Music?

If you recognize the music behind the EV1 commercial I just posted, please let me know. It'd be fun to skate to.

1996 GM EV1 commercial

Pretty cool.

New Year's resolutions

It's the last day of 2006 -- time to post my New Year's resolutions.

1. Floss every night. I used to be really good at this one, but I started forgetting sometime this summer, and I need to get back to it.

2. Go out for lunch at work only once per week, cumulative (not counting weekends or when I'm on vacation). I've made this resolution since 2005, and I've varied in my success. In 2005, I ended up two ahead, but in 2006 I was 16 behind, so I have 14 weeks to make up. Guess I better get started on that ham and bean soup.

3. Be on time to work. Despite six months of my best efforts to leave earlier, I keep leaving the house at the time I used to need to leave when I lived on the east side. Old habits die hard.

4. Land my flip again. I've landed it twice from a standstill, both in 2005, and I want to transform that into a real flip jump. Unfortunately, it seems like most of my jumps arrive during times of great personal hardship. I'd like this one to come more easily.

5. Save money. We have a long list of things we want to do to the house and items we would like to purchase. I'd like to save more money toward those things. The next few items include a chest freezer, a new computer for Steph, and getting Phoebe's check engine light (yes, it's back on again) checked out.

6. Try more new recipes. I bought a new cookbook yesterday called A Slob in the Kitchen, which has some interesting easy recipes. My adventures in cooking have mostly turned out well, and I'm interested in exploring several other cookbooks we have. I've started dating recipes when I try them, too.

7. Less trans fat! I've been trying to cut down on my trans fat consumption recently. Guess I'll be getting my fries from Chick-Fil-A or Wendy's when the craving hits. I admit that the Shedd's Spread Country Crock limited-edition cinnamon spread that I love so much has half a gram per serving, but I should be allowed one indulgence, right? Besides, I don't use much of it.

8. Use up at least three of my perfumes. I have a lot of perfume, and as much as I've tried, I'm not a one-scent kind of girl, although Flower Moon could almost make me into one. I'm running out of space on top of my dresser for perfumes, and about three-quarters of the ones I have are scents I like but don't feel the need to purchase again when I run out.

9. The Compact. The Compact is a movement in which people don't buy new stuff. They do, however, buy used stuff. Exemptions are made for such things as food and health and safety items. We're going to try it and see how it goes. New stuff resold on eBay seems to count as used, too.

What we're watching tonight

Elizabeth lent us An Evening with Kevin Smith.



I love Kevin Smith.

What are you watching?

Holiday season in review

We've had a busy holiday season this year (as usual). Over Thanksgiving, we drove to Iowa to visit Steph's dad's side of the family, which was great fun. We attended several Christmas parties, hosted one, and went to four family Christmases (well, Steph only went to two). Steph got pleurisy again and had to stay home on Christmas. I hit the after-Christmas sales with Michelle and got some good deals. We shopped yesterday and today with our Christmas gift cards, and now I have more work clothes and we both have many books to read.

For Christmas, I gave many fun gifts and received a lot as well. Some of my favorite presents include a Wheel of Fortune game, the Out on the Porch calendar, two pairs of slippers, an excellent pair of gray pants, a book on living green, and a scribe (for drawing circles on the ice so I can learn some school figures).

Merry Christmas

I'm at my dad's, blogging from the other side of the kitchen table (opposite the side where I usually sit), which seems to be the only place in the house where I can scam on the neighbors' unsecured wireless.

Steph is at home with pleurisy. I was very worried about leaving her, but she convinced me to go, saying that she'd be fine and that she'd call Dan and Doug if something happened. I miss her. And the pets.

So far, my dad and I have cooked the turkey, which is almost ready to eat, and we (mostly my dad) replaced the other taillight gasket in the Honda so my trunk won't leak. I painted the wiper arms flat black where the paint had burned away (sounds like a precious thing to do on a 13-year-old car, but the silver metal on the tops of the arms reflects into my eyes in an annoying fashion).

Sauerkraut recipe

My dad's sauerkraut recipe, slightly edited. It was handed down to him from my grandmother. We're the only family I know who eats sauerkraut with the turkey dinner at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Sauerkraut copy 11/11/91

About 1# fresh pork, cut in small pieces
2 cups water
1/2 cup vinegar
Salt and sugar (a little pepper)

Boil pork and mix about 1 3/4 hrs.

1 onion
1 32-oz jar sauerkraut (Vlasic Polish sauerkraut with caraway seeds -- Polish is very important)
1 scant tablespoon caraway seeds (if sauerkraut doesn’t have them)
2 oz margarine
2 tablespoons flour

Add sauerkraut (Vlasic Polish with caraway seeds), caraway seed (1 scant tablespoon). Saute 1 onion in 2 oz margarine. Add 2 tablespoons flour and mix (don’t brown); then add to meat and kraut and let boil about 1/2 hour.

A real sit spin

In my lesson last Tuesday, my coach liked my sit spin -- she said that it was the best one she'd ever seen me do and that it was a real sit spin. I've been working on it for a few years, so I'm happy that it's improved.

Let me take a moment to say how much I like my new coach. She's very detail-oriented, much like I am, and her technical knowledge is unbelievable. I understand things on a different level, and it makes all the difference. In saying that, I'm not putting down my old coach in any way -- she is also an excellent coach. In fact, she came back for a visit about a month ago and had time to fit me in for a lesson during a week that my new coach was out of town. We worked on some of the exercises I've been doing with my new coach, and she helped tremendously by linking parts of them to other things I can do. She also said I've gotten faster since she left in August, which is pretty cool.

Cool rain boots at Target

When I was a kid, I read Ramona the Pestand I wanted a pair of yellow rubber rain boots like the ones Ramona was wearing when she jumped in all the puddles. (On the cover of the book, they're red, but I remember them being yellow.) Target doesn't have yellow ones, but I found these, which will do just fine.

3:47 am

It's 3:47 am. We've been up for an hour and fifteen minutes dealing with the flood down our bedroom and guest room walls. I'm not coherent enough to write a detailed post about it, but the roofers tore out the gutters in that section and the water coming in woke us up. Steph called the roofer, and he's on his way over.

Guess we're going to have to paint the bedroom after all, considering that the water is loosening many layers of paint and wallpaper.

Aaargh.

On various topics

For some reason, it's hot in our house tonight. There is no reason that it should be hot. It's not that warm outside. Our radiators are fixed, but the heat is not turned up that high. At this rate, I'm going to have to break out the summer pajamas.

Last night we had a holiday party. Unfortunately, we failed to take any pictures.

We took Spike for a walk this afternoon because it was about 45 degrees out. He got cold halfway through and I carried him most of the rest of the way home inside my coat. This amused the other walkers in the neighborhood.

Tonight we watched the finale of the Amazing Race. I didn't really have a favorite team this season, but I didn't dislike any of the teams either.

Last week I was elected treasurer of the Old Northside neighborhood association.

Happy birthday, Lucy!

Lucy is six today. This morning, she got special food, and tonight we're going to give her a new toy. I tried to tell those other cats to be nice to her today, but I don't know if they listened.