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miss_pea's journal
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miss_pea's Journal  Inspired by my dear friend lcherry I am endeavouring to de-clutter my house. I went through a big box from college that contained many of my wall decorations and door decs. I kept some of the cards that my friends gave me. I threw out a lot of stuff, including a metallic fish decoration that the roommate of an ex-boyfriend gave me, my lens and bibulous paper from my microbiology labs, and pieces of wrapping paper from gifts my college friends gave me. I found it difficult to get rid of the wrapping paper. How ridiculous. I am way too sentimental. I need pack-rats annonymous. At least I'm not as bad as those people on Oprah whose houses are fire hazards.Does anyone have recommendations as to what is okay to get rid of and what I should keep? What about programs for friends' weddings? Toss it? I'm not a great scrapbooker because I don't really take pictures, I just keep crap. Help... Current mood:  productive.
 yes, this was taken this week. In Idaho. (That's french for chicken boiled in red wine) I make this dish on occasion, usually to celebrate birthdays or other special events. I first learned to make it when I was living in Spokane with my mother after college while looking for work. I had no social life because there are no people between the ages of 20 and 35 in spokane who are single and social thus I had a lot of spare time. I was basically my mother's chef and housekeeper because I didn't pay rent. She has tons of cookbooks! I grabbed the William Sonoma one and thought to try my hand at its gourmet recipes. Some of them you can't even find the ingredients because they are only to be found at a Provencal market, but Coq au Vin you can find everything except thick-sliced pancetta, for which you may substitute thick-sliced bacon, though it still isn't thick enough. But I went for it. The reason that I make this dish but rarely is that it is very involved. The first time I made it it took me about 3 hours. That's 3 hours of cooking, not just throwing it in the oven for 3 hours. But after I made it a few more times I got it down to 2.5 hours. Yesterday I decided to make it in celebration of the fact that Jeff and I are in love (its been the best reason to make it I've ever had!) Previously I had followed the recipe explicitly. This time however, I decided to try doing it a little different. For example taking advantage of the 30 minutes that the chicken is cooking to take care of cutting and sauteing the vegetables, rather than doing it first. I don't know why I didn't do this before except that I'm an oldest child and generally like to follow directions, rules and laws. You can imagine my chagrin when I found out that it took me only about an hour to make it instead of 2.5. It's still very involved and I'm still trying to figure out a way to get the shallot flavour into half of the sauce without offending Jeff's taste buds in the other half. However, I think that I shall still make this recipe but rarely, for no other reason than to keep it sacred. Current mood:  full.
Dinner tonight: tortilla chips with guac and salsa, hickory farms beef stick, top ramen, frango mints. No longer the health nut apparently. Current mood:  satisfied.
There is a giant orb in the sky this morning. It's really really bright and hurts to look at it directly. It gives off a negligible amount of heat. What is it!?!? There's something in the weather report about it being "sunny", whatever that means. Is this what they used to call the sun way back in the olden days? It couldn't be. My boss is India for 3 weeks. There's ice on the road and traffic was supposed to be lousy. One of my leads recommended it. So I used my professional leave and left work when I was done with my stuff. Great to leave work early on the Friday of a three-day weekend. I thought, "Wow this is great! I'll get so much done tonight leaving work early." But now that I'm home I don't really feel like doing anything. I would've gone to the gym but I'm going ice skating tonight and thought that that was excuse enough to not go to the gym. I stopped by target to get contact solution and came home. Now that I'm here though, lazing about sounds good. I checked air fares; of course the cheapest tickets are not for the weekend we're looking for and the ones we need are horrendously expensive. I could go on a cleaning spree and clean the kitchen and bathroom. They both need it desperately. In other news I'm trying to look a little more feminine by growing out my fingernails. I even painted them today for a party that has been cancelled due to weather. I"m finding though that it is difficult to type with medium length nails. I'll see how long I can handle them for. There is an odd smell outside my house. It smells kind of like an ammonia based cleaning product. Slightly pungent. Weird. Current mood:  lazy.
How odd it is when you realize that the people you used to be so close with have changed so much that you can't be really close anymore. But it feels good to recognize it and know you're not just totally dysfunctional people. I feel encouraged that we both have so strongly become our own persons that we are so different. Yet, it's sad to know our friendship will never be the same. However, I am also encouraged that though I feel I have lost a most wonderful friendship (note, the friendship as it was is lost, but not the friend, she'll always be there), I have gained new ones that are even more dear to me, more suited to who I am and more deep. and I don't have to be dependent on just that one friendship any longer. Life is so not static. How odd to realize also that, perhaps, some relationships are better when there is some geographical space between you, like an entire continent. Human relationships are quite possibly the messiest thing in all of existence. Current mood:  pensive.
1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before? bought a brand new car, climbed Mt St Helens, snow shoeing, contra dancing 2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? See previous journal entry 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Jeff's sister Lindsey, my friend Jodi from college 4. Did anyone close to you die? My cat Elvis 5. What countries did you visit? The US 6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006? A rein on my tongue 7. What dates from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 12th--I met Jeff at an X-Men party August 13th--climbed Mt St Helens March 25th--I bought my car September 9th--Jeff asked me out at about 10:10pm 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Climbing Mt St Helens 9. What was your biggest failure? my relationship with my mother seems to be doing very badly 10. Did you suffer illness or injury? The typical clutzy Paula things. 11. What was the best thing you bought? my car 12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I think I behaved very well this year actually 13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? my previous roommate 14. Where did most of your money go? The car of course 15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My sister moving here 16. What song will always remind you of 2005? Hanneke's--The McKassons 17. Compared to this time last year, are you... 1. ... happier or sadder? Happier. 2. ... thinner or fatter? Thinner 3. ... richer or poorer? Richer. 18. What do you wish you'd done more of? hiking 19. What do you wish you'd done less of? gossiping 20. How did you spend Christmas? In Spokane again, Jeff came for a couple of days 21. Did you fall in love in 2006? yes yes yes, with the most amazing man I've ever met! 22. How many one-night stands? none 23. What was your favorite TV program? was, is and always will be the Golden Girls, though now I have been introduced to 24 and Scrubs 24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't hate anyone, but there are people that I definitely dislike this year more than last year 25. What was the best book you read? Ender's Game et al 26. What was your greatest musical discovery? The McKassons 27. What did you want and get? bosom friends, a boyfriend, an ipod 28. What did you want and not get? reparition for the roommate ordeal, a sword 29. What was your favorite film of this year? I didn't really see that many this year. I think the most inspiring was End of the Spear. I know it's last year's movie but I saw it in 2006, Brokeback Mountain. 30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 26. Brady and I had a karaoke bar party. On my actual birthday I hung out by myself, played softball in the evening and had ice cream with Jeff and some of our friends 31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? It was pretty satisfying, I'm not sure it could have gotten better. Winning the lotto? 32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? back to sweaters, hello pants that fit 33. What kept you sane? Laura 34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Jake Gyllenhaal 35. What political issue stirred you the most? darfur 36. Who did you miss? My sister 37. Who was the best new person you met? Jeff 38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006. I learned quite a few acutally. --Just because you "are" a certain way doesn't mean that with prayer and effort you can't change that. --No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. --People change but that doesn't mean you can't still get along and love each other. --The most valuable asset you can have is friends that love you dearly. Keep them close and listen to their advice. --You can't have your cake and eat it too; a lot of times, in order to have a really great thing you have to sacrfice a little order and sanity. Sometimes you just have to let go of menial things that you thought were imparative. 39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long So last year I made the following resolutions 1. Find a church I can commit to and make a commitment. Update: I did this during the summer. I've started going to Mars Hill and am now in the long aduous process of becoming a member. 2. Exercise every day after work. Update: I did this really well for a while, mostly. January through August I made it to the gym 3-4 days a week. It really paid off too because I was able to climb Mt St Helens this summer. In September when my life changed completely I kind of fell off the wagon. 3. Along with #2, eat fresh fruit everyday. Update: This I also did really well on January through August and then my life turned upside down. I tried a bunch of different fruits that I hadn't tried before. I now know that I don't really like grapefruit or cantalope, but I know because I've tried them. I still eat about 1 piece of fruit a day. I feel a lot better when I'm eating fruit. And fruit saved me during lent when I gave up sweets. 4. Pay off my mattress and my credit card. Update: I got my mattress paid off. The credit card on the other hand I don't because I was lucky enough to have to buy a new car and move. But this year definitely I will pay it off. 5. Floss everyday. Update: I think I did this for a few months. I'm lucky to floss once a week now a days. NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2007 They are mostly renewals of last year's resolutions... 1. Go to the gym at least 3 times a week. 2. Eat healthier, including more fruit and vegetables, and fewer sweets. Sweets shall be limited to 1 item a day, trust me that's a big improvement. Also, I'm going to stop eating out so much. 3. Pay off my credit card. It's definitely do-able this year, especially with the at-least 23% salary increase I'm pretty much guaranteed this year. 4. And once again (this is probably the 6th year I've made this one) FLOSSING!!! I don't know why I have so much trouble doing this. Perhaps I could start doing it in the morning or during the day since bedtime just doesn't seem to work very well. Well, I think that's it folks. Wish me luck! "New Year's resolution, drink less. Oh, and quit smoking. Oops...And stop talking total nonsense to strangers. In fact, stop talking full stop." "Yes, well, perhaps it's time to eat." Current mood:  optimistic.
Tonight I am spending with my sister. We are cleaning our house. It's gotten really gross. I don't think we've done dishes in a week (we don't have a dishwasher). Did you know that tuna rots really badly? I had to throw out 2 ziploc containers for the stench. But the dishes are almost all done. We are running out of hot water because we're doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom too. I think we're going to go to Marie Callendar's for dinner. It's a very good restaurant you all should try it. I think I am going to try and work on my mother's blanket tonight as well. I've been working on it for almost 3 years now. I'm almost done, I just keep getting snagged up. I really cleaned up at our work gift exchange today. I got a gold and black velvet photo album, a frame with bugs on it (just up my alley) and, the best part, a silver frame that says "Prince Charming" on it. I think I'll put a picture of Jeff in that frame. I need to order pictures. Perhaps I should put that on my to do list for my short vacation. Well, off to dinner... Current mood:  energetic.
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