Eskiegirl

Day 11: Another picture of you and your friends

Tream drama strikes again!

.............

 

I've been absent from this for a bit (try, like, almost a month), and I'm going to hopefully give this another go.  There have been some really good things happening in real life, along with some really draining things.  Most days when I get home, I either don't have the time or the energy to write much.  Or, when I do, what I have to say can't be written in a public forum. 

So, your patience please, while I get my stuff sorted.  Or at the very least, find enough pictures to be able to complete this meme.  I am horrible at taking pictures (remembering to take them, not the actual act of doing so), particularly of myself, so I don't have much to go on.

Droolworthy Dinners: Chicken French and Vodka Sauce

I was in the mood for chicken french a few weeks ago, so I scrounged up a recipe from allrecipes.com, which is my go-to site for all things tasty.  I found a recipe that was pretty close to what I figured would be chicken french, and had a high rating, so I tried it.

It was NOT chicken french, or at least anything like chicken french that I've ever had.  The sauce for chicken french is based on lemon juice, butter, and white wine.  Maybe a hint of chicken broth, but really, lots of lemon juice, butter, and white wine.  It was also incredibly runny, and didn't hold up over the angel hair that I prepared to go with.  So... I fixed it.  It's now easily my new favorite thing, and I think even better than restaurant chicken french. 

The other recipe after the jump is my favorite vodka sauce recipe, given to me by my friend Kenny  Also omg amazing, this can easily hold its own as a main course, or topping for a side of pasta.

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are...

 Happy: Generally I tend towards more upbeat music, like fun musical theatre soundtracks and the glee soundtrack.

Sad: Ani DiFranco's Revelling: Reckoning album.

Bored: I'll listen to whatever I feel like listening to.

Hyped: upbeat music, usually with a strong bass line.

Mad: songs with lyrics dealing with anger.  Generally, a lot of Ani DiFranco.

Day 09: Something you’re proud of in the past few days

Not much.  I feel like I'm flailing, work-wise, and my days really haven't been filled with anything but monotony.  Wish I could report otherwise.

Day 08: Short term goals for this month and why

My short term goals for this month are pretty straightforward:

1. Financially, I would like to stop spending so much money.  For the most part, I've been doing pretty good at this - lots avoiding my usually online shopping haunts and target like the plague.  Right now the balance on my credit card is almost entirely from gasoline, and that's the way I'd like to keep it.  My friend Steffy is putting herself on a spending freeze until January 1st.  After I get my pots and pans, and pay off a couple of work obligations (my staff polo shirt and my dress down days through the end of the year) I'd like to try that for myself.  I just bought some new work pants, and I'm set with work clothes for now.  I don't need anything else for my house, and I have netflix and TLC/TBS to keep me occupied.  Hypothetically, this sounds really easy, but I'm sure this is going to be tougher than I'm expecting.

2. Work wise, I really want to get my classes under my thumb.  I have a great section of 7th grade, and an okay section of 6th grade which make work bearable.  I have another section of 7th grade which is made up almost entirely of the most impulsive kids in the 7th grade.  It tries my patience on a daily basis.  My 6th grade chorus is okay.  They're still learning the ropes and the procedures, we do a lot of reviewing the correct way to sit, the procedure to stand (without talking), all of that kind of stuff.  My 7th and 8th grade group is like one step forward, two steps back.  We had an okay rehearsal on Thursday, but only after I all but begged them to be more responsible for their own actions and to stop wasting time.  My student to teacher ratio is approximately 85 kids to 1 adult.  I'm exhausted, and they're trying my patience, to put it mildly.  They're also being taught (or re-taught, for some of them) the procedures and expectations in my classroom.  I came home this weekend with big plans to catch up on all of the grading and checking in of stuff that I haven't done this week - and none of it is done.  I made the executive decision to NOT do it about a half hour ago.  I'm exhausted, and I just want to enjoy what's left of my day off - not that there's much of it.

Retail Therapy

I. AM. SO. STOKED.

I was flipping through the Bed Bath and Beyond ad that came in the mail yesterday.  They have a pretty what will be an awesome deal on Cuisinart Hard Anodized cookware, once I do my serious discounting.

The set includes:

1.5 and 2.5qt covered sauce pans

3qt covered saute pan (which I need, as mine is non-stick, and flaking, and I use it all the time)

4qt covered dutch oven (which I also need, as the handles are falling off of mine)

8" and 10" skillets

8qt covered stock pot PLUS pasta insert (COVET COVET COVET!)

for $199.99.

I have a 20% coupon, so that's $40 off.

I have two BB&B gift cards on the way to me thanks to my awesome discover card cash back program, for another $50 off.  I also have probably a $10-15 balance on the one that I used when I "bought" my shower curtain in August (aka - got it for free thanks to my gift cards!)

So, I will wind up with the full set of cookware for under $100.  I like the way that the handles are attached on this stuff better - the stuff I have now has the cheaper screw-style handles (meaning that every so often I have to break out the screwdriver and retighten everything up again), and this stuff is welded right to the pot.  I'll sell what I have currently on craigslist - it's not bad, but for the pieces that I need, it's cheaper to buy this set and just replace it.  I have some other stuff to list too - maybe I can have myself a mini craigslist garage sale, and clean out some of the crap that is taking up space around the apartment.  Score!

Nothing exciting on the agenda for today - I'm hoping to finish laundry soon, but it's a big laundry day with sheets, towels, and blankets, so cross your fingers for me.  It's nice enough (sunny and warm, with a slight breeze) to use the clothesline in the back yard, which makes doing laundry significantly more enjoyable. 

Day 07: A picture of someone/something that has had an impact on you

l'm use this picture to represent a few things.  The woman directing is my high school chorus teacher.  She, along with every other music teacher that I had growing up, had a tremendous impact on my decision to go into music education. 

Although this is a fairly recent picture (and I've been out of high school for 10 years in June!), the group that she is conducting had a tremendous impact on my love of music and singing.  It was always something that I enjoyed, but singing with this group CLICKED, and the feeling of making music with this group of people is something that I have never been able to replicate.  It was with this group that I really discovered great choral music, and great music making.

I am constantly saying that if I had more time, I'd love to get back into singing and making music for me.  While it's something I could swing right now, it's not feasible once I get into my own musical season and festival season, which runs from January through April.  It is definitely something that I miss.

Day 06: Favorite Super Hero

I was never really into the whole "super hero" thing growing up.  Even as an adult, I could really care less.

However, this guy?  He really does it for me.

Day 05: A picture of somewhere you've been

Strawberry Fields @ Central Park in New York City.  Taken August 2006.

I miss New York City.  I need a vacation. 

Day 04: a habit you wish you didn't have

I have ugly hands.

I mean, they're not hideous looking, or bony, or sausage finger-y.  But from the top knuckle up, they're a trainwreck, and there really isn't much I can do to fix them.

Let's start with my nails.  My nails are oddly shaped.  They have a very short nailbed, and they are oddly shaped at the base.  Some of my nails have a nice round shape to the nail bed, like my thumbs and pinkies, or could.  Some of them are more triangular, and no amount of work on my cuticles could cause them to retain a normal around shape.  Because of this, I don't paint my nails.  I don't bother manicuring or shaping them, since most of the time I keep them short for work (it's hard to play piano with long nails!)  I don't like to draw attention to them.  And I usually spend a lot of time either biting or pulling back the tips of my nails.

The only time I ever like the way that my nails look is when I put acrylic french tips on them.  The stuff used to bond the tip and the nail is enough to hold back the hideous cuticles of doom, and then they look nice.

My other problem is the skin around my nails - I like to pull on it.  Most of the time it's dead skin and it peels away cleanly, but right now I have some nasty looking scabs around my right thumb, from where I have pulled too hard.  This is mostly a nervous habit, something that I do when I am feeling anxious, or like I need to be doing something with my hands.  Right now it's not so bad, since it's confined to one finger, but it's been much worse.

The best cure for that problem that I've found is to have the french tips put on, since I'm less likely to pick when my nails look nice.  Unfortunately, it's an expensive habit to keep up, since I can't go longer than 2 weeks between fills or I start to pop them off, and I can't wear tips at work because of the whole piano thing (botches my wrist posture and aggravates my supposed case of carpel tunnel).