What shall I write about tonight?

I don't have much on my mind that is very interesting or thought-provoking. Today is my Friday, as in I have the next two days off work. I had a tough day at work today so the time off is welcomed.

We made a very yummy stir fry for dinner tonight, everything made from scratch. A lot of the time it is much cheaper doing it that way and it always tastes better. Plus I feel good knowing exactly what went into the meal. Well, I can't exactly tell you where the meat came from but I do trust the store that the chicken and pork were actually chicken and pork.

Our sales on Half.com are going very well. Anna's textbooks from college have sold surprisingly well and of the 12 DVDs and video games I put up, only 3 remain unsold. This plus the tax refund is a very nice economic stimulus here at the Meyer household. Screw Congress, we're taking control of our own destiny.

Thoughts and reflections

I'd like to talk about 2 topics that really have nothing to do with each other. Our new president Barack Obama, and Wal Mart.

First, President Obama. Of course anything I can say has already been said five hundred times over, but I will say it anyway. I am excited and optimistic at having a president who has the country's best interests in mind when making decisions. I was very disappointed with George W. Bush and his stubborn stay-the-course way of thinking. He'd stay the course even when it was very obvious it was the wrong way to go.

I'm excited that President Obama understands the need for research and development in this country towards alternative, zero-emission energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal. Our country has so many brilliant people that are able to make serious advances in these fields if given a chance. There was such little funding given out by the last administration that its no wonder other countries are starting to leap us in technological advances. It is going to be a very interesting next 100 days to see what all he accomplishes.

Secondly, on to Wal Mart. I do not like supporting that company, I do not enjoy shopping the store, and entering their parking lot is taking your own life in your hands...or possibly some idiot's hands driving through there not paying attention.

We have started grocery shopping at the local Super Wal Mart in an attempt to save money. The adjective used, super, is quite ironic. My dictionary defines super as: very good or pleasant; excellent, which aren't exactly the words that come to mind when I think of Wal Mart. It is dirty, employees rarely seem to want to be there and are rarely friendly. The customers that shop there are different than what you would find at say Target or Hy-Vee grocery store. Different in that they also seem more crabby, rude, not paying attention.

Not to mention how Wal Mart's business practices are sketchy and unfair to the manufacturers. To get the low low prices they have, the manufacturers either have to accept a lower profit margin (i.e. razor-thin) on items sold to Wal Mart or lower the quality of the items they sell to Wal Mart.

Why after all these negative things I have mentioned do I continue to shop there then? It simply comes down to price and cost savings. Its a tough time right now financially for many people, us included. We have seen a price savings buying our groceries at Wal Mart vs. the local megamart grocery stores. I still feel dirty and a feeling of gloom and regret comes over me as I enter the building.

Is it as bad as I describe? Possibly. Am I exaggerating a bit? Probably. But that does not mean there is not an ounce of truth to my statements. Yes I know I just used a double-negative. I'm not a professional writer, so go screw yourself. ha ha ha :)

Its sunday!

Hooray the temperature is finally above 10 degrees so I was able to get my VW Geekmobile washed today. That poor car was so dirty and the windows were almost opaque.

Anna and I are eagerly awaiting all of our various tax documents so I can process our 2008 tax return. I'm really hoping for a big refund this year since I made some changes to my W4 and was putting in a lot more taxes. And I've had some various pre-tax deductions as well that were new, so here's hoping for a large refund.

When doing our laundry, I've always noticed something strange. When we're folding the clothes and putting them away, a large majority of the shirts that Anna has worn are inside-out. When she puts the in the hamper they are not inside out. And the majority of my shirts are not inside-out. She can even wear one of my shirts and it will come out inside-out. We are baffled at how this is possible.

What to do?

My weekend is here: I have Thursdays and Fridays off. I don't think its going to be possible, but I really do not want to leave the house whatsoever. Its going to be so cold on Thursday, I'm afraid of getting frostbite from just looking out the window for too long. Nope, I'm staying inside where its warm. Drink coffee or tea all day and snuggle up with blankets and my cats.

I say I probably will have to leave the house at some point because we are going to need to get groceries probably Friday. We're running out of things to have for dinner so I'll either have to get very creative or we go shopping.

My half.com sales of old video games and DVD movies are going great. I have sold 10 items already in less than a week. I need to pick up a few larger padded envelopes for some of the DVDs, but as I said, I really do not want to leave the house. Am I a baby? Yes.

Come to the Dark Side

We have been shopping at Wal Mart the past couple times for groceries. I really dislike Wal Mart for several reasons: Its kind of dirty, the employees are usually rude, the customers are rude. But we are definitely getting better prices on things and right now, we need it.

A good friend of mine turned me on to www.half.com . Its a site that specializes in selling used books, DVDs, music, and video games. I put a bunch of video games and movies up on there this morning that we don't use anymore and already 2 items have sold. Will be a nice little bit of extra money.

Been a couple weeks since the physical therapy ended for my wrist/thumb issues and there has really been an improvement. I don't have the constant pain all day and I'm not waking up at night in severe pain. I just have to keep doing the stretches and exercises they showed me and things will keep getting better.

It is now less than 20 days until our new president, Barack Obama takes office, and I am thrilled! It will take a couple years for him to undo a lot of the damage that has been done to our wonderful country, but I have faith that he can help facilitate the rebuilding.

Limbo!

Right now we're in that weird limbo period between paychecks when money is low and we don't have a lot of food in the house. I improvised dinner tonight and made a pasta dish that turned out to be absolutely delicious. I cooked up a box of penne pasta and made a sauce of out a couple pieces of bacon, minced onion and garlic (with my new garlic press), a little bit of cream and milk, red pepper flake, fresh thyme and grated parmesan cheese (with my new microplane grater!). Some salt and pepper to taste, and holy wow it was so good, and it was all from supplies I had around from other meals I made. We also made some tasty garlic bread from the rest of the bread we made last week.

I really like being able to improvise meals and have them turn out good. Following recipes is fine and all, I have no trouble with that. But coming up with stuff on my own is pretty cool.

I had an appointment today in Spirit Lake, Iowa which turned out to be about 220 miles round trip for me. It actually was a nice drive with nice weather, dry roads, and plenty of audio content on my iPod to keep me entertained. The clients were super nice too and were very happy with the work I did for them, which always makes any long drive well worth it. Yeah I know that sounds cheesy, but its nice making people happy while enjoying the work I do. I suppose if I pissed everyone off I wouldn't enjoy my work as much.

Cooking!

My sister in law Angela had my name for Christmas this year, and wow did she get me exactly the stuff I love. She got me an awesome cast-iron skillet and an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven. Both of which I have wanted for a long time. She also got me the world's best garlic press and the world's best hand held micro grater. I've been using all of them quite a bit since I opened them and they are awesome.

Included are a few photos of them in action. Thanks again Angela!

Melting some butter to cook up the French toast.

The French toast! With bread we made from scratch the day before.

Pork chops cook up real well on cast-iron.

I love the Dutch oven. Making some pasta salad here.

New Year

Anna and I celebrated January 1st by sleeping in.  I haven’t slept in in weeks, and it was fantastic!  Neither of us could stay awake for midnight to hit.  I kept dozing off in my comfy chair in the living room until Anna recommended that we just go to bed.

 

This morning we sat around for a bit, had some coffee, and planned out our day.  We decided to make some French bread from scratch to go with the homemade French onion soup we will be making for dinner.  Both are rather time-consuming but very enjoyable to prepare.  They are even more enjoyable to eat!

We are both very antsy for spring now that we have a nice GPS unit to go Geocaching.  I keep looking over at that little yellow unit, longing for the snow to melt and the daylight hours to be longer