Feeling resolute

Well, it’s New Years again. Yeah! I love a fresh start.

My 2009 resolution TANKED. Obviously had delusions of grandeur last year. Damn. And oh, well. Cleaning up litter in Texas was obviously beyond my humble skill set. That’s okay. I made a lot of personal strides to clean up litter (changed some of my consumption habits; found out that trash clean up days are fun; started some new recycling ventures). And if I find a way to get started again, I’ll get everybody in this damn state bitter about litter.

So 2010. Right! Yeah! The key to good resolutions? Lowered expectations. This year I’m going to officially re-dedicate myself to the small meals throughout the day plan. I had tried this and found it really did help my energy level. But I’ve way fallen off the wagon lately. The last two months have been very catch-as-catch-can as far as food goes, and I’ve been back in crash and burn mode. I don’t like it.

So, I’m going to get back in the saddle. Of course, I’m starting to get an inkling of my “Lent” project for the year. And, if I decide to go the route I’ve been eyeballing, the small meals thing is going to be extra complicated. Here’s a hint – it will be the opposite of a process of elimination. Hmmmmmm.
Anyway. I’m looking forward to a new year, New Year’s and a new decade. The start of the century was kind of bumpy. Farewell, Naughties. Hello, Teens! Who’d have thought I’d be excited to relive the Teens?

Easy

So I call up a friend to get some input on a birthday celebration for her. Here's something I learned - it's really not all that bad to do for easygoing people who like their birthdays. As opposed to me.

I'm starting to have some pity for people who try to rope me into celebrating my birthday. I mean, all sorts of questions come up. Like "How many tranquilizer darts will we need to actually get Julie to the party?" and "Will she get up and storm out of the restaurant if we have clapping singing waiters deliver cake?" [Answers: One and yes.] With her the questions are "Where do you want to go?" and "Who do you want to invite?" Which is also easier when people basically like any kind of food and have a "more the merrier" party philosophy. As opposed to the "if she's going to be there, I'm not coming" philosophy. [Which I don't do. Even I have my pain in the rear limits.]

Man, I am really a pain in the rear on the birthday celbration issue. I could take pity on my fine friends. Pity, yes. Mercy, no.

Wait . . .

So, it's Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve with Ryan Seacrest? Does this mean Seacrest is going to take over some day? Does this mean he's permanent? And he's not just going to go away some day? You know, just kind of be done. Some day. You know. Like the Furby. Or Color Me Badd. A fad. He's here, there and every where now. But someday, he'd be not here. You'd look at somebody and say, "Do you remember that Ryan Seacrest guy?"

But if he's the new Dick Clark, someday I'll be like 80 and watching Times Square on New Years. And Seacrest will be 30, introducing Cyrus Jonas (Miley Cyrus and that youngest Jonas brother's grandkid). The future suddenly seems very dark and grim.

Shoot. I kind of just assumed if we waited it out, it would just be Seacrest . . . out.

Kitchen Chronicles

Well, as I drag my lazy bohonkus to the keyboard . . . the Christmas food wrap-up.

First that chocolate spice bread - yeeee-ummmm. It was like a slice of Mexican hot chocolate. Very moist. And just a bit of heaven when paired with a nice cup of tea.

Second, the no-knead whole wheat bread. On the up side, this bread could not have been easier to make. I wasn't sure what would make it rise. Since there's no sugar, I wasn't sure what the yeast would eat to make those yeast farts that make the bread rise (you're welcome for that little image - good luck getting it out of your head). But rise it did. Those wee yeast beasties are a determined lot. On the downside, switching out the rye for corn meal was not a good choice. It just turned it into cornbread. Duh. And I've had better cornbreads. Not that it was bad. It was actually pretty good. And I'm more than willing to tinker with it to come up with a good flour blend. Given that the entire recipe was "put the ingredients in a bowl; stir; wait; put dough in pan; wait; put pan in oven; bake", I'm thinking this could be a go-to classic for me.

Third, the guac. Oh, the guac. I bought 6 avocados, planning to do one regular and one spicy guacamole. 6 BAD avocados. How does one buy SIX BAD avocados? How does that happen. I have no idea. Especially since I went to the hippie store, and their produce is usually top notch. Very disappointing. Luckily, I'd overbought on tomatoes, and was able to freestyle a pico de gallo-style salsa. Which, got rave reviews, she said modestly. Necessity is la madre of invention. I'm a southwest girl, and can also Magyver a queso dip out of two tomatoes, a paper clip and a block of Velveeta. Ole!

2009 goes Bang

'The Big Bang Theory' cast is ready for its close-up

Bah-ha-ha-ha! (That's a big Arnold from Happy Days laugh for those old enough to remember, or young enough to admit they are old enough.)

All of these are pretty dead on. But dang that picture of Johnny Galecki as Susan Boyle is platinum funny.)

Drive me crazy

Well, I’ve been driving to work for the last week or so, with the exception of the holidays. I forget how wearing that can be. Traffic. Pa-tooie. Can’t wait to get back to my beloved mass transit, and let somebody else have the headaches.

Because it really is a headache driving in traffic. For one there’s the shame and guilt that I feel every day, when I hit the morning tie-up and scoot along, bumper-to-bumper for 3 miles, and start mumbling “There better be at least 3 wrecked cars and a bleeding head wound at the point of this mess.” And then you get to whatever it is and find out it isn’t. Anything. Just zoom. You’re out of it. No stalled cars. No ambulances. No one wrapped in gauze. Grrrr. Not even somebody pulled to the side of the road with their hood up. Nothing. Dallas is the only city I know where people rubber neck NOTHING.

Ow, ow, my head.

Then, it’s also just psychically draining to be driving along, especially in tight traffic, trying to telepathically intuit things like people moving into your lane. Picking up on those subtle mental vibrations that you get just before someone swerves right in front of you and probably jams on their breaks. I really wish there was something, you know, outside the car, that would let me know when someone was wanting to get in my lane. Or shoot across 4 lanes of traffic to get to an exit. I don’t know. Something that would tell me right or left. Something easily visible to other drivers. Maybe, like a light, or something. That would be nice. If anyone can come up with an invention that would do that, I’d be happy to provide startup capital to get an idea like that off the ground.