Success!

I was craving peanut butter chocolate chip cookies so I found a recipe, but whenever I make stuff I always want to reduce the sugar and fat. I had semi-ripened banana on hand so I used that and the results were delicious. Below are the recipes, the first being the original and the second being mine.

Original:
1 stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

My revision:
3 T. butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 six-inch semi-ripened banana
1/3 c. peanut butter
1 egg
1 T. water
1/2 c. wheat flour
3/4 c. AP flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Random thought: I can has yummy cookie?

Cleaning amusements

I decided to go through more of my closet. Geez I found a lot of old Valentines from when I was in kindergarten and first grade. I have 2-3 bags going down to the recycle cart. I also found old cards. My grandma (dad's mum) would send Tim and I cards for every holiday and she'd always include a dollar or two. I was going through all of the cards, found one from her and found two dollars! lol She doesn't know who I am anymore (alzheimers), but she just paid for my parking Monday night. I also found some old Christian Fittipaldi memoribilia, which found it's way to the trash bag.

I had a good run on the treadmill today. I think it helped I changed the tunes on my MP3 player. I made oatmeal for breakfast. I've been making sure I don't eat meat since it's Ash Wednesday. I'm not a practising Catholic, but to me it's still not "right" to eat meat on Ash Wednesday or on Fridays during Lent. Lunch was a peanut butter and banana sandwich with choco. chip banana bread. I know the banana bread wasn't the best and I didn't make it so they probably made "full version" (I cut fat and sugar whenever I make sweets), but I was hungry and didn't feel like searching. Dinner tonight will be pasta and a salad.

Random thought: Top Chef finale tonight!

I need to stop drinking (from Mon, 2/23)

I have weird dreams when I drink. It doesn't matter if I have one drink or six, but when I sleep later that night/early morning I have weird dreams. First there was the night where 3 separate dreams included being shot at, an orgasm and being wanted by the FBI. Then Saturday morning I dreamt about being hunted by Heath Ledger's "Joker" from The Dark Knight. And then last night's was also weird, including a possible hostage situation.

The weekend was good. I worked. Friday night I went out to Genna's with Luke, Lindsey and Bobby, but being responsible I did not drink very much. Saturday night I made dinner for the parents. Last night I went to Val's and made a semi-alcoholic smoothie. We thought about going to Jamba Juice and buying smoothies, but she had smoothie fixins at her house already. Plus I was looking at Jamba's website - holy cabooses a lot of those drinks have A TON of sugar. My smoothie was a mix of blueberries, a bit of banana, a bit of raspberry yogurt, some Noni-Berry Snapple and ice. And passionfruit vodka. After that I went home and made some rice to get ready for our Naw'leans dinner at Sam's. Becca was there too - I hadn't seen her in forever. We ate some food and just talked for a few hours.

This morning I got up and went on the treadmill. I showered, made breakfast and watched the Oscars from last night. I had the folks tape it since I was out. I'm very happy Kate Winslet won. And WALL-E won best animated picture! I ran some errands and now I am scanning the rest of the music from orchestra so Ashton and I will both have a copy.

Tonight I will help mum with dinner, go to class and perhaps stop at Jolie and Justin's for retro-videogame night.

Random thought: Possible trip to Chicago in March!

Do not fall on your ass

So yesterday I'm getting out of my car where Sam and I are meeting and I completely wiped out on the ice. I didn't even see the ice. It's almost 24 hours later and my bum still hurts a little bit when I walk or am in a certain position. I'm just glad I didn't hit my head. The margarita did help though.

Yesterday was good. Silvia wasn't working so it was just Rhonda and I. We had a slow morning, but a busy lunch. Since I was meeting Sam I just stayed at work after I clocked out and read the paper. It would have made no sense to drive home, drive back downtown and then drive home again.

I had some interesting dreams between 5 and 7 this morning including being wanted by the police, having an orgasm and being shot at by Columbine-looking kids (I know, bad comparison but it's the best I could come up with).

Random thought: Having dad grocery shop with us today is going to be interesting.

A poem from junior year

"Elle"

She never felt like a pretty girl
With poofy brown hair and frizzy curls
She's never been on a single date
Or even been considered for the plate

She has liked her share of boys
But they've never liked her back
It made her want to cry
It made her want to crack

She sometimes feels really fat
And really ugly too
It really hurt when guys used to say
"It's not Halloween. Take off your mask and say 'boo'"

This one guy made her all depressed
She even wrote a story
Instead of the character rising to good
She ended up not going down in glory

She's really sick of these god-damned braces
And really wants to them gone
She wants to feel pretty
Which hopefully won't be long

She wants to be well-liked
Wants to be known as nice
But what comes out of her mouth sometimes
Isn't very nice

She's got the greatest friends in the world
She knows they all care
But sometimes she just feels like
A lonely polar bear

This girl is not depressed
In fact she's pretty happy
She just needs a break sometimes
And all will be just dandy

She just needs May to come
When she can feel at rest
She'll be able to see her boys again
Hopefully 40 pounds less

Random thought: I completely forgot I wrote that.

You look like a girl from Abercrombie & Fitch

I am tired. I had issues sleeping last night. I was also hungry and chilly. I grabbed another blanket for my bed. True it's been cold again, but even when it's been above-normal temperatures I'm just cold.

Today was a good day at work. I didn't make much food because Silvia and the owners had to leave so I was manning the ship solo for a little over an hour. Not too troubling, but a group of 20 elderly people came in AND the Sysco order arrived at the same time. Luckily the owners had to come back for something they forgot and Nancy stayed to help me since Silvia's appointment took longer than they thought.

I voted and went for a run after I got home. I thought about getting on the treadmill, but the temperature was decent and since we're expecting more snow and it won't be leaving for a while I might as well take advantage of the weather. I called Kendra earlier in the day; she called me back and we talked about Alison. Kendra and I weren't really close, but we knew each other through classes and activities. It turns out she hasn't spoken to Alison since last summer and she's been concerned about her too. Now she's even more concerned since she's not talking to me either. When I called Alison a few weeks ago I left a message that said "hey if you're tired of me calling just let me know and I'll stop." I haven't heard anything. Kendra and I talked and one or both of us is going to call her parents soon and bring it up without worrying them, like "I haven't heard from Alison for a while - do I have her correct phone number?" and perhaps go from there. I know Alison's not as close with her family so if they don't think or don't know if anything is going on I don't want to worry them. But at the same time I miss my friend and if something is wrong I want to help her.

Random thought: Mmm...dutch-baby pancake for breakfast tomorrow?

Dead Like Me

SCI-FI has a marathon on right now so that is my background noise. I watched it at Jaime's before. It's a good show, but like most of Jaime's shows it was cancelled after a season or two.

This year was the first Valentine's Day I felt a little down about not having a guy. I don't know what it was about this year. Yesterday during worship at my church group it came to me that God will let me know when I am ready for a relationship. Thinking upon it I knew that already. I want to have fun and just go on dates, not necessarily be "committed" to one person.

This weekend I worked. We were busy both days, which is good. We really needed these days. And the week leading up was good too. We already have our Mardi Gras menu planned so we'll start to advertise that starting Tuesday or Wednesday. Sam and I are going put for margaritas on Thursday so that will be fun. Val works at a restaurant near by so I'm going to try and visit her.

Random thought: Those oreos I made were delicious.

Happy V-Day!

Happy Vagina Day! Be kind to your vagina or to someone else's vagina. You either have one or you came from one (or had the potential to come from one if you were born via c-section).

Side note: I have read The Vagina Monologues and would enjoy seeing the stage production.

Random thought: We rocked it out at work today. Woot!

Cornbread and chili

I wanted cornbread so I had cornbread and chili for lunch. Yum. Tonight we're having french bread pizzas for dinner.

I had a good workout this morning. We went grocery shopping this afternoon. Yesterday I worked. I did a lot of prep for Valentine's Day, which consisted mostly of decorating cakes and cupcakes. I made some heart-shaped sugar cookies and I started the opera cake. I attempted to make an orange curd, but it didn't turn out. I also made some buttercream since we were all out.

Tomorrow night I will spend the night with the parents. Go single Nicole. *sigh*

Random thought: That cornbread wasn't too bad.

~Nicole

Amusing finds

Amazing what one finds while cleaning a room. I found another creative writing notebook from when I took it my senior year. I actually wrote a few good short stories. So many of my poems involved racing or my friends - two or three were about Andrew Ranger. ;) Part of me wants to try and just write short stories again, but I would need structure. Back when I was younger I could just sit at my computer and type for hours and hours, but I cannot do that anymore. That's what I liked most about taking creative writing classes was the structure or guidelines. Not telling us was what to write necessarily, but having us concentrate on one aspect at a time such as dialogue, a strong voice or slowing down a moment in time.

I finally go back to work tomorrow so that will be fun.

Random thought: Pitchers and catchers report on Saturday!

After a night of drinking, remember to brush and floss

I do. I feel gross after drinking if I don't at least brush my teeth.

Yesterday was good. Class was fun, although Ashton couldn't attend this week. Afterwards I went to Jolie and Justin's and Jolie and I had a couple of drinks and talked. It was a good time. We talked about counting calories and eating healthy - are we getting older or what?! I could tell I was starting to hit my limit since I really wanted to make food. Whenever I start offering to make someone food you know it's time to cut me off!

This morning was good. I woke up and went for a run. I went about ~5K, perhaps a bit more. I then walked another two miles. I relaxed and read the paper and had lunch. After lunch I went for another walk, this one about 3 miles. I just visited with the neighbors for a little bit. Ali knows so many new words and she's getting big! Tonight I'll read and help with supper.

~Nicole

Welcome to my first post

Hello