Diet Stuff

Breakfast: Bacon and Peanuts
Lunch: Spinach, Bacon, Onion & Feta Omelette
Dinner: Rosemary Garlic Cream Pork Chops with a Roasted Tomato Basil Zucchini puree (a fancy name for my Awesome Sauce)

Gym: None, 31 Miles Total

Clean: 45/15 x2

When building our house and running the pipe from the street to our house for all our water, the contractor said "Why should I spend more money, when these CHEAPER PIPES will last another 40 years!" Of course, that was 40 years ago now, and some time over the weekend the pipe that runs under our driveway outlived the expectations of the contractor, and there was water squirting up through the cracks in the driveway. Landlord and his son came over last night to dig it up, and so for the time being we have no driveway :(

Yesterday was Molly's first day of school, and it seems that the cut-off age for "I need Mommy and Daddy to walk me in to the classroom on that first day" is SECOND GRADE. She didn't do the "OMG MOM AND DAD YOU'RE SO EMBARRASSING" or the "JUST DROP ME OFF HERE" heartbreaking moment, it was just... she just didn't *need* us there this year. She found her best friend before class and they went in to the room together, just kind of ignoring Crystal (I was circling the area in our minivan).

We finished MollyGameCon last night as well, with a rousing game of Ticket To Ride. I won the game, but came in *last place* for the competition over all :(

Today I get my allergy shot and take Molly's "This Will Do" backpack back to Toys R Us. When we couldn't find My Little Pony or Littlest Pet Shop anywhere, she settled for the Nickelodeon show "Victorious" (which we both enjoyed). But then we found a Littlest Pet Shop one at VALUE VILLAGE of all places, and so now I take the other one back :)

Good news for the 1980's Saturday Morning Historical Reenactment Society member with a ROKU BOX

Roku (those little set-top TV boxes that let you stream stuff from various internet sources) just made a deal with Livestream.com, the service that we stream our watch-along events through! This means that IF you have a Roku hooked up to your TV, you can watch along just as if you were watching on regular TV with us!

This sounds GREAT to me, and will really open up the group to more people to watch along with us :)

This ALSO means that we're one step closer to the type of future seen in books like "Ready Player One" and on TV shows like "Max Headroom"! HOOORAY!!!

Victory In The Kitchen

It only takes a fistful of victories in the kitchen to spark my Chef's Pride. The success/popularity of my Tomato Basil Zucchini Soup at the catering gig, when combined with my Crockpot Porkchop Gamble and, now, my Fancy Chicken Thigh Lunch? I'm ready to get serious about cooking fancy meals for my family again :)

Chicken Thighs that I whipped-up for lunch today were PERFECT, and I blame it all on the Emeril Lagasse 12-Inch Stainless-Steel-N-Brass frying pan I found t The Goodwill Outlet! Olive oil in the hot pan, then put the thighs (which had been seasoned with minced garlic and seasoning salt) in the pan skin-side down and covered for about 8 minutes. Uncovered, flipped over and removed the whole pan from the burner so the thighs could have extra heat while resting for 20 minutes. Then I removed the chicken from the pan, returned the pan to heat, deglazed the pan with plain old water and then added a quarter-cup of heavy cream. Whisked till the stuff in the pan was reduced to a thin gravy and poured it over the crispy chicken OMG I'M STILL DROOLING!!!

Wonder what I'll make for dinner tonight?