Insane Random Ramblings

Ugh. Lately I’ve been on a junk food kick. Every week when I go to the store it’s a different thing. A few weeks ago it was fruit, which isn’t bad. Then it was chips last week. This week it’s cookies. Not just any cookies, but Famous Amos chocolate chip with pecans. They are so good. I’ve been looking online for cookie recipes to see if I can make them at home. I know they wouldn’t come out as good so I won’t even bother.

I know I’m allergic to chocolate and I’m gonna pay for this sooner or later. But for now, I’ll just enjoy the cookies.

Today is payday. Yay for that! That means that everyone will be shopping like crazy today and tomorrow. Stores in the area will be having sales and everyone will hand out promotional products to try to get you into their stores. I never shop on payday, I always wait until the beginning of the next week because you can find better deals.

I will however go out for lunch with my coworkers. I haven’t been food shopping at all this week and I don’t want what I have (a enchilada meal). I’ve never had that before and I don’t want to upset my stomach while I’m at work. I’m not sure where we’re going for lunch yet. I just hope it’s somewhere good.

Woohoo. Anything to do with food is exciting. I wrote a post back in April about IHOP coming to Pittsburgh. Finally. I just read in the paper that they are about to start building another IHOP in the area. It would actually be much closer to where I live. Instead of going to Robinson, it would be in Shadyside or Squirrel Hill. That’s practically around the corner from where I live now.

It would be so convenient to be able to get to IHOP within 15 minutes. I know I would be there way more often than I go now. Unfortunately they have to build it so it won’t be open until mid to late 2009. But for good food, I can definitely wait.

It’s not abnormal and it doesn’t require some crazy restrictive diet. If I cook I’ll learn how to lose weight because my cooking stinks. Today I cooked a smothered chicken dinner. It was one of those boxed dinners where you add your own meat. I cooked the chicken which came out fine. Then I added the rice and water mixture and stirred well.

I went into the livingroom and came back 5 minutes later and re-stirred the mix. Another 5 minutes passed and I went to stir it again and it had started burning and sticking to the pan. I took it off of the heat early and just let the water absorb into the rice.

It didn’t taste bad at all. But I knew it was burned. Every once in a while, you might get a crunchy scoop. Ooops hehehe. The next time I won’t season the chicken since that’s what cause the mixture to stick and burn. The rice is already flavored so it shouldn’t taste bad.

And my mom wonders why I don’t cook!

So I keep trying to lose weight and nothing is working. I’ve started exercising and I’ve cut back on junk food. I also cut back on soda - even though you probably can’t tell from My Friday Five post. But I have in recent weeks. The weight still hasn’t come off though, not even a little.

The Special K diet is where you eat 2 bowls of cereal for meals and then a regular meal for dinner. I’ll probably throw some fruit and veggies in there for snacks. I know that won’t be enough food for me. I’ve been reading up on the diet and they really want you to do it something like one day on then one day off after the first week. This way you can maintain it and you’re not starving yourself.

I’ll give it 6 weeks to start working, with exercise involved of course. Then it’s on the the anoretix, slim-quick or whatever else I can find for rapid weight loss. This fat is slowing me down and I can feel my body not responding the way it should be. I’m just not healthy and I want this extra weight gone. Sooner rather than later.

You would think that since we just got back from vacation that I would want home cooked food, but I don’t. Right now I have a taste for a Chili’s steak. They put this steak butter on them that is so good. We spent so much money this past weekend that I really don’t want to spend any more money than I have to. We don’t need any food for lunch so we don’t have to go shopping. And yes we do have food in the house, I just don’t want any of it.

We might take a little trip to the mall or something and get something to eat. We can also browse around the mall and look at clothes, air tools, or sneakers. I really need a new pair of white and/or blue sneakers. I have 3 pairs right now. One pair is pink so I don’t wear them very often. Another pair is blue and they’re cracked down along the seam so they have to go. The last pair is starting to crack across the top and down in the front by the toes. I should only have to spend about $35 or $40 on a new pair.

But I’m not doing anything else until I eat.

We’re used to going to Ohio to go to IHOP. It’s really not that far, it only takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes if that. The one in Pittsburgh is almost 45 minutes away so it’s just a little bit further to Ohio.

We get spoiled at the other locations. It’s probably because there aren’t as many customers so they can really focus on each table. They bring a carousel with condiments to the table as well as a container of warm melted syrup for the pancakes. What’s funny is yesterday I ate John’s pancakes. He had 3 and I only had 2. I didn’t know how many he was supposed to have so when they accidently switched the plates we didn’t know. I do know that those pancakes were good though.

I do know that I better put my new car insurance card in the car before we go anywhere else. My old car expires on Wednesday and I know I won’t remember. I’ll probably just put the card near my keys so when I grab my keys, I’ll grab the car too. I fully expect that we’ll go somewhere before Wednesday.

I went out to lunch by myself today because I was starving. I started to go somewhere quick like Mc Donald’s or Wendy’s. I changed my mind and decided to go to Chili’s and I’m glad I did. I had the steak, potatoes and broccoli meal. The steak was so tender.

I didn’t get dessert because the meal was so filling even though I really wanted one. They have these little glasses that they fill with desserts that are yummy. I usually get the cheesecake one. It’s only $2.00 or 3 for $5.49. I thought I would make myself sick so I decided against it .

Afterwards I went window shopping to try to walk off some of the food. I saw several home gyms that caught my attention. Then I thought that it was probably just the food talking so I kept shopping. I was really looking for a air conditioner but there were none out that were reasonably priced. Maybe I’ll find one before it gets hot. I live on the third floor so it stays hot in my apartment.

I had a pretty good day. Now I’m sitting back watching baseball. Yanks vs the Red Sox. It should be a good game, especially if the Yankees win.

First let me say that I love IHOP. There are plenty of other places that serve pancakes and/or breakfast food, but none of them compare. I found out that they were here by accident. A coworker was talking about IHOP and mentioned that one had just opened in the Robinson Town Center. I looked online and sure enough it’s here.

I called and they had a 30 minute wait for a table. We decided to go for a drive and visited the one we usually go to in Ohio. After we got home I called to find out why we hadn’t heard about the restaurant. It was just like John thought it was. They had a “soft” opening last week. A soft opening is where they open and serve food but they don’t announce that they’re in the area. It’s mostly to work out the kinks before they do their big splash into the area. They’re going to do the grand opening in another week or so.

Even though we didn’t go there this week, I’m super excited that it’s a option for the future.

I ran out of lunch items. I have enough food for breakfast and I have food for dinner at home. But when we went shopping this past weekend, I didn’t buy any frozen lunches because I thought I had enough at home. It turns out I only had 2 left in the freezer.

We did buy other food like hamburger and deli meat. We also got cleaning supplies for the house, and we looked at acne treatments for John but he doesn’t really need them. He has pretty clear skin so this 1 pimple he has is driving him crazy. Meanwhile I’m rolling my eyes because I have teenager skin with zits all over.

Now that I think about it, we really didn’t buy much. I’ll probably head to the store today instead of waiting until this weekend. That way I’ll have lunch for tomorrow and Friday. I much prefer bringing my lunch with me. That way I don’t have to go out looking for anything, standing in those long lunch-times lines and trying to figure out what I have a taste for that day.

I do have a taste for a baked potato today so I’ll hit Wendy’s for that and some chili. That should be a pretty filling lunch.