Well, howdy ho!

Wow, long time since I last came on here. Without my favorite obento supplier having a blog here anymore, I forgot I even had a blog.

Anyway, since it's extremely rare that I make obento lunches anymore, I'm turning this blog into more of a personal journal, just somewhere to write the ramblings of a 20-something suburban mom and wife. And I'll start with my next paragraph.

I've been on a stay-cation from work since Friday last week. Hard to believe my 10 days of solitude are almost over. In four days I'll have already finished my first day back at work... hopefully the piles of crap I usually find on my desk haven't overflowed to the floor.

Saturday is my cousin Sarah's bridal shower. Should be fun. I'm bringing the giant hakama pants from my Inuyasha cosplay costume for a suitcase game we're playing. If I can find the wig, even better. After that, my mom is taking me and my daughter to see her old friend Sandy, then we're stopping by the cemetary where my great-grandparents are buried since my great-grandmother's birthday just recently passed. Then, it's off to the craft store to spend probably $40 on yarn for crocheting... I'm working on a gigantic blanket for my husband. I wanted it to be done by x-mas last year, but it's looking like, thanks to a fairly intricate and time-consuming design, it probably won't be done until x-mas NEXT year. Oh well. It'll be worth the wait.

Time to return to gorging myself on tasty Pizza Hut food! 'Til later...

Ok, so...

I am officially convinced at this point that I will never be able to make daily bento for everyone unless I am a stay-at-home mom (or a work-from-home mom). I don't have time to do it with how busy I am every day. I wake up early so I can take a shower and just take my time getting ready to go. I'm out the door to catch the bus by 6:40am or shortly after. On the bus by 7:00 or shortly after. I get to work around 7:15 or so, make my breakfast, and start my shift at 8:00. My day finishes at 4:00, and I wait around until 4:25 until the bus comes to take me home. I get back in the door around 5:00, go collapse on my bed and then debate with my husband for an hour as to what we're going to have for dinner (pre-planning never works for us...). We make dinner for our daughter and feed it to her, then usually play with her for an hour while dinner is cooking. She gets a bath, gets into her PJs, gets her vitamin and a bottle of water and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00pm. After she's in bed, my husband and I eat dinner, clean up our dishes and any garbage that accumulated during cooking, play on our laptops for a while, then I go to sleep around 10:30. This is my routine EVERY DAY.

However, I had the day off yesterday due to it being a state holiday. I got so much done around the house that it was amazing. Vacuuming, two loads of dishes in the dishwasher, folded three baskets of clean clothes, collected all the dirty clothes from the floor (and under hubby's side of the bed. 2 week old dirty socks, GAG), changed the sheets in my daughters' crib, collected all of the garbage and empty cardboard boxes we had in the living room and put them neatly by the door to be taken out later, and then on top of all that, managed to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, get a pot of homemade sauce simmered for dinner, boiled pasta, steamed some broccoli, baked a batch of garlic bread, baked the pasta and sauce in the oven with some cheese on top, AND managed to get it all on the table before my husband got home with our daughter, and also had her dinner ready for her to eat on her high chair tray along with a cup of cold apple juice.

Yes, I didn't get everything done that I had wanted to, but at least now we have room to walk in the living room and two spots to sit on the couch instead of one!

So, that being said, if I was a stay-at-home mom like I want to be, I'd be able to get the house clean and keep it clean just with a little work every day, and also be able to cook up some rice and put together bento lunches! Well, hopefully once my hubby is done with trade school, he will have an awesome job (and we'll hopefully also have a bigger place to live) and I'll be able to afford to stay home during the day and be a nice little housewife ^_^.

Loss of a co-worker and friend

Today, my office is mourning the loss of our 10-year old Accelerant Detector K9, Emma. Emma was only 10 years old. She was diagnosed with a hereditary kidney disease at the age of 5 and had been on a treatment plan that was working very well, until a few weeks ago when it made getting up and out of the house nearly impossible.

Here is the announcement that was sent around our office from our Arson Unit, where Emma was stationed:

Announcement of the Passing of Arson Bureau K9 Emma ~ October 7, 2009

The New York State Office of Fire Prevention & Control Arson Bureau regretfully announces the passing of Accelerant Detection K9 Emma. Emma, a 10 year old mixed lab, was assigned shield# K5 as the NYS Department of States fifth K9 Unit. Partnered with Arson Bureau Investigator Richard Daus they began their mission as a K9 Team in 2001 upon graduating from the 300 hour basic K9 Training Program at the Academy of Fire Science in Montour Falls, N.Y. Over their career as an Accelerant Detection K9 Team, Richie and Emma conducted 1231 canine searches, assisting fire and law enforcement agencies throughout the state through the investigation of high dollar loss fires, fires of unusual circumstances and fires with fatalities to include the heinous crime of arson homicides. In addition to aiding in the investigation of fires, K9 Emma was also a prominent figure as the team delivered fire prevention and investigation programs. At the age of 5, Emma was diagnosed with a hereditary kidney disease for which a treatment plan was developed and successful until the past few weeks when the illness became debilitating. Upon behalf of State Fire Administrator Floyd Madison we extend our deepest of sympathy to Investigator Daus and his family at this difficult time in the loss of his partner and our comrade as there is no stronger bond that that of the professional K9 Handler to their partner and of the team to their mission.



She was an amazing dog, and she was like family to everyone who works here. I'm in tears myself. It's just so sad that she had to go so soon.

Rest in peace, Emma. May your journey to the Rainbow Bridge be a pleasant one. We all love you very, very much.

Ugh... I can never remember to do ANYTHING!

So, as you can probably guess by the post title, bento didn't happen this weekend. My cousin and her daughter came over earlier than expected and I didn't have time. So I ended up just giving the girls both a plate of chicken nuggets and potato smiles. While I was at Wal-Mart though, I found something that is basically a bento box. It's the EZ-Freeze StayFit lunchbox. It has three sectioned compartments, two small, one large, and has a huge freeze pack that is set inside the lid. Unfortunately, it can't be removed, so in order to keep the food inside fresh and cold, you need to freeze the entire lid. What also sucks with that is that it's so bulky, you have to make sure your food is something that can be easily flattened. I tried to put half an ear of corn in my box today, no luck.

Anyway... some pics.

This is the box itself. It's a decent size. It seals pretty much airtight and there are two tabs on each end to clip the box shut.

The top part opens up to hold utensils, or anything else that is small enough to fit. If i get used to this box, I may store pocky in it ^_^

And tada, my actual lunch. Just a small baked potato, some sliced mesquite chicken, and homemade tri-color rotini pasta salad with ham and cucumber slices. From this shot you can also see how big and ridiculous the freezer pack is. I've tried to remove it, but I doubt I'll be able to. So now, I have to take out my potato to reheat it, and I'll probably just toss the chicken in with my pasta and eat it cold. Not the most glamorous of lunch boxes, but it does its job.

And yes, that is a pack of cigs up in the corner there.

BENTO THIS WEEKEND!!!!

So thanks to my new card from my bank, I'm going to be able to get a ton of stuff that's great in a bento, and will hopefully be making a good one (or two, maybe three) this weekend! I'm starting to plan out some ideas for them, and want to try to make a small one for my 15 month old daughter as well. That one probably won't be too elaborate, as I know she'll just make a complete mess of it, but probably a decent sized rice ball and maybe some chicken nuggets or something. I want to make a nice looking one for my husband to take to work with him on Monday, and of course I need something for lunch besides chicken flavored ramen noodles day after day! I swear, because we haven't really had anything that I can take for my lunches, I've gone through two 12-packs over the past couple of weeks (I eat two ramen packs at a time, one isn't enough). I'm dying for something cute and super filling! Yeah I know, I could always make a sandwich or something, but we don't have a lot that's good. We have the pre-packaged white tuna fish in the soft packs, but there's only so much tuna I can handle. I have a jar of Nutella that I've only used two or three times with peanut butter (and will probably toss it soon, that stuff has so much sugar it's unbelievable). The only produce we have at the moment are (now semi) fresh mushrooms, but I've been using those for my mediocre salads whenever I feel like I'm in a salad-type of mood. I've been eating not-so-great tasting oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast in an attempt to drop some of my excess weight. It's just weird. I go shopping, I buy $200 worth of groceries every other week, and it always feels like we never have anything to eat, or I never want to eat anything I buy.

So this week, I'm stocking up on the good stuff. I'm also getting a head of romaine lettuce to use as a "filler", if you will, for my bento boxes. Plus, it makes them look a lot more neat and organized. And, here's what's going to be on my grocery list:

Cucumbers
Baby Carrots
Empire Apples
Red Seedless Grapes
Fresh Sliced Mushrooms
Iceberg/Romaine Lettuce
Fresh Green Beans
Asparagus (I've only recently discovered my love for this veggie, when made right it's tasty!!!)
Corn on the Cob
Tomatoes (for the hubby, I hate tomatoes...blech.)
Frozen Pre-Cooked Chicken Nuggets (for my daughter, I'm planning on drawing faces with ketchup on them! or, possibly cutting faces into slices of cheddar cheese and placing them...or both maybe? so many ideas are coming to me now!!!!!!)

And I know there's probably more that I could use but I can't think of anything else! Unfortunately the store I go to doesn't carry fresh edemame, only the crappy frozen heat-in-microwave stuff, which turns out tasting awful. So my husband would probably have to make a run to our local Asian market to pick some up (as well as some packs of curry boullion and a bag of rice, we get our rice 25lb at a time! lol).

My daughter is having a playdate with her 2nd cousin Hailey (my cousin's daughter, only 11 days younger than mine) on Saturday, so maybe I could make a cute bento box for both of them! I'm planning to get a kid-size table and chair set when I go to Wal-Mart this week, so they'd be able to actually sit at a "big girl" table and eat their lunches. I will definately have pictures of that posted here as well.

If anyone has any other suggestions as to what I could put in a little kid's lunch (younger than 2) that would complement a few chicken nuggets and a cutely decorated rice ball, please don't hesistate to tell me! The difference between the two girls though, is that my daughter has 10 teeth and her cousin just cut her 6th, so my daughter can eat some tougher foods, while Hailey still has to have fairly soft food. I need to know by 4:00pm tomorrow (Wednesday) as to what I should pick up, if I do not already have the item, or something easy that I could do for them. All ideas need to be posted by 12:00pm on Friday, September 4th so I can start preparing everything that night for easy assembly in the morning!

completely bored!

So... I'm sitting at work doing nothing because everyone has run out of work to do. So... not quite sure what to do.

ANYWHO... let's see. I got stung in the neck by a bee yesterday. I didn't even know it was there. A woman sitting behind me on the bus tapped my shoulder to tell me and as I turned my head it stung me. I swiped at my neck to get rid of it and never saw it. I have no idea where the thing went, but I was paranoid the whole ride home... constantly checking my shirt and my hair and my purse for signs of this phantom bee, but to no avail. I don't know if it was already on the bus or if I happened to somehow carry it in with me. But still, for me to not know that a bee was sitting on my neck... that's a rarity. I must have been really out of it. The whole left side of my face and jaw swelled up and I looked like something resembling Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was awful. Thankfully, there was no stinger to remove since it was a wasp and they don't die after they sting, and after a couple of hours with an ice pack, antihistamines and anti-itch cream, my face looks normal today. There's still a bit of swelling around the sting area but it's almost gone.

I guess the one thing that really helped boost my spirits after that crap was heading to my dad's to hang out with my brother for a while. I played Wii Music for the first time and I swear I have NEVER had that much fun with a video game in my life. The game is a complete riot! By the end of our little jam session, I was on the floor in tears from laughter. At first, we attempted to do an easy song, so we did the Legend of Zelda theme song. My character played the marching snare drum, while my brother had two of himself on screen, one "singing", and the other playing alto saxophone. It was okay, the controller was really sensitive though, and kept picking up drumbeats when I wasn't moving my hands. At the end of the song, I finished it off with my signature "gotta do it" solo, just for giggles.

Then, we moved onto a song that I thought would be hilarious. "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". And dear Lord and Lady, we made it our own. We started off with normal stuff, my character on rock drums, my brother doing the "singing". Then, we decided to add more stuff to it. So, I picked bass, and my brother picked the guitar. We went through the song again. Then we realized, we need at least two more instruments to make the song sound awesome. I picked out the tambourine. My brother, bless his goofy-ness, decided to have his character play the mouth harp. The song started, I started "playing" the tambourine, then my brother kicked in with the mouth harp, and I lost it. Just the sound of "boing, boing, boing" through the entire song almost had me wet myself with laughter. We finished the final mix of the song just as my parents came through the door, so of course, we had to playback the "music video" for them. There were many more tears of laughter shed. What made it even more funny is that when it came time to create an album cover for the song, my brother is a fricken genius. He took one of his characters and stood him leaning to the left on one side of the box. He took one of my characters and stood her leaning to the right. Then, he took a picture of one of the "backup" band people, called a Tute (this one happened to be playing the sax), zoomed in on his face, and made it so big that you could only see the top of my head and the top of my brother's head peeking out from behind it. I cried even harder and looked like a complete insane mess when all was said and done. Needless to say, I left the house in a GREAT mood, swollen neck and all.

So, it goes without saying that I MUST GET THIS GAME! I haven't even played on our Wii in so long, due to the fact that I'm working full time and when I get home, I'm even too tired to clean because at that point, I'm awake for well over 12 hours, and I'm not sleeping well anyway because of my sinuses... making me snore like a beast lol. But if I got this game, I swear that I will be up until midnight every night playing that game and laughing so hard that the other people in the building will think I've completely lost my mind.

Loss of a Guitar God!!!

I couldn't believe when I heard this morning that Les Paul died... the man behind the legendary Gibson Les Paul guitars. Well, there goes my chance of ever owning one, since the prices of them are probably going to go through the roof (not like they weren't expensive before, but now it'll be worse). Oh well, guess I'll just stick to my BC Rich guitars. WARLOCK FTW!