Snow Day!!!

I'm sure most people up north are sick to death of all the snow and cold they've had. But here in Texas we hardly ever get snow, much less like the snow fall we had today. It was a TRUE SNOW DAY. Unfortunately nothing closed so we had to just watch the snow fall from our windows (those of us lucky enough to have windows in our work areas). All day i just wanted to go out and play, make snowmen, have a snowball fight and make snow angels. The snow is just pouring down like nobody's business and not much work is getting done as everyone keeps going to the window to watch this rare treat.
i managed to take a few photos with my cell phone on the way in to work this morning. not very good ones - but you get the idea here. From the weather forcast this promises to stick around till tomorrow so should have some much better pics then.

Saints WIN!

It’s been a dismally dreary weekend again here, with cold, rain and clouds (I so wish to be back in sunny, warm Cozumel again!). Well since my Cowboys weren’t playing in the Super Bowl (once again) this year, I decided to go for the Saints. This being their first time I felt they deserved a chance. At first it looked like they might have gotten there on pure luck as they started out with quite a bit of errors – interceptions, dropped balls, etc., but in the second half they proved their worth and won it!

As I got ready to watch the big game I made my own game plan for food! I had come across this web site (Homesick Texan) with a fantastic photo and recipe of chicken and andouille sausage gumbo. It looked so good I had to try and make this for myself. So I printed out the recipe and went shopping for my ingredients. Surprisingly enough I did find andouille sausage in my regular grocery store. It’s probably always been available there but never having cooked with it before I of course never noticed it. I also bought some other things to make some appetizers to munch on while we waited for the gumbo to cook. Ok I like to cook and I have tried some recipes outside the norm of my usual type of food that I like. I always learn something new in the way of cooking – with this one (and I should have known better cause I’d heard this before) always read the recipe through! If I had done that though I probably wouldn’t have even attempted this, it was so time consuming and detailed in all that it instructed you to do. I’ll let you read for yourself but suffice to say I did not follow all those steps. I bought chicken breast that had no bone or skin so there was no fat to skim off or separate. I also used minced garlic and got out of mincing five garlic cloves. Everything else I pretty much did as instructed. I’d never made roué before in this manner and it only looked slightly different going into the oven as it did coming out.

While all that was cooking I made a couple of appetizers (recipes from Pampered Chef) to tide us over. The Moroccan Chicken Crostini Melts  (second photo below) and Asian Crab Salad Crisps (first photo below). They came out quite tasty, however the crab appetizers were a little too spicy – note: next time little less of the spice mix.

The kids are not too keen on trying new things but they were good sports and gave it a shot – they gave them both thumbs up.

As they munched I finished up the gumbo and made some white rice to go with. I served myself a nice steaming bowl and ……it did not taste as I expected. I’m not even sure what I expected it to taste like – but I did not care for – I think it might have been the taste of the andouille sausage that threw me. You could see the chunks of fat in it and I just could not eat it. My two older kids however LIKED it and ate a whole bowl full. So the day wasn’t a total waste.

I ended up eating more of the appetizers which were quite filling and watched the Half-time show and the rest of the Super Bowl game. They sure can party in New Orleans! Happy Mardi Gras.

Road trip!

The other day was pretty dreary and my daughter and i decided to take a very short road trip down to our fave chinese restaurant - Mr. Chopsticks. This little hole in the wall features authentic chinese food and even chinese sake and beer. Nestled in the middle of Denton, Texas just off the University of North Texas Campus. Although it was pouring down rain, we drove slow and soon were savoring Shrimp Dumplings, Shrimp Tempura, Eggrolls and California Rolls. The shrimp dumplings were a first for us and even though the sauce is flavorful and spicy, it didn't help much (in our opinion) to give the dumplings a better tast. The texture of the dumpling (the outside part you see here) is sticky and blah. The shrimp inside did not have any kind of marinade or flavor either. I don't think we'll get this dish again. The eggrolls on the other hand had a chicken filling and lots of flavor - fabulous!! These eggrolls are the best of any other chinese place i've eaten at. The other two dishes were also very flavorful and delicious. Made an icky day much better and on the way back home, the rain had tapered off and we could even see Lewisville Lake as the day winded down.

Resolutions

As the New Year has come this is all you hear every time you turn on the tv or pick up a magazine. Most of them of course have to do with weight loss, managing your money or just being a better person. And in a couple of months everyone will have either stopped doing whatever they promised to do until next New Year’s eve comes around. I did not make any resolutions and figure I’ll just keep working on what I try to work on all year long anyway  which is eating more nutritionally and trying to buy as much as I can locally (veggies, fruits, dairy, etc.). One good site I’ve found for this is Local Harvest

You can sign up to receive updates on local farm happenings and more. Another thing I constantly work on all year is keeping fit and healthy by exercising and taking my vitamins and supplements. These are my main sources of supplements and vitamins – www.discoverlimu.com/aurora, www.blufrogenergy.com/aurora and www.ardysslife.com/gilrod - the Cran Aloe, Le’vive and Triple Lifeline all help me meet my health goals by providing daily recommended nutrients and antioxidants to help fight illness and strengthen my immune system.

And of course working on making money through the opportunities with Limu and Ardyss as well as saving money where I can.  David Bach has just come out with a brand new book “Start Over, Finish Rich”.  Seems to be the story of my life (the starting over part)! The best part is today only, Jan. 4 you can download a free copy of it - Start Over, Finish Rich 

Of course if you buy the book you’ll receive many more bonuses for free, so you decide which of the two is the better bargain.

For this year I resolve to keep on improving my relations, my outlook, my life….

End of an Era

Today on the last day of 2009 marked the end of an era in the company where i work. Co-workers, many who had worked 10, 15, 20 years or more bid farewell as they left their jobs. Some took early retirement, others took an early leave package - the majority were strongly "nudged" into going. Many would be taking a short break before once going out into the work force and trying to find another job. After so many years at this company they will likely find it difficult, kind of like being married for so many years and then all of a sudden having to go out in dating world again. It's all so different and uncomfortable, you no longer have the hang of it and are lacking in flirting skills. About 2% of those leaving were giddy with joy at the chance to start over and do what they've always dreamed of - writing, starting their own business, staying home with small children, etc., but most were angry and bitter. Although i am grateful that i wasn't tapped on the shoulder with the suggestion to take an offer, i kind of envy the ones that are leaving. They will have several months to really explore what they want to do and have an opportunity to change their lives completely if they so desire. What would i do if i had been given this chance? the possibilities are endless and therein lies my problem - i could seriously put forth strong efforts to get my own business going, pursue a different career entirely or even move to another country.

well who knows what 2j010 will bring and once the dust settles they could still come around and tap on my shoulder -- of course this time the package to leave will probably not be quite as nice -- knock on wood and i'll hope for the best. Happy new year everyone and may 2010 brings us all prosperity and the answers to our life dilemmas.

A Genius Lesson

My sister sent me the following in an e-mail and i thought i would post here as well.

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before,
but had once failed an entire class.
--------------------------------------------
That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK,
we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!
No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering,
blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.

Technology

Technology really has me frustrated right now. Although we've come along way in technology, what good is it when it doesn't work?! My cell phone service is not working and apparently it hasn't all day. However it shows i have bars so i should be getting service right? Not so, as everytime i try to make a call i get a 'call failed' message. And trying to call someone else who  has this service (using my landline phone) gives me a fast busy signal.
i try to get on my provider's web site to find their phone number and my computer is super slow. All connection are good and working but i'm having trouble getting onto their pages. When logging into the site there is no indication that there is a global problem. I'm finally able to get through to the provider and after a suprisingly short wait i'm told that there apparently is a global, repeat GLOBAL problem causing the service to be down!

meanwhile i can't get ahold of my daughter who is not home from school yet and of course can't call home to tell us what's going on because she has the same service.

Ah yes technology, gotta love it - but not at the moment.