I have great intentions of updating, honestly I do.  But you know how life goes.  You get super busy and other, more important things eat up your time.  Or it could be you just forget and end up playing WoW instead.  Not saying that's the case with me.....but it is a potential scenario.

So what has happened since I last updated?  Well, the month of February was pretty much consumed with back-to-back blizzards.  I was, very literally, snowed in for 2 weeks.  Sure, I could drive my car to the end of my driveway but then that 3+ foot of snow that used to be my street kept stopping me.  You might think that because I live at the airport's long term parking my street would be at the top of the list to get plowed.  Not so much though.  Seems neither the airport....or the city....considers my road all that important at all.  I think the only thing that gets plowed after my street is....well, nothing.  I'm pretty sure I live on the last road in the county to see snow plows.  The house and I survived the storms mostly intact.  There was a small leak in my bow window where the gutter froze and backed up.  My carport roof now has two leaks in it that I need to get fixed.  Oh, and the flat roof section on the Shed O'Doom collapsed.  I am pretty irritated by that.  I wanted the WHOLE shed to collapse....save the effort of tearing it down.  Honestly, that pretty much sums up the high points of February.

Not a whole lot has been going on this last month.  I'm starting to work on my yard which has been declared a national disaster area I think.  Between the storms, a grub infestation and a burrowing-critters-going-after-the-grubs infestation, my lawn is pretty well destroyed.  So this year I'm focusing on killing the grubs which should theoretically cause the burrowing critters to move elsewhere and tearing out all the ugly bushes around the house.  I got all the holly trees that were clumped at the corner of my house cut down so the dogwood that was hidden in the midst of them can now breath free.  I also need to seriously pressure wash the house.

Other than that, its been insanely busy at work.  And I mean more insane than normal.  Who keeps bringing all this hazmat into my buildings???

Oh, I'm going to attempt canning in a couple weeks.  Gonna do tomato sauce.  So we'll see how that goes.  I'll keep you posted.  No, seriously.....I will.

I ventured into the world of cooking with quinoa tonight. Made a quinoa version of spanish rice. I must say it came out absolutely delicious! So here's the recipe.

* 2 c quinoa, rinsed and drained
* 1 - 2 Tbsp cooking oil
* 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
* 1 medium sized onion, chopped
* 1/2 - 1 tsp chili powder or paprika
* 1/2 - 1 tsp tsp ground cumin
* 1/4 - 1/2 cup sliced olives (I used green olives)
* pinch cayenne
* 1 - 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
* 1 3/4 cups some flavour of broth (I used chicken this time)
* Pepper and salt to taste

Directions:

1. Sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat until onion starts to become translucent
2. Add the garlic to the onion and sauté a few more minutes until the onion is translucent and garlic is turning golden
3. Add spices
4. Add quinoa and stir constantly for 3 - 4 minutes
5. Add tomato sauce and broth stirring occasionally until mixture begins to boil
6. Add salt if needed - broth and tomato sauce may already be salted
7. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes
8. Turn heat off and let sit for 5 - 10 minutes
9. Fluff with a fork and serve garnished with cilantro

I tried a new dish tonight. It has an interesting mix of ingredients but they really all worked together. A very tasty dish and definitely one I'll make again.


German Beef and Barley Bake

1 pound extra lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cup pearl barley
4 slices bacon, diced
3 cups tomato juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups sliced green cabbage
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

In large saucepan over medium heat, sauté ground beef, onions and garlic until beef is browned. Pour off drippings. Add barley and bacon; sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomato juice, salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in cabbage and caraway seeds. Spoon mixture into 2-quart casserole. Bake in 350° F oven 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese melts. Makes 6 servings.

I have been horrible about updating here.  Though I don't suppose it matters since no one reads it except my sister!  There's really not been a whole lot of excitement going on though.  I went to my parents for Thanksgiving.  I had a few friends over for dinner for Christmas.  I stayed home, curled up on the couch and watching movies for NYE.  And that pretty much sums up the last couple months.  I really need to get back out and start dating again.  Easier said than done.  

One new thing I've started doing is experimenting with cooking with beans, barley, lentils...all that kind of stuff.  Mostly been soups at this point but I have to say, I find making a soup from scratch to be very satisfying.  And most of the things I've tried have been pretty tasty.  I'll do another post that talks about the recipes.  Don't want to bore everyone who's not reading my blog and isn't interested in cooking.

I've also decided I want to learn to can.  Great way to save money, especially since I don't have a whole lot of freezer space to keep things.

I need to go see how the soup I have on the stove currently is doing.  I promise I'm going to try and blog much more frequently.  Maybe someone will actually start reading then.

Yes, I know its been way too long since I've updated.  The end of one FY and the start of another is just an insane time around here.  Even my purse making has suffered.  Though I have gotten two others made.  A fourth one, of my own design, is in process as well.  Maybe I'll try to finish it up this week.  The biggest difficulty I've had with these purses is sewing through multiple layers of fabric.  My sewing machine is a very basic one and its not liking the thickness at all.  Anyway, here are the other two purses I've completed.


The first one was inspired by the Cheshire Cat.



This is a fancier one and I was messing around with a different sillouette for the pocket.




I need to work a little more on improving quality before I look at taking orders.  Already have a couple people who are interested.


In other news, I'm getting ready to start the kitchen facelift.  So I'm sure there will be plenty of blogging and pictures of the progress of that.  I'm excited about it and would have started already but I'm having a Halloween party and didn't want the kitchen tore apart for that.


I'm sure there's other mindless drivel I've left out but I'll think of it later and fill you in on it!

Let me tell you, dating in your 40's isn't an easy thing. I blame this on my parents. They had me when they were young so I have young parents....they're only 66. This creates a problem for me in the dating world.

Hang on, I promise you'll see the connection between my parents' age and my dating life.

I have certain requirements for the men I'm willing to go out with. Intelligent, sense of humour, honest, financially stable, no full-time custody of small children (hey, just being honest here) and within a certain age range.

I can't go too young in men. Younger guys just don't really appeal to me and by younger I mean pretty much under 40. I would consider someone 38 or 39 but they'd have to be pretty exceptional. My upper limit is about 55 and that's stretching it for me. See, here's the problem; I simply can not twist my brain around the idea of dating someone who's closer in age to my parents than he is to me! There's just something totally icky about that. Well, unless he's really old and filthy rich and willing to leave it all to me. I'm all for that! But I don't see that happening so I'm stuck with the 55 thing. This means my pool of eligible men is limited to a short 15 year span of 40-55. Let me tell you, that seriously restricts the options. If my parents had waited until they were in their 30's to have me then I'd have another 10 years worth of men I could choose from!!!

So, you see, dating difficulties are all my parents' fault.

I'm disconnected at home from the world this weekend. My FIOS line came down, literally. It was hanging in front of my carport when I got home from work Friday. So I have no internet or TV at home. This would be catastrophic it it weren't for the fact that there's a Dunkin Donuts less than 5 minutes from my house. Open 24 hours and has free wifi. So, I've been up here a couple times today to catch up and see what's going on in my life.

Really, I could have stayed home....there isn't a whole lot going on in my life.

But, anyway, here I sit this evening, hanging out in the DD so I can delete 30 spam emails promising to make various parts of my body bigger or smaller as the case may be. What I find interesting is I'm not the only one hangout with their laptop. I know why I'm here.....its a temporary condition for me. Trust me, I'd rather be surfing the web in the comfort of my couch with something mindless on TV instead of sitting on this really hard chair, listening to Musak and and noisy obnoxious children. But why are these other people here. Do they live in some bizarre dead zone where there's no internet service? Is this their only social life? Do they think of the DD staff as family? Maybe they're secret shoppers spying on the workers.

Or I suppose their internet could be down at home.

Life has been having its ups and downs lately. We'll skip the downs because that's just how I deal with them....ignore them and they eventually go away.

I'm still waiting to hear if the agency is going to approve my classes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Now that I've finally found the online degree program I want it would totally suck to not be able to take the classes! I haven't figured out how long it would take me to finish the degree. Some things take a little time to build up the courage to do. But I do figure I can complete the certificate part in a year. Who needs a life anyway. Oh, and for those just tuning in the degree I'm looking at is Evironmental Management and Occupational Health and Safety with a minor in Homeland Security.

Work is starting to ramp up as we get closer to the end of FY09 and the beginning of FY10. There's a rush to spend the last of the 09 budget monies and gearing up to start spending the 10 monies. For me this means a push right now to get a bunch of smaller abatement jobs done before 9/30 and the planning and preparing for a whole bunch of large projects due to start in October. 2010 is looking to be a very busy one for hazmat.

The house keeps me busy on weekends. I'm starting to plan some of the renovation work. I should be getting new steps off the kitchen this coming week. Yay for wonderful friends who do home renovation for a living!!! I think the kitchen will come after that. I've been convinced to strip and restain the cabinets instead of painting them. Haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with the counters. The design is done for the conversion of the roll top into a cabinet. Its not going to be exactly cheap or quick but that's ok. I'll end up with something my grandfather made but in a form that is actually useful to me. I think he'd approve.

I have about 4 hours to decide if I want to make a spur of the moment trip to Mass for the weekend. An old high school friend is there and has invited me up. Its my three day weekend so I'm seriously considering it. Would be good to get out of town for a couple days.

Been scoping out Craigslist recently in the search for an embroidary machine. Wow, even used they're expensive. Might just have to wait on that one.

Ok, enough rambling for now.

Yesterday I went with some girl friends to a Korean bath house. Not a place I've ever been so I was looking forward to it. I have to tell you, it was fabulous! The Bade pool is like the ultimate jacuzzi. Its this big pool with all these areas of water jets around the edge of it. Each area focuses on a different area of the body and muscle set.

I suppose I should mention one little detail about the Bade pool before anyone rushes out to find their nearest Korean bath house. There are two Bade pool rooms...one for men and one for women. The reason for this is because clothing isn't allowed in the pools. So, if you have any kind of hang ups about being naked around your own gender, this probably isn't for you. It really wasn't a big deal. You don't notice being naked when everyone is naked. No one paid any attention and no one cared about less than perfect bodies. I mean, lets get real, I'm shaped like the Cheshire Cat!

I have to say my favourite area in the pool was the overhead jet. It was wonderous as it pounded down on my neck and shoulders. We spent time in the Bade pool, rotating around through the various jets and then moved over to the hot tub. From there we stood in the cold tub for a few minutes to cool down. After being the hot tub it was way too cold to actually sit in! Then we repeated the whole cycle again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

It was fascinating seeing the mothers there with their daughters. Very cool to see girls being raised to not be ashamed or embarrassed by their bodies or finding nude women to be something odd.

From the Bade pool we put on the shorts and t-shirts they provided and made our way to the Poultice Rooms. This is the unisex area of the spa. There's a large open room that had families relaxing on mats on the floor and a snack bar area. Along one wall are the Poultice Rooms. Each room is a sauna made up of different minerals and such which is supposed to help pull the icky stuff from your body. I kept looking for the anti-fat room but I think they keep that hidden in the super secret area. We started in the red clay ball room. Picture a ball pit but filled with tiny hard clay balls instead of plastic play balls! You lay down on the balls, kinda sinking in to them. The heat from the balls feels great I have to admit but I didn't really care for the room because it freaking hurt walking on the little balls to get in and out!!! Next time I think I'll skip that room. Walking on marbles is not a good look for me. We also went into I think it was the salt room. It wasn't bad at all. My favourite room though was the cold room. It was literally like sitting inside a freezer, though, because I was hot from the other rooms it felt fabulous. I could have probably spent hours in there.

There were two rooms that made me seriously wonder about the sanity of people. One was kept at 156 degrees and the other was at 180 degrees. HELLO!!! I'm not trying to end up as a piece of beef jerky!

In the snack bar area they have these most OMG wonderful chairs that just seem to suck your butt right in. I have got to find out where they got these. I need a couple of them in my house. Then all I have to do is train the cat to do all the housework because I'd never leave the chair.

This was definitely an experience to repeat, totally worth the hour drive! Even worth driving in Virginia!