Tasty, cheap, and filling

My mother's lentil soup: don't eat it a couple days before you have a date or interview. Like all legumes, lentils cause really bad gas, and adding garlic to it just makes it all the more...pungent.

This is a very versatile dish. You can add pretty much any vegetable, and/or spice and/or meat to it that you want. It's high in fiber, iron, and protein, low in calories (even with the bacon) and cost.

1 c. lentils
1/3 c long grain brown rice
1 t minced garlic
EITHER 3 strips bacon (uncooked) OR 1-2 T EVOO*

Sort** and rinse lentils. Add to saucepan. Add rest of ingredients. Heat over high until boiling, then turn down to medium-high for an hour or so, or until the rice is tender. Salt to taste.

If you like your food spicy, add a good, solid pinch of crushed red pepper flakes at the start. You can also add Italian seasoning to this pretty easily. Another good add-in if you want a lot of flavor without a lot of trouble is about a cup of diced ham (can purchase in 16 oz packages, pre-diced), and an envelope of dry onion soup mix.

*Extra Virgin Olive Oil
**Pick out and throw away any black ones.

I hate immature jackasses.

Especially in management positions.  Odysseus isn't going to take the gun shop job, after all.  Go read and commiserate.

What a great combination.

The imp started refusing to eat Friday morning.  I noticed Friday afternoon that he felt a little warm, and sure 'nuff, he was running about a two degree fever.  He's only just started eating again this morning, but his temp is still a bit elevated.

The pixie woke me up at six this morning, and when I went in to feed her, noticed that she was a bit warmer than usual.  And I couldn't find the thermometer.  So I fed her, then gave her a dose of baby acetaminophen, and put her back to bed.  Then, five minutes later, I found the thermometer.  And yes, she is still running a small fever--about two degrees.

And that's after the Tylenol. 

Classes are also starting today for my university.  And  I got my two up and running, have received first assignments from a few of my students (that started on Friday), and checked in with the full-time professor for whom I am a teaching assistant.  I found out from them that our new department head would like to be added to all of the online courses as an observer--and that I needed to add our department head to my colleague's class as well as my own, because they don't know how. 

I also need to get in contact with our IT department, and find out what the bloody fuck happened to my e-mail, and why I can't access my inbox, even following their instructions. 

I hope Odysseus's day goes smoother than mine looks to.

Spectacular.

Odysseus got the job.  Now, all I need to do is find a babysitter to watch the kids for the duration of an NRA banquet that the boss asked him to go to.

Ah, bureaucrats. Geniuses, the lot of them.

Recently, Odysseus applied for a sales position with a gun shop that would be opening up in the area.  The owner plans to deal in STI products (go take a look at their guns--I've got their Spartan, and can't speak highly enough of it), as well as other competition-grade pieces.  That's a niche that our local stores don't cover. 

Well, there's a bit of a hang-up in the store actually opening.  The shop owner is planning to sell both used and new guns--but the city council had them fill out the paperwork for a license like the big box stores, for new guns only.  They're going to have to start over with the licensing process, pushing their grand opening back for God only knows how long. 

The shop's owner took possession of the building they're going into at the beginning of the month.  They're taking their time with setup--it's not like they have to hurry, since they can't open anyway.  Odysseus is helping with setup, today.  I don't know if the owner has made his decision on whom to hire, yet, but Odysseus moved into the top three candidates for two sales positions when he went to the shooting competition/second interview the day after his first interview. 

I really hope he gets the job.  I think it's perhaps the best fit I've ever seen for him, and the only downside would be having to come out of the gun closet sooner than later with his parents.

A mistake.

I made one.  I thought Animal Planet would have more stuff that my critter-crazy imp could watch and enjoy than it does, and asked Odysseus to bring the television from the back room (where the imp isn't allowed to go) into the living room.

Nope.  There's nothing on suitable for toddlers after about 10:00 a.m.--after Sesame Street is over.

On the one hand, the imp has picked up a new word: "atch" for "watch"--used in conjunction with pointing at the TV.  On the other, the request is constant, making me wonder if it's a genetic thing that guys are addicted to TV.

I'm just shocked that a cute, fluffy creature mauled a human being!

Never mind that that cute, fluffy, cuddly wild creature was a polar bear.  After all, aren't the environmentalists trying to teach us that wild creatures are just misunderstood?  Shouldn't we walk amongst them without fear? 

I hope that kid's parents sue the environmental movement for brainwashing their kid to believe that predators are harmless.  However, since it's a country whose population leans so far left that the entire country is on the verge of collapse, I'd be willing to bet that they're more likely to sue the people who put the polar bear down than the ones responsible for putting their kid in the way of being Darwined out.

These crimes could not have been racially motivated.

After all, it's only a racially-motivated crime if it's a gang of white kids beating up black people.  Black people are incapable of being racists! 

Evil tacos

2 lb lean ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1/4 c. tomato sauce
1 can ro-tel
1 can nacho cheese soup, undiluted

In a large skillet, brown ground beef.  Add taco seasoning, tomato sauce, ro-tel, and soup.  Mix thoroughly, simmer 10 minutes.  Serve in tortillas or over nachos (too messy for hard taco shells) with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, black olives, and/or any other toppings you like.  Heats up great for a second (or third) day.  Also good over baked potatoes, or mixed into macaroni.