Banana Pudding

 

There's 294824 different banana pudding recipes on the internet, so I took 2 and made a Megan version because I was worried that one would be too sweet for Teh German (and it also contained Cool Whip, which I don't eat) and the other wouldn't be sweet enough for me.  Soooo I fixed it!

Fret not, I was supervised.

Ingredients

Pudding, step 1:

2 cups cold milk

1 (5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Pudding, step 2:

1 pint heavy whipping cream

4 tablespoons confectioners/powdered sugar

Assembly:

1(+) box vanilla wafers

10+ bananas

Directions

1. Mix sweetened condensed milk and milk together.  Adding pudding packet and continue mixing for 2-3 minutes.  Mash 1 banana and mix into pudding.  Cover and refrigerate for 3+ hours.
2. When ready to assemble pudding, after pudding has set: beat heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar (and vanilla extract, if using) together until stiff peaks form.
3. Mix pudding and whipped cream together until there are no streaks left.
4. Slice bananas (I did one banana at a time because I wasn't sure how much I needed).
5. In a container of your choice (I used a 9x13 dish), place a layer of vanilla wafer on the bottom of the dish.  Then add a layer of banana on top of the wafers.  Add a layer of pudding mix.  Repeat this step until dish/container is full/ingredients are used/you are satisfied.  You could also make this in individual portioned containers.
6. Cover and refrigerate 4-8 hours.
7. Serve!

Megan Tips

• Mixing a mashed banana into the pudding mix was a delight.
• I used ripe but barely bananas to avoid them turning brown.  I don't like green bananas, so not green, but definitely no spots.  Also, my recipes called for 14 bananas and I bought that many and didn't end up using them all.
• I don't use Cool Whip.  I'd much rather make my own whipped topping and it's super simple if you have a mixer (it's quite tedious by hand, but doable with enough dedication (yes, I have hand mixed whipped cream before because there weren't mixers in 1792).
• I was worried the whipped topping wouldn't be sweet enough for me so I added powdered sugar.  I would consider skipping this next time to see what a difference it makes.
• I sliced my bananas as I layered them in the dish because I didn't want them to turn brown.  There are ways to help slow oxidation (which causes the bananas to turn brown), but I was too lazy for all that.  I just made sure to quickly add the pudding on top of the layer.  My slices were not too thin (I didn't want them to just fall apart) and not to thick (I wanted to be able to recognize a chunk of banana in my bite).
• I like A LOT of bananas and A LOT of vanilla wafers.  Obviously, you can use how ever much you want.
• Crush up some vanilla wafers (less than you would expect) and write on your pudding!  Just place some wafers in a ziplock bag, crush the wafters so there are minimal chunks, then cut the tip of the bag off and use like an icing piping bag.  This was the most fun part!
• I made the pudding mix the day prior to serving and let the mixture set overnight because I didn't want runny banana pudding.
• I assembled my banana pudding at 9am on the day of serving it, knowing I was going to be serving it after 7pm. I wanted to give it time for the flavors to mingle and the wafers to soften.  I'm sure that you could prob serve it immediately, but would recommend at least a few hours of flavor melding.
• Make sure to let your dogs help with clean up, since they've probably been fastidiously supervising, by letting them do the dishes.  Pax and Meri were both super dedicated to cleaning the pudding and whipped topping bowls.

Chili Mac and Cheese

I've been attempting to mix up the menu on occasion and I was looking for crockpot recipes (because I'm still as lazy as always) and found a recipe for chili mac and cheese that I decided to cook on the stove.  Would recommend.

Megan's version:

Ingredients:
-1.5# ground bison

-onion

-red/yellow/orange peppers

-garlic

-1/2 box of pasta (I used cavatappi instead of macaroni)

-16oz fire-roasted tomatoes,drained or 1 16oz can rotel tomatoes, drained (next time I'll use the fire-roasted tomatoes I bought specifically for this purpose that I forgot about until after I'd opened the rotel, sigh)

-2 (8oz) bags "macaroni and cheese" blend cheese (1 bag was insufficient, if mac and cheese blend isn't available, cheddar is recommended)

-1 cup broth

-1-2 cans of beans, drained (I forgot this, but will add it next time)

-1-3 tablespoons chili powder

-1 teaspoon-ish oregano

-1 teaspoon cumin

-Cayenne pepper (if you want heat spice, I omitted this)

Directions:

-Start water to cook pasta, cook pasta while cooking meat.

-Dice vegetables

-Start cooking meat, add chili powder, when meat is almost cooked, add onion, peppers, and garlic. 

-Drain.

-Add seasoning.

-Add broth.  Simmer until pasta is cooked.

-Drain pasta, then mix with meat/veggies.

-Add 1 bag of cheese.  Slowly add the 2nd bag until your heart feels full (I'd probably use half the 2nd bag, we added mexican cheese because 1 bag wasn't enough for my cheese loving heart).

Megan Notes:
-I don't like ground beef so we use ground bison as a substitute, you can use whatever ground meat you prefer.  I think this recipe is versatile enough for most proteins or even as a vegetarian meal.

-I made sure to add enough chili powder and cumin that the food was well seasoned, especially since I wasn't using the cayenne pepper and I'm slightly scared of chili powder.  Teh German approved of the spices.  I explicitly asked him.  

-We didn't actually miss the beans, but the beans make it more like chili than hamburger helper, so I will fix that error next time.

-I will always pick the most fun pasta. 

Not Lasagna

So recently I accidentally merged 2 different recipes and the concoction turned out delicious, so I'm gonna share it here so I can reference it later.

Favorite Skillet Lasagna + Baked Gnocchi

These recipes are very similar, so it wasn't a far reach to mix them up.

It might not look like much, but it tastes delicious!

Ingredients (I used):

-1 roll sage sausage

-enough mushrooms, thin sliced

-half an onion, diced

-enough garlic

-1 (yellow) squash

-1 zucchini (/green squash)

-1 package baby gnocchi

-fennel seeds (enough)

-16ish oz spaghetti sauce

-enough ricotta cheese

-enough mozzarella cheese

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 400°F.

-In a dutch oven (or some oven safe-stove cooking container), begin cooking sausage. 

-When sausage is almost done, throw in mushrooms, onion, and garlic.

-Drain

-Mix in squash, gnocchi, and spaghetti sauce.

-Cover and put in oven until squash and gnocchi are tender (i.e. you can stab them with a fork without too much resistance).

-Remove from oven.  Top/fold in the mozz cheese (you're welcome for that reference).  

-Drop dollops of ricotta cheese on top, as desired.

-Serve.

Weekend Review {9/28}

FRIDAY

In the morning was work things, lunchtime included dropping off Willow for 30,000 mile maintenance and picking up Willie Jewell's for take-away lunch, and the afternoon consisted of more work things.

I actually got to do a work task and it was minimal, but I did it!

In the evening, we went to Subaru to pick up my car, but it was locked, unlike what I'd be told, and I was PISSED we'd wasted a trip out.  I mean, I hadn't been overly pleased at the idea of leaving my car unlocked on the lot, but my ride (Husband) wasn't available until after they closed, so I figured it'd be fine.  It was not fine.  I couldn't bring Willow home.  DID NOT LIKE.

Since we'd eaten a big lunch, we snacked for dinner and spent the evening watching Silicone Valley.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning was going pretty good until Teh German asked me if I wanted to go pick up Willow and I remembered how livid I was at the dealership.  UGH.  We handled that situation, I went by the grocery store to pick up ice cream for the Willie Jewell's bread pudding we'd gotten on Friday and by Bojangles for a gravy biscuit since I was already out. #SorryNotSorry.  I got home and ate my breakfast and Teh German and I did some slight house keeping to make sure that the house was picked up since we'd agreed (despite how pissy I was about it) to let the buyers come view the house again.  I'm not really sure what they needed to see, they kinda did another complete walk through.

There was some initial sass about the dogs being home (although they were outside) but things smoothed out from there.  We tried to explain some of the smarthome stuff to them and explained that we'd leave a list of apps that go with each device so they can manage it.  I chatted with their realtor about Barbados (after she asked when we'd be vacating) which was fun.

They did decide they wanted the washer and dryer and we agreed that if we were required to replace the HVAC drip pan (that has a motherfucking rust spot in it, despite having been replaced such a short time ago, also, fuck that HVAC) that the money could come from that.

I was rather irritated when they arrived because we were literally sitting around waiting on them to arrive and we noticed a car pull up at 2:15 and then another 10 minutes later and they didn't actually come in until 2:30 and their appointment was for 2 and well.. tardiness and I are not close friends.  Also, I was just generally angsty because what if these people were horrible and wanted to replace the floors and take down the pallet wall and repaint the walls AND THEN THEY TOLD ME?!?  By the end, it wasn't so bad, but still, I'm an escalator and shit was escalating quickly.

They left by 3 and our day resumed it's normal nothingness.  I got motivated and decided to make this sweet potato/chickpea patty recipe I'd found (with a greek yogurt dipping sauce) and it was an absolute flop.

1- I had to hand grate an entire sweet potato.  Rude.
2- I don't oil fry things, so I had to determine time/temp to put these in the air fryer.
3- They just weren't that good.

So blah that Teh German and I agreed we wouldn't be eating the leftovers if I cooked them, so I didn't even bother to cook the rest of the patty mix and tossed it (I would have fed it to the dogs, but it had raw onion in it).

Teh German had posted our trailer and the fish tank for sale on Marketplace and the trailer was gone within 2 hours of the listing.  Teh German's next goal is to acquire a covered trailer, which he's been talking about for a while, with the money from the trailer and motorcycle sales.

In the evening, we watched Silicon Valley until WAYYY too late and finally went to bed by midnight.

SUNDAY

Teh German and I agreed that we needed to start hitting up some of our favorite CHS places before we leave and Holy City brunch was HIGH on that list.  We agreed to take the bikes out and go to brunch on Sunday morning.  We were functional at 0900 when the realtor messaged us asking us to call.  Things I was not interested in: dealing with house/realtor that early in the morning.  Things I did: ripped off the bandaid and called the realtor.

The buyers were negotiating repairs/washer dryer pricing, the also wanted to purchase the trailer.  I straight up told our agent, they should have spoken up yesterday when they were here/to my face if they wanted to buy stuff.  We're selling as much as possible so we don't have to move it...  We discussed some options and then I got off the phone and Teh German and I got ready to leave.

We headed out by 1030 and still there was a short wait when we arrived.  We were seated and had ordered when the realtor called me to discuss their rebuttal.  Gentle Readers, I HATE negotiating.  HHHAAATTTEEE ITTTTT.  I hate having to overprice everything to get what I actually want to get from a transaction.  Having come off a Marketplace selling streak, my skills are sharp right now, and also, I was really taken advantage of in Bahrain multiple times because of my ignorance.. so I'm bitter too.  But the reality is, these buyers are making me feel like I'm being nickeled-and-dimed for every.little.thing.

While I was talking to the realtor, our food came and I started eating because I was starving.  I was confused at the presence of onions on my meal, but just kinda pushed them to side and dug in.. Then I got off the phone and was explaining the call with Teh German (since it was too loud inside for speakerphone) when another entrée arrived to our table and was offered to me as "the meal you actually ordered."  I hadn't even remembered what I had actually ordered.  In my defense, they entrée they brought first was actually my backup choice, so that's kinda why I couldn't remember... and I was distracted when the food arrived, so that too.

L: Poutine; R: taters + egg

Everything was delicious.  I had almost ordered the chicken and waffles, but we might actually go back to HCB next weekend because they are my favorite brunch place.  It is what it is.  We stayed for a while and sipped our beverages (mmmm sweet tea) and discussed the situation with the buyers and negotiation and just stuff.  Eventually, we decided it was time to go and we agreed to ride down to Folly Beach and then come home.

The ride out was great.  The weather is perfect riding weather, not too hot, not too cold.  Also, I hadn't been to Folly in a hot minute.  I was supposed to do a half marathon there in Feb, but I was dying of the Death Sickness (was it COVID?  Was it not?  no one knows!) so I didn't get to run that race.  Fun fact, riding the distance on a bike felt just as far as running it!

On our way home, we encountered a pretty bad accident where our entire side of the highway was shut down so we had to turn around and make a significant detour to get home.  Fortunately, the weather held out so the ride wasn't bad, but my poor inner thighs were screamin' by the time we got home and lawd was my crotch numb.

When we got home, I showered and started working on Meri's birthday cake.  Teh PT Kid came over for some math tutelage. We worked through his study guide so he'd ace his upcoming test.  When the cake was done, I fed him cake.  I also prepared birthday treats for all the beasties (resident hounds and neighbor hounds).  I dispensed bday cake (human vanilla cake + dog icing (greek yogurt mixed with crunchy peanut butter) topped with an apple slice and some mini marshmallows) to our beasts and new toys.  After Teh PT Kid departed, Meri and I walked down to Roux's house for some yard/social time and to deliver birthday treats to neighbor furiends!

Around doggy dinner time, I headed home to reunite with the fam.  Dinner was pizza fries.  Evening entertainment consisted of dog petting, screen time, and Silicon Valley.

______________________________________________

Overall, a fabulous weekend.  Good weather = motorcycle date, which is one of our favorite activities, for sure.

I cannot stress enough just how over the entire house selling/buying shit I am.  Because, truly, I hate everything about it.  From "that's the way it is done" to negotiating and feeling like an asshole for standing my ground.  I know that we'll walk away from this process with money in our pocket, but it feels tainted and there's no joy because it feels like every penny we get to keep in our pocket we've had to fight for and it's exhausting (also, most of that money is from when we were overpaying on the house payment, but ya know, details).  And the worst part is... we're only half way through this garbage.  So many of the things our buyers have asked for are things I'd NEVER ask for.. but I'm confident as soon as the MD realtor says, "that's just the way things are," I/we'll be asking for the same things and feeling like an absolute sleezebag.

We have to repair the HVAC drip pan and replace some vent cover thing outside the house that Teh German acknowledged breaking (which is a few dollars).  They also requested that we repaint the wall in the living room with all the photos on it and I straight up said NO (and the realtor backed up me on this since it's cosmetic).  We're leaving the extra paint for you to do your own touch ups.  You know what, you have to do SOME work when it comes to buying a house and moving in.  I'm not doing it for you.  I have to do MY OWN MOVE and buy my own house and deal with all the same shit.  How about you think of that?  Jesus, take the wheel.

I did agree to having the carpets cleaned because they have needed to be cleaned for a while and I never had it done because we were waiting on the HVAC to be repaired, then it got side-lined because school, then we painted and I wanted to wait till after that.. Then COVID.  Soo, fine.

They will be purchasing our washer and dryer, which saves us from having to move those bitches and being paranoid about mold from any water that remained in the washer and them from having to wait on ordering something that is currently backordered.  There was also talk about purchasing the curtains/rods, so I'm waiting to hear about that.

The appraiser came earlier today and took her photos and measurements.  It was super quick, she was very friendly, and we talked about the resident beasties. 

I am beyond NEEDING to go to the Chiro.  I'm about to have to have Teh German drive my broke ass.  I had considered going this evening but it's POURING rain and these fools around here can't fucking drive in the rain, so I'm not even going to bother.  This is extremely shitty since I'm not sure I'll be able to go tomorrow or Wednesday and I am in some serious pain.  My neck keeps tweaking and despite how warm it is, I imagine that a heating pad is in my future.

Ya know what we haven't had in a while?  A countdown to something that is ALL positive and barely causes any anxiety. 

So that anxiety causing is more of a when I don't actually put any detailed thought into the situation of international flights during a pandemic, but here we are...  trying to ignore real life, kthx.

Happy ALMOST OCTOBER, Gentle Readers!

Five on Friday #241

EINS - Random Shit

When I used to get lots of free samples and shit, I created a 2nd FB account so I could use it to like companies/etc and not have to see that shit on my main FB account.  Since FB revoked my access to marketplace on my main account after selling the watch to that creepy mf-er in 2018, I have tried to appeal the decision multiple times and I get nothing more than a macro response from "Ava" that nothing can be done, which is absolute fucking garbage.

So anyways, fast-forward a few years and I'm trying to offload some items since I don't want to have to move them.  I cleaned up my 2nd account and added a profile pic and put my actual fucking name and posted a few items for sale.  Anddd, FB has revoked my marketplace access on that account too.  I'm fucking livid because I don't know why.  You can't tell me people don't create FB accounts just to post shit on marketplace and nothing I added was against their rules.  So much rage.  I requested a review, but I'm sure that I'll get the same canned response and unhelpful messages that don't tell me WHY my access was revoked.  And also, because it's fucking FB, they don't care and they have other problems to attend to, so why bother dealing with my problems?

I'm worried that posting the stuff from Teh German's account will also get him banned from marketplace and that's one of his favorite scrolling places.  I don't understand and Teh German was like, "Call FB about it." Uhh.. one does not just "call Facebook."

________________________________________

Storytime! The dogs switched food and I donated the old food to the animal society.  Since I was going to the chiro today, I figured I'd drop the (open) bags off on my way home.  Of course, as I turn out of the neighborhood, one of the bags falls over and spills.  It's fine since the back is covered with comforters but unfortunate since I will now have to wash the blanket.  Ugh, whatever, fine.

Go to chiro, drop off food donation, come home and I'm pulling the blanket out of the car and not one, but TWO BIG ASS MOTHERFUCKING COCKROACHES GO SCITTERING!!! There is much shrieking from me, my insides wither because now I'm hunting for cockroaches and I fucking hate cockroaches and THEY ARE IN MY CAR.  These bitches have been using me as their taxi!  And for how long!?!  NO ONE KNOWS!

So I pull out the other comforter and one cockroach moves to the lip of the hatch where I whack-a-mole that bitch with an empty cardboard juice container until I finally make contact and smash it dead.  The other found another crevice to hide in.  I checked the back seats and the wheel well and didn't find it..

So there's probably a fucking cockroach in my car and I really loved Willow, but it looks like I'm going to have to set her on fire and it's quite unfortunate, as I refuse to let a cockroach ride along for free until it decides to set itself free or dies in some mysterious place where I will never find it.

TL;DR: Some people get freaked out by spiders, some people by snakes.. But for me, my arch-nemesis is any type of cockroach.  The bigger it is, the more threat it poses.  Is this irrational?  IDNGAF.  ALL COCKROACHES MUST DIE.

________________________________________

Guess what I still hate?!  The instant pot!

I tried to make meatloaf in the instant pot.  Of course it wasn't instant AND I could have cooked the damn thing in the oven AND dirtied less dishes had I just baked in the oven to start with.  It wasn't cooked when the recipe said it would be done, thankfully I temperature tested it, otherwise we'd have both been suffering.  I ended up having to put it in the oven to finish cooking. 

Hate hate hate.

And those scalloped potatoes are 100% a Sam's impulse buy and they were delicious.

________________________________________

On Tuesday we accepted an offer for House.

I'ma be honest.. I'm ignorant about some adult things because I've never experienced them and that includes buying/selling a house.  Fun fact: I find it absolutely ridiculous that the SELLER is expected to front money towards the BUYER'S closing costs.  Apparently, "that's just how it is", but also, that's fucking stupid.  Why should I, as a seller, pay money for someone to buy my house?  That's not the fucking point of this transaction. 

Teh German and I agreed that we'd never even considered asking for closing costs in the negotiation part of home buying because.... why would we?  Also, our experience home buying is from a builder, which is probably much different than buying from an individual.  Even so.

Wanna know another thing I disagree with?  The SELLER paying for both parties realtor fees.  WHY?  WHY should I, as the seller, pay for the buyer's agent who probably also took them to several other homes that were not mine?  WHY?  "Because that's just how it is."?  That's fucking stupid reasoning.  FOR ALWAYS. 

From last week, I also struggle with paying a realtor 3% of my sell price.  Granted, I made fucking sure our realtor earned that 3% because I'm kind of a twat, but I'm not sorry.  For $9,000 for very minimal effort (from my perspective), you're definitely going to work for it.

________________________________________

Sandy has these weird skin spots going on.  It's almost like a scab, but not quite since there is no wound, just weird... discharge?  She was on an antibiotic for it but it didn't help.  So now we're changing foods and weekly baths are probably in her future (poor me and poor her).

________________________________________

I think I've already decided to make boxed cake for cupcakes for Meri's (7th) birfday on the 27th.  It's almost incomprehensible to me that she'll be 7 soon.  She will forever be my crazy little Monkey-Doodle who ate all my shit and was such an energetic terrorizer.  When I think (hard) about it, she's DEFINITELY slowed down since those first 2 years.. but her personality is so poignant that it doesn't feel like she's aged.  I'm not really sure how long Podencos are supposed to live, but obviously Meri is going to live forever because I need her.  That's actually not an exaggeration.

________________________________________

The day that FB banned my Marketplace access, Teh German showed me a Marketplace posting of someone selling "WW2 memorabilia".. What was the "memorabilia"?  A NAZI FLAG.  Some fucktard can sell a fucking Nazi flag on Marketplace, but I get banned for posting furniture?

Someone else tell me they see the problem with that! 
So much rage.

________________________________________

Oh and to follow up on the FB review, I received the same canned response from the account I do use, "We cannot take further action and we will not revoke this decision" or some thing rage inducing to that effect.  I asked HOW I had violated the standards and they refused to answer.  That's fucked up.  Period.  I get that FB doesn't care about a single individual, but I searched around for others also having this problem and they are out there.  Granted, most of them don't seem to speak English well, but still. 

RAGE.

________________________________________

We had a showing on Monday evening and opted to take the dogs to Commonhouse while we had a beer.  It was decided quickly that if there were more showings, we'd be sitting our ass in the pool parking lot because I just could not deal with that again. 

Sandy insisted on sitting on my lap, the entire time.  Teh German, I guess, thought it was going to be a good time for scrolling and got pissed at me when I asked him to take one of the 2 dogs I was holding while I ate my fried Oreos.  Meri pooped on the fake grass.  I'm always paranoid that with all 3 dogs in the back of my car, one will get snarky and chaos will happen and we'll end up at the e-vet, because I escalate EVERYTHING quickly.

________________________________________

We're using a POD to move our shit and it arrives on Oct 2nd.  It could have arrived tomorrow (Saturday), but I didn't want it sitting in the driveway making me feel guilty and I know that once it arrives we're going to want to get everything packed. I also know that we don't want to live in an empty house ANNNDD we do not currently have packing materials (and I'm banned from Marketplace to try and find any, of course).  So I pushed it back until Oct.

In the meantime, I've really got to figure out a way to get some shit sold.  I've told Teh German he really needs to post the stuff he wants to sell on FB and get it gone so he can then post the furniture for me and sell that. 

I shouldn't feel bad that he's going to have to deal with that, but here I am, feeling bad for sharing domestic problems/duties.  Why am I the way I am?  Seriously?  He's just as capable as me at selling shit.  Probably more so because he's way more cut and dry than I am.

________________________________________

I'll be making a multi-purpose trip up to MD at the beginning of Oct.  Multi-purpose, in that, we'll be delivering some stuff up there (motorcycles, dogs) and I'll be dog sitting for Teh Bestie/Teh Chief Smartass while they are away.  Teh German will come up with the remaining dog and stuff and go back over the weekend.  Then I'll leave during the following week and we will finish packing our shit into the POD, pack our shit for Barbados, go to Barbados, then come back and haul ourselves to MD.

In case ya know, you were starting to think that there wasn't any enough chaos in my life! :D

ZWEI - Money Shit

-Birthday collars for Sandra Dee.
-RBG "I dissent" hoodie (it spoke to my soul, I couldn't not)
-groceries
-birthday gift cert for Matilda
-Med Sonic smores milkshake that has been eaten over 4 different dessert sessions.  #Win
-Chiro
-Bully sticks.

DREI - From My Phone Shit 

All these beings in the office "break room"!
Frogs and dogs!

Sandy decided that she was le tired and would be sitting on my lap because I'm Santa.

Finished up my 5ks for my runDisney virtual challenge!  Wewt!

Lemon Chicken Picatta.
I combined several recipes I found online to make this one and added spinach (that needed to be used) and omitted capers because we do not like.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

Me, about selling our SC house.

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. "Downstairs Music" Alexa group which enables me to listen to music with "surround sound". lol
2. Teh German saying, "You're going to have to set Willow on fire," when I told him about the cockroach story which he hadn't seen on FB yet.  When he knows my reactions, it brings me joy.
3. As much as it sucks, giving the dogs showers.  It takes for fucking ever and I have to brush Sandy before and after and makes my back hurt sooo bad, but they are so floofy and pretty and smell so much better after it's done!
4. Chiro visit.
5. Training for work things.  Maybe one day I can actually do work things!
6. Eating lunch with Teh German, errday!
7. 10k on Wednesday that didn't kill me.
8. Cooler temps.  It's not been higher than 85° this week (I think) and it's been delightful.  I'm hoping for a day in the 60s to knock out a half marathon, even if I'm not trained up for that kind of mileage.  I'll make sacrifices for no hills and "cool" temps!
9. Less than 30 days till Barbados!
10. Moving plans starting to line up.  Gettin' all those spinning wheels coordinated!

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Weekend Review {8/24}

FRIDAY

It was a miserable workout since it was just about to start raining when we started.. Then it started raining as we were doing our 400m laps.  See also: reasons I can't fucking breathe: 100% humidity.  Oh and the rain did NOT bring the temp down.  It just got wet and more miserable.  I did hard mode for my workout and, since it was raining, the dogs didn't get walks, but they were appeased with bully sticks instead.  /praisehands.

After a shower, it was time for productive things.. which mostly meant me sitting at the computer doing random work things.  I did my last tech writer task, which was bittersweet. 

After work, it was couch time.

He was eating his foot/scratching his face.
Mostly I was worried I was going to get stabbed in the eye with a paw.

This cutey-patooty. <3 

We had a Friday evening argument, leftovers for dinner, and watched Community until bedtime.

SATURDAY

Teh German got up with the beasts on Saturday morning, while I stayed in the bed and scrolled and drifted in/out of sleep.  I did eventually get up and put on clothes and went out to pick up the grocery order and the few items that weren't from Sam's, Octoberfest beer for Teh German, Halloween Oreos for myself. #YOLO

When I got home, we discussed the afternoon plans.  We had dinner reservations at Myles and Jun Yakitori with Twin Mom and Dad and another coworker and his wife at 6 and we were originally supposed to go to a gathering at one of Teh German's coworkers, but that ended up being cancelled because of the weather, which actually worked out...

Because around 1230ish, Teh German got a call asking if he could bring our trailer to fetch a crashed motorcycle.  It was a very bad situation, the rider was taken away in an ambulance and had several surgeries within 12 hours of being at the hospital.  And here's how/why this applies to me.  This person was riding with a group that I've ridden with before.  A group that I wasn't overly comfortable with because of how fast they'd go or stupid stunts they'd do.  This accident validated the way I feel about riding with certain groups and how vehemently opposed I am, the majority of the time.

That said, I'm also ~10 years older than the person that went down and I'm not shy about when I'm uncomfortable.  I've straight up said, "If this shit keeps happening, I will go home."  This person's inexperience, coupled with the pressure to ride at a higher level than their actual skill level, plus a bike that was too powerful/large for them made it a recipe for disaster and... to be completely honest, I was part of a large group of people that expected something like this to eventually happen, and that feels horrible and is completely unfair to the individual that went down, but is true, since they refused any guidance about the situation.

While Teh German was being a tow truck, I played WoW.

By the time Teh German came home, I was showered and ready for dinner so that way he could get ready and then we'd both be ready when it was eventually time to leave.

Dinner was fucking fabulous.  I tried to drink an entire pitcher of the sangria but couldn't because I was sooooo full.  I had warned Teh German that dinner was my job celebration since he had refused to celebrate any other time that it was appropriate, so I ordered the whole pitcher of sangria (should have gotten half, didn't think), beef tongue yakitori, and the wagyu beef entree.. and had ZERO RAGRATS.  Twin Dad ordered half the yakitori menu and he shared some of the stuff with the table so I also tried beef heart and some type of mushroom.

After dinner, we went over to Twin Mom/Dad house and hung out for a few hours before finally heading home to feed the beasts the rest of their dinner, sit outside for some scrolling time, then it was finally bedtime.

SUNDAY

Sunday was my day to get up with the beasts, so I did that, then went back to bed for scrolling and naps.  I, eventually, got up and went downstairs to talk to Teh Bestie about dinner plans while I'm there next week.  Teh German came downstairs and decided to make breakfast instead of having cereal.  I got off the phone and helped him by dicing the potatoes for the potato skillet he wanted to make.

Teh German is the one who has to cook fried potatoes because I can never get them to properly fry.  He just does it so much better.  So he did sage sausage, fried potatoes, and eggs in the skilled, topped with cheese, and he also made bacon, just because.

After breakfast was 2nd coffee time, then Teh German decided to go out to the garage to do garage things.  I gamed.  Meri was confused at extra voices in the garage when Teh PT Kid came by to chat with Teh German.

In the evening, we had totchos (tater tots + taco chicken dip) for dinner.  After cleanup and doggy dinner, we watched Community until bedtime.

______________________________________________

Despite a Friday evening tiff, the weekend actually went well.  Sometimes, I feel super lazy not being crazy busy on the weekend, so I guess that's still the residual Stockholm Syndrome from being in school for 3 years.

Teh German has the rest of an interview (it's weird, don't ask) this afternoon for an MD job.  So fingers crossed on that situation.  This week I'm wrapping things up and trying not to be an asshole to the Cyclone who keeps insisting they are going to "work on the pain points" of all the shit I've been doing for the last 2 years, as if I didn't try to make the processes better and why not attempt these things sooner than now since everyone knew I was struggling?  Fuck you.  Ugh.

I keep telling myself that current Company problems are NOT my problems anymore, but apparently I'm always in disaster mitigation mode.  Even Teh German told me the same thing.. I just need my brain to comprehend it.  One day, maybe.

Until then.. 3ish more days... as I'm not planning on doing much on Friday.. because.. well.. just no thanks.

Five on Friday #237

EINS - Random Shit

After the hurricane season of 2019 and the general trajectory of 2020, I figured people would be absolutely losing their shit over the first storm of 2020.  'Taint so though.  Other than individuals who feel the need to share everything that NOAA posts on FB (/roll eyes forever), local news sources haven't really said much about it, no evacuation crisis, no bum-rushing the grocery stores/gas stations.  It's almost been.. pleasant.  Or we're so desensitized by 2020 no one cares.  Or, the least likely scenario, people are finally realizing that a hurricane below Cat 3 is really just wind and rain..  Maybe that's something I need to privilege check since I live in a house with windows rated for up to 150mph winds and not a single-wide trailer, IDK.

________________________________________

I saw a Twitter thread the other day about sharing your location (via GPS/on your phone) with your significant other and read the comments, because that's what I do.  I'm 50/50 on it.  Husband and I don't share our location with each other when we're at home doing our regular routine life, but if one of us is travelling, we (ok, me) I generally turn on my location sharing.  I do this as a personal security measure.  If I die or get lost or get abducted, I need someone to be able to find me (especially if I'm already with Teh Bestie, which is usually who I'm with if I'm travelling without Teh German).  I've also started sharing my location with Teh German when I'm running distances over 9 miles (races and not).

That said, I share my location 100% of the time with Teh Bestie.  This started years ago for the purposes of tracking each other during runs and then definitely when I was online dating and then when we'd make trips to see each other.. So now, it's just on 24/7.

________________________________________

Husband and I have been doing garage WODs in the AM and everything hurts and I'm dying.

Monday:
20 min AMRAP
10 push ups
10 air squats
30-second mountain climbers
30-second wall sit (I subbed for jumping jacks)
+2 miles of walking the dogs.

Wednesday:
5 rounds for time:
20 push ups
20 jumping jacks
20 sit ups
20 air squats
20 alternating lunges
(30:48)
+2 miles of walking the dogs.

Friday:

800m = 1 mile

+2 miles of walking the dogs.

This was our course on Friday and if that doesn't look like a penis to you, you're not dirty enough to be here.

Me: I'm sooo sore.  I think you think I'm exaggerating my soreness, but I am not.  I have run half marathons and didn't hurt this bad.
Teh German: Yeah but that is the feeling of your body enhancing.  Getting better.  That's a good feeling.
Me: Enhancement is not what comes to mind when I think about moving and something hurts, I call that agony.

________________________________________

I've said it before and I'll say it again...
If you are a vlogger or recording yourself review a product on video and you are looking at yourself in the screen of whatever recording device you are using, you do not deserve for people to watch your content.  There, I said it... again.

STOP WATCHING YOURSELF PEOPLE.  LOOK AT THE CAMERA DOT!!

________________________________________

New medals arrived.  Originally the Divas Myrtle Beach was slated to be rescheduled, but I guess they gave that up and just mailed out race packets.  So now I have to run a half marathon around the neighborhood before I can put the medal up.  Leeee siiiigh.

I almost didn't hang the Llama Rama medal since it ended up being solo virtual race miles.  Dislike.  But I did hang the graduation one since Teh PT Wife said we ran the miles for that one together.

________________________________________

In 2016, I shot a wedding for $300.  A wedding where I slipped in the river during their kayak send off and sprained my toe.  That wedding when I fucked up my toe and then ran the Disneyland races a month later on a fucked up toe and cried my way through the last miles of the half marathon...

4 years later (yesterday), they emailed me asking for non-watermarked copies of their photos and when they could get those.  I mean, I'm going to send them if I can find them, but I'm still annoyed that 4 years later an event that I'd like to completely forget happened is popping back up. 

Latergram: I checked, I no longer have any of their edited photos, only the original raw files without edits and for $300 I will not be re-editing those to send them.  #SorryNotSorry. 

Also, "When could we get those?"  You act like it hasn't been 4 years since you got married and all of a sudden you are popping up in my inbox?  How about a, "Hi, I know it's been 4 years, but I was wondering if it was possible to get another set, but with no-watermark, of our wedding photos.  Hope you're doing well.  Please let me know if there's anything I need to do.  Thanks!"

IDK, the whole thing is weird.  Maybe I'm making it weird?  But I don't think that's it this time.

And I know this is selfish of me, but I want to be like, I paid thousands of dollars for my wedding photographer to get the digital rights to my photos and he didn't even have to travel out of town to shoot our wedding.  Soooo....

________________________________________

Meri has decided that she is going to be storm phobic for whatever reason and I'm trying to not encourage it.  If we're at the island, she will come and stand between my legs and the island and that's annoying.  If I'm in the office, she will come and lay RIGHT BEHIND my office chair or stand beside me touching me.  I'm paranoid I'm going to roll her over or step on her, so I've taken to picking her up and holding her on my lap.  Know what Meri hates more than storms?  Sitting on my lap.  Usually after I do this, she settles in her chair bed (if I'm in the office) or on the couch/dog beds (in the living room).

ZWEI - Money Shit

-Groceries
-Workout things: whiteboard, new markers (since we needed new ones), sidewalk chalk for rep counting
-Over priced dog treats... I was VERY angry when I was buying that stuff but I know it's the good shit.

DREI - From My Phone Shit

We have a back porch friend.
It's a trash panda.
By trash panda I mean a raccoon.
We have a raccoon friend.

Anyone else carry around empty containers until you can write the item on your "store list"?

Looks like some fancy recipe site shit right there.

AND it tasted like some fancy recipe site delight too.

Decided to test out sitting on the ball.
It's too short.
Le siiigh.

Laziness, it's what's for breakfast.

Dogs

Neighborhood Watch, on duty.

I washed the dog beds and there was some struggle with getting the beds just right again.

She looks like someone poured her into that bed... lurve her.

And this is why she is nicknamed Big Booty Judy.  her ass is always up in my space.

 

When your snootervisor invades your space and then acts too cool for Mahm love.

Post exercise selfies to Teh German.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

I cannot tell you how long you will have to wait,
but I can tell you that you are being prepared for what's to come
breath by breath,
day by day.
MHN

Even when she did not have a lot, she continued to give her all.
-MHN

You have worked so hard.
You have given so much.
You have made it through countless moments of not feeling good enough.
And if there are days where you still discouraged,
remember: you have come so far,
and no matter how your low moments have made you feel,
they do not define who you are.
-Morgan Harper Nichols-

And yes,
it is true...
all along,
you have been strong.
MHN

Me: 30 years writing software for money

Also Me: Googles how to hide a div with a querySelector

Hang in there #codenewbies

— Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) August 2, 2020

This is me... except cost of living is real yall.

THIIIIIISSSSSS

Every day when I sign into my work email.

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. RAIN
2. Workouts with Husband.  We've worked out together and apart and I think we both enjoy working out together.
3. Clean smelling dogs.. even if it mean a LOT of work for me and the Laundry Fairy (also me).
4. Switching over to my Disney card as my main payment method to start building up some rewards.
5. People being like, why the fuck do you have to do this and why is it so complicated every time? regarding the work tasking that has me job hunting.  This isn't just from coworkers, this is also from govvies who work for the company (although different departments) that I have to run in circles for.
6. Percussion massager and foam roller.  Without them, I'd be dead because I would have starved because I wouldn't have been able to do the stairs.
7. Taking PTO today as a mental health day. 
8. PayPal accounts for my 3 different banks so I can send money to myself easily without it being a hassle or taking 248219301 days.
9. Sudafed and Advil.
10. Matilda is on her way!

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.