Spaghetti

One of the meals I make for myself is spaghetti with ground beef. Very simple, I don't make my own sauce, I use Newman's Own Sockarooni, it already has peppers and mushrooms and stuff in it, and I just add more spices and a little butter. I use lean ground beef (add a lot of spices to that too) and just stir them together. I freeze it in a few containers so I don't have to try and eat it all in a couple days, and I cook pasta when I thaw the sauce. Anyways. I was cooking that today and I remembered something. My mom had me helping her cook when I was probably around 11 or 12. Maybe earlier. Spaghetti is definitely one of the earliest memories I have of cooking (it's pretty simple), and I remembered one detail tonight when I tried a bite of the meat. I used to have to take some of the cooked meat and put it on a plate for my little sister. Add salt, and that's it. That was her dinner. She was incredibly picky, and hated marinara. I remember being jealous of her plate of meat and wishing I could eat that too. Why? Clearly I was jealous of her "special treatment." She got to eat something different then all of us. Now that I think about it, she was obviously the one missing out. Lean ground beef with salt is pretty damn bland. Hard to eat, even. She didn't even add ketchup or anything. I enjoyed that memory. I'm really grateful that my mom had me cooking so early. I never thought it was anything special before, but now that I'm older I've realized how much of a blessing that is. She made sure that we had a home cooked meal almost every night of my childhood, and has made sure that my siblings and I all learned enough to be able to cook on our own. I don't think my siblings ever spent as much time in the kitchen as I did, maybe because I was the oldest and learned how to first, or maybe it is because I enjoyed being in the kitchen. I would have never admitted that to my mom then, but I definitely enjoy cooking now, so I had to have enjoyed it a little. To end this rant, thank you Mom. I now realize how much time and energy you put into something I used to consider so simple. A home cooked meal every night is not something every child is blessed with, and I do realize how blessed I was with an amazing Mother growing up. (You still are amazing, of course.)

I did a little yoga tonight. I'm really excited to work on my flexibility. When I did TaeKwondo I got an inch away from being able to do a split, and now I can't even touch my toes without bending my knees. That used to be the easiest thing. So I'm excited to stretch my body out again. I felt great during and after I did the exercises, so I won't need much motivation to keep this up. Youtube is an amazing thing. I used this video today, and part 2. I like her, but I'll definitely try some other ones so I can compare them. I want to get a routine down so I can listen to music while I do it instead of watching a video.

I'm using blogging as an excuse not to study history, I really need to get back to it. I have to get that B average! My goal is an A average, but I HAVE to get a B. I'm not a C student, I'm not a C student, I'm not a C student. I need to keep telling myself that before I try to get prescribed to adderal. I CAN focus on these notes, I DON'T have a problem. Ugh.

Sunday Funday

I don't know who coined the term "Sunday Funday", but they couldn't be more right. What is better than a Sunday off after a long week of work and school? This might be my last Sunday off for a while since I'm new on the Nava schedule, so I'm really going to enjoy this one. I wish I could give them a good reason to permanently have Sundays off. Rathbun's is closed on Sunday (where Tom works) so he always has Sunday off unless there is a special event. That's really been our day together for the past few months, I'm going to miss that. It's hard to get a full day with him. I'm not sure yet what we are doing today. Hopefully something outside, I need to get some sun, it looks like I've been in a cave all summer.

Money. I've only made minimum wage this week, so I'm a little worried about what I'll be left with after I pay rent. Speaking of minimum wage, I did learn something interesting in in Econ this week. Minimum wage in December 1964 was $1.15. In December 2007 it was $5.85. But once you factor in inflation the purchasing power of $1.90 in 2007 would be $7.78. I never really understood the power of inflation, it's pretty amazing. Anyways, just wanted to share that, ha. Econ really is teaching me some valuable information, but it is definitely the class I'm having the hardest time understanding. Formulas always get me. Math isn't my strong point. Back to money. My parents offered to pay for my books for school. I hate accepting money from them, I want to know that I can do it myself. I'm out of the house and they shouldn't have to be burdened with things like that. But they have made it clear they want to, so we'll see if I can swallow my pride and let them. Depends on a few things. I definitely need to get my History book tomorrow, I already have a test on Tuesday and he made it clear that there are some maps and stuff in the book that we need to know. Great. $120 for a history book. Ridiculous.

If anyone is actually reading this they might be wondering about my goals I talked about in the beginning of this blog. This was supposed to be about me getting in shape and improving health and overall well-being. I have DEFINITELY been eating better. I buy chicken, lunch meat, tuna, eggs, and fruits and vegies. I have some carbs like toast and pasta here and there. The only time I don't eat well is when I go out. I have no desire to go out to a restaurant and order plain fish with steamed vegies. No thank you. But if I'm just getting lunch or something I try to make the healthier choice. BUT, the exercising part has not happened. Besides the normal running around at work all week. I was supposed to be running with Roxy all summer. It's just a really hard habit to get into. Now that the weather is nicer I know I will be more motivated. We had a hot summer, the only time to run without worrying about passing out is early morning and after the sun sets. When I'm at work. Still, no excuses. I'm definitely not happy with myself. So, that's my health update. The new thing I would like to try to include as well as running is yoga. I always loved the stretching part of TaeKwonDo, and working in a restaurant can be pretty strenuous, I know my body would really benefit from it. Youtube has a lot of videos, so I wouldn't need to pay for a class or anything.

Enough rambling for today. Ready, set, Sunday Funday! :)

Magic Hat #9

Something freaky happened to me last night. My beer talked to me. Seriously.

I'm making a cork board for Tom out of wine corks, I haven't started it yet but I have been collecting corks, I'm actually very close to having enough. Working in a restaurant does have it's perks. When I discovered recently that Magic Hat puts phrases on the inside of their beer tops I decided I want to use those to put around the outside of the board. So I'll be drinking a lot of their beer for a few weeks. Anyways, I opened mine last night while Tom and I were standing in the kitchen and I looked at my top right away, I always love the little sayings. I freaked. It said, word for word, "You need to write more." Seriously? Obviously there are a lot of people that would apply to, but that's been something that has really been on my mind lately, so I thought that was pretty crazy. I'm going to have to save that one for myself. I'll take a picture of it and put it on here as another reminder. So even when I don't have much time, or much to say (that's rare), I'll make this a priority. Because my beer talked to me :)

I'm eating an orange and listening to Civil Twilight (I'm newly obsessed with these beautiful South Africans) in my room as I write this. I actually need to start getting ready for dinner. Tatyana, Kendra, and I are going to Bluepointe to have dinner in the lounge around 6. If Tatyana ever gets to leave work. She works at Mellow Mushroom now in Midtown. Pretty sweet gig actually, she will probably make as much as I do. I'm really excited about eating at Bluepointe, I haven't sat down to eat there probably since last summer. It's a great place, I really love the food. And this happy hour menu is crazy cheap. Hopefully they will take care of me and I won't have to pay for too much. Well I am going to go open a Magic Hat #9 and get ready for dinner. Who knows what my beer will say to me this time...

I Love My Puppy

I'm watching Roxy dominate Rocky right now. While he is sleeping she will come over and just stand over him, it's pretty funny. Now she is rolling around on him on nibbling on his chest. Dogs are so weird.
I can't wait until the weather changes. It's that time of the year where I don't want to leave my house and get in my car just because of how hot it is. My AC is pretty worthless in my car so I am always a sweaty mess after a couple minutes. For example, I'm dreading having to go to Petco before work. I guess I could go on the way. I also need to go find a way to print my official notice for Bluepointe. Tatyana's printer is out of ink. Oh yeah, that's right, I got a new job! Still working for Buckhead Life, but I'll be at Nava now. It's a little more laid back and I've heard great things about the staff, so I'm really excited. I will be working with Tom's roommate's girlfriend. And Tom works with him at Rathbuns, it's pretty funny how that works out. Plus Tom's neighbor is Tatyana's boyfriend. My world is so small.
I think that's all for the moment. I'll probably write again later.