Occupying time

Because my life consists of barely waking up, going to work, checking my mail for medical school news and watching everything on my Tivo, I decided to take up a few activities to fill my time. Cleaning is the most important one and probably the one that will see the smallest playing time. My apartment is a disaster and it is about time I got my life in order. I need to get rid of a lot of crap, but I also need to be more diligent about cleaning in general. More than once I've had people (people who know me well, I might add) come into my apartment, glance around and ask me in all seriousness, "Are you depressed?" If that is what my apartment is saying about me I need to seriously reconsider either my mental health or my design scheme.

I've started doing more knitting. This either makes me an old woman who is in the market for cats or a trendy hipster who is on her way to knitting a blanket that will cover the world in peace and love. I made my first real hat (the first attempt ended up looking like something Marylou Who would wear) over Christmas and it wasn't half bad. I am attempting another hat with some interesting accoutrements so we will see how that goes.
Lastly, I have decided it is time for me to become familiar with my kitchen. It's never been so much that I can't cook, but more that I have a secret (or not so secret if you've ever ridden in my car) love affair with McDonalds and I am lazy. As I drive home from work, McDonalds starts its siren song and I am lured in. But since the new year, I have successfully (except for 2 minor indiscretions) avoided McDonalds and feasted on my own creations at home. Now, for the most part, "my own creations" means macaroni and cheese, sloppy joes or a can of soup. Not necessarily rocket science, though their deliciousness quotiant cannot be ignored. But last night I figured it was high time to bring out my crock pot and go to town. Crock pots are the most wonderful things because it is virtually impossible to mess up your food in them. They cook everything beautifully. You just throw in a few ingredients in the morning, turn it on and then voila, you have a home cooked meal for when you get home at night. I made Coq Au Vin last night for my friends Caleb and Shannon. Caleb has meat and cheese restrictions (!!) so chicken was the clear choice. The only thing that would have made this meal perfection would have been the addition of goat cheese, but then again, what meal without goat cheese could ever reach perfection? I'm pretty impressed with myself, to say the least. Meals for the upcoming days include: Icelandic hot dogs (they are lamb) with all the Icelandic trimmings (Michelle just returned from their and brought back some goodies), beer cheese soup and chicken pot pie with cornbread topping. I cannot wait.