Guilty as charged

A few weeks ago, I was talking with my brother-in-law about simple guilty pleasures. His? Potato olés from Taco John's. Mine? Fake-cheddar flavored snacks (like Cheetos and Cheez-its). mmm...tasty. I kind of gross myself out thinking what the cheese must be made of, but really, that doesn't deter me. I make sure not to keep any around my house because I know I won't be able to stop myself from eating them. This week at work, I've really been lacking self-control and have indulged in that cheddary goodness twice from the vending machine (typically a no-fly zone). I vow to do better.

My good friend Chester.

The rug is here!

My new rug is here! After a week and a half of repeatedly checking Overstock for customer comments on the red mosaic tile rug, and failing to find any, I finally just went ahead and purchased it (reckless, I know). I was able to get 10 percent off (I just googled "overstock.com promo code" and a bunch of different codes popped up), so that made me feel a little bit better about the whole thing. Also, thanks everyone for all your encouraging comments!

Flash forward to tonight. My rug was waiting on my doorstep for me when I got home. And I couldn't be happier with it. The colors were true to how they appeared online and the pile is nice and cushy as promised. I'm in love.

The rug and my couch. Hey, there's the framed couch print too (not hung yet, but still)!

I liked the rug so much, I just had to get in one of the shots. So, here I am.

Framed: American Frame

At last! Nearly a month and a half later, I've finally assembled my frame from American Frame. I would have put it together the day I received it in the mail, but it didn't come with the required framing hardware...or so I thought. I'd called the company about the "missing" hardware and they promptly sent me a new set.

By the time the hardware arrived, good old procrastination had set in and I never bothered to deal with frame until tonight. As I was hard at work drilling some pilot holes, I couldn't figure out why the piece of cardboard the frame was on wasn't lying flat on the table. As I checked over the cardboard, what should I find? The original hardware - securely taped to it just like the customer service rep said it would be and I had sworn it wasn't. So now, my little picture-frame-assembly victory is dampened by the fact that I swindled the good folks at American Frame.

I've framed American Frame. The original hardware is on the left (with the green sticker). The replacement hardware is on the right (in the canvas bag).

Frozen embryos

Big news - I froze some of my eggs this weekend. Now, I know I am only 24 and have many, many years ahead of me. So why did I do it? I don't really have a good answer. And truth be told, the whole thing was kind of surreal. Throughout the entire process I really didn't even know what was happening. One minute, my eggs were nestled safely away, and the next, they were frozen.

I ended up freezing five of my eggs. Technically, seven were frozen, but two were destroyed before I had a chance to snap the picture. To be completely honest, this is just five in a long string of frozen embryos since I've been in my house. By my count, I've probably frozen two dozen eggs.

These are my frozen eggs - cracked and oozing

I've tried adjusting the temperature in the refrigerator, but that doesn't seem to help. Upon closer inspection, I think the cold air vent blows directly at the designated egg carton spot in the door, thereby flash freezing the eggs in a perpetual state of uselessness.

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings make me happy! They are just so relaxing and comforting. When I'm visiting my parents, Sunday mornings include 8:30 a.m. mass and a stop at Hardee's where we read the paper and stuff our faces. I throw caution to the wind and get both a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and a cinnamon raisin biscuit, as well as a cup of coffee.

When I'm at my house, Sunday mornings include 9:30 a.m. mass and then a muffin and a cup of coffee. My church has coffee, juice and donuts (bagels and muffins too) after every mass, so I always grab a muffin to go. I'm always amazed at the people that don't stop for a treat. I just don't get how they could willingly pass up all that carbohydrate goodness. When I get home, I make a pot of coffee, sit down with a newspaper, magazine or the Internet, and chow down. Ahh, bliss.

I couldn't resist; I ate some of the muffin in the car.

Pick-up sticks

It's been a bit windy here lately and that means one thing for me: time to play pick-up sticks. My mature trees just can't take all of that blowing and shaking, so I end up with a yard full of tree litter. I'll most likely end up having to hack these branches into bits for the garbage men (Per our trash collectors: Brush bundles must be no more than 18 inches in diameter and no more than four (4) feet long. Bundles cannot weigh more than 40 pounds. Each bundle must have a 'Compost It' sticker attached). Awesome.

Yay. More yardwork. A covert bonfire would make me much happier.

Bloomin'

I love flowers that have enough sense to just do their own thing - like grow and be pretty year after year without so much as a kind word from me. No sissy flowers for my yard, thanks.

I guess that means I like perennials.

Making Merry Music

After attending my eight year-old cousin's piano recital last night, I'm feeling eager to tickle the ivories myself. I would love to have a piano in my house, even though there's not really space for one and my talent stops at the level 3 lesson book. As a consolation prize, I have a flute (which fits nicely in my little house), and I can play it OK, but it's just not the same. On the plus side, my antique-y music stand makes a wonderful piece of living room decor when it's not in use (which is all the time actually, because I haven't touched my flute since last summer).

Stand-in for a piano

A rug to call my own

This red rug is calling to me. It would be perfect for my living room, which is the next room on my list for a little TLC. Besides my general indecisiveness, I'm particularly hesitant about ordering this rug because, should I not be happy with it, a return would be kind of painful. Return shipping would be pricey and just the logistics of getting a 5x8 rug to the UPS store is enough to give me pause. Plus, no one has left a comment or rated the rug yet, so I'd definitely be a guinea pig. Maybe I'll wait until someone comments on the rug. But, I don't want to wait too long and run the risk that the rug will be sold out. I've been looking for rugs for months, and this is the first one that I've found that I really, truly like and that fits my budget. What to do, what to do?

Taiwan prep work

The preparation starts way in advance for any trip to Taiwan. We certainly can't show up empty-handed. And nothing says 'I've missed you and I care about you' better than joint supplements, deep rubs and other medical miscellany. Seriously, our relatives love this stuff. Here's what I need to squeeze into my suitcase so far. No joke. My siblings and my mom will shoulder similar loads, with the addition of bags and bags of chocolate.

Four jars of Flex-a-min, four jars of calcium supplements, three jars of Blue-Emu, three jars of almonds, one heating pad and a partridge in a pear tree (not shown)

Long live my meals

I don't mind cooking; it's just that it takes too much of my time. I've become very fond of large Sunday dinners that will produce enough leftovers to feed me through Thursday. Plus, it helps me practice portion control, since I'd hate to run out of a meal and actually have to cook on a weekday. :) This week, my meal is lasagna! Here's some of my other frequent dishes:

• Tater tot casserole
• Chili and rice
• Potato soup
• Chicken and zucchini (or broccoli) with garlic cream sauce
• Fish tacos
• Chinese food (rice, soy meat, eggs and tomatoes and, occasionally, smoked salmon)
• Spaghetti
• Turkey Reubens
• Veggie Pita Pizzas
  

Any other meal suggestions are welcome. I don't cook a lot of meat (except chicken and ground beef) simply because I'm lazy like that. And I must have veggies, otherwise I feel all unbalanced.

Lasagna. Not my own, but it looks pretty darn close.

Can't say no to free

I love free stuff! On my walk back from my bus stop tonight, I passed this little wicker table hanging out on the curb with a glider rocker and gas grill. I initially walked right past, but then my thrifty ways got the better of me. I promptly snatched it up and marched it home with me. After I give it a new coat of paint (either white or some other sensational color), it should make the perfect table for my deck.