Tag Archives: Layla

The Funk Phenomena

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1. I forgot to mention yesterday about this sort of cool thing. Tyler ate McDonalds. No, that is not the cool thing, but I’m getting to that part. You see, when I’m not in the house around dinner time, Tyler cheats on me. I came home from teaching at the Y last week and I asked if he wanted me to make him a smoothie. He said no, he wasn’t hungry. I asked him if he had any dinner and he said he snuck to McDonalds when I left. My jaw dropped and my head started to shake, but he had what he thought was a legitimate excuse: the Monopoly game was back. AND he won. I asked if he won a McMuffin, which is basically not winning, and he said no, he won 2 free 5×7 prints from snapfish.ca. 

“Ok” I thought to myself, “I can use this!”

So yesterday, I got online (shocker) and ordered two prints. And shipping was free.

2. Naturally, I followed up this venture with a trip to Michael’s for some craft frame project, but I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. I had a coupon, too! Wahhh.

3. I made these puppies to accommodate dinner last night (which was salad topped with spicy pulled chicken)

 

Cornbread Jalapeno Poppers

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 6 jalapenos
  • cornbread mix (I used the entire box, and baked the rest as muffins to freeze for later)
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1.5 cups shredded cheddar
  • GLOVES

Here’s what you do:

  1. Put on gloves and cut each jalapeno in half (lengthwise). Remove veins and seeds.
  2. Mix the cornbread according to box directions (ugh I always make mine from scratch, or use Jiffy mix, but I couldn’t find Jiffy anywhere here! Another sad face for Canada), mix in the corn and one cup of cheese.
  3. Scoop the mixture and place in each jalapeno. Top with remaining cheese
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

 

(Tyler didn’t like them. I’m thinking he was secretly hoping they were full of cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. That’s for next time!)

4. I had a really sweaty at-home workout last night.

 

(The stability ball followed me into the bathroom, apparently)

I started with about 40 minutes of kickboxing, and rounded out with a 20 minute full body strength session. I started laughing at the beginning of my kickboxing workout, because the first song was The Funk Phenomena (I linked to the YouTube ‘video’ so you can listen to it if you have no idea what I am talking about). I went through the song 2x because I was laughing so hard.

“Jen, why were you laughing?”

“Because he sounds like he’s saying Tha Fu Fa Na Ma Na instead of The Funk Phenomena!” (Leave it to me to make everything childish.) I was also super hyper, so I was adding some crazy hip action to this routine.

5. When I went back home in August, I dedicated a full day to take care of formally important stuff. I had to contact every insurance company I used for car insurance (to provide Tyler’s insurance company with proof that I have been driving x-number of years with 0 claims- so that my payment would be reduced) I had a lot of insurance companies, because I was always reviewing to see who could provide me with the cheapest rate. Oh, and the coverage I had under my parents when I was in college- that company doesn’t even exist anymore, so that was fun trying to track down.

I also had to deal with all the health insurance bills that SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM. You see, my health coverage from my employer in the states covered one annual physical and one annual ‘lady exam’ (cough cough, yaknowwhatimsayin, cough cough). So, I went for my lady exam in September 2011 and was billed $289. UM THAT’S NOT ACCEPTABLE. So I went to my HR department to bitch about it, and they just told me to call the doctor’s office, who then told me to call the billing office, who then told me to contact my health insurance company…blah blah blah. This went on for almost a year. Finally, I was contacted by someone in HR who said they screwed up and incorrectly entered my social security number. And that’s why I kept getting billed.

I also went in for a routine check up at my doctor and was billed $110. For what? She basically took my blood pressure and asked if I ‘felt safe at home.’ Dumb questions that doctors ask these days.

Long story short, I spent 6 hours on the phone when I was home in August, trying to straighten everything out. I had people send me receipts and confirmation that everything was settled.

And then this weekend, my dad messages me saying I had another bill from them in the mail.

NO, AMERICA. YOU ARE SO SUCKY AT HEALTH INSURANCE.

YAY, CANADA. YOU GIVE ME MEDS FOR FREE AND ARE NICE TO ME.

6. Since I love to tell funny stories, I’ve got another one for you today. You see, I used to be fat.

 

(Source)

Ok, well not ‘fat’ but I ate a lot of calzones and chocolate covered raisins and drank a LOT of beer in college. And I broke my foot junior year which didn’t help, either. My highest weight was just a hair under 200 pounds. I kid you not. So to all you boys out there I made out with in college- you’re welcome. You must have been drinking a lot of beer then, too.

I went through phases of over-exercising, and no exercising, and weight watchers, etc. It wasn’t until after I graduated and moved into my own place did I realize the importance of what I was eating. And it wasn’t until I got certified in group fitness did I get the importance of my fitness.

And now, I am more than 50 pounds lighter than I was in college. Hooray! (And I still drink beer and eat Nutella, imagine that!)

7. My dog is crazy.

 

Tell me something random in the comments!

(Don’t forget to like my facebook page, follow me on instragram and twitter @nutcaseinpoint)

Weekend Recap

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Ah, the Sunday blues. The worst feeling. Except for probably childbirth, but I haven’t done that yet.

Cute pictures of my dog help a little bit.

 

She has entirely too many toys. Tyler brought her home a big bright pink one that’s name Silly, but I haven’t snapped a pic of it yet. (He brought me Moroccan Oil! What a gem of a guy #lovehim. And yes, I just used a hashtag)

Oh hey, and look what I Tyler installed (I helped)

 

Light! Glorious, bright, light! You have no idea how excited we were to get this puppy up. The hallway is just too dang dark, and we are still pretty painted-out from the living room/dining room/bathroom, that we haven’t tackled a brighter color for this space.

Sidenote: I did NOT know Rock of Ages was adapted from a musical. I was not prepared to watch over 2 hours of singing. oof

Sidenote#2: Never have a valued the performance of a humidifier more than now. Hello, boogerless sleeps!

Here’s a funny story: We took Layla to our favorite park yesterday. It’s completely fenced in, there are other dogs she can play with, and it’s close to the river so she can take a swim (and by that, I mean lay in the water).

Anyways, we get to the park and there is a tent set up. It was a little thing promoted by the city(?) to educate people on how to properly clean up after their pets. Ummm, what? I’m pretty sure it goes like this:

  1. Have bag.
  2. Dog poops.
  3. Put hand in bag and pick up poop.
  4. Flip the bag inside out, tie a knot, and throw bag away.

Guess people don’t know about that little trick.

I also guess that wasn’t really a funny story, but I thought it needed to be told.

On an unrelated note, I had a really great workout after the walk. I completed 40 minutes of crazy intense spinning and then since I was pressed for time, I did a quick set of bulgarian split squats, elevated squats, hamstring extensions, single-legged dead lifts, and clean and jerks. This may sound weird, but when I have a set of muscles that feel tight, I actually like working some strength on them because it feels like stretching. Silly, yes, but it works for me. Now my hammies feel fantastical.

(Insert brief pause here, while I go downstairs to change the laundry)

Oh hey, date night!

 

I clean up pretty decent. I’ll admit, I don’t get myself ‘done up’ too much these days, but DAMN it feels good to be a gangsta.

 

He looks pretty slick himself.

Tyler got a Groupon for Koiji Restolounge. Poor guy has had a mean craving for sushi, but hasn’t had it in forever since I’m not a seafood person. And then, I caved and told him I’d give it a go. The restaurant was small, but it was super nice, and the waitstaff was really friendly. Helped take the edge off, for sure.

Not gonna lie, I was nervous.

We ordered an avocado roll, 2 California rolls (avocado and snow crab), a spicy tuna roll, Alberta (beef, arugula and cucumber), and Tuscany (cream cheese, sun-dried tomato and something else).

 

 

 

a.) I suck at using chopsticks.

b.) Around the 6th piece, I had a nasty gag reflex and needed to gulp my wine and take a breather.

c.) I love wasabi.

 

I’m not in love with sushi now, but I can definitely tolerate it. This made Tyler a very happy man. (Is it weird to still taste seaweed the next day? Because I do)

Fast forward through the night, and here we are. Sunday football, pumpkin pancakes, homework (gag reflex at its finest), and watching a man jump from space.

 

That man is crazy!

What did you do this weekend? What’s your favorite sushi?

Clusterfuhhhh of stuff

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Too many things to catch up on. How to start. Where to start. Maybe I’ll just make it a big clusterf*ck of stuff. Here we go:

POMEGRANATES. Tyler found them at the grocery store and I squealed (like a delighted child, not like a pig…though there are minor differences)

 

So we rounded out our Saturday night with pom boozy drinks and betting on teams for Sunday football (fast forward: I only got TWO wrong. Damn Colts and stupid Texans. more on that..)

 

 

Sunday I took Layla for a long walk, finished up some HW (I swear to god if I have to write one more graduate level paper on Wal-Mart I will kill myself. Granted, this is my last class so chances are slim, but there are 7 weeks left, so you never know!) and we got to working on our Canadian Thanksgiving feast.

Since we were pretty much parked in front of the football games all day, and inhaled a ton of Coors lights, it only made sense that we set our coffee table instead of the dining room table for dinner.

 

I then proceeded to fill up my plate, and kill my digestive system (no joke)

 

“What’s all that on your plate” you ask? Well I was just about to tell you.

 

Well, of course there’s the turkey. Which Tyler prepared wonderfully. And we have another in the freezer for American Thanksgiving next month!

 

Jelly. I would normally make from scratch, but since Tyler doesn’t eat it, I didn’t bother. Besides, this is easier to slice for leftover sandwiches!

 

Potatoes from scratch (DA BOMB- said in the same tone to ‘DA BEARS’ ahha I crack myself up)

 

Green bean casserole. This was a must since I first introduced this to Tyler when I came to visit him here in Calgary during American Thanksgiving last year. It is his favorite (methinks)

 

Red cabbage that Tyler’s mom makes. I had never had it before, and he told me it was best when mixed with the mashed potatoes. And boy, that didn’t disappoint. It was soooo good!

 

Stuffing. So good, and yet so not good for you. Whatever, it’s Thanksgiving and the scale hasn’t budged. (Seriously, I’m not kidding. I ate all that, drank tons, and the number on that scale? The same. I thought it was broken, but I had Tyler try it out and I moved it around the house just to make sure)

Oh, and I did make my mom’s killer apple pie. I was nervous I didn’t make it up to par, but it came out fantastic!

 

The crust was made from scratch and everything. I am a badass betty crocker in the kitchen.

 

Thanksgiving was a success.

Yesterday, I made us some yumtascular pumpkin pancakes for us. After I woke up the two lovebirds from their embrace, that is.

 

I was feeling so confident in my kitchen abilities, that I smothered those fluffy things with Nutella. OMG was that the best decision I have ever made or what. So good. So so good.

 

Layla was given scraps of tons of stuff this weekend and I think she is still in a coma. Or she could still be feeling the effects of our 3.5 mile run on Saturday and our crazy long and hilly walk on Sunday.

 

K, that should satisfy your nutcaseinpoint sweet tooth for now, I have things to do! And vodka to drink.

Quite the little Saturday

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Last night’s beers were tragically strong which made for an awful night’s sleep. Ah well, it wasn’t like I had to wake up for work or anything (let’s all take a moment and laugh, since I haven’t had a paying job since Feb 9, aka: the most glorious day of my life)

Tyler and I grabbed coffee at Tim Horton’s and headed down to the Calgary corn maze to get us some pumpkins. We were the only people there without children.

Because I am an awesome money-saver, we headed over to Michael’s and used my 50% off coupon to get some pumpkin carving crap.

And a rake (not from Michael’s) because we are domestic like that.

I don’t know if you know this, but pumpkin picking and rake buying are very labor intensive. When things are labor intensive, you work up an appetite. What I’m trying to say is- we got HANGRY.

What better place to fix that problem then to head over to our fave place, Brewster’s.

Tyler got the Crispy Chicken Ranch burger and I got the Maui burger. Pretty convenient they were next to each other on the menu for me to take a picture. Tyler also had an Oktoberfest beer (he loved- said there wasn’t any aftertaste) and I had the Raspberry Ale (our favorite). And we waited for food to be served.

Then, food was served. Imagine that.

This was my Maui burger. I tossed the top part of the bun, and still only got through about half of it. We were those people, and took the rest of my meat home for Layla.

After a few more stops (Safeway, home improvement store, liquor store) we finally got home.

And I decided to be awesome and take the dog for a run. Note: my dog is horrible on the leash and in the 3 years I have had her, I had yet to attempt a run with her.

32 minutes later, we both finished a 3.5 mile run! I have a feeling tonight Layla will sleep around 17 hours instead of her usual 13.

Now, Saturday is drawing to a close, and I am was just sitting here taking one of my weekly quizzes for one of my courses and Tyler is in the basement in the closet installing a humidifier. We lead quite the exciting life.

And tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I gotta make pie.

Winter is here and I hate pants

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Yesterday morning was terrible. Terrible in the sense that I was reminded of WINTER.

 

 

 

 

 

Layla loved it though. She was stretching in it, and plowing her nose in it. And basically wouldn’t leave the front patio for about an hour. I, meanwhile, was wrapped in blankets and guzzling coffee and sitting in front of one of the vents all morning trying to keep warm.

I finally got my ish together and had a phone conference with one of my professors. I couldn’t help but picture this lady from Go On.

 

(Source)

 

The one on the far right. She is who I think my prof looks like. And now I can’t get it out of my head.

Looks like Friday night tacos might have to be changed to fajitas because of the dang beef recall. As if beef here wasn’t expensive enough.

I taught the first session of my new class last night (FYI Calgarians: I am now teaching TRX on Tuesdays at 5:30pm and HEAT on Wednesdays at 5:15pm at the Eau Claire YMCA). I had a pretty good turn out, considering the class wasn’t advertised. And I am not allowed to play my own music. (it’s about some stupid law that the Y has to own the music that is played on premise, blah blah blah) I tried to keep this first class pretty basic because I wanted to assess the fitness level of my participants, and it seems like I might be able to play around with my format a bit. I know I got  great workout, and the mile or so walk back to my car was a nice stretch. And beautiful, might I add.

 

 

And now I must cut my rant short because I have just decided to hit up the mall and buy pants. Yup, the thing that I hate most in life. P-A-N-T-S. I hate buying them, I hate wearing them, I hate the idea of them. But the pants I managed to bring to Calgary with me no longer fit and it’s starting to get a tid bit nipply out, so I think I must grin and bear the torture.

Don’t forget to “Like” my facebook page by Oct 12 to be automatically be entered to win a prize! (It’s a good one. Plus, getting mail is always fun. Unless Tyler randomly wins, in which case, I’ll just throw it on his side of the bed or something.)