This is life

So, dinner. We went to a nice little Italian place about five minutes from our apartment. My dad's parents, my mom's mom and my brothers came along. As did Dave. It was fine, except my mom was ridiculously drunk, and interrupted my dad during his toast to her, presumably because she got bored. Dave was like, "Your mom was really rude to your dad." Yep, that's the story of their marriage. I was upset about it last night, but I feel better about it today.


( I should have saved this for my next photo, but I like it, so I'm gonna post it now. )

I forgot to list New Year's resolutions! My first one is to completely cut out meat (minus some seafood), and it should be easy as I haven't eaten any meat since Christmas, and started cutting out other things way before then. I make awesome fake meat tacos, and we just bought some stuff for meatless black bean chili, so we're going strong so far. (Not that Dave has any issues with his lifelong vegetarian-ness...) The second is to pay off my remaining debt, which totals about $2000. Most of it can be attributed to credit cards, and one ill-fated solo venture into owning a cell phone (my dad pays for it now; I'm on the family's plan). Third is to learn how to save and budget money because I AM SO BAD AT SAVING. I love to spend and spend and spend, even when I can't afford to spend. Self-discipline plays a part in this, as I have NONE, but I'm trying to be better. So far, so good. Fourth, I want to make more homemade meals. No eating out at crappy "restaurants" like Wendy's and spending money that doesn't need to be said. As a sub...resolution (?), this includes eating more rice, beans, and expanding my cooking horizons. Lastly, clean more. This one...will probably fall by the wayside. I just need to get on a schedule that includes cleaning on the weekends instead of watching TV all weekend.

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday (she'll be 46), and we get to go out to eat! Free dinner for Wednesday, and lunch for Thursday. It's going to be a good week I think.

So on Sunday, a coworker's son was murdered. He worked here for a few summers, and I remember him. It's bizarre to know someone who was murdered. I keep expecting Beckett and Castle to show up and solve the murder, but the reality is that it probably won't be solved. He was 27. RIP.

Title: Smokestacks and Skyscrapers
Author: makingmywayhome
Characters/Pairing: All canon pairings (eventually), Jacob Black
Rating: R
Category: Romance/Drama
Spoilers: None, AH
Summary: Edward Cullen is a member of one of Chicago's most elite families, spending his time among the city's upper crust. When his grandmother dies, Edward begins to think on his own mortality, leading him to discover a life he'd never known.

Chapter Five: Baseball Fever


I made banana bread today, and it's pretty tasty if I do say so myself. It's the first recipe I used in my new America's Test Kitchen cookbook because we just happened to have three very overripe bananas sitting around.

I watched the first two Doctor Who specials today, and am saving the third for tomorrow. We'll see if I can deal with the fourth sometime this week.

( Lastly, for the 52 pictures meme going around, one kitty photo! )

Planning on watching the last Doctor Who today. Wish me luck.

2010 Fifty Book Challenge
1. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (reading now and will definitely be reading into the New Year)
2. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
3. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
4. The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop
5. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
6. Doctor Who: The Art of Destruction
7. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
8. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
9. Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
10. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
11. Sabriel by Garth Nix
12. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

I'll be crossing these out as I finish them.

Last night Dave and I discovered that cats like ham hocks. And that they'll leave bits of said ham hocks all over the house for you to find in the morning, even though you put them in the bathtub to prevent this. We also discovered that telling the cashier at UltraFoods in a very firm tone that the price on the meat is wrong, she'll enter in the amount you told her without calling for a price check (the price really was what we told her, but still).

Dave makes yummy cream cheese pasta. And speaking of Dave, I just want to mention how well the relationship is going. As I mentioned a few posts ago, our anniversary was this month, and I don't think I've ever been in a relationship I didn't want to get out of after the first six months. This one is different. I had a conversation with my cousin Molly on Christmas. She and I are the same politically, spiritually and intellectually, but when it comes to dating, we're opposites. I had my first boyfriend when I was 14, and from then on was never single for longer than a month (until 2008, in which I was single the whole year). Molly, on the other hand, was single her whole life until she was 19, when she met someone she really really liked (and thought she was going to marry). She's single now, as she's graduating and the boy is going to Toronto and Molly to NYC, and she mentioned needing to rediscover her single self, because she seemed to have lost it while dating that boy. I was the opposite. I was unsure of my single identity because I spent my formative teenage years in relationships, and at 25, I am worlds away from 14. I spent 2008 working on being comfortable with myself as an individual and not as half of a whole. That was hard for me, and it's hard for her. She also mentioned that she wants to experience another relationship before she decides if that boy is the one she wants, and I told her that, from someone with A LOT of relationship experience, you know when you're in a good one. THE POINT: I'm in a good place, and I'll write more in a locked post later I'm sure.

I was going to write this half-emo, half-ragey post about how awful my mom is being right now, but I don't feel like it anymore.

My back has been KILLING ME since I sat in my dad's car for the 4-hour roundtrip to my grandmother's house. My doctor gave me some anti-inflammatories that he claimed were also a painkiller, but he's a liar, js. They do not work, and my dad says they've never worked for him either. Even the muscle relaxers don't work. I fall asleep and wake up just as sore. >:|

Title: Smokestacks and Skyscrapers: The Precipice
Author: makingmywayhome
Pairing: All canon pairings (eventually), Jacob Black
Rating: M
Category: Drama/Romance
Spoilers: None, AH
Summary: Edward Cullen is a member of one of Chicago's most elite families, spending his time among the city's upper crust. When his grandmother dies, Edward begins to think on his own mortality, leading him to discover a life he'd never known.

Chapter Four: The Precipice




(PS: I am out of town until tomorrow evening. More Christmas festivities ahead.)