twelve22

– Whew. I hope you had some nice holidays, if you chose to celebrate any of them. Along with lots of presents, I also came home with a pineapple and other leftover produce from the Christmas Eve gathering my parents hosted. The above might have been the last ‘creative’ breakfast I’ll have for a while, because my mom gave me two boxes of Kashi GoLean for Christmas, and its siren song is too hard to resist.

– Is Boxing Day the new Black Friday? (Or, rather, is it ANOTHER Black Friday?) Rob (Rob’s in town, by the way) and I thought it would be fun to check out REI on Monday, and trying to drive in the vicinity of shops was a nightmare. I finally had a moment to look at the Sunday paper afterward, and it seems like everywhere was having massive sales. I ran a few more errands today, though, and the stores seemed relatively sane.

– One of the desserts my mom made for Christmas Eve was this flan cake. I thought it was really good, and I brought home two pieces. When I asked my mom if she had frozen the rest today, it turned out that she instead threw it away, because she thought it was gross. Noooo! (That’s actually what I said to her.) Poor flan cake.

– I went to Sam’s Club today to get some vegetables, a jug of soy sauce (ridiculous, but cheap), ice cream, and a tub of organic lettuce. When I got it home, I followed the same steps as last time, putting portions of the lettuce into plastic bags with most of the air removed, which seemed to help keep it fresh. I also separated the spinach leaves from the lettuce and put them in their own bag again, so I can use them for smoothies. As I was picking out the spinach, I had the thought that, although I don’t know what exactly it says about me, there was something very defining about it. I am the kind of person who stands at the counter, picking out the spinach, because… why not?

– I know I’ve waxed poetic about Sunday mornings before, but I really do love them. It’s funny: even though I work at home and set my own hours, I still look forward to the weekends; they’re just so relaxed, no matter what my plans are. And Sundays are the best, because that’s when I get the newspaper delivered. I always read the entire thing (not every article, but I go through each section, looking for interesting bits), but I get it mainly for the ads and the puzzles page. Looking at the ads is like my version of window shopping (actual window shopping’s appeal eludes me; it’s frustrating spending all that energy looking at things I won’t be buying). Yesterday morning’s breakfast was a muffin from Perkins (it came with a meal there, but I didn’t want it). It should have been a treat, but I just ate the top part and tossed the rest — meh.

– Henny and I went for a walk yesterday, because it was a balmy 40F outside and sunny to boot. We had had snow for a while earlier this month, but rain washed it away, so now it just looks like some confusing non-winter season out there (okay, technically it ISN’T winter yet, anyway). I picked kale for dinner last week, and I noticed that there are new chard leaves growing, and the broccoli isn’t exactly dead, either. This time last year, we’d had a major storm drop 17″ or so, which still hadn’t melted, and there was enough snow on Christmas Eve two years ago for me to fracture my ankle while I hopped through it. The snow’s probably just gathering itself up for one giant ‘whump’ once everybody’s looked the other way.

– I spent most of Saturday with my mom, ‘helping’ (watching) her make cookies. I brought home some of the Russian teacakes, along with half a fruitcake she’d made earlier. I don’t know why people are so down on fruitcakes; it’s like taking the best parts of five regular quick bread loaves (the nuts and dried fruit) and putting them into one cake. That can double as a dumbbell. I had a nice slice of it for breakfast this morning, with some scrambled eggs on the side. Power food!

– I have painted my fingernails with glitter polish, because I turn 30 on Thursday, and I might not have time for such juvenile frivolity once I’m no longer in my twenties. Okay, I’m not really expecting that to be the case. I think I’ve pinned down my cake choice for 2011; I have one last piece of last year’s gingerbread cake in the freezer, but I doubt I’ll be getting to it in these next couple of days (’tis the season for lots of sugar — don’t need to go looking in the freezer for it). Oh well. I’ll try harder next year.