AtomicMrX

Jim gave me a call on his way back from St. Louis, Missouri Saturday. He was seeing if I was available to do dinner, which I was. I met him at his place around 5:30 and Andy was there too. We all went to a place I have never been to before called The Mixx which has fresh salads, soups, and sandwiches. It’s a very 60’s/modern/contemporary looking restaurant with a great view of Main street near the newly remodeled Library off the Plaza. I had the Country Club Sandwich. It was fantastic and huge!

After dinner we went to the Plaza and sat around at Latte’ Land with some beverages people watching. It was fun and there was some great conversation! Even though it was a little warm there was a nice breeze to keep it comfy.

I hope we can do it again sometime soon!

Shannon’s birthday is August 1st (he turns 42 - even though he tells everyone 32!) and we went out to eat last night to celebrate. We ate at Shannon’s pick… Red Lobster. It was a good dinner and I enjoyed what I got and so did Shannon. When we came back home the gift I had ordered off of QVC had arrived (early). I wasn’t expecting it till around Tuesday next week. So Shannon got his gift early as well as his dinner. I bought him a Belgium Waffle maker. He has been wanting one for a couple of years now. I got free shipping on QVC and it was a great price so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity and get Shannon exactly what he wanted.

So this morning I got up and went to the store for some Belgium Waffle mix to make Shannon breakfast. It was very easy to use and worked like a charm. The waffles were very good. I made up the entire batch and froze them so we could have waffles when ever just by popping them into the toaster.

I got my bank statement in the mail this week so I got a second chance to use the new Budget software. I tried with the last bank statement but, I had too many entries to put into the Budget software and must have made a mistake somewhere because I could not get it to balance with my Quicken account. This time went much smoother. Only a couple of entries to make and it balanced with my Quicken immediately. Now I’m on the right track and hope in a month or so to be able to stop using Quicken all together. For the time being I’ll have to use two checkbook/budgeting software programs just to make sure the new application is working to my satisfaction.

I’m hoping if everything continues as it has, that I will be back on track with my budget by the end of the month of July!

Click on picture for a larger image.

I spent Saturday afternoon baking. I made three different items: Rice Krispies Bars, Toll House Cookies, and Cow Girl Cookies. Cow Girl Cookies are just a funny name for oatmeal raisin cookies - just in case you were wondering. I made a 9 x 13 pan of the Rice Krispies Bars, 4 dozen Toll House, and 10 dozen of the Cow Girl Cookies (okay now that is just too many!).

I made the first batch of Toll House “under” baked on purpose so they would be super soft and chewy! Then the second batch was the “normal” baking time. Funny, (odd funny - not funny ha ha) all the cookies look almost burnt but aren’t at all. They are all nice and soft - not hard or crispy at all. All the Cow Girl cookies came out flat. A little disgusting looking if you ask me. My first thought was they looking like little “puke” cookies. At least they are yummy puke cookies!

I can’t figure out what made them so flat though. I bought brand new Baking Soda, so maybe it was the “old” baking powder that I used. Or maybe it was the oven. This really was the first time I made cookies in this oven. It could have been the baking sheets, or maybe the oven liner at the bottom of the oven. I even chilled the dough in between the baking so it would be nice and cold. Who knows, if you do know email me the reason for the flat cookies. Thanks!

I started baking at 1:00 PM Saturday and got finished around 5:30 PM! I was tired of being on my feet and tired of doing the dishes. I had to clean all the baking dishes to use them for the next batch of cookies. I kept a spotless kitchen while making all the cookies - shocking - I know. This is one of those times being a clean freak pays off!

What was the reason for all the baking? I am broke so I needed snacks at work for first break and was craving these cookies so I made them. I didn’t really plan on making 10 dozen of the Cow Girl… the recipe doesn’t say 10 dozen it says 4 dozen. See there are more than one size batch on that recipe and only one quantity at the bottom. I will correct that!

Shannon told me he only liked chocolate chip cookies. Well, he has changed his story! He loves all the cookies and was very afraid he’d eat all the Rice Krispies Bars, so I gave him his own bag of them and that’s all he gets! He said the Cow Girl Cookies taste like Archway cookies. I’ll take that as a compliment.

Today is laundry and paying the bills. Someone stop all the excitement!

Well, I have been lazy with the blog posts. That’s very evident. I also have not painted on the house since the last post. We are experiencing a heat wave now, so painting the house is not a good idea. Before our heat wave it was rain, rain, and more rain. Oh, and guess what we are to get tonight and the rest of the week? Rain. Yep this is not going well.

I am also trying to get out of a Budget hell. I am living paycheck to paycheck and just barely making it. I am tired of this and researching how to get out of it. I have found some software called Budget that offers a free trial (yea, free!) so I can see if it will do the job before forking over $20. It’s based on the “envelope” theory which is similar to how I use to budget myself when on Consumer Credit Counciling years ago. I think I need to drop some of my bills if possible. Look for ways to cut back on the spending. All sounds fine and dandy till you try and implement it. It would really help if I got a “Cost of Living” increase at work. We haven’t gotten one ever and the piddly little “raises” in our pay just get ate up by our increased medical insurance costs… which means no increase to the pocket book. I think I’ve figured it correctly and if so I get a .73 cent raise each year (what I make now minus what I started at divided by 15 years of work).

Jaki got her rabies shot last weekend and I got her licensed with Raytown for $5.00 on Thursday. I will have to do that every year now, they just put it into law. Before they didn’t require dogs and cats to be licensed - she always got her rabies shot - just not licensed with the city.

Shannon may get a promotion at work. They want him to apply for it but he doesn’t want to - because it will be a pay DECREASE but more responsibility. That’s Walmart for ya!

Our tomato plants are big but none of the blooms are producing. They just drop off before they produce. What is wrong with that! Our sweat corn is only about a couple feet high and looks more like grass blades. We are learning what works in the garden this year I guess! The herbs are doing great though!

Well just thought I should make a blog post to fill everyone in on a bunch of nothing! LOL I will try to be more current with the blog posts in the future.