GleeCap: Thanksgiving

Well, it's thanksgiving on Glee. It's also Sectionals. So what happened?

~Marley's taking laxatives now
~Jake is an amazing dancer. And he and Ryder have worked things out
~Santana and Quinn aren't getting along.
~Kitty has Quinn completely snowed. Thank God Santana has her number.
~ the SE actually squeed when they started playing "Let's Have a Kiki."
~Tina KILLED Gangam Style.....

Then Marley passed out. Now I know where Ryan Murphy was going with her. Apparently there are HUGE consequences. It'll be an interesting episode.

I'm a total mixer...

And I'm not talking mixed drinks.

I was looking at my beauty regimen, and realized that I don't use anything the way that it was intended!

• My shampoo and conditioner are mixes of the two half bottles that I had lying around.
• My under-eye cream is a mix of the half jar of cream that I had, and a sample that I got from Birchbox
• My facial moisturizer is a mix of moisturizer with an SPF of 15, a sample of SPF 30 sunscreen and anti-acne moisturizer.
• When I put on lotion, I miss unscented and scented lotion...

Apparently I can't leave well enough alone...

In other news.. after a break, we're back to doing creative things with the leftover ham tonight....  There's so much of it!!!

Back to the grind...

Yesterday at 5am, my alarm went off again.  I got myself together, and went to work.  But in anticipation, I baked a cake.

Here's the recipe:

1 box of devil's food cake
1 can of pumpkin.

Mix the two together well (I used a hand mixer) until light and fluffy.  Put in a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Let cool then frost.

Seriously, that's it.  No eggs, no oil.

The taste is different.. not overly pumpkiny (when mixed with chocolate)

But Monday came, and Monday went without any problems.

I'm going back to dance class today, unprepared with my solo which is part of my final.  Apparently tonight and tomorrow night I have some work to do...

The Hallmark Channel helps fuel my addiction

As we all know... I love Christmas!  Seriously.. I even have my tree up already!  Isn't it nice!  It's new, it's not too big.  It fits all of the important ornaments (even the new ones that my late Grandmother put on her tree).  I have my new coffee maker, and thanks to the gift card that I got with purchase, I have k-cups to use with it.

But I have to confess something....

The Hallmark channel has been running cheesy Christmas movies.  And I've been watching.  And the ones I don't catch, I record!  My DVR is FULL of cheesy Christmas movies!

I have seen, or have recorded the following:

The Wishing Tree
Annie Claus is Coming to Town
Naughty or Nice (which records tonight)
A Christmas Wish
Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade
Christmas Song
Lucky Christmas
Farewell Mr. Kringle
Matchmaker Santa
It's Christmas, Carol
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
A Princess for Christmas
The Christmas Heart (Which is on the DVR Schedule)

Plus there's some coming up, including one starring Summer Glau that I'm going to record!

In other news... I have WAY too much ham!  Tonight fir dinner is ham-less pasta... before we go back to eating ham!!!


in other, other news... I've wanted this loveseat, and this chair,  It now comes in a bed!  Ir's WAY too expensive, but I love it!  Isn't it cute???

Black Friday

I know... shopping at Black Friday is bad...  But I was on the hunt for a good deal for this coffee maker, and Target had the best.

We got to Target around 7:30, and my friend, and the exchange student she's hosting for the year were already in line.  We stood with them and chatted, which made the time pass quickly.  9pm came, and they let the people into the store in batches.  I think we were the second batch in.  Once in, I got a cart, went right to the home goods section, got my coffee maker and was the first person to check out! We were home before 9:30.

This morning, it's pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.  I was going to make bacon, but we have too much ham in the house!!

Then it's off to see Rise of the Guardians!


Later on, I'm decorating!  Picture to follow!

GleeCap: Dynamic Duets

I just finished with this one, and I'm still trying to process all that spandex.  but here are my thoughts:

• Ryan Murphy's issues de jour seem to be learning disabilities and eating disorders.  I have issues with both... but more on that later
• Seriously, I want to slap Kitty.  Slap her silly for being a bigger bitch than Sue.  Honestly, are teenage girls THAT mean these days?
• Thank you Sam for giving Blaine the verbal slap to the face that he needs.  He's been beating himself up about this for way too long.  (And in that department, so has Kurt)
• Marley... I can see what Ryan Murphy is doing.  Setting up an eating disorder storyline.  He's going about it oddly, having Kitty manipulate her into it.. but Marley's insecurities and body image issue do lend itself to something like that.  I hope an intervention (and a slap to Kitty's twinkling smile) happen soon.
• Ryder's learning disability... Well, the thought is nice.  I know that they try to involve actual parents rarely, like the Peanuts, but for all of that testing to happen... parents needed to sign off on it.

Next week is sectionals.. and the week after is a episode titled "Swan Song"... which is worrisome.

I'm interested in seeing where this is all going....

That, and they are doing Gangnam Style at Sectionals!

(I just downloaded it for Just Dance 4!  Much love!!)

Now, I'm off to munch some leftovers!

Not a bad day!

Today starts my 5 day weekend.  I celebrated by sleeping in before running to WalMart for provisions.  (Mike's hard Margarita, and supplies for 2 Ingredient Cake, among other things...)

I made a to do list of everything I needed to accomplish for the long weekend and have already check off a few things (laundry, dishes, sorting the Tupperware).  But I have been lax in working out.

I must tell you... The working out has really made a difference.  See here:

The beginning of November I was all good!  The lowest I've been in ages!  Then I got a monster migraine, and we got discount candy... and I was back up in the 176's.

But between working my butt off in class, and Just Dance 4 (and getting rid of said candy), The weight has come down!  See?

Now, Let me tell you... I have undying love for the Just dance games.  But 4?  AMAZING!  (And seriously, no one is paying me to say this!)

The game has the best Sweat mode of any of them.  You pick the length of the workout (10, 25 or 45 minutes), which of the 5 workouts that you want and you're off.  It plays a short workout, then a song, then another.. and so on.  I love it!

But the songs are new (They even Rick Rolled us), they have extreme version (rather difficult) for the advanced dancers, and a battle round!  LOVE IT!

Apparently, JD4 has just released Gangnam Style...

I'm off to try it out!

Everything is just off today!

For multiple reasons

1. I'm driving a Prius.  While my car is in the shop, I've been given a rental Prius.  Now that's an interesting car!!  It's like sitting in a cockpit!!  Plus, I don't have to worry much about gas, since it gets a million miles to the gallon!
2. Misty's at the vet.  It's time for her teeth cleaning.  So she's there, and UNHAPPY.  And I'm a worried, nervous momma.
3. It's Tuesday... and Friday.  It's the end of my work week... but also Tuesday and I have class.  Yes, I forgot my dance bag and had to go back for it.
4. I stopped at a green light
5. Because the dog went to the vet this morning, my routine was all thrown off!

So today I'm going to going on work, go to my class and try to shake off the total discombobulated feeling!

Shopping!!!

It looks as thought I'm going to be getting a bonus in time for my birthday!  How very nice of everyone!

What am I going to do with this money?  I decided to be an adult with it and save most of it.  Times are tough and it's recommended that people start growing a savings account.  That's what I'm going to do.

But I might have a tiny bit of fun with it.

This weekend I was at the mall and stopped into Bath and Body Works to sniff their new scent, Forever Red.  I like it!!  I might treat myself for my birthday!

I'm not the biggest coffee addict ever, but I do enjoy my morning cup (maybe two on the weekends).  Target has the Mr. Coffee coffee maker that takes the K-cups on special for Black Friday.


Of course, all of this is subject to getting my fat butt out to the stores during the INSANE shopping season!

GleeCap: Glease is the Word!

I have thoughts.....  many thoughts...

• What's with under-using Tina?  Seriously... use her more!!
• Kitty is a STUPENDOUS bitch.  
• Finn- Way to over-react with Rachael.  Though, for those two, it might be necessary
• Kurt, the eternal drama queen-  I hope he gets over the hurt a little to talk it over with Blaine.  
• Cassandra July-  Wow... she's a bitch.  But That seems to be her defense mechanism.  Also, Rachael needs to stop speaking to her.  Totally.
• Wade/Unique-  The way his parents are behaving is actually quite believable   They don't want to see their child hurt.  Unfortunately, this, in the end. will hurt their child more.  But I can see they mean well.

And now onto the elephant in the room.

Bulimia is never funny.  Never.  Ever.  Making yourself vomit as a form is weight control isn't funny.  I know the context of it was about Kitty trying to ruin Marley's life (and bulimia will go some damage to her, surely), and we know that everything Kitty was doing to Marley was damaging.... but I'm afraid that some desperate children will miss Ryder insisting that it's awful and unattractive, or miss the fact that Kitty  (while appearing to be trying to help) was being the most unhelpful person ever!

I wonder if this will come up again, Marley being concerned for her weight...

The wait is killing me!!!

After this morning's further scale disappointment (seriously... I need to start working out after work and MAKE SURE my daily step count is over 10,000).. I'm focusing on something positive!

It's almost Christmas!!!  And for me, Christmas is a season!

I have the tree ready to be put up.  I found the wreath I want to buy.  I've already gotten my Starbucks in the red cups!

Now, my Christmas Favorites:

1.) A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It's an oldie, but one of my favorites.  It was one of the first to lampoon the over-commercialization of the season.  And while I'm not a religious woman, I agree with Linus about the peace on earth, good will toward men.

2.) A Garfield Christmas Special.  This one is from the 80's, and right out of my childhood.  I saw the DVD in the $5 bin at Wal Mart last year.  I actually screamed.

3.) The Nutcracker.  There are a million of them out there.  This is one of my favorites.   I know some channel that we don't get does a different Nutcracker every night.

It's overdone and cheezy, but it's like the ballet gateway drug.

4.) Peppermint everything!  Seriously, peppermint and chocolate.  Two tastes that taste great together





5.) Family.  Family of blood or family of choosing.  It's a wonderful time for family

and

6.) Vacation time!!

Letting people die is Pro-life?

In Ireland.. the unthinkable has happened.  A woman died, because the pro-life catholic country denied her an abortion (she was admitted to the hospital because she was in the process of miscarrying).

Ireland has a pretty severe ban on abortion.  It's in their constitution.  The Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution reads:

The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

It has been interpreted to allow abortions when the pregnancy will threaten the life of the mother.  This was clearly the case here, so why wasn't it performed?  They waited until the fetal heartbeat has stopped, but the pregnancy was deemed non-viable within three hours of her being admitted (which was LONG before the fetus died).

This is a fate I fear for this country.  How many women need to die before we value the mother's life as much as the fetus?  (And don't get me started about the conservatives cutting the programs for the children of single mothers...)

But as along as we have people like Joe Walsh around, this will never happen. A quote from the article:

Republican Rep. Joe Walsh, running against Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, told reporters Thursday night that there should be no abortion exception for the "life of the mother" because "with modern technology and science, you can't find one instance" in which a woman would actually die, according to a radio station. Walsh, of course, is flat wrong.

Yes, it is flat wrong.  And scary that people still think this way.

Women are more than baby-making machines.  I'm more than a baby making machine.  (If you want kids, great!!  This is not an anti-kids rant)

I wish these pro-life people would consider ALL life, mother and child.

A small setback

That's the setback.

Sigh....

I blame my lack of willpower, and the discount Halloween candy we had in the house.

Will I pout?  (Well, I did, for a bit...)  No.  That means watching what I eat, not buying snacks and making sure to get my work out in (yes, even on the weekends).

Though, looking at the calendar... I'm past due for a monthly visit... and that might be the cause of the weight gain.  And no, I'm not pregnant.  I got that possibility taken care of!

In the realm of amusing... This morning, while completing the first walkie circuit with Misty, I noticed that the Spousal Equivalent was back.  We poke our heads into his car.  He asks if we're done with walkies, and I say no.  As soon as the words left my mouth, Misty runs to drag me back inside.  I guess she was cold!

Ok, back to work!

Turkey Day is right around the corner!

This year, for the first time in a few years we're on our own.

And I'm actually OK with this.  We decided to make some good food.  The Spousal Equivalent is going to play computer games and I'm going to watch the parade.

For food, it's just two of us, so no need to go crazy.  I'm going to get a small ham, and make roasted carrots (And since I'm roasting like that, we'll do roasted potatoes and maybe another vegetable.  The oven is on and all....).  He wants some rolls.  And something pumpkin for dessert.  I was thinking this easy cake.

And maybe some wine....

And since the calendar gods are giving us four days off in a row, we're going to go hog wild and make a big breakfast on Black Friday, celebrating the fact that we're not going shopping!

Thrifting!!

Can I tell you how much I love thrifting??

You see, I have a bit of a purse habit....  I love buying new ones.  I never use the same bag for long, though.  I have a large bin of them that I rotate through as the year goes on.  We went to Goodwill and the DAV thrift store yesterday looking for Christmas-themed table cloths, and I found these bags.  (This picture is taken on my entry way table)  The two of them were a combined $4.20.

In penance, I placed 6 bags in my donation bag, that's being dropped off at Goodwill this week.

I love them!  The brown bag is not quite large enough to hold a file folder, but the black one is.

And notice the table cloth?  It's a $3.97 vinyl table cloth from Wal Mart.  I cut it in half (the other half is on the kitchen table).  When I put up my table top tree I'm going to cut it to make it a tree skirt.

Yes, i'm already thinking about Christmas decorations.  I found the wreath I want to put on the door at Big Lots today ($15).

But before I an decorate any more, I need to get through Thanksgiving   It's just us this year, so I don't plan to go all out (Ham, potatoes, carrots and maybe another vegetable and pie).

The sun keeps on rising and setting, even if Barack Obama did win the election

And I'm glad of it.

It's been a fairly strange week at my place.  Tuesday saw me returning to dance class after a week and a half of not dancing.  Needless to say I was sore.  The car was appraised ($2200 to repair, YAY insurance), a rental was set up, and I watched the election results.

I found it very interesting that my area made national news for the ridiculously long lines.  I was in a long time myself.  I heard there were errors with the electronic voting (I miss the old fashioned, steampunk-ish lever voting machines).

I was expecting to be watching until the wee hours of the morning when they called it.  It was 10:30ish, and in the beginning of Tim Kaine's acceptance speech.  And like that it was all over.

Not only did President Obama win, but 4 states had ballot measures for marriage equality.  Maine, Washington and Maryland passed marriage equality and Minnesota defeated a measure to define marraige and between a man and a woman (and this is the home of Michele Bachmann too!).  Two states even votes to legalize pot.  And Puerto Rico voted to become a state.

The sun rose the next morning in spite of all of this, and I stayed home from work on Wednesday to receive a new washer and dryer.

Now it's Thursday.  Choir tonight and class this afternoon.

I just wish I could muster up some enthusiasm....

I voted, Did you?

I got up this morning, and spent over an hour in line to vote (forgetting that I needed to wear contacts and not glasses... it's dance class day.).

The polling places were BUSY!

And now... off to class!

Tired of Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney

I've never been so glad to see an election day in all of my life.

Everyone, please go vote.

And can we get back to life on Wednesday?  Please?

My organization project: Part 1

When the unfortunate happened on Friday, we were on our way pick up my new shelves from Wal Mart.  To stop wallowing about the money I'm about to plunk down on my car, I got busy setting them up.

Holy crap, what a difference they made!!  The table is useable, the entryway table is clear of stuff.  I even had room to put my Rock Band drums away.

We later got the clean clothes put away and the living room vacuumed.  I could seriously have company without being embarrassed now!  The hard part, keeping it that way.

The hard part?  We had to return my new Christmas tree.  I thought I was getting this tree, which would work perfectly on my entryway table.  Instead, we picked up this one, which is WAY too small.  I dind't want to spend $40 on the 4 foot one... I wanted to spend $25.  Of course, in pulling things up, I see they are on sale.... I might have to go back and pick it up....

Speaking of Christmas.. the subject came up.  What do I want.  What do I want?  Well besides financial stability, everything from Ellen's 12 Days of Giveaways and World Peace....

A new coffee maker.  It's expensive... but it would be nice, since I'm the only one that drinks coffee in the house.

I haven't seen these numbers in a while.

Now that I have an accurate scale.... I'm trying to use it more.  (I tend not to weigh myself when I slack off.. like not seeing the number will make the weight go away)

But I decided to hold myself accountable.

And I was pleasantly surprised!

Now, to make those numbers go in the way that I want!

When it rains it pours

So payday came and went, I paid bills, bought storage shelves for the dinging room,and replacement chains for my necklaces. Then I arranged for a new washer/dryer.

Which left $9 in my account.

Then on Friday, when we were going to retrieve said shelves, we got in an accident.

No one got hurt. The car is driveable. After a $500 deductible, it'll be fixed. Thanks to all of this, it looks like we'll be staying here for Christmas. (In retaliation, I'm raiding 5 Below for Christmas socks. I want to be able to wear a pair a day in December!)

Now to take care of the car....

I'm not Captain Planet... but...

I think this says it all:

Everyone knows it.  We caused this mess.

Now, am I going to chain myself to a tree and march in a protest?  Hell no.  But it has made me more mindful about the future.  (The hurricane, and watching Revolution....)

I'm getting to the age where someday I'll actually try to buy a house again.

Now I know to make sure that I'm not in a tidal surge area.  I'm also thinking that having a wood burning stove (you know... for heat and to cook on), might not be a bad move.

Currently, I do what I can.  I reuse much of the junk paper that gets sent my way.  I recycle at work.  (There's no recycling for apartments in Virginia).

And feel free to bring this post up (me not hugging trees), if I turn into the Lorax later.

November goals

Between being ill, and overwhelmed I've gotten off track. So here are my goals:

~some exercise every day, wear the FitBit to track it.
~weigh myself Friday, Monday (before and after the weekend), and on Wednesday
~use my FlyLady zones and do the 3 simple chores per day associated with it

Doable!

Maybe we should get a storage unit....

I have a migraine, and am nauseous as heck, but those words moved me off the couch. It's true, our place is a bit cluttered. Two people with households joined to make this place.

The Spousal Equivalent's stuff is neatly packed into many plastic bins that are stuffed into corners of the house. My clutter is clothes that I need to put away or give away.

After a few texts about shelving (that I was going to buy today anyways), and a storage unit, I got mad. I got mad at myself. I have a house, and it's my poor organization that caused this mess.

(And at this point, I blame the migraine and general icky feeling on my emotions)

It took a while, but I tossed the SE's bins in the empty part of my closet, bagged an unused comforter, boxed the free range Christmas decorations in the closet, actually purchased the shelves in my shopping cart, and fixed the broken desk chair (with duct tape). Now I feel even crappier, so the clothes will have to wait until the weekend.

After a $35 overdraft fee, I'm not spending money on a storage unit!!