Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

Hey, I learned something new. Did you know that you can develop lactose intolerance? I didn't. I mean, sure, I thought maybe some people who were lactose intolerant sort of developed it as they got older and things didn't start working so well. But really, I thought most people who had it were basically born that way - hence, soy formulas for babies. I understand the concept - cow juice not made for people. But most of us seem to have a pretty good relationship with our dairy, so I really didn't think it was all that widespread. Whaddya know? I started getting some ... um .... curious symptoms that seemed to appear after eating dairy, so I did some research. Apparently, about 80% (yes 8-0) of people develop lactose intolerance. Eighty percent. Does it seem to you like 20% of people are eating all that dairy and the rest are sitting back in envy? Or do those pills for lactose intolerance really sell that well? You'd think it would be a pretty big selling point that the...

These are stressful times. You need a way to get out your frustrations - without actually killing anyone. Voila! Paintball! But you need paintball gear, don't you? Where do you go? Ultimate Paintball, of course. Everything you need for your paintballing stress relief session is here: dye paintball guns, masks, hoppers, barrels, harnesses, air systems, cleaners and oil, and even apparel.

Before I got my beef delivery, I had planned on making a lentil stew. Well, since I still had a pound of ground in my refrigerator to use, I worked it into the recipe. This is what we came up with, and it turned out great. All the seasonings are just thrown in "to taste." Lentil stew 1 pound crumbled ground beef finely chopped onion (I sneak it in because my little one thinks she doesn't like onion) basil (I used quite a bit) garlic powder italian seasoning (not a lot) seasoned salt chili powder (about a teaspoon was all) cumin (just a few sprinkles) parsley coarsely ground black pepper brown beef in slow cooker set on high for about an hour, breaking it up and stirring frequently add shredded carrots frozen corn 6-8 cups of water 2 cups lentils beef bouillon Reduce heat to low and let cook about four to six hours. (I soaked up the small amount of excess grease from the top with a paper towel after simmering for a little while.) I added a little cornstarch and water to th...

I went to Social Spark to find a post, and I spent a whole afternoon having fun with this one! The site is called MagNext , and it's this cool little online gaming world that's simple enough for those nongamers of us out there to actually enjoy. The site seems to be aimed at preteen kids, in terms of skill level required, but younger kids (and their parents) can enjoy it as well. I had fun with the rollercoaster game, because it was an easy way to get my feet wet and pick up a few points. There's a one-player hot rodding game too, called the Spheron Speed Challenge (see screen cap below for a view of the beginning of it), for those of you, like me, who are a little nervous about diving into the interactive portion right away. This is a fun one to try to beat your own best and master the art of the perfect start for big points. When you are ready to go interactive, you can hit the arena and challenge other players to gladiator-like competitions. You collect Magz and special ...

Last night was night one of the Beef Fest. I won't do a day by day, because seriously, it will probably take months to get through it all. But last night we had a Mexican casserole that I threw together, and the kids raved on it. The only thing I couldn't fit into my freezers was one package of hamburger patties, so that's what I used up first. Mexican casserole Layer in large casserole dish - refried beans, frozen corn (as much as you like), seasoned cooked white rice, seasoned and browned ground beef (I seasoned my beef and rice with some taco seasoning purchased in a large bulk container - great to have around the kitchen!), crushed nacho flavor Doritos (we used about a third of a regular size bag leftover from Book's visit), and shredded cheese (good is Mexican blend, Fiesta blend, or a Monterey-Cheddar blend.) Bake in a 400-degree F oven until cheese is melted. (I think it took about 15 or 20 minutes, but I wasn't watching too closely.) You can add a sour cream...

If you're looking to put some more kick under your car hood, visit The Supercharger and Turbo Professionals at superchargerpros.com and find out how to improve horsepower, torque and make your car run like a thoroughbred.. Superchargerpros.com offers a wide selection of replacement superchargers, turbochargers and nose covers. They boast an inventory of thousands of new and remanufactured parts at the best prices, available to ship immediately and covered under full warranty. Most new parts offered are original factory equipment. In the cases when these are unavailable, superchargerpros.com uses quality manufacturers to build parts to their highest standards. Remanufactured parts have all been thoroughly disassembled and inspected and fully rebuilt, with all parts not meeting the highest specifications thrown out and replaced. Before any parts are shipped, they are tested on air, hydraulic and engine replicator machines, to ensure that any leaks, weaknesses or other problems are fo...

Got my footie fix today! I got to watch the Inter Milano-Manchester United game at my parents house on their big screen HD TV. Hell of a game it was too... Inter were really off the first half, and Manchester United clearly dominated. Man Utd missed some key opportunities in the first half, but Cesar was there to meet all the valid challenges brilliantly. Everything turned around in the second half and Inter came out on the attack, finally giving Van der Saar something to do other than sit back and twiddle his thumbs. Man Utd seemed a little spent during the second half, but they showed some bursts of brilliance, just none able to make it through to the goal. Ronaldo was on fire the first half but missed some key chances in both the first and the second halves - not that Cesar ever let up for a second on those that were on the mark. Rooney didn't come in until about 10 minutes remaining in the game, but Park, who he replaced, was hard on the attack the whole game. Final score: 0-0 ...

My mother stopped by earlier and dropped off 175 pounds of frozen beef in my kitchen. Much scrambling of the freezer space later, I can say that I know what we'll be eating for a while. I might want to do some repackaging for some long term storage though. It looks good now, but I don't want to be left with 125 pounds of disgusting, freezer burned crap. Since all the beef was frozen, I went another way for dinner tonight, and I made grilled Italian sandwiches. They were so good. I split a focaccia and cut it into four "buns" I brushed the split side with some olive oil mixed with garlic and Italian herbs and spices. Then I toasted it under the broiler (middle rack) just enough to lightly toast the bread. Topped it with shredded mozzarella and parmesan with just a little cheddar and monterey jack. Popped it back in just enough to melt the cheese, then topped it with super thin slices layered of hot capocollo, hot salame, pepper calabrese sausage and prosciutto and ga...

Right now, we're all pinching pennies a little harder. I was lucky enough to get in a quick weekend getaway before my financial house came crashing down. If you're lucky enough to be able to travel a bit in the near future, you'll still probably want to save as much as you can on the deal. If you're going to be using a rental car, you will want to stop by ebates for their enterprise coupon for enterprise rental cars. Right now there are coupons available for 50% off most weekend rentals and for a free upgrade at your next airport rental. While you're there, look around at some of the other savings available. Every little bit helps.

Ok, so here's the scoop: My brain has been seriously occupied all weekend with a major financial hit that arrived in my mail on Friday. It seems I won't be receiving a tax refund this year. It was diverted to cover a student loan that had gone into default. Of course, the loan went into default because my regular paycheck does not cover my regular bills. What gets me through each year is the tax refund check, which adds the buffer to cover the shortfall in my check. Basically, what it does is cover my rent for several months while my check covers the rest of expenses. What that buffer runs out, it gets really tight. My mother usually has to pick up the difference, and I thank and appreciate her profusely for it - believe me. Things are always tightest in January, right before the check comes, and then finally, I can breathe again for a few months. So this year, I can't breathe. My rent will be going up very soon (new municipal water installation). My paycheck will be even s...

I've been drifting among stewing, panicking and simple denial this weekend. I wanted to post, but I'm just too exhausted now...

It's Flashback Friday time! This week is Obsession by Animotion.....hehehe

Wordless Wednesday

My thoughts exactly! Hehehe! Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Jack Cafferty's commentary on the 'stimulus package' that just passed. The fact that members of Congress didn't even read this sausage factory before pushing it through is revolting enough....get into the details, and it induces vomiting. Shall I discuss later?

I hate Valentine's Day, you know? I really do. I hate having that reminder of the fact that I'm alone, even though most of the time, the fact that I'm alone isn't all that terribly distressing. Granted, it's been bugging me more lately. It's just that, when I'm alone, ALL I am is work and 'mom.' It seems like there isn't any 'me' in there. Got that new Taylor Swift tune, 'Love Story,' stuck in my head. It's no surprise. It's on every time I turn on the radio. It was Big Jim's birthday in the office today. Mel decorated his cubicle with balloons and streamers for him last night. That makes it official. I'm the only person in the department who didn't even get acknowledged for her birthday. And the only person who even bothered to tell me Happy Birthday got laid off, so she doesn't work with me anymore. I am destined to be entirely alone, aren't I? No friends. No partner. Life just keeps isolating me fur...

It's been a fairly quiet weekend, for which I am infinitely grateful. I've caught up on a lot of sleep, since I didn't have to work most of the time. Munch and Book made me Valentines, so I'm sharing them here. Munch's is a little hard to see because I scanned it with the candy taped on it. And Book signed his full name - including both middle names! - so I smudged that part out. Munch's Book's - front and back

Slightly belated....after midnight. Flashback Friday - Def Leppard's Love Bites.....in honor of the occasion.....

Wow, I'm behind again. So, ok - here goes. I had Wednesday unpaid off work (unpaid, but not really off work - more on that later...), so I chaperoned Gin for her class field trip to the local historical society. I'd fallen asleep after I got the girls off to school, so when I woke up, I had fifteen minutes to get to the school. I got ready and ran off without having anything to eat or drink. Big mistake. My blood sugar started plunging, and I spent the trip fighting it. Fortunately, a nice lady at the historical society got me a soda, and I was able to get through it without passing out and traumatizing the kids. When I came home I had to get on the message boards for work. All the users have been getting out of control with their sniping and petty bickering lately, and it's been a nightmare for me. I finally got the point that I PM'd most of the troublemakers and asked them to lay off a bit, explaining that while it's fun for them, it's my job at stake here. Fo...

This is my dear friend Z on the hurdy gurdy at a recent gig. Isn't he brilliant at it?

I had a crap day at work today. Thanks to the same person. Again. It's getting so infuriating. He's almost reason enough for me to quit my job, as he makes it so much more difficult than it needs to be.....and it's difficult enough as it is. If he would just keep his big, fat face out of my business and focus on his own, I could handle things, no problem. But he keeps stepping in where he's not needed or wanted and screwing everything up for me. Grrr! I was so ticked off that I came home and broke into my homemade wine. Lo and behold, after aging for a couple of months, it's actually not half bad. It's quite strong though, which suited me just fine. But now that I know it's actually drinkable, I'll be drinking more of it. :) I got a mystery solved tonight that's been driving me crazy for years. There's a book I read in college, and I could not for the life of me remember the title. I could remember little bits and pieces of the story, but I had n...

I'm so glad I found this video from the Courage Campaign at Rookie's Ramblings , and I'm proud to share it with you here. Help stop Ken Starr's cruel quest to break up these families. Support the Courage Campaign. "Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo . I've previously posted my feelings on this subject here .

After a week's hiatus because of my trip to Vegas, Flashback Friday is back!!! This week's flashback is Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" brilliantly synched to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Nightmare Before Christmas. Enjoy!

After my insomnia reared its ugly head again Tuesday night, I opted for a sleeping pill to knock me out last night. I knew I had a busy day ahead today, so I couldn't possibly go on any longer. I've been exhausted, which finally manifested itself into a full-blown, excruciating, dear-god-let-someone-kill-me-now-and-end-this-pain kind of migraine yesterday. I got some sleep last night, but the headache hung on into today as well. I started off my work in the morning at home, but then I had to drive the one of our newspaper offices for a meeting at noon. The editor wanted to keep it to about 20 minutes - it went on for an hour and a half. I've discovered that it's damn near impossible trying to explain anything to other people about how I will do my job when they have no idea what I do in my job. Finally, I just nodded and smiled, knowing that I would resolve the problem presented to me just fine, and they could see the end result without ever knowing what kind of work we...

I should be sleeping right now. I returned home from the airport after 2 a.m. this morning, having flown from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to Charlotte, N.C., to Columbus, Ohio, then driven two hours from the airport. My noisy neighbors woke me this morning at 8 a.m. No big surprise there. I arrived in Las Vegas on Friday morning following about 29 hours without sleep - and only about 4 and a half hours' sleep prior to that. I was quite exhausted by the time I got there, but F was considerate enough to leave me to shower and change clothes and try to revive myself again. We spent some time wandering up and down the Strip for a while with his colleague A, had some lunch at one of the famous buffets, then his friend decided we should wander down to the Outlets for some shopping. I'm not sure who decided to make him the navigator, but we ended up wandering a bit before we got there. I have no idea how far we walked. It felt like about 300 miles. Surprisingly, neither my knees nor my h...