Today was supposed to be busy and filled with doing some independent contractor work. But it snowed pretty much all day. So that didn’t happen.
I spent the day playing with the cat, doing some work on my Facebook pages, and I took a bath. Now I’m watching 20/20 on Hulu and laying under my ‘fairy lights’. It’s been a good day. Work tomorrow, but for now just relaxing. S
I was craving bacon hard today.
It didn’t help that I made Crack Chicken in the instant pot and I had eaten half the crumbled bacon before it was done. I had an Instacart shift today with no orders, so I was waiting around and hungry, dreaming of bacon. I was given the option of ending my shift early, so I did and went to work cooking the rest of the bacon.
I had bought a loaf of multigrain country bread at the store yesterday. It was a little pricey at $2.99, but it was fresh baked so I figured it was worth the price. This is a nice dense bread. I decided to make a veggie omelette and use the bacon and bread to make a sandwich.
I took a slice of onion, a little broccoli, and two small sweet peppers and diced them into tiny pieces. Cooked them up and threw in two beaten eggs. I added a handful of shredded cheese and let it cook up.
Two slices of bread were toasted, a layer of bacon, the veggie omelette and a smear of salsa. Sliced in half. It was delicious. And cheap.
I’m all about making yummy food and not spending too much money. The two other meals on my list for the next week or so are tacos with precooked chicken in the freezer, spaghetti sauce, and sandwiches. I have yogurt for snacks. Which is good because I’m hungry ALL the time right now.
I got hungry and decided to cook while I was supposed to be writing. I was really just watching tv so cooking was more productive. I had initially planned to make something with my instant pot, but ended up just using the stove top. I made the above sweet meatballs and pasta with cheese sauce. I made it a little differently than normal and it came out well.
The meatballs:
I used one package of frozen mini meatballs. I put them in my pot and added a can of tomato soup. I added about a quarter of a jar of grape jelly, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and then garlic, dried onion, red pepper flakes, and curry powder to my liking. I cooked it until it started to bubble and then lowered it to keep warm while the pasta cooked.
Pasta and cheese sauce:
I cooked the pasta according to the box and then drained and rinsed it. I put it back in the pot, added a can of cheese soup, about a quarter cup of milk, and the seasoned to my liking. It came out well. I had thought that I still had some cheese to add to it, but I couldn’t find it. It must have been eaten at some point.
The meal came out good. My pasta I used was veggie pasta so it also came with a serving of veggies! I had enough for three more meals so I added that to my collection prepped meals to eat.
The first part of my story is being released on my Patreon on March 1st and I’m very nervous. It’s kind of dumb to be since the only person that is at that tier for the story is my grandmother. And my gram would love it anyway, because my gram is very supportive.
I think I’ve shared my rough beginning of Lacey’s Story. I believe you can find it here. WP has read every draft of the first two parts that are written and has made many suggestions. Without actually hiring an editor, we feel that I am presenting the best draft of the story so far. But still I’m nervous…
The first part of Lacey’s Story is going to be released on March 1st on my Patreon campaign. I’m excite but nervous at the same time. I know that many people don’t know that I’ve been writing since I was in middle school, and a lot of people haven’t read what I’ve written before. And here I am, asking them to pay $5 a month, to read this story. The $1 tier gives you access to what I post for Patrons Only and $2 tiers get you access to the blog that I started that gives a peek behind the process of working on this story, details about the characters, and other ideas that are floating around pertaining to the story. Once upon a time, I wanted to be a graphic designer and I was decent at it, so I’m envisioning offering posters and such to go with this story in the future to my Patrons. (This would be WAY into the future)
My Patreon is my way of asking you for support. Without your support, I will not be able to have time to write Lacey’s Story, or any of my other writing projects, as I would be too busy working gig economy jobs in order to make ends meet. I work part time already, as stated previously, and since I cannot survive on part time work, I pick up other ways to make money. I’m at the point in my life that I’d like to be able to do something that I enjoy, but in order to do that, I need to get paid.
This money will go towards keeping me technology updated in order to produce better material. It will also go towards education and professional development. And eventually I’m hoping to be able to produce hard copies of this and other works that I’m working on. I also would like to be able to work with an editor on making these works as perfect as they can be. Also, part of the money would probably go towards groceries. As I like to eat but really can’t afford it. That’s another blog post.
And now you’re probably wondering why I linked Amanda Palmer’s TEDTalk to this post. Well, I look up to her. The reason why is that I love this talk is that she has a point, you don’t know who is willing to support you unless you ask. Support, is not just a financial thing either, sharing someone’s social media page is support, reading and ‘Liking’ is support. Support is just a way of saying “I believe in you.”
So. Lacey’s Story is starting on March 1. And I’m asking for your support in this project. Whether it be as a Patron, or if you share my page, or if you “Like” my author page or posts.
Thank you.
I recently decided to buy myself an electric pressure cooker. My friends all have Instant Pots and they raved about it constantly. The thought that I could make easy, healthy food quickly won me over and I found one on sale that I could afford.
I had to wait a week for it to come in and that was a week filled with anticipation. A friend of mine also started to show me recipes that I could use in it once it came in. I then had to wait for the delivery driver to make three attempts before it was delivered. I kept missing him.
I used it the day it came in. I had country style ribs that were in the freezer that I had gotten on sale. They were still frozen but I had been told that I didn’t have to defrost the meat. I was skeptical but I threw them in anyway. I added some beef bullion and water to the bottom of it. Then I just sprinkled some salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic onto the meat. I drizzled some barbecue sauce on it. Then locked the lid, pressed the meat button and set it for 45 minutes.
The ribs came out amazing. Only 45 minutes from frozen and the meat was falling off the bone! I was so impressed. I then made pasta in the cooker, which took all of five minutes. I just poured the dry pasta in, followed by a jar of sauce. Easiest meal I’ve ever made.
I was going to blog about food tonight but I’ve got a killer head ache that isn’t relenting. Even after a bath to try to loosen the muscles. So food will be another night. A night when I’m not in pain.
These head aches are frequent and its starting to make me irritated at them because nothing much will touch them. I have some pills but they don’t really work well for the pain. I’m not sure what else to do.
So here’s a promise the next time I blog, it will be about easy, cheap meals that I’ve been making. And how wonderful the Instant Pot cooker that I got is.
I’m currently trying to get everything ready for laundry. While trying to write. While trying to get the motivation to clean the kitchen.
I changed the bed sheet from a flannel sheet to a micro fleece one. Miss Murder Kitty seems to like it. She’s been bouncing and chirping all around it.
My brain is so over tired right now it’s not funny. I just want to sleep, but I’ve got so many things I want to do and it all seems overwhelming. So for now I’ll just sit around and watch the cat.
I’m wicked happy that I finished the first part of Lacey’s Story. I just spent the last few hours talking with WP about it and bouncing some ideas. I got a lot to think about but the story line is solid, so now I’m just flushing out the details. I’d like to get a few parts written soon so that I’m ahead of the game.
I need to get a start on producing solid material for my and WP’s project. I’ve written about twenty-five pages and their contributions have made up to forty total pages. I hate being stagnant and I feel that is what has happened in the last few months. I love the characters and I think the new reworking of the story will have so much more to offer. I’m slowly adding pages to this one. I’m working blindly as WP has a lot of the information but is keeping it close to them as the FMC in the story isn’t supposed to know what is actually going on.
And then I’m working on a NSFW story with WP that revolves visiting family around the holidays with your maybe-sometimes-depends-on-the-day significant other. There’s some fun shenanigans going on in that one, and we just use it to blow off steam. I’ve added several pages onto that one recently as I’m so stressed out with everything.
I’m also looking to write some fresh shorts for all of you that follow this blog. I’m trying to write just these blog posts to keep the writing going. But I also want to be able to show off what I can do at the same time, if that makes any sense.
It’s bed time now. We’re apparently having a winter storm, but I haven’t looked outside yet. It’s going to be an early morning as I will have to move the car by 8:30 if we do get more than two inches of snow (predicted 3-5). Then doctor’s appointment at 11:30 (I thought this was earlier in the day) and I start my Instacart shift at noon. I might need to drop that last hour. I’m going to be exhausted. And it’s my only day off from my “real” job this week.
M is for Mo 