It begins again

Yeah... so it's been a long time since I've posted on here. Let's see... what's new since I last posted...

I've been working at the State for a little over a year now, in Education. The fiscal side. Man, it's hard to watch the lack of funds for our second most important thing in this country! (Healthcare being the first, of course!) But I like the work (most times) when I'm not being inundated with ridiculous amounts of it.

ALSO! And this is a big ALSO! We bought a house! Our first house!!!! Soooo happy with it. It's adorable, built in 1940, and the neighborhood is old and nice and pretty. A couple of bad elements down the street, but nothing Compton-ish... And Lola LOVES the backyard sooo much! Finally, she has her own yard to run around and PEE in! haha...

I've also tried a stint as a vegetarian for the last 3 months or so. I've been pretty good at it, but I'm not sure my body is so happy.

I've also been getting my health in line. Last year (around this time) I had surgery to remove a large cyst on my ovary, and they had to take the filopian tube. :( No fun, but it helped with a lot of the hip pain I was having. Apparantly it was like carrying around a small child and never being able to give birth. My hips were screaming!
This year, my endocrinologist helped me regulate my thyroid. I thought this would fix the 6-year-long problem I was having with my period (omitting gorey details here). My gynocologist even thought that would fix the problem, too! Alas, it was not to be! Still having the problem! So, my gyno said there was only 2-3 things it COULD be, so let's do an ultrasound. We did, and lo and behold, it was one of the three. The easiest to deal with (if not the cheapest). But it will be a quick fix (out-patient surgery, of a sort) scheduled near the end of this month. I cannot describe how excited I am for this to take place. It's like an amputee is going to get a new arm (given that THAT was the limb previously missing, ha). My relationship with my husband should improve in no small measure, as well! And I can SWIM! Goodness, that is exciting to me!

Yesterday, however, I was hit with some craptastic news. Well, my husband and me, both. We took our dog, Lola, to the vet to have a problem looked at. She had been going potty more frequently, especially in the house WHILE we were there, which just isn't like her. And we noticed her "trying" to go outside, but nothing would come out. Also, when we'd clean up the pee inside, it would be pink. Awww, poor Lola! What could be WRONG with her??? I was so worried!
So, the vet took a urine sample and sent it for a culture, and also took x-rays. I should mention, Lola had previously been put on a special diet for having crystals in her urine. Well, the vet said that when she took the sample this time, you could hear it crinkle like it was crunchy! Poor Lola has crystals again, AND a bladder infection, to boot. *sigh* Then the vet (who did NOT like to give bad news, poor lady) told us the x-rays showed that Lola has stones almost completely filling her bladder. Poor thing! (I can't say that enough, I feel SOOO bad for her!)

So, the diagnosis ALONE cost us $320, then we had to get antibiotics to get rid of the infection (another $30). The vet put Lola on a special diet again (same as last time) in hopes that the special food will help break up the stones and crystals. But she will have to be on that food for the rest of her life! Craptastic, what'd I tell ya??? That food is bloody expensive, as well, about $45 for a normal size bag (that size usually costs about $25-30).

AND, if the new diet and LOTS of water don't work, then she will have to have surgery to remove the stones. That could cost $1500-$2000. Woot.

Not that she's not TOTALLY worth it (we consider her our daughter!), but I don't know where we are going to get that kind of money. We're saving up for the house, so we can steal it from there, but that's limited. I just hope we don't have to do surgery because I want to be as un-invasive as possible.

So, monkeys, what's been going on with YOU these last few years?

My philtrum is throbbing...

So, I have a pimple in that little divot above my mouth (called a philtrum). It's been there for over a week, but it's just been this painful little bruised-feeling bump that hasn't done anything. I cannot try to *gulp* extract it, cos that would kill me. That's how much it hurts for it to just exist.

The solution? Clay mask. I have this Noxema stuff that's got benzonite clay in it which is supposed to hoover all oils or any trace of moisture from any pore it comes into contact with. So I dabbed a little on that spot. Now? It's THROBBING!!!

It started burning slightly when I applied the mask, but then it stopped, and now I can feel my heartbeat in that spot. I want to just wash it off, but I have encountered another problem: it hurts to touch even more than it did! Ack! So washing it off? Going to be VERY difficult.

I hate my skin... Help!

Oh, April...

So, it needs to be March. Cos my nephew's birthday is April 1st. And I wanna make the turtle cake. Cos it's ADORABLE! And his parents did his whole room in turtles and undersea life and such, and we're pretty much on the turtle bandwagon when it comes to him. And cos it's just so ADORABLE! So, I want to do this with fondant. See how I do. Cos I've never made a fondant cake this big.

So, that's the plan. But until then, I may make the owl cake in fall colors cos what's better than an owl cake in fall? But what flavor of cake/filling to make? Hmm. What's fall like? Chai tea cake with cream cheese filling? Sounds yummy. Maybe creme brulee cake with caramel frosting? Clove spice cake with orange filling? HMMMM that sounds yummy if I can do it right. Maybe....

I'm going to have to figure something out cos I need cake soon. Maybe I'll make accompanying cupcake turtles or sea snails to go with it...

Too many ideas! Not enough time!!!!

CLEANING!!!!!!

OK, so we're cleaning today. I actually went to bed at a reasonable hour last night (this morning) at about midnight. Hey, that's as reasonable as I get, deary.

So, the cleaning.

I may actually be able to cook/bake in my kitchen this weekend! I have visions of casseroles and soups and pastas and cakes and cookies and cupcakes and breads dancing in my tiny little mind (1000 points to anyone who got the abridged Shakespeare reference). SOOOO excited by a clean kitchen.

We've cleaned so much, you'd think it's spring! And, because it's Sacramento, it totally feels like it! I think it was around 80 today. Wonderful when you're trying to clean AND save on air conditioning costs.

So, the hubby was trying to drain-o the bathtub; cos, let's face it, I have a lot of hair; and it just wouldn't drain. So, borrowing the drainsnake from friendly apartment manager/friend J, I went to work. I had to argue with my husband to let me do it. "Just let the drain-o work!" he yelled at me. YELLED. That's right, he yelled at me. He gets his panties in a bunch when he knows I'm right. *sigh* but whatever. :-) I love being married! Hahaha!

Tangent! So, anyway... listening to Arcade Fire at the moment (if you know not of what I speak, seriously do yourself a favor and either go download some Arcade Fire or You Tube the Where The Wild Things Are trailor, cos they do the song for it. You will thank me. Profusely. You can send me cash at... oh, nm, my pleasure.)

Anywho... where was I? Oh yeah, clean apartment. Well, except for the bedroom which looks like someone filled a SCUD with our clothes and set it off in our room. Clothes everywhere! BUT! I think I washed all the dirty ones finally so now it just needs to all be put away. Here's the other issue: I have too many clothes! Most of which I DO NOT WEAR. My ex-but-soon-to-be-new-again neighbor is doing a thrift bazaar thing at her church and asking us all to donate what we don't want. The proceeds go to the homeless. Hey, I'm all for it as long as the proceeds don't go to the child molesting/cross-dressing outwardly-prudish pastors and deacons. All for it. So. I must sort. The cripes I wear from the shite I never do or I don't fit into. Oh, how I fear that the latter pile will be huge, and the former will be TINY. Ah, we'll see.

Anyway, I'm going to post this mother and get crackin' at it again. Need to complete the second load of dishes.

Insomnia

I'm sitting here thinking of all the things I can cook and bake in a clean kitchen. But in order to perform all this dream culination, I first have to CLEAN MY KITCHEN! DUH duh duuuuuuuhhhh.....!!!! That's right, it's filthy. Well, a mess. Nay, scratch that, filthy. There are indeed pizza boxes (ah!), dirty dishes (practically every one I own), encrusted burners (oh, my!), old food in the fridge (holy science experiment, Batman!), and more!

I am falling into a new job. What I mean by this is that I started a new job last month, and am slowly getting into my new schedule. Which is, to say the least, daunting. For me, not for most.

I have a hard time readjusting to a normal sleeping schedule, which is why, you'll note, I am posting this at damn nigh 4 in the morning. Hello insomnia! (due to falling asleep when I get home then waking at 1am WIIIRED).

Now, while my post-work naps have left me wide awake this early in the morning, they haven't left me with much ambition. I take a gander at my messy, nay, filthy, house and want to cut off an arm to avoid doing anything productive about it.

So, flash forward to my current predicament, and we have a horrifying example of what a married, childless, dog-owning girl's one-bedroom apartment is supposed to look like. Far be it from me to try to be perfect, but I would like to for once NOT be the only tenant in a VERY clean tiny complex who can't open her front door without fear of someone walking by saying, "What IS that smell?"

I want them to say, "What is that SMELL? That's WONDERFUL!" and be speaking of the wonderful cooking or baking aromas emanating from my sparkling kitchen within my immaculate apartment!

So, if anyone who ever dips low enough to read this blog o' mine wonders, "Why doesn't this woman have kids yet? I mean she's been married for 2 years, what is she, a new age woman or something?" the answer is, "If you saw my life pre-kids, would you seriously ever want to let me raise kids around my mess?" SERIOUSLY??? Didn't think so.

So in lieu of cleaning, I dream of affording a personal maid (which I would never let in cos like my Mom and my aunt and my sisters-in-law, I would never let inside until I clean FIRST, which would never happen, which would then prevent said cleaning lady from coming inside ever ANYWAY, so how futile is that dream?), affording to never work so I could have time to clean (even tho I was off for a month and a half from work after being laid off and never cleaned ANYWAY, so how futile is that dream?), and having enough energy/motivation to clean while I work (which has never happened, I'm a slob and a lazy ass, always have been, so how futile is that dream?).

That's right, kids. I may never cook/bake in my kitchen again at this rate. I may just have to move. Or get my husband to clean, except I think I've started to rub off on him and he's becoming as lazy and complacent about the mess as I am, so how futile is THAT... oh fuck it.

n00b

SO... this being my first post, I'll insert a little about myself. Other than what my profile on the side says, there ain't much to it. I love food, which this blog will hopefully mostly focus on. I'm determined to cook/bake more, and experience new things.

I'm a picky eater, but mostly only for health reasons. I am in LOVE with certain types of foods (i.e. Japanese) so you may get sick of hearing what type of, say, Sushi I had for dinner. It'll happen a lot, believe me.

The health thing. I can't eat too much spice or acid or fat, or I get sick immediately. So I have learned how to avoid those things somewhat and still eat the foods I love. Moderation is key, I've learned.

Outside of food, I'm very politically minded, tho not as in it as I would like. I'm kinda lazy when it comes to being well-informed. I'm very opinionated and can annoy you with the best of them with my views. I also read a ton, but mostly only for fun. The occasional political article or non-fiction story crosses my path, but I don't find them too relaxing so it doesn't occur often.

Lessee... what else? Not much really. I plan on just trying to post everyday, about food or whatever else crosses my brain. If you stop by, leave a comment. Tell me what a prat I am. Tell me how much you ADORE me! (Bwa haha!) Or just lurk. Either way, Bob's your uncle.

At any rate, thanks for stopping by!

The Food Monkey