I really love crock pot cooking. I mean, what’s not to love about coming home to a delicious-smelling house and NOT having to cook after a long day? Um, exactly. Nothing.
I don’t really remember my Mom using the crock pot a lot when I was growing up. We had one, but it always seemed to me like its main purpose was to house swedish meatballs for a family party. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Mental note: I need to get my Mom’s swedish meatballs recipe…they’re awesome and I haven’t had them for years). My Mom is such a good cook, and we had a sit-down, family dinner EVERY NIGHT, but I think - since she was working - she didn’t want to leave anything on that she’d have to worry about all day while she was gone. Hey, I come by my worrying gene honestly…
When I worked in the office all day, I can remember driving home after work, heading cautionsly down my street, fully expecting to see billowing smoke from a few blocks away. Now that I’m working from home, though, that “OH MY GOD, WHAT IF MY HOUSE COMPLETELY BURNED TO THE GROUND WHILE I WAS GONE?!?!?!?” feeling is completely removed from the situation! Nice!
I found this gem of a crock pot recipe collection a couple months ago and have been trying some of the recipes out. This one for Pork Chops & Rice, whose somewhat boring yet straight-to-the-point title doesn’t do the recipe much justice, is becoming a new go-to dinner for me. It’s RIDICULOUSLY easy, and it’s really good…
…the perfect combination when I’m looking for a weeknight meal recipe. Enjoy!
Posted on 6 November '08 by colorcodedc, under Savory. No Comments.
I’m not a very political person.
Don’t get me wrong, I have my views. Strong views.
And, I’m a voter. I’ve voted in every election since I turned 18 (well, except for that one election when I was in college…when I was too lazy to get my absentee ballot. I know. For shame).
But I’m not one to get, you know, involved.
CK is a different story. He was totally a part of it all this year, and I’m really proud of him. He spent all day yesterday (seriously, ALL DAY…from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm…all while sporting a seriously solid cold) driving elderly folks to the polls. Folks who couldn’t - or shouldn’t - drive themselves. He also ran absentee ballots back and forth to people who weren’t well enough to leave their homes.
I know. Did I get me a solid fella or what?
By the end of the day, he’d worked so hard that the guy in charge of the campaign office gave him two tickets to the Obama celebration party (well, I’m sure it wasn’t actually CALLED that at the time…it was probably called the Cautiously Optimistic End of the Election Party until about 10:00 pm or so) at the Marriott Waterside in Tampa. Sweeeeeeeet.
So, for the first time, I actually felt like I was a PART of the election…of the success…of the change. Truth be told, I’d never voted for a winner before. It was really moving.
I met so many people. Excited people. Elated people. I met a soldier back from four tours in Iraq who showed me his bullet wound and told me he was supporting Obama because he wants his friends to come home alive. I met people in from all over the country who came to campaign in Florida because they knew how critical a state this was.
It was awesome. The excitement in that room when the election was called…I can’t even explain it.
Unfortunately, my pictures are weak. Sorry.
The size of the room was just too much for my baby flash to take, so all I really have are dark shots of a crowd. Here they are though! Just, please humor me and picture much more light…and much, much more excitement. We were too busy to take pictures during the exciting parts, what with the jumping around and all, but you’ll just have to trust me that it was there.
Come on, January!!
Posted on 5 November '08 by colorcodedc, under The Live-In. 1 Comment.
So, I’m at Target today…
(Sigh…Target. I heart Target…).
…buying a bunch of stuff for the guest bedroom. One of my best friends and her husband are coming to visit this weekend. I’m SO psyched. And, while the guest bedroom is starting to shape up a little bit (I just bought this new bedding from Kohl’s, which was SUPER on sale online and still wicked expensive in the store…and, of course, I bought it on a $0.99 shipping day…and, wonders never cease…I actually really like it), it still needs a few…tweaks.
I bought a new area rug (well, more like a runner), a little nightstand, and some curtains for the window on the door (it’s super creepy changing in there at night - even though the window faces the fenced-in backyard…but, still). I don’t have it all set up yet, but I’m hoping it makes the whole room feel a little homier (is that word?).
ANYWAY, I get to the check-out line, and it’s absolutely mobbed. I’ll never know why some Targets are so efficient at handling check-out and some just absolutely suck at it. Lucky me…my new Target sucks at it.
I finally get up to the cashier, and she starts scanning my things. She was perfectly nice, don’t get me wrong, but she says halfway through, “if you’re paying by credit or debit, you can scan your card now.” And, I’m thinking, “um, no I can’t. You people all say that, and I’ve tried that, but it never works unless I wait until the end.”
Of course, that’s all going on in my head and, instead of saying it out loud, I say (sweetly), “ok, thank you.”
And, guess what. It doesn’t work.
Of COURSE it doesn’t.
And, you know how you’re just so irritated when you’ve been waiting in line for a r-e-a-l-l-y long time, and you’re all discombobulated with your purse and your cart and your car keys and your cell phone…and the person behind you is, inevitably, inching their cart up WAY too far into your personal space. God, it irritated me, when she looked at me at the end of the sale and says, “it didn’t go through.”
Um, thanks, Master of the Target Obviousness. So, I had to put my purse back down, get my wallet back out, swipe my card again, pick up all my loose change that fell out of my wallet while getting the card back out (I’m not even making this up), put it back in my wallet, put my wallet back in my purse, grab my car keys back out of my purse, etc. etc. All the while, I can feel (at least) 5 angry sets of eyes boring holes in the back of my steamingly-annoyed head.
It’s the little things, you know?
Argh, Target, please please please stop telling your employees to encourage the premature swipe! You’re killing me here!!!!!!!!!
Hello? Food Network?
It’s me…
Christy.
I hope I’m not moving too fast…don’t get freaked out.
But, you…complete me.
…
A few months back I filled out a survey for Food Network. I’m a sucker for that sort of thing because I was a market researcher in my former life. Plus, I’m a reasearch / stats geek in general (enter: spreadsheet infatuation).
Anyway, I think the survey was a pop-up thing on their website? I’m not sure. But, apparently my female, 25-34 demographic added to how (freakin’!) much I watch the network combined to raise a red flag that they needed to get me on Some. Sort. of Panel. Immediately.
It’s actually really cool. Some of the survey topics are hilarious. They’ll email one every few weeks or so, and it’s always super Food Network’ed up. The email’s always from someone like their Chief Alarmingly Infatuated Paula Deen Fans Correspondent…or something…who makes me feel like I’m one of the family. And, when I think I can’t love them anymore, they offer me a free issue of their new magazine! Score!
See, they always have some sort of prize that you can win…like an Amazon gift card or some Food Network cookware or something…usually it’s really cool. And, even though they tell me the panel isn’t very big and my chances to win are very good, I’ve never won anything (typical of my luck with contests of any kind).
But, this time, everyone gets a free issue! Yay. I’ve been considering switching from my Rachael Ray subscription (even though I do love that magazine…and, if you have a bargain-hunting friend like my friend Jenn, you can usually find a wicked good deal) to the Food Network one anyway…just to try it out, but I didn’t know what to expect. But, now I will! Honestly, I doubt I’ll pay three times as much for the Food Network mag (I’m, at times, extremely cheap frugal), but who knows…stranger things have happened, I guess.
I’ll be sure to share any great recipes I find.
Rock on, Food Network. Just when I thought I couldn’t love you any more…
You sure know how to keep a gal hooked.
It’s time for trick-or-treat again! Nights filled with costume-clad little ones, chocolate-induced sugar highs, and, naturally, anal retentive behavior.
My Mom was just reminding me tonight how, when I was little, I used to come home from trick-or-treating, set up shop on the living room floor, dump out all my candy, and SEPARATE IT INTO PILES SORTED BY CANDY TYPE.
Dudes. This problem is bigger than I thought.
I totally remember doing it, too. Milky Ways in one pile, Sweet Tarts in another, a pile of Powerhouse bars to give to my Dad (do they even make those anymore? I don’t remember what those had in them…it must’ve been filled with nuts, though, for me to have had such an aversion to them), Mounds bars to give to my sister, Reese’s peanut butter cups to give to my Mom, etc. etc. I mean, how hilarious is that? I can completely remember putting all of it back in my bag, too, after the organizational process (p.s., where the hell were you on the Excel thing in 1985, Microsoft?!?). I tried to keep everything with its little candy family and even put different bags within my trick-or-treat bag in order to keep the organization in tact.
Awesome.
If I hadn’t been so busy stuffing my face full of $100 Grand bars, I probably would have been creating a list to cross reference against the previous year’s candy…and creating a chart showing the correlation of type of candy collected to type of costume worn.
I’m kidding.
Kind of.
Posted on 29 October '08 by colorcodedc, under OCD, Sweet. 4 Comments.
“Santonio Holmes said he would have made a difference in the outcome if he had played for the Steelers Sunday in their 21-14 loss to the New York Giants.
‘I know I would … yes, but I wasn’t there to help the team,’ Holmes said today, speaking publicly for the first time since his arrest for possessing a small amount of marijuana last Thursday.”
Seriously, dude. Do you have to rub it in????
Thanks.
Posted on 29 October '08 by colorcodedc, under Steelers. No Comments.
Picture it if you will.
Two 5-1 teams in a Week 8 matchup. Teams that have two of the three Super Bowl rings earned since Feb, 2006 and are looking for another. Teams with star quarterbacks who went head to head in the 2004 college draft.
The Steelers’ defense leads the league in sacks, and they’re up against one of the toughest offensive lines in the league, considering Manning’s only been sacked 6 times all year. Sounds like all the necessary ingredients for a classic match-up, right?
So, could we have a little more trash talking enthusiasm here, please?? First of all, come ON, Ben. Plaxico “made me who I am?” For REAL? What was it he taught you exactly…responsibility? Nope. Leadership? Wrong again. Driving an obnoxiously large vehicle? Maybe.
And, secondly, don’t even get me STARTED on Santonio.
Seriously?
Weed.
In your car.
Driving past Mellon Arena.
Fantastic.
Missing games because of drug possession charges is not how you make friends with Steeler fans, Asshat.
Regardless…
Having won 12 out of the last 14 regular season games at home, no doubt we’re making this #13.
GO. STEELERS.
CK and I are heading up to Pittsburgh this weekend…
For the Steeler game!!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!
We’re doing an all-day tailgate for the game (and, with this crew, all day means ALL DAY; nothing short of 7:00 AM is considered to be an acceptable arrival time). It’s actually really awesome. CK and his friends started putting this tailgate together about two years ago (this is the 3rd annual) for one of their friends, Matt, who passed away sadly, suddenly, and unexpectedly. It’s a great event…TONS of people - a lot of Matt’s family - all getting together to remember him in the place he loved best: a Steeler fan-infested parking lot at Heinz Field.
I’m psyched. Psyched for the tailgate… psyched for the game …psyched to be going home…to be going back to a weather forecast that includes at least two snowflakes…
Um, wha???? WHAT THE H IS THAT ALL ABOUT, JON BURNETT??!?
Where is all the gorgeous, 60-degree, blue-skied, sunny, crispy red and orange leaf-filled deliciousness that is supposed to be the ‘Burgh in October??!?
Actually, I’m pretty thankful. That 5-day said rain showers with a high of 49 a day or two ago. Jon, if you could just remove that rain drop and snowflake for me, I would perhaps consider switching my KDKA allegiance from Ken Rice to you. I mean, you’re no on-the-field, sports-reporting weatherman like someone else I know, but still. I’m just saying…something to think about.
BRING IT, G-MEN!!!!!!! YOU’RE OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
