food, books, and resolutions.

Once again I have neglected the blogs. With classes, the decision to do a home-made Christmas, and a mini-vacation, I have been incredibly busy. And, lets face it, more than a little lazy. I started this post forever ago, but never got a chance to finish it until now.

Ok, thats a lie, but it's the thought that counts. Or something.

I'm going to try to be brief here, but since there's some catching up to do, that may not be possible. So let the dumping begin:

Food:
I've been cooking a lot more lately. We stayed with Nick's grandmother while in Milwaukee, and that lady can cook. A lot. A small snack generally meant that the table was covered in many goodies, and desert involved a choice between three cakes. We ate so much while at her house (there is no refusing grandma!) and once we got home, it seemed almost wrong to just grab whatever from some blah restaurant when  deliciousness could be created at home. And Janet gave me a few of her recipes.

No, I will not be sharing them. At least not until I can get her approval to do so.

I will share my chicken fingers recipe that I thought I was a genius in creating, and after having done so, I realized it was very similar to the one on the Bisquick box. So I'm not a genius. I didn't get an pictures taken because we gobbled them all up, but I'm sure you can imagine what they looked like. (Just imagine something really yummy.... and by something, I mean chicken fingers, because imagining cupcakes would just be wrong in this scenario.)

 Chicken Fingers of Ultimate Deliciousness
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced to resemble fingers (1/2 inch strips)
- 2/3 c. bisquick
- 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 tbsp butter, melted

Heat over to 450. Grease cookie sheet (Misto or pam it). Add bisquick, cheese, salt, and paprika in a gallon ziplock bag. Dip the chicken in butter, put into baggie, shake, and then place onto sheet. (Do this in batches. The bag can't hold all of the chicken at once, I tried.) Bake for about 14 minutes, flipping the strips at the 7 minute mark.


Books:
I've sort of been on a reading kick these last couple of weeks since I didn't have much time to read before Christmas and school starts up tomorrow. I didn't get in as many books as I hoped to, but I think I did pretty well. It also helped that I read mostly YA, so it was easy to tear through them.

Everlasting by Alyson Noel
So I finally finished the last book of this series, and I'm pretty satisfied with how it ended. Or at least I think I am. I can't really remember how it ended, not that the series isn't memorable or anything, I read it while we were traveling (which means I read it on very little sleep.) This isn't the best YA series I've ever read, but I did enjoy reading it. The thing that bothers me about a lot of YA series is that the couple can't ever just be together, there's always something that keeps them apart. I understand that this keeps things interesting, but it can only go on for so long before it becomes annoying. This series was based on that very thing. In the last three (?) books or so, the main couple weren't able to physically touch each other, which was a different spin on the whole "they can never be together" theme, but it ended up becoming kind of preachy. It made it feel like a forced chastity belt, and that annoys me. I get it, you don't want to encourage teens to have sex, and maybe I should stick to reading adult novels if I want there to be sex, but it seems unrealistic to me. Anyway, I didn't like the series as a whole and I recommend it, but I won't be reading it again. And it's still better than Twilight. Or at least mostly better.

"The Infernal Devices" and "The Mortal Instruments" by Cassandra Clare
Ok, so I actually started reading the "Immortal" series (Noel's series) because I actually wanted to read The Mortal Instruments, but couldn't actually remember what it was called and looked up "Immortal" instead of "mortal" and Noel's series seemed interesting so I read it. That was a terrible sentence, and I'm sorry, but that's the best I can come up with. Anywho...
"Infernal Devices" was published after MI, but is actually the prequel, so I started with that one. The two books that are out right now- Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince- are awesome. The female lead reminds me a little of Arabella, from The Female Quixote, and I instantly fell in love with her. This series is set in Victorian England, and oh how I love it! Here's a synopsis. Unfortunately the third book doesn't come out until the end of this year, so you may want to read MI first.
"The Mortal Instruments" is set in modern-day New York (and fantasy places). The characters are a little younger and so you get a little more of that teenage angst in these books, but not so much so that it makes you want vomit and burn your eyeballs (or perhaps teenage angst only has that affect on me)- or perhaps ID seems a little more mature because of the period it's set in and has nothing to do with the age of the characters? Either way, I love this series. The characters are well developed (albeit a little predictable) and I was hooked from the moment I opened the first book. I mean, any book that features a sticker that says "Otaku Wench" on the backpack on the main gal, is definitely on the awesome list! That being said, the ending to the third book was so good (for me) that I am hesitant to pick up the fourth one. I like happy/complete endings (yeah, I'm sappy that way) and I'm not ready for that to go away.
I can't decide if I like Jace (man guy from MI) or Will (ID) better, but I do like ID a little more than MI- which I'm sure is not the case of most people. I hate to keep comparing everything to Twilight, but the more YA series I read, the more I realize how bad it was. This series is so good, that it ranks up there with The Hunger Games. Yeah, it's that good. And one of the best things about it is that the whole not-having-sex thing wasn't really an issue. They didn't have sex, but not because of some crazy notion of chivalry or curses. Ok, kind of, but it was much better that anything I've read so far!
Sorry if this makes no sense, I'm starting to get really sleepy and the husband is playing some music that has caused my brain to stop working.

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
I was so excited to read this book, and so glad I didn't have to wait 6 years for it to come out like so many of Martin's loyal fans. That being said, it sucked. Martin is a great writer (by my standards) and I have loved this series. He is able to create characters that I either love or love to hate, and he has a real knack for killing them off at the most unexpected times (something that I believe makes a great series truly epic) and I loved him for it. This book was like one of those annoying filler episodes in anime- there was no real point to it. He introduced one new character who I think may play a bigger role in a future book(s), but other than that, there was no real development. The husband found this review (which is the first normal person review, if you scroll down on the page) and it explains exactly how I feel about this book, only in a much more eloquent and clever way. There are some spoilers in it, but I think it's better that you read them than actually read the book. Seriously. Will I read the next book? You bet your behind I will! I just hope he doesn't disappoint.

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
I love the Dresden Files. Butcher is awesome, Dresden is awesome, Bob is freakin' awesome! That being said, this book wasn't as funny as his other ones, and I really don't like that Bob belongs to Butters in it (which isn't really a spoiler). I hope the next one is a little better.


Resolutions:
Its that time of year again. Yay.
This year, I want to be furiously happy. And get pregnant again. This means that I have to start taking better care of myself, both physically and mentally. I have to get back on my metformin and I need to get off of the anti-depressants. So here's the plan (not exactly a resolution, but I'm OK with that):
-Exercise daily
-Take metformin, which means cut out bad food (anything fried/greasy and super fatty)
- Cut out high fructose corn syrup
- Eat more veggies
- Get back on prenatals (because the sooner its in your body, the better)
- Get IUD removed (tmi? oh well!)
- Train for half marathon.................. yeah, you read that right. Nick and I don't plan on trying to conceive until June or so and, lets face it, if it's anything like the last time, it will take a while. I think that I will probably do Duke City (in Oct.) but I am seriously considering doing the Rock one in Vegas (Dec) instead (I can't remember what its called.) I always thought that running for hours was crazy, but I honestly think that I need to do something crazy if I'm ever going to change. What do I want to change, you ask? My lack of motivation. I am so lazy, so unmotivated, in almost everything that I do. And I hate myself for it. I think that the husband, though he will never actually say it, resents me for it. I can't be like this anymore, not if I want to be a good wife and a good mother. I can't. So something crazy it is. I really think that after finding the courage to do something so outside my comfort zone, will help me in my day-to-day activities. And the exercise will do wonders for my mental health. And if I happen to get pregnant before I actually compete, that's OK. At least I will know that I can do and, hopefully, I will be motivated to get back out there after that baby is born!


Well, there you have it. I'm off to bed now, I have to get up early tomorrow morning. And I'm going to be happy about it!

And thus is life...

So our wonderful vacation was canceled because the husband got "sick." He definitely had a cough, but swore up and down that he was dying and could not board the plane that was scheduled to leave the next morning. I keep telling myself that he really was sick, but I also knew that he didn't really want to go and he was magically better the following afternoon. This trip had been planned months in advanced and all the money we got back from the hotel and car rental went to Delta* so we could give my dad's frequent flier miles back to him, so we're still out $350. It seems like we never do anything as a family because something always comes up and this trip was a guaranteed way to do something fun together. But I sucked it up and went with it anyway because I didn't want to fight, but I swore that I wouldn't spend my entire spring break packing and moving.

Well it's Thursday and all we've done is pack and move (and we're not even done.) We were going to go up to Santa Fe today with my parents, but my dad had a conference call this morning and work to do on the townhouse (which is the bane of my existence and I would love to vent about it but I would just piss off certain people because there is no way I can blog about it without giving names and I don't really want to deal with another family feud, especially since the laws of wergild don't apply anymore. Boy, that was a long sentence.) So instead the husband and I were going to go to Fat Squirrel tonight and drink non-Irish beer to celebrate Saint Patty's, but his allergies are acting up and he doesn't feel like going out anymore. Why are men such babies when it comes to illnesses? (but he does sound terrible right now)

Have I mentioned that my poor little monster had four teeth coming in and barely slept last night because of the pain and being in a new, noisy environment?

So to end my enchanting tale, my spring break has been the worse I have ever had and thus is life. I'm glad we're semi-settled and the Monster has been asleep for four continuous hours so far, but I'm exhausted, extremely bitter, and angry that I probably won't be able to take those glorious sleeping pills the rapist is begging me to take every now and then** until we buy and move into a new house. Tomorrow will be better... tomorrow has to be better....

*Dear Delta, you're a bunch of assholes.

** I appear to be suffering from mild insomnia and the happy pills apparently don't work as well when I'm dead tired. I also have a theory that the rapist is just trying to shove as many meds into me as she can, but I'd kill for a good night's rest so I'm not fighting her on this one.

Oops...

I'm behind in my challenge... does that mean I lose?

I plan on catching up, but things have been one great big ball of crazy at this casita. We're planning on having the vast majority of our stuff packed and out of this house by Friday and we have a TON of stuff. It's amazing how much we need to get rid of and all I can do is hope that The Ark is making a round through our neighborhood before the end of the month (and preferably not when we're on vacation). And that's the other problem- we have a vacation to pack for and I hope that I can keep my wits together long enough to prevent packing the things we need for WI in with the moving stuff. There's still a ton of laundry to do, packing in the majority of the rooms, transporting, essays to write, books to read (for school, I swear!) and a baby to love on. Oh yeah, and a picture challenge to squeeze in. I'll get caught up, I promise.

**Enter Panic Mode**

On a slightly positive note, I have the vast majority of our kitchen packed up. There is still a bit left, but I can bust that out in an hour once I get the appropriate boxes. I love that our kitchen has every cooking utensil/tool we will ever need (and will use more than once a year) but, man, it sure is a lot of things to pack and I'm trying to do it in an organized fashion so it's easier to unpack (I detest unpacking), so it takes a little longer.

Ok, time for bed. Maybe tomorrow I'll catch up on the challenge, but for now I'm going to go catch up on some z's.