Meal Planing

I try very hard to plan out my meals for the week. Do my shopping on the weekend, and then prepare those planned meals throughout the week. Part of this is of course having something to pack in my lunch box for the week. I am not so good at this process. I either can not figure out anything I want for the week. Or, I get the materials and then fail to follow through with every meal. I am trying again though. This time I am going to stop by the grocery store Friday night on my way home from work. The plan is for spicy chicken tenders after shopping with home made blue cheese dressing. I should have just enough blue cheese crumbles left. I've been craving sesame noodles lately so of course that goes on the list. And finally my soon to be famous turkey panini. This is something I concocted and continue to perfect every time I make it. It takes a bit of effort but is well worth it.

Turkey panini:

-Sub rolls

-Sliced deli turkey (I use Boar's Head maple glazed)

-Caramelized onions

-Sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

-Pickled Jalapenos (optional)

-Cream cheese

-Sliced provolone or mozzarella

-Mayo, Dijon, Salt & Pepper

Assembling:
Slice the top third off the sub roll and hollow out the bottom. Spread a little mayo & dijon on the bottom. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put down a layer of cream cheese. Next, a layer of sliced turkey. Top with onions, jalapenos & tomatoes. Place the sliced cheese on top and spread a layer of mayo and dijon on the top layer of bread before capping off the sandwich. Press the sandwich down a little with your hands.

Cooking:
If you have a panini press, great! Go ahead and press it in that. i don't have a press so I use the two pan method. On the front burner heat a small non-stick skillet. On another burner heat a cast iron pan small enough to fit inside the non-stick pan. Spray a touch of cooking spray in the skillet and place sandwich in. Spray the top well with cooking spray and place the cast iron pan on top to press the sandwich together. Allow to cook for a few minutes and flip and repeat. Cut the sandwich in half and serve.

YUM!

No. More. Tacos.

I made tacos for dinner Monday. I've eaten tacos for dinner every night since. I can not eat anymore. That is one of the few problems of living alone. Cooking for one is tricky. I could either use the entire package of ground beef or, divide it, freeze part and possibly never use the frozen portion. So, I cook the whole package. Then, eat leftovers. And get sick of tacos very quick. This is probably why I don't cook as often as I should. Portion control.

Day Two

Day two of my back in time weekend was fun. I meet up with my friend Cat from high school and a couple friends of hers. We went to a pool party and the laser show. I finally made it home around two am! It was good to get together with her and catch up on the people we've become over the past several years. And it was good to compare notes on the old days. She remembers way more than I do, which is not at all surprising. My memory is awful.

But, I did realize one thing. I'm happy being single. %100 happy. I realized this because one of the friends she brought ended up liking me. And he's a perfectly alright guy. I just have no interest. Zero. And little old me who has so much problem with being assertive is going have to say that right off the bat.

The other thing I realized is that I do want to see that boy from back in high school. I had a big crush on him and I've wondered so much about him over the years. But I suppose that maybe seeing him again will just help me get a little bit of, I don't know, closure? Whatever the reason I really think I need to see him again. Especially now that I've come so close. In order for this to be possible though I'm going to have to go through his sister. That's going to be awkward and I do not know how to approach it.

Day One

Today was day one of my back in time weekend. I went out to my folks place and from there rode with my sister and brother-in-law out to Athens. I meet up with my best friend and got to walk around town and campus a bit. It was nice. Most of what I used to know is gone. Athens has always been one of those towns that changes constantly. But lately it's been gentrifying a good bit. But campus is still the same.

Tomorrow is day two. I'll be meeting up with my good friend from high school. I haven't seen her in about 13 years. I lost touch with a good lot of people freshman year of college. Even more the year after. But senior year in high school was an alright year. It should be good to find out what everyone is up to.

There is one person in particular that I am curious about. Senior year my group of friend included one of the friend's brother. I had quite the crush on him. Very little came of it. Really it was the first time I was interested in the opposite sex. And I was still so shy at the time. Plus, he was younger and I think that had something to with it. I've wondered a lot about him over the past several years. I wondered........was he still alive, was he still in Georgia, was he married, and did he ever wonder what became of me? So I was honestly SHOCKED, when I first messaged the friend I'm meeting tomorrow, to find out that he's been looking for me. So far this is all I know. I hope to find out more tomorrow.

Monday....

Wait, I mean Tuesday. I'm so into this four day work week. Saturday was almost a day off. So it was confusing to go into work this morning. And very strange that everyone else was at work being productive yesterday while I was at Target. There was a bit of catching up to do but not too much. I e-mailed my land lord today about the window but surprisingly haven't heard back yet. I may have to cal if I don't hear back soon. I just want to know that it gets taken care of before Friday. Last night's dinner was twice as delicious as lunch today. I highly suggest the combo. Though perhaps a bit more tomato. What can I say, I'm a Southern girl who loves her tomatoes. I also heard back from that old high school friend. It will be interesting to see what everyone is up to these days and maybe get together sometime.

Conclusion

My random day off ended up more exciting than I had planned. I was leisurely cleaning and all around enjoying my day off when my neighbor started up the lawn mower. He's been mowing our lawn in addition to his for quite some time now. But today, he hit a rock. And it came rocketing through my front window. Needless to say there was glass everywhere. I spent lots of time vacuuming. I'm still not sure I've gotten it all. But I feel comfortable enough to walk around in my stocking feet. I made it to Target and Publix while everyone else was still at work and it was quite nice. Now I'm just cooing dinner while enjoying a glass of wine. Pasta with onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, and pesto sauce. I checked my yahoo account, which I rarely do, and a friend from high-school has found me on my long forgotten facebook account. I messaged her back. It might be nice to catch up with old friends from way back when. Funnily enough, she works at the same company as a friend's ex-girlfriend. And this ex is on my old friend's 'friends' page.

Random Day Off

Once a month, on a Saturday, the company I work for has a psychiatrist come in to see patients and prescribe medication. The office staff rotates out coming in on those days to basically sit with the Dr. This past Saturday was my turn, hence, I am off work today. It's really not a bother since I worked from 8 - 3 and got tons of stuff done. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when the phones aren't ringing and no one is around to ask you to do things for them. The question I hate is 'When will ________ be done?' The answer is 'When you leave me alone so that I can get something completed.' Though of course I never say that. I usually just sigh and say something about how I've been working on it and how nobody wants to see the piles of paper off my desk more than me. But I digress. Today I'm just going to clean house, do laundry and make a trip to the store. I need to hop to it too, because I slept in until 9:30 today and I want to get most of it finished before everyone else gets out of work.

Ink

I'm not sure why I feel such a strong need for a new tattoo. But I do. I have the place, side of my hip/top of the leg. I just need to settle on a design. I'm thinking a a scattering of stars. Sort of like what Kat Von D has above her eye. Something simple. Now, I had this thought a while back, but nixed it because I already have a star. Now I'm really warming up to the idea and am thinking, so what. I'm thinking varying sizes, maybe even two different styles of stars. Traditional and the star-burst twinkle. And of course I'd do them in blue. I have no real meaning or purpose behind this design. Just that I feel the need for a new tattoo and I think it would be pretty. I'm going to think about it for a while.

DOH!

So, I got a letter in the mail today about my car insurance and a form I still need to sign. I start looking for this form because I don't remember receiving anything that needed to be signed, but then, I'm not the best with my mail. I don't find any insurance thing. But I do find my print outs from when I filed my taxes through Turbo Tax. And there it is, I chose direct deposit. I start panicking. I don't remember any large deposits. But then, I am somewhat relieved to log into my online bank account and see that yes, both my state and tax refunds were deposited almost two whole months ago. Doh! This is depressing for two reasons. 1. I had planned on putting some of this into savings. 2. This just shows how much my smaller paychecks have really started to effect my finances. Now in all honesty I probably would have just used that money to pad my checking account anyway. But still. I suppose I should keep my eyes out for the stimulus check to be deposited as well. I'm going to go here to find out about that. Must call auto insurance agent on Monday.

The Hat

So, back in February I bought this little beach hat for my niece. Just a plain white t-shirt fabric hat which I planned to stitch her name on. Knowing that I'd never be able to iron on a design I also picked up a washable fabric pen so I could just draw the letters on the brim. After I got the name written on I decided I really liked this little bumble bee design I saw in my 'Doodle Stitching' book. So, I drew that on to the top part of the hat. Now, I've been VERY lazy about getting this project finished. I got the name stitched on just fine. It was a little tough because the brim is extra thick. But it looks nice. I even managed a french knot for the dot on the 'i'. Then I started in on the bee. Now, this hat is so little that I can't fit it into a hoop. So I've been sort of stretching out the fabric between the fingers of my left hand while stitching with my right. I got the little buzz behind the bee on just fine. And the stinger, though tricky, came out quite nice. But then I started to put on the body of the bee. The design became difficult to follow and the fabric began to pucker. The stripes came out all lumpy and uneven and they didn't match up with the stinger. So, I pulled it all out. I almost cried, but it needed to be done. Now, it's sitting there waiting for me to decide whether I'm going to try to restitch the body, or if I'll pull out the stinger and the buzz and just leave the name.

Dessert

So, I'm sitting here on a Friday night, just being my introverted self. Chillin' with the dog on the sofa and I come across 'Paula's Party'. (Which I normally don't watch) And, this guy, is on the show. Are you kidding me?! O.k. Granted, he's probably gay. But good lord is he gorgeous. And, he's a pastry chef! Chocolate! Now, see, this is what a girl like me wants in a guy. Attractive and good in the kitchen. Are there any guys like this in Atlanta?

Groceries

Now, I've never been what most would consider a healthy eater. But I've been eating really poorly lately. I cooked two meals last weekend, and had the leftovers for lunch three days, but other than that it's been a lot of fast food and frozen crap. I need to start eating better. Which for me just means cooking for myself. Even if that food isn't 'healthy', it's still better than something that comes from a box or a bag. So, I finally got up off my lazy butt yesterday and made it to the grocery store. On the menu for this week: Chicken paprikash, mac 'n' cheese, and cheesy potato cakes. I made the paprikash last night and will take it for lunch tomorrow. The rest will come later in the week. Tonight it's sun-dried tomato polenta. Now, I realize none of these things is all that healthy. I started the paprikash out with bacon, and I plan to put TONS of cheese in the mac. But it's gotta be better than frozen chicken nuggets tossed with hot sauce and served with ranch. Plus while I was at the store I picked up a couple of yogurts. One is Stoney Field farm 'french' vanilla, the other is the oh so delicious yet $2 a pop Fage. This Fage stuff is good. It's Greek style so it's good and thick. They make it where it comes with a side of a mix in like honey or strawberry. But I got a full size, full fat, serving. I was going to top it with my own honey. Then I realized that it'd be even better with pure maple syrup. That will be breakfast tomorrow. Gotta start the week off right.

Taxes

I'm starting to get worried. I used turbotax and filed my taxes back in the beginning of March. I haven't gotten my money back. They've been accepted, but I'm not sure if I chose to pay the extra money to have the direct deposit. I thought I did. But maybe not. Either way, I think I should have seen something by now. The funny thing is, that while I could really use this money, for paying off bills, buying groceries, and putting gas in my car........what I really want, is a new tattoo.