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Home > Archive: January, 2008

Archive for January, 2008

Top Secret Recipes

January 28th, 2008 at 05:25 am

walked with mom everyday at Walmart.

Got groceries yesterday, mostly veggies and spent $51. Cost of everything is really going up. Eggs have skyrocketed. I need to pay more attention and stock up when the bargains come around.

I read the library book Low-Fat Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur. Recipes from restaraunt chains. Very interesting, I plan to try several of the recipes. I copied the following

KFC macaroni and cheese
Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Taco Bell Beef Burrito Supreme

I also finished reading the library book All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann. Romance. Excellent book. So funny and warm and caring and special. Loved it.

Good dinner

January 24th, 2008 at 09:59 pm

walked with mom every day at WalMart except for Monday

Last night they finally restocked and I got 2 20Ct boxes of Electrosol dishwashing soap for .63 cents each. I had 2 $2.25 coupons. So dishwashing for about 4 cents per load.

I fixed a wonderful meal last night it tasted so good to me.

1/2 can Campbells Tomato soup

Salmon - I use Red Robin seasoning and pepper with a little olive oil. Sear on both sides and then finish in the oven

Lettuce/cabbage mix with Italian dressing and sunflower seeds

Raw veggies - celery, radishes, carrots and cherry tomatoes.

Yum, the cherry tomatoes I got at the store last week are the best I've had in a very long time. Tons of flavor when you bite into them.

Finished reading the library book Living with Less by the Mother Earth News. OK nothing spectacular

Finished reading my book Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward Supernatural/Romance. Very good.

Apartment Farmer

January 20th, 2008 at 09:07 pm

Walked with mom everyday except Friday when it was snowing.

Got 2 free Soyjoy bars and 2 free trial size Dove deodorants today.

I read a book called The Apartment Farmer by Duane Newcomb. Excellent. Very good advice on how to grow vegetables indoors in containers, and on balconies or patios. I live in a townhome and have several south facing windows plus a 10' x 10' patio. I plan to try growing a few vegetables this year. I want to try easy things first so radishes, carrots, green onions and tomatoes. Eventually I would like to try corn, potatoes, celery, apple trees, cherry trees, grapes, onions, lettuces, watermelon, green beans and garlic.

I like radishes, carrots and celery for vegetables. Lately I cut them up on Sunday and portion them in two bags per day. One for lunch and one for dinner. That way I get my veggies and it's easy. I put in 4 - 5 radishes, 3 - 4 baby carrots and 1 - 2 stalks of celery per bag.

Last week I bought a self watering windowsill planter for less than $6 and planted some radishes. They have sprouted and should be ready to harvest in two more weeks. I bought another container and planted a second batch today. This time I counted how many I could fit in the container @120. Almost 2 weeks supply. So if I start planting every other week I should have a year round supply.

I'm keeping track of my costs which are containers, organic potting soil, organic fertilizer and seeds. The costs will amortize out over time. Currently a bunch of about 14 radishes is 1.29 in our stores. Totally ridiculous. And they are often too hot or too woody. Hopefully mine will be better Smile

So 120 every two weeks would be worth around $11.00 x 26 harvests = $286

I'm going to start the cherry tomatoes next.

It's a new hobby and keeps my mind off of work so much. Speaking of which I had to put our code in the field this weekend and had to get up at 3:30 am Saturday morning to test it. I was on for 6 1/2 hours when it was only supposed to take 1 hour.

I swear I'm living in a Dilbert cartoon. In thier infinite wisdom the company decided to outsource at least 50% of the tech jobs to either Argentina or India. And then after doing that they turned around and decided any one who isn't a US based employee could not access the Production boxes. So the outsourced people test the product during the release and at the last minute hand if over to the few US employees who are left to pick it up and test during the implementation. So of course we now have 3 times the work that we were supposed to complete in the time allowed and we are not that familiar with it since we weren't the primary testers of it.

And of course the stuff I tested passed with flying colors but all the stuff I took over from outsourced people who supposedly tested their areas didn't work right. We found four main areas that never got tested by the Argentina people during the test cycle a day or so before we had to put it in production.

To make it even wierder. We had a US based employee who is an Indian go to India to work for 3 months and he was allowed to access the production boxes. What kind of logic is that? Indian contracters living in India can't do that. Indian contracters based in the US but who go to India for 3 months can. UGH!

And then we get told we need to hire more Argentina people to help us out because we don't have enough people to do the work. Who decided that we should hire people who can't speak English, who don't know how to test, who don't understand the platform and who can't do the work during the implementation is a solution to anything? It's so ridiculous, it's like living in an alternative universe.

I finished reading the library book Rider and Raelynx by Sharron Shinn. Sci/Fi Very good.

I finished reading the library book Beating the System The Next American Revolution by Larry Roth. Finance. Not that good. This guy doesn't like much and there's a kind of "I understand how the world works and if you don't see it my way the rest of you are fools" attitude about the book. No outstanding ideas or new information.

Roth IRA

January 15th, 2008 at 10:30 pm

walked with mom at WalMart

Since the stock market dropped again I decided to go ahead and add money to my Roth IRA - $5000.00 Everyone can expect the market to go down again tomorrow Smile

Sent for Glade Candle rebate $6.99

Finished reading my book The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches by Jeff Yeager. Finance. Good. Not a lot of outstanding information but kind of funny.

hard boiled eggs

January 14th, 2008 at 04:20 am

Walked with mom at WalMart

Parents took family to Red Lobster for my bday meal. Love Red Lobster I always get the same thing - popcorn shrimp. My oldest niece is the same we both think they are heaven Smile

Went to Walgreens and got 2 Glade sindle candles. BOGO plus there is a rebate for full purchase price which will make both candles free. Going into the xmas stash for next year.

I'm reading a book called the Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches. He says we hardboils eggs while running his dishwasher. Runny yolks in the top shelf, firm yolks in the bottom. I have to try that just to see if it works. I've boiled eggs while cooking spagetti or potatoes, but I never thought of that one. Smile

Finished reading the library book Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher. Sci Fi. Very good. He writes the Dresden Files books that were made into a series on TV. This is a different series but just as good.

gibberish

January 13th, 2008 at 01:17 am

Walked with mom at WalMart

When I was working on Thursday all the sudden my keyboard started typing gibberish. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I tried rebooting, looking at the control panel, checking websites for fixes etc. Nothing worked. So I dug an old keyboard out of the closet and plugged it in - problem solved. However the symbols on the keys for the old keyboard are pretty faded so I bought a new one from WalMart after we finished our walk for about $10

I got a free jar of Peter Pan cruncy peanut butter from Safeway. On sale for .99 cents plus I had a $1 off coupon. Love free stuff and love PB

Finished reading my book A Lick of Frost by Laurel K. Hamilton. Sci Fi/Fantasy. Excellent. Best one in this series since the first one. I think this one is number 4 in the series.

belated bday

January 12th, 2008 at 05:29 am

I turned 47 yesterday and decided to start my blog again. Basically I was under so much stress at work and spending so many hours on the computer, that for a long time I couldn't stand to get on the computer after my work was done. I'm determined not to work as many hours or to let work stress me out as much this year.

My mom and I went to Denver and to the Outlet Malls in Castle Rock to celebrate my birthday today. I got several good deals.

100 sq ft xmas wrapping paper for .80 cents

4 large disney princess gift bags for .74 cents each. My oldest niece loves the disney princesses.

2 hallmark xmas ornaments that can be used for my miniature hobby, a bicylce and a barbie house - 3.75 each

40 sheets of red and green tissue paper for 1.50

3 18 oz jars of Jif extra cruncy peanut butter for 4.00

80 ct Aleve for 2.00

24 ct Excedrin - free after rebate, plus had a 2.00 coupon so made money

and I got .10 cents off gas with my Safeway card Smile

My 16 year old niece called last night and wanted to tell me happy bday and also tell me how much she loved the latest book I gave her to read.

She claims it's better than Harry Potter. So I know it was a definite hit. It's one of my favorties too. Another thing we have in common is we both like history. The book is called Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. It's about an English woman who comes to America before we separated from England. She meets and falls in love with a fur trapper. The book gives a lot of period details, which is why I liked it so much. There a couple more in the series so my niece was ecstatic when I told her the story continues.

I finished reading the library book The Sunrise Lands by S.M. Stirling. SciFi. Very good. This is the forth book in a series about America after all electricity and gun powder quits working and we have to rebuild our society. Good story