Rocky

I thought that once I really started getting comfortable with cooking that my everyday meals (not just meals for special occasions) would become more extravagant or unique or at least well rounded. Though alas this has not come true, well not yet anyways. I still eat bowls of cereal and pop tarts for breakfast, I still hastily assemble pb & j's (I can't write pb and j, I have to use the ampersand for some reason) and cheese quesadillas for lunch and then warm up something for dinner. I guess I am just getting ahead of myself. I have been comparing myself to the masters... take for instance my grandma. I will go over to my grandma's for lunch and she will slice an avocado and splay it out like a fan next to her croissant and tuna sandwich and then maybe break out some kettle chips or something and then make whipped cream from heavy whipping cream and make a quick strawberry short cake and not even bat an eye. It would be nothing for my mom to create some dumplings from ...

My head hurts. My head hurts for several reasons but namely because I was just dropping a towel down the laundry shoot when a vaporizer-machine-thing that must have been teetering on the top shelf of the closet came plunging down and crashed into the back of my head as I was leaning over. Now I just feel stupid in addition to the pain. Aside from the physical pain my brain is feeling I have also been under much mental strain. For any other person this kind of strain would be nothing but a cough or a light sneeze but for me it is causing my brain to hemorrhage. Today's Check list: 1. Print out weekly bulletins before folding people come 2. Work on 5K/10K race registration, posters, handouts and research the possibilities of registering online. Also make sure treasurer cut check for Johnson County Parks and Recreation or no race at all. Also look into getting sponsors for refreshments the day of the race. 3. After changing Passover Dinner from just being a young adults event to an al...

This past week has brought illness, cold weather (first day of Spring and it is snowing?!) house/dog sitting and amazing food. Evidently I have no immune system. I had had a sinus infection and then strep throat and now a cold. I think having a cold is more annoying than painful. One nostril is fine and the other is either helplessly running or stuffed up, you can't breathe at night, you sneeze at the most inopportune times and your mind just becomes a complete fog. Though (fingers crossed) I feel I am getting better! As I mentioned earlier it is snowing today. Normally I would be irritated that the first day of my most favorite season is uncharacteristically cold and snowy but currently I am actually kind of happy. Mainly due to the fact that my family's hot tub is fixed and up and running (which would have been very nice this past winter but the pipes were frozen and the repairmen could do nothing.) This is the view from my room window earlier. My mom made corned beef and c...

Ladies and Gentlemen, break out your denim broom skirts and your tambourines, it is time to partay! I have finally finished reading the book Roaring Lambs! It isn't a long book nor a difficult read but I had become somewhat disinterested in it half way through and it didn't help that the author would repeat himself several times. So a book that should have only taken me a couple days to finish has taken me weeks. Weeks people! This is both embarrassing and pathetic to admit, but at least I have finished it. It wasn't all that bad really, it is just difficult to revitalize interest or excitement about something halfway through it. Now I think I am going to read Catcher in the Rye. Then maybe The World Without Us, or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Zeitoun, or maybe Where Men Win Glory. I have a stack of books that I received for Christmas or that I bought with Christmas gift cards. Okay, that's it for now. I just couldn't contain my excitement. Oh and I p...

This weekend has been great. I filed my taxes with a friend this weekend, and I am actually going to get a little something back which was unexpected. In addition to that I bought my friend's Saab for an amazing price. Here she is. I am not used to doing automobile photography of any sort so this is mainly just to show you in general what she looks like. Josh, one of my friends who sold it to me, and I named her the other day and for the life of me I can't think of it. I know it started with a "Ph" and was from Greek mythology (to go along with Poseidon, my camera and Remus and Romulus my photography lights.) I am just getting to know her and don't know where everything is yet or how to work things. The ignition and all the window and lock controls are in the center panel which I love. I need to get insurance and fill out the title and all of that still but hopefully I will have that all figured out this week. I am pretty much stoked to say the least. Also in addi...

This is a progress report of sorts... nothing witty, deep or thought provoking. Changed pictures of myself, I really didn't like the previous one, but I had my nose pierced this past week. I was actually very brave and didn't feel like I would pass out until much later. I used the rest of my gift card and saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D... in the second row from the front (which just gave me a headache, being that close with things come out around me). I liked the movie but I loved Alice's dresses while she was in Wonderland. I have been cooking up a storm the past few days. Chalupa Roast (we want to revise the name of that one, so any suggestions would be great) with my mom. Marinated Asparagus, Pepper Steak and Lemon Curd Tarts with Gma. In addition to having holes put in my face, watching movies and cooking, I also painted a mural in my friends' nursery when they were off to work. One of them was in on the surprise. I cleaned up my mess afterwards, don't worry. I...

The weather has been turning around and I am LOVING it. I have realized that this year in particular that my mood has strongly been affected by the weather. When it was cold, dismal and bleak for so long I had been kind of unknowingly predisposed to gloominess and being tired. Whereas now with the weather warming up I feel more energetic, optimistic, more creative and outgoing. I've actually been motivated to run outside (though am not going to push it since I am still trying to get over this stupid infection). I hope that it isn't really nice for a whole week and then it gets really cold again or something. I really wasn't going anywhere with this, it is merely an excited observation on my hopes of good weather. Last night I cooked with my grandma Hamilton again. We made Raspberry Vinegar, Bacon Roll-Ups and Tamale Pie. Here are some glimpses of what we made. For the cook book, I am thinking of a title change because Mondays with Grandma and Other Days with Other People r...

#1 I think I should have been on antibiotics weeks ago. I am already feeling exponentially better and I have only been on Amoxicillin since Monday night. #2 I really like The Bowerbirds, their music is kind of ethereal+whimsical+folkish. Also I just like bowerbirds in general. #3 I am trying to organize a 5K for a Haiti missions fundraiser. It will be on Mayday but since Haitians speak French and French Creole we are calling it a M'aidez Run which is French for "help me" or "aid me" but is pronounced as Mayday. I am working on the posters and the tee shirt designs today and don't know what angle to go from. I thought since the Haitian national animal is a rooster I could have a rooster wearing running shoes or something. I have no idea. So I am currently looking for inspiration on the web and following the path of least resistance by writing this short blog post. #4 I think I will be having lunch with my dad today, which is exciting.

I've been sick. It started out as just a sinus infection of sorts about a month ago or something, (I don't really know, I have no concept of time.) It was at least 3 weeks ago. Well I have been battling it off and on but chose to take nothing for it and just let my body fight whatever it was off. (I find the human body is much more equipped and resilient to fight illness than we give it credit, we just have to live through the pain. Which makes me think of a podcast about placebos , which is another post all together.) Now I do drink more water, eat more nutrient rich foods, sleep more, eat less sugar and refrain from working out when I am sick, but generally speaking I don't load up on medications. I had been feeling much better for the past week and a half (still no concept of time, it could actually range from an hour to a year), though I still had tons of drainage I was dealing with. Sorry for that tid bit of information. Starting Thursday I felt as if I couldn't ge...