We had to turn the heat on. In September!

You would think that after living in Chicagoland for 46 years I’d get used to the unpredictability of the weather.  Now while fall is my favorite season, I like fall like temperatures starting in October, not September. 

That was the temperature when I left for work at 8:00 a.m. yesterday.  So while we got away with starting our wood burning stove last night, this morning I had to turn on the heat.  I think this is the earliest I’ve ever had to turn it on!

My panini maker at work was quite busy this week!  Kind of like when I keep the deep fryer on the counter in the kitchen, suddenly I think of all the fried food I can make!  Breakfast was a thrown together panini.  I had some leftover smoked sausage, spinach, Cabot cheese and an egg.  I used the last of the bread I made last weekend, and using the bread in a panini is perfect because by the end of the week the bread does get a bit dry.

I ran some errands at lunch time.  I finally found a shirt I am going to wear for the cook-off.  I got a whole press sheet from the promotional company with tips.  I can’t wear any multi-colored shirts, shirts with texture, I have to bring flats and high heals, and while they didn’t specifically say that I had to get a manicure, they said to make sure our nails are “camera ready.”  So this afternoon I am getting a manicure. 

Lunch was more leftover butternut squash soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on walnut raisin bread.  So fricken good!

I love the salty/sweet combo of this grilled cheese.  I bought two slices of that bread at Mariano’s for .40 cents.

On my way home from work last night I stopped by Wal-mart to get my eyebrows threaded.  I called Tony and asked if he needed anything and I said “how do you feel about nachos for dinner?”  He replied “nachos isn’t really a dinner.”  So I thought about what we had on hand and decided on Chicago style hot dogs with crinkle cut fries.  The only thing I needed to pick up was hot dog buns and I was out of yellow mustard.  Total score on the mustard – this cost $1.88 and it came with Frank’s hot sauce – perfect purse size!

My hot dog was not a true Chicago style hot dog – I had hot giardinera, celery salt and lots of mustard on mine.

I am not only an Instagram whore, but I am an app whore too.  I’ve been using an iTunes gift card for the longest time to buy apps.  This new one I found is called color splash, and it turns a picture black and white, and you can “color back in” whatever you want.

So I think our wood burning stove will be getting some good use in the near future.  Thanks to our friends who cut down our downed tree, we have lots of firewood.  (Thanks again Maripat and Tom!)

I just need Tony to start it and maintain it.  I tried to add a log to it last night and nearly put the whole fire out!

So I am not sure if I’ll be blogging at all next week while I am in NYC.  (Er, NJ!)  So if you want to follow along my journey, just follow me on Instagram – mybizzykitchen.  Wish me luck!  And thanks for all your votes that got me there!  Hugs!

One more thing:  Skippy this is for you from Tony:

Am I An Idiot?

I do not intentionally do things to hurt people. Now, there are times when I get angry and say inappropriate things, but I usually regret it. During one my recent hospital stays I kind of “went off” on a nurse who wanted to ask my how my stay went. Even though Biz said I acted correctly I felt bad after I did it (oh I did not mention she was very pregnant…Idiot that I am).

I have recently hurt people (verbally) by my writings on social media. People that I care about. I did not do it intentionally, but as we all know when you do it on social media you cannot take it back.

I got Biz mad at me! That is like Seeing Mother Teresa try and kick someone in their manly bits. It just does not happen! By the time I found out what I had done, it was too late. The other person knows what I did, and I don’t need to discuss it further.

So in an effort to end the pain I am backing away from all forms of media for a while. I owe it to all involved!