Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wordless Wednesday


Friday, September 24, 2010

Here we go again: Friday Flip Off's

So it's Finally Friday again, time for the Friday Flip Off's hosted by my gal MommaKiss.



First off I'd like to flip off Fall.. I'm all for the changing of the leaves to the pretty fall colors, but I don't like cold weather and don't even get me started on Daylight Savings, that's a whole load of crap all together.  My summer totally SUCKED, but even with that being said I hate to see it go because that means that my bestie is leaving.  You can read about that ordeal Here.






Second, after reading MommaKiss' heartfelt note about her bestie's ordeal with cancer, I'd like to join her (as well as all the awesome peeps who commented in support) to tell cancer to Fuck Off.  Cancer took my dad and my grandma and just last October it took my bestie's mom. So I raise my voice and shake my fist and scream FUCK OFF Cancer, you Evil Bitch.






Of course a week can’t go bye without me flipping off my assclown of a landlord.. Because of this:

it's mold.  In the utility closet in my bedroom. I would never have known it was there had it not been the incessant drip drip drip I heard last Friday morning. I went to inspect Friday nite, and the assclown took a look on Saturday and said to me “no, it’s just the paint” No fucker, it’s Mold. I ordered a test kit to get solid proof.  The incessant dripping was water coming from somewhere in the ground dripping out from the circuit breaker (oh yah, that's safe.)  You all have NO idea how I can't wait to get the hell out of this apartment.


I'd like to Flip off my kid's first period teacher, but she's kinda right in her being pissed with his Chronic Lateness Disorder and threatening to mark him late and give him detention.. but DAMN it's 7:45 in the morning.. and despite my best efforts it's not that easy to get this kid moving in the morning.. it's gotten better this week (because honestly, who wants to sit through detention at the end of the school day?)  So, OK, Fine I won't flip off the teacher.. but I will flip off the asshat genius who thought school should start at friggin' 7:45am.

It's Friday Y'all.. so man up and check out these other great Friday flip off's and make the most of your weekend.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Cottage Cheese Cannoli (don't do it)

When I was given the opportunity from Foodbuzz to try out Friendship Cottage cheese via a free coupon for myself and a few to share with family & Friends I jumped on it. I haven't had cottage cheese in a long time, and even then it was just those little cups you get with the cottage cheese & fruit.. I never really thought about cooking with it or actually using it in a recipe. Then I remembered that my friend Tina uses cottage cheese in her lasagna (first time she told me that I was all WTF?) But since cottage cheese and Ricotta have similar textures I thought I'd give it a go and try it as a cannoli filling, no cannoli shell, just the filling, this was totally experimental.

I went and purchased a container of Friendship whipped cottage cheese, I'd never tried that type and figured it would give me the texture I was looking for. It was and it wasn't. it was still quite grainy... so I beat the crap out of it with my electric mixer. Then, as it was pretty loose I sat it in a few layers of cheesecloth in my mesh strainer over a bowl overnight.. by morning it was pretty solid.

After dinner, after various rounds of "mom, what'cha gonna do with that stuff in the fridge" I went ahead and mixed it up, Cannoli style.. I used about 3/4 up powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla and a few tablespoons of mini chocolate chips.

It was alright. No amount of sugar was going to remove that cottage cheese tang and too much sugar would have been downright nasty.

I think I'll stick with cottage cheese for breakfast with fruit though.

How do you like your PB&J

It all started when I posted on twitter that I left my PB&J in the freezer at home.

Yea, you heard that right, I keep my PB&J in the freezer... that way when I get to work and finally get around to eating it it's not all mushy and warm. I don't like warm peanut butter and please don't give me PB&J on toast.

No grape jelly either *ack*

Raspberry, strawberry or even Marmalade will do in a pinch, but never, ever, EVER grape jelly.

I once made the kid a peanut butter & banana sandwich for lunch when he was in daycare, and he cried. HE CRIED! He was around 3 or 4 and I was in college, running like the maniac I am in the morning going OMG I forgot to make your lunch so this is what I'm making for you. I packed it anyway despite the crying and ya know what? He ate it anyway.

So.. how do you like your PB&J?

Friday, September 17, 2010

Friday Flip Off’s

Is it wrong to Flip off my Landlord again? No? Ok, good.

First flip off is to my jerkface landlord, because he was supposed to fix something years ago.. And apparently never did. So, at 4:45 this morning I was rudely awakened by a slow drip drip drip coming from the utility closet in my room. Now I have to bring to his attention once again that this issue needs to be fixed, when I thought it had been long ago. I don’t go in that damn closet..( Spiders)

I would like Flip off the white hairs that keep popping out in my head.. Go away! Just.Go.Away. In the same breath I would like to send a blessing to Miss Clairol who saves me every time ;)

Bestie’s hubby left last night for Portugal, and I can’t in any way flip either one of them off since I love them to bits... I’m not saying I wouldn’t want to though. Haha. I already told her she’s a bitch for moving. But I get why they're doing it.. Still doesn’t make it fair though.

Join the other wacko’s Lovely ladies Flippin’ everyone off this & Every Friday here:




Further proof my landlord is an assclown: Being a renter sucks

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Stupid circulon piece of crap...

Remember my post about my tiny kitchen and how I have such limited space and such? Well, it seems a little space just opened up.. Just a teeny bit.

I don’t have a crapload of cookware, just the basics. So when one piece is no longer usable it’s a HUGE deal to me. Well, last night I was taking the pan I had just made dinner in off the stove and it slipped out of my hand, the ONE 12"skillet that I have. Now I don’t care that it fell on the floor, but in falling the entire handle broke off.. Stupid circulon piece of crap. Now all I have to hold on to is a little metal stem about 3"long that will, undoubtably have me burning my hand eventually when I forget and grab it. FML.

Circulon has a terrible policy, after the same thing happened to my 8" skillet a few years ago I was informed that there was nothing I could do by a particularly nasty customer service rep. My grandma had the same set of cookware for 50+ years and nothing ever went wrong.. We kids used them as drums and walked with the big sauce pot over our heads making Darth Vader voices, left them out on the porch sometimes.. And nothing.

I drop a piece of crap pretty expensive pan and there’s nothing I can do but toss it and buy another one? Um, well, that's not really possible right now so no.

The pan isn’t completely useless, it’s just got no handle now.. Which any sane person would just take and toss.. But like I said, it’s the only one that size that I have.

So I’m left with 2 options now...
1. Just use it until I can afford to get another, GOOD one. (I'm thinking I'm going to toss give away what I have that's good and invest in a Farberware set because I have all mismatched pieces now)
2. Just go shopping and get one before I go and burn myself badly.

Unfortunately since I'm broke there are things going on in my world that are more important than purchasing another pan that actually has a handle I’m going to have to go with option #1... at least for now.

... And when I do get a new gleaming set of cookware I'll be posting to let y'all know what I get... and what I'll be cooking in it too :)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Sometimes life sucks.....

My best friend is moving away in 3 weeks. But she’s not just moving to another town or city.. Not even to another state.. She’s moving to Portugal with a stop in Mozambique along the way for a few months.

How am I dealing with this situation? Well, I’ll tell y’all it ain’t pretty.

She’s my bestest friend, the one who has always been there for me no matter what, who was there for me every single day when my dad died and all my other "friends" abandoned me, then a few years later when my mom passed away suddenly she was there within minutes ..no matter what she's always been the one I could turn to without judgement. She’s The kid’s Godmother. I'm closer to her than my own sister and over the past 22 years her family has become my own and her son is absolute sunshine in my life.

Now, I know she’s not gone forever and she promises to come back every summer... But this is the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with in a long time. Just writing this is bringing me to tears.

*ok, take a deep breath*

Yea, so maybe I’m not OK with this moving away bullshit thing but I have to learn to adapt and overcome and I’ve been reciting the Serenity Prayer whenever I feel myself completely freaking out slipping into absolute hysteria

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

I expect to be a total wreck for at least the first few weeks she’s gone.. I figure if I can expect the possibility of a complete and total breakdown the outcome may not be as bad, but I will be prepared for the worst. I know it’s going to be tough on my kid.. Although I try not to freak out in front of him and keep it to myself when I’m in the shower or when I wake up in the middle of the night going OMG WTF am I going to do with this girl 5,000,000 miles away? (ok, maybe not that far, but it feels like it).

I will try to blog more, I will try to keep my mind busy. I'm going to work on a new logo and possibly a total blog overhaul within the next few weeks.

If you're insane enough to follow me on Twitter and you notice me silent give me a little kick in the pants, tell me a joke.. something. I have these crazy ladies in my office to keep my head above water for the most part while I'm here..and my crazy ass family for when I"m not, but ya know.....it’s inevitable that there are going to be days where I’m just not going to be.. Well.. Me.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Friday Flip-Off's

Taking a tip from MommaKiss This week needs a big fat FU

My biggest Flip Off this week goes to my kid's school for making parents buy workbooks that should be supplied by the school, not sold at the student store for at least $10 a pop, the book for Earth Science is $18! (all together I'm talking almost $100 in books here)

Flip Offs go to my landlord for being a complete and total Fucktard for so many reasons, but the top this week is for lighting a fire in the pit in the backyard when I had clean sheets hanging on the clothes line, so yea, thanks for making me have to go BACK to the laundrymat to wash them again.

Flip off Hormones for making me a cry at the drop of a hat sobbing little girl this week.


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

My kid isn't a breakfast eater, he's more of a roll out of bed, get dressed and go kind of kid, which ultimately drives me berserk sometimes, especially since school just started and he doesn't have lunch until 7th period which starts at 12:30. I figured I'd go about finding something he could eat on the way to school that was healthy but wasn't messy and he could just grab and go.

After a little searching I found a few recipes for oatmeal bars, but I wasn't happy with the amount of sugar in many of them. When I finally found one that I liked I knew it was good, but it needed a few tweaks and the final product was absolutely perfect.

This recipe is very versatile and you can add nuts, raisins, cranberries, or any other dried fruit, just keep in mind that if you omit the banana or applesauce you need to add 2Tbs oil or they will be too dry.

Oatmeal breakfast bars

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 banana, mashed - or 1/4 cup applesauce
1 Tbs canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°

In a large bowl add oats, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well.

In another small bowl add the egg, banana oil, vanilla and milk.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until combined.

Pour mixture into an 8x8 foil lined pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes and cut into bars.

If you want them a little toastier you can put the bars back into the oven for 5 minutes to brown them a little more.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A few things that totally suck about having a tiny apartment kitchen

For one, I don’t have a kitchen table, I have a small bar style table that could sit 2, if my jackass landlord had some stools for me.. But no, maybe 2 people could sit there, but not comfortably since it’s about 2 feet long by 1 foot wide.

There is very little counter space, in total I have about 2 feet of counter space to the left of my kitchen sink, to the right is the dish drainer and my microwave, with very little room to spare to even open the microwave door without dumping the dish drainer into the sink

I have 5 cabinets
dishes & glasses
spices & baking supplies
dry goods
pots & pans

the space under the sink doesn’t count as decent storage for anything but cleaning supplies (and after the 30 year old copper pipe broke and my stupid landlord’s wife KEPT DOING LAUNDRY while he was working on it and the water backed up under my sink and he didn’t say anything to her so my cabinets flooded, my kitchen floor was a lake and this jackass did Nothing I keep the cleaning supplies in plastic bins so I can remove it all in one quick swoop when needed.

I have 2 drawers (the rest are just drawer fronts)

utensils
utilities & foil, plastic wrap, parchment, etc.

I really want a Kitchen Aid mixer, but I have no place to store it or anywhere to place it permanently, it’s bad enough I have my crock pot, blender, can opener and my dejected Senseo machine (they discontinued the coffee I like :o( ) in a storage bin under that stupid table/bar thingy that is mainly used for mail and cookbook/recipe reading.

My dream is not to have a grandiose kitchen, but one that’s functional and can accommodate my needs, I have neither here. The only good thing about this kitchen is the fact that I have a full size stove and not one of those puny apartment ones. I’d like to have one of those 6 burner stoves with a built in grill and 2 ovens though.. Oh imagine all the yummy things I could make... *sigh*

Well.. Someday.

Right now I’d be happy with a kitchen big enough for a table we could actually sit at and enjoy dinner instead of sitting on the floor chowing down in front of the TV.