yoga, books, movies, tv and WAY too many crime procedurals – not necesarily in that order
Today’s half-assed, almost homemade Mexican-style feast:
2 packages of Old El Paso Spanish Rice (the kind that preps in a minute)
1 value pack of chicken breasts (I think it was 5 breasts)
1 package of Fajita seasoning
2 sm 10 oz cans of RoTel Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles, drained
1 large pkg (4 cups-ish) shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 can black beans, drained
1 large can Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
Flour tortillas
So first I made the rice and while it cooled, put the flour tortillas in a 13×9 pan. I put them in propped together taco-style but you could also just make a top/bottom layer probably. I filled the bottom of each tortilla with the Spanish rice
I put fajita spice on the breasts and put them in a pan with a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil. Cook until browned on one side, flip them.
While the chicken is cooking, put the tomatoes and beans in a bowl and stir to blend. Once blended, scoop beans/tomatoes into each tortilla.
Once the breasts were browned on both sides, I took them out and sliced and then cubed them, then putting them back in the pan to finish cooking and added the rest of the fajita spice.
Once the chicken was done, I scooped it into the the tortillas, put in a handful of cheese each, and then closed the tortillas. I had to use toothpicks but whatevs. Poured in the can of enchilada sauce, covered the whole mess in cheese, and baked at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. When I took it out of the oven, I took out the toothpicks, put them on plates and put on more cheese. Served with tortilla chips.
Dudes, it was WICKED AWESOME. Delicious and since I didn’t use more than half of my chicken meat, we’ll have another pseudo-Mexican meal later this week.
Anyone who knows me knows that I hate housework. “Loathe” wouldn’t be an exaggeration. When I was working part-time I managed to come up with a system that worked and kept the house tidy. When I started my holiday job (in addition to the part-time job) I was working 60 hours a week and pretty much didn’t touch a broom for two months.
Now that I’m down to 40ish hours, I’ve been re-evaluating the system. When I work afternoons (leaving the house at around 1pm or later) I find that I’m actually MOTIVATED to clean in the mornings. I get up, put things away, wash the dishes, et cetera. When I work mornings, though, I get up at about 4:30 am so that I can leave the house by 5:30 and let me tell you there is NO HOUSEWORK HAPPENING. If you’re lucky, I remember to clean up after myself so that there aren’t clothes strewn about the house and makeup all over the bathroom countertop.
The problem with working mornings is that when I get home I’m TIRED. It’s typically been a full 8 hour day and my shifts involve physical labor- not just standing at a cash register. I get to decompress on the drive home (45 minutes, more or less) and then by the time I’m at the house, I want to lay on the couch. Alas, dinner needs to be made and let’s face it, Spouse is the breadwinner no matter HOW many hours I work. I’m cool with the cooking and cleaning being part of my job, I just don’t LOVE it. The cooking is generally a nonissue but when I get home from work, there are invariably the dishes from Spouse’s breakfast (cooking and eating) sitting there, as well as the clean dishes from the night before and probably clean dishes in the dishwasher too. Not exactly INSPIRATIONAL.
This week I decided to do an experiment, since last week’s cleaning BEFORE work went so well. I’m still not going to clean at 4am but I thought I’d do something to help with an afternoon energy boost – enough to pump me up for cleaning and then I could cook and relax. So after I got home from work, I let the dog out and got on the treadmill. It turns out that a nice solid 30 minute run (intervals of some sort usually) gives me enough energy to beat the midafternoon tired slump and then I could clean with the music cranked up. Once I get the dishes done (one of my least favorite things) I put laundry in (once a week) and did a quick run of the floors (every other day). After that, I start dinner and clean up as I go. Once dinner is done, I’m all about the couch – at least until about 9 (when I have to pass out or risk not hearing the alarm for work).
So far I’m optimistic about the new system working. It looks like my morning schedule will be more regular and the run has the added benefit of making me feel good (in addition to keeping me awake).
In my ‘Newest Music’ playlist this month: MoZella – Belle Isle, Ben Folds – supersunnyspeedgraphic, Chin Chin – Chin Chin, Hurray for the Riff Raff – Young Blood Blues, Ladytron – Velocifero and the Glee Soundtracks.
I feel like I actually have three jobs. After work today, I stopped at the grocery on the way home. Once home, I made chili (for dinner tonight), beef tikka masala (for this weekend) and blueberry muffins (for breakfast). Things not to do after cutting up your hands all day working with cardboard: cut jalepenos. Yeah. Awesome. I ALSO managed to get the kitchen cleaned. I am Supergirl.
The muffins allowed me to test my new silicone muffin pans and they are FANTASTIC. I love them. If I could, I’d replace most of my bakeware with silicone. On the current wishlist: those measuring cups/spoons that flatten, as well as a colander.
My Xbox is wending its way to the house as we speak. I’m very excited about it and picked up some used games from GameStop. Fatima promised we could conference and watch bad movies on Netflix, so I’m looking forward to that.
My hands ARE pretty thrashed from work. I’ve been having issues for the last year/year and a half with dry nails that peel (rather than split or break) and recently discovered that a fix seems to include 1. No nail polish and 2. Lots of lotion. I trimmed my nails tonight and there wasn’t a single peeler. The hands ARE hella dry from all the cardboard though. I might actually have to get out my lotion gloves overnight.
New current playlist is an autolist with Lily Allen, Kelly Clarkson, Britney, Gaga and Katy Perry. I’m REALLY enjoying it.
Other random news. Brit Hume- WTF? Because Christians, especially FAMOUS Christians, NEVER have extramarital affairs? WTF *SouthCarolinaGovernor* cough. I think Brit’s a first class idiot. See also: not everyone subscribes to your idea or need for forgiveness. Jackass.
Tomorrow’s post-work excitement will consist of seeing Avatar again and/or cleaning the basement. Piper was mad that we left today and got into the coffee grounds in the laundry room garbage. Mmmm. Coffee grounds. This would likely be less annoying if I 1. drank coffee and 2. thought coffee smelled good. Damn dog.
I might do some more reading before bed tonight- Middlemarch is even more effective than Ambien.
Tomorrow I begin a new work schedule for January, which requires my getting up at o’dark:30. On the bright side, I’m done with work in the early afternoon with plenty of time to run errands and cook dinner. Downside? I’ve got to be in bed by 10pm in order to be functional.
In an attempt to be responsible, I’ve already packed my lunch. Two Pb&Js, some Cheez-its, dark chocolate covered almonds, and a bottle of water. I’m hoping that’ll get me through two breaks and a lunch. When I do my grocery shopping tomorrow afternoon, I can stock up on breakworthy food.
Spouse’s truck isn’t totaled but we won’t have it back until sometime next week. It turns out our auto insurance rep isn’t much good for anything so we’ll likely be in the market for new insurance soon. Luckily a coworker was generous enough to offer him the use of their truck until his is repaired, so we at least aren’t having to pay for a rental or juggle schedules. It’s one of the nice differences here- back in Saginaw, Spouse was the guy who’d made that offer but never had it reciprocated (even from neighbors). Here we had two such offers and it’s very nice to be in that kind of community.
Not much reading progress today on Middlemarch, though Finch is turning out to be quite interesting. Turns out George Eliot is precisely as boring as I remember her being but I’m making an effort.
Yeah, yeah, I know there are people who think “Happy Holidays” is designed to “Take Christ out of Christmas.” To those people I say: think about how many holidays are celebrated in December. Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, New Year, Solstice. There’s more than one holiday. Hence happy HOLIDAYS. So suck it. Also, please do not get me started on the Xmas debate. See Snopes or Wikipedia and KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT before you start bitching about that X.
On a different note, I’ve been WICKED busy at the new part time job. While I’m enjoying it, it’s been a while since I’ve worked 60 hours a week. As a result, not all the holiday baking is done yet. I haven’t had a day off (no work at all) since two weeks ago Wednesday. Luckily I’m off Christmas Day (both jobs) and we’ve been invited to share Christmas Eve with some friends in town. If I have my way, part of Christmas Day will involve Avatar and possibly Sherlock Holmes. We’ll see.
The mountains continue to be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen – reinforced daily on my drive to work. It’s hard to believe I’ve been out here for a full year now. While it’s been a big change from Saginaw, the change has been entirely for the better. The town is lovely, if quirky, and the weather can’t be beat. I’ve enjoyed the change of pace from living in the city and the views from anywhere in town can’t be beat. Becoming a Colorado resident was a great way to start the last year.
This year, back in retail for the holidays, I’m surprised to find that customers have been generally happy and cheerful – no crankiness presented as yet. Since we’re getting down to crunch time, I hope the trend continues.
I hope EVERYONE has a safe and wonderful holiday season!
