cjmaiv

Karinny, you have got to see this!

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:01:55 GMT

in the bakebakebake community someone posted

My Little Pony Cupcakes!!!!

Follow this link.

Busy Day!

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:25:45 GMT

Had a productive day so far. I went to my Big Brother Big Sisters Orientation meeting (I am really looking forward to being a "Big Sister"!!!), hit up the Farmer's Market, and transplanted 2 plants. Now off to figure out what to do with my farmers market finds...

Spag is off helping a friend move. I would be too if the BBBS meeting wasn't today. He said he'd call me if more help was needed. He hasn't called. So I'm being productive at home instead.

Food Challenge!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:55:00 GMT

I have decided to take on a food challenge: One month of eating NO artificial or processed foods. No boxed crap. Nothing that couldn't have been made 150 or 200 years ago. It can, however, come from any part of the world. This means I will be taking on learning new cuisines too! I think I will do some research and practice and maybe begin in January. No way will I attempt this during the holidays!

Look what I did!!!

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:26:31 GMT

Spag went to Vegas this past weekend with the guys. So I ,did something fun too... Surprise Honey!! :) I got this on Friday, Spag came home on Sunday which was when he found out about it...

it's not the best picture in the world, but due to ointment on it, using more light was making it shiny.

This one shows the color better, but it has a big shiny area

I would have posted sooner, but there was the whole keeping it secret from the boy, and then it was peeling a good part of yesterday and today. By the way, it itches like crazy!!! please stop peeling soon?

good red wine...

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 06:38:12 GMT

2 glasses really good Pinot Nior and 1 oz good chocolate. pass out now.... Also Sooper-Seekrit-plan has been initiated.

And I need a drunk Icon

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:19:18 GMT

Rest in Peace Senator Kennedy. You will always be remembered for all you accomplished and all you worked for to make our world a better place. You were one of the few whom Americans could trust and rely on. Your passing marks the end of the great Kennedy Dynasty, which accomplished so much for our country. Your family legacy however, will always carry on in those who pick up your torch and continue the work you started.

America is grateful for everything you did for Her. Thank you Mr. Kennedy.

"Cheeseburger soup"

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:03:05 GMT

My neighbor has 2 young boys who Spag and I have babysat a couple times. She is always having trouble getting the boys to eat vegetables, and she really doesn't cook much. I do cook, a lot. At least 3 meals a week are homemade, from scratch. So I started thinking about sneaky and easy recipes she could make to slip veggies into their diet.

Tonight I am trying a test run of "cheeseburger soup". I developed the recipe based on modifying a Lentil and Chard soup recipe I make often. The result is a tomato-based broth with lean ground beef, Swiss Chard as "lettuce", Zucchini rounds as "pickles", diced tomatoes, whole wheat pasta shells, and sprinkle shredded cheese on top. It actually tastes quite good, I'm eating some now.

The recipe:

(This makes about 10 servings, and you will need a BIG pot, or 2 normal sized soup pots, which is what I used. Just be careful to split it evenly)

1 lb lean ground beef

1 large onion

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

4 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp Thyme

2 tsp Oregano

6 oz tomato paste

10 cups water

2 cans diced tomatoes (15 oz each), do not drain

3 small-ish zucchini, sliced as rounds, with the peel on

3 Tbsp lemon juice

8-ish handfuls of dry whole wheat pasta shells ( yes this is my usual measuring method for pasta, about 1 handful per person.)

1 large bunch of Swiss Chard (can also use Rainbow, but swiss chard is eaiser to find often) - Leaves cut or torn to 1-inch peices, stalks cut to 1/2 inch

Shredded cheddar cheese for serving.

1. Cook the ground beef with the onion in the pot. Drain grease if desired, I left it for extra flavor since there wasn’t much anyway.

2. Add the olive oil, tomato paste, herbs and salt & pepper, along with a bit of water (just enough to mix the paste into, about 1 cup or less).

3. Add the diced tomatoes and the remaining water, simmer for 5 minutes, and then add the chard stalk pieces. Cook for 5 more minutes.

4. Add the pasta, zucchini, the chard leaves and lemon juice, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Check periodically and add more water if you feel necessary.

Sprinkle with the cheese and enjoy! Just don’t tell the kids it actually healthy!

I wanna be done with the day now!!

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:47:17 GMT

It's not even 9 am and people are already managing to annoy the crap out of me!

1. leaving our apartment complex this morning, the car in front of me stopped in the outgoing drive to....pick a flower from the side of the road!!!!! resulting in holding up the other cars behind her.

2. At the stoplight right before the freeway, the woman in front of me took 2 full light cycles to make a RIGHT turn!!!!

3. On the freeway exit ramp, the car 2 up from me kept braking and veering to the side of the road, but not all the way, then they'd go a few yards and do it again!

4. I left my coffee thermos in the car. I can't leave my desk to get it until my break at 10 am... another hour and 15 minutes.

I'm done with this day already. I want it to be 5 o'clock now please...

Word Association Meme

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:39:05 GMT

So a while ago deana_in_texas did a word association meme. You are given 5 words someone associates with you, and you have to expand upon those topics. She gave me my 5 associations quite a while ago, and I fail horribly for not doing this yet. So I finally decided to start attacking my "stuff to do" bin, and this is what my hand fell upon this time...My reminder note to do the meme.

The 5 words:

Spag
Phones
Baking
Gluten
Kitties

1. Spag
Spag is, as of 2 months ago, my husband. Spag is a nickname given to him well before I met him. His real name is Chris Spag-----. He worked with, was, and still is friends with several others with variations on the "chris" sounding name (including mine, Crystal). So to make things easy, he was dubbed "Spag", which is a portion of his last name (now mines as well). Of course this makes me a Spag now, since I married him and now have the same long last name.

2. Phones
I work as a receptionist, and a big part of my job is answering the calls of people when they hit "0" because they are too stupid, lazy, or impatient to listen and follow the phone prompts, which will actually get you to a person by the way! WE do not have an automated system people! the prompts are there to sort your call to the correct person to help you with your needs! When you hit "0" you just get the receptionist, who can only tell you our generic contact info, and directions to the office if you are trying to reach us in person. When you think you are going to be helped faster, that is incorrect, as all I do is put you in the phone queue for a Member Service Rep anyway, and then you are at the back of the line, farther back that you would have been if you'd just folloiwed the promts. Hitting 2, then 2 again will get you member services faster than hitting 0 and having me redirect you there!

3. Baking

I like to bake, and hopefully, now that I am done with the wedding, and not taking any classes, I will actually have time to do more of it. This weekend I plan on making a couple different yummies. And I like to experiment with creating and tweaking recipes. This is a lot easier if you know the science to baking, like what will happen if you put 1Tbsp of baking soda instead of the called for 1 tsp.

4. Gluten

Gluten is a protein found naturally in many grains including wheat, barley, and spelt, among many others. It is also found added in many processed foods, used to thicken, or in grain-drived “natural flavors”.

Why did Deana pick Gluten? Because I have posted a few times in the past about it. My “baby” sister (youngest of 5 girls, honey you will always be the baby), Stacy, has a genetic auto-immune disease called Celiac’s Disease. Celiac’s is a disease that makes your body not only unable to process gluten, but it sees the process of the intestines digesting it as a foreign object that must be destroyed. So the intestines essentially attack themselves. Some people will simplify this by saying “it’s kinda like a severe allergy”, but really it isn’t. An allergy is the body’s reaction to a foreign substance using histamines to reject it. People with true allergies can take an anti-histamine, or steroid if it’s really bad. Celiacs cannot. There is no treatment for it aside from avoiding gluten altogether, and it happens on a much deeper level than allergies. The reaction is on the molecular level. An allergy attack will last for a few hours at most unless it’s a rash like poison ivy. A “Glutening” can have side effects for a week, ranging in severity by how sensitive the person is. My sister only gets mildly sick for a couple days. Some Celiacs can be in bed for a full week with *uncomfortable* symptoms. Another difference, with Celiacs, there are usually other complications caused by the effects of Celiacs. Because it tears up the inside of the intestines at the mere hint of Gluten, most Celiacs suffer from malnutrition and deficiencies if they are exposed to glutened items. And you’d be surprised what has gluten in it! If the disease is not kept in check and monitored, it can lead to many more complications such as lactose intolerance, stomach cancer, colon cancer, IBS, and many more. Even many mental disorders can be a result of Celiacs, as it screws with your body chemistry via malnutrition.

Immediate family of Celiac sufferers have a 1 in 5 chance of developing it themselves, as it is genetic. The gene can sit dormant in you your entire life and you are never effected. Or it can be active at any point in your life. Usually it is triggered by a stressful event or life period, pregnancy, or a bout of illness. I am terrified of the chance of me having the gene and it becoming active. My sister went from a size 10 to a size 4 in a year because of this disease before she was diagnosed. Unfortunately many people go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with something different, and the real cause is not addressed, sometimes for years, often not until there have been major life-threatening complications.

5. Kitties

We have 2 fur-babies. One is my cat, Kasha, a beautiful, normal, calico, and the other is Spag’s neurotic torti, Kamir. They like to practice killing each other. Kasha enjoys normal cat stuff, while Kamir contemplates the most efficient manner in which to kill me and Kasha, so she can have her boy (Spag) all to herself again. Seriously, that cat has issues. Beginning with the fact that she sits and glowers at me. And she fully knows what a mirror is. She sits looking in it admiring herself, and she will look at you in the mirror too. Without turning around, she will look at you via the mirror, and make eye contact. The only time this cat is nice is when she can see the bottom of her food dish. There may even be food in it still, but if she can see the bottom, that is not acceptable. So she will pretend to be nice and purr and such until you give her food. Then the feet she was previously rubbing on become something to attack and bite.

If you want me to give you 5 words I associate with you, let me know in the comments.

Market Day!!!

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:39:10 GMT

Today we went to the SLC Downtown Farmer's Market. We picked up quite a bit of yummy produce....

Swiss Chard
Raspberries
Blackberries
Cherries
Cherry tomatoes
Fresh mint
Fresh basil
Asiago bread

See our pretties!

Then we went across the street from the farmers market to the Italian deli and the fish market next door. We picked up some prosciutto and some good pecorino cheese. Then we grabbed some swordfish at the fish market.

Tonight we had the fish with a very yummy lemon-basil grilling sauce made with the fresh basil. With it we had the green beans and some of the asiago bread. Turns out we aren't so fond of swordfish after all. The grilling sauce we made was yummy, but the fish was so light in flavor that it was near to tasting like nothing.

Tomorrow for breakfast I'm making raspberry cream crepes for breakfast, and I invited our neighbor and her 2 little boys over too.

I'm going to make a Lentil and Swiss Chard soup with the chard. I haven't yet decided what to do with the cherries. The tomatoes will go in the massive amounts of salad greens we have (I didn't know Spag bought some the day before...)

I still have to figure out what to do with all of the mint... Any suggestions? I can only drink so many Mojito's...

My sangria, let me show it to you...

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:06:35 GMT

This is what I was drinking yesterday.

"Cuban Sangria"
1 bottle red wine ( I had a ridiculously sweet one I was unable to drink as-is)
1/2 bottle (750 ml bottle) Coconut Rum
1-2 cups apple juice (optional, I added this because I felt I needed to cut mine , otherwise I'd be hammered with 1/2 a glass)
1/2 lb green grapes
1/2 - 1 lb strawberries
1 orange
1 lemon
1 lime
1 mango
4 kiwi

Cut the fruit into chunks, pour wine and rum over, let sit in the fridge for 24 hours to meld the flavors. I did slice the grapes in 1/2.

Yummmm.....

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:19:35 GMT

homemade SAngria is Yummy......

And strong.

That is all.

No kid's for me, thanks...

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:27:10 GMT

Today Spag and I babysat our neighbor's 2 little boys for about 4 hours. Ages 3 and 6. Adorable, at times hilarious, and exhausting! And a reminder that we really don't want kids of our own. We'll take care of kids that we can give back, and dote upon other people's kids, but none we have to keep, thanks. We don't have any interest in tricking a child into eating his dinner every night, or dealing with temper tantrums, or continuously having to worry about their well-being and safety. I'm good with taking care of a couple kids for a few hours every now and then.

And yes, this was the first time we have ever babysat together. In fact, it's the first time Spag has ever babysat. Tonight we made dinner (BBQ chicken and veggies with oven fries), went to the park, and then watched movies (Spag and the older boy watched Transformers while me and the little one watched Curious George, with several stops because he wanted to say hi to his brother, or see what Spag was doing, or go outside to watch the bugs...).

A weekend in Vegas...

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:05:41 GMT

Spag and I just got home from a very interesting/odd-at-times/fun long weekend in Vegas. We stayed at the Mirage Hotel & Casino.

Friday, we flew in in the late morning, and our flight was about 45 minutes late to the gate, then another 10-15 minutes after the time they said we'd board, they finally let us on the plane. When we arrived we did a bit of exploring, then we came back to the hotel to take a nap before hitting the casino...yeah, apparently we were like really tired, because we didn't wake up again until 3 am. So we just stayed in bed for the night and got up early Saturday.

Saturday we had breakfast at the hotel buffet, and then spent the day by the pool, wandered around the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace, then we went to dinner and a show. We went to Craft Steakhouse in the MGM for dinner, where we had AMAZING food, and Spag was talking to his appetizer. It was Quail, and he's never had quail. *cute high pitched voice* "it's so tiny and cute!..." followed by immediate vicious 'nomming' noises. I was cracking up. After dinner we saw Cirque de Soliel "KA", and that was amazing as well. The performers are wonderful, the storyline awesome, and stage capabilities are astounding! Seriously, that stage...it has me speechless. After the show we headed back to the hotel so we could get out of the dressy clothes and hang out in the casinos and generally wander. Unfortunately, I got sick. REALLY sick. And it wasn't due to drinking, as it was 4 hours since I had last drank any alcohol, and it wasn't food poisoning, because Spag had eaten the exact same thing as me, served "family style", so from the same plates even. He was fine. We are thinking that it was because my body simply cannot handle rich foods in large quantities. I get nauseous from a cheeseburger... Steak, garlic creamy mashed potatoes, quail, shitake mushrooms, chocolate lava cake, pistachio ice cream... my body did not like all of that.

Sunday, we slept really late, had breakfast at 12:30 at Denny's (oatmeal and fruit, keeping it simple...) then we did more wandering about the Strip, including getting semi-lost in the massive Bellagio, lunch at Margaritaville, and wandering about the wildlife habitat at the Flamingo. Then we went down to Fremont Street and wandered around there for a few hours.

Today we got up early, packed up, Spag waited 45 minutes at the coffee shop for 2 coffees and a couple pastries (the Roasted Bean in the Mirage is really slooooww), and then we hung out at the pool for a couple hours before taking the shuttle to the airport. At the airport, our plane was on time at the gate, however we sat on the tarmac for about 45 minutes. That was fun...

Unfortunately we did not win any money at the casinos. That sucks. And this morning I woke up with what I am now thinking will be a full-on cold by tomorrow. Back to reality now I guess.

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:41:47 GMT

Happy Birthday Ari!!!

Wedding Photos!

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:31:55 GMT

Our friend Chuck was one of our groomsmen, and his camera comes everywhere with him (I have camera-envy...) He got some great shots, He only has about a dozen up so far, and I cant wait to see more (which I know he has). Here are a couple of my favorites so far:

Combined families (minus most of my siblings who are scattered across the US)

My lovely bridesmaids...

My Spag looks like a dressed-up secret service agent...

Pictures are coming...

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:22:01 GMT

I will post pictures from the wedding as soon as I get them from the photographer. Any pictures anyone else managed to get, please send us a copy or the files too? It will be about 3 weeks before I get anything from the photographer...

Thank You!!!

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:16:25 GMT

We made it home nice and safe. But we forgot where we parked in the airport economy lot... Turns out that the airport peoples keep tabs on where you park, just in case. We were nowhere near where we thought we had parked.

Spag and I want to thank everyone who came to our wedding, and everyone who wished us happily-ever-after. Thank you!

And an especially big thank you to those who helped make the day perfect! You all helped so much, nothing would have been as good without your helping hand.
Thank You!!!! You Rock!!!! (Ari, Jason, Scott, Chuck, Dave, and several others who don't use LJ.)

Karinny & Abhi's wedding was a lot of fun, I enjoyed it quite a bit. A perfect random silly hat affair for a perfectly random and fun Karinny!

I think I'm going to sleep for the next day or so now...

Berry-less blueberry pancakes?

Sat, 16 May 2009 19:00:26 GMT

Spag and I went out for breakfast this morning to a local pancake house. I ordered Blueberry Pancakes. They had no more than 6 blueberries per pancake. There were more random blueberries on the plate than in the pancake. I don't care how many fresh berries you scatter on the plate, putting them on the plate next to the pancake does not make it a blueberry pancake! The waitress seemed very confused as to why this was bothering me "Oh, well they put more on the plate." is what she said.

I love blueberry pancakes, and pancakes that are poorly made annoy me. However, these were not just poorly made. Poorly made is like when all of the beeries are clumped in one area. They could barely be called blueberry pancakes.

I feel loved!!!

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:55:33 GMT

Today is Administrative Professionals Day, and the CEO, COO, and Exec Admintrative Assistant got me a cookie bouquet!

Ok, too many conservative Republicans in this state!

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:30:52 GMT

There are some people sitting in my lobby right now have a conversation about how they oppose Obama's tax and healthcare reforms. Of course they are rich insurance underwriters who would loose money on the deal... Oh boohoo... you are going to have to pay more in taxes while people like lucky me might actually be able to be able to afford food and to see a doctor when I'm sick. I have no pity for thier griping about this.

I spent nearly a year living off ramen and donated food, during which time I only went to see the doctor once because I didn't have healthcare. It took the pain of having my arm dislocated to get me to go, even then I didn't go right away, I only went after my coworker nearly dragged me because I was in so much pain. I didn't even go when I cut my had open enough that I should have had stitches. Maybe if there had been a universal healthcare system, maybe I wouldn't still be hurting in that shoulder (it damaged the muscle) from trying to go with out seeing the doc about my shoulder.

Yeah, your complaints about more taxes and having to charge less on your insurenses you sell... falling on deaf ears.

Note to self...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:40:31 GMT

Don’t drink coffee immediately after eating a kiwi fruit. Makes for one funky taste in the mouth…this I have just discovered. Blech

Have you ever had an IV put in your arm?

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:59:18 GMT

I did for the first time today. OMG IT HURT!!!! Seriously, I was more of a baby about that than the chest pains I went in for!

Turns out they don't know why I had chest pains for an hour and a half. Which were almost subsided by the time I was admitted to the ER, and had gone down to only tightness in the chest by the time they had me hooked up to the EKG machine. But I guess when you go into the ER they put an IV in you when they first draw blood so if they have to give you any IV drips the thingy is already in your arm.

Bloodwork - normal
EKG - Normal
X-Ray - As normal as it can be with Scoliosis, a twisted spine, and 1 leg longer than the other (13mm, which causes other spinal problems)

Dr.'s diagnosis - undetermined, but nothing that was an immediate worry. Follow up with my regular doctor next week during my already scheduled check-up.

Considering I have had these pains off and on for a year or two, I wasn't too worried, but after Eddie's heart attack and my 2 coworkers who thought they had annoying but simple things wrong, like nausea and migraines, (turns out they both had cancer, one - ovarian - who is responding quite well to treatments, one - stage 4 liver - didn't make it, less than 10 weeks...), I decided that I should see the doctor about it, and not take the chance that it was something really bad. I have never had the pains with this intensity or frequency as today. Usually it lasts less than 5 minutes, never more than 10, a few quick painful stabs on the side of my chest, right near my left breast. Today was an hour and a half of those stabs, they hurt more when I breathed. Resulting in me trying not to breathe as much as possible...yeah, that worked well...

Thank You

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:19:46 GMT

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who attended the bridal shower this past weekend. It was lots of fun, and really good to see everyone! Special big thanks to Ari for hosting it, and Jason for allowing us to have it in his coffee shop, you two rock! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of it, but I know that tawneypup does. If anyone has pictures, please could you be so kind as to pass a copy along to me? Thanks!

Mental break from work...

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:39:15 GMT

I'm taking a quick mental break from work at the moment. I have been working hard all day, worked through lunch (I never do that because they usually don't let us. Overtime and all...), and I will be here until about 5:30 or 6. Or until I at least finish 1 big project. So, I am taking a couple minutes to divert my brain before diving into the big project I have been avoiding. But it must be done before I leave today. Ick.

Tomorrow morning Spag and I hop on an airplane and head to Michigan until Monday evening. So when I get home I get to pack, show the neighbor where the cat food is, and all that fun stuff.

k. back to work now.

P.S. - Why is the "busy" icon a happy face? I'm not very joyful about being this busy!