Niles had called me and asked if I was going to bake anything for Lost night, and I said yes because I had nothing to do all afternoon (after I went running), and he was busy, so I would cook.

I decided to make Spinach Pinwheels and Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies.  I found both of these recipes using the Allrecipes.com app for my iPhone.  It seems very neat, and it only gives out recipes that are rated 4 starts or higher!  The chances of getting a good recipe are pretty high.

Wednesday night I went for a run, and ran to the grocery store.  I walked back to City Hall and my dad gave me a ride home.  I was planning on running home from City Hall (which is why I went - to drop the groceries off), but Trevor and my dad both agreed that I had run enough already.  It was a good thing, too, because I would soon find out that I was very stressed for time  (It’s about 5:30 at this point).

I get home and immediately start cooking.  I had already made the dough with the bread machine, so I got the dough out (it had been preparing while I was running), and set that up.  I separated the dough in half and two equal sized balls that I rolled out into a circle.  Then, I cut them up like they were pizza.

This was a mistake.  I was following two recipes.  One was to make the Spinach Pinwheels out of Pillsbury Cresent Rolls (bought at the store), and the other was how to make my own Cresent Rolls with a bread machine.  I cut up the dough thinking I was just making regular rolls, but then the recipe told me to roll them up, and let them rise like that.  I had to put stuff in my rolls….. how was this going to work?  So I cut them up, and let them rise like that, just flat and cut.

Then, after they rose, I filled them, and rolled them up.

This was when I found out that they were suppose to be mini.  So I combined two of the triangles together to make a large rectangle, and rolled them up like that, then I had to cut the dough and cook them so they were very little.  Cutting the dough sucked.

Then, they baked for about 12 minutes.  I burned one tray of them, but luckily it was the last tray that only had about 6 pinwheels on it.  I actually ended up cutting away the non-burnt part and eating it.

When I got to Niles’ house with this, I was angry at them.  They were a pain in the ass to make, I didn’t think they were that delicious, and they sure didn’t look that great.  My dad had one and said they were very good, but I was still bitter.

At Niles’ house, everyone LOVED them, and every single one was eaten.  Yay!!  Next time, however, I’m going to use the store bought dough.  It will make them MUCH simpler.  For something that isn’t 5 Stars, hours of work just isn’t worth it.

Spinach Pinwheels

Use either Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, or make your own dough.  Here is the recipe for a bread machine.

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten (I used egg whites only.  2/3 cup)
• 4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar  (I used a bit less than this.  The original recipe called for 1/2 cup!)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 ounce active dry yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Place wet ingredients in machine first, followed by flour.  Yeast goes in last, on top of flour.

This is where the recipe gets tricky.  I think next time I would let the dough rise before doing anything with it.  Then, I would separate it into two balls, roll them out, and cut rectangular shapes.  Then, inside the dough, you use:

• 1 (7 ounce) package garlic herb cheese spread
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

and distribute evenly.  I think I would use less dough so there is more cheese on each biscuit.

This recipe is all very confusing, and I don’t have the time right now to write it all out.  Basically, buy the store bought ones and it will be a LOT easier.  Plus, it probably makes less anyway, so there is more cheese per roll.

On to the cookies!

These were very fun to make.  Actually, no they weren’t, but they are just so delicious I’m pretending that they were fun (because I have nothing but good thoughts towards these cookies).

Follow all directions according to recipe.  I added more cranberries because I love them.  I used about 1.25 cups instead of just one.  I think it could use even more next time!

I also used a food processor because I was too lazy to chop up individual cranberries.  I tried a couple of them, and I just made a mess (and squirted cranberry juice all over!)

Drop cookies onto a cookie sheet using a spoon.  They should be about the size of a golf ball.

I was freaking out cause it was super late, and I was stressed I wasn’t going to get done in time (I was doing both of these recipes, and eating dinner all at the same time.  My dad helped take the cookies out of the oven while I was busy rolling up stupid pinwheels.  He wanted me to take his picture to show him being helpful!

These cookies were absolutely delicious.  I like pumpkin bread, and I like cranberries, and this was a mix of the two.  They are very cake-like cookies, and are extremely soft.  They would be called something better than cookies, but I don’t know what.  Someone said they are like soft scones.  The dough was clearly the consistency of cookies, but the cookie themselves are very soft.  I think next time I might make them in mini muffin tins.

I give this recipe 5 stars. My mom said she liked these ones a lot better than the cake-like Apple Cookies Megan made us in December (HA!).

I just ate three of them…….. and I ate one earlier today, too.

They’re just so delicious!!!

Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and  1/4  cup fresh cranberries
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon orange zest  (I used 1 tablespoon frozen OJ concentrate)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, egg and pumpkin. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into mixture until well blended. Cut the cranberries in half and stir into mixture along with the orange zest and walnuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until bottom of cookie is lightly brown.

Niles had made food too.  There was confusion there.  I thought he was telling me he was too busy to cook, so I would cook.  Then I got there, and he was cooking boatloads of food.  Luckily, it was the biggest Lost night yet with 10 people, and all of the food was eaten.  It worked out perfectly.

Sorry for the late post.  Right now I’m in a hurry to go to Rob’s house in Dartmouth.  I’m staying over, and we’re cooking dinner, and then tomorrow we’re going to see Watchmen.  I bought the graphic novel yesterday and I want to finish it before the movie.   I’m about 60% done.  After my family reads it, I’m donating it to the library.  It was a good purchase.  But now I’m off for a 2 hour drive (I got an audio book for the trip - Bill Bryson!).  I’m also bringing my computer and camera so I can blog about our adventures.  I also asked Rob if he’d devise a 3 mile run for us tomorrow morning!!!

I’ve come to the conclusion that my scar gets to be a crazy bright pink color when I:
a)- exercise
or
b)- drink alcohol

I’ve just returned from Destaré where I hung out with Niles and I brought both of us homemade cherry pie. I also enjoyed a glass of wine, and came home to this craziness on my neck:

I’ve been hanging out with Christian, a little 9 year old  boy that I pick up after school.  I walk there, and then we walk back together.  Yesterday, we made brownies from scratch!  I have a book called Small Batch Baking, and all of the recipes are for very small portions to serve between 2-3 people. They were pretty good, but I kind of screwed them up.  They called for unsweetened chocolate, but I used unsweetened cocoa baking powder instead.  I added a little milk to make them more chocolate-like, and Christian and I both liked the way they turned out.

Before Christian came over, I rearranged my entire room!  Megan is right that I have too much furniture in my room.  I have a large desk for my old PC, but I don’t have it anymore.  My dad took the tower, and I don’t know where it went.  My monitor and keyboard are still in my room.  I’m going to go up today and clean more, and I’ll move the computer stuff into the basement.  That way I’ll remove some of the clutter.  Also, because my bedside table won’t fit next to my bed anymore, I had to bring in more furniture in the way of a tiny table to hold my cell phone, glass of water, and pills.  Do’h!  However, there is a LOT more open space in the middle of my room now, because all my furniture is so cramped together against the walls.  It’s actually very nice and feels more open.  I can actually sit on my floor and do a craft now, or do sit ups or push ups.   My  dressar is also in plain view of everything now, so it will motivate me to keep all of my drawers closed (Megan says this helps make the room look tidy).  I also finally hung up my Harry Potter calendar.  It took me just two full months to get it off the floor!

Walked to Niles’ for Lost, and we had the largest crowd yet.  I helped Niles make asparagus and some kind of delicious spreadable cheese wrapped in prosciutto, and Niles made meatballs with a pesto cream dipping sauce.  It was very gourmet.  There were people sitting on the floor because we didn’t have enough space.  There were eight of us, including Chris who told me to check out his online portfolio that he did for school. All the seniors are getting ready to present their final work, and that makes me feel old because I graduated three years ago.  (Eek!)

Then for dinner last night, I made another batch of pasta fagioli, but this time I added a can of red kidney beans instead of an additional can of cannellini beans.  I left it on the stove, and then walked down to the library for the New England Youth Ensemble concert.  It was excellent!  So many young talented children, and they were all string instruments.  I LOVE string instruments.  I always though the violin was my favorite, but it is definitely the viola.   The violin is too high pitched.  Once I got home to my soup (it had been on the stove for 2 hours!)  ALL the water had been absorbed by the beans and the pasta.  Oops!  I turned the heat back on, and added 1.5 cups of hot water, and it was still really hot, so we were able to eat immediately.  It was delicious!  My mom had requested the soup because it was just going to be the two of us, so she wanted something simple.  Today she came home after eating it for lunch and exclaimed how much she loved the recipe.  I tasted the red kidney beans and the cannellini beans straight out of the can before cooking them, and the red ones are my favorite so far.  I think they would make a good addition to my salad.  If I were to cook beans that are dry, will they keep for a bit in the fridge?  It seems like such a process to cook them (it takes hours), I would like to be able to do it in advance.

Now for today, I’m going to make homemade pizza and dough!  I’m pretty psyched.  It will be a little cheese and lots of veggies.  I also might add a tad TVP to a slice or two for me.   I also found a dessert in the Small Batch Baking book that I might make called “Apple Walnut Crostata.”  I have to make the crust by hand, and it has nine steps (which might take a while)… but it sounds delicious and I have all the ingredients.

I will post pictures tomorrow, because I am too tired (it is now 11pm), and I’m off to bed.

If I am eating pretty much only things that I grow, and don’t want money, or to have to go to the grocery store…. what will my cats eat?  This is a problem that I’ve thought about only for the past few days.  It had never occurred to me before.

Walking home from the gym today, I was thinking about the fact that I will have chickens for my eggs.  I’m thinking I’d want between 6-8 chickens.  I had done some research about making my own cat food, but they requires weird things, and protein powder and stuff.

Beth from Fake Plastic Fish wrote this as enough food for one cat for one day:

4 ounces of cooked white chicken meat
1/4 cup of cooked mashed sweet potato
1-1/2 teaspoons of butter
1 red scoop of Balance It supplement

Then there are more recipes on the No Cans site.  Lots of different recipes, which is useful.

Here is one with fish:

1/3 cup white rice

1 tbl margarine or low-fat spread

3oz canned tuna or smoked mackerel, skinned and boned

1/2 hard-boiled egg, shelled and finely chopped

yolk of 1 egg

1/2 tbl pouring cream

Uh, so I guess I also need a cow to get butter and cream.  And milk for my Honey Bunches of Oats! And also whatever animal rice comes from.

But, all these foods require meat.  And I was thinking “Oh, hmm.  I didn’t really plan on eating meat.”  But then I thought, “oh, I have chickens that lay eggs.  Are those the same kind of chickens that I eat?”  And then I thought about it, and pictures the hens clucking around the farm and laying eggs, and then I pictured food that has chicken meat in it.  I swear to god I had to think about live chickens and then compare it to chicken meat in my pasta.  Really.  I had to think about that.

So anyway, after I figured it out that I would already have chickens for my eggs, I realized that I could just use meat from one of them for my cat food!  But if my cats each need 4oz a day, that’s a lot of meat.  I don’t know how much chickens weigh, so I don’t know how many chickens I’d have to kill to feed my cats.  I would like to get some recipes that do not require meat, but so far all I’ve found are meatless cat “treats.”  And cats can’t live on treats!  (Patrice, do you have any vegetarian recipes for cats??)  They must be able to live without meat.  If humans can, cats can, too.

So now I’ve realized that I can’t feed my cats, and I can’t eat my cereal with milk.  I’m going to have to go to the store.  So I can’t really live off the grid.  I’m going to have to work, to get money for the grocery store.  That sucks.  But I guess it doesn’t really suck…. because it’s good to work.  I just better enjoy my job.  But I guess, even if I DO need money… I can make it in anyway that I want.  I can sell my eggs and some of my produce.  If I have a private practice then I can choose what clients I see, and I can choose my own hours.  That sounds like it would be the best of both worlds.  In my mini house, I could have a small room that would be my office.  It could also turn into a guest bedroom very easily for any guests I may have.  I think that sounds awesome!  That would be my absolute ideal life.

Here’s a break down:

• Have a lot of space to grow my own fruits and vegetables.
• Have chickens for lots of eggs and occasional meat
• Live somewhere warmish where I can grow lots of my own stuff
• Know someone who has cows that I can get organic milk products from.  Either payment/bartering
• Have a small guest room/office to see my patients and have guests stay over (but still living in a very small space)
• Have cats that can magically eat the same food that I can.  Do cats like Honey Bunches of Oats and egg whites?  What about soup?  Stupid cats!  Be more human!  But smaller…. like…. a baby.  Oh wait, I’ve already written about that.
• Have my own private practice in my own home, where I will see about 10 patients a week.  It could be spread to 3 days with 3-4 patients a day.  I could also be very flexible and see people on the weekends because I can do whatever I want, it’s my practice!  People like flexibility.  I will also do house calls for the agoraphobics.
• I will own a car, but it will be a little crappy old car that simply gets me from point A to point B.  My main way of traveling will be my feet, and my awesome bicycle with a basket.
• Do something that allows me to have enough money to pay for my house, my electricity bill (I hear it’s under $100 a year for a mini house), my Internet (cause I need the Internet), and money to buy enough clothes so I don’t look like a ragamuffin (where on earth did I learn that word?)
• I will spend the majority of my time gardening, cooking, eating, exercising, reading, writing, and doing various crafts.

Tomorrow I will post about tonight’s dinner (boring old Lasagna), but I was proud of it.  Jeanne came over and we watched Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  We both said, “I didn’t not like it, but I wouldn’t really want to see it again.”  We also drank red wine (to help in our futile attempt to fight cancer).  It was nice to see her.  We should hang out again and cook sometime.  Now it’s bedtime.  I’m babysitting in the morning, and my dad is waking me up at 6:30 to run as long as the roads are cleared.  It snowed again, and I’m thinking it’s too cold for the roads to be clear. Until tomorrow, live long and prosper.

I woke up this morning and saw that I had received a text from Niles in the middle of the night (1am!). It didn’t wake me up, but it said “Plan to go to Hooligans after Lost, it’s open mic night.” That was very clever of Niles, because he knows that I don’t like doing things at the spur of the moment…. I always back out and say “I’m tired…” or something. But now that he warned me ahead of time, I’m obligated to go. It’s also funny that he didn’t ask me to go to Hooligans, he just told me that we were going. Clever, clever Niles.

I babysat for many hours today. It was slightly warm, so the two boys were playing outside. I grabbed the little baby, bundled her up, put her in a stroller, and joined them outside. I only lasted about 10 minutes because it was so cold!

While I was babysitting, I finished a book! I think that I had read over 200 pages today! It was a book about a woman journaling her first year as a mother. She was a writer already, and someone suggested that everyday, she write down something that she noticed about her son. I really enjoyed this book, because I love reading journals and blogs. She was a single mother, but luckily, she had family and wonderful best friends who stopped by and helped her.

As of this moment, this book convinced me that I do not want children. She talked about all the pain she was in after child birth, how her stomach was still so large (even though she lost 20 of the 25 pounds she had gained) that it just laid next to her in bed. The baby was also very colicky at first, and she stated how she understood how people could abuse their children. She went from loving him one day, to absolutely hating him the next. However, she never regretted having him, which is good. She barely got to sleep every night, and it just sounded so awful. She had people who came over to visit with the baby, but not once did she talk about how someone took the baby so she could sleep. I think if it was me, and the baby didn’t need food, need to be changed, or anything like that, and it was just crying to be a pain in the ass, I would put it in the furthest room, and I would sleep in the room on the complete other side of the room. I would say “You can cry all you want baby, but I can’t hear you! Nah nah!” I mean, really, I don’t think the kid would be in any danger, right? It would just be super annoying!

I don’t think that I want to have kids, because it sounds awful. Plus, her one friend said it wasn’t even easier with a husband, because he would complain about dinner, and not getting to have sex, and other stuff. In fact, she said, I think it is worse. I would, however, go over to my best friend’s house all the time to hang out with her, and sit on the couch while she nursed and watched TV. But I would also, most definitely, take the baby away so my friend could nap. I would take the baby to a park, or even take him home with me for the night. Whatever my friend wanted. I would let my friend take a bath or shower, and then relax in bed. And I would keep the screaming child as far away as the mom wanted me too.

I just want cats. Cats can be annoying too, but cats can be locked in the basement.

I did not log on to my computer ONCE yesterday! Amazing. I didn’t use it to check my email, read my RSS feed, or update my blog. I can do all of those from my phone, and I did use my phone for e-mail and my blog update on the diorama.

Why didn’t I use my computer at all? I had a super busy day! I woke up early, read my book, went to the gym at 9:30 (read my book all the way there and back!), came home, showered, left at 11:30 to baby sit. I babysat until 3ish, then I went to the Salvation Army where I got two white plates for food photography, a small one for desserts, and a large one for dinner. I also got a skirt that I’m going to make into a bag! They were having “Wacky Wednesday Family Day” where everything was 50% off, so I paid only $4.54 for all three items. Then, I went to the grocery store and bought stuff to make dip for Niles’ house. Then, I went home, made the dip, changed my clothes, and walked to the library (at 6pm). I read my book about 80% of the way, using the street lights. I had to tilt my book a certain way to get the best lighting, but it worked!

Once at the library, I read my book while waiting for my mom to get out of work, and then we went to Il Forno where we had dinner. I got Linguine and Broccoli Aglie Olie, and I asked for extra broccoli. You couldn’t even see the pasta because there was so much broccoli! But, after I ate most of it, there wasn’t enough broccoli. For left overs tonight, I’m going to make more broccoli to add to the pasta.  Broccoli galore!!!  (Bob wanted to take a picture of me and dad with our plates of broccoli.  I asked for extra, dad did not.)  Oh man, do I LOVE broccoli!!!

After dinner, I raced home, grabbed the dip from the fridge, and raced to Niles’ house. He called me twice and sent me a text wondering where I was! I got there JUST at 9pm, just as it was starting. Whew! I didn’t miss anything. Everyone loved the dip, and I made my parents a mini version in a ramekin so they could try it. After Lost, Niles helped me design my house a bit after I told him about my diorama idea. I think I want to invite him over to help me do it. We could watch a movie or something!

I came home at 11, and went to bed reading my book! I didn’t even touch my computer all day!

And I’ve just measured, and my living room (which I think is the perfect size for my mini house) is 12.5 feet by 18 feet. That’s 225 square feet. I’m off to look for a box that’s a similar size! I don’t have much time for construction today because I’m off to the gym before lunch, then I’m meeting a friend for lunch at noon (we’re going to the City Hall Cafe, and then walking up to the Rabbit Hole Book Store), and then I have to babysit again tonight at 6pm. It’s the mom’s birthday, so they’re going out to dinner! I’m going to have three crazy kids tonight, and have to put them to bed! Ohhhhh jeez.

Tomorrow for the Super Bowl, I was invited to go over to Liz and Jordan’s with my dad.  To get me to go, Liz said “Tell her I’ll have pineapple and melon slices!”  Because she knows that I’m a healthy eater.  Maybe I’ll go to the store and buy some other fruit too, some grapes or something to add to the mix!  My mom usually makes chili for the super bowl because it is a good football food.  There’s a Three Bean Vegetarian Chili that I had wanted to make this week (and I’ve already bought all the ingredients).  Tomorrow, Larry will be at the party, and he’s a vegetarian. If I make the vegetarian chili, it will be great because it’s something that Larry can enjoy as well as everyone else.  He has a really hard time going to parties or events where there is food that doesn’t have meat in it.  Looking for recipes that don’t have meat in them, I’ve discovered that it is indeed difficult.

I’ll try to take a picture if I think of it, but here’s the recipe now. I’m sure you could also make it with canned beans.  Then, they don’t need to be soaked for hours.  It also wouldn’t have to cook for the 3 hours.  It would just have to be cooked until it was heated thoroughly.

In the pasta y fagioli soup that I made, I really liked the cannelini beans that I added.  Everyday for lunch, I make a spinach salad.  I add a variety of things on and off depending on what I feel like:  red peppers, sunflower seeds, craisins or raisins,  chicken (sometimes, but not at all lately), and always with a light honey mustard dressing.  I bet that cannellini beans would make a really good addition to my salad!  Plus, with the added protein and volume from them, I could eat the salad by itself.  Right now, I make some kind of little sandwich to go with it (mini pizza or a veggie burger).  I’m definitely liking all this new interesting food!  I’m planning our weekly meals for this coming week already.  The only repeat we have so far planned is for Friday.  Veggie pot pie again, and we’re going to invite Larry over.  It was my dad’s idea to make it.  He was bragging about it to Larry, and said “I thought it had chicken in it!!”

I also have Sausage Minestrone Soup, and grilled Tuna (it’s on sale, and we’ve decided to try it.  We’ve never had it before!).  We don’t need dinner tomorrow or Saturday, because we’re going to a Beatles dinner at the Armory.  Here are some of the recipes that I’m looking at:
Quinoa with stir fried winter vegetables

Sesame Noodles with Tofu

Organic winter vegetables with cheese

Bucatini amatriciana

I’ve been interested in trying tofu or tempeh lately.  I’ve never had either, but they both look good.  Does anyone have any opinions on them?  I know that Larry eats it occasionally, and Trevor and Amy make it and then invite Larry over for dinner.  But I’m pretty sure I’ve never had it!

Ok, I’m off to hang out with Maria!  She is over at her mom’s house, which is a quick 20 minutes away.  We’re going to hang out and watch a movie and eat chocolate chip cookies!  Yum!

Three Bean Vegetarian Chili

¾ cup dried pinto beans
¾ cup dried red kidney beans
¾ cup dried black beans
1/3 cup EVOO
3 yellow onions, chopped
2 or 3 fresh jalapeno peppers
6 large cloves garlic, minced
6 T chili powder
2 ½ T ground cumin
¼ t cayenne pepper
¼ t dried oregano
2 cans (28 ounces) diced plum tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pick over beans. Soak for three hours. Drain beans and set aside.
In a large heavy saucepan over low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and chili peppers and sauté, stirring until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, cayenne and oregano and sauté, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes and water to cover by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are very tender and begin to fall apart, 2 ½ - 3 hours; add water if the beans begin to dry out but are not yet cooked. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into individual bowls and serve.

Serves six. Can also be used as a dip, or as a filling for burritos.

I ordered a Diva Cup through our local organic foods store.  It ended up costing me $31.  On Amazon.com they’re only $17.50, but I figured with shipping, it’d be close to $25, and for the extra $6, it’s best for me to support a local business.  I’m excited to try it out, and hope it goes well.  I’ve heard lots of good things about them, especially on all the green chic blogs I’ve been reading lately.

First thing I saw this morning was that the stone house where Megan had her wedding reception this summer burned down!!!  It’s the stone house in this beautiful park in southern Fitchburg.  The park was devastated after the ice storm, and it has been locked up ever since.  When the fire officials got there, the fire had already been burning for several hours, and it was at the point where it had burned up all the wood, and there was nothing left but the stone.  I took a picture of the paper and e-mailed it to Megan because I thought that she’d want to know.  Her reply:  “That SUCKS!!!”

Here’s what the house used to look like.  It was very beautiful, and very unique.

I had to babysit today, and we had a winter storm all day.  Luckily, my car is pretty good in the snow, and I had no problems as long as I went super slow.  On my way home, I drove by my doctor’s office, and remembered I had an appointment scheduled for tomorrow at 2:45.  I decided that I’d stop by today and see if they had any cancellations.  I had a book with me, and I was okay with hanging out for a bit and waiting.  The lady checked me in, and I was seen within 5 minutes!  I didn’t get a chance to read hardly any of my book!!  The nurse practitioner I had the appointment with (tomorrow)  was in between appointments, and luckily I just had to chat with her for a bit.  It was perfect timing, and now I don’t have to trek out into Leominster tomorrow.  It was a great idea on my part, and another way that I cut down on driving.

When I came home from the doctors, there was about 6 or 7 inches of snow in the driveway.  I went inside, changed my clothes, ate an orange for fuel, and went out to face the snow.  It took me a couple tries, but I finally figured out how to start the snow blower.  I finished the driveway, and did all of our sidewalks and the paths to both our doors.  It took me exactly 50 minutes.  It was a good workout, but the snow had turned into freezing rain, and then regular rain, so I got a bit wet in the process.  My parents walked in the door about 10 minutes after I had finished, and as they opened the door, I heard my mom say “Do you think Robin did it?”  They didn’t know who had done the drive way!  Our neighbor had done it previously, and they weren’t sure if he was at it again!  But she walked inside and she asked if I had done it, and I told them yes. Not only had my mom gotten to leave work early (at 5pm, instead of 7pm), but both of my parents were able to come home and not have to go right back out to shovel.  It was nice that I was able to help them.  They were extremely thankful.  They even asked what they could make me for dinner!  I must admit, there was a moment when I was outside shoveling where I thought “screw making dinner, let’s get take out.”  But that thought didn’t last long.

At 6, I started to make dinner.  Last night, I made shrimp scampi for my dad and me, and mom ate it sans shrimp.  It was very good, and my mom loved the recipe.  Tonight, I made pasta e fagioli.  It was a very easy recipe, and maybe only took 15 minutes of prep.  The rest was just waiting for it to cook!  Both of my parents really liked it, but next time, I want to double the beans (two cans instead of one), and add less pasta.  But it was really good, and it was a recipe I had never made before!  My mom said this one was a keeper, as well.   (It thickened in the fridge a bit, that’s why it doesn’t look very soupy in the picture).

At 7:50, I left the house for Niles’.  Every Wednesday a bunch of us go over to his house to watch LOST.  It’s great fun.  Tonight, because the weather was so crappy, and because I had already done my fair share of driving, and not enough walking, I decided to walk.  It wasn’t too far of a walk, perhaps a mile.  But I made sure that I bundled up, and I brought an extra pair of pants and slippers just in case.  The slippers came in handy because my socks got wet and I put them on his radiator to dry (they didn’t).

My feet got VERY wet on the way home (I need wellies, not stupid snow boots that aren’t water proof). While walking home, there were 5 people in front of me, and each person had a dog.  I thought it was very strange.  But then I thought “Hmm… I wonder if they have some dog walking club.”  And then I thought that was a very neat idea.  Get a bunch of neighbors together who have dogs, and walk them together.  That’d be a nice way to spend time together, plus give your dog a walk and get a little exercise.  If I liked dogs (which I do not), then that’d be a cool idea.  I like the same idea with little babies and mom with strollers.

I really liked walking to Niles’ house.  I have been trying to drive less, and walk more, especially if it’s somewhere close by (mostly the gym, I haven’t treked to the grocery store yet this winter, but when it was warm out, I did a couple times).  But walking to Niles’ house tonight made me feel very British.  I like how they walk everywhere.  Even if it’s crappy out, or raining, they have to walk, because they (at least Mac and Megan) don’t own cars!  Your choice is to either stay home, or walk in the rain.  I have also decided that in my little house, I don’t want to ever have paper towels, a TV, or a microwave.  I can get by pretty well without a microwave.  While babysitting, I was thinking “Wow, I don’t remember the last time that I needed to use a microwave.  Except…. 5 minutes ago when I made this cup of tea.”  But I could easily make a cup of tea with an electric kettle or on the stove.  But other than today’s rare cup of tea (which I want to drink more of, and I bought I Love Lemon herb tea today!), I never use the microwave.  It’s pretty great.

I went to Niles’ last night to watch the season premier of LOST.  It was awesome.  I got there for 8pm to watch the hour long recap of the show.  It was good that I did, because there were lots of little things I had forgotten since it went off the air sometime in early 2008.  Then, it was on for two hours, which was an unexpected surprise.

So after LOST was over, somehow, Niles was talking and he said something along the lines of “Oh yeah, I *mumble mumble* while wearing my Snuggie.”

My heart stopped.

“You.  Have. A. Snuggie??????????”

“Oh my God, where is it?  Why didn’t you tell me you had one?? Haven’t you read all my blog posts about the Snuggie?”  (Yes, I swear to god, I said that).

And so, not only did Niles get a Snuggie for Christmas, he also got the LED book lamp that came with it.  Of course, Niles modeled it for me.  And he allowed me to take pictures for my blog.  And in true awesome Niles fashion, he posed for the pictures to show just how awesome the “blanket with sleeves”  really is.  I tried to get him to hold a remote or a telephone (”Look!  I don’t have to struggle with this cumbersome blanket!”), but he wanted to read a book to show off his book light as well.

And so, here is Niles wearing the Snuggie.

I told him about my idea that if they made it in black (and it had a back, which is does not - it is legit just a backwards fleece robe without a hood), I would wear it out side.

Here is my original blog post when I discovered the Snuggie, incase you missed it.  Then, I wrote another one when I saw that they were selling it at Walgreens (this I found out just last Saturday).  I won’t be buying a snuggie, because I already have my own blanket with sleeves.  Perhaps a picture will end up n here some day.  But perhaps not, because I won’t look as cool as Niles does.

Anyone want to be in a book club with me?

Pat, Megan and I used to do an online book club back in 2005.  We had a livejournal page where we would post our comments and thoughts on the books we read.  http://operation-read.livejournal.com  (I had to do quite a bit of searching to find that!)

In our bookclub, we read She’s Come Undone, A Clockwork Orange, and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.  Then, for some reason, we stopped doing it.

I think books clubs are great, and I would like to do one again.

We all use Good Reads, which is a way to keep track of books you’ve read, and your thoughts on them, and to keep a list of books you’re planning on reading.  It’s a neat idea, but I don’t use it as often as I should (as often as Pat does).

I just finished reading Eat Pray Love, and here are some thoughts about it.

The book is set up into 108 short little “stories.”  I don’t know if she took journal entries to write them or what, but some of them are short (a page), and others are longer.  It made it very easy to find an appropriate place to stop reading.

Elizabeth goes through a really bad divorce with her husband (he refused the divorce, and it dragged on and on), then she falls crazy in love with another man, David.  That went down the crapper as well, and they loved each other, but things just weren’t working out.

She decides to take a year off and go to Italy (to learn Italian), India (to stay at an Ashram, where she prayed for HOURS every day, beginning at 3am), and finally to Indonesia (where she rented a house, and hung out with an old Balinese healer).

In Italy, she ate and ate, and gained ~30 pounds.  She had lost about 20 through her crazy divorce, so she’s didn’t really get fat.  It seemed as though everything she ate was the best meal she had ever had.  In India, she did a LOT of yoga and meditation, which made me want to start doing that.  When I live in my little house, it’d be nice to wake up every morning and meditate for one hour before beginning my day as a gardener.  In Bali, she spent time with two people whose jobs it were to be healers.  The one woman owned a “shop” where people would come to her to be healed.  This portion of the book made me want to live in my little house and still be a therapist and have patients come by to my house.  I’ll have a very small private practice.  Expect a short story about that topic very soon, I’m currently working on it.  (I’ve been enjoying writing lately with my spare time).

There wasn’t really anything that I disliked about this book, but I’m not as picky about my books as Pat is.  I couldn’t put it down, and wish that it was longer so I could keep reading it!  It was a very easy read, and I love non-fiction books.  It reminded me a lot of the movie (and book) Under the Tuscan Sun, but this one was a LOT better.  I hear they’re making it into a movie with Julia Roberts.  I’m glad I read the book before that movie comes out, though.  Wow, I just read that one of her short memoirs was turned into the movie Coyote Ugly!  How about that?!

Read an excerpt of the book here.

Next, I’m planning on reading (in order) The Host by Stephenie Meyer (I have it from the library, and need to read it before it’s due), The Last Lecture (about that college professor who recently died) - a fluff piece, sure, but I’m interested in reading it, and it’ll probably be a quick read (and I’ve already requested it from the library).  Then, I want to read Animal Vegetable Mineral by Barbara Ehrenreich (she wrote Nickel and Dimed, which I LOVED), as Megan just finished it, and loved it.  I’d also like to read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (the same author who wrote The Omnivore’s Dilemma - which I started, but never finished).