New favorite thing

Brian told me about his breakfast smoothie. Raw quick oats, celery, spinach, frozen banana, protein powder, strawberries, almond milk, and cucumber.

I tried it.

I like it.

It pretty much covers everything.... fruit, veggies, grain, protein. I think it shall become my new meal replacement. Plus there are all kinds of other things that I can throw in... kale, apple, carrots, kiwi, avocado..... possibilities are endless.

I see a trip to Costco to buy huge pkgs of spinach and fruit in my very near future.

It's all a game to me......

I readily admit I know very little about the stock market. But I dabble in it. I watch it go up and down, up and down, down and down, down and down.... down and up a little.

I go to Wendover and gamble on rare occasions. Our rule is -- we take what we can afford to lose and we do not go to an ATM and get more. I can often make $5 last me for a couple of hours. So I get fun and I don't go broke. And we spend what we would on a nice dinner and movie. Last time I went I made $100 in the first 5 minutes I was there. And I came home with that $100.

We thought we were going to owe taxes this year so we have been putting money aside for that purpose. But lo, and behold, and major surprise... we didn't owe. So........... we decided to take that money and invest it.

We have been researching some specific markets for the past year. I already have a Scottrade account for my "Play Money" so George gave me a wad of money and yesterday in less than a minute.... with two clicks of a mouse.... I spent it ALL.

hee hee. It was so fun.

I have some stocks that are not doing so great...so I plan to sell them and then buy MORE of what I got yesterday because it is already making us money so I'm encouraged.

I had invested in some pharmaceuticals.... they are not doing well. Gonna dump em.

But.... here is a tip......  Natural gas is doing FABULOUS.

Just sayin......

April Fools -- What a Joke

 People are rather surprised when they learn what a jokester I am on April Fools. Or rather, USED to be. Not so much anymore. The climate at work changed and the new management is not into that kind of thing at all. But I had a lot of fun a couple of years. Someone put a fish in my drinking cup (see photo above). That was fun.

I put somebody's glasses in jello.... I did the cut fingers on the paper cutter. I kidnapped stuff from people's desks and put it in the vending machine so they had to pay .50 cents to get it back... LOL   It was fun. Wish I had time to write about all I did, but I'm at work and better get off the internet. LOL

I made this kitty litter cake.

I also closed off one of the offices here and put a "Do NOT ENTER... WATER DAMAGE" with wet towels sticking out from under the door. The coworker -- John --- had very important papers all over his office and the look on his face, when he thought there had been water damage was priceless.

hee hee hee. Nobody suspected me of being the prankster because I am so "quiet".

ha ha ha ha

Peanut Butter Heaven

One of the best things in this world is home made peanut butter fudge. My cousin Cathy made some for my mom's funeral luncheon and I have used her recipe ever since. I have named it "Mom's funeral fudge" which may sound morbid..... but actually isn't in my mind.

Anyhow... here is the recipe:

In a 2 quart saucepan put:
1 stick of unsalted butter
3 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of whole milk

Cook, stirring constantly over med-hi heat until mixture comes to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and let boil without stirring for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and 1 cup (more or less depending on how peanut buttery you like your fudge) of creamy peanut butter. Or chunky if you like. I always use creamy Jif. I have used Adams natural peanut butter and it tastes fabulous, but it does make a slightly "grainier" fudge.

Stir the peanut butter til it's melted. Let the pot sit for 15 minutes to cool.
Then stir it vigorously for about a minute and pour it into a buttered 8 x 8 pan.

Let it sit to harden.

This is heaven. Yum Yum.

Yearly physical

Saw my doctor yesterday. She is such an awesome doc. I like her very much. Anyhow, we had a great visit. I am doing great. My blood pressure is excellent. My cholesterol is excellent. My glucose is excellent. My blood work for liver, etc is excellent. My mammogram is normal.

My weight is not, but she is glad to see I am working on it.

A year ago I was borderline diabetic and pre-hypertensive. So it's nice that those two things have gone down.

The weather is improving and I am doing well at taking walks on my lunch break. It feels good to get out in the sunshine.

My progress

  Alrighty then. Five days on my diet and exercise program. Five pounds gone. Two hours of walking done.

No sugar has touched my lips.

So far, so good.

I was all excited to start house shopping, but I think I have to put it on hold for a little bit.

Several reasons why, but the main one is that where I work there is much going on behind closed doors and the whispers and things I hear are not good. The company is not doing that well and we may actually run out of money. Which means I may actually lose my job. I know that as long as the company is open, I have a job. I know they wouldn't fire me. But if doors close.... then I'm in trouble.

So the last thing I want to do is get into a commitment of a house with the threat of no job over my head. At least where I am now.... if I lost my job.... the landlord would let me live there anyway. He would not throw me out.

Anyhow..... it will be ok. It just means George and I can really pump up the bank account. That will be good.