My Neighbor

For 2 mornings in a row I have been woken up by my neighbor's alarm clock! She has a habit of never being in her room which is interesting. Last semester her mother called the police, because she up and disappeared for about 5 days. So she is an interesting person to say the least. I will say hello to her and and she never says anything back.

Disturbing

I know this is really really random, but I recently found out that HIV can be transmitted through kissing. I had no idea and talk about frightening! I don't remember ever being told this in school. I wonder how many people have innocently kissed a person who may or may not have known that they had it. How romantic to be on a second, third, or fourth date and have to ask if the person has been tested.

Excitement

There isn't much of it right now in my life. My weekend was rather full of shopping with my best friend and doing school work. I am a week ahead right now in homework and I really hope it stays that way! I like having that feeling of accomplishment rather than panic. I also will hopefully be working in the evenings which will help tremendously :-) I know it sounds strange to some, but I like working and feel really strange not doing it. My birthday was really nice as well. I was rather shocked because of my history, but I guess this will teach me a lesson. My best friend, her husband, baby, and I went out to dinner and then watched a really cheesy movie. And I do mean cheesy! We cracked on the poor characters quite a bit. Well I am finally becoming sleepy so I am going to crash.

24

Well it's official, I am now 24 and yet again I feel no different. I have never cared for my birthday because something usually happens. So I am really trying to not be depressed and negative about it. When I was little usually the party was canceled or most of the people couldn't come because of the weather. Understandable, but tell that to an 8 year old. Then I as I got older I didn't have friends to even invite. So that make it just peachy when January rolled around. Now that I am older it's usually that I had a crummy day or bad news. You get the drift. I remember when I was away at Bethany and I went the whole day and no one mentioned my birthday. I went into my room and just sobbed because I was so far from my family. Well someone remembered that night and they tried to make it up to me. It was thoughtful. Ok, now that I thoroughly done my whining I will go. I hope all is well with everyone!

What Is A Person To Do?

Well it happened again. I went to my psych class and left with a pounding head. What are you supposed to do when your professor gives you a headache? She is very nice, but her voice is shrill to my ears. Very high pitched. I am thinking maybe ear plugs? Anyone else have ideas? I also found out some great news today! I am no longer considered a dependent on my parents, which means next semester I will receive a lot more financial aid to pay for school. Hallelujah! That is such a relief. Well that's all for now.

My Crazy Life.

I came back to school on Sunday and classes started back yesterday. I am taking 6 courses this semester as well as working. I hope I don't go insane at some point. I have never liked first day anything so school is no exception. My stress level is super high and I am usually ready to burst into tears at any given moment. I was frustrated by the fact that the internet wasn't working and tried pushing all the buttons on my phone hoping to find the correct one for Apogee. Well I found the right one as well as the one for 911. So not even 5 minutes later I about had my door knocked down by a police officer. I of course about wet my pants because I was obviously not expecting this. So that was my first bit of excitement. I was also thrilled to be asked by my political science professor if I wanted to be his work study! I hate working in the campus "library" so I was ecstatic. The only problem is that I am in his intro class and that's the one he needs the most help with. So he is checking into it for me. Pray that it works out :-)

This afternoon I had a splitting headache and desperately needed my coffee. So I am here in my room getting things ready when I turn around and attempt get my filters. I don't know what happened but somehow I tripped and coffee grounds flew everywhere. I mean everything was covered: desk, books, drawers, floor, clothing...everything. I have no sweeper to clean this mess up so here I am on the floor painstakingly picking up coffee grounds for 20 minutes. That was fun. I am sure there has been other excitement but it's not coming to me right now.

Dinner

I had the kids last night and tonight, and I knew we were going to be having pizza. The pizza we got from Papa Murphy's was sooo good! I think it's my favorite (it was also low-fat) :-) So I wanted to have some sort of veggie to go with it and knew I had cauliflower and 1 parsnip left. I got creative and told the kids we were having something like mashed potatoes. So here is another great recipe that the kids loved and they had no idea it was veggies! I added ground flax seed to mine and it was good. It adds a nutty flavor, but isn't overpowering.

1 parsnip
1 1/2 cups of cauliflower
1/2 cup of onion and celery
salt
pepper
garlic powder

* Chop everything up and bring to a boil. Let it simmer until everything is tender and easy to mash. Drain all the water but a little, and mash well. Then add your salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add however much you like. Once you have it plated top it with a little bit of cheese. I used Havarti and it was very tasty. Havarti is a smooth cheese that has a distinct flavor, but it's not too strong.

Chickpea Burgers

I need to add more flavor next time, but they were good. I added a few extra things that the original recipe didn't call for. Next time you buy canned beans at the store check the ingredients! I was looking over the label and a lot of them have corn syrup in them!! Can you believe it? I know I couldn't. So if you want to avoid that buy organic. They also use sea salt instead of regular salt so it's even better.

1 can red kidney beans
1 can chickpeas
1 onion (diced)
1 carrot (shredded)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
pepper
garlic powder
parsley
Mrs. Dash

*Bring the beans to a boil and let simmer 5 minutes. Drain them and then mash them as well as you can. Add all the other ingredients and stir well. This makes about 5-6 medium burgers. Then grill them or pan fry them in a non-stick skillet. This is an inexpensive meal to make that yields a lot of food! You could also add bread crumbs if you would like.

Smoothie Recipe

I hope everyone will try this and let me know what you think!

4 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
4 peach slices (fresh or frozen)
1 small container of low fat peach yogurt
1/2 cup of silken tofu (organic if possible)
splash of orange juice

Today

Today my dad's family came over and we celebrated January birthdays. Mine is the 18th, my mom's is the 25th, and my aunt's is later in the month. I got the cutest coffee mug from my aunt and uncle that has a pug on it with Max's name underneath :-) I like it, but I will store it away here at the house due to space issues. We also had Schuler's cake and it was amazing! I hadn't had it in ages and it is such a treat. They really do have the best baked goods that I have ever tasted. I have a lot to do this week to prepare to go back to school. Tomorrow I need to go get tags for my car and work on my schedule, Tuesday I am going to the YMCA with my cousin for an aerobics class, and Wednesday night I have a meeting. My parents leave Friday for Florida so I will have a few days here to get myself packed up. I am excited, but hope I don't get overwhelmed. Time for bed!

Smoothies...Yummy!

I have discovered while home just how much I love and enjoy smoothies! My favorite so far is strawberry and peach with orange juice :-) It was sooo good and is a guilt free snack. I am hoping that I can have a blender in my room when I go back to school because I want to start having them as breakfast on a regular basis. I am also going to see if I can have a George Foreman Grill in the room so I can eat healthier. It's rather funny to picture my room with a fridge, microwave, blender, grill, and a coffee maker. Lol. I will have everything but the stove. I miss cooking so it will be nice if I can add these few things.

Am I Strange or Something?

I am completely different from the rest of my family. My dad gets up this morning and wonders why I am not watching the parade. I hate parades! I always have, but everyone else in my family loves them. They also love New Years Eve and think it's so much fun to watch the ball drop at midnight. I think it's pointless and rather boring. Why am I so different? Then when I don't watch what they watch I feel guilty, but why should I sit there for 2 hours and watch something that I am not interested in?