Weekend recap

The weekend started great - I got to run a few errands before traffic got crazy, then set up an experiment to run overnight. Dinner, laundry, cleaning up.

Errands:
CVS: I had $1 in ECB to use before 9/12. They had a good sale on a moisturizer that Tom uses, plus I had a coupon. I had two coupons to stack for this shaving cream that I've been dying to try (after coupons it was free! my first free item!). I also got a free Mars candy bar. I saved about 52% at CVS (earlier today, I found the $1 ECB that I was supposed to use - oops). Looked at the CVS ad for this week and found something that I will go pick up tomorrow after work.
Christmas Tree Shops: When I want something, I will usually not buy it, and think about it for a while, and if I still want it, I will go back and get it. In this case, barrel planters. I got two. These will be for a craft project sometimes later. When making soup last weekend, Tom said that we needed a quart-size measuring cup. I found those there for super cheap. 2 quart Pyrex measuring thingy was $5.49. I also got a smaller one. A freezer mug in pink was 64c! And aquaglobes were 79c each (earlier we got slightly bigger ones at 3 for $10). So yeah, I was pretty proud of that trip.
Lowes: my plan was to find some potted plants and herbs for the barrel planters, but didn't find anything that I liked. Good part = no money spent :)

Dinner was a blue cheese and buffalo chicken pizza (homemade crust was amazing).

After Lee, we turned the AC off. I entertained the idea of switching it back on when the thermostat said 82 yesterday, but resisted. I attributed the fact that I was hot to regular weather. I had a headache last night, and tonight the sniffles and sore throat are showing up. And I kept falling asleep in the living room. So tonight, chicken noodle soup and lemon + honey tea (the Xmas kettle is getting a lot of use). Hopefully I didn't catch GERMS from running around town, and that it will be all ok tomorrow morning. The washing machine is putting me back to sleep as I type.

Have a great week, and stay away from GERMS!

Finally Friday

... can't wait to see what the weekend has in store.
Having soup all week makes me crave it more - some ideas:

Good ol' potato soup (with cheddar?)

Potato and spinach soup
Potato and cauliflower soup

Lobster and shrimp bisque (some people substitute crawfish for lobster, my kind of peeps)

Lentils with carrots

Pumpkin soup

Gumbo

Yellow Pea soup
Creamy corn soup

 Can you tell that I love that Fall is coming?!!!

Totally Thursday

Oh Lee, you made me very happy and sad.
The Lee that made me happy was the LSU quarterback, who on Saturday really stepped up and with an strong defense, LSU won their season opener against the Oregon Ducks. New AP poll: LSU is #2.

The Lee that kinda made me sad was the storm. On Monday, we had a lot of rain and wind. No damage to report at our house. There were a few downed trees in the neighborhood and our bell pepper plant took a beating. However, I loved Lee because of all the rain. I woke up early, and had a living room window opened listening to the rain while drinking coffee. It was wonderful. It was less wonderful when we lost power for a few minutes, and our internet for about a day or so. Some people were worse off, so we can't complain too much. Another reason to love Lee: we were in the 50s. Yesterday our weather guy said that it was warmer in Fairbanks Alaska than in Birmingham! I even wore a light sweater to go to work. Love the cooler weather. It was a much welcome break from the 100 deg. Also, since I don't like being out and about when it rains, I got a bunch of writing done at home, and currently waiting for Dr. P to give me comments on the second draft of paper 2.

The recap of the long weekend: went to work on Saturday and set up my machine for a 50 hour run. Then went to the grocery store to stock up on storm essentials: wine and beer. While at Publix, Tom asked me if I knew how to make an oxtail soup. My answer: "no, but I bet we can find a good recipe. Grab some carrots, and celery". When we got home, Tom called Grandpa Gass, who of course had a great family recipe. And the Larson-Gass connection led to a fabulous soup (took two days to make), that is our lunch and mostly dinner this week. I made beer batter bread to accompany the soup, so this week is dedicated to the Larson-Gass-Skemp family. Hot soup and cold weather = winning. Also, Johnsonville Brats were on sale at Publix, so we stocked up - we're ready for football.

One of the things that often happens at the house, is that at times our food wants are out of sync. While I've been dreaming about crab cakes for brunch, Tom wanted french toast. So I made both. We also discovered that (mayo + siracha) sauce goes really well with crab cake sandwiches.Pictures coming.

I found a new store to love in Birmingham - Christmas Tree Shops at the Galleria by World Market. It's a cheaper version of Bed Bath and Beyond (wikipedia says that it is owned by BB&B). It has everything you need for the house and I was just amazed at the gardening selection. Fall decor, you are getting a re-do this year.

Excited about: Packers vs Saints tonight. My two favorite teams go head to head. Brats cooked in beer, drink beer, watch football, and write about science = life is good.

Hope you're having a fantastic week, and Go Pack Go, and Geaux Saints!

Thirsty Thursday

Does it mean that I am an alcoholic if I walked in the Institute this morning, wanting a nice cold beer? I think this was just a result of it being super hot, and the two block walk from the parking lot to lab had me sweating already. No worries then, not an alchy. But stressed, yes!

There have been a lot of stressors lately – well 3 – and they have taken their toll (I’m working on a post that will be entitled, Anatomy of my stress).

First off, was my journal club presentation this Wednesday. I had to present a complicated paper from Dr. Vern Schramm. I met Dr. Schramm at the Newport conference this summer, and think that he is a fantastic scientist. I was determined to learn more about his work, and put in 20+ hours into this hour long presentation. While it went well, that’s 20+ hours that should have gone in Paper 2.

Graduation – my second stressor. My graduate committee’s requirements for graduation were to have Paper 1 published (checked), Paper 2 submitted (was supposed to have been submitted Aug 31, hasn’t happened yet), and Paper 3 in the works. Last week, my mentor gave me back the first draft of Paper 2 with some corrections/suggestions. Plus, we agreed that three more experiments needed to be done. So paper 2 is still in the works. Paper 3 – I have two HPLCs (piece of equipment that helps me evaluate my enzyme) named Old Boy and Precious. I had nothing to do with the naming of the 20 year old machines. Well two Sundays ago, Old Boy just got really tired of continuously running, and stopped. Still waiting for the HPLC doctor to do a house visit. This means that Paper 3, is about 2% complete.  Today, I confirmed with my mentor. I am defending at the beginning of December. To graduate this Fall, I need to defend my thesis by November 4. Thus, I will not be graduating this semester, but rather in the spring. I made peace with that decision. I recall telling mom about the papers situation – Paper 1 is the cake as it comes out of the oven. Paper 2 is the frosting, and Paper 3 is the nice decoration on top. It makes sense that a cake that has all the works will sell at a greater price than one with just frosting. Plus if I don’t put the decorations on top, no one else will, and I want to have a finished product. So in theory, Paper 3 will look really good on my CV – it will just depend on what hiring departments will think about me taking longer to graduate.

Job – my third stressor. I’ve had some fruitful conversations. I have a few offers, but I am not ready to accept them. Staying in my current lab is not an option since we don’t have funding. Staying at UAB is not advised, but it has its appeal since Tom isn’t done yet. I’ve been looking at listings, and find myself uninspired. Maybe it’s burnout or stress. I’m gonna keep looking and applying. And let the dice fall where they may?

All this to say that this weekend, I will be working. Precious will be running, which will give me time to finish Paper 2. Tom also has a tough few weeks ahead with a committee meeting at the end of the month, so he will be working too. For the past two years, we have taken trips on Labor Day. But not this year. We may treat ourselves with a nice dinner (steaks, crabcakes, grilled veggies, and wine). We may go to the farmers’ market. We may do a nice relaxing brunch on Sunday (salmon bagels, shrimp and grits, mimosas). Maybe have a cake, with frosting and all the nice decorations :) Other than that, it will just be a regular weekend.

I hope that you don’t have to work. Watch some college football. If you do have to work, take some time to relax, if only for a few hours. Happy Labor Day, y’all!

Finally Friday

Oh the sights that summer gives us - double rainbow in our neighborhood

Tasty Tuesday

I don't know why, but I've been craving oysters - yes, this is the same girl who couldn't eat a raw oyster about two years ago. This tray is from Courtyard (full disclosure, I was really craving crawfish but the season is over) - but this weekend we got some canned oysters, and I baked them with breadcrumbs, jalapenos from the garden, and Parmesan cheese.Ooh, the jalapenos from the garden are super hot.

 

On our trip to Publix this weekend, we found Johnsonville cooked brats. Yes, they are super duper yummy! And, yes our healthy eating habits are going out the door for now. Well to some extent. This past week has been a bit of an adjustment - I had to cut back on the amount of time I spend in the kitchen when I get home from work. It's not that it takes me four hours to get dinner ready, it takes less than an hour, but the eating and cleaning are a few extra hours that at this point I cannot afford.
I was really happy when I decided to get 4 jumbo cans of Progresso soup when they were on sale last weekend. They have been my go to meals. I also made a large pot of spaghetti, with ground turkey and pasta sauce. Tom and I had enough for dinner and lunch, plus two frozen batches for two dinner for two later. On Sunday, I made a slow cooker chicken and rice casserole. That was dinner on Sunday, lunch on Monday. The rest has been aliquot in meal size portions. I am still very worried about leaving the slow cooker on all day while I'm away (fire risk), but I'm not afraid of cooking ginormous portions of food and making my own freezer meals. Maybe one day, the freezer will look like this http://www.southernliving.com/food/whats-for-supper/easy-freezer-meals-00400000009133/

When I spoke to Laura last I had suggested slow cooking her meals as a way to save time with the needy triplets. For her birthday, I got her the Fix it and Forget it 5 ingredients cookbook that Anne often refers to. Maybe I need to get one for me too.


Any ideas? Recipes? 

Crafts

The combination of exhilaration from our first publication (woot woot!) and atrocious, recurring migraines last Saturday had me in the house, with dim lighting, and intermittent naps.
Tom and I had been talking about football season coming up and I had said that I would be willing to make a football board.
So here it is: 20x30 board, with SEC college football and NFC teams - the teams have velcro on the back, so as we progress through the season, we have a fun way of keeping tabs on our teams progress. Some of the NFC teams got a slight name change by Tom. We are still trying to find a way to put the board up on the wall - the downfall of a rental unit.

I took that opportunity to take a few pictures of other crafts that have been completed. For a few weeks the coffee table in the living room had a 1000 piece puzzle in progress. Once completed, right before my trip to Newport, I wanted to frame it. Two trips to the framing store later, a mess with glue-ing the puzzle to the board, it was finally completed two weeks ago. The frame is currently on my bedroom floor, waiting for a way to hang it (common theme of this post).

Also, about 1.5 years ago, Tom got super upset at me. We were hanging out at his place, and I accidentally broke a frame. It wasn't just a frame. Ms. Laurie had framed his signed Brewers T-shirt. I apologized profusely, and said that I would fix it. Fast forward to now. It finally got framed again, and sits on his sports shelf in his bedroom. It is a big step for him to let me organize his bedroom, and we're getting there. My hopes are to get the pictures on that shelf framed in a collage.

 I also have been a terrible friend this summer. I didn't get Laura's birthday mailed until this week (about a month late) and Grace's graduation present is about 3 months late. I completely forgot Jennifer's birthday (about a week late) and will be making amends today, as I take a quick break and we get pedis. I hope that she will like her gifts.
Grace finished law school and is now in DC. She met us in Boston for a day and we had a lot of fun. I made her this framed art, from the Wordle website. You type in words and the words that appear the most are in bigger letters.

This is the previous T-shirt frame. I have to clean its back, it has either some kind of mildew or got some humidity damage. This will be for the next time I get inspired.

I heart Caribou Coffee

This image/logo is owned and copyrighted by Caribou Coffee

My kind of day starts with my favorite coffee (Caribou Coffee, I'm not paid for this statement). I love it so much, and I'm so grateful that Ms. Laurie introduced me to it when I was in La Crosse last year. Since it's not available in Birmingham, I try to ration the coffee that I had received for Xmas to make it last longer. Then, the most amazing thing happened two weeks ago. Publix had Caribou Coffee!!! I knew I had seen a $1 off coupon online for it, and tracked it down when I was free, just in time for Publix to release its new weekly sale. AND ANOTHER SURPRISE! Publix had it as a buy one, get one free. Normally priced at $8.99, I was able to get two packs for $6.99 after two $1 off coupons. I'm hoping that this coffee will follow the trend of most sales (comes around every 6-8 weeks).

Garden recap

In the garden, I did some rearranging last week to consolidate. The gladiolus never produced blooms so to the trash they went.The lettuce from seeds never progressed more than 4-5 leaves and they have been discarded as well. After our aphid problem earlier this year, I was very skeptical about our peppers (hence I haven't shared any of my plants this year :( ). I found Hannah's shop, it's about 20 minutes out of town, and remembered that they had neem oil. After two applications about 3 months ago, I haven't seen another aphid. Anyway, as of today, we have 9 jalapeno peppers on the plants, plus plenty more flowers. Tom and I have talked about making our own pickled jalapenos, or even some form of hot sauce. Maybe Xmas gifts? We have yet to try them out and see how hot they are. A mysterious plant (I lost the tag while transplanting) turned out to be bell pepper. We have a small pepper on that plant right now, and I'm watching it very closely. I still have a mysterious flowery plant, no flowers on it yet. We had our first marigold flowers. I'm trying to rehabilitate the marigolds that almost died while we were in Boston. The petunias were doing great, until my rearranging and some of them are not doing too well. I'm hoping that I can still save them. I'm watching the Zinia very closely and giving it some TLC. It has gone to almost dead to producing two flowers so far. I pruned the dahlias. After a few storms the top branches looked pretty beat up, and there were some new branches trying to push through at the bottom. Only time will tell how the plants will change over the next weeks.

Recap

After our huge shopping trip to Costco last month, we been eating mostly at home. We had stocked up on ground turkey, pork chops, chicken, stir fry veggies, pasta, and canned tomatoes. So there are so many possibilities, including taco pizza, with homemade crust, ground turkey, refried beans, peppers, olives, chiles, and cheese and Sweet and sour pork - first time I made this from scratch.

Taco pizza!

Taco pizza from the top

I made Scotcheroos this Thursday for Tom's lab meeting. It's a peanut butter rice krispies treat with a butterscotch chocolate topping. It is one of Tom's favorites and I found out about it while talking to his Aunt Kate in Boston. Ms. Laurie was nice to send me her recipe, and it turned out to be super yummy! I really liked that I had been given plenty of notice of the upcoming lab meeting, so I could wait for deals on the ingredients (even got gluten-free rice krispies on sale + coupon; we use crunchy/extra crunchy peanut butter, and I found a good deal on the creamy kind, while still keeping my brand loyalty). I was a bit worried because I had never cooked with corn syrup, but it all worked out.

Usually I don't get to taste lab treats, but we made an exception this time :)

We went to Matt and Melissa's wedding. Matt was a former lab mate of Tom's (they are also soccer buddies), and Melissa is currently in Tom's lab. Scottish Chris, who was staying with us for the wedding, wore his kilt. I also met Rob, who was a former postdoc/instructor in Tom's lab. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time.

Science has been going well for the most part, I'm nearly done with my second paper. The first paper was accepted, and I'm on track to graduate this semester.

I'm excited about football season starting! I can't wait to start cheering for my Tigers again, and having people over for Packers game. We are also playing with the idea of Football Sunday - grab the morning paper, and go to our favorite hangout, watch football, read, and drink.

I'm also excited about planning our trips this fall. Since the Packers are the current Superbowl champions, their ticket prices are super high, about 5x more than what they were last year. We have our eyes on the Falcons and the Panthers. We are also going to Orange Beach later in the fall for a wedding (I found a nice hat today on sale!), and I can't believe that I haven't been back to Louisiana for almost two years now! All of our traveling plans will of course depend on both of our progress with school.

Geaux Tigers!