Looking for cool music? You won't find it here. My pleasures are other people's guilty pleasures. This is a mix tape for myself. I predict that Adele may soon make an appearance to this list. She's fantastic.
There's a blog that links to me and other Wichita bloggers called Douglas and Main. It's created by Bobby Rozzell and although I was suspicious why someone would want to post about my personal blog, it has helped expose to me to other Wichita bloggers and it's been interesting to see the evolution.
One such blogger just tagged me to post 6 random things about myself. I never "forward" things so I won't be tagging others to do the same but I'll answer the tag.
1.) Andy and I take naps most weekend days. I don't actually understand why people get so against naps as adults. It's relaxing and so nice to cuddle in the middle of the afternoon.
2.) The bed that we nap in...we never make it. The only time it really gets made is if a cleaning crew does it. I don't really get why it should be when I'd like to just be able to crawl into it without undoing all of the trimmings.
3.) I don't do the dishes after dinner. I put them in the sink, wipe off counters and the table and do them the next day. I hate having to cook, eat and then get up to clean. Wondering why I have to do both? Yeah, me too.
4.) I love stockings. It's my favorite part of Christmas. I do stockings for my parents, my kids, my husband, my dog and now my parents dog. I spend a lot of time thinking of small things that people will love. The stocking contents usually cost more than the gifts.
5.) I sleep 1 - 7 most nights (the last 6 days have been 2 - 6 though). I've tried changing it by taking medicines, exercising more, gradually trying to reset my circadian rhythm, etc., and nothing works. I'm not tired and it doesn't affect my life negatively so I've given up trying now.
6.) Whenever I go through a yellow light, I block my vision of the light with my visor so I don't see it turning red. Every time.
I won't be tagging anybody but if you'd like to list 6 random things, please do and let me know in the comments.
One of the benefits of my crazed energy is that I've been cooking everyday and making things that take quite a bit longer than a weeknight meal normally would. I made this Bacon-Wrapped Chicken, Chickeny Chicken Rice and corn for our dinner tonight. It was really good but the others in my household didn't agree.
Side note: we eat too much corn. Fresh green beans being added to the grocery list for this week.
This is what our dinner looked like after Payton threw it at Andy's face. Food throwing: a new habit of the teenager.
This is what it looked like before being thrown.
A few weeks ago when I was very busy at home and work, I had a dream that I had resorted to shooting up heroin to handle it all. It felt so real (like I imagine heroin might be because I haven't ever experienced it first hand) that I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.
Now I've discovered something better: steroids. The doctor prescribed me both antibiotics and steroids last week to combat tonsilitis and ever since, I've only slept 2 a.m. - 6 a.m. each night and while I'm awake, I'm always moving. I imagine it's how Casey feels all the time.
So tonight after spending an hour making dinner, I decided to organize the food cabinets. We lost quite a bit of storage in our kitchen when we moved here and it's been hard to get it all straight. If I have steroids for another 2 years, maybe every section of the house will be as organized.
All of the spices, organized alphabetically. The next time I get some steroids, I will be sure to put them all in the same type of containers for a more uniform look.
Pantry shelves organized by grains, packaged goods, baking items and beverages/sauces.
I also reorganized the canned goods in a different cabinet and moved stuff to a storage area downstairs since we don't have room in the kitchen. It's finally how it should be.
Today was the last day of steroids so we'll see if the energy level continues. I hope so. Or maybe I'll become a bug chaser for illnesses that require 'roids as the cure. :)
One of the benefits/odd things about stockpiling food is that I often just have a large assortment of things to choose from and so I seek out recipes that will allow me to use some of my 5 pounds of ground turkey, tortillas and corn (that was tonight anyway. Last night was broccoli and chicken ingredients I wanted to use which resulted in a great stir fry.). I end up making new things which is fun. Surprisingly enough, Blake's been loving the new recipes.
This recipe is for Mexican Turkey Burgers which involves putting several ingredients into the ground turkey, baking them and serving on a tortilla with lettuce and corn (and if you're me, fat free sour cream as well).
A few times over the years, we've participated in Operation Christmas Child. The concept is that you take a shoe box, put necessary stuff in it (hygiene items, toys, school supplies), wrap it and take it a drop-off center. The boxes are then taken to third world countries where the items are needed to give children for Christmas.
You can choose the gender and age range so I've always picked whatever corresponded to the kids. I think it helps them develop empathy to understand that somebody like them needs all of these things. Also, it's nice to see the kids giving away the very things they might like to have.
Blake and I had a lot of fun going through the list and finding things for our boxes. His great reading skills came in handy as we tracked things down. Funny enough, we ran into another group with the same list so we worked together on getting what we needed.
Loading the shoe boxes with our stuff. They were SO full. Blake said he thinks it would be fun to get a shoe box full of presents. I suggested maybe that's what he should get this year. He responded "no, only if I didn't have anything, this would be fun." :)
Wrapping the lid and box separately....tough for me to do. Took a little while and came out kinda bumpy but it'll work.
Wrapped, rubber banded, labeled and postage included.
Last step is to take it to the drop-off center around the corner. All boxes are due between November 17 and 24 so if you would like to participate, download the information form here and then find your local drop-off center.
First wrapped presents of the season...what a nice way to start!
Target
Paid: 25.87
Saved: 17.00
Savings: 39%
Walgreens
Paid: 107.21
Saved: 97.58
Savings: 47%
Dillons
Paid: 151.49
Saved: 134.53
Savings: 48%
I know I said last week that this week could be smaller and easier but the deals that were available were huge and I had to take advantage and keep building the stockpile. We're having people over for dinner this weekend plus I'm contributing to Thanksgiving-day festivities and now I have what I need for that. I got a reaction from the cashier at Dillons again which I always love.
Deal of the week:
Quattro Razor.
Normally 9.99
on sale for 6.99
manufacturer's coupon of 2.00
Walgreens coupon of 3.00
price paid: $1.99
Saturday had us going to a lot of different places. Many of them were dives but had redeeming qualities.
We started off Saturday with a very non-divey visit to Exploration Place with Andy, Blake and me. The current exhibit called "Scoop on Poop" was all Blake needed to hear before wanting to go. We have annual passes and need to go more often.
The Joan Goodall chimpanzee exhibit. Very well done as usual.
Searching for termites just like primates do...
Slightly lopsided. Someday, many years from now, you'll have a chance, Blake.
Hey, look...Blake's favorite word in the whole world!
Me: Blake, how was your day today?
Blake: poop.
Me: Blake, what sounds good for dinner?
Blake: poop.
Me: Blake, what's 3 + 11?
Blake: poop.
Me, ordering at Sonic and Blake yelling at the speaker "...and I'd like some poop!"
He loves it.
Daddy does too.
The sand/water table. Always his favorite. Look at that ornery look on his face. 
We were done around lunchtime and decided we wanted to try something new. I looked up places to eat nearby and discovered that Ty's Diner was just a couple of minutes around the corner. It's definitely a dive, only takes cash, a line to get in and hamburgers from heaven. I should have taken pictures but I didn't. Take my word for it. I like to try new places and Andy likes hamburgers so it was win/win.
I wasn't going to talk about our Saturday evening but somebody asked so I'll run through it really quickly.
We went on a date Saturday night and Andy made the plans. We started out at another dive - Walt's. Smoky and yucky but awesome tacos.
Then we headed from the west side to the east side to bowl. I broke a 100 once. Go me! Andy had one really good game where he got around 170.
And that's where Andy's input stopped because I decided I really wanted to head to the Riverside Perk coffee shop because I've always wanted to. Loved it. Love Riverside. Want to move there.
Andy talk to his dad and uncle on the phone so then we were headed to Big's bar on the west side (very close to where Walt's is located so we ended up where we began after driving all over town). We stayed for several hours and got home pretty late but had fun.
The end.
