[a little muckraking]

Watching old home movies from Christmases past. 

Right now it’s 1986, when I was 3 and we went to Florida for Disney World and to see extended family. 

I’m glad my dad taped pretty much everything.

Although I got dressed and went out with my dad this morning to pick up one final gift and get some coffee and treats at Tim Horton’s, I’ve reverted back to my pajamas. I have to do some work and wanted to be comfortable.

I’m on vacation - I think this is deserved. :)

I’m over here in my little apartment, cleaning the crap out of it because my parents are coming to visit after Christmas, and my neighbors are having a crazy karaoke party.

I think he’s winning this round.

carolinek:

Do you guys know of good casserole dishes? Things I can make while I am in Omaha that my Mom can put in the oven and warm up after I leave? Something that is yummy for leftovers? Things that freeze and reheat well?

You guys are my go to recipe peeps. All your help would be super appreciated!

I love cheesy potatoes.

• 2 lbs. frozen southern style hash brown potatoes (thaw 30 minutes only) 
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 16 oz. sour cream 
• 1 stick margarine, melted
• 8 oz grated cheese

Put all in bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Put in ungreased 9 x 13 glass pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.

(I use fat-free or lowfat soup and sour cream.) 

My mom just shared this recipe with me and I’ve made it for two dinner potlucks and haven’t had any leftovers (which is sad for me, but happy for guests!). So quick and easy and absolutely delicious.

Craving both Mexican food and breakfast, so I’m making huevos rancheros for me and my friend tonight. We’ll see how this goes!

whiteoleanders:

Jodi just saw Black Swan today so she is doing pirouettes and leaps across the living room. 

I was inspired, dammit.

;)

I seriously could write a book about all of our crappy experiences with Comcast. We require them to come to our house at least two times a year now to fix their crappy modem boxes, Internet connections and cable problems.

After the outage on Sunday/Monday, our modem sort of died. Kapoot. Which we’ve now become aware of the signs of because we’ve gone through about 10 of these in our three and a half year relationship with them. I think it’s time they make a better quality product, don’t you?

The other thing I hate is that we’ve done about 4.5 hours worth of trouble shooting from Sunday to today, and guess what? IT’S STILL NOT WORKING. We’ve tried your powercycle suggestion, Comcast, because I heard you tell me about 35 times while I was waiting on the phone to talk to customer service.  I don’t want to go through more troubleshooting with you when all I want to do is get a technician to our home.

I dislike them and their monopoly!

Thanks for all of your lovely “no-more-sads” suggestions! It’s great to have such a wonderful community here to chat with and get feedback. 

I think my favorite suggestion came from Bethany, who suggested volunteering, which is something I don’t do enough of and should be doing more of anyway. It also gave me an idea for a project at work, which I hope I can get approved.

If anyone in the D.C. area would like to volunteer with me, let me know, and we can set up a Tumblr-meet-up-and-help-others-get-together. It would be lots of fun and would be wildly appropriate for this time of year.

:)

You guys are smart! What are some of your tricks for getting over a sad slump? 

Between majorly missing family and home (yes, I know I was just there, but it’s hard not being there right now), contemplating life changes, working to keep my job and more, I’ve just been le sad. And I feel bad because John is the one who always has to deal with me when I start crying right after we’ve crawled into bed. 

I’ve stuffed my face with Chipotle, watched way too many Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, vegged on my couch, painted my nails and have plans to work out some rage at the gym… But I need some new tricks. 

What are your go-to habits for fixing the sads?