Stupid purchase or medical miracle?

Yup, I bought this today. I am so sick of spring allergies and I heard that this might help.

I'm kind of scared/grossed out though.

YAY!

I'm so happy for Laura! Even if she isn't a follower of this blog. :)

HIPAA

First of all, did my last post look weird? The photo set-up looks good in Google Chrome and Firefox but weird in Internet Explorer. Maybe I have too many internet browsers. 

Also, I'm very psyched by my FIVE followers!!!

Anyway, a little complaint: I saw an endocrinologist (well, two of them technically - the attending and the fellow) a few months ago. I liked the attending (mostly because she said "you'll have children" in such a straight-forward way) but I'm irritated at the fellow. When he called to give me my follow-up information, he scared the crap out of me. I was referred to a million (ok, three) other doctors and now I feel like my days off are spent making appointments and getting inconclusive results and MORE BLOODWORK. 

When I was at the appointment, the fellow mentioned that his wife was a resident and was surprised that I didn't know her name (it was uncommon - trust me, if I knew her, I'd remember). Well, I met her on Sunday and I said that she must be married to this guy. Her response surprised me - she said "oh yeah, he told me about you! I was wondering if we would meet!"...whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? He told her about me? Isn't that a HIPAA violation? 

I'm hoping/assuming that he just mentioned that he cared for a co-worker and didn't use any patient identifiers. 

But maybe she'll convince him that I don't have any mental deficits (yup, I've been asked this at EVERY recent appointment). 

Am I only applying to grad school to prove my intelligence to my new physicians? :)  

Sheep and Alpacas

The Tonester, Linda and I went to a sheep-shearing festival in town on Sunday. I saw signs for it all over town last week and I thought that they might like it. They were both really enthusiastic; apparently Tony has always wanted to take his kids to see a sheep being sheared. Weird but cute.



I also saw alpacas. For some reason, Mike and his buddy have this thing about me really liking alpacas. They are pretty cute! You can have your very own alpaca for $500.

Front Yard

After four summers here, I decided that this was the year that I was going to take care of the front yard. As you can tell from the picture on the left, it's a little pathetic looking. In the early spring, there are some lonely daffodils and tulips (not planted by me) but other than that, it's bare.

***Wow, this really did become a gardening blog. I haven't cooked in over a week so I can't even call it a recipe blog anymore. How boring. At least Gange is interested. ***

Anyway, I planted a hydrangea bush. We had them growing up and I always thought it was awesome to throw pennies in the ground and watch the flowers change color.

Based on my friend ACG's advice, I went to a well-respected nursery in town and told the woman what I needed (low-maintenance, flowering throughout the season).

Based on her recommendations, I planted Vincas (Titan Lavender Blue Halo, Titan Burgundy and Polka Dot), Cosmos (Sensation) and Zinnias (Profusion Cherry). I'm sure none of you care about the names but I needed a place to write it down for next year.

Housekeeping...of my blog

1. I am really psyched that I now have TWO followers. I am not sure what that means but I like it.

2. I still don't know how to insert the photos correctly into the text.

3. Gardening updates:
a. Gangers, I think it is too cold to plant outside. It's going down to the mid-40s tonight. I'm bringing mine in.
b. The green tomatoes, Marzano tomatoes and orange peppers have now sprouted (albeit on a wimpy scale).
c. The mint is really out of control already. Mojitos, anyone?

I can't even begin to explain how much this photo layout is offending me right now. Adam? CCBL? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Proud

I am SO proud of Mike! And while I slept in today and then went to a sheep-shearing festival, he had to go to work...on a Sunday.

People in my home??????

M's graduation is on Saturday and we've got family coming over for dinner afterwards. I'm trying to decide if I should take everyone out to eat (probably for Mexican) or if I should pull together some easy platters to serve on the patio. 

Pros/Cons of Mexican: Easy/Expensive

Pros/Cons of the patio: Cheap/Time-intensive/Must Clean/People will be at my condo all night

Anyway, I'm sure "cheap" will win out so now I've got to pick a menu. 

Thoughts:

Apps - probably not; maybe cheese/crackers or hummus/pita

Salad - I'm thinking mozz/tomatoes/basil (do most people like that?)

Entrees - either make or buy some platters (meatballs, baked ziti, chicken/broc/pasta)

Bread

Dessert

Drinks

Any suggestions would be AWESOME (unless it's deviled eggs and pastries, CCBL!!!). 

Biscotti

It's absolutely ridiculous how lazy I am when it comes to typing. For example, I've been meaning to post the biscotti recipe for a week now.

But I'm too lazy to type it out, so here's a glorious picture of the biscotti. If you want the recipe, let me know and I'll post it.

They are SO GOOD, by the way.

Awesome Day

Hmmm...I don't post for days and now three posts before 0630? Crazy.

Anyway, M and I had a pretty-perfect day yesterday and I want to remember it:

- leisurely hike up/around Weir Hill (I can't believe we have lived here for 4.5 years and found this 2 weeks ago)
- breakfast at Eatz (yum; Mike's first time there!)
(other awesome note - while we were hiking/eating, our condo was being cleaned - yay)
- reading/napping/chatting on phone
- fun errands (looking at kitchen stuff, bookstore, plants)
- BBQ and beer

Ha, when I write it out, it seems sort of lame but it was just so perfect and awesome.

Rice Cooker and Comments

Since L commented about the rice cooking slowness, I realized I forgot to share something - last year, we bought a rice cooker. If you search for "rice cooker" on target.com, you'll see it. It's red and about $16.

I was never a big rice eater but the rice cooker really changed my tune. It's easy and always comes out right.

AJS/CCBL, my 3 readers have complained that they have to jump through hoops to leave comments. Suggestions?

Worry

I've now been up for about 90 minutes...it's 0420.

This is ridiculous.

My sleep cycles are all messed up from working nights last week which explains the cat-napping that I've been doing...and then since I'm awake...I might as well worry about 100 things.

Also, I am definitely not going to be one of those brutally honest bloggers since I don't feel comfortable listing my worries in public.

Great, I have a gardening/cooking blog. I'm THAT girl.

Gardening, Part Two

I'm ridiculously stupid with the photo posting. Here's another picture of the plants. I brought them outside today because it's sunny (ha ha, my grandparents and my plants get the same care).

Please note the ghetto watering can made from punching holes in a milk bottle. Ghetto.

Anyway, this blog is sort of boring today. :) I'm working nights tonight and I can't get motivated to write anything fun.

Gardening

So gardening is a little harder than I thought. I realize how lame that sounds.

I planted the seeds last week and it's been pretty crappy weather since then...therefore the plants have stayed in the kitchen except for a few sunny hours here and there. I'm very worried about them getting cold outside but really it's pretty cold inside too.

The mint does not get planted with the other herbs because "mint is a terrorist" (tm KLG) and will crowd out the basil and scallions.

The veggies are still in their peat pots. I think I should have gone with seedlings instead of seeds. I may just buy seedlings if I don't see any progress by late May.
Why am I having such problems with the photo layout?

Grilled Chicken & Oranges

Here is the dinner from last night:

Chicken with Grilled Oranges (totally stolen and simplified from Martha Stewart)
- http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/sour-orange-grilled-chicken-paillards?autonomy_kw=Sour-Orange%20Grilled%20Chicken%20Paillards&rsc=header_2

Marmalade (I used 1/2 jar of sugar-free apricot preserves because that's what we had)
Splash of lemon juice
Coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
A package of chicken cutlets (thin sliced)
2 oranges

1. Mix marmalade, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Reserve half for serving (I leave the other half in the kitchen because my biggest fear is getting raw chicken juice near anything).
2. Slice oranges.
3. Brush marmalade mixture on chicken and throw on grill.
4. When you flip the chicken, brush more marmalade mixture on them.
5. Throw oranges on grill (oh my goodness, SO good).
6. Serve chicken and oranges with the reserved marmalade mixture.
7. I also grilled asparagus (with Pam, salt and pepper) and made brown rice (and stirred in scallions, blackberries, strawberries and rice vinegar).

Ang, I think it's all dairy/soy-free!

Chocolate Biscotti recipe coming soon!

Dinner

M turned over a new leaf last week in which he (we) eat healthy, colorful foods, work out a lot, breath fresh air, get plenty of sleep, etc, etc, etc...let's call it The Health Manifesto.

Well, the manifesto didn't do too well over the weekend (ahem, because one of us was drinking through numerous sporting events and the other went on a "gross food" supermarket spree at 1am with her coworkers) so I thought I'd try for a healthy dinner tonight:
- grilled chicken with a low-sugar apricot glaze and grilled oranges
- grilled asparagus
- brown rice with scallions, blackberries and strawberries

SO GOOD!

And now I'm making chocolate/hazelnut biscotti - ruining our health all over again. But delicious!!!

p.s. I need photos, I know!

Lists

I made two lists a few weeks ago...one if I got good news and one if I didn't get good news (calling it bad news would be overly dramatic and I'm sick of sobbing).

Anyway, I didn't get the news I wanted so I'm going to work on that list. Basically I'm just going to do a bunch of things for ME. Dye my hair, get drunk, start a diet, treat my itchy eczema, etc... It's not a super-fun list but it's mine and I like it.

So now I'm going to start checking things off...and luckily some of them coincide with Extreme Makeover: Me Edition!

Magazines

I'd like to say that we get too many magazines but really I love them so much that I can't say it's too much.

Weekly:
US Weekly
Time

Biweekly:
Rolling Stone
ESPN

Monthly:
Allure
Glamour
Self
Wired
Inc
Men's Health
Esquire
GQ
Journal of Critical Care Nursing

That's over 250 magazines/year and does not include the random free nursing magazines that show up. That's a lot of ephemera.