Tightening the old wallet

Whenever I have money "trouble" it always comes at the worst time. I just got paid, which is usually a great time of the month, but on top of the fact that rent is due and I need an oil change soon, someone else has used my debit card and now I have to stop using that account. This is the account I use for pretty much every purchase in my life. It's linked to my all my bills and automatic payments. Now I have to switch those account to my credit card for a bit, which inevitably means I will end up spending more money than I mean to.

Thus, I have decided to try and curb my spending habits. Here are some things to do for free while I wait this out:

--Go for a walk around the neighborhood. Good for both the body & soul.

--Go to the zoo. Why yes, this costs money, but I have a membership to the LA Zoo, so in essence, it is free for me.

--Watch the many movies that I have in my own DVD collection.

--Watch movies/TV on my Netflix Instant.

--Work on my puzzle.

--Go for a drive... whether it be along the beach or up in the mountains. This will cost me gas money, but that is hard to avoid.

--Clean the house. Not very fun, but necessary.

--File my taxes. Again, really not fun, but I will get a rebate in the end.

--Catch up on reading. I'm about 4 months behind in Newsweeks and have a lot of books I want to get through.

--Craft! ...but I have to be sure to restrain myself from buying anything new.

--Use my gift card to Whole Foods.

--Use my gift card to Starbucks.

--Watch the Clippers and Kings on TV.

If anyone else has any ideas, please let me know!

I Love LA!

Let's get optimistic! Here are some things I love about LA.

First, as much as I hate to admit it, I feel like I'm living at the epicenter of things. Los Angeles is the 2nd largest (population-wise) city in the United States. I've never lived in a big city before. Scatch that, I lived in Florence for four months... but European life is vastly different from American living. The Big City is very different from suburban America. In the year and a half that I have lived here, I've been to 3 baseball games, 3 hockey games, 4 basketball games, and 1 college football game. In my entire 22 years living in Michigan, I've been to many college football and hockey games, but only a few professional games. It's a little easier to make it to Staples Center or Dodger Stadium when it's only 10 miles away, rather than 70. Although it could end up taking just as long to get from West LA to downtown as it would to get from Haslett to Detroit (thanks for ruining my positive moment, Traffic).

Point is, I've never been to a home Red Wings or Pistons game, but I've seen the Pistons 3 times in LA and the Wings twice. As a sports fan, this thrills me to death. Because LA attracts people like me, there are many "outsiders," people who haven't grown up in the area. It is definately a lot more fun being the away team when you already have a mini fan base living in that city.

A good and bad part of living in LA is the element of danger. Without danger, life would be boring. Not that I welcome someone coming at me with a knife... but I think we can all use a little excitement once in awhile. This is one reason I love rainstorms/snowstorms/etc. It's fun to break a record. It's fun to be stuck somewhere and have things to complain about to your friends. Instead of weather issues, LA has earthquakes, fires, and car chases.

Last year, I decided to take a slightly longer, yet less stressful, way home from work. I ended up at the end of a high speed chase. Kind of cool to get home and pick out my car on the helicopter cam online. Just today, I was able to watch a 2 hour pursuit of a woman who stole a U-Haul truck and proceeded to drive all over LA County. Watching her get tackled by the cops will probably be the highlight of my week.

El Pollo Loco is chicken from heaven. I have to be careful though, because I can be sucked into a week-long El Pollo Loco binge. Danger, Will Robinson! Step away from the BRC!

I love the beach. I never thought I was a beach person until I moved to Los Angeles. Although I was lucky enough to grow up in a state with five beautiful, giant lakes, I was really only able to visit them about once or twice a year. In LA, the beaches are open year round. Now, I have never been swimming in the Pacific. It's too cold in the winter and usually the sea air is enough to cool me down in the summer, but I am completely content to just stroll up and down the sand... or maybe fly a kite or build a sand castle.

Los Angeles isn't my favorite town in the world and God knows I'm not Little Miss Sunshine, but I do encourage everyone to try to fall in love with just a few things in the place you live. If you find that you absolutely cannot (or will not), move! It's really not that hard... and it will make you a lot happier in the long run. I'm not staying here forever. But I've found a couple things that make life a lot sweeter.

So....

I was just watching Defiance, the new WWII movie with Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell. No spoilers, but at one point in the movie, a lookout spotted the German police and I thought, "Too bad he doesn't have a cell phone so he can warn the others."

Now I'm sitting at home, wondering if I should upgrade to a 2-at-a-time Netflix package... like I don't already have enough electronic things to entertain me: two TVs, a DVR, my own DVDs, X-Box 360, PlayStation 2, computer, iPod, Tetris on my cell phone... Not to mention instant viewing from Netflix on my Roku.

I was eating Campbell's chicken noodle soup earlier today and wondered what someone who had been working in the fields all day back in the 1800s would think of my lunch. They would probably fall over from lack of nutrients.

I'm not one to be resistent to technology or dwell on the past too much. I think there is always going to be something wrong, no matter what time we live in. I just know that as I sit here... writing on my laptop, checking the Wings score, and watching the Clippers on TV... there are a lot of things I'm not appreciative of and a lot of things that I probably appreciate too much.

3-5 Minute Meals with Meg

Somehow today's conversation at lunch became about my eating habits. Kind of ironic considering I was eating a chicken sandwich and apple, while my two friends were having re-heated pasta and salad and a Lean Pocket.

Anyhoo.

During this lunch, I apparently baffled my co-workers with my eating habits (what I cook and do not cook). I will try to explain some of this here.

First off, I hardly ever "cook." I only started making my own meals about a year and a half ago because I lived in the dorm all throughout college. I always helped my mom make dinner up until I was 18, but she usually did most of the stuff that required getting some stove-action. The most common meals that I eat now are: soup (heated in the microwave) and cheese, sometimes with a vegetable or fruit. Lean Cuisine (my favorite is sesame chicken). Hormel Beef Roast heated in the microwave, usually with corn from the frozen aisle or in a can. Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti. Drink of choice: skim milk. Always perfect. I just tried a Cafe Steamer from Healthy Choice, which was chicken breast, broccoli, and linguine with roasted red pepper sauce (I sound like the commercial). It was very tasty. And quick. Quick is the key. You can't have a meal with Meg if it is not quick.

And by quick, I mean under 5 minutes. Really. None of this "10 minute to prep, 10 minutes to make" crap. That is too long for me to wait. I get off work at 7:00pm on weeknights, which means I am usually home between 7:45-8:30 (depending on traffic and stops I make along the way home). By the time I get home, I have not eaten a meal in 5-6 hours. I am hungry now. I am tired now. I have new TV to watch now. I have a craft project I want to work on now. I want to watch the Pistons-the-one-time-they-are-on-TV-in-LA now. You get the picture. The easiest and tastiest thing for me to do at this point is pop something in the microwave. It gets the job done and then I am onto something else for the evening.

I am not against cooking (although I understand it seems that way from what I wrote above). I just do not like to spend the time or effort to make something every night of the week. Or even 3 or 4 nights. Besides it being so late by the time I get home, I usually don't make food for anyone other than me. I don't particularly like leftovers, so it seems like a waste to make a meal for just me. Another criticism of my eating habits is that I won't know how to make food for my future children. First, I do not have kids right now. Second, I do not see myself having kids in the near future, so I have plenty of time to learn. And lastly, there will be others to help me make food when the time finally does come.

I am also a pretty picky eater. I am willing to try most any food once, but if I don't like, I don't like it. And I don't want to eat it again. I hate tomatoes and mushrooms. I like to shave the outer green off a cucumber and then cut away the middle to eat only the edges (hate the seeds). I don't like stems in my lettuce. I just want a flat piece of lettuce. Emeril agrees with me, so back off on this one. I don't like vegetables much in general... carrots, broccoli, potatoes, red/green/orange peppers, and corn are probably the best. I hate the fat on meat or the little veins inside (bleh). I don't like cooking with wine because I can taste the alcohol in my food.

And now for a list of things I have made in the past (and will again the future). By "make" I mean that I have to put stuff together and usually have to cook at least a portion of it on the stove.

--Salmon with light mayo and onion salt on top. This is amazing. Please try it, even though it sounds gross.
--Spaghetti and sauce.
--Ramen noodles with chunk cheese.
--Chili, chips, and cheese (add lettuce).
--Chicken breast and corn.
--Pumpkin pie from a recipe.
--I like to bake cakes, cookies, and brownies from boxes.
--I have no made my mom's lasagna yet, but I plan to do this sometime in the near future.


Conclusion: I do not like making meals because it is not something I am particularly fond of and it is not how I want to spend my evening after a long day at work. I think things would be different if I got off work earlier or if I had someone to cook/eat with. I am still a youngin' though and have many more years to experiment with making food.

MI CA

While I have lived in approximately 9 different homes throughout my life so far, I have only lived in 3 drastically different places (Michigan, Italy, and now California). While visiting Michigan over the holidays, I was constantly reminded of major differences (and similarities) between my hometown of Haslett, Michigan and my current residence, Los Angeles, California.

The one thing I really hated about Michigan (and cold climates in general) are my poor feet freezing on a car ride. After about 10-15 minutes, my toes begin to freeze and go numb. I can't feel them anymore, even while constantly moving them! Although I still get cold feet and hands in LA (thanks to my circulation problem), it is not nearly as bad as it was in the mitten.

Other bad side effects of cold weather: chapped lips and wet pant legs. I do not miss the salt drying on my jeans and then turning them gray and stiff below the ankles.

A good thing about cold weather: I think it creates a stronger "stock" of people. I have heard many times, whether it be someone telling me I am one of these people or through a story from a friend, that people from the Midwest are highly sought out in California. We are seen as hard workers. I always thought that was stupid until I went home this Christmas. It is so damn hard getting on all that cold weather clothing... and then immediately taking it off when you get inside for fear your will boil to death. It takes a strong willed person to want to do that several times per day, 5-7 months of the year.

A similarity between the two states: the quality of local television is about the same in both Michigan and California. The anchors still bumble for their lines and the commercials.... well, let's just say they breed crazy wherever you live. (Michigan: see Terry Hanks. California: see Leeds Mattress Store)

I always miss NCG Cinemas. I get hooked on a movie theater for some reason or other and once I get hooked, I just can't stay away. In Haslett, it is NCG. I'm reminded of all the movies I saw there in high school and during breaks in college. I just love it there, it feels like home. It doesn't hurt that tickets are only $5 during the week too.

Some things I missed about CA while I was in Haslett (and all over Michigan): the Clippers (please don't kill me), football being on at 5pm (it's hard to wait until 8!), and friends. Usually I get overwhelmed with being busy or just do not feel comfortable at home anymore (it's an independence thing). I think this is the first time I have been home (since going off to college) that I felt like I was where I needed to be. It was time to go back to LA when it was time, but I was fine being home for a time. Maybe things are just working out the way they are supposed to.