We're Not at Tiffany's

You know how some people eat breakfast for dinner and it's a big spectacle with eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, pancakes, muffins, scones, coffeecake, quiche, french toast, home fries, grits, juice, coffee, mimosas, etc?

When I have breakfast for dinner it's usually yogurt with fruit topped with grape nuts and almonds or cereal and toast. I was out of yogurt and I had cereal for my actual breakfast so tonight's breakfast for dinner was toast and a grapefruit.

Don't be sad! I had a big lunch and wasn't that hungry. Plus, I had a great dinner yesterday.

Yes Sir, No Sir

My grandfather always told me that if I was stopped by the police, I should be polite and say, "yes sir" or "no sir." That was the first thing that went though my mind as I drove home from dinner tonight and saw the police car's flashing lights in my rear-view mirror.

A minute and three lights before I was stopped, I went through a light that was very yellow or barely red. I'm not sure why the cops waited so long to stop me, but when they did I was very polite and answered their questions in a straight manner.

There were two officers in the cruiser and both got out and approached my car -- one on either side. The first officer asked me why I went through a red light and for my license and insurance card. He also asked when I last received a ticket. Both cops went back to the cruiser. The second officer came back and asked me what I did for a living and where I worked. He went back to the police car. The first officer came back and said that I had an excellent record and I would be let off with a warning. He added, "my partner said you had a pleasant demeanor." He finished my warning by saying that I did run the red light and that it was winter and I should drive slower. I said, "thank you, I will" and drove home.

I'm glad I heeded my grandfather's advice although I never actually said, "yes sir" or "no sir." At least I said "thank you."

Am I the Only One Who Does This?

I was looking at my bank balance and writing the numbers in my register when it occurred to me that I don't have a strong need to balance my checkbook.

I know some people use their duplicate checks or online banking to keep track of their expenses, but I feel better putting pen to paper and adding and subtracting numbers.

I'm down to my last few Fernando checks. I ordered some new ones, which are cute, but they can't replace that mischievous frog. I'll miss him.

My Rec and Play

I listen to music almost constantly during the work day. My main source of music used to be my Launchcast station on Yahoo! music. Recently, the Launchcast Plus service, which allowed you to listen to your customized station without commercials, ended and was replaced with a service that plays commercials.

I've tried Pandora before, but I'm never happy with the obscure music choices. I haven't listened to it lately and might give it another try.

College radio stations are good since they stream online and are commercial free. I tried to listen to WLUC, but my work computer doesn't have the right media player. That's upsetting because WLUC has a Twitter feed that lists the songs played.

Today, I listened to WJCU, but I find that I'm really annoyed by the female voice that says, "The Heights" at regular intervals. Also, this crop of college kids seems to be enamoured with music from the 1960's, which I don't hate but don't prefer.

I listen to my iPod too, but there are so many songs that I'm used to hearing on my Launchcast station that I need to download and some songs that I need to delete that I get frustrated by the songs that pop up when I'm listening to my library on shuffle. And the playlists I've made get old after awhile

I think I'll try WBWC tomorrow.

Not Sure What Happened

I had just finished watching Bones and was all set to watch President Obama speak. My TiVo was on live TV, but was running about 15 minutes late. Since it was on Fox 8, I saw Shepard Smith's introduction and then fast-forwarded it hear the speech, which had just started. I heard, "Thank you Madam Speaker..." and then fell asleep. I honestly don't remember anything more than those four words. I guess I'll have to watch/listen to it tomorrow.

I blame Fox News.

Fight or Flight

Roomba

Nigel

Nigel vs. Roomba

The Roomba matches my kitchen floor.

The Kindness of Strangers

I saw all of the nominees for Best Picture yesterday. The last movie they played was Frost/Nixon. I would have preferred Slumdog Millionaire as the last movie. Slumdog is by far the most crowd-pleasing and action-packed. Plus, the closing credits (I'm not going to spoil it, but it won't come as a surprise to anyone who's seen a movie filmed in Bombay, I mean, Mumbai) would have been a good ending to the day.

Even though it was hard to pay attention to some of the more "talky" parts of Frost/Nixon so late in the marathon, seeing it last kept the dialogue fresh in my head. One passage near the end particularly resonated with me:

Richard Nixon: You know those parties of yours, the ones I read about in the newspapers. Do you actually enjoy those?
David Frost: Of course.
Richard Nixon: You have no idea how fortunate that makes you, liking people. Being liked. Having that facility. That lightness, that charm. I don't have it, I never did.

Who knew I had anything in common with Richard Nixon? I thought of these lines as I made my way through the sea of people loitering and leaving the theater. Although I knew it had rained earlier in the day and that it was now cold, I was focused on making my way out the doors and to my car. The sidewalks were clear, but the black asphalt wasn't and...

BOOM!

I can't remember the last time I fell, but it must be at least 14 years ago because falling was such an unfamiliar sensation. I was down for a few seconds when I heard some voices asking if I was okay. I said I was, but the next thing I knew two or three people were near me. One guy offered his hand to help me up and although he was on my right, I instinctively grabbed his hand with my left. He either lost his balance or slid because he ended up on my left, and I never left the ground. Suddenly, more people surrounded me, and I was hoisted to my feet. Getting up happened as quickly as falling down.

Once I was righted, I noticed the first helper was a little guy no taller than me and the guy who led the second effort was a bigger guy. I profusely thanked all the people and collected my bag and bottle of water from a woman who had picked them up. The second guy said he would walk me to my car and gave me his arm. We got to my car, and I was on my way -- a little sore but otherwise okay.

You can appreciate the irony of the situation.

Even more ironic was that I expected to hear laughter from the people leaving the theater but never did.

I'm not sure that I can change the way I feel about liking people or being liked, but I had to fall on my ass to see that people will pick you up when you're down.

Owie

I hurt my arm and can't type. Okay so that's a partial lie. I can type, but I'm tired from watching five movies in one day and eating too much salty popcorn.

Typing Time

I'm taking advantage of a rare situation to type this post. See, my cat Nigel likes to sit on my lap, which makes it hard to type on a laptop, even if the computer is on a table. He's 13 plus pounds of black and white nuisance when you need to use both hands and see the screen.

It's not much easier using my iMac since he often uses his time on my lap to groom himself even though he doesn't have room to move much. He's very good at getting in my way.

Nigel's the type of cat that likes people but doesn't like other cats. And other cats don't like him much either. I can sympathize.

Well, he's back from the kitchen, purring his little heart out and eager to lounge on the afghan between my lap and him. I'll stop typing so he can relax in peace.

Check Your Rear

This morning I was halfway to work when I noticed the roads were getting slick. Around the same time, the cars ahead of me slowed down. A minute later, the five or six cars ahead of me started switching lanes to go around an accident that must have just happened. A little car had rear-ended a van and was pretty banged up. It looked like the little car had gotten rear-ended too since the car behind it was stopped.

On Wednesday, I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic for at least ten minutes as I approached Cedar Hill. When I got to the bottom, there was a three-car accident just before the Rapid station. I'm not sure what happened there since the roads were clear and once I passed the accident, traffic was light.

Isn't this the point in winter when people know how to drive in the ever-changing conditions? Guess not. Better watch your caboose.

Again?

I just looked at the forecast and saw that snow is predicted for the next few days. I'm not looking forward to more snow. I've really had enough snow this winter. If it does have to snow, I hope it doesn't accumulate to the point where I have to shovel.

Curfew

I'm trying to work longer hours this week to make up for having yesterday off. In order to facilitate getting up earlier than usual, I've decided to give myself a bedtime of midnight. Since I'm obstinate, I hope to actually go upstairs to my bedroom by 12:30 AM.

I hate going to bed, by which I mean getting into my bed. I don't know why but I've been like that for at least 15 years. I'd rather fall asleep watching TV or reading on the couch than in my bed. It doesn't seem to matter whether I live alone or with other people or whether I have a television in my bedroom or not. It even doesn't matter if my bed is on the same floor as my living room.

What's worse is that it doesn't matter whether I'm tired or not. I fall asleep soon after my head hits the pillow regardless.

Even though I know better, sometimes I feel like you need to take a nap before you go to bed.

Best Laid Plans

This long weekend was supposed to be more productive than it turned out. I'm glad I accomplished what I did, but more should have gotten done. Well, I guess there's always tomorrow. Or next weekend.

Everything is Everything

Mid-season replacement television and Oscar season have ruined my television watching experience. I've been watching shows to clear my TiVo instead of watching the shows I want to watch.

Oh, Fudge!

I used to know this person who we'll call JWhy who used to say, "Cheese M. Crow" instead of saying something some might consider a bad word. Isn't that one of the stupidest things you've ever heard? JWhy had other substitute words, but I can't remember them all.

For a while I've been saying "damage" instead of dammit, but that's because I think it's funny. I also say "der" all the time, which has caught on with my family. It's a more sophisticated form of "duh" or "doi."

Apropos of the heading, I accidentally made fudge today when I was trying to make a chocolate filling for a cake. That'll teach me to make up a recipe instead of following someone else's.

Bate Bate Chocolate*

I've been spending some time trying to find a recipe for a chocolate fudge-filled bundt cake to make tomorrow. I can't remember the last time I bought a cake mix, but I know mixes for this type of cake exist because I keep running across them in my search.

The recipes that I can find aren't made-from-scratch cakes but doctored-up chocolate or devil's food cake mixes. I'm determined to find a cake recipe that is made from scratch. I will not buy a mix in order to make this cake.

Luckily, I've already found a recipe for strawberry glaze that I like.


*this means stir stir chocolate in Spanish

Ode to Snow

Little last remaining pile of snow
Sitting where the recyclables go
I wish you'd melt away

My lawn is green except for you
The bushes, the ivy and weeds are too
Why are you trying to stay

It's not that cold out anymore
The temp today hit thirty-four
You shouldn't be so cold

By the morning you'll be gone
Maybe even before dawn
These rhymes are getting old

Heart + Soul

February is a lot of things, but it is also American Heart Month. If you want to know more about the month, there's a lot of information on the American Heart Association website. If you want to buy stuff, you can do so to support the Go Red campaign. If you're feeling lucky, you can enter to win a pretty charm designed by Heidi Klum. I'm not exactly sure how that last one helps your heart, but I'm sure it does.

You can do your heart some good by eating, drinking and being merry. In fact, you can do all those things tomorrow night. Read all about it on my non-daily blog.

Take That Benjamin Braddock!

Part of my purchase at Walgreen's the other day included three "Enviro Bags" that were on sale for 3 / $1.00. These aren't my first reusable bags since I already had a similarly shaped but slightly bigger bag that I got at the Kashi display at the 2007 Taste of Cleveland. My Kashi bag is usually enough for my grocery shopping but if I go to more than one store in a day or I'm buying baking supplies then I need more than one bag. And now I have 'em!

The best thing about using the bags at my local grocery stores is that they give you a 5 cent discount for each bag. Seven uses and my bags have paid for themselves!

I'm glad stores like Walgreens and Target are selling these bags now since there have been times in the past few years that I tried to use my Kashi bag at non-grocery stores and it confused the clerk. Once I used the bag at a store and the cashier had no idea why I had the bag so she put my groceries in a plastic bag and then put the plastic bag in the green bag.

Sleepy

I drank a big mug of warm milk with a little sugar and a sprinkle of nutmeg so I'm a little sleepy. I probably shouldn't have had such a big serving but it was the last of the milk. Of course now I can't have cereal in the morning since I'm out of milk. Unless I use half and half...

Warm milk is one of my favorite beverages to drink at night. Although I like Tension Tamer tea too. Any warm drink makes me sleepy, really. Not as sleepy as watching a movie or driving home, but close.

Toodle-buddies

As I was driving home today, I noticed a lot of vanity license plates on the road. I could only remember the last three I saw, which happened within a mile or so of my house:

H8ONME2

HE BRU II

CHRY PIE

If only I had seen CHRY PIE2!

I've noticed a lot of H8 ones lately. I'm thinking of changing my license plate to LUV 2 H8.

Or maybe not. I just checked and LUV 2 H8 is not available. However H8 2 LUV is. So is 2 DOLL.

Let's Make a Deal

I have a problem with sales. I quite literally cannot pass up a deal. Now, I'm not as bad as those people you see who buy stuff that they will never use just because it's on sale or those crazy coupon people who will drive 130 miles to buy cereal they don't like because it's buy one get one free and they have a coupon for $2.00 off two boxes and the store offers double coupons so they actually made $.50 AND got two boxes of cereal they won't eat. Mine is more with cutting coupons and reading the weekly sales ads for stuff that I will use.

I get the Sunday paper and separate it into ads I'll read and those I won't. I might read the same ad twice or three times before I actually make it to the store. I usually go to the store on Saturday, which is the last day of sale. I don't always get to clip the coupons every week, but I give them a once over before I go to the store and cut just the ones I need.

The problem with shopping on Saturday is that other people get there first and it's often slim pickings. Of course the good thing about shopping on Saturday is that a new sale starts tomorrow so it's not too disappointing when something is out of stock because chances are it'll be on sale somewhere else soon.

I had a great shopping trip to Walgreen's today. The bottom of the receipt said this:

WAG Coupon Savings: 7.10
WAG Advertised Savings: 5.97
MFG Coupon Savings: 4.00
-------
Your Total Savings: 17.07

That means I saved 40% off my total bill!

Nightcap

I'm just in from dinner, a movie and white hot chocolate. Delicious, funny cute and more delicious. I'm glad I live in close proximity to good pizza and close friends. And cheap movies.

Who Turned Out the Lights?

My most recent electric bill was much higher than last year's January bill and more than December's bill. I've been really careless with leaving on lights and keeping things plugged in or turned on. I know some of it stems from being on the computer while watching television or falling asleep with the TV and/or computer on. I have to stop wasting electricity. For the planet. And because I don't want to pay that much money to the power company.

I wonder if my lava lamp uses less or more electricity than the overhead light? This high bill makes me think that the overhead ceiling fan in the living room with its four light bulbs must use a ton more electricity than the lamps I used before Christmas. That just gives me another reason not to like ceiling fans. I think they're kind of stupid.

I'm keeping this short to save on electricity.

Card Carrying Member (almost)

Last week when I was driving to work in the snowstorm, I decided to put my time to good use and made what I knew would be a long phone call to an insurance company. About halfway through my drive, the task was complete, and I had signed up for health insurance. Or so I thought.

Today, I got an envelope in the mail about my insurance and expecting my card. No. What was inside was my application and a letter saying that this application had been sent to the underwriters for review.

As far as I knew, my insurance was supposed to kick in February 1. I tried to make a doctor's appointment today and was told my insurance was not valid and that I could only make an appointment if I went through the self-pay department. I'll be calling tomorrow to see just WTF is going on.

Tasked Baking

Clearly, I like to bake. Sometimes I bake for no reason. Sometimes I bake to use up ingredients. Mostly, I bake because it's someone's birthday or a holiday.

My oldest nephew has requested a birthday cake for when he turns 10 in a few weeks. This is nothing new since he has specifically requested his cakes for the last three years. First was chocolate double fudge cake, then was strawberry cake with chocolate frosting. This year he wants a chocolate cake with fudge inside and a strawberry icing/glaze. I think I might have a recipe to fit the bill in one of my many cookbooks. Of course, the previous recipes were found on the Internet and worked out fine.

I wish I could bake a cake for my middle nephew's first birthday, but since that's next week and he's out of state I don't think it'll happen. I'll bake him one next time I see him.

What's on my Mantel?

I decided that I need to rotate the stuff I have on my mantel because I have a bunch of tchotchkes. The first display is the Actos Buddies. These are mascots of a drug used to treat diabetes. The buddies are anthropomorphic organs and cells. I think they're cute.



In the middle are pictures of people dressed up as the Actos Buddies, a snow globe and a magnetic puzzle. Not pictured are the muscle stress toy, light-up buddies pens and the buddies clipboard.


Buddies mugs: HDL-C, pancreas, triglyceride, muscle, kidney, stomach and liver.

Buddies plushes: liver, pancreas, HDL-C, triglyceride, stomach, kidney and muscle.

The buddies used to go by better names like Hungry Muscle and Tubby Triglyceride. I'm not sure when they dropped the adjectives. If you click on the Actos link above you can see and hear animated versions of the buddies. "Tri" sounds a little like Hulk Hogan, liver sounds like John Madden and pancreas has a bit of an attitude.

38 Shopping Days After Christmas

Believe it or not, I'm still trying to get my Christmas shopping accomplished. I gave two presents today and one on Friday. That only leaves one person for whom I need to buy Christmas gifts. I actually owe her a birthday present from September too. And it doesn't help that she's out of state!
I'm going to try to finish up my shopping this week since I have 3 February birthdays to tackle next.