Blueberry Granola with Flax, nummers.

I packed up things over at Matt’s house (where I lived all summer) and moved out. While packing up my dry goods, Branden made fun of me for how much I eat like a hippie. I had three kinds of granola in my cabinet, so what?

Anyway, I just wanted to give my shining endorsement on a product that I just tried for the first time this morning: Archer Farms’s Blueberry Granola with Flax cereal. I got it form Target back in May and haven’t tried it until today, but I have to say that I wish I had opened it before.

First of all, this product has blueberries in it. Not like little lame shriveled up blueberries that are bitter and kind of crunchy, but blueberries that look like blueberries. BLUEBERRIES! Not fresh, obviously, but once they hit milk, they might as well be.

It has Flax in it, which, I’m not really actually sure what that has to do with anything, but I looked up some benefits of a diet with flax, and healthcastle.com tells me that:

Its high content of alpha linolenic acids has made the ancient flax seed become our modern miracle food. Alpha linolenic acid is a type of plant-derived omega 3 fatty acid, similar to those found in fish such as salmon. Benefits of flax seed as shown in many studies include lowering total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the Bad cholesterol) levels. Other benefits show that flax seed may also help lower blood triglyceride and blood pressure. It may also keep platelets from becoming sticky therefore reducing the risk of a heart attack.

Anyway, great cereal. So happy I bought it.

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Have I ever told you about my love of marshmallows? I don’t really know where it came from, my mother rarely had them in the house as a child. I love not only marshmallows, but marshmallow cream, toasted marshmallow flavored jelly beans, and fluffernutter sandwiches. (In fact, yesterday I bought another jar to make these for lunch.) Today my love of mallow caused me to burn my mouth and throat very badly. I headed into the Falcon’s Nest to get a cup of coffee, and next tot he coffee machine is the cappacino machine. There was a new flavor: TOASTED MARSHMALLOW! No, I couldn’t help myself. I grabbed the big cup, filled it up, and went on my merry way. Near the elevator, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I HAD TO TAKE A SIP OF IT. It burned. Bad. I didn’t learn my lesson and at the top of the stairs burned not only my mouth, but my throat as well. It’s finally cooled down, and it’s quite a treat.

I think I’m going to try to make my own this week. Recipe.

This afternoon at work, I shredded two pounds of Colby cheese. I also issued eleven parking passes.

Potluck tonight! I decided to make Angelamaria’s (my great great-grandmother) recipe for baked macaroni and cheese. Now I’ve got the potluck anxiety… I hope everyone likes my dish.

I also saw a Red Bull car on campus today, parked behind one of the science buildings.

6:40AM: Ew.

Ohh, I have not woken up this early in a while…I am covering Jess’s shift at the VIC, so I have four hours to sit around here, drink coffee, read the paper, read my Amy Sedaris book, listen to music, read blogs, and dance like no one’s watching (erm, no one is watching…)

I’m starting to have a real bone to pick with Tim Hortons. Now, I want them to be good. I want them to be as great as the SR725 location. That Tim Hortons always serves me my food piping hot and right on time. I have visited the Bowling Green TH’s a total of five times since it first opened in late November. This morning was probably the speediest time, but when asked if I wanted cream in my coffee, I said “Yes please, some half & half.” I think she thought that meant I wanted a half cup of coffee, and a half cup of creamer. This morning’s cup of coffee was a very creamy light brown. Is it really that hard, Tim Hortons? Really? Tim Hortons, listen, I’m not trying to make fun of you. I just want you to be the best speedy bakery that you can be. I know you can do it. You can!

Righht….

So, I got The Virginian by Neko Case and Her Boyfriends (great band name, by the way.) It’s lovely. It’s interesting to hear her voice being backed up by male vocals with the thick, twangy country music. It’s a nice medium between her work with The New Pornographers and her solo work. I kind of want to be friends with Neko Case, in my mind she would be a really awesome friend. Here’s a really great performance on World Cafe. And once again, I think that emusic.com is a pretty great service. I never thought that I would subscribe to a pay service for music, but I get 40 downloads a month for only $10, plus most of the music on the site is released on independent labels.

Tomorrow evening, our group of friends is having another potluck. I really love these potlucks, because 1. I get to hang out with all of my friends, 2. I get a home-cooked (sort of) meal, and most importantly, 3. I get to show off some recipe that has been recently handed down to me. I feel very blessed to come from the family that I have. The women in my family are caring and passionate, they are wonderful cooks, and most importantly, strong women. I am so lucky to have been raised among these hard-headed, intelligent women. My mother, grandmothers, aunts, and older cousins are all well-educated in both areas of the home, and in academics. How many women can say that they are the fourth generation of women to attend college? I am so privileged to come from a family that has taught me the importance of being a strong woman.

Corey and I took a drive yesterday afternoon. We went out to see the windmills, and as always, I am in awe of their size. On the way back, we talked about future stuff–something that I have been notoriously known to try to ignore. The more I thought about it, the more scared I got, until I was literally nauseous. (See why I usually ignore it?) As Seth always tells me, “things will eventually come crashing into place.” I can only hope.

uh oh…

So, school just might have to take the back burner for a while. It’s cold and I made a purchase that is going to take its toll on my academic work.

Our Walden Books at the Woodland Mall is closing on Saturday, and all books are 40% off. Normally it would be hard for me to buy this $27 book (I only spend that much money at a time when buying a week’s worth of groceries!) but I only had to pay $17 for it. What a steal! I really feel that I am the perfect audience for this book. I love humor writing, and I love domestics. Reading only the inside flap of the book I laughed out loud a few times.

“This book is so visual, a monkey could enjoy it.” -Amy Sedaris

I’m in love with a book.

Um, also, the other day I may or may not have bought a sweatshirt that says “BLING BLING” across the chest. I also may or may not have taken a pretty awesome picture of myself in the mirror wearing it. Mirror pictures are okay if I’m being ironic, right? RIGHT?

I’m having a really hard time trying to drag myself to History of Dinosaurs lecture this morning. It’s so cold out, and I’m so toasty at the union, and I’m pretty tired, and I just might fall asleep in class…

here kitty kitty

hey there little kitty kitty

Have I ever told you how much I love kitties? Well I do. Actually I love most furry little animals that I can pet. Except for: ferrets, gerbils, lots of mice in one place. Anyway, back to kitty-cats. My father is highly allergic to these adorable animals, so as a child, I was never able to have one. Not even an outside cat that would just roam around the neighborhood and I would feed and pretend it was mine! (I tried once. It resulted in my mom having to take it in the car and dropping it off in another neighborhood. It also resulted in a lot of tears from the eleven year-old version of me.) Now that I live on my own (sorta…) I am still not allowed to have a kitty. Not only does my landlord not let me have one, but my cute animal-hating room mate, Meg also refuses. (Okay, not true.) If I had a kitty, I would name her Harriet Tubman, and I would clean her littler box every day, and feed her and give her lots of love.

Now, why all the talk about kitties? Tomorrow I get to go to Toledo to cover the Mid-Michigan Cat Fancier’s 283rd Championship & Household Cat Show with Cat Agility for Videobank. Yeahhhhhhhh. We caught wind of this amazing event from Marie’s mother who plans on being there this morning. I can’t decide which is the best part of it yet (other than seeing all the kitties) but 1. I get in for free because we are considered “Press,” and 2. There is a cat obstacle course. Yeah. I know. Anyway, Steve, Corey and I are heading up to Maumee tomorrow morning to shoot interviews with cat owners and cat trainers and cat superfans. Oh, and I might wander off and steal a kitten. Just sayin’.

From their 2004 show in Novi, Michigan

In non-adorable news, I’m working another Saturday at the VIC. I don’t mind the weekends like I used to. I get to listen to whatever music I want as loud as I want. I also get six hours to myself to do whatever I please (well, almost.)

Before work this morning I stopped at Tim Hortons to grab a bagel and cup of coffee (VIC coffee is baaad. Kyle can attest to this.) Well, the girl working the drive-thru gets an F- today. Usually I have no problem with the service at Tim’s, but today was a disaster. First, I pulled up, ordered the “Bagel and Coffee,” which rings in at $1.99 plus tax. Then the girl says “Alright. You can pull up now.” Whaaat? I don’t know if this girl has never been in one of these new drive-thru things, but it is her job to tell me what my total is. I pull up to the window and she says “That will be 2.29.” So I think Humm, that extra thirty cents must be tax. She hands me my wrapped up “bagel” and tells me to have a good day. At this point I realize that I have not been given my cup of coffee. So I sit in my car at the window trying to get her attention. She finally comes back and gives me a funny look and says “Did you need anything else?” I politely tell her that I got the bagel and coffee combo, she looks puzzled and then says “What size would you like?” I tell her a small is fine, and she gives me my cup of coffee and then charges me $1.35! Because I don’t want to argue with her, I cough up another dollar, quarter and dime, and go on my way to the VIC. I get to the VIC and go to eat my delicious bagel, and when I peel back the wrapper I was horrified to see that it is not a toasted bagel at all! It is a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich! Now, how “bagel and coffee” is mistaken for “sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich” is beyond me. Lucky for her, I am not my father, who has been known to go all the way back to an establishment to complain, and infamously once threw a sandwich on the counter at Wendy’s, pointed to the cashier and yell “You make a lousy sandwich!” We estimate that my father ingests an average of 3 pints of bodily fluids a year. Anyway, I peeled off the cheese and sausage and suffered through a (pretty tasty) egg sandwich. Don’t get me wrong–I love Tim Hortons. I will probably stop by there tomorrow before the Cat Show.

Sarah Wagner, if you are reading this, remind me that I need to send you a song. I have a feeling you would like it. Also, I lost your home address again. I have something to send to you. Want to email me your address? Of course you do.

Matt and I were going to go to Kelleys Island this weekend, but after finding out that the ferry costs a whooping $13 for an adult, we decided to postpone our trip for the Spring, when the weather would be worth spending $13, and also we can spend more time out on the island.

Meg and I made Veggie Pizza last night. It was well-received. I think that it’s pretty great that some of my friends think that I’m a good cook, when really I am just using the old family recipes. Crap. I just gave away my secret. The real culinary geniuses are the other women in my family. I just get their secrets written down for me on index cards.

I’m starting to think that maybe I should be a middle school teacher rather than a film crew member. My mother always told me that I was good with kids, and I think that I like the middle school aged ones the best (so sassy!) Too bad I didn’t have this revelation two years ago. Now I’m five semesters into my film production degree, and I don’t have the money or time to switch over at this point.

It’s rainy, but I am pretty cheery this morning. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep and a cup of coffee does for me.

Candice’s latest crafty endeavors have lead us to create a new blog.

http://www.thesegirlsarecrafty.blogspot.com

Visit frequently for updates on our trip into the domestic wilderness. Today we made Jell-O fruit.