Thursday Randomness

I'm sitting here, blogging on my lunch break. I somehow went accidental vegetarian today. Toast & an apple for breakfast. Chick'N patty & kale for lunch. Will have yogurt for mid day snack. Potato w/ fake bacon bits & more kale for pre-school snack. Maybe I have some meaty goodness in my fridge for my after-school pretend dinner snack.

I've tried the three square meals a day thing. It's soooo not for me. I have about 4 hours between breakfast and lunch. But then I have anywhere from 6-10 hours between lunch and dinner. After lunch I get hungry; really hungry. My blood sugar drops, and I go from sweet go getter to angry murderous dinosaur in no time.

That's supposed to be a butcher knife. Most people don't go on rampages with the number four.

So I usually have a small lunch and two lunch sized snacks before a small dinner. On school nights, I pretty much do nothing but snack. And I keep emergency anti-dinosaur food on hand, like apples, potatoes, granola bars, packs of instant oatmeal.

Some of my coworkers cautiously eye the random potato that usually sits on my desk. What they don't know is that lowly potato is sometimes the only thing in between them and the number four.

(Ok, that's a gross exaggeration. I really like all my coworkers, and my job, and would never think about hurting anyone with the number of the day. But I do get might cranky if I don't eat enough)

Chorizo & Chicken Chili

Most of my meals don't follow a specific recipe. I look at what's on sale and what's in my fridge/pantry/freezer. A coworker had brought in some lovely jalepeno & bell peppers, chorizo was on sale, and I had 8 tons of shredded chicken to deal with in the fridge. Hmmmm.....Chili!
Check out the recipe & pictures after the Jump!

A Typical Tuesday

6:00 am
First alarm goes off. A silver double bell from Target. No snooze button, so I fumble & manually turn it off

6:15 am
Second alarm. Cell phone across the room. Stumble across the room & hit snooze.

6:20-6:45 am
All alarms go off. Clock radio w/ two alarms & cell phone. Ok, now I'm up, but I'm not happy about it! Make my way to the little one's room and sing her the "good morning" song. She is not amused.

7:00 am
Get dressed. Nudge, tickle, sing to, and otherwise coax little one out of bed. Luckily, getting her dressed is easy. I pick out all her clothes for the week on Sundays.
7:30 am
Everyone into the car! Bags of cereal, bags of lunch, school work, jackets, sunglasses, cell phone, hair clips. Will forget at least one of these things in most cases.

8:00 am
Drop little one off at preschool. Brush her hair (it wouldn't survive the car ride), hugs & kisses.

8:30ish am
Make it to the office. Open email, get crappy office coffee (hey, it's free.) Wooooorrrrrrkkkkk.........

12:30 pm
Heat up lunch & Facebook/Pay bills while eating.

3:00 pm
Talk a walk, see the sun, hear the wind. Keeps me sane during my fluorescent lighted day.

4:30 pm
Clock out and touch up homework. Print out any needed materials and study for any tests

5:00 pm
Pick little one up from preschool and make way to friend's house across town...at 3mph with all red lights.

5:30 pm
Catch up w/ friend; chat about kids/school/weather/dogs. More hugs & kisses for the little one and I'm off to school

6:00 pm
Park a thousand miles from the school and head to the classroom. Schoooooollllll.....

9ish pm
Snag a tired child from friend's house. She's fed, bathed, and content. But I need a crow bar to pry her away from the toy cars.

9:30 pm
Story time & bed time for the little one. More songs, hugs & kisses.

10:00 pm
Finally, some time for myself. Do the dishes, heat up some dinner and plant myself in front of the TV. Sort mail, do homework, play w/ my Google phone, write notes while watching tv (Rachel Zoe?)

11ish pm
Shower routine, check facebook/email, snag magazine/book and head for bed.

12am ish
Guess it's Wednesday! Sleep.....

How to prepare for a storm in DC

With Hurricane Earl coming somewhat close to the Washington DC area, residents are preparing for the storm...in their own special way. Here are the steps to prepare for any sort of weather emergency (or non-emergency) in the DC area.

1. Go to the store right after work and buy all the eggs, bread, milk & toilet paper in sight

   Nothing keeps you safe at home like the three most perishable staples from the grocery store. What exactly is everyone going to do with the eggs, bread, milk & TP? Toilet paper scramble on toast? When the power goes out (See #3) I'm sure you'll be really glad to have those eggs & milk sitting in your fridge.

2. Drive REALLY slow. Forget turn signals headlights, & side mirrors. There's no time for those in an emergency!

   The ability to drive must be water soluble. Even the threat of a sprinkle or flurry is enough to grind traffic to a halt. See fit to drive 10 miles under the speed limit as you make your way to the store. As a (hopefully) licensed driver, it is your responsibility to rubber neck as much as possible.

3. DVR all your favorite shows so you can watch them when the power goes out.

   What?! You can't watch TV without power? We're all gonna die......

If you're home is serviced by PEPCO, your power WILL go out. Prepare for the inevitable by DVRing all the shows you want to catch up on, buy extra light bulbs, don't prep a flashlight, and run your car to almost empty. No need for candles, batteries, non-perishable food & wine. If you must buy a generator, be sure to buy the loudest model available and forget to purchase the gas to run it.

4. Don't watch or listen to the news.

   Emergencies are way more exciting when you learn about them just as you leave the office. This will give you just enough time to race to the store, along with thousands of your best neighbors, and agonize over the lack of eggs.

5. Be aware of indoor hazards.

   You may suddenly find yourself with a fridge full of meat and no power during a weather emergency. The DC thing to do here is bring the gas grill inside! Fire Marshal be darned. Nothing says safe like an open flame, flammable gas, and possibly toxic fumes. Generators fall into this category if you want "Carbon Monoxide Poisoning" on your death certificate.

6. Venture outside!

   Clogged highways, fallen trees, downed power lines. What could go wrong? If you follow the above steps, I'm sure you'll need to venture out during the worst of the storm to see if McDonald's is open. That's what Fire & Rescue is for, right?

Walls at Ikea Smalland. Barn or Bacon?

It's supposed to look like a cute barn in the country. Maybe I'm just hungry, but I see bacon.

   I love the Ikea playzone (Samlland) and I have fond memories of going when I was a kid. Oh, the ball pit. Good times.
 The real key is to get to Ikea early and never on a Sunday. Get in as they open the doors and you'll be rewarded with a $.99 breakfast by the giant windows. Kid finishes before you? No problem. They have a nifty kid area where the little ones can watch Wall-E on repeat for hours.

   Top off your coffee and head downstairs for the 10-15 minute wait to get your child into Smalland. BE NICE to the people at the desk. They are the gate keepers. After stickers, stamps, bracelets & buzzers, your kid is in the playzone and you are free! For one hour. But that's plenty of time to hit all the sections better visited sans-child (like the Mirror section or the Odd Cactus section)

   After your hour flies by, you check out your child. There's still so many options. You could browse the upstairs staged areas, continue shopping the Marketplace, grab lunch in the restaurant, or grab a super cheap hot dog after check out. Then spend the next six hours assembling your new furniture!