On the menu.....A cost comparison

For some strange reason yesterday I started craving BBQ pizza. I've only had BBQ pizza once when, on a whim, I picked up a frozen California Pizza Kitchen BBQ pizza that was on sale. I like CPK frozen pizzas but typically they are just too expensive. Thus was the case tonight. I had planned to pick up a CPK and a few add-ons and have that for dinner tonight. I was aghast when I saw that the small pizza was $6.99. No way could I spend that much one little pizza that I'd only get one meal out of. I'd already put in my basket a block of jack cheese and a red onion to add to the pizza. I already had BBQ sauce at home. So, I headed over to the bakery section and picked up a pizza crust ($3.39) and some chicken ($4.07). I know, I know, I've already spent more than the frozen pizza. But, I will only use a portion of the chicken and freeze the rest for a future use. Also, the crust I bought is going to make a much larger pizza. My pizza stone is (I think) 13" and the boxed kind was probably only 10". So, total cost of the supplies bought tonight for my BBQ pizza, $10.08. Go ahead and subtract about $2.00 since I'll only use 1/2 the chicken. So, about $8.08 for my pizza supplies, just over $1 more than the frozen kind and FAR superior. It will be larger for one. Healthier no doubt since most all packaged foods have preservatives and uncontrolled sodium and other bad for you things. PLUS, I will be able to tailor it to my taste. I will jazz up the bottled sauce I have on hand, shred the chicken instead of chunk it, and of course, pile on the cheese. Perhaps I will jot down a pseudo-recipe to post later

From yesterday....

I was going to post this yesterday, but, well, I didn't.....

I'm starting to get tired of being sick. It started Saturday late in the day with that annoying flem that's just stuck in your throat and you can't get rid of. Sure enough when I woke up Sunday morning I felt craptastic. So I spent most of the day lounging on the sofa. Monday at work sucked, sore throat, congestion and general achyness. Tuesday and Wednesday were much improved and yesterday I felt just fine for Thanksgiving. But I woke up in the middle of the night stuffy and with a sore / dry throat. It's the same sicky I get every year when summer slowly and erraticly changes into fall. I blame it on the crazy hot-cold-warm-cold change in temperature. And every year I only get sick enough to feel bad, never enough to call in to work. Some people I've known get the same thing but lose their voice. Never me. How nice it would be to not be able to talk. It sounds crazy, I know, but my jobs always require lots of talking. So anyway I've spent most of today lounging much like Sunday. Drinking tea and water and taking a nice hot shower. I'm hoping to feel much improved by a good night's sleep tonight and able to get out and about tomorrow and also to do chores around the house. I don't want this to be the second weekend in a row where not much got done.

I'd especially like to get to the Farmer's Market. That was my big plan for this past Sunday. After having gone through on of my phases where I didn't have an appetite for much of anything by last Saturday I'd begun to have a craving for foods again. Real food. I had decided that processed, packaged foods had a bad after taste so I needed to make some good food that was mostly vegetarian. I had a nice list for myself. But that all went out the window when I felt too ill to go to the Farmer's Market. Most of this week I haven't been very hungry and nothing has tasted good either. But I am once again I am starting to crave good home cooked food. I have to keep in mind though that I have Thanksgiving leftovers to work through. I also need to keep in mind that I need to start managing my money better. I spend WAY too much money at the grocery store too many days a week.

It all fell out

Currently I am watching a show on the Travel Channel about burgers. So naturally I am craving White Castle cheeseburgers. Far superior to Krystal but only available here in the south in your grocer's freezer. I probably should have picked some of those up while I was at the store tonight. But my trip to the grocery after work was futile as always. Here's how it happens. I leave the house in the morning purposefully leaving my list and reusable shopping bags at home. I figure I really do not need to go to the grocery store anyhow, I have plenty of food in the house. But by the time the end of the day rolls around I either have a craving for something specific or want to just pick up something quick. And so I end up wandering aimlessly through the grocery store. Now, I almost always have a running grocery list at home. You know, run low on salt, put it on the list, etc. But rarely do I take this list to work. And tonight on my way to the grocery store I made a list in my head as I often do. And, as always happens with ANY shopping experience, the mental list fell right out of my head as soon as I walked though the doors. I did manage to pick up some ham for biscuits in the morning. And 3 different types of cheese. Because one can never have too much cheese on hand. But really, not much else that will keep me from making a similar trip to the store one evening after work.

Prorastination?

I've always thought I was a big ol' procrastinator. But today it occurred to me. Maybe the problem is deeper than that. Maybe I have commitment issues. Today I finally finished my online health application. And it took a lot to make myself press the send button. Hell, it's taken me over two weeks to complete the damn thing. There's that and every other thing I ever procrastinated on. I once had a counselor in college write a motivational phrase on an index card for me, "Do it now." That and the fact that I have zero desire to get out there and date. Seriously, I'm totally fine being single. O.K., so I have committed to some things. My pets, the "Twilight" series, 5 1/2 years at Starbucks, my current apartment............Maybe the commitment problem only applies to certain things. Or maybe I've been working in a counseling office too long.

Car Drama

Last night was some of the best sleep I've gotten in a while. I'd been so stressed out all day I was exhausted by the end of the day. Thursday night I went to leave work. I was pretty excited to be leaving before Bitchface. But alas, it was not to be. My car would not shift out of park. I'd had this problem before, but this time none of my jiggling and restarting would help. So I called AAA. Because it would not shift out of park, meaning that the front wheels were locked, I needed a special tow truck. Or rather, as I would soon find out, a tow truck with special equipment. So, I placed my service call and hiked up to the Decatur mini-Kroger for some food and such. By the time I got back 30 min later the driver was almost there. It was a good thing I decided to get it towed that night because the flat-bed truck with a driver who looked like Hurley from 'Lost' would NEVER have been able to get my car out with any other cars in the lot. Since I was unsure of where I wanted it towed and whether or not the had a key drop, I had it towed home. The new girl, Tami, stayed and chatted with me until I climbed into Hurley's truck. I didn't sleep well that night, worried as I was about my car. Folks were telling me I'd likely need a new transmission!!!! Friday morning I called the shop a co-worker had recommended, Intown Auto Care in Oakhurst Village, they said they'd be able to work on my car so I called AAA again and away I went with Hurley to the shop and then to work. I got almost nothing done all day stressing and waiting for a phone call. At noon I called the shop and they hadn't even gotten to it yet! I called again around 3:30 and they said the tech was looking at it and I should call back in 30 min. I did and they had good news for me. It wasn't the transmission, it was a sensor, just like Hurley thought. AND, they said they could have it back to me that night!!!!! Considering I'd been fearing paying $1,500 for a new transmission I was relieved to only have to pay about $300. Now, I can think of a lot of things I'd rather spend $300 on than my car...........tattoos, pretty boots that speak Italian, a day at H&M, you get the picture. But all is well, I have my car back and she's running fine.

Sad end

Car brokie. Needed tow truck. Story later. Drink wine hug puppy now.

It's about time

It's been oh so woefully long since my last post. Over a month. So much, yet so little, has happened since then. Gas is abundant again, and now below $1. Wooooo Hooooo!!! We have a new president. Thank baby Jesus that Americans made the right decision for once. I don't know what all this talk of socialism is and also not sure that most of the people upset about it really know what socialism is. But hey, I don't read the times so what the hell do I know. It seems fall has finally arrived, and will be staying, here in Atlanta. I love it. I love fall. I love the crisp in the air, the color of the leaves, the sound of leaves crunching & acorns falling, the scent of wood burning. That last part may seem a little strange but it comes from childhood when my parents would take us to the nature center for the fall festival. Oh, and of course, fires in fire places. Anyhoo, not much else is new in life. Work remains very much the same. I'm way behind and I have NO hope of ever getting 'caught up'. That's o.k. tough. Oh! 'Top Chef' premieres tomorrow!!!!! Sorry, a little ADD there.