a house on wheels

I like to look at RV's. They are like little houses on wheels. The husband's aunt owns one and we get in it from time to time. It is huge though. I mean, there is space for everybody but I would rather own a smaller RV, get a comprehensive rv insurance for it, and then drive it to places I would like to visit. Only I could not drive alone yet. And that I cannot afford an RV. So I am stuck at dreaming about owning one. The husband agrees with me on that choice so I guess him and the little man can go with me, lol. It is free to dream so bear with me. If we get lucky with our endeavor we might be able to afford an RV. If and when the economy stabilizes because our endeavor is dependent on that. For now let me dream about the things that make me happy.

fresh vegetables

This little pile of vegetables were from my little garden. The string beans seeds were ordered online and planted by me weeks ago and I have never been so happy when I first saw purple blooms. Days later I started seeing beans and a week later started harvesting string beans. I have done it three times already. The husband likes it stir-fried too which is a good thing because I only like stir fried beans. The leaves on the bag are sweet potato tops which I have planted months ago. It took them a while to get to where I can clip the tips but it was worth the wait. Before long I will be hearing complains about the vines taking over the county, lol. I hope there will be plenty of roots so I can keep some to plant next year. I'll have you know that the roots I used to plant a mess was from three years ago. I just got lucky that it has not dried out too much that when planted it still sprouted even if it took a long time to happen. I just added the cabbage for effect. Nah, it was from the garden too. Even the few scallions that are present.

i want another computer

We have four computers at home but for some reason I want to buy a new laptop. Is it greed? Maybe. But I really want to have another computer preferably smaller than what we have so we can carry it with us anywhere we go should we go somewhere. If we have the money I probably will opt for an ipad but since money is limited and we could not afford an ipad with an ipad warranty then I will settle for something cheaper yet handy. Of course, this is all just talk for right now. I might not have money but that does not mean I can't hope for something. Who knows I might get lucky and win the lottery one of these days then I can really afford to buy an ipad and a laptop with more gig than I need. That will be like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one. Now all I need is money :)

sweet potato tops

Today I picked a bag of sweet potato tops from my little garden. I planted some roots with sprouts in them about a month ago and even though I think it is not time to mess with the plant, my craving overruled my judgment. Like I said, I got a bag of sweet potato tops which I washed and stir fried. Said stir-fried sweet potato top is what I have for my dinner. And boy did it make me full. I never regretted cutting the tops, in fact, I am glad I did. I hope there will be more rain so my plants will vine some more. Perhaps I will be able to share these with my friends before Fall. I wanted to post a picture for this entry and already have a bowl of the dish ready but when I got rice on my plate all thoughts of taking a picture was forgotten, lol. I was starving! Well, maybe next time I will be able to post a picture.

french fries!

When the little man woke up this morning he asked for milk and later asked for pancakes. He only eats pancakes that I buy frozen from the store. I tried making him some at home but he did not even touch it and since he is the only one who eats it in the mornings anyway, we decided to buy pancakes for him to make him happy. I ran out of pancakes yesterday and forgot to buy more so I offered him cereal with milk but he only ate a little. I was about to run to the store but the husband said we need to do something with the bag of potatoes we bought weeks ago. We decided to make homemade french fries out of them instead of throwing them on the trash. The original plan was to freeze the fries for future use but since the little man has not eat and he likes fries anyway we decided otherwise. He ate a lot of the fries and with a glass of milk, has been good since. His father was amazed at the amount of fries he consumed but I told him to let his son be. He does not eat much so when he does take a liking to certain food I let him indulge. I know he will be running all over the house, jumping and doing every thing he can think of that the chance of him getting fat is nil at the moment. He is such a hyperactive child. Maybe it is good for him, then he will not have to worry about diets and exercise and think about taking diet pills and worry about diet pill side effects when he gets older. Perhaps he will be like the men in my family who may not be thin but do not have to worry about being fat either. But then fries is not something we cook often in our kitchen so there should be no chance of him getting used to eating it. I hope.

cooking another chicken

I mentioned on my previous post that I cooked rotisserie chicken using our new convection oven. It got done at midnight and I had to wake the husband up to let him know. He got up and fixed him a meal and then went back to bed. We used cornish hen then. I am using the oven again for another rotisserie for the husband's birthday. This time we are using a regular chicken which was worrisome since it was 5 lbs and I was afraid it will tear up the rod. It looks like it is holding up good but we will see after two hours. This is our second rotisserie in three days and I don't know how this will come out. I hope it will be good because there sure will be plenty of meat in it. I know the husband, the little man, and I will be eating this chicken for days, lol. It makes a girl think about the top 10 fat burners but that is it, I am only thinking about it. I am not working on it. Not yet. There is perfect time for that which will be after I give birth. The house smells so good since I used chicken rub in it along with lemon grass and garlic cloves stuffed inside the bird. I am using very sparse spices for now. Perhaps as I get used to this wonderful oven I will be more adventurous with the spices I put in the chicken.

bruised shin

The little man and his much older cousin were playing catch with a baseball when he decided to include me in the game. I told him earlier on that what they were doing was not safe because he does not have a mitt but I let him play anyway. I know his cousin is careful around kids. What I was not counting on was for me to get involved. I was sitting on a lounge chair when I heard the little man say catch mommy! and I was too slow to catch the ball which landed on my shin. I thought I was going to pass out. Who knew that my boy could throw that far and hard? My hand and eye coordination is bad enough even when I am ready so it is worse when I am caught unawares. I wanted to cry but I was so shocked and the pain was unbearable I was not able to say anything. When I was able to talk, I told them to play somewhere else preferably farther away from me to avoid any more accidents. Boy, did it hurt! Right now my shin is bruised and I cannot even touch it without wincing. I now know to be careful around this little guy. I sure don't want this to happen again. If his aim was higher I probably would have had a bruised cheek or worse, mouth. I guess I should be grateful for small mercies, lol.

cooking at midnight?

The rotisserie skewer that was missing from the convection oven we ordered was delivered two days ago. Since then, the husband has been telling me to use it but I have tried to put him off. Today he reminded him that I "promised" to cook him rotisserie chicken so I thawed a cornish hen this morning and forgot all about it until he reminded me again two hours ago. Yes, it is late but I had to do it so he will cease his complaining. He is already in bed and the little man is asleep as well but here I am awake waiting for the chicken to cook. I don't mind much because I like the peace and quite. As much as I love my boys I still crave for time alone where I can hear myself think. So what am I doing while waiting for the chicken to get done? Reading alli reviews, that's what. I am almost finished dropping Entrecard on various blogs but I got tired of it so I stopped. And I can't not do anything or I will fall asleep so I am reading. It won't be long and the chicken should be cooked and then I can go to bed. But not before I am finished with some online chores.

unproductive morning?

Right now I am trying to finish a tangerine flavored fruit bar which somehow helps me feel better when I am having bad cravings that I could not eat. It is good and I am glad I bought a pack because it has been a big help to me. The husband is asleep and it is not even noon yet. I swear he is having more pregnancy symptoms than I do, lol. He is always tired he said. I told him he has to keep an eye on the little man while I take a nap but he will not have it so I have to stay up and fight sleep. Perhaps later the little man and I will take our nap together. I let him play and do whatever he wants so long as it is safe for him. I could let him go outside but I don't have the energy to chase after him so we are staying in where it is cool anyway. Surprisingly, he has left the computers well alone. He must have been getting bored by it already. Or maybe he is just taking a break after this morning's activity. He was in the computer for hours trying to type in words to see the search result and when he got bored was on some kind of commercial talking about prototype 37c and when he got bored with that stayed at creative commons listening to the video demo. I don't know whether it is a website or not but the voice over sounds good so we listened to it, lol. Can you tell we really need something productive to do? Maybe when the temperature gets cooler we will but not right now.

92!

My beloved Lola turned 92 about a week ago. As always, her kids made her birthday special by going out of their way to provide her with a little party attended by them, the grandkids, the great grandkids, and the neighbors. I drooled when I saw the roasted pig. The husband said that was one big roast, lol. She also had ice cream (she loves sweets) aside from her two birthday cakes. By the looks of her, she seemed to have enjoyed her special day. I just wish my family was there to celebrate with her. Happy birthday, Lola. We hope to see you soon.

still waiting

I am still waiting for that missing piece that I need to be able to use the rotisserie I ordered online. When I called customer service I was told that it is on the way and hopefully it really is. I was told to wait for two more days so I guess it is safe to start thawing a chicken in the fridge. I really want to try the convection oven and see if it works good but I decided to wait for the missing piece. That way should there is a need to return the item it won't be used and scratched. It is still in the box. The husband will be happy to hear of the news although I am sure he will say it is still two days too long. Better that than a week, I guess. I am also waiting for books I ordered online. If I am lucky the orders might get here at the same time. Waiting is a pain though. But wait we must. Anyway, I have to go and read more about best diet supplements for a while. I don't know if it is good for me, what with my condition and all, but I want to know why I am hungry all the time and what needs to be done about it. Surely, if I read on the same topic an answer will pop up somehow.

holiday rambling

It is the 4th of July yet the husband and I do not know what we are going to do today. We are waiting for calls from his relatives if they have any activity planned. If they don't, we will probably just get the inflatable pool up in the yard so at least the little man will enjoy this day. I have ham cooking which we will share later. But we do not have any fireworks. We never light any fireworks on the 4th, although we used to go to the park for the big fireworks display when the little man was not as active. We are new to the place so we do not know if there is anything like that here and it is a bit late to inquire so we might just stay home. It will be just a normal day for us this year just like last year.

The little man is starting to annoy me this early, I do not know if we will last the whole day without any incident. How he loves to aggravate me when I am trying so hard to be nice. He is going to cause me to have to use face wrinkle cream if he keeps on. And he is only three. I dread the things he will do when he is a teenager. He might even give me a heart attack although the husband said he will only be doing things that teenagers do anyway. I still hope he will be good and he starts now. Or maybe I am just being silly?

window upgrade

This guest post is from Erik Loza.

This year I decided that it was time to get my windows redone. I did not realize until recently that my windows had been letting in drafts all winter long and had also been letting all of the AC escape through the gaps during the summer. I read about loose and Leaky Windows in a magazine and decided when my electric bill came through the mail that it was too high and that I would see what could be done with the electric bill if I were to get my windows replaced.

Though the high electric bill was discouraging toward putting more money to new windows I decided to do it anyway to see if it would make a difference in my heating and cooling bills. I got my windows refitted and the Sears Home Pro in California people that came to install the windows and take out the old ones said that my windows were loose and that the new ones would fit appropriately into the window frames. The professionals installed the windows within a matter of hours and then I waited for my next cooling bill to come as I had them installed in the summer. When I received my first cooling bill of the summer I could not help but be shocked. My cooling bill was down by almost fifty dollars due to the energy I conserved.

missing an important part

A few days ago, I ordered a convection oven online. We do not need another oven because the one we got in the kitchen works well but there is one function in that oven I ordered that I really want to use, rotisserie. I am crazy over rotisserie chicken and I thought instead of buying it at the store, I could make my own with the spices I want in it. Well, the order was delivered today and the husband and I who were very excited put the pieces together right away. I already thought about thawing a chicken so we could cook it tomorrow. Until he told me there was a piece missing, the most important one at that. The skewer was missing! The husband was more disappointed than I am, lol. I could laugh about it now since it had been hours from the discovery but earlier I was so angry and disappointed it hurt. I was really looking forward to use it tomorrow at the earliest. I called customer service and told the person I talked to about the missing piece. There were no other questions, like they were actually expecting my complain. I was told he will put the order in for high priority and the missing piece should be mailed to me by Friday and "might" get here next week, probably by the end of the week. I have tried to make him do it earlier but he said there was nothing he could do. When I said I was really looking forward to use it tomorrow he acted like he never heard a word I said. He did say sorry before he hung up. So, we are going to wait another week before we can use the convection oven. The only consolation we got is that it came with the husband's desired color. Other than that, we are still unhappy about the mishap.