little water. That's it! It doesn't look as exciting as a regular store bought, or spa mask, but gets the job done.Plus, you know, it's FREE! I do still see my facialist, but couldn't get in today. So I will be able to have an all out pamper session when we get home from vacation.

Did I tell you I am going on vacation? Yes, this coming week. We leave on Tuesday and Hubby is taking me to celebrate my "B" day and our 5th anniversary, yay!

So the next weekend I will try to go to my facialist, I still have my Christmas gift too. It is a "real" spa package, with a massage and everything. So that will be fun.

Okay, stay tuned for my next post, "It's A Bakery Day!".

Ha!

Talk at ya ...

-S-

Am I Turning Into A Cheap-Skate?

I had this training class at work today. A pizza lunch was provided.

There was a bunch of pizza left over, I got rid of most of it by giving most of the people in the class some to take home.

But then I had a thought. If I take this home, I get "free" food. As in, I won't have to cook anything, or spend money on feeding us.

I am not sure how I feel about this thought.

But I am taking pizza home. Maybe Ryan can take some to work tomorrow for lunch and won't have to buy anything. Yep, I'm turning into a cheap-skate...

Super Grocery Bowl Dog Day

I don't know what that title means.

First, a picture:



I think they got the wrong neighborhood, seriously.


Second, another picture:



Wow! There is a lot of free stuff a Walgreen's this week. Well, not a lot per se, but it's a great week to start the Walgreen's game, which I haven't done yet. Those things up there are close to $40ish dollars of products. You pay for them, and then look next week, and every week for the whole month, to see what else has a full rebate, you buy them, register it, get the reimbursal on a gift card at the end of the month. So say by the end of the month you have bought $100 of stuff, you have them put the money on a gift card as the rebate, then next month you use that gift card for all your stuff. Then you keep buying the rebate stuff, now with your gift card and soon everything you buy at Walgreen's is FREE! I have over simplified this process slightly, but it is almost that simple. Pretty cool, huh?

Okay on to more important things, not that free stuff isn't important. I did my grocery shopping for the next two weeks. I typically hang at about $75 per week, I hit that exactly this week. Yay me.

Happy February, by the way. I am going on vacation this month which makes me so very happpppppppyyyyy! I love going away.

Alright, I am off to bake my bread for the first time. Aren't you excited to see how it turns out? I am hoping to get bread for pennies per loaf instead of dollars. I will keep you posted!