Good things

I'm trying to return to the original purpose of this blog, which was to make time for things that I often forget to make time for. So..today...good things about today:

1. Accomplishing an amazing amount before 5pm, due to waking up so blinking early.
2. Mint tea and cinnamon toast. I haven't had cinnamon toast forever!
3. Chuck. I'm loving that show. It was on tonight.

Sleepless in Victoria

Well, I'm up early, b/c D. was taking the 7am ferry over to the mainland for work, and I took the opportunity to get up early with him in hopes of getting lots done today.

I had a really hard time going to sleep last night. My brain was whirling at breakneck speed thinking about:
-Client A
- Client B
- Potential thesis topics and exactly how I could execute said potential research. I thought about this in way too much detail when I didn't have a pen or pencil and paper or computer to record my thoughts. Can I remember what I was thinking about now? Not so much.
- My to do list for today and this week.
- That I couldn't sleep.
- That I may be keeping D. up with my tossing and turning when he had to get up early.
- Concentrating on laying still while I was thinking about everything else to minimize the disruption to D.

Lol! Now I'm debating showering and going into work uber early to get a good start on the day...or to stay at home and do my work from home and school stuff. I think I may go out to work so I can then come home and have a longer period of time to get things done in when I get back.

Bastet is confused - she is doing her weird dog thing (if I haven't told you about this yet - she has this stuffed dog she has a bizarre relationship with. Late at night, usually about 10 min after we go to bed she carries it around and meows in this bizarre meow that is a combination of the way mother cats meow to their kittens, and a predatory meow. She has a very bizarre relationship with this dog). It's morning Bastet, not evening!! lol!

Bits and pieces

1. I found a great recipe website: All Recipes. The recipes can be printed in multiple formats, you can modify the number of servings and it automatically resets the ingredient amounts for the number of servings you want. If you create an account, you can save recipes to your recipe box, print out ingredients, all kinds of things!

2. Great, simple pizza/focaccia type recipe:

Mix 2 1/2 tsps of active dry yeast with 1 cup warm water till dissolved.
Add 1 tbsp of oil and 2 1/2 cups flour and mix till it forms a ball.
Let rise on oven while you heat it up for about 15 minutes.
Set oven to about 400 degrees.
Slice peppers (I used red, yellow and orange) thinly, and tomatoes in about 1/4 inch thick slices.
Sprinkle pizza stone with cormeal, and roll the dough out on the stone.
Brush dough with olive oil.
Sprinkle with kosher salt (or sea salt), fresh cracked pepper, and italian seasoning (I think a mix of rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano?).
Lay tomatoes and peppers out on the dough.
(Optional) sprinkle with feta cheese.
Bake for about 15 minutes in the oven. I check it and turn it at 10 minutes, then watch it closely till it's done.
Grill in oven for the last 1-2 minutes.
Slice and serve...would make a good appetizer I think.

3. I'm going through IKEA withdrawal...I'm in serious need of a trip. When I told M. this, she said "What do you need?" I said "Well...a door mat....umm...a dish rack...and you know." She said "And you can't get a door mat anywhere in Victoria?" So, maybe I don't NEED much from Ikea, but I think it's more the Ikea shopping experience I need. I've also added to that list of things I need from Ikea: Throw pillows, maybe art for above our couch, candles and a few Christmas decorations, a new duvet cover....hmm. All these are things I know I can get cheaply at Ikea. I'm sure I CAN get them elsewhere, but I KNOW I can get them cheaply there ;-).

4. D. is away for work again this upcoming week. I'm going to try to make the best of it and get caught up and ahead (hopefully) on work and school things. I get a stack of marking on Friday, so I'll need to be caught up on everything else before then.

5. I'm hoping, once again to get back on the health bandwagon this week. Still running out of time in the day...eating not enough veggies and fruit, and too much junk, and not making enough time for exercise, sleep, and other non-work and school related things.

6. I know it's that time of year, but I'm just tired. Not physically, but mentally (mostly). I'm finding I'm in one of those phases I go through (and I'm sure everyone does) periodically where it's just tiring thinking about another week starting, when often the previous one hasn't ended...and because I'm tired, I'm constantly feeling like I'm doing the bare minimum to get by in all areas of my life, and thus doubting whether I can really keep up with this job and line of work I've chosen. Like I said though, this is a phase...I know it is, we all go through them and it will pass. Just tired though right now.

Our weekend away!

We had an excellent weekend away.

We started in Nanaimo on Friday night. As usual, we were flurried and rushed trying to get out of town, but made it onto the highway not too far behind schedule. We spent an excellent Friday night with friends in Nanaimo. There was good food, wine and even some juggling, MJ, and many other good tunes. The next day we went to Coombs Market (had the best samosa I've had in years there!)..but alas there were no goats on the roof. I did score some strained tomatoes (I know, exciting only for a very few people), "sticky toffee" cheese, geman ginger cookies (spekulates...sp?), and a few other things. I love Coombs. I managed to restrain myself and didn't load the truck up with random dishes and decorative items, but I did kick myself for not bringing the cooler!

We then headed to Comox to visit some other friends. We had coffee with D., who was our lone Canadian friend in Mass., and who has since also moved home and was visiting family in Comox. We stayed with some other frineds and had a WONDERFULLY lazy day and a half. Saturday we slept in, went out for brunch, picked up some firewood and went back to their place. These friends are house-sitting in a house with a wood-burning fire place. So, we stoked the fire and spent the day lazing around, visiting with some people who stopped by, listening to music, playing dutch blitz and just relaxing by the fire! After a run for dinner ingredients, we made a yummy dinner of homemade meatballs and pasta and apple crisp for dessert. Played more dutch blitz, and watched the crazy storm (winds were up to 100km in Comox).

Yesterday we woke up to no power, went out for breakfast again, then went for a drive. Problem was, it was hard to go for a drive, because there were trees down accross all the roads!! It was mad! There was even one of those giant trampolines with the safety netting that had lifted up and flipped over an 8ft fence and landed on the side of the road on the other side of the fence!! Insane!

Anyhoo....we made it home safely, and I begrudgingly went back to work 2 hours after getting home at 9pm, and am just about to get ready to head out again this morning.

It was a great weekend though, much needed!!

Polenta....who knew?

I bought Cornmeal the other day, with plans to make home-made polenta to go with a lentil stew. It was really easy, and really really good.

The problem is, I'm now addicted to polenta. It's my new comfort food. Here's what I had for breakfast:
Polenta cooked on the stove top (corn meal, water, salt, margarine) till it was like a hot cereal.
Then I mixed in cut up ham, tomatoes, cheese, and olives, salt and pepper and a little hot sauce.
It was SO good. It did NOT look appetizing, and it sounds really weird, but it was really really good. I think I may be developing a problem. I guess though, it's better than ice cream, and ridiculously cheap.

Funny, I never would have thought of polenta as a "comfort food." Bizarre.

Well, I've cleaned, now I have to study and work like mad all day so I can leave for the weekend without worrying. We haven't actually done anything on a long weekend or taken a long weekend off for a really long time, and both of us are feeling burned out and needing a mini-break. So, after work today we're driving to Nanaimo to spend an evening with some friends we've recently re-connected with, and then are spending Sat and Sunday night with some other friends in Comox.

I'm looking forward to the weekend SO much, but I'm just hoping I can get everything in order so I don't have to work or study while away, and/or don't have to worry about how things are going back here!!

Rebel

I felt kind of like I skipped school today. D. wasn't feeling well, and called in sick to work. I decided that I would move my day work to tomorrow, since I have to be out to do a presentation anyways (which makes it already not a "good" Saturday). So we kind of had our typical "Saturday morning" today, on Friday. This means we sleep in, lay around doing nothing, have waffles or eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast (today it was egg beaters and turkey bacon)and just hang out together. I said to D. at one point "I feel like I'm skipping out on school." He looked at me and said "Rebel." I found this very funny.

Anyways...the lazy time is over...time to finish this presentation for tomorrow before I head out for late afternoon/evening work out of the house. But, it was a nice morning :-).