Trick or treat.

Sometimes I wish my thoughts would automatically appear as blog posts.

I always want to post something and instead of 'living the moment' and writing out a thought/entry, I decide to do it later and of course never do! Ayah.

Anyway, remember that cardigan sweater and purple boots I mentioned in a previous post? Well, the store sent me an email and apologized for a mistake. The boots were not available and they shipped the cardigan before I could cancel the order. The cardigan arrived promptly but unfortunately it didn't work out so well. Luckily, I was able to return it with no costs plus they gave me a 20% discount on my next purchase. And yes, I've already taken advantage - I bought these two little gems:

Adorable huh? I bought the S.harp I.mage P.encil S.harpener and i.Phone stand for The Hubby and he thought they were pretty neat, especially the pencil sharpener. He thought the i.Plunge was cool/different but he wasn't sure how often he would use it. So instead, I'm going to give this to my brother as a C.hristmas stocking stuffer.

I know, let's pretend I didn't mention C.hristmas... it's only what? 8 weeks from now?

Okay, let's not get too carried away here. Let's talk about H.alloween. Any plans? My coworker (CW) and I are dressing up as D.unkin' D.onuts tomorrow. Every year, our workplace hosts a costume contest: 1st prize $300, 2nd prize $200 and 3rd prize $100. So we are hoping to grab the 1st prize and split. Should be fun! The Hubby sewed my costume for me. He kept reminding me how lucky I am to have him... which is true but I know that he really wanted to sew :D

He's dressing up as a S.team P.unk V.ampire, I'm sure his kids will get a kick out of it. I tried convincing him to dress up as E.dward from T.wilight but he ignored me.

I'm excited because his best friend is having a Birthday/H.alloween bash this Saturday and everyone is dressing up. So it will give us another chance to wear our costumes. And on Sunday, his sister and her boyfriend are coming over to watch S.hutter I.sland and help give out H.alloween candy. Let's pray for dry weather!

Last Minute Fried Rice.

Another slow day at work. Wish I was home, curled up with the pups while reading my book.

I was really good on Monday. I finally made a homecooked meal for The Hubby and I. Lately, we've been eating precooked meals; we buy the 'healthy' kind but nothing compares to eating a meal cooked from scratch.

Last Minute Fried Rice

Ingredients

2 cups rice (I used 1 cup brown rice, 1 cup white rice)
2 1/2 cups of water or chicken broth
2-3 tbsp of sesame oil
2-3 tbsp of soy sauce
5 cloves of garlic
half an onion
1 1/2 cups chopped turkey pepperoni (optional)
2 cups chopped chicken breast
1 can of corn niblets
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

Directions

The first thing you should do is make the rice. Luckily, I have a mini rice cooker so it was pretty simple. Instead of using water, I thought of spicing it up a bit by using chicken broth to add an extra 'umph'. I don't think it worked because I used 'low-sodium' chicken broth...

While you wait for the rice to be ready, now is the time to start prepping. Basically you can use whatever you want/have. We had a lot of turkey pepperoni on hand (The Hubby bought way too much) and I wanted use it up before it start to spoil. I chopped them in small pieces and set aside. Ham or any other types of deli meat will work too.

Oh, we didn't have any chicken breasts, otherwise I would use that. Instead, we had three breaded chicken burgers still sitting in the freezer. So I baked them. When ready, I chopped them and added to the rice just before serving. I didn't want them to cook any longer since I practically burnt them...

We had a few cans of corn in the pantry so I grabbed one. I rinsed the niblets and set them aside to drain. I learned that this is an important step: rinsing and draining. One time, I drained the corn just a little and poured it straight into the rice mixture. The corn flavour was too overpowering. No thanks. But that's just me.

What else, oh, I chopped some onions. Not as much as I would like to because The Hubby does not care for them.... but that's okay. Because the other half of the onion was rotten. Sssh... don't tell anybody.

I chopped up some fresh cilanto and peeled about 5 cloves of garlic. Instead of chopping, I flattened them with the knife just to let the flavour ooze out a bit.

By the time the rice was ready, I turned the stove on high. You really want your pan/wok to be really hot. Then I put in the sesame oil. You can use any other oil but personally, I think sesame oil gives that 'asian' flavour. Then I added the soy sauce. When the oil/soy sauce starts to sizzle, dump the rice in and quickly stir so that everything is coated. Then I made room on the side for the onions to cook. I didn't want to put the onions first because last time, I burned them.

Anyway, then I added the garlic. Stir. Then the chopped turkey pepperonies. Stir. Then the corn. Stir. Then finally the chopped breaded chicken and cilantro. And I think I might have added a bit more soy sauce. And voila!!! Yummy fried rice!

Super long directions but it's actually quite easy.

I don't think I should ever write a recipe book: there would only be room for 3 recipes, maybe 4.

Save money, then treat yourself.

I've been horrible during the summer, spending way too much money on a lot of nothing. Note to self: just because it's on sale, doesn't mean you have to buy it. So last month, I decided to tighten the purse strings a little bit. It wasn't too hard but there were a couple of moments when I felt liked calling a friend.

Just when I thought I would break, I received my CC statement and wow, I was quite impressed! Every month, I usually spend about $500-$600. And this is just for personal things. The Hubby and I have a separate joint CC that we use for grocery bills, cable, gas, etc. Anyway, this time, I only owed $250! And that included the stuff I bought on our trip to V.egas!

Pretty good, huh?

Well, my streak ended a couple of hours ago.

You see, I've been eyeing this adorable cardigan sweater and delicious boots for the past few weeks. I wanted to buy them right away (online purchase) but I refrained myself. However, I couldn't stop thinking about them so I finally caved. I went to the site and... the boots were sold out! WAH. I guess I could have gotten the cardigan regardless but the shipping price wasn't worth it (better off buying two items).

(You can't tell, but the cardigan is grey with tiny accents of blue, black, purple and mustard yellow.)

I was extremely disappointed. I wanted to find something special to wear for our girls night out this weekend. Yesterday, I went to one of my favourite stores in hopes of finding something suitable. I almost bought a few items but it didn't feel right. I asked myself if I really love the items and the answer was no. They didn't give me the same 'feel good' feeling that the cardigan and boots gave me when I first saw them.

Anyway, moving on.

So today, I went back to the online site (actually, I check everyday) just to see the new arrivals and guess what? They restocked the boots!!!! And you guessed it, I bought them together with the top. I'm so excited! After taxes and shipping, the price was just over $100 and you know what? I don't feel guilty because I haven't purchased anything in awhile PLUS, I know that this was not an impulsive decision. And I think that's how I should approach personal spending. Once in a while, I can 'treat' myself to something special. But when it becomes an everyday thing, I don't think I can call it a 'treat' anymore... it's called an addiction.

Anyway, I really hope my items will arrive in time for the night out but I think it's cutting it too close. I might have to find another outfit (from my closet!) but that's okay, I'm sure I'll find another occasion to wear them! For some of you, the cardigan and boots may not appear as special but I'm a jeans and sneakers kind of gal. To me, those are fancy!

Temper tantrums.

How was your weekend?

The weekend was good, not long enough.

We didn't do much on Friday night because we had a long day on Saturday. We were supposed to take it easy but the night ended up in an argument. I don't want to rehash it because it's done, but in short, The Hubby reacted to my compulsive behavior (self-diagnosed) and in turn, I got pissed off.

I wanted to make sure that every detail was taken care of for the commerical shoot but The Hubby took it the wrong way. He thought that I was nagging and being somewhat negative but really, I just wanted to make sure that everything was taken care of.

The Hubby was very quick to apologize for his temper and I was very slow to accept the apology and to apologize for my reaction. I know, I could have just replied in a nicer tone, "Don't be upset, I didn't meant it that way." But nope, I too, overreacted.

Anyway, everything was fine the next morning, which is good... but I really need to change. I am so stubborn, I annoy myself. And one of these days, he will get tired of it. I really need to manage my temper and say sorry even when it's not my fault ;D

As for the commercial shoot, it went really great! It was a long day but everybody worked hard and it showed. The Hubby did a rough edit and it looked amazing! And hilarious!! I can't wait until it's finalized so that I can show my friends and family and force everyone to vote!!

We didn't go out that evening, we took a break and watched some of our taped programs and had an early night.

The next day (Sunday), I skipped Church (yikes) and went out for breakfast with The Hubby. I love having breakfasts with him. Soon after, we went over to The Mentor's home and proceeded with the pilot meeting. That went on for about 4 hours. Afterwards, we did a little bit of grocery shopping and headed home. We watched a few shows, did a couple of chores and went to bed early again.

Overall, a good weekend but I am really craving for a quiet one.

This upcoming week will be pretty busy too. Girls night out on Saturday!

Almost famous.

Today is a beautiful fall day.

The sky is blue, the sun is shining and the air is cool and crisp. I guess it also reminds me of spring but without the sounds of orange leaves rustling across the sidewalk.

It's Friday and I cannot wait until the day is over. Work isn't so busy, so I've been emailing back and forth with The Hubby and a couple of his friends (I guess our friends).

A couple of months ago, we released the third webisode and did virtually nothing afterwards. The summer started and you know, everyone got busy. A few weeks ago, Paranormal Guy (because I think he looks like the guy in P.aranormal S.tate), called The Hubby and asked if he would be interested in pitching the show to a local network. The Hubby was all for it.

Long story short, they loved it. They are giving us free airtime on their network which is awesome, awesome, awesome. Even though it's a young and small network (since 1996), it's a huge leap for many of us. The Hubby and his good friend The Mentor have put a lot of effort into this and it's crazy to see where one little project has turned into something bigger.

Will it ever hit the big networks? At this point, we are hopeful.

So the past few weeks, we've been busy working on writing the pilot episode. Hopefully by the time we're done, the local network will still honour their offer (there's no contract) and also pitch it to other networks.

Now that it has become a little more serious, the group has become a little more serious. Without going into details, we've experienced a few highs and lows, and a couple of arguments between The Hubby and I. It's very difficult to move forward when everyone is not on the same page.

Anyway, we're taking it day by day. We have our third meeting on Sunday and hopefully we will accomplish a lot. It would be nice to start writing the pilot but right now, we need to discuss our characters and their stories.

Well then, enough rambling.

Have a great weekend!!