A Stat Hound’s Woe

Posted by goodoldgirl

So, I all but ignore my blog for a few days and what happens? Not a thing!

No one (well, hardly anyone) visits my blog for days – and days – and days.

What gives? Do I have to write a new post every day? Really?

So many books. So little time!

Can’t do it. Got too many other things to do! For example …

Reading: my stack of books-to-read is growing, and growing
I need to fill out my 1040 – yep, I pushed it to the edge this year (haven’t even started)
Work, work, work, work, work
Emmie and Ollie (my cats): they need some attention soon or they’re going to blackball me out of the family (caught them in a corner whispering the other day, nothing good can come from that)
My garden: pitifully small as it is, I still had to take a big chunk out of last Saturday to clean it up and get it ready for Spring planting (that’s assuming Spring ever comes back, been pretty chilly here the last few days)
House cleaning: nah, that one won’t fly
Sore ankle? oh, never mind

So, have I convinced you that I’ve got a lot on my plate?

Speaking of plates, it’s time to fix dinner.

AACK!

Let me think. What’s in the fridge?

I know! I can make Good Old Girls Shrimp Fried Rice and broccoli with cheese sauce. Only takes about 40 minutes! Here’s how:

1 Box of Frozen Broccoli with Cheese Sauce (I like Green Giant)
1/2 Pound of small shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 Bag Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Boil-in-Bag Brown Rice
2 eggs
2-4 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
1-2 Tbsp. Finely Chopped Onions (can use dried if you don’t have fresh onions)
Garlic Salt (as much as you can stand)

Follow directions on box for frozen broccoli. Green Giant requires 12 minutes in boiling water – on each side.

When you turn over the broccoli, put the rice in a pan of boiling water per instructions on box. If using Uncle Ben’s, takes about 12 minutes to cook.

Good Old Girls Shrimp Fried Rice

Melt butter in saute pan, add onions, add eggs and scramble in pan (chop into small bits while scrambling), add garlic salt to taste. When eggs are done, add shrimp, stir and let simmer. When rice is done, drain and add to egg and shrimp mixture. Mix well. Serve with broccoli and bread of your choice. (I like the Wheat Bolillois from the Walmart bakery. They freeze nicely and are easy to heat in the oven.)

Serves two to four, depending on how hungry you are.

Yum!

PS: My daughter loved this when she was a kid.

The definition of goofy stuff!

Posted by goodoldgirl

I really hate it when I can’t get my goofy brain to shut down long enough to get to sleep. Especially when it’s 2:00 a.m. and I’m “too pooped to pop.” Somebody used to say that when I was a kid. Can’t remember who. Pity. Maybe trying to remember who said it will make me sleepy.

Maybe not.

What is it that makes a brain think about goofy stuff when it should be winding down, shutting off, lights out, nobody home, go away, come back tomorrow? I don’t know but I learned a long time ago to just go with it and try to do something constructive til I get sleepy enough to actually, you know, sleep.

I usually read my book but I finished it this morning and I don’t really want to start another one because, if I do, I’ll get caught up in the story and stay awake even longer. And then I’ll be too pooped to get my patio cleaned up tomorrow. It’s a real mess and, well actually, it’s an embarrassing mess and I’m surprised one of the busybodies from the condo board hasn’t already sent me a letter telling me that I’m violating some sacrosanct rule from on high. Oh yeah, and that it’s also a disgrace to the community.

I put a bench on my carport a few years ago and got a letter because we’re not allowed to put anything on the carport except vehicles that are in operating condition. Also, I made a neat bird house plaque for my unit numbers once and got a letter telling me that it didn’t conform and that I had to take it down. Being the trouble-maker that I am, I walked around the complex and saw no less than 5 different kinds of unit numbers so I wrote back and let them know about that. They (the all-powerful condo board) sent a notice to all condo owners specifying the exact kind of numbers we were supposed to have. By the time they got around to doing that, though, I’d already taken my neat bird house numbers down and put the old numbers back up. Funnily enough, my old numbers didn’t conform to the policy. What did I do? I let them puppies stay right where they were … and they are still there.

As a general rule, I’m okay with having rules. Rules are mostly good. They help stave off chaos. But, some rules are just made to be broken.

In fact, I think when I finish my patio clean-up tomorrow (or, I guess it’ll be today) I’ll put my bench on my carport — right up next to the fence that separates it from my patio. I might even put a plant on it and sit my rusted-tin cat sculpture right next to it!

Ya-a-a-wn …

I think I can go to sleep now.

Nite.

PS: Goofy stuff — going outside at 2:00 am in your pyjamas when it’s 40 degrees to take a pic of your house numbers … and the cat.

z-z-z-z-z …

A bookie’s life calendar.

Posted by goodoldgirl

When I was a kid, my life calendar was all about the next holiday and not having to go to school.

It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to go to school but that I didn’t want to have to get up so dang early. (They could have made school start at ten instead of eight and I’d’ve been a happy camper.) The getting up early, though, wouldn’t have been such a problem except that it interfered with staying up late the night before. So why does a kid need to stay up so late — it’s all about the books.

Yep, this girl’s a reader. My life calendar these days is measured in books instead of days and weeks.

And holidays? They’re just one more opportunity for a family squabble, so who needs ’em!

I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t holed up somewhere reading a book. It drove my grandmother bonkers. She hated to see me inside reading when my brother and sisters and cousins were out playing. She used to make me watch afternoon soap operas with her to keep me from reading but I’d have an open book across my lap, sneaking peeks and distracting her when I needed to turn the page. (I’m pretty sure she knew I was doing it but, as long as I kept up with the soaps’ story lines, she let me get a way with it.) Granny loved her soaps. Wonder what she’d have thought about blogging.

Back to topic …

I read while waiting in the drive-up line and I read while waiting at red lights, too. (I get a lot of beeps from the cars behind me.)

I read while I should be watching what I’m cooking on the stove. (I’ve developed a real affinity for charred food.)

I read while I’m watching TV and, yes, I’ve even been known to read while I’m blogging.

It’s a sickness, this book thing, and there is no cure.

Yikes!

What is your passion? What keeps you going day after day, year in and year out? What’s the big thing on your life calendar?