The Home Stretch

Note, I had started this post prior to today.  On that exact day, January 30, it would've actually been considered the home stretch.  Yep.  Now that it's not the actual home stretch, and more like swinging late and missing the ball, here goes.

January 30:  BIGGEST FLAW
I don't have a good feeling about this piece.  My biggest flaw?  Hm, let's go physical with this one.  One that's been showing up a lot lately is related to my feet.  Because I am one of the most clumsy people known to man, I only wear shoes that are close to the ground.  I have approximately eight pairs of flats, two pairs of tennis shoes, and an outrageous amount of flip flops.  Obviously, I wear socks with my tennis shoes and nothing with my flops.  They make small stretchy pieces of fabric that you're supposed to wear with flats.  I do, on occasion, but not as much as I should.  Biggest physical flaw?  My feet stink.  Or they sweat too much.  Or I wear my flats too much.  Or, I should just wear those no show "socks" with my flats.  But, I don't.  That my friends, is probably off the TMI scale, it's so ridiculous.  But that was the prompt!  So, in review, stay away from my flats and feet.

January 31:  FAVOuRITE
I don't spell favorite with a 'u' but that is the prompt.  Favorite...what?  Recently, my favorite thing in the entire world is...napping.  I took a long, nice, warm, peaceful, and invigorating nap on Thursday.  It was a day changer.  When I woke up I got a lot of things done and was even able to stay up for Scandal!  The next day (Friday, the day I was supposed to write this blog), I woke up before my alarm even went off!  Yep, naps are my favorite.  I must figure out how to get more of these glorious things!

My Multiple Homes

I get a lot of crap from portions of my family when I refer to my parents' home as my home.  Since leaving home for college, I've had ten different residences, yet my home remains the same.  Sure, I live in Virginia now, in an apartment, that is currently my home.  I think my major setback is that none of those have been permanent.  When we first moved to Harrisonburg, I compared renting houses to apartments.  Unfortunately many did not allow pets, so I gave up and here we are.  Since we've lived here, I've subscribed to a listing of local houses on the market in a semi-reasonable-but-still-ridiculous price range.  Today though, when a new house came through, I took a look.  I realize we are not in that place that we can actually buy a house, but it's nice to think about.  One of the houses I had previously marked as a maybe had came down in price.  With that drop, the mortgage became less than our monthly rent for our apartment.  It seems impossible and ridiculous (again, I know) but the space there and yard, and deck, and on and on and on...just is so...blargh...out of reach?...ridiculous?...confusing.

So there you have it...my thoughts on a new home, that may be coming sooner than originally thought.

Bam!  I hit publish.  Mom and Dad, I'm going to trivia tonight and no, I don't want to talk about this post.   Love you!

Surprise!

In preparation for my department's Super Bowl Chili Cook-off, I made a test batch on Sunday.  This was my first attempt making chili, so it made sense to try it out prior to office humiliation.  I opted to make a vegetarian version, as we have a couple omnivores.  I found a recipe for sweet potato chili on allrecipes.com.  After reading the reviews and gathering the non-meat ingredients, I ended up with the recipe below.

Sweet Potato Chili (4 servings)

1 sweet potato, diced (I suggest microwaving the potato prior to avoid A-breaking the knife or B-breaking your hand.  Also, the smaller chunks the better.)

12 ounces diced, stewed tomatoes with chili seasoning

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup sweet onion, diced

1/3 cup celery, diced

1/4 cup water

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup corn

12 ounces black beans, drained and rinsed

1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder

pinch teaspoon ground cumin

pinch ground cinnamon

pinch of cayenne pepper

pinch of salt

pinch of ground black pepper

pinch of garlic powder

pinch of onion powder

The original recipe was for cooking in a crockpot, but I opted for stovetop cooking to avoid the 2-1/2 hour wait.  After mixing the mess in a large pot and cooking on medium until it got a little bubbly (I know, that's very technical, I should write cookbooks.) it was good to go.  The surprise part is two-fold.  

Looks nasty, I know.  I also know it's delicious.

One, the chili was really good.  I mean, not to brag, but the picky, picky, picky husband had a spoonful last night and a WHOLE BOWL tonight.  That means, whoa, I make a MEAN chili.  Oh yeah!  Boasting over...now.  Part two of the surprise...the chili was very hot.  Whoa.  So hot, that I had to Google it and text my dad, the chili connoisseur.  For the record, everyone has their own way to fix hot chili, but most just say to leave it alone.  I opted for milk as my beverage while eating, in case you were wondering.

So, for the next go round, AND the win at work, I'm cutting the cayenne pepper.  I'm hoping that'll wind it down a little bit.  I'll keep you posted if that happens to be surprise number three!

Regrets?

Let's keep this light, shall we?

I regret not getting a new vacuum earlier.  The feeling of clean carpet on bare feet can't be beat.  I regret that my family did not pass any kind of green finger gene on to me.  I can't keep anything plant-like fully alive for more than a couple weeks.  Luckily though, I can revive plants like those paddles that doctors use.  CLEAR!  (They're called defibrillators.  I just looked it up.)  I regret spending time with people with clear ulterior motives.  Yep, no explanation on that one.  At this very moment, I regret not buying more warm, cozy socks.  Oh yeah, these ankle socks are perfect...for the summer.  I need more ugly tall, warm, stay in the house socks.  Add that to my mental shopping list.  I regret that I didn't branch out more in college.  I had my job, which helped me meet all kinds of people, and my future (now? current?) husband.  Other than that, I stuck with the people I liked in my classes and work people.  I didn't spend much time building "lifelong friendships" outside of that.  And now?  I have that one friend who was an awful worker, but great friend, that I still talk with weekly.  Oh, and that husband of mine.  Everyone else?  Gone.  Sure they wish me happy birthday in September and I reciprocate, but that's it.  Whoa long explanation.  Moving on.  I continually regret that it takes me longer to get out of my shell than other people.  (Note, I had to return Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, as the due date was again looming.  I'm really failing at being a proper book hoarder.)  I'm not really sure how to work on this, or even if it's an option.  Lastly, I regret buying that lemon of a car in 2007.  That Saturn L200 was the biggest headache for a longer time than needed.  From that, I've learned that a new car is worth the "awful depreciation  that everyone nags about.  New car, no problems. That's totally unrelated to "Mo money, mo problems."

Blargh.

I really have an excuse for yesterday's post not being written.  I got sick.  Real sick.  I won't bore or gross you out with the details, but please know it was awful.  Aw.  Ful.  Ok, imagine Aubrey from Pitch Perfect projectile vomiting into the crowd.  Yep, it was pretty much like that.

January 25 (one day late):  el oh vee ee.

For us humans, that's LOVE.  So, for a real quick read...last night I ate a lot of sugar free gummy fish and bears.  I have done this before, which ended badly, but I tried again.  Let's just say I like gummy bears/worms/fish and was trying to be "healthy."  Related to the top message about being sick...at 5:20 this morning, I was unable to leave the bathroom.  Luckily I had taken my phone with me and was able to wake up the super sound sleeper with only two texts.  He was able to bring me medicine and water and braved the smell coming from the bathroom.  That's how I know he loves me and cares whether I survive.  The end.

January 26:  Winter/Summer

Lately our weather has been cold.  Like legs numbing cold.  Like cold wind that makes your eyes tear up cold.  Like Rosie-walking is unbearable cold.  Yet today, we braved the wind chill and temperature in the 15-25 range to walk the dogs at SPCA, because we signed up to, and let's face it, no one else was there to do it.  It was only 1.5 hours of our time, and cold for the dogs too, but I love being there.  Spending time with them is very meaningful to the dogs and the employees of the SPCA.  So, in a super roundabout way...no matter the season, no matter the temperature, the dogs there warm my heart and I will continue to volunteer there for as long as we're in this area.  For the record, I feel that fits both prompts.  So, BOOYAH!

Falling Behind

Oh man, I've fallen behind again.  How does this happen?  I even talked about my blog with my parents for ten minutes or more.  Yet, I failed to get it together enough to write yesterday.  And now today.  Well, guess what?  Double post time!

January 23 (only a day late!):  DESSERT
Favorite desserts?  Comparison between homemade and store bought desserts?  Nah, let's make this semi-complicated, this time.  Every day, Rosie has her evening meal (normally straight dry dog food) before we have our human dinner.  However, after she completes her meal, no matter the quality or quantity, she is very interested in what we happen to be eating. I've started thinking of our remnants as Rosie's dessert.  It may be some stray alfredo sauce, some vegetables from tacos, or even the last piece of a hot dog bun that no longer holds a hot dog.  In our human world, that stuff is useless mess that would usually go in the sink for a quick rinse.  In Rosie's world, that's her favorite dessert after her evening meal.

Today, January 24:  TEACHERS
Back in high school, I went to a defensive driving course.  I obviously didn't need it, considering my impeccable driving record, minus that one speeding ticket that should be erased from my insurance soon.  Anyway, it was free and fun.  We got to drive Honda Civics, hard and fast, on a variety of terrains.  We tested how fast cars actually stop, when going different speeds.  I strongly believe that experience is the best teacher.  This safe environment made it easy to understand the way that cars worked and under what conditions.  Although I've probably forgotten the capital of Thailand, the year the Magna Carta was drafted, and who wrote The Star Spangled Banner, I for sure remember what was taught in my driving course.  My favorite piece (that really applies to everything):  When in doubt, keep feet out!  Especially during snow, rain, ice, etc.  Sure, I had my favorite teachers in elementary school (Miss Anderson), middle school (Mrs. Self), and high school (Mrs. Clawson), but really only the basics and daily used items have stuck throughout the years.  I drive everyday.  It's not an option to forget how to drive safely.  

Just as a reminder for the rest of the month's prompts...

Rosie

The prompt for today is kids.  Last year at this time, I would've been able to write, don't have any.  Case closed.  However, in August of this past year, we adopted a darling beagle from a nearby SPCA.  She used to be Darla.  She used to run away from home frequently.  She used to be a shelter dog.  Now?  Now, she's Rosie, she's loved and spoiled.  She walks at least two miles a day, every day.  She has her own CHAIR.  She's our kid and she's worth every penny.

Forgive my wild hair.  I was just so excited to adopt her.  This was the day before we took Rosie home.

Since that day in August, we have started volunteering at our local SPCA.  We've went from being socializers, to dog walkers.  Spending time with those babies (ok, they're all not really babies) reminds me that Rosie had been in that SPCA for over a month.  She could've been one of those dogs that had been there for many, many months.  But, we came along.  We are her family.  Because some of those dogs will wait for their new family, for a long, long time, I want to be that pseudo-family.  So yes, we have one real baby, BUT many, many beautiful foster babies...that just so happen to be living elsewhere.

Spoiled rotten and loving it.