Mouse-tery

After we FINALLY arrived home from Christmas, we were unpacking things, and Andy walked into the kitchen.  He shouted back to me, asking if I had moved one of the mousetraps (we set two glue traps before we left).

Obviously, anyone with half a brain knows that I don’t go near anything that is remotely related to mice with a ten foot pole.

But there was a trap missing.  Like gone.

Andy grabbed the flashlight, and started peering under the stove and under counters.  But there was no mouse.  No trap.

It’s vanished into thin air.

So somewhere around here is a mouse with a glue trap attached to it, just toodling around.

The next time my husband wants a glue trap, I will remind him of this.

We are a kill trap only kind of family, thankyouverymuch.

And our next house WILL NOT have a woods right behind it.

The weekend in which we visited three establishments in one strip mall, among other things

Here is last weekend, in brief notation form.

-Friday—last day of classes.  Played Apples to Apples with my students.  They don’t know any of the cards—“Who’s Richard Nixon?” “Who’s Cher?” It was wild.

-Friday—Dinner at Tapatio’s.  Esther Bible study.  Perfect time with sweet girls.

-Friday—Andy gone to IU for a few hours…falling asleep on the sofa watching a movie.  Perfect :)

-Saturday—to Indy.  Sushi at Tomo on Keystone.  Possibly the best sushi I’ve ever eaten.  Ginger dressing less mayonaise-y than in S. Indiana and N. Kentucky—I like it.  Clear broth soup fabulous…spicy tuna roll not too spicy, but super tasty.  All in all—a perfect lunch. 

-Saturday-Andy’s hair cut three buildings down from Tomo.  (It’s about time—he had little curls on the back of his neck) Stylist flirted with him incessantly.  Andy bought his first ever hair product.  I got tickled.

-Saturday—Target.  My straightener broke, and I needed a new one.  Andy found out how much a Chi costs, and nearly swallowed his tongue.

-Saturday—chocolate carmels with sea salt.  YES!

-Saturday—Trader Joe’s for brown rice penne pasta (Mom, I’ll bring it with me) and brown rice crackers.  Also, some Thai red curry sauce, quinoa, and salt and pepper potato chips.  Drooling in Trader Joes.  Almost excited that wheat makes me sick so I have an excuse to go back often—like every time we’re in Indy!

-Saturday—at Penn Station for dinner.  It was so worth the stomach ache to eat that bread.  But nothing else has been since.

-Sunday-left Indy at six to go to a wedding in Detroit.

-Sunday—passed my mom and dad’s at 7 am.  Felt weird not to see them.

-Sunday—arrived at the synagogue an hour early.

-Sunday-restrooms in Jewish synagogue (temple?) do not have toilet paper.  Only a basket of napkins.  Someone says they look like they came from the Dairy Queen.  (It was not Andy who said this)(Or his dad) I dropped the basket trying to grab a napkin and spill them all over the floor.

-Sunday. Andy’s cousin D. (the groom) explains some of the traditions and things of the Jewish wedding.  He reads us part of his wife’s ketuba (marriage contract).  It’s so completely different from anything I’ve ever experienced.

-Sunday- Through the wedding—hearing all the Hebrew, seeing the tradition.  Very unique experience.

-Sunday—Finish lunch, sneak out…on the road again.

-Sunday—Arrive in Indy, back to the same strip mall with Tomo and hair place….this time for Qdoba.  I have Qdoba for the first time since the day after Christmas last year.  Thank Andy 36 times because he doesn’t like Qdoba, so it’s a big sacrifice on his part

-Sunday-finally arrive home at 10:30 pm.  Worn out.

Scrooge isn’t always so Scrooge-y

I just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t misrepresenting my sweet husband.  As much as he hates Christmas, he’s really quite a sweetheart.  I am an extremely blessed woman, and I wouldn’t trade my husband for anything (just his attitude about Christmas).  Here are a few of my favorite things he’s done the past few weeks

--Waited until we got to Gas City on the way back from my parents at Thanksgiving so we could get a peppermint mocha at Starbucks for the drive

--Given up most bread/wheat products with me (he still has some) since we figured out I’m a bit wheat intolerant and wheat makes me sick to my stomach

--Made sure to surprise me with a salad when he picked up Subway as a surprise last Saturday

--Driven my car all week to fix the little bugs it’s been having

--Taken over the checkbook/budget for a month to give me a break

--Came home the other night and took me on a date with Su….Su-shi that is :)

--Doubled checked to make sure I recorded NCIS Tuesday night….then let me sleep on the sofa from 6:30 to 11…then brought me a glass of water so I wouldn’t be dehydrated and took  me to bed

There are about 500 more….I just can’t think of them right now.  He’s just a sweet thing :)  Even if he’s a grump.

The Grinch/Scrooge (AKA My husband) and his gift giving funniness

Andy is a self-proclaimed Christmas hater.  He is basically the opposite of me.  He hates Christmas.  Hates buying presents.  Hates getting presents.  Hates singing Christmas carols.  Won’t look at a cookie or a treat.  Mocks the beautiful “It’s a Wonderful Life” and refuses to watch “Elf” more than once a season.  All of it.  He’s a big ol’ stick in the mud.  And I do believe he’s a bit proud of it which aggravates me to no end.  You had better believe if he acts like this when we have kids I am shipping him away for the month of December.

We had a bit of a fiasco last Valentine’s Day that has turned out to be my FAVORITE story to share with people.  I can tell a dramatic story.  Boy can I.  I am the queen of exaggeration….and when I get a story down right, it’s darn entertaining. This particular story is a real hit when we have guests over for dinner.  I whip out my five pound weights and the Walk Away Your Hips and Thighs tapes as visual aids.  It’s tres klassy, people.  With all that said, I think Mr. Scrooge is hoping for Christmas 2009 to redeem Valentine’s 2009. 

But he’s not very good at it.

First, on Tuesday night he yelled at me to leave his office and not come near.  Then he shouted for me to come back so I could give him my Amazon account username and password.  Then sent me off again.  Then called me back for my email address password.  So I had an idea at that point.  (Funny sidenote—he didn’t pay attention to my Amazon shopping cart and ended up buying two of his own Christmas presents as well).

Then today, I come home, and there it is.  My Christmas present.  Sitting on the middle of the table.  In it’s box and all.  He just opened the package and sat it on the table and left it.  No surprise.  No waiting until Christmas.  No shaking the box to figure out what’s inside. 

Christmas presents are all about the anticipation.  All about shaking the box and waiting until Christmas Day.  And now that’s ruined.

Because I can clearly read the box that says, “amazon.com kindle” and figure out what is inside.

*Deep sigh.*  I guess I should just be glad it’s not an 8 lb. set of hand weights.

Stuck

I’m stuck right now.  For the past two weeks, I have sat in our living room trying for the life of me to figure out where to put our Christmas tree.  Every night I try to figure it out.  And I can’t.  I look and I look and I try to rearrange things in my head.  And I can’t figure it out.  I feel like our new furniture is just SO much bigger.  Enough that I can’t find a place for a Christmas tree.  And it makes me sad.  And I don’t really even want to get it out of the closet.  We used my office for storage during all of the construction and I still have leftover boxes of wood and things that are in my way so I can’t even easily get to the Christmas decorations.  I tripped over a box of hardwood trying to find my wrapping paper.

I’m thinking about putting the tree up in the kitchen.  The kitchen has a lot of open space this year.  And then maybe I can find a smaller, thinner tree for the living room.  I just don’t know.

I’m married to a self-admitted Scrooge, and he is no help at all in this.  I need a girl with a good eye to come into my house and tell me what to do.  I have never been so stuck on a decorating problem.  And it’s making me crazy.  And more than a little sad.  It’s 15 days before Christmas, and our house has less than a dozen decorations.  And I can’t even make any Christmas cookies or most treats because I think I am wheat intolerant and I’m trying an elimination diet to see.

And I am tired.  I’m not busy and overwhelmed.  I’m just flat out tired.  Like fall asleep on the couch for an hour while Andy and Bobby played the Wii tired.  And Andy and Bobby are not quiet Wii players.  But I slept right through it. 

Because I’m tired and stuck.  And in serious need of an attitude adjustment.

More Changes

Over the last several months, I have been thinking seriously about what we eat.  I read the book Fast Food Nation this summer, which really started to send my mind spinning.  I was thinking seriously about making the switch to organic products, but Andy wasn’t with me.  After we watched Food, Inc., a few weeks ago, he changed his mind.  My meat-loving husband said to his boss, “I can understand now why your daughter is a vegetarian.”  And asked me to change the way we eat.

Since I’ve been given the green light, I’ve started to implement some small changes.  Small is about all you can do in our little town, when Kroger’s organic section is smaller than my very tiny bathroom.  For now, we are buying organic fruits and vegetables when they are available.  That means I can usually get carrots, celery, and apples, but not a whole lot more than that.  We’ve switched to organic milk.  This week I did buy some organic frozen vegetables, and our meats have switched over to what’s available in the organic/all-natural section.  We’ve been eating cage-free eggs for the past 6 months or so, because they have less saturated fat. 

In the coming weeks and months, I’m hoping we can do some stock up trips to Whole Foods or Trader Joes.  If I can do a “stock up” shop, then I can definitely fill in with what’s available here in town.

With our very limited selection (especially in the meats), we’re  changing the way we eat some more.  Andy grew up in a very much meat and something else type of family.  Me, not quite so much.  Right now, we’re doing a whole lot of vegetables with a tiny bit of meat and some whole grains….or something egg based that contains no meat.  This week we have had a psuedo-chicken cacciatore, mushroom and broccoli stir fry, and tonight we’re doing a chicken pot pie fakeout.  These have all been fairly low calorie meals, and all have been made with probably 50-60 percent organic ingredients.  Here’s what we did:

Pseudo Chicken Cacciatore:

1 c. cooked chicken meat

Sliced mushroom

Sliced Green pepper

Carrot

Onion

Celery

1 jar Newman’s Own Sockarooni Pasta Sauce (seriously….my new favorite pasta sauce)

Whole Grain Pasta

I cooked the chicken, the vegetables and the sauce until all were ready, then mixed them with the cooked pasta.  It was so good.  And so easy.

Mushroom and Broccoli Stir Fry

Sliced Mushrooms (about a pound)

Green Pepper (1/2)

1 bag frozen broccoli (I used Cascadian Farms)

1 rough chopped onion

Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce (definitely not organic)

Soy Sauce

1 c. cooked chicken

Jasmine Rice

I cooked all the vegetables together and coated them with the sauces.  Then we served them over the rice.  Andy ate my leftovers.  Before this morning.  We had this for dinner last night.

Chicken Pot Pie

Organic Chicken Thighs, chopped

Onion

Flour

Organic Chicken Broth

Mixed Vegetables (I used Cascadian Farms frozen mixed vegetables)

Salt/Pepper

1 sheet puff pastry

Cook the chicken thighs and onion.  Coat with 1-2 T flour.  Then add 1-2 c. chicken broth and stir until thickened.  Once the sauce thickens some, add the mixed vegetables and season to taste with salt and pepper.  I also tossed some bay leaf in for a little flavor.  Once that is all cooked together, transfer the filling to a baking dish, cover with the puff pastry and bake at 350 until golden brown (20-30 minutes?)