If I'm on Vacation, Why Was I Up at FOUR????

The answer: Dogzilla, of course! He was ready for his breakfast, and since he was good enough to sleep from about 8 last night until a few minutes past 4 this morning, I indulged him. His bad leg is acting up a bit, but I really think he just likes having me put him in bed and in the recliner. Spoiled baby!

I do foresee an afternoon nap in everyone's future. Dad is up, too, so Dogzilla's morning work is done.

Weather has been nice and warm, so in spite of that bad leg, we did plenty of strolling around the yard yesterday. I brought plenty of "supplies", like vegetables, fruit and yogurt with me yesterday. I made some spaghetti sauce and some sloppy joe last night, since I figured it would use up the hamburger Dad got out and make enough for quick reheating later in the week.

Need to go coffee up a little bit more. Maybe rustle up some oatmeal for breakfast. That should pop Dogzilla out of the recliner!

Shopping at Trader Joes

An easy, easy day at work today. Had plenty of time to get to some of the cleaning we're doing. Not a stressful moment in the whole darn day. It's nice having times like that. Makes up for Christmas and running around like a chicken with your head cut off. While multi-tasking. I like to tell my co-workers that I never had ADD until I started working there.

Needed to get rice and red onions after work, but absolutely, positively could NOT face the Big Giant MegaMart at 4:30. Decided to shop Trader Joes instead. Naturally, I walked out with more than rice and red onions. I wound up with a bottle of TJ's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar and a recipe for a salad made of baby beets, mandarin oranges and red onions in an orange vinaigrette. I decided it was worth the $3.00 splurge. Remember I AM The Condiment Queen of the Western World, and that includes all manner of vinegar. Except tarragon vinegar because of all the spices in the world, I oddly enough loathe tarragon. I dunno why. Go figure. But I digress.....back to the beet salad.

I decided that I always have canned beets of all sizes and shapes in the pantry, so I did not need to buy those cute cooked beets in the refrigerated section. I thought the combination would work as a main dish salad if I added some crumbled goat cheese and toasted walnuts. and put everything over a bed of mixed greens. Walnuts and lettuce I had at home, but I picked up some goat cheese crumbles. I also picked up two kinds of sorbet: passion fruit and mango-tangerine. It sounded refreshing and satisfying. I took a scoop of each kind and then sprinkled it with frozen blueberries.

I did some stretching after work today, before dinner. I'm planning to turn in nice and early this evening. I don't think there is anything I need to watch on TV. I've already washed my face since 2006 is the Year I Wear Just a Little Makeup Again. Nothing drastic. A little foundation (to even out my aging skin) and blush. Then I draw on the eyebrows (it is just not right that after 45 your eyebrows just fade away. I suppose all the color in your facial hair has to go straight into the damn mustache!!) and put on mascara.

Off to finish catching up on a few phone calls and then I am putting my feet up to read! Tomorrow I am doing a yoga tape. I want to practice downward facing dog. I think I will take a tape with me to Dad's this week, since I'll be up on vacation and the beagle doesn't walk like he used to. Of course, he will probably think I am playing when I do downward facing dog in the living room. Probably give me beagle kisses. Which are really just a subtle way to be sure I haven't been eating anything without him. He gets in close just to do a breath check!

Something New

Well, it's been a fairly uneventful day here at home. I did go out on a paper towel and trash bag run to stock the place up on those kind of necessities. One of my co-workers called and she needs to close tomorrow night instead of open, so she asked if I'd trade. The only disruption in my life was that I wound up doing laundry today instead of tomorrow. It is whirling around in the dryer now.

I tried a new recipe today, in keeping with my vow to try at least ONE new recipe every week. Today I made some chimichurri sauce. I knew I was going to have steak tonight, and I was chopping parsley for a lemon vinagrette for salad, so.....I tossed a few things together to make my version of a chimichurri sauce. I used some finely diced red onion, parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper, red chili flakes, toasted cumin and olive oil. It was really good with the steak, which I pan roasted, since it was a nice thick ribeye. For dinner I also made sweet potato oven fries and I did some portobello mushroom slices on the stove with garlic and red onion. Had a small mixed green salad, too. Trying to live up to 5-9 fruit and veggie servings, too, and I think I am doing pretty well. The remaining steak and chimichurri sauce will be transformed tomorrow evening into Chimichurri Steak Salad. It's my idea for a chop salad, so it will be easy to assemble when I get home tomorrow after work.

Today is aerobic laundry day, which means several trips up and down the stairs to get it all washed, dried and put away. That will suffice! Tomorrow is going to be abs and weights before work, which means I need to roll out just a little before 6. It's not going to be that painful. Unless, of course, my abs set up on me! Which can always happen when you push those muscles beyond where they are. It is only temporary aches, though, so I'll live!

It is still nice to have a refrigerator that I can actually SEE stuff in. So much easier to live!

Time to go check on the clothes.......I'm sure something is dry by now.

Confessions of a Condiment Queen

....or "What I Learned By Cleaning Out the Fridge." I cooked and had leftovers that needed refrigeration. Current state of refrigerator was a no-go on one more damn thing fitting in there, so I was forced to take drastic action and actually--gasp!--CLEAN THE REFRIGERATOR OUT. I learned that I am, clearly and undeniably, my father's daughter. Apparently, the love of mustard, of all flavors, textures and colors, is an inherited trait. AFTER the winnowing of my condiment collection, which still contains Thai red curry paste, fish sauce, and two kinds of steak sauce, I still have NINE jars of mustard which I deemed essential to my happiness. That is nine jars with NO duplicates, mind you. This is after I pitched jars of maple mustard, key lime mustard with ginger and some sweet-hot mustard that were all at least 4 years old and on the dried out side. I got French's yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, horseradish mustard, dill mustard, honey Dijon mustard, Creole mustard, spicy brown mustard, Bertmann's ball park mustard (no Indians' fan's home is complete without it, IMHO, whether or not you actually put it on your hot dog with finely chopped onions just like at Jacobs Field), and whole grain country mustard. Also on the discard list were several bottles of salad dressing, several jars of various peppers, olives and pickles that were surely past their expiration dates by months, if not years. I pitched cocktail sauce and horseradish sauce and regular Jiffy peanut butter (I've gone to natural peanut butter) of unknown origins. That 1/4 inch of lite maple syrup? GONE! Now I just have to tote the bags (dead condiments are surprisingly HEAVY, so more than one bag is necessary) out to the trash. I feel much better now. That is one lurking housecleaning project done. Whew. And now I have room for my bean soup, which wound up being more of a minestrone since I tossed tomatoes and spinach in there along with a Parmesan rind and some ham, and my Chinese leftovers. I made ma po tofu, Szechuan green beans and some braised napa cabbage with mushrooms. With rice on the side, I will have enough for two lunches, which takes care of what I take to work this week.

I'm going to let my lunch digest and then I am hitting the weights this afternoon and doing a yoga tape. Tomorrow I plan on doing laundry and finishing sorting out the filing in the spare room, which will certainly free up my guest bed.

This is the year for changes. My friend Debbie has up and moved to NH this weekend and my friend Patty is in the process of moving from Washington, DC to Tampa for the Postal Service! So many other friends also seem to be in transitions. Like we've all been stuck in a rut and have finally got the wheels under us again. It's good to see!

My friend Meg came to visit last night for a girls night in. We ate tortilla chips and dip and drank coffee while watching "48 Hours". She brought over a book that she's written with her son about bipolar disorder. It's a children's type book, and it turned out wonderfully. She printed it up herself. I was terribly impressed with how it turned out. I think it's very educational, even for grown people!

Okay. Going to go back to work. Or maybe I will just go watch Bobby Flay's "Boy Meets Grill". I live in a two-bedroom apartment with no balcony where the closest grill for me is out by the complex lake after a trek through goose shit. I think I will just refuse to grill until I can have a whole damn rooftop and the mother of all Weber grills at my disposal!