Desperate Pregnant Girl Coming Through

My first trimester of pregnancy, I really didn’t have very many cravings. More like, a long long loooong list of things I now anti-craved. Today was definitely a classic pregnant day in the cravings department.

I went on a quick grocery store run so I could make a quiche. Part of my new grocery store routine is to reward myself for making it through the shopping by getting a piece of fried chicken while I’m at the store. After I made it home, I snarfed down a delicious piece of fried chicken (Winco does a pretty good job).

I also discovered last weekend that Roths has some amazing Blue Jay oranges on sale. A couple hours after my fried chicken escapade, I found myself wishing for a million of those amazing oranges. I only had a dollar in my pocket (enough to buy one!) so I drove to Roths just for that one scrumptious orange. So good!

Nom nom

I’ve really been wanting some baby dill pickles, and especially after I clipped a pickle coupon today, I couldn’t stop thinking about pickles! My mouth was literally watering just thinking about them. I’m also a bit of a pickle snob–I will only eat Nalley baby dill pickles. So after work I stopped at Winco (again!) and got myself some pickles. I just really didn’t expect these cravings to be so intense, and so in the moment. As in, right this moment, I would fight someone for a bag of Blue Jay oranges. Mmmmmmm.

Homemade Jam

Help! I need room in my freezer. My ambitious self picked close to 5 gallons of blackberries this summer. My ambitious self forgot how small my apartment freezer is. So I thought, “Hey, I’ll make freezer jam!” Except that the freezer part is the problem. Growing up, I helped my mom make jam a couple times, but now it seemed a lot more complex than that. But, now I’m on the heels of a very large shopping trip involving the freezer section at Costco, and I need my freezer space. My good friend Mike supplied jars, lids, tongs, and a “canning pot.” I have to admit, it wasn’t so much hard as just a lot of steps. And a ton of sugar! Goodness.

Happily, my adventure resulted in 5 lovely cans of blackberry jam and the lids all sealed! Happy day! Notes to myself for next time:

-I should have spent the $1.69 to get a funnel. Seriously.

-You can’t put a price on those nice rubberized tongs to pull the cans out of boiling water. They can save you from many a mishap…say, dropping a can of jam into the dirty dishwater. 😦

I ended up not having enough lids sadly, so I have some “refrigerator jam.”

Addictions

I didn’t grow up with cats, so having Carson’s cat, Baldue, has definitely been an adjustment (click here to learn more). I learned that I could not leave out any type of bread….three loaves of bread, one package of bagels, and one bag of tortillas later. I learned that I could not leave butter uncovered…after seeing the butter “mysteriously” disappear. I have also learned that there are two foods she will come running for: doughnuts and Smartfood popcorn.

Witness…Exhibit #1.

She senses the presence of the popcorn

Exhibit #2

Sheer desperation

Exhibit #3

Gimmee

This is what happens when she doesn’t get popcorn. They should make a new game called “Angry Kitty.”

 

The Story of How I Used to Be a Procrastinator

Hi. My name is Sarah. I used to be a procrastinator.

The problem is, I’m just a little afraid I’m relapsing. Summer seems to do this to me. Actually, heat seems to do this to me. By procrastinating, I mean those high school days when I waited until the last second (read: the bitter end) to write that 5 page essay that required research and a trip to the library. I guess somewhere between then and college I wised up a bit. I wrote an end-of-term book report the first week of school so that I could gloat while the other poor procrastinators whined about how they hadn’t written the paper. To some degree, I’ve turned into a “do it now” girl.

For example:

-If I’ve decided I want to rearrange my bedroom, I don’t ponder or choose a good time to do it. No, I decide to choose an 85 degree day when I’m already tired to get it done.

-If I want to make chocolate chip cookies, I don’t think, “Oh, I’ll wait till my next grocery trip and get the ingredients.” Oh no, this girl stops everything to run into Winco for sugar and chocolate chips.

-If I decide to work on a sewing project, but in the middle find that I don’t have the right color thread, I don’t wait till the next time I run errands. Oh no, everything stops so I can get in the car and go get the thread.

Summer, however, really puts a kink in my plans. For example, today I discovered I lacked the garlic I need for the soup I was making. Normally, I probably would have stopped, run into the store, and grabbed a head of garlic. But not today. It is just too hot. I keep thinking of all the things I should do, but I just don’t have the energy for.

Here’s a few of the things I’m avoiding (read: procrastinating):

-scrapbooking (and I love scrapbooking, but not in the heat)

-cleaning (please don’t come over, you might kick up tufts of cat hair)

-my sewing project (because I can’t stand the thought of hunching over the sewing machine in this heat)

-cleaning out the spare room (I never open the window in there. It’s hot. Enough said.)

What I’m doing instead:

-reading blogs…and the archives…years back

-watching Redbox movies

-reading a million books (maybe not a million, but come find me at Goodreads)

-checking facebook. Again. Oh wait, I would do that anyway.

-checking Rotten Tomatoes to see what movies are coming out

-making soup (because I couldn’t think of any better way to spend a hot day) 😉

So, at least as long as this heat lasts, it’s Return of the Procrastinator.

Cucumber Woes

At this late hour, I was attempting to choke down what is usually one of my favorite foods. Thinly sliced cucumbers with thinly sliced onions dressed in rice vinegar. Normally, I could eat bowls of this and not get tired of eating it. But, alas, all rice vinegars are NOT created alike. In a fit of frugality, I compared the price per ounce of two different brands of rice vinegar. And the bought the cheap vinegar.

I chose this vinegar:

A cheap choice doomed to failure

 

Over THIS vinegar:

Apparently a $1 difference in value makes a lot of difference for my taste buds. Woe is me…better luck next time, I guess!