Say that one 5 times fast.

One thing that Sam and I both share a love for is food, and one of our favorite foods is sushi! Although we do live right down the street from an awesome sushi/Thai place with $1 rolls, we have always wanted to try it ourselves. Ever since I learned about bento lunches, I’ve been wanting to buy some sushi rice and try making onigiri. So, last week I went to Whole Foods and bought sushi rice, nori, sesame seeds and other ingredients. VideoJug has some great instructional videos, and so we tried it. In this picture we have some inside-out California rolls (imitation crab meat, avocado and cucumber) and cucumber rolls, some crab rolls, and some ebi (nigiri with boiled shrimp). Everything was wonderful minus the rice. The vinegar solution called for 1/4 cup sugar, but it was way too sweet for our tastes, so next time I’ll use much less. Overall it was fun and delicious!

And here is the bento box that I ordered from J-List! I haven’t gotten this in the mail just yet, but I’m very much looking forward to it. I take my lunch to work almost everyday, and I had been looking for something other than just Tupperware in a grocery bag anyway. I originally bought this to inspire eating better and learning to cook new dishes, but I have been trying to do more of that recently even though I don’t have my box yet.

I’ve been wanting to get healthier for a long time now, and I’m finally really working towards it. I stopped doing my weekly weigh-ins you may have noticed.. but, I really have come to the point where I know it won’t happen if I don’t actively do it. It will take a while, but I have been so inspired lately. I’ve been eating much, much healthier and working out everyday. I like to DVR fitness shows that are on in the mornings and then do at least that 30 minutes right when I get home, and then a few extra moves/lifts while watching any other shows later in the evening. Last night Sam and I had salmon with french-style green beans and brown rice. Instead of using lots of spices, we used the juice of 1/2 a lemon in all of it, and it was so healthy and sooo tasty. And today I had tuna on whole-wheat bread with green peppers. Yumm. I never used to like green peppers as a kid, but now I eat them plenty. Also, I just learned recently that green bell peppers are the unripe ones, and because of that some people won’t eat them or advise against it. Red and yellow varieties are ripe, and thus sweeter. I never liked those as a kid either. Apparently your taste buds change approximately every 10 days, so I need to try them again.

What are some of YOUR favorite healthy foods?

As Schroeder becomes more comfortable with his living space, he also gets more silly. He’s such an odd ball. Every morning when I take a shower, he’ll jump in and try to join me. It’s not so much that he likes the water as it is him being mistifyed by this spraying contraption that I use on a regular basis. If I splash him with water, sometimes he will run off and sometimes he will stay. And after the shower is over, he’ll sit right under the faucet. If it’s still dripping, he paws at the drips and bites at them as they fall. By the time he climbs out of the tub he’ll be soaked. It’s the weirdest thing! I vow to get a video of this and post it one day!

Recently, he has figured out new ways to amuse himself. We keep the bedroom door open at night so that he can come and go as he pleases, but he likes to play with the door. He’ll paw at one side until it opens all of the way, then he runs to the other side, doing this over and over, opening and closing the door, and I’m convinced that he does it because he resents me for sleeping when he is So! Full! of! Energy!

He has also discovered that if he nudges his nose against the kitchen cabinets that he can open them and jump inside. Since the doors open outward (and I have seen him sneak back out as if he is some sort of feline secret agent), I don’t make him stop. I did kitty proof everything so that he can’t harm anything, or more importanly be harmed, so now he can continue his top secret kitchen cabinet investigations to his heart’s content.

At times it’s like I’m older with my out-of-touch teenager, and I watch him and his crazy antics and I am all, “Young ones these days are so different with their crazy gestures and their loud rock music. Why, when I was your age I was expected to do chores while my parents were away, and here you are basking in the sun and yelling at birds out the window all day. Cats have it so easy.” And he is all, “Who are you talking to? I have only napped 6 times so far today, and I lost my catnip toy under the couch. I can’t open the window to actually do anything other than threaten the birds, and there is no one around to snuggle, play with, aggrivate the shit out of, etc. Humans have it so easy.”

And then there are times like last night. As I heard him climb across my keyboard and knock an ink pen off of my desk, I decided I was too lazy/tired to get him to stop (also this only makes him want to do it more). So I called, “Heeere kitty kitty kitty kitty. Come here and cuddle with me, Schroeder. Pleeease.” Next thing I know, he jumps onto the bed, crawls over and plops right down, nuzzling against my chin. And at that moment my heart was so filled up with love that I hardly even noticed that his purring was comparible to the volume of a motorboat.

Back in high school, my chemistry teacher was big into safety. No really, she was hardcore. Once I got a detention for chewing gum during a lab. I can understand why she was so hard on us because some of the chemicals and items that we used were very dangerous, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry. When I decided to take Chem II, I realized she wasn’t just a crazy lady that loved grading all of the massive amounts of homework, tests, pre-labs, lab reports, etc that she handed out, but that she was a normal person that wanter her honors class to not fail in college. She was much easier on our Chem II class, and instead of massive amounts of work she let us make new safety instructions for her other classes as a project. I think we should have added some of these to keep the students on their toes:

Your respiratory and digestive systems are optional. Cast them aside if you feel you no longer need them.

If you are trapped under falling debris, conserve oxygen by not farting.

After all life is gone, modern appliances will continue to run forever. Think about it.

If you are trapped with no hope of being found, amuse yourself in your final moments with shadow puppets.

Radioactive materials come in 4 convenient sizes:
- individual dose
- family value size
- neighborhood spray pump size
- supersize!

See more at www.safenow.org.

The header is actually from a layout that I made a long time ago. This was back when I thought iframes were the best thing since sliced bread. Also, it’s from when I never had visitors, so I thought it would be nice to revive it when I found it the other day. It is a pixel custom creation, but not too cutesy. So it can stay for now

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do when I get back in school. I’ve been messing around with 3D graphics and making clothes for the game The Sims 2. This sounds really, super geeky I’m sure, but I can take clothes and object from the game and use programs to make different looking things. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about how I would like to study graphic design. Its something that I always wanted to do, but I never thought I would be good enough. But, hey, that’s what the school part is for, right? I looked at a local technical school’s site to get an idea of what I could study there, and I could have a certificate by next fall if I started in August. It’s all just a thought right now.

The weather today is beautiful. I’ll be kicking myself for saying this when it’s 90 degrees everyday for 6 whole months, but it’s about 70ish out right now and the warmth is a nice change. There is still a breeze, and most of the warmth is in the sunny spots, but it feels wonderful. I’m gonna crack the door open and enjoy it while I still can!