Slowly getting set up.

Well, we're slowly but surely plugging along. I caved and threw in the towel on work and studying when I got home from work yesterday, and spent a couple of hours setting up the kitchen. That and the deck are now fully usable and set up.

Last night we had an easy salad with roast chicken, and a little brie and bread, and wine for dinner. We sat on the deck - it was sooo nice! Then we got down to setting things up. We got the futon together, then a friend stopped by and we paused for a "break" (break=another glass of wine on the deck). She consulted with me about the placement of bookshelves, and after she left we moved the bookshelves to their new homes (i.e. out of the bedroom so we had room to set up the bed), and set up the bed. So, we were, luckily, able to crash once again in out own bed last night.

Lots of work, practicum and school stuff today...so likely no time for setting things up :-( . But, at least I have a kitchen, if not an office.

Room to breathe.

We did it! We are here, in our new place. I'm sitting on the futon on the floor in the livingroom (where we slept last night) and thinking that despite the boxes and clutter of moving, I am already completely in love with our new home. It FEELS like home. I feel like I can breathe again, like now I want to have a summer, and want to get up in the morning (though I was NOT pleased when I woke up at 5:15 am after only an hour or two of sleep).

My favorite things about our new home:
1) It is so BRIGHT. So much LIGHT!!
2) It is private - it is a two-floor semi-detached suite, very private, and no worries about being too loud, or people walking by your windows all the time.
3) There are nice little details like nice (compared to typical apartments ) light fixtures, stained glass (but tasteful, not the tacky kind) windows.
4) We will have room for a regular sized table in the kitchen again!! Yay! Who's coming for dinner first :-)
5) The fridge is ENORMOUS.
6) We have a full size stove, and lots of cupboard space.
7) We have in suite laundry.
8) It's two floors, so it feels more like a house.
9) It is only 2 blocks from a neat little village, and only a couple more blocks to a beautiful beach and the OCEAN!!!

It was maddness yesterday...we had planned to pack up the moving van Sat night (the first load) then go to Church in the morning on Sunday, then after Church pack up the pathfinder and move it all over, then come back for a second load. I had a panic attack Sunday morning, saying we'd be moving it 1am if we didn't start right away. So, we decided to get going on the packing and moving immediately. The end result being, we still weren't returning the truck till 9:30 pm!! We had completely not thought about getting anyone to help us at all...and didn't realize how much longer it takes when there's just two of you! So, we fit it all into two vanloads and two pathfinder loads.

After the moving, we went to some friends for late night decaf coffee. It was just what we needed at the end of the day. We sat and had coffee and chatted till 11:30 or so, then came home and got the essentials set up, and tried to crash ( but neither of us slept).

We have NOTHING set up. Which of course is driving me crazy, because now it's Monday and we have to work! I would soooo love 3-4 days at home right now, because I have a) unpacking and setting up to do and b) Harry potter to read (thanks to Arwen)!

Bastet is having way too much fun with the new place. She was being a brat all night, getting into boxes, scaling bookshelves, tearing up and down the stairs and doing acrobats on them trying to scratch them. Getting into EVERYTHING.

So...we are happily back in the fold of lovely Oak Bay, and I feel like I once again have some room to breathe.

A low key day.

Today was a nice low-key day. Still busy, I had lots today, but it was one of those increasingly rare work-at-home days. I spent most of the morning working on my practicum, went for a run, had lunch, and then went out to catch up on the increasing pile of reading for my other classes. I started at a cafe (for a much-needed pick me up), then moved to the park to sit in the sun and read. I figure between running in the sun and doing my reading in the sun, maybe I can get some kind of a tan. Lol!

Tonight I'll make fish tacos for dinner, then get back to studying and try to get some work done. This is kind of a boring post...but I'm trying to keep up the blogging, since everyone (myself included) aside from Magnificent M seems to have been side-tracked by Facebook and neglecting their blogging duties. Tsk Tsk.

Snakes and bunnies and rain and dog poop

I'm trying to get back on the running band wagon, and yesterday was my second day out. It was pouring rain when I wanted to go, but warm, and I had planned to shower afterwards anyways, so I decided to still go.

There were bunnies everywhere on the trail, and on my way back home I just about stepped on two snakes!! The first one was literally practically under foot and when I saw it I leaped about 2 feet in the air and screamed.

The rain was actually nice, I didn't mind it. My body is quite sore after two days...even at a very slow pace, but it's just my muscles getting back into it.

One thing that DID bother me on my jog, as it always does, was the following phenomenon:

There, sitting on the side of the trail, is a little pink, green, blue or clear bag. It has a knot tied at the top. It is dog poop. Here is what bothers me - if you're going to let your dog poop on the trail, ok - as long as it's off to the side it doesn't bother me that much (PLEASE get them to go off to the side), if you're going to package up and dispose of your dog's poop, even better - thank you!! But, why on earth would you package it up and leave it there. It's in a plastic bag - it cannot decompose. So, by leaving it there, packaged up in a plastic bag, you are assuming that someone else will pick it up and dispose of it. That's a little presumptuous. Besides, isn't the grossest part the actual bagging of the poop? Once that's done, isn't it easy to put it in a garbage can? If you don't want to pick it up, then make sure they poop on the side of the trail and leave it so it can decompose (this is a bit gross though), or just pick it up. Don't package it up in PLASTIC, then leave it there. This makes no sense.

Okay, that's it :-)

Beautiful

I keep stealing from Victoria. This song is beautiful. From here.

Thai Coffee

I had this amazing Thai iced coffee at a restaurant once. It was so creamy and sweat, but still had a good strong coffee flavor, with interesting spices. I saw a recipe for this in my Cooking Light cookbook, and made a modified version of it. It is seriously HEAVENLY, even though I didn't have the true cardamon to put in, and I made it hot instead of cold.

Here's the Cooking Light Recipe:

1/4 Cup hot espresso or very strong brewed coffee
5 teaspoons fat-free sweetened condensed milk,
2 tablespoons hot water
dash of cardamon

Combine all ingredients, stir well. Cool completely; chilll in refrigerator. Serve over ice. Yeild 1 serving.

I made it warm, used a little more espresso, a little less SCM, and I used a combination of nutmeg and cinnamon instead of cardamon. It was SOOooooo tasty. A wonderful mid-afternoon pick-me-up treat.

Back to the rest of life...

I actually had time (or rather made time) to do some baking and cooking yesterday. We're trying to make the most of our grocery budget (and reduce it) so I dug through my recipes and the freezer and came up with: 1) Oatmeal fruit bars and 2) Baked extra lean italian meatballs.
Both used ingredients we already had, and are produce quick snacks and/or meals.

The oatmeal fruit bars are really easy. Here is the recipe:

Chewy Granola Bars

4 1/2 Cups rolled oats
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Cups mixed dried fruit, nuts and/or chocolate chips (I used apricots, cranberries and raisins).

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan.
2) In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in th 2 cups of mixed dried fruit.
3) Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

I wrap these individually and put them in the freezer (if they get that far!), to grab for a quick snack or to take in lunches. The best thing is, if you put in too much oatmeal, or overcook it, and it's crumbly, it makes great granola.

The thought of the meatballs, because I had a lot of extra lean ground beef to use up, and when we were in MA, we used to buy bags of frozen ones to add to different things (pizza, pasta, etc). I made them with the ground beef, chopped fresh parsley, pressed garlic, oregano, basil, kosher salt, pepper, a little olive oil, and (I know this is weird) some shake and bake. I used the shake and bake once for a recipe for burgers, becuase I couldn't find seasoned bread crumbs, and it really works well. They turned out SO good! Yummy.

It was VERY refreshing to spend some time in the kitchen. It has been way to long since I've done some baking or cooking, and way to much time eating convenience food.

Very Brief Hello

I feel like a bad "blogger." I've been SO completely non-blogging lately. It is only due to a major time cruch at the moment. I'm taking a very few brief moments to post an update.

1. Right now I'm sipping an excellent home-made bialetti americano. It is regenerating me for the evening of work ahead.
2. I saw one of my closest friends get married this past weekend. I also got to spend a lot of time with friends I don't see often, which was a wonderful blessing. The wedding was beautiful, and the couple looked SO happy!
3. I had to, at the last minute (right before leaving for the weekend) competely change my practicum project. Ah! This meant re-doing several assigments related to it. My understanding prof has given me some extra time to complete them, but they were due..ahem...Monday. And it's Thursday. Oi!
4. I've had an inordinate amount of out-of-the-house work this week, which has meant that completing (3) above has been extremely difficult.
5. But, tonight I've decided to work until I'm caught up. Hence the americano.
6. I am longing for Saturday. My parents gave me a fabulous waffle maker for my birthday, and no matter what Saturday will involve a) Sleeping in, b) Pajamas till late, c)Waffles, d) Strawberries, e) whipping cream, and f) Reading the book I borrowed from my mother-in-law.
7. Ooh, this americano is so good.
8. D. is out picking up boxes from a friend. That means packing again soon (ah!). But I am SO ready to be moved into our new house, now that the weather is nice (beach and above-ground living, here I come!).
9. I'm feeling unhealthy - too much bad food, to much time in front of the computer, not enough exercise...must make changes (I'm sure there will be a post on the weekend about just that ;-).
10. This must be the end, as my practicum work, and all the other work I have neglected is awaiting me.