Sleep (or lack there of), books, toys

[thistlechaser]

Listen up, brain. I know DST kicked our ass this year, but that should be responsible for ONE hour of lost sleep, not FIVE. Two nights of two hours of broken sleep after a night of four hours sleep is unacceptable. Straighten up and sleep at night or I'll replace you with a sack full of kittens.

No love,
Thistle

I have to stop buying kitchen toys. None of them work out for me and it's just a waste of money.

Soda Stream: Used a few times, bought some flavors, then stopped using it. I should try using up more of the flavors, but nothing I make tastes right (and it's not like it's a complex recipe or something -- carbonate the water and squirt a measure of flavor liquid in). If someone were a fan of knock-off, store brand sodas, I suppose they'd love Soda Stream.

Panini Maker: Okay, the failing with you was totally my fault. I should have realized that the reason "professional" paninis taste so good is that they're dripping with oil, thus they get a really crunchy, fried exterior. Not wanting to make food dripping in oil, you are nothing more than an annoying-to-clean toaster. I take that back, sandwiches I make on toast come out better than sandwiches I make in you. Plus did I mention you're really annoying to clean?

Crock pot: Okay, I like you, this is a request and not a complaint. It makes me nervous leaving things running while I'm off at work. Please don't burn my apartment down. Also, if you'd make my pot roast yummy, I'd appreciate it. The ingredients were expensive ($15, though I have enough white wine vinegar to last me the rest of my life), so I'd like to get a few good meals out of it.

I changed my mind about reading another Michael Grant book next. The thing is, whatever I read after a great series I'll enjoy less, because it's not that great series. I didn't want to unfairly dislike a book that I might otherwise like, so I took something from the bottom of my To Read pile. The third oldest book there, Enclave. A banner on the Amazon page tells me I bought it on July 6, 2011.

I was surprised that I'm actually liking it. Often things sink to the bottom of the pile for a reason, though sometimes not. (The Chaos Walking series was near the bottom, and that turned out to be the best thing I read in 2013.)

I was kind of looking to read something lighter after the darkness that was Gone, but Enclave turns out to not be all light and roses. It's set after the end of the world(?? after another world war?) and people are trying to survive underground.

Comments

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

I hear you on the sleep thing. x_x DST kicked my ass this year, too. It didn't help that I'd been coming off a week+ of insomnia to boot. I ended up just taking off from work yesterday and sleeping a lot to perform a proper system reset.

And yet, I cannot really complain about the concept of DST, because, as one person put it, it's like "Christmas for people with SAD." And it's really nice driving home in the light.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Usually I easily adjust to DST, but this year is just awful.

"Christmas for people with SAD."

Ha!

I'm enjoying the extra light, too. My apartment has so many windows (and a sliding glass door), I can open all my curtains and let the sunshine pour in. It's quite nice!

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

Re: soda stream, we use ours to blend with fruit juice concentrate. This is easier if you let the frozen juice concentrate just thaw in the fridge and then pour it into another container (squirt bottle preferred). Then pour a big cup of soda water and add juice concentrate to it slowly/gently. We use about 1-2 oz of concentrate in 10-12 oz of water. So it tastes like diluted juice but it's fizzy.

Also you can get Torani syrups and make Italian sodas with it. Don't go too crazy buying syrup until you're sure you will like it.. you can get 1, maybe 2 smaller bottles of syrup to try it out.

Sodastream also sells "essence" type of mix-in which we found OK but not great. But you are totally right... the flavors that come with the machine are all different types of ASS

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ooh, the concentrate idea sounds good! I'm going to get some next time I go shopping.

Thanks!

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

Yeah I was going to suggest the juice thing too, that's what I would do with a Sodastream (we are planning on getting one eventually) as well as the Torani syrup/Italian soda suggestion. I wouldn't even touch their concoctions, I'd go straight for those 2 things haha :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to trying the juice idea. Hopefully I can shop on Friday.

[kelen.livejournal.com]

Take the crock pot with you to work. :) Just make sure you bring pot holders too. Then you can monitor the pot and not worry.

I adore crock pots. It's like the magic food machine. Toss stuff in, ignore for 5-12 hours. You don't even need special recipes. Throw in stuff you normally cook, spice twice (Beginning and between middle and end), eat!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha! That'd be a fun idea! Then everyone on the floor would stop by to see what smells so good.

I don't use mine enough -- I intend to change that!

[kelen.livejournal.com]

I was thinking that. :) Torment your co-workers with yummy smells.

One of my favorites is chicken and dumplings. That requires some extra work as you need to make and add dough in the last half an hour. (But you can use store bought biscuits if you don't want that hassle.) I can't make this any more for the diabetic diet, and I miss it so much. It's amazing comfort food.

But meats, spaghetti sauce, and anything you want. Tis awesome. Just keep broths on hand. Those add tons of flavor and are really easy to use. But they can have lots of salts, so be careful what you pick. :)

[lady-bird.livejournal.com]

Hahaha...this entry is really well written, I enjoyed reading it! :)
I'd like to hang out with someone who has replaced their brain with a sack full of kittens. I'll bet we'd get along.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that! :D

I think a head full of a sack of kittens would be quite interesting -- you'd never get bored! Scratched up, but not bored.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

I hear you about the cooking gadgets. We have more stuff gathering dust than we actually use. I think the only things that get regular use are the water kettle and the toaster. I love the crock pot, but I wouldn't leave it running while I'm out of the house either, especially since our electric outlets have 220 volts and everything in the crock pot gets done in half the time as recipes say.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I was surprised at how long this one took to cook. Just over nine hours on HIGH. I never use high, but recipes usually call for 3-4 hours on high!

I love my toaster, too. It and the microwave are the things I use the most.

[spike7451.livejournal.com]

Hope your brain listens to you and you sleep better.

I have a cupboard full of kitchen stuff that has been used a few tmes and then put away to never be used again. I have no control in a kitchenware shop at all!!!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It's so fun to buy new things and I have such high hopes for them! Then, like you, they move into the cupboard never to be touched again.

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

Hubby loves kitchen gadgets, so we have too many. We gave out panini maker to a friend headed to college. The ctockpot, kitchenaid mixer, and the Vitamix blender are the ones we actually use.

My weakness is pretty dishes and bowls. No plain white plates here! My cupboard is full of mismatched but colorful dishes.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'd love a kitchenaid mixer, but they're so expensive and I'd use it so rarely. Sometimes I want to make a dough or something, and can't because I don't have a mixer.

Same! I love colorful dishes. I don't mind mismatched at all so long as they're interesting.

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

Kitchenaids last pretty much forever though. We got ours as a wedding gift 21 years ago!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah! They're top of the line in lots of things. (I used to work for Whirlpool, who owns Kitchenaid.)

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

That's kind of funny...I used to work at Sony for years and now refuse to own any Sony products. XD I am glad that you have confidence in the products your company made!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd have no issues with owning a Whirlpool or Kitchenaid product! The other brand Whirlpool owned, Roper, was a different story -- cheapest pieces of junk.