a much needed rest

I am taking a much needed miniature vacation. We are driving down to Alabama for 4 days; taking 6 days; gotta add those extra 2 days for driving time. We're packing some extra stuff to take and leave with my mom so that when I move I have a little less stuff to move. Although it's still gonna be a pain in the butt because I've got a lot of furniture.

[I just misspelled furniture and had to spell check it. Where has my education gone!?]

The only downside to all this? I'm fighting a headcold and a cough. It's one of those dry coughs that ends up really hurting after a couple of days. I've been taking some mucinex, it helps a little. And I'm drinking tea like there's no tomorrow. Jonathan convinced me to just drink regular old hot water... I thought it would taste bad. Suprisingly it just tastes like hot water. hmmm.
So I'm hoping that I feel okay enough tomorrow and don't fall asleep at the wheel. It'll be his job to keep me up.

So we're supposed to get more snow tonight! WHAT?! I thought it was over. Seriously. At least I'll be out of town. I hope it's not so bad that driving out tomorrow morning is difficult. I'm just tired of it being so cold. It's not helping me get better; being inside the warm building, going out in the cold, in and out, in and out... and my job is such that I'm always in and out of the car and the house. I'm just trying to stay warm.

This break is coming at such a good time though. Gonna get away from my horrible roommates and see good friends :)

A White Valentine's Day?

One of the trees in the complex. The snow was piled up so high! And this is only the 3rd snow of the season! The 2nd snow was even worse. The roads were so bad! I got caught driving in it and I couldn't go straight home because it was for work and I had to take the kids home and they were 20 miles from each other and then 45 miles from my house so I was out in it for a long time and the roads were not cleared or salted at all. But I did a pretty good job driving in it! Being from Montana you'd think that I would be used to snow, but Maryland snow storms are completely different from living in Montana. For one thing Montana is always prepared for the snow. Maryland doesn't really have the man power or all the right equiptment to pull off constant cleaning. It took 4 days to really get the roads driveable.

This is our back porch, I don't have a picture but that giant icicle keeps going down to the next apartment below us. You can kindof see the cars below, like I said, this is from the 3rd snow. The storm before this one completely covered the cars. You couldn't even see where one stopped and the other began! I'm not even kidding. There are still giant mounds of snow everywhere.

This is a picture from the third snow of the year. I have some pics on my phone from the 2nd snow; the one that was the big one. My car was completely covered and piled up to the back window and it was at least 5-6 feet deep behind the car that we had to dig out. It was rough! We had to borrow shovels. Luckily people were nicer than they were during the first snow.

This is the walkway from the apartment to the parking lot. Luckily someone made a path; you can see how deep the snow is.

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*update* 2/18/10

ohmygoodness! That giant icicle that is pictured above is getting bigger and bigger! I think it's because it's melting from above and keeps freezing again at night. It's crazy! I'm afraid it's gonna take down the the whole balcony! I've gotta get a picture of that today!

Pork Chops with Blueberry Sauce

PorkChops with Blueberry Sauce & Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I like the Cuisine at Home cookbooks. They have pretty pictures and directions that really explain HOW to make the dish and why. And every time I cook using one of their recipes, I love it! Plus the ingredients are easy to find. I do love Rachel Ray, but she seems to always have weird ingredients that are hard to find and I don't really have the time to go hunting.


This recipe is from their Weeknight Menus cookbook.


I suppose you could probably do it with chicken or even beef, but the flavor of pork really seems to go well with the blueberry sauce. And I should probably add this... if you're not a "sweet meat" kind of person this probably isn't the dish for you.



saute the meat in 2 tablespoons olive oil

4 boneless porkchops (cut in half for smaller portion)

I sprinkled the chops with some garlic sauce and some dried seasonings while cooking. It doesn't really matter what, just something to give it some flavor.


Once the chops are cooked remove from the pan and place in a covered plate to keep warm.


In the same pan that you cooked the chops, Saute 1-2 tablespoons minced shallots.




Deglaze the pan with redwine: 1/4 cup dry red wine
simmer the red wine until it is nearly evaporated. (about 2 minutes)


stir in following ingredients:
1/2 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
bring to a boil & then simmer until blueberries begin to burst.
They will burst and thicken. Just keep stiring until it makes a nice thick sauce.



Remove from heat & stir in 1 tablespoon butter, season with salt & pepper



Those are mashed sweet potatoes in the background... all you do is peel 2-3 large sweet potatoes and chop them up. Then boil them in salted water until you can mash them like regular potatoes.


Add 3 tablespoons butter and the just of one lemon, then add salt and pepper to taste.


Easy Peasy!





To serve your meal altogether...


spoon a mound of the sweet potatoes on the plate, top with pork chops and then spoon the sauce over the whole thing. The sauce really brings it all together. Then garnish with parsley and lemons.

I need a laptop!

I've decided that I need a laptop. I never really needed one before but it seems to have become a nececity. With the work that I do sometimes I end up sitting around and if I had a laptop + internet I could really get some stuff done. So if anybody knows of some good deals let me know.

I guess I just felt like adding something today. I took pictures of what I cooked yesterday (valentines day) Pork chops with blueberry sauce and mashed sweet potatoes. It was quite tastey, if you're okay with "sweet meat" as my brother likes to call it :) I believe the technical term is sweet and savory. And it was quite yummy. I'll post it soon; but don't try it if you're not into sweet meat :) ... the sweet potatoes are good though, and easy peasy.

I am excited about making a trip down to Alabama in 2 weeks. It has been a long time since I've been back. It will be nice to see family and those special people and just to be back in that familiar territory. And to see all the weiners!!! I'm such a sucker for a sloppy dog face.

Okay, I supposed I have to actually get some work done. dundundunnnnn...

I will also post pics of our Maryland snow too. It's quite exciting.

asking for serenity...

Someone told me that I need to change the seashells... I suppose she's right. They don't really seem that appropriate right now with all the snow we've been getting. I've had to dig my car out of the show 3 times! There is no covered parking in Maryland, everything is open. I suppose they're doing a pretty good job with the roads around here but it just never seems good enough. I heard it's supposed to snow again on Monday but I'm not sure how bad it's gonna be. The worst part about all the snow? Living in an apartment complex. There is limited parking, and it's so frustrating when you dig your car out, go to work and then when you get home you find that someone stole your hard-earned parking spot. People have resorted to putting chairs in their spots. Everyone seems to be respecting it. We found a car seat in the trash and have been using that for my spot. That way there's no chance of anyone stealing my nice pink $6 fold out chair from Target :)

My roommates continue to challenge me. We resorted to changing the lock on the door so that it requires a key. Of course this threw my roommates into a laughting tizzyfit. They like to holler out cames at me when I walk by their bedroom. It's very mature. I've also resorted to putting my dishes, bowls, cups & some silverware in my room because I got tired of washing the dishes and putting them away and then having to wash them again because someone used them and there weren't any clean ones left. Ugh. Serious Ugh. I am truely learning patience and surprisingly enough how to talk back to nasty people. The art of communication doesn't so much work when you live with animals who don't speak your language. ... Oh I just remembered, the girl who doesn't live there (who's boyfriend lives there and she lives there but does not assume any responsibility for any part of the house, cleaning or otherwise...) has decided that she wants to get a puppy! YAAAY!!! Boy am I excited.

I keep reminding myself that this is only temporary and it was a nececity and I will get through this and will be better for it, but boy it's frustrating. I didn't know that people could really live like that and be so cruel. I guess you learn things all the time. With age does not always come maturity or a better more adult life.

God grant me this serenity to accpet the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

new

I've been thinking about doing a blog... myspace and facebook just don't cut it. They're too, socialized? too many people that I'm "friends" with that I'm not really friends with. A lot of judgements and I can't write whatever I feel like writing. Sometimes I feel like I have to sensor myself. Although I feel like that whenever I write publicly of course. The only place I can really be uncensored is my personal handwritten journal. But I'd like to chronicle my goings on for all you family people in my life because I'm kind of a rambler at the moment. I rambled from Montana to Alabama to California to Maryland and it looks like I'll be rambling back to Alabama after all. I always said I couldn't go back there to live but it seems like the best option for me at the present time. My life is kind of unglued and I've got to work on getting the pieces to fit back together and I can't do that here in Maryland. I need to be somewhere with family, my own personalized support network; Even if some of them are extended, it's nice to have that connection where you know they can't go anywhere... muahaha :) They're stuck with me.

I thought I had a good support system here in Maryland. I moved in with them, but as it turns out they are quite the opposite of supportive. They are destructive and cruel and intentionally so. So I cannot continue here; not only for the fact that I can't live with these people, but that I can't really save any money and pay the rent that I'm paying. I'm back to worrying about myself and I've got to worry about myself and sort all this stuff out. It's all kindof scary figuring things out on my own but I suppose other people have done it, I can do it too. :)