I'm a Plant Killer

Not intentionally. I just have kind of a bad track record with plants-especially at my current residence. I killed two smaller plants and two larger plants from Ikea. I also managed to kill a bamboo---I KNOW. I accidentally tore some of his roots when I was moving him into a bigger vase with a new friend. The friend is still alive. I also had an orchid that died after I moved-but they don't like changing their environment, so I don't count that as my fault.

I also killed a Peace Lily at the office. I forgot to water her for too long and then when I did she didn't bounce back so well. Sheldon (my ZZ plant (doesn't everyone name their plants?)) is still alive-- and flourishing I might add. (One of the plants I killed at home was a ZZ. Different environments, perhaps?)

Anyway, I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show on Sunday. It was the last day of the show and we went early so it really wasn't crowded. The exhibits were pretty cool-but so not worth the $28 (at a discount!) entrance fee. But they had a ton of vendors and it was the last day of the show, so a lot of stuff was discounted.

So.

I got three new house plants. They're fairly small and were $13.50 all together, so if they die I won't be too upset about it. I got a ficus. I think I'm going with Freddie for him. Apparently they're pretty easy-so I have high hopes for his survival. I also picked up a crown of thorn that has small pink flowers. Her name is Marlena. I'm iffy about how I'll do with her. Especially since I forget the instructions that were written on the stand. I really should have written that down. The third one I got was a jade. Her name is...wait for it...Jade. Jades are supposed to be good for friendship, luck, and money. I wonder how long I have to keep her alive before the money part kicks in? She seems pretty durable, so fingers crossed!

Anyone have any good houseplant tips? Or should I just believe was Google has to say?

Healthy Cookies

Well, healthier anyway. 

I felt the need to bake this weekend. I wanted to bake for me, not for anyone else. I haven't made anything since before the holidays. Christmas cookies wore me out a little bit. I did, however, win my work's bake-off. Now I can say "My award-winning peanut butter cookies". And I do.

Anyway. I had bought dark chocolate chips and wanted to do something with them because yum. I've had this recipe for a while. It was good to start with, but I modified it a bit. (Originally they were called Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies from cooks.com or somewhere.)

I got 2 dozen out of this recipe, but they were pretty big.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup rolled oats (I have 5 min oats that were ground in a food processor, but one minute oats work, too).
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup salted butter, softened (I don't use extra salt if the butter's salted)
• 1/4 cup plain applesauce (Bev used canola oil, but I like applesauce or fruit butters)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1ish cup dark chocolate chips-I always throw a little extra in there

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add applesauce, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Add the dry ingredients, beating on low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop the dough by heaping teaspoonfuls, at least 1 inch apart, onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake cookies about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I want to try some variations on this. Maybe add in some kind of spice, they seemed a touch flat. I'd also like to sub pumpkin or pumpkin butter for the applesauce and throw in some pumpkin seeds as well. I'd even take out the applesauce and add some peanut butter. The dark chocolate is delicious though, so I'd leave them in.

Sorry for the lack of photos. I'll try to remember to take some next time.

I Want to be Bamboozled

Check out the lineup! (There's also a bunch of people that I've never heard of because I'm old now apparently.) (Full lineup here.)

ANYWAY.

I'd LOVE to see Foo Fighters and Blink. And on the same day would be abosolutely amazeballs. I've seen Motion City Soundtrack live before, and I wouldn't mind seeing them again. I'm not really sure how Pauly D fits in there, other than the fact that the festival's in Jersey. I went to Bamboozle a few years ago and Method Man sweated on me, so I guess Pauly D's not all that weird.

Road trip anyone?

Javawhat?

I did my first Codecademy Code Year lesson last night. If you haven't heard of it-it's a free way to learn Javascript, which is one of the beginner-friendly code languages. I feel pretty accomplished, but I don't know how much of the information I retained.

It explained what code to write and what is does. But the lessons don't really explain how to apply it or why I'm being shown how to do loops or whatever. I'm hoping that it will get a little more descriptive as I go along and I'll be a javascript genius in a few months.

I also want to learn html/xhtml. I do marketing e-mails for work and I'd love to not have to use the templates-some of which are very outdated looking. I have a "For Dummies" book and a few books my step-dad gave me from his classes (he teaches about computers, etc). I'm also hoping that I'll be good enough at this stuff to do it on the side so I can quit job #2.

I just need to stop knitting and watching so much Grey's Anatomy and get on it. My problem is that when I tell myself not to do something, then that thing is all I want to do.

Fingers crossed I can get over that sooner rather than later.

I'm BaAaaaack

I haven’t written in a while.

Not because nothing has happened, I just haven’t felt like it. I didn't really mean to take a two month hiatus. Sorry.

So here’s the rundown:

·         I went to DC the weekend after Thanksgiving. My cousin goes to George Mason and Aunt Mary Ann was there visiting. So Aunt Irene, Katie, and I went down to visit. We also went to the Smithsonian. I wish we had more time there. I’ve never visited DC before-only driven through. Which seems silly now considering it’s only like 3 hours away.

·         I visited Mom and Papa Steve for 5 days the weekend before Christmas. It was fun and relaxing. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas down there. Although, I feel like more people decorate there than here.

·         Christmas was good. All of the gifts I got were useful and won’t sit in the bottom of my closet (like that purse-hanger thing I got last year). I got a Kindle Fire, gift cards, a pretty sweet Phillies hat (it’s plaid!), a very cozy blanket that I wish I was curled up in right now, this Wizard of Oz poster, and some other smaller things.

·         Kellifish had the baby! Her name is Lily Alaina and she’s a little peanut.

·         Coconuts (Dana) got engaged.

·         I set some goals for the New Year-most of which have to do with paying off debt. One has to do with jumping out of a plane with my brother.

·         I signed up for Code Academy’s Code Year. I have the first lesson sitting in my inbox and I plan to get to it this weekend.

·         I’ve been watching far too much Grey’s Anatomy. I’m trying to catch up to the current season. I’ve been knitting while watching, so at least I’m being productive.

·         The Foo Fighters and Blink 182 are playing Bamboozle this year. I really think I’ll need to go.

·         I want snow. Just one good snow day where I don’t have to go to work. Then it can be as mild of a winter as it wants.

I’m hoping by posting I’ll get back into the groove of writing. I hope everyone had a great holiday season!

PS-I'll post some photos of some of the things from the list later. I just felt like I needed to hit publish before I put it off any longer.

Current Loves/Obsessions

1.       All of the leaves and fallness going on. I’m so glad we didn’t skip right to winter. Well, actually I’m glad we circled back to fall (re October snow).

2.       Once Upon a Time and Grimm. They’re taking all my favorite Disney movies and making them kind of dark and twisty. I’m a little in love with it. Grimm’s not as creepy as I thought it would be.

3.       I just started watching Grey’s Anatomy from the beginning again. I stopped after season 5 (I think-whenever they killed George.) Apparently it’s getting good again, so I’m going to get myself caught up.

4.       Knitting. I’m in a groove. I want to knit everything.

5.       Finding a dark red or maroon sweater dress that has long or ¾ sleeves. I had no idea how difficult this would be. Maybe I’ll try to knit one. Or not. I’m not a gauge checker.

6.       Adele’s album. Why did it take me so long to download it? Specifically “One and Only”. This song makes me wish I could sing.

Here Comes the Sun…At 6:15 am

I hate fall back time. I’d much rather drive to work in the dark. It being dark at 5:30 makes me tired.  When it’s darker later in the morning on the weekends I sleep in better. 

I guess there’s nothing I can really do about it. Short of refusing to accept it. I could always move to Arizona. They don’t follow it. Is there anything to do in Arizona? Apparently this is Standard time, though.  I don’t like standard.

On the bright side, yoga was much less crowded Sunday. I don’t know if I can thank Daylight Savings for that or not. But it worked out. I also got a little braver in class. I decided that since I didn’t feel like going and almost skipped (and there were less people), I’d push myself a little bit more. I got myself into two full binds and flipped my dog*. I’ve always been afraid that a) I’d kick my neighbor, or b) I wouldn’t be able to unflip.

*When you’re in downward dog: go into down dog split, stack your hips, and flip your free leg over. Google it.

On the bright side, I got a lot done over the weekend. Errands and such. And even had some relaxing time to watch movies and continue knitting projects. I do need to make an effort to go out with my friends though. I don’t want to go into Winter hermit mode just yet. The freak October snowstorm threw me off (Probably. Might have been laziness. Could really go either way.).