Seven Things About Me

I thought this was a cute idea so I am writing down seven things you might know about me.

1. I love video games. I especially love games where I can control the characters and completely and utterly dictate the way their lives turn out. SIMS, Viva Pinata, World of Warcraft - I love them all. I think it's a control thing because I really do like to control every aspect of their world and tailor it to how I want it to be.
2. I'm a metalhead. Some of my favorite bands are Megadeth, Slipknot, Disturbed, Drowning Pool, Red, Tool, Breaking Benjamin, Five Finger Bleeding, and Hurt. Ask Jeff, he DESPISES the music I listen to but I find it strangely soothing.
3. I've suffered from insomnia for 10+ years and can go months without a problem to suddenly being unable to sleep a wink. When I can't sleep I turn into a raving maniac and ANY noise/light irritates me. Monty is forced to sleep in his crate downstairs, and Jeff has to let me fall asleep first otherwise I spent the night telling him to turn over because he's snoring.
4. Completely fascinated by TLC shows that depict families with lots of kids. "Jon and Kate Plus 8" and "17 Children and Counting" being two that I watch very regularly.
5. I used to play the flute and was even a member of Junior MYWE (That's Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble). Meaning, I was pretty darn good at it for awhile.
6. I can go weeks without cleaning the house and suddenly, out of nowhere, I will become EXTREMELY upset about our messy house and go on a cleaning binge. It's 2am on a Friday? Doesn't matter to me, I will still be mopping the floor in a cleaning frenzy.
7. I hate to talk on the phone. I'd much prefer email or Facebook or the blog. Something about the phone I'm just not into. Maybe because during my typical workday I am on the phone almost the entire day, the idea of coming home and getting on the phone again is NOT appealing.

So, anyone feel like sharing 7 things about themselves???

Newest Crock Pot Recipe

Cranberry Chicken!

It actually came out really well, and Jeff is really excited that he has a wife who can cook! But let's face facts people, I can stick food items in a crock pot and then walk away. That's my kind of cooking! Fix it and forget it was completely designed for people like me. Mainly because my problem with cooking is I forget that something is on the boil and walk away. Anything distracts me when I'm cooking. A television show, Facebook, Monty, something shiny.... really anything will have me walking away from boiling food until Jeff finally figures out why the smoke alarm is going off. So the crock pot is the best thing for me since you REALLY get to walk away!

On to the recipe:
Cranberry Chicken
4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 can whole cranberry sauce
2/3 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 package dry onion soup mix

Place chicken in Crock-Pot. Combine remaining ingredients and add to Crock-Pot, coating chicken well. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or high 4 hours. Serves 4 to 6.

We made it with 6 Chicken Breasts and have plenty of leftovers. We made baked potatoes with it and it was YUMMY!!! Enjoy!

great idea for a Christmas Gift for Jeff

So gmail had another great advertisement today, it was for this:

http://www.daviddeangelo.com


That's right people, it's VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO PROPERLY KISS A GIRL!!! Marketing genius I think!!! I'm totally getting this for Jeff only so I can laugh my ass off when he opens it!

Oh, and one of the guy shares is the following:
Fun places to take women that are FREE - no paying for expensive dates...


Because a first date is TOTALLY the time to penny pinch! Women are VERY impressed when a guy takes you out for the first time and its to the local Starbucks for amateur poetry night!

dislike of talking baby commercials

I really, really, really dislike talking baby commercials. I don't understand them, don't understand the point of them, and am just generally disturbed by them overall. Does anyone REALLY think they are cute?? Because Monty sleeping in his fleecy jacket is cute, a talking baby trying to convince me to use ETrade and then throwing up is not cute. Maybe it's just me?

Plans for the Christmas Season

Jeff and I are not alone this year in trying to cut our spending budget for the holidays. I'm definitely making a list and checking it twice and I've also found that the older I get the less I want "stuff" as presents. Oh I love opening gifts as much as the next person, but I really don't have a lot of "wants" this year. We don't even have kids, but I find it much more entertaining getting things for other people than I do thinking about what I would actually want. So basically I stink to shop for because all I usually answer the "what do you want for Christmas" question with "Nothing really". Anyone else like this? I know I *will* enjoy putting together a gift basket for my father filled with assorted food-related goodies. (Sorry for the spoiler Dad.. but since you've been getting this gift from me for the past few years I figure you're smart enough to know you'll be getting it AGAIN. Also there's the well known fact that my father saves EVERYTHING and seeing all that stuff in his apartment makes me insane. Consequently I think long and hard before getting him something because odds are good he'll have 10 years later).

So for my father I usually fill a basket with fudge, candies, licorice, baking items, fancy jams and other things that he would never buy for himself. Last year I included the DVD set of "The Girls Next Door" Season 2, just for fun! Once again, something he would NEVER purchase for himself.

My mother is HARD to shop for. Don't even get me started on the Christmas where I killed myself looking for the perfect gift and she was blown away by the stuffed toy my sister picked up for her at the LAST MINUTE! Bitter, party of one, your table is ready!

Jeff is easy to shop for. Can we say Amazon.com Wishlist?? He's not allowed to buy things from his wishlist from the month of November on, and I usually also get him a few items of clothing and stocking stuffer stuff like jellybeans and the such. Oh and gift cards so he pick things out later himself. He loves gift cards!

My sister is another hard one and since I have NO ideas I won't even speculate what I'm going to get her. I've given her jewelry, clothing, shoes... you name it... usually I manage to find SOMETHING cute for her, but it's always a surprise.

The animals. No. I do NOT get the animals presents. I love them to death and would not hesitate to drop large sums on money on them (see any post below!), but presents I don't do. THEY don't realize its a holiday, and they don't miss out because of it. I MIGHT sneak them some bits of turkey.. but really that's the extent of it.

So what is everyone else doing for the holidays?? Oh, and I know its early to be talking about holiday shopping but I'm planning on getting gifts little by little so I can pay CASH for them! Wish me luck!!!

just because its cute

I thought I'd share this Youtube video that is just too cute and funny about a cat named "Sparta"!

Being wrong about "Undead"

You know how I ranted about how "Undead" was the world's worst movie. That it was just beyond awful and had no redeeming value to it at all? I take it back.

That's right people, I take it back because I am currently watching the worst piece of film making ever produced. It is.. are you ready?

"Jason Goes to Hell"

Words really cannot describe how awful this movie is. I want to try and write something funny about it, but I can't. It's so annoying, such a waste of my time... really, this is an hour of my life I have just WASTED. WASTED. Standing in line at Target would have been more interesting. Doing my laundry would have been more interesting. Hey, I would at least GET something out of laundry, like clean clothes. But this movie, God. Awful. Awful. Awful. The absolute bottom of the barrel of awfulness.

And I realize I've done a lot of movie reviews, and I'll try to get back to writing more interesting posts but I started my new job and my nerves are shot from trying to learn a new database, billing, terminology and also resetting my internal clock so that I can get up at 6am for work. NOT easy!!

New Shoes!!!

My mother took me to Macy's today and got me THE most adorable shoes! I love, love, love them!!! She got two pairs of shoes for herself (the woman actually met me at the Cheesecake Factory wearing SLIPPERS!! SLIPPERS!!! I swear I almost had a coronary when I saw them!!), and I got the third pair. Macy's was having a massive sale and here's the link to my lovely shoes:

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=316398&CategoryID=26769&LinkType=EverGreen

I wish it would let me copy a picturew, but take a look at the link. They are soooo cute and I can't wait to go somewhere casual yet fun, wearing them with some nice jeans and a cute brown sweater. Maybe something of the cashmere variety?? God, why wasn't I born a millionaire?? It's just so unfair!! ;-)

my favorite video spots

Target: Women

This one is about Disney princesses and I laughed my ass off:
http://current.com/items/89416957_target_women_disney_princesses

Desire for a heated cat bed for my Lily

I so want this bed for Lily: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3261+1883+17753&pcatid=17753

Isn't that cute? And it's HEATED!!! You can plug it in and it maintains the perfect temperature for my zombie kitty cat. As you all know, Lily has a tendency to pee on things. Her beds, Monty's bed, OUR bed... and right now this is what she is sleeping in:

That's her bed. A box with clothes in it. We did this because if she DOES pee on the clothes.. they're old clothes and we can just toss them without guilt. BUT... it is getting cold. And her back room is insulated with NEWSPAPER and gets pretty darn chilly at times. I feel bad for her, she IS my baby... so I was thinking of getting her a heated bed. I just can't bring myslef to PAY for a heated bed since odds of her peeing on it are good. Sigh... what should I do?????

Visit to the Cheesecake Factory Tonight

I'll post pictures a little later but Jeff and I went to the Cheesecake Factory with his father, stepmother and Grandfather to belatedly celebrate his Grandfather's 90th birthday. A good time was had by all and I highly recommend the Bikini Martini which was deelish! But the whole point of the Cheesecake Factory is the dessert. And we're talking every possible option of cheesecake flavor and a whole bunch of other treats that are as big as your head. Jeff and his Grandfather split a piece of carrot cake (one piece is roughly the size of Canada), Jeff's father had a dish of ice cream, I had the Chocolate Tuxedo Cheesecake (which is vanilla cheesecake layered in fudge chocolate and chocolate sauce and crust) and Jeff's Step-Mother had the Low Carb Cheesecake.

Let me say that again, with the option of ANY kind of cheesecake to choose from. And there was Pumpkin cheesecake, Strawberry cheesecake, Chocolate Coconut cheesecake, Snickers Bar cheesecake, Cookie Dough cheesecake - the list just goes on and on. She CHOSE.... Low Carb Cheesecake. That's not a dessert. That's punishment on a platter. Why in the name of God would you pick that??? It came with a teeny tiny bowl of strawberries.. REALLY tiny bowl, like for dolls. And some whipped cream. She also kept trying to tell me how yummy it was and how there was a "Slight nutty aftertaste" on the cracker crust. I told her she was insane.

Why would you get that??? WHY??? Why bother?? Why not just sit there and chew on your napkin instead??? Of ALL the yummy choices that you could make, ANYTHING you could want with cheesecake - you pick the low carb option. I so do not understand this. I will NEVER understand this. I understand about trying to lose weight and all, and I was proud that I only ate half my meal and half my dessert (though the Bikini Martini was gone in seconds) but I was still HAVING dessert. With chocolate in it. Because without the chocolate it's NOT DESSERT!

Problem with horror movies

Particularly these old movies. The women in these movies... dear lord. Have they not heard the term "fighting back"? No. For the most part they scream and cry and crawl uselessly away from the psycho in the hockey mask. I've seen them throw plates and books and only one person threw something useful - a television set that she smashed over Jason's head. But they ALWAYS seem to leave him alone after they think he's dead. Do we not WATCH horror movies?? Do we not know how this works??? I swear to God that if I am EVER chased by some serial killer wearing a mask and carrying a machete I am going to MAKE SURE HE IS DEAD. A head will be cut off, limbs will be removed. I might even jump up and down on the lifeless body until said attacker is well and truly DEAD. In one movie the characters were hiding in a loft and when Jason was climbing the ladder to get to them.. they LET HIM! Nobody kicked the ladder out, nobody hit him over the head as he came up.. and NOBODY took away his machete. Hello!! Take the machete away from him!!! TAKE IT! Do NOT leave the machete with the crazy person... It's just common sense. Let's do a little thinking people, okay??? Thanks, now back to the movie!

Friday the 13th Marathon

Jeff got a bee in his bonnet to watch ALL the Friday the 13th movies in honor of the Halloween holiday. He borrowed the full set from his friend and last night we watched movies 1 -3. Yes, you read that right, the first three movies in one night. Color me HAPPY! As you have probably already guessed, when Jeff gets something in his head, he needs to do that ASAP! So tonight we'll be watching 4, and most likely 5 as well.

Did I ever mention it was our shared love of crushingly bad horror movies that brought us together in the first place? One of our first dates was watching "Jason 2000 - Friday the 13th part X"- that was Jason IN SPACE, where nobody can hear you SCREAM!!!!!! Oh yeah, I think we both knew we were in it for the long haul after watching that gem of a picture!

hunt for a Halloween Costume

This past weekend Jeff and I attempted to find Halloween costumes since we have plans of going to Salem and walking around and enjoying everything. I have noticed however, that costumes for women are either one of the following:

Sexy/Slutty

Matronly

There's no happy medium. You can either be a slutty pirate, or a matronly pirate. What if I just want to be a pirate? A lady pirate. Not a pirate wench, a PIRATE. There's nothing out there. Now I have no problem with women dressing up this Halloween in whatever they darn well please, but it would be nice to have a few more choices out there.

For example, here's some costume choices that I've seen:

Want to be a lion? No? How about SEXY LION!!!!

I admit to being confused by sexy lion. There are a lot of adjectives that come to mind when I think of LION, and "sexy" has never entered into the top 100. Maybe it's me.

So what about a nun? A religious icon? Not for me personally, but how about SEXY NUN!

And the name of this costume??? Are you ready??? I don't think you're ready. Okay.. It's "Nasty Habit". GET IT?? She's NASTY!!!!! Bad nun, bad!!!

Still not finding anything? How about someone who is on the verge of a mental breakdown?

It actually says in the description of the "mental patient" costume that "just because she's locked up, doesn't mean she isn't hard to handle". See.. she still has cleavage in her straight jacket! No matronly straight jacket for our girl! No way!! Let's be cleavin' while the cleavin' is good! You never know just WHO you might meet in the ASYLUM!

So say you're getting tired of the sexy costumes and you think to yourself... "Self, why don't I dress up like a Disney princess? I have happy memories of those innocent, carefree movies, why don't I dress like, oh... Snow White"?

Yes, we have SEXY Snow White!

Sigh. All my happy childhood memories are being destroyed as I look at this picture. Snow White is now SLUTTY SNOW WHITE!

Can I get a happy medium PLEASE? I don't mind showing a little skin, but does ALL my skin have to be on display? I'd like to keep some of the candy in the basket, if you get my meaning. And I THINK YOU DO!!!!!!

BTW, at the very least they could do the same thing to the men's costumes. If I'm going to be walking around with everything hanging out I think guys should have to do the same. Really it's only fair.

views on pinching pennies

I realize that in today's economy we're all trying to pinch pennies. Jeff and I certainly are, and if you go on MSNBC.com that's all you read about. So I was looking on Allrecipes.com for a potato soup I could make in our crock pot, and this recipe popped up:

Slow Cooked Squirrel
SUBMITTED BY: Bobbie Jo "This stew recipe is for those of us who are hunters and are more of the country ilk. It is easy that you can go to work while it simmers in your pot and when you return home, dinner is ready."

RECIPE RATING:Read Reviews (6)
PREP TIME
20 Min
COOK TIME
8 Hrs
READY IN
8 Hrs 20 Min
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
2 squirrels - skinned, gutted, and cut into pieces
4 large potatoes, quartered
1 pound carrots, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 onions, sliced
2 cups water
1/4 medium head cabbage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a slow cooker, place the squirrel meat, potatoes, carrots, green bell pepper, onions, water, cabbage, salt and ground black pepper.
Cover and cook on low setting for 8 hours.

Wow. That's all I can say. I mean, Squirrel stew?? First of all, is there really enough meat on those animals to make it worthwhile? And second of all, no thank you. Seriously, no thank you. I'd rather eat ramen noodles again than have squirrel stew. Call me a snob and hypocritical because I certainly do eat meat - but squirrel. No. Not happening. I won't even discuss the fact that the person who submitted the recipe is named "Bobbie Joe" and it can't get more stereotypically country than that.

Doggie Flannel Sheets?

Yes or No

Flannel sheets with dogs on them? Too kiddie for an adult bed, or possibly cute? I was looking at winter bedding on The Company Store online and I really, really like the "woof woof flannel sheets"

They're kind of cute aren't they? Especially with that quilt, the whole bed looks so comfy and cozy and I kind of like how different they are. BUT, doggie sheets. Too much? Too childish? Let me know what you think!

Sticker Shock for Christmas this year

So I guess the "it" toy for the holiday season this year is a baby DINOSAUR you can RIDE!!!! And retails for about $300. Take a look:

It's by Hasbro, called the Kota the Triceratops and MSNBC has this whole article on equally insane toys. A Wall-E toy that responds to voice commands, Lego's Mobile Command Center, and okay - this sounds cool to me. A Jakks Pacific Inc.'s Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker that makes cupcakes in the microwave and FROSTS them. I am a little icked out by the idea of baking in the microwave, but since I lusted after an Easy Bake Oven when I was little and NEVER GOT ONE, I have a soft spot for anything similar.

Now when I was young, and does anything make you feel older than THAT phrase? The "it" toy was Cabbage Patch Dolls. My very good friend, Sage, had OODLES of Cabbage Patch kids. She had the Preemie versions, a boy and a girl, I think she even had a KOOSA which was like a weird animal Cabbage Patch Doll. If I remember correctly.. she had like 10 of these toys and I was so jealous I could hardly stand it. I did get a Cabbage Patch girl for Christmas and LOVED her. She had blue eyes and red hair just like me, and her name was awful. Emmanuelle Geneva. Horrible name. Like the people at the Cabbage Patch had some sort of random name generator and that came out. But I did love that doll, and I suspect that she didn't cost ANYWHERE near $300!

Cold House

It's getting cold out. We haven't turned the heat on yet because its not even NOVEMBER! What happened with Fall?? It's crazy that it's this cold! I know its winter though because Jeff and I had our standard argument over Monty. Is he cold, or is he fine? Monty has an array of clothing options, and his fleece jacket is his primary piece of clothing when its cold out. Last night the poor dog was curled into a little ball on his bed as Jeff and I dove under our thick down blankets. Looking at him I decided he was cold. Downstairs I went to get his fleecy jacket where I put it on him. Jeff thinks I'm insane and its not cold enough out for this step. He also mentioned that if we have kids I'll have them bundled up in helmets, pads and other methods of protection like the overzealous, worry wart I am.

BUT this morning.... I was right. It's COLD in here. Not only is Monty still swaddled in his fleecy jacket, but I am as well! And a down blanket here on the sofa. Now if I could only get that heat seeking missile called Princess Lily to come sit on my lap all would be right with the world!

Meanwhile.. Brrrr..... I'm going to shop online for some more down blankets!!!!!!

attempt at losing weight

I've been tracking my daily food count via http://www.sparkpeople.com/ and am distressed to find out that a normal days worth of food is like WAY over 2,000 calories for me. Since my idea of working out is a "Walk Away the Pounds" DVD, clearly I am not doing heavy weight lifting or training for a marathon that would justify this level of food consumption.

Sigh.

Choices need to be made. As of right now I am hungry. Very hungry. But I've already reached my 1550 calories for the day and have no room left for even a snack. So I'm sitting here. Hungry. Daydreaming of a small chicken Parmesan sub with extra cheese. And not the chicken Parmesan sub where the chicken isn't breaded... that's crap and not a REAL chicken Parmesan sub. I want the true thing, the breaded chicken, the marinara sauce, the mozzarella cheese.. the toasted bun. I want it all. God I want it.

Damn diet. Damn it. So I'm sitting here having food porn fantasies that largely consist of mozzarella sticks and chocolate fudge cake. It's a sad day when you realize that your deepest and darkest fantasies consist of forbidden, deep friend, chocolaty food.

Update: a friend of mine just reminded me how yummy a Thanksgiving sub would be! There's one by my old work which is turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and GRAVY on the side. God I'm actually DROOLING into my keyboard now! I may cry.

Saturday Night and the World's Worst Movie

Jeff and I went to his cousin's last night for a smorgasborg of food, wine and laughter. The laughter? Watching the absolute world's worst movie, "Undead". I would like everyone to know I did not pick this gem of a movie. Oh no, it was Jeff and David's choice, and here's a look at the website:
http://www.undeadthemovie.com/

You can even watch the trailer and fully understand my pain. It's just awful. Awful, awful, way beyond B movie awful so that it crosses into painfully horrible awful. In a nutshell, the tagline for the movie is "Crazy has come to town for a visit". And yes, the movie DOES live up to its tagline, but oh dear God is it awful to watch. David and Jeff laughed and laughed during the movie, and I watched in disbelief as Judith slept. It was THAT good. All I have to say is that MY choice of movie would have been much better. I wanted to watch "The Nun"...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371853/

See, isn't that better??

Lack of discipline as a Dog owner

Apparently I am the sucker of the family, and the animals know it. I was not here this morning and Jeff told me that Monty heard the alarm go off, got up, looked at Jeff, and went downstairs. He did NOT do any of the following:

• 1. Shove his nose in Jeff's face until Jeff opened his eyes
• 2. Run back and forth from the bed to the stairs and back again
• 3. Shove his whole head into the bed, tail wagging like a helicopter
• 4. Sit and stare at Jeff until Jeff couldn't stand it any longer and got up

Monty did NONE of those things. None. Nada. Instead he saw that Jeff was the only person there and went DOWNSTAIRS AND WAITED. Patiently. Let me emphasize that Monty does NOT do that for me. Instead he pokes his head in at me and does not leave me alone until I get up and take him out. So the animals know I am a sucker and are using it to their advantage. Apparently if we ever do have kids I should leave the discipline to Jeff!

Fascination with financial books

I've been slowly trying to get out of debt and the process has been long, long, long. Basically it's just a long time of paying it down and not using credit cards. During the process I've read tons of financial and get out of debt books and I've discovered that there's really only one way to get out. Are you ready? Because I'm saving you a lot of money by telling you the secret.

• Don't buy what you can't afford.
• If you have to use a credit card to buy something you probably can't afford it - thus you should not be buying it.
• To get rid of debt you need to pay more than the minimum, and pay as much as you can towards your debt. Concentrate on one debt, pay it off, than take that money and apply it to the next debt.
• Oh, and don't break out that credit card to charge again.

That's it. Those are the tips in a nutshell. It's been working for me, so far and I've made some great progress, and I never carry a credit card since I am a credit card companies wild dream come true. I would charge, charge, charge until I had carpal tunnel syndrome. So if you have credit card debt like I do, just follow those steps and you'll get out! You're welcome!