keep falling off the wagon

... and my ego is quite bruised.



I can't seem to get back to weight loss. Monday morning seemed good with the scale finally showing me some positive feedback. But then... I made Golden Grahams S'mores on Tuesday.

And in two days, I ate most of the pan.

I had to eat them, they go stale really fast. The last few were stale and I ate them anyway.

I do better with cookies in the freezer.



So on Thursday, the s'mores were gone. And on Friday I was back to a typical week day. Oatmeal for breakfast. Smoothie after I walked. Salmon and veggies for lunch.

Then about 3 o'clock, I start getting hungry. I try to fool myself into thinking 1/4 cup of cashews will tide me over. Twenty minutes later I reaching for an apple. About 4 pm, I realize I need something more substaintial and I make a wrap with hummus, tomato & cucumber. Yum. But then I want something sweet to finish the snack/meal and get some craisins.

When dinner comes at 6, I am not hungry. But I know I'll be hungry around
7 or 8. I don't want to eat that late so I fix broccoli. Followed by half of a grapefruit and cookies from the freezer.



Perhaps the Brits are smarter having tea time.

iPad

---

I watched the presentation of Apple's new iPad. First off, I hate the name. Yep, I think of sanitary pads.

I am always impressed with new technology. I love gadgets. I love Apple. Though I try to deny it.

When the Palm Pilots came out, Gail said I should get one. Eh. Who needs that?! He said the same about the iPod. Soon after he died, I had one of each.

Maybe I try to ignore the new stuff because I know I cannot afford to go out and buy the latest and greatest. It's easier to be ignorant and than drool over something you can't have. I have also learned to let others be the guinea pigs with new technology and work out the bugs and flaws.

So as I admired the iPad, I knew I wouldn't be buying one anytime soon. Even with the lower price than expected, I know it's just not in my budget right now. I don't need one. Right?

Then again...

I mostly use my iPhone at home. I have a 3 year old iMac and a 5 year old G4 iBook. The iMac is OK but I have no good chair so I avoid sitting there unless necessary. The iBook is slow and the boys like to use it. The iPhone is mine and I don't have to share.

I use the iPhone for Twitter which is fine. I use it for google reader which is OK. But when I need to look at full sites, it's not so good. The iPad would be much nicer. And reading eBooks would be much nicer. Recipes would be good on that too!

So now there is another want on the list. Maybe by the time the second generation iPad is announce I might be able to afford one.

Can I wait that long?

s'mores

I may rename this blog my misadventures in baking in light of all the failures I have had lately. I can blame it on my lack on patience and too much confidence. I am not double checking baking powder or baking soda like I have in the past. Or I am grabbing a recipe and not reading all the way through or checking the comments before I start.

Since I can eat cereal once again, I find myself walking down the cereal aisle just gazing at the boxes wondering what I might get next. I saw a healthier version of Golden Grahams and it got me to thinking about Golden Grahams and how much I loved them. I picked up a box of Golden Grahams and thought about the s'mores recipes I made years, and years, ago. There was no recipe on the box so I pulled out my iPhone and googled for the recipe. Once I knew I could find it, I put the box in my cart and continued on my way.

After Andy got home, I decided to make a batch of Golden Grahams s'mores. I googled and found lots of recipes. I dismissed those that required cooking on the stove. Like my Rice Cripsies Treats, I prefer the ease of the microwave.

I found this one at RecipeZarr.com It looked easy enough. But it didn't seem right. It didn't seem like enough cereal or marshmallows or chocolate. At least not for a 13x9 pan. And it wasn't. I should have read the comment at the end of the recipe. I would have looked further.



Luckily I bought the 16 ounce box so I had enough for a real batch. And I even had enough marshmallows to try again. I looked at more recipes but most called for cooking on the stove. I went back to the review and decided to try that recipe. Right away, it felt better. Though I was not 100% confident in the results. The chocolate melted too much as did the extra marshmallows. But the bit of leftover I got from the spoon tasted pretty good.



One note, I took a few bites of the Golden Grahams when I opened the box. I found that they had an odd taste to them and I no longer love them. Though, the odd taste did not occur in the treats. And speaking of the treats, once they cooled I had to try them. I actually prefer the first version. They aren't really a bar but they are so good and chocolaty. If I make them again, OK, when I make them again, I'll be sure to double or triple the recipe.

1 february

Odd day today.

First off, it was cold. Not freezing but cool. The weather did not say anything about it nor the rain we had most of the day.

I didn't walk. I stayed in and worked on Bonnies images. I was hoping the rain would clear. It would get lighter but never seemed to stop. At least whenever I checked.



The laundry is caught up. It's been so long that the dryer has been running most of the day. I even stripped my bed and was done before noon.

The phone has been pretty quiet too. (Just as I was going to type this, the phone rang. It was an automated message from the school stating Andy was absent this morning. Hmm...)

So I got done what I wanted to get done. I could have gone out to Starbuck's but have given myself a monthly budget of $25 to spend there. That is only about 6 or 7 drinks.

30 january

The morning has been productive. By 9:30, I had my clothes washed and put away. The towels will be done by noon! You may be wondering why I am a bit too exciting about doing laundry. Well, after 8 months, the dryer is finally fixed!



The problem started last April. After a week of the clothes taking forever and a day and still not being completely dry, I called a repairman. He came out and said, "Oh, it's a Maytag. Oh, it's gas." That did not sound good.



After a bit, he decided it was the vent full of lint. He climbed up on the roof and pulled a couple of handfuls of lint from the vent and called it good. I paid him $75 and he left. My dryer still didn't work. I thought I might need a professional clean the vent and after a week placed a call. This visit took a while and cost $89. The dryer still didn't work.



When I made the first call, I was dismayed to find my appliance repairman was no longer in business. He had been out a couple of times. He did good work and his prices seemed fair. I used to belong to Angie's List but stopped because I didn't want to spend the money. I checked around and called the first repair service. I should have called back after he failed to fix the dryer. But I had little confidence in their ability. I learned to do smaller loads that would still take 2 hours and leave the clothes damp.



My dad arrived in November. I had intended on calling before he arrived but something always ate up any extra money I had. (That's a subject for another post.) Dad did not like the dryer not working. He offered to pay for the repair and still I didn't call. (Did you know that I hate making phone calls? And I hate asking for help. Doomed from the start.)



Right after my birthday I called. The nice repairman Scott came out. My dad hovered while Scott checked things out. My suspiscion was that it was the coils. The dryer would heat but not stay hot. Scott declared that to be the problem. I felt chuffed.



But Scott didn't have the part and had to order it. It would be another week.



Dad only washed what he had to wash. I continued to do my half loads and fold damp clothes. I told myself it was good because dryer clothes too much leads to the fibers breaking down. Right.



Scott came back last Friday and replaced the coils. It didn't work. He concluded it was the gas valve and another part would need to be ordered. We talked about repair versus replacent. Replacement makes more financial sense but I hated the idea of throwing away an appliance if it could be repaired. I do think about the planet now and again.



Would it be another week? Scott would ask for rush delivery. One part arrived in time, the other did not. We had to wait until Friday.



Scott arrived after 1 pm yesterday. He had said this was only the second valve he has replaced in over 10 years of repair work. And it happens to be the most expensive part. He fixed it and it works. When it was all said and done, they owe us money. What? See, you pay $129 for the initial service call and all labor and parts. Each time they had to order a part, we had to pay for it. Since he didn't need to replace the coils and the sensor, we got refunded for those costs. The total was $353.98 to fix this 8 year old dryer. But that is about half of what a new dryer would cost. And we saved the land fill one more dryer for a while.



So now the clothes are once again dryer faster than it takes the clothes to wash. Front loaders do take longer cycles since they use less water. And it's odd to fold dry stiff towels once more. I did lower the dryer temp back to low and moved the sensor to just below "really dry" to avoid static cling. I stopped using dryer sheets about a year ago.



I made another batch of Chocolate Sugar Cookies. I had to redeem myself and I did. I also added up the calories...



And found that one cookie is 120 calories. Oops.

28 january 2010

I am still trying to wrap my brain around this Budget program. I am really going to have to sit down and read the rest of Total Money Makeover in hopes of clarity.

Yesterday, I decided to download my bank transactions in order to make sure I got the little ones I had missed. This wasn't a good idea. I had begun the program account on January 4. But my statement ended December 30.

I deleted the whole thing and started over. I also decided to do my cash differently. I keep track in an iPhone app called Balance. It just helps me see what I spent where and how much I have left. I don't feel the needto keep that in Budget as well. OK, mostly I am lazy and am really getting confused.

On a positive note, I managed to process over 50 images for Bonnie yesterday. Then I came to some images I knew I had already processed. She makes albums for each of her kids. Some photos show up in two or more of the albums. In her Lightroom library, she has the image only once and copies in each child's collection. When she copied the photos for me, she exported the collections so it made redundant copies. I decided not to reprocess the same image so I went to main library folder and arranged the photos by image name. I could easily see the ones that were the same. Then I synched the same images. I also color coded them so I know they have been processed.

Bonnie is using

samsclub.com

to print her images. I can upload them fairly quickly and she can pick them up just a few hours later.

I baked cookies yesterday. Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies by Martha Stewart. I have made them before and they are yummy. I messed them up yesterday. I put it baking soda instead baking powder. They are flat. Chocolate coasters. They taste good but look funny.

I would have made another batch or even brownies but I used up the last of Dutch process cocoa powder. I haven't been able to find anymore. I even thought about going out to the other Target in hopes that they would have the right cocoa powder. I know Williams Sonoma carries Dutch process cocoa powder. But their jar is $15. I am just not willing to pay that much.

I made the mistake at looking at the computer and saw that the Apple Event was happening. You know I live gadgets! I watched and oohed and aahed and made fun of the name iPad. I don't see one in my future anytime soon. I need a new desktop first.

So the cookies would have to do.

I have been walking. And my ankle is really telling me to quit. Bio-freeze does a good job of keeping the pain down to a dull ache.

I went to the other SuperTarget and found the cocoa powder. They had only the Dutch process whereas the SuperTarget near me has only the regular cocoa powder. Did somebody goof?

My dad brought home the

wrong oatmeal

. I prefer

McCann's Quick & Easy Steel Cut Oats

. He said they didn't have any. I went to a different Publix and found that they carry Quaker Oats Steel Cut Oatmeal but didn't have any McCann's. The woman working there told me it was in the GreenWise section which is organic. I wonder if that's where they moved the Steel Cut Oats at our Publix?

Andy is playing Jeaopardy. He is using his stuffed animals and pals as the contestants. He is playing Alex Trebeck. And he is recording it with his iPod.

Andy's teacher called today while I was walking. Seems that Andy has qualified for the state level Special Olympics in basketball. This is quite a surpise to me. I didn't know he knew how to play. The event is February 12-14 at USF. They will be staying at a hotel with chaperones. I am hoping I can go at least for part of the event.

missing the point

Last Saturday on Twitter.

A well known photographer posted a comment which got a lot of responses. This is what Twitter is for. But what followed is not what anyone who calls themself a professional and a human being should do. You can read about it here on Mitzs' blog.

Today, the Scott Bourne posted his rebuttal. He talked about the original topic, devaluing your services as a photographer. His post makes a lot of sense. Except that no one was really upset about the original comment. Yes, some believe differently but in the end most agree to disagree.

Mr. Bourne then goes on to say that he has received physical threats because of the comment. What? First of all, I don't think any of what he did calls for physical violence. He was rude and offensive and there are ways to censure him without the need to attack him physically. And most importantly, I do not think people are responding tithe original comment but the direct messages he has been sending to people. Messages calling people an idiot for disagreeing with him. Messages suggesting people cut costs on medicines for their kds rather than hire a cheap photographer.

To be honest, I have only seen the DMs posted on Mitzs' blog but have read of others on Twitter. Some of these messages sound rather odd coming from a professional in the business for decades. And I hope that Mr. Bourne will address this. I think he needs to apologize for his behavior.

Even if Mr Bourne does not believe he has done anything wrong, he should realize he has upset a lot of people. He should be the professional and try to make things right.

23 january

I got out of the house today. Alone!

We had a meet-up at the St. Petersburg Fine Arts Museum. There was a special show, Legends in Photography. It was OK. Seems like a long drive for so few photos, about 50. And I didn't realize there was a cost involved. We did get a group rate but it was still $12 to get into the museum.



The museum is not very large. They do not allow photography. Frank and I took photos anyway. We were both more interested in the architecture of the building that the photographs.



We had lunch at Grayl's Hotel. Seemed pricey but then it is right on the main drag. I had a 7" personal pizza for $9.95. It was good but not that good.



I really want to go back to St. Pete to shoot. I have only been a few times and only once wandered around. That was almost 2 years ago with Bonnie.



Didn't accomplish anything once I got home. OK, not really true. I did feed the boys and Bonnie called after dinner so I worked on her photos for about 90 minutes while we talked.



So sleepy.

22 january

Why am I not sleeping? No caffiene late. What is going on? I haven't had insomnia this bad in years.



It rained a lot last night and this morning. There were lots of brief, heavy showers. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to walk this morning. When I started out, it was still drizzling a bit.



I worked on processing photos. I downloaded the free trial for Photomatix. It works pretty well. I just don't have the money right now.



Speaking of money, the dryer repairman came back today. He couldn't fix it and says it is the gas valve which is another $200 and almost another week. We went back and forth about repairing or replacing. Even we decide not to repair, we still have to pay for the labor which is $129. The repair is going to be over $400. But then I looked at new dryers and it seems like the better ones, not high end, start at about $700. Yes, that is retail costs. But add in tax and delivery to a discounted unit and you are back to about the original retail cost.



We decided on repair even though the dryer is about 8 years old. I am glad since I don't like that we casually toss aside worn and broken for new. My dad still talks about the Hamilton dryer we got when I was born and he maintained it for over 25 years! Things aren't made like that anymore. Dryers don't need to be fancy. A few temperature settings and a timer is all they really need.



The repairman left at 12:30. I was hungry and fixed lunch. Now I am really sleepy. I should make a card or two...



I got one card made. Then Bonnie called...



I did get some of her photos edited. It's strange to edit so many similar shots. I tend to weed more of myphotos down so I don't get too bored.



Tomorrow is a meet-up at the museum. Then we are going to lunch at the historic hotel. Their menu is on the web site. I am not impressed. There isn't much variety for those kinds of prices.



Weird week with eating. Ate "too much" on Tuesday by 109 calories. Wasn't hungry on Wednesday an was under by about 900 calories. Ate OK Thursday but was so hungry! Today not as hungry and under by 700 calories. Good grief! I am like a toddler with such varying degrees of appetite. I guess it's best to look at the week as a whole.

Also. PMS.

21 january

I walked again and could feel my body rebelling half way through. I haven't been sleeping well. I haven't been walking enough.




I took the granola to Starbuck's but Barista Carrie was not it. She works tomorrow, but early. So I left it for her. I didn't stay, it was crowded.




I went to Michael's. They were coating the parking lot. It stunk.

This Michael's has really gotten icky. It's crowded bit there doesn't seem to be much new stuff. I did find a paper pad which on sale. Just an 8x8 one since all I do is cards.




I went to the old Learning Express only to find it gone along with the Publix next door. Apparently Publix is enlarging. That Publix is old and small and desperate for an update.




I headed back up Bruce B Downs. Joann's was on the way so I stopped. I wanted to check if they sold the photo tape I love. They do so I know where I can use my coupons.

I looked around and found some stamps on clearance. I also found some Heidi Grace stuff on clearance. (But why is the Cloud 9 stuff, which is older than the HG stuff NOT going on clearance?) I had gotten the paper the last time I was in so I got some embellishments. $.97 each was too good to pass up.

---

I decided to try the newer Learning Express. Today the sign read 50% off everything. I asked about the gift certificate and they would accept it. They have a 90 day expiration date. And although this was dated October 27, there was no year on it. I didn't let them know it was probably from 2005 or earlier. I got 2 more gifts and spent $.13!




I have been looking for lined stationery. I stopped in the card shop but all they have are note cards or shopping lists. I went to Barnes & Noble. I didn't find any there but did find a notebook with perforated sheets. I went to pay with a gift card I found last week. It was from last year but had $35 on it. Yay!




The parts came in for the dryer. That will be nice to have it fixed.

---

My ankle is really aching today. Is it the walking or the change in weather?