New windows!

So the day before Paul Henry's came out to do the job, I called Shannon and asked her if she'd mind me bringing Roy over to hang out. For the most part, it turned out I didn't need to. Roy actually slept for at least an hour for each of his naps on both days, while those guys were ripping the old windows out of the frame and generally making all sorts of noise. Late afternoon on the first day, when the installers started on the basement windows, I went ahead and visited Shannon. Turns out when I said "windows installers" she thought I was talking computers, so had quite a surprise when she looked out her window that morning.

That's the only funny bit of the story. The new windows and exterior doors are just fabulous, and the installers really did a stupendous job. They weren't just on time, they were sitting in our driveway 10 minutes early each morning. The job ended up being more work than expected, because the previous owner had decided to do some window repair himself, involving nothing more than imagination, and enough caulk to seal an elephant airtight. They ended up working an extra half-day in order to get everything done right. Every piece of the metal framing around the windows was hand cut to fit each window, and on the back windows, which are sitting right on the siding, they actually cut the frame to match the outline of the siding exactly. The installer was out there drawing lines with a frigging compass. Anyone who asks, I'll definitely be recommending Paul Henry's Window Installation, Inc. for the work. They were fantastic!

The new windows themselves are just fantastic, and really make a noticeable difference in how well heated, and how sound-proof the house is. Outside noise has been cut dramatically, and I no longer have to huddle on the couch under a blanket because of the drafts. The new front and back doors are fantastic, and the entire look of the house has changed. And they threw in a really nice storm door for the front as a bonus. It was a total face-lift for the house. 100% money well spent.

The only problem now is that we just couldn't bear to put those awful vertical blinds back in the windows again, so now I'm sewing new curtains for the living room, basement and guest room. But I already have the basement curtains knocked out - less than a day's work... yet again, the sewing machine proves itself the perfect birthday gift!

Deep Fried Heaven

So my Christmas gift from Ivy arrived yesterday. Today, I set it up, sliced up some potatoes, grabbed some chicken wings, and went to town.

BAM! I am very, very happy with my new toy. In just a few minutes, I had the most delicious crispy batch of french fries, and a bowl full of hot wings to die for. I have no idea why I didn't get a fryer before now... except that most fryers look like a real pain to deal with. The thought of dealing with all that hot oil, having to filter it out for reuse, etc., just seemed like too much work. But T-Fal and Emeril have a solution for that. The Emerilware deep fryer has an automatic oil drainage and filtration system that takes all the hassle out of clogging your arteries. It even has a notifier light to let you know when it's time for an oil change. Temperature control, a timer, the works. It had the oil heated up and ready to go in just a few minutes, and was dead simple to use.

Now I'm rubbing my greasy hands together, thinking of all the other fried foods I'm going be making... onion rings, corn dogs, doughnuts, chicken strips. I think this will take some of the hassle out of making fried chicken too. I'm in cholesterol heaven!

Another Milestone For Roy

Since we wanted to get out of the house for a bit today, and Roy is sitting up on his own, we figured we'd try an experiment. So we drove on into Manassas and hit Potbelly's. Roy got his very own booster seat, and a chocolate milkshake, and we got to actually sit down and eat somewhere with Roy for the very first time. He spent the whole time - between spoonfuls of chocolate shake - gaping at everything. I think maybe next time we'll take him to that Town and Country diner on 29. We went there a lot while I was pregnant, and I think it'd be nice to go back and let the folks there see what I was hiding under that shirt.

Oooh... and in other news, we also swung by the Global Foods market in the same shopping center with Potbelly's, since I'd sent Russ there to get me some rice, and he'd come home with wild tales of an insane produce selection and an entire aisle of rice varieties. Wow. He was right. I felt like a total tourist, wandering around the place, since every other person there was asian or hispanic, but they had all kinds of shit! Great big papayas, fresh herbs in bunches, fresh okra, garbanzo beans, green beans of several different varieties, five or six different types of fresh mushrooms... and then I hit their butcher/seafood section, and was floored again. Everything from live crabs and tilapia, to large squid, rabbit, quail... and the weird stuff, like containers of pigs blood, ox tails, entire beef tongues, fish heads, etc. This dingy, weird-looking market had a selection of meats and produce that would make Wegman's blush, and prices that made me wonder if I had teleported to another state with a much lower cost of living. When I can figure out some recipes for some of the stuff I saw there, I'll be back.

Area Mom Brags About Savings on Baby Food

First, I'd like to state that I didn't decide to make Roy's food myself out of any desire to save money, but out of a desire to feed him better and with more variety. Hell, Gerber only has 10 different varieties of fruits and veggies on offer. Just in the four months I've been feeding him solids, I've introduced him to 21 different varieties.

But I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations this morning, and even with an initial investment of about 100 dollars in equipment (food mill, storage, etc), I'm saving over 500 dollars a year making Roy's food on my own. The savings go up next year, since I won't have the equipment investment to add in, either. That makes me feel pretty smug, especially when you take into account that I haven't even touched the enormous savings I've gotten out of breastfeeding over formula-feeding.

Cooking fun!

New things I tried making lately:

1. New fruit for Roy - blueberries! Verdict - yummy!

2. Stupid-easy hush puppies. Mix up some pancake batter, mince an onion fine, fold the onion inton the batter (probably not the whole onion, just til it looks like you've got a good proportion). Drop in hot oil by the largeish spoonful for a minute or so on each side. They come out crispy and dark golden on the outside, fluffy and cakey with onion on the inside. Yummy!

3. Too lazy too cook dinner Tuesday night, so I threw this together: Make some couscous. Thaw and chop up some frozen, cooked shrimp. Toss the shrimp in some hot sauce and salt. Heat up a couple of tablespoons of butter in a largeish skillet. Dump about half a bag of frozen peas/carrots/corn mix into the skillet, and sautee until the veggies are done. Dump in the shrimp and mix around just until heated through. Mix it all with the couscous. Quick and tasty.

Complete Lack of Resolve

You guys are all so cute, worrying about your weight, when I'm the one who gained more than 50lbs in the past year and a half. Bite me.

A resolution implies something you want to do, but may not have the strength or willpower to see to the end. I don't have any resolutions; here are my plans:

Wean Roy when he hits one year old. Just four months to go mister, and the dairy-stand is closing.

Finish kiddie-proofing the house. Bring on the outlet covers, cupboard locks and baby gates!

Once the babe is off the boob, the weight is coming off this babe. In April, I'll break down and buy a scale, and much as it pains me to do so, I'll actually look at it. Whether I'll choose a diet, fasting, exercise or bulimia to lose the extra pounds remains to be seen.

Keep working on the house, in the hope we can sell this pig and get the fuck out of here. The new windows and exterior doors are (finally) going in next week. After that, we're looking at recarpeting the whole place (thanks Flash, you demon-spawned bitch from hell), shrinking the size of the brick platform the woodstove is on by a couple of feet, replacing the railings/bannisters, and finishing out the back office behind the laundry room.

What with being a full-time mommy and a full-time employee, I think that is quite enough on the agenda. Considering my day is already booked solid from 445am until 11pm every night, I don't think I'll be able to squeeze in much more. But by the end of the year, I'll be squeezing back into my old jeans.

MY RESOLUTIONS!!!

This is fun :)! Here are my new years resolutions!!!

1. Lose 20 - 25 Pounds. I want to weigh 130 at the most; 125 at the least. I'm a little worried about my boobs shrinking, but am of the overall opinion that it will not happen. I have been the same boob size since I got them, I'm pretty sure :). Anywho, I have already lost 3 pounds since I started my diet. On January 1, I was at 152 and now I am at 149. So I think I've started out pretty strong there.

2. Get rid of all my credit card debt, and pay off most of my car loan. So far I'm on a roll with my credit debt. Just this month I have put 1100 towards it. I should be CC debt free by mid-April. I will start working on my car loan then ;).

3. Get straight A's in all of my classes. I did good last semester...aside from that one A-. GRRR!! Hopefully I will do just as good, if not better, this semster, summer semester and fall semester.

4. Run 10 miles without stopping. We'll see how I do on April 1st.

5. Stick to my budget and not overspend. I have a bit of a shopping problem...so this year, I want to only spend what I have alloted as "Fun Money" on my budget and not go over that.

6. Continue to be the sole owner of the two cutest kitten cats in the whole wide universe. This one is pretty easy, since I'm pretty sure it's impossible to beat ;).

7. Make more of an effort to stay in touch with friends and family that do not live in my area!

K...Cheers!!!

New Year's Resolutions

Lissa encouraged me to post my New Year's Resolutions. I would like to remind her that she said she would do it as well. Anyway here are my goals for the year:

1. Lose 35 pounds. (who doesn't put losing weight as a NYR?)
2. Stop reading gossip blogs at work. (ten days strong MF'ers!)
3. Be more visible to my superiors. (planning on streaking the office once i lose that 35 pounds)
4. Not smoke at ALL this year. (My last cigarette was the day before Thanksgiving, I'm looking good for this one)
5. Cut my credit debt in half. (would be nicer to get rid of it completely, but let's be realistic)
6. Make good use of my gym membership.

So by this time next year, I will be a non-smoking hottie who can talk about something other than Britney Spears. Watch out world!

A Little Something for the Romero Fans

Since you guys haven't posted anything in a while, I guess it's time for more baby blogging!

Braaaaaaaiins!!!

Actually, they're beets, but doesn't it look like he's been gorging on a dismembered corpse? He's quite fond of them (beets, not dismembered corpses - I haven't tried adding that to the menu yet).

Area Student Caught Plagiarizing

Vienna, VA, A local woman was discovered to be a big fat unoriginal cheater today. Olivia Bilby, 24 asked her twin sister to edit her paper for her. Little did her twin know, that Olivia would use all of her margin comments verbatim in the final paper. While flattered that her sister found her input to be so incisive Orianna had this to say; "Two of those sentences are like flat out mine. I don't see how she can honestly claim credit for that work. She should just put my name on it."

Olivia could not be reached for a comment. She was too busy turning in someone else's work with her name at the top.

RIP

Peter Boyle died yesterday. He was only 71, that seems really young.

Robots and PVC Pipes

I spent an hour and a half getting into work today; a drive that usually takes me 10 - 15 minutes. By the time I decided to switch to the radio and find out why traffic was being so gay to me, I was well on my way to getting lost in the freaky McLean, VA neighborhoods--filled to the brim with apartment complexes and a distinct absence of actual single family homes--that surround the Tysons Corner Mall in a little semi-circle. To be honest though, I'm not terribly shocked that they shut down 123 and some of the interstate because of a mysterious looking package. I'm also not surprised that they called in the bomb squad and a nifty bomb detecting robot to discover the contents of the package. I really just wanted to share my horrible journey into work today :). Here's the story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16074057/

Help me Mr. Senator!

I think this is an appropriate follow up to Celeste's blog about her delicious fried chicken. New York has passed their trans fat ban.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/

All restaurants in New York are required to switch to a healthier alternative by 2008. So, Celeste, in 2008 you could probably truthfully say that your fried chicken is better than any fried chicken you could get in New York. Assuming VA hasn't banned the sale of Crisco by then. It's good to know our politicians are looking out for us. I am frankly baffled that this is what they choose to ban after banning smoking. Why not ban the sale of alcohol in restaurants? That's bad for you . . . and it kills people. I can already see the furtive back alley meetings between the members of Overeater's Anonymous. "Yo man, you got any oreos, I'm fucking dying here man!"

A Culinary Triumph!

Forgive me if I can't recall which of you (Livvy or Anna) got me that Lodge chicken fryer, but oh boy oh boy do you guys have to come over and let me make traditional southern pan-fried chicken for you in it.

I tried making real pan-fried chicken for the first time on Friday night, and I still salivate every time I think of how good it tasted. The skin came out crunchy and a lovely dark golden brown, and the meat was so deliciously juicy and tender inside, I ate until I thought I would pop. It was amazing! Thanks for that fryer, guys!

It's Just around the Corner!

Ok everybody. Christmas is just around the corner, so email me your Dear Santa letters so that I can start buying presents. OLBilby@gmail.com. :)

HOO-RAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not a certainty yet, but I'm pretty sure that I'm going to win 5 dollars from Lissa next Fall. We had a little bet going that the totally fantastic television show Men In Trees wouldn't make it to a second season. I bet that it would, but Lissa has little faith and/or bad taste in television since she doesn't think it will do all that well, but whichever. My reasoning behind the bet was because the show is soooo friggin' awesome, due to its comedic romantic plotlines, which I love, but Lissa thought it would fail because it was a Friday night show and that in itself would make it unpopular. However, Men In Trees is moving to THURSDAY nights beginning November 30. This mean that--and I'm sad to say--they will probably be cancelling Six Degrees, another show that I was watching and liked relatively well, but not nearly as much as the show that will replace it; I'm not too dissappointed about it, especially because the line up will be Ugly Betty (one of my new favorite shows), Grey's Anatomy (another one of my favorites) and then of course, Men In Trees. What a fantastic night Thursdays will be :). But yeah...be prepared to pay up Lissa...cause a year from now, I guarantee that you'll owe me 5 dollars. HOO-RAH!!!

http://tinyurl.com/vy6zo

Army Strong

Army has changed their advertising campaign. I don't like it. I remember reading about the proposed change earlier this year. I didn't like it then either. Now that I've seen how they actually plan to convey their new incredibly succint message . . . I like it even less. The ads that are running go something like this;

Learning to stand up for yourself? That's strong. Learning to stand up for your country? That's Army Strong!

I remember the Army jingle from when I was growing up "Be all that you can be . . . in the ARMY!!!" It was cute, it was catchy, it was--if i remember correctly--iconic. Then sometime during my highschool years they changed it to "The Army of One". While I thought the ads were pretty good, I still missed the jingle.

Now, not only is there no jingle, but the slogan is . . . not even a slogan. Army Strong? Who else pictures some neanderthal thumping their chest and declaring, "Army! Strong!"? Now I am reminded of the excellent Buffy episode "Beer Good!", for which the tv spots probably went something like this; "Learning to have a one night stand? That's good! Learning to have a one night stand and not moon over the guy like an idiot and drag down the beginning of the season? That's Beer Good!"

I lost my train of thought.

Mark Your Calendars!

Last night was a red letter day for me! For the first time since Roy was born 7 months ago, Russ changed a poopy diaper!

Welcome Our New Speaker of the House

No sulking on my end, although I will say that I feel that it was not so much that the democrats deserved to win, but that the republicans richly deserved to lose.

Let the circus begin, since our prospective new speaker has been promising all sorts of investigations and hearings:


Photo stolen shamelessly from HotAir

Maybe when the republicans remember why they were put in the majority in the first place - democrat over-spending, corruption, immigration, high taxes, bloated and intrusive government - republicans will win again.

Like it was some kind of secret . . .

Neil Patrick Harris has officially come out of the closet following recent 
speculation regarding his sexual preference.  Why Doogie?  Why?
http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1554852,00.html 

on a side note, Opera browsers do not like blogger.