I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Etc.

The weather outside is….

As I was out shopping today I kept thinking about the song “Let it Snow”. As I ran around from the Christmas Tree Shop, Costco, and Micheal’s I was excited and horrified about the weather. I know the average is 47 for 11.29 but today seemed sooo hot in the mid 50’s. Yes, we have had snow, but it just does not seem like Christmas yet. It might be my mindset since I am all wrapped up in school since I’m done on the 17th (news flash my teacher moved the final review up!) but it does not seem like the year is winding down.

So with our Christmas tree in our apartment and our door open to cool the place off we got to work on decorating. No, I was not wasting energy with the door open. We had turned the heat way down and it was still 72 in the apartment- 12″ of concrete does insulate well. So we propped open the door to cool off. 

Price and I quickly got to work on the tree getting the lights on and then the ornaments. Most of I love to see them all and see the ones we have gotten together over the years- like the personalized ones my mom got us in 2007 and the poker cards she got price last year. I have my favorites like the ballerina frog, rabbit ornament, moose  from maine, and the sugar-plum fairy @ my mom’s house. I never noticed until this year when Pricer asked where the tree topper was that we don’t have one… I’ll have to get to work on that.

Last year the rabbits were much more interested in the tree. We had to keep an eye out for them at all times since we did not want them to eat the lights or the ornaments. You never really know with them since Jack likes to chew on the metal bookcase. I had to plop Jack down at the tree and even then there was lots of begging to stay there while I took a picture.

 Bunny, as usual was worse, I had to get out the bag of raisins to get her to participate in a picture. Even then it was a failed attempt and she ran off quickly. No, that is not poo in the picture, the is the raisins I spilled as I tired to sit down with her, the raisins, and camera.

She quickly ran behind the tree to hide. And just as quickly she ran away…

 

Saturday Winter Cooking Extravaganza

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yes the shelf is bowing a bit…

So I went back in time and became a 50’s house wife this weekend. I planned on cooking a lot this weekend but it got a bit crazy. Our freezer and fridge are packed. What started off as some meal planning became a double batch of chicken soup, marinara and meatballs, orange chicken, beef stew, pumpkin whoopie pies, and then making chinese food with my dad. Oh yeah, I snuck in cooking plantains in there.

Saturday was about sleeping in, get some Vietnamese food with Pricer, getting supplies for our models, food shopping and then “SuperFantasticSaturdayWinterCookingExtravaganza !!!” (per Emily). Our poor stove top, slow cooker, oven, and dishwasher got quite the workout this weekend.

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All of this deliciousness is packed into our freezer and fridge. (confession…. we already have a turkey in our freezer but they had huge ones on some crazy sale for 47 cents a pound and I wasthisclose to getting one but did not know how I could justify (to price) 2 turkeys and no room) Price helped me along the way but it was still so sweet that he said ‘thanks for making dinner for the next month.’ ha! I really like when we cook together. 

Now I just hope we don’t lose power/fridge magically breaks or I am bringing all this into work and/or invading Emily’s fridge and freezer (you’ve been warned)

 Recipes to follow

Neurosis #2

I like coupons, really like coupons. I have the Sunday Boston Globe subscription because of the coupons and I love that Price and I get up on Sundays with coffee/tea and lounge for a bit with the paper. I have always loved the idea of making a Sunday morning around the paper and now we have. Like this past Sunday started off with the paper, the Target flyer, and then a trip to target for a 3 in 1 printer that was on some crazy sale for $40 (our old one broke about 2 months ago). Yay!

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Well, I go though the coupons, snip them out, and organize them for shopping. I end up with a pretty mean stack of coupons. They are organized by aisle and how the store is laid out. I admit it takes me well over an hour to go shopping, which is why Price thinks I’m crazy and I won’t let him go with me. His idea of shopping it doing a mad sprint though the store getting the things he needs then. So if we are ever at the store together it usually ends with me looking around for Price since he ran off with the cart to make me go faster.

I went food shopping last night and was in my element- I’m such a nerd. So here is the breakdown….

total:                                      157.15
store savings:                      30.98
coupon savings:                 21.58
total spent:                         104.59
 
that’s right I save 1/3 of my grocery bill on sales and coupons!
 

Sure, I’m a bit crazy about the coupons but I don’t go so far as signing up for coupons online, I just don’t have time for that. But I take my time shopping and I stock up on things that are on sale… like we probably have 6-8 months with of clothes detergent now, tp, shampoo, and a years worth of toothpaste, etc. Okay, I admit that is bizarre but I can’t pass up $13 detergent that I can get for $8 that will last us for 3 months. Plus, to be quite honest, I enjoyed the annoyed look from the guy last night checking me out. I explained to him that I separated the items to make things easier because i have a lot of coupons but he just rang one item in and changed its total quantity, when I gave him the coupons he had some major issues since the coupons are very specific. Serves you right for trying to cut corners.

This insane bulk shopping might run in my family since my grandma likes to call up Keurig and buy about a lot of coffee and tea at once. I mean A LOT! Luckily she likes to share so Price and I have a major stash of coffee and tea… 28 boxes, and in each box is 25 servings of coffee/tea. So we have about 1 1/2 years’ worth at this point. Hehe 

Stay tuned for Neurosis #3…..

Piper-do

Last night my Mom sent me some pictures of our dog Piper enjoying a new bone. I had a rough week with lots of homework and little sleep for a degree project review on Thursday night, so it was nice to check my email after class and see Pipes. Totally cheered me up.

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My Mom got Piper for my 13th birthday… such a great present!!  She was high-strung, hyper, and jumpy when we first got her- her first vet visit revealed she was abused before we got her. Through love and hard work she is good now. Which I find impressive since she really did not pass dog school. Our teacher made us promise to keep working with her as we got the diploma, basically Piper was such a handful in class that she was slowly the rest of the dogs down and making them act up. Since then she has calmed down, plus gotten more mature now that she is 12. It’s hard to see her more sluggish and sleeping more but I love when she acts like a puppy and attacks a bone or playfully runs after Cobi, our 4-year-old chocolate lab.

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I named Piper but she really has several names. When she and my mom’s friend’s son were young he used to call her Hyper or Hyper Piper. Now she is Pipes, Piper-do, and Piperdoiloveyou. This is the case with Cobi also, his name is from the cigar brand Cohiba. I call him Chewbacca since he makes this wookie like sound when he wants to go out.

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Piper has stayed at home since I moved to Boston for college and I miss her terribly. When I first would come home she used to be excited to see me but now she is more excited to see Price. I go in the house first and she jumps and greets me giving my hands kisses and stretching up on my legs, then she sees Price come in and she gets 100x more excited to see him and she ditches me. After all this excitement  she lays down and stares at me. I call her over to the sofa and she just stares. I call her over and over again. Prices says ‘Piper Come!’ and she flies across the living room to him, sits down and leans on him. She is much better when he is not with me but generally now I get the cold shoulder since she has figure out I show up for 2 days and then I’m gone for 1-2 months. It excites me to no end if she actually stays in my room and sleeps with me or stays with me on the boat.

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My mom has brought Piper up for overnights when she visits but I had Pipes up to Boston 2x for stays, once for several weeks and for a week. She sorta taught my old roommate’s puppy that it is not acceptable to bark so much. It was great to have her up and for a break from a howling beagle puppy. On the last day of her last visit I brought her into work. We were in our old space so things were a little less strict there. I still ‘snuck’ her in by putting her in a bag so security would not see her. This has to be one of my all time favorite pictures of her. It has been my desktop image for over 2 years now. 

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Good Eats

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I got to meet and got a book signed by Alton Brown tonight! Yes, the Alton Brown on Good Eats and Iron Chef America and the Next Iron Chef. He’s a busy man. But not too busy to sign a book. Okay, it was for a book tour to promote his new book, Good Eats: The Early Years,  but it was still so great to get him to sign the book and take a picture with me.

I met my friend Natalie to go to the signing. We waited in line for about an hour at Brookline Booksmith. We were excited!!

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As we got closer we got more excited, plus we could see him!

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And then it was our turns! I got the book signed for Price and me so Alton asked who Price was. I told him my boyfriend. Noticing that there was no boy with me he asked where he was and I told him in class. ‘Class for what?’ ‘ Architecture’ ‘ Cool, but there are already so many buildings. You made the right choice coming here tonight.’ Oh, Alton I agree 🙂

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Grin and Bear it

Our company participates in an architectural softball league. We are in the C league- since we are okay and don’t take ourselves seriously- like people bring beers to base or outfield. And if you knock it over as you run around… you are in trouble! I have gone in the past to cook and take pictures but this year I decided it would be ‘fun’ to play. Since I have no coordination I decided catcher would be good since you don’t want an outfielder who can’t throw far or a basemen who ducks at balls. Well, catcher has to throw the ball back every time. Damn! I forgot that is part of the game. So I whined my way through the season (sorry Mike) and was eager to express my excitement when we had enough players so I did not have to play! Yay! I would grill and take pictures so it really was hard playing, grilling, and taking pictures.

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This page explains my feelings about softball with a picture from our first game- when it was still new and exciting to me!

dogs!!!!

Since we can’t get a dog in our current apartment now or really juggle the responsiblities of a dog and school now maybe this will work?

*check Improv Everywhere for their other cool work.

Work in Progress

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I am a work in progress.

I am constantly working (or at least thinking) about what I can do next, how I should/could have done that better, when is it time to give up, etc. I have these lovely thoughts through my head all day long. My to do list is constantly running through my head…get more rabbit hay from the garage, put away clothes, do homework, get my car serviced, etc. I keep waiting for my life to really start. Yes, I have been on the 3rd rock from the sun for about 25 years now but I just don’t feel like anything has really started.. The main issue is that I have been at school since Sept ’03 and I am not done yet. I keep telling myself that things will be different once I am done…. I will get more sleep, I won’t be so forgetful, I will have more time to scrapbook, I will get to the gym more, our apartment will be really clean, etc. I just have to remind myself that I will be done with classes in 10 weeks and I walk in May.

In the mean time I scrapbook when I can and make a horrible mess while doing it 🙂

Relaxing Rabbits

I took a few pictures of them last night….

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Jack ate, and therefore touched, carrots yesterday….so he got a bit orange.

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Bunny eatting some pear this morning

And so it begins, again.

My final semester at the BAC began today.

While I should be excited that the end is finally in sight, I just spent the class listening to some guy talk and talk and talk. Luckily he only teaches for 1 1/2 hours and the other half is with someone else.

In addition to the notes I took, Jim (classmate who went on the Greece trip too) and I entertained ourselves by counting the number of times he said “You see/know….” and “You see/know what I’m saying…”  Want to guess the grand total in 96 minutes???

-108-

P.S. We will continue to track this to see if this is was a nervous first class fluke or if this is him ‘Umm’

Polaroid addiction

I love how digital prints give your crisp photos but I miss the look of Polaroid photos and pics my parents took in the 80’s. You know, the ones that look like they have been faded by the sun although they are brand new. Like these of a photos……

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 Maybe I was 3 here? Apperantly my right hand was not so sure about it and needed my left hand for some help pulling off that one.

 

Well a  great website transforms you digital pics to look like they are Polaroids- white border included! (I saw this on this blog called Emily- My Place)

love polaroid

check out Rollip!

PLUS!!! FujiFilm has come out with the Instax. Its a new instant camera. OOOOO AHHHHHH

And mine is on its way from Amazon!!!