Back into the zone

First off, i'm talking bout diet, exercise... no that kind of zone is still beyond-ish me.

Back into the zone.. and totally hooked!!!!! (how much longer can i last?)

I'm playing my new game, which james surprised me with. He knows what i like. Its really special when he brings me home a video game without finding one for himself. hahahaha

The new game is harvest Moon for my DS.

Harvest moon is a game that ive played over the past 8years? Every so often a new version would come out or you'd get the one thats new to the console. So i played one on the old playstation 1, the playstation 2 and now the ds version. Fine its only 3. But its a H-U-G-E game, never really finished it. But then for me, i did finish it in that my character got married, had a kid got all the upgrades.. so yeah

Harvest Moon on the DS is great. However the stylus is very under used. The biggest pain is in your rucksack you have all your items, tools, ores, accessories. Whatever you havent put away in your tool box etc. And when you harvest a whole crop, of say onions. theres 8 onions, they all go on top of each other. which is great it means 8 onions is only taking up 1 spot, not 8. But the pain comes when you want to give one away as a present. not 8, just 1. i havent quite worked it out other than it requires tapping the stylus like a nutter on the screen. x.x ugh

In Harvest Moon, your a young single adult male. Your on a quest to make your family proud. Build a profitable farm, seasonal crops, ducks, chickens, cows, sheep,a horse, a cat, a dog. With that you have seasons to deal with, ground to turn over, seedlings and plants to water each day (no water restrictions! hahaha) snow storms that keep you inside (usually back to bed) to survey any damage the next day. The products of your animals, milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, mayo, wool(sheared), yarn. Cows and sheep to make pregnant (potion-a-la-pregnancy) chickens and their eggs go in the hatchery for more chickens.
then theres the tv channels, in this one they need to be unlocked thru hard work. argh! The channels are usually; tutorial, weather, shopping. However in this version there are alot more channels!
In this version (im getting exhausted just explaining) you build all the sheds minus the horse house. Theres a silo, poultry shed, livestock shed, pond, mushroom shed, basement. These usually take alot, alot of gold. And then theres the collecting or buying (ow) the hay/wood/stone whatever your building it out of. Which requires either growing grass for the hay. Chopping sticks or stumps for wood, stone houses require using the hammer to break stones. (is this the right time to mention you are partially human in this game. You have a fatigue and stamina which when you exhaust.. well just that you pass out... and some nice person drags you home.
Various House upgrades like kitchen, bathroom and a big bed (required before you get married)

Oh yeah, and when you have that time... try and fit in a life. Women! Gah!!! Each girl is different, different families, different locations, different likes/dislikes when it comes to gifts. Theres a guy in the town already chasing them your 'rivals'. You can do stuff to make them dislike you, there are different heart levels depending on how fond they are of you (showing off all your hard work) Theres town bloody festivals, different dates thru the year. You dont have to go to them, but all the shops are closed, the people are all at the event.. nothing gets sold, nothing gets built, upgraded.. however the farm goes on, it must be kept after! If you want to go, you'd better have the animals fed, brushed, milked, sheared. The crops watered, harvested.. *gah*

In the winter, it snows. Nothing grows, the trees go dormant... the animals still need their care. But this gives a much needed break to get out to the girls, festivals and the mine. Mine? Oh yes the mines.. i now have 3 mines in total to conquer (get to the bottom of) without passing out.. taking alot of save/loads, alot of energy drinks, alot of food. And theres alot to collect, depending on the mine. Either ores to upgrade your tools once youve used them enough. Jewelery to give to the girls, creams etc strangely enough for the girls, gems to sell or give away like ruby, topaz and all important diamonds. your using your hoe and the hammer in here! Theres also animals that don't like you that you need to wipe out. in the mine theres holes (where u can fall 1-3-10 or 100 levels) falling 1 or 3 levels is fine.. i dont know about 10.. not sure if ive done it yet. Or you can find the stairs using the hoe. Mine 1 has 10 levels.. the others have INSANE amount of levels.

Ive got targets to meet to unlock harvest sprites (oompa-loompas/gnomes) who i can hire to help me out on the farm. yee-ha for hired help!

*yawn* yup now im feeling sleepy....
(are you tired yet?)

The lazy stirfry

This is a super stirfry for lazy or busy people. Its very quick and easy and requires little cooking ability.

Ingredients:

a type of meat or tofu.
whatever stir-fry-ish veggies you have e.g carrots, onions, capsicums, shitake mushrooms!
Noodles or rice.
Sweet chilli sauce
Soy sauce
pepper/salt to taste

First fry up your meat, then the onions. Have your rice either cooked or the water boiling for the noodles. Add the rest of the veggies. You dont need a wok. sure they help. but a big frying pan or pot will do the trick. When all is cooked add perhaps 3-4tbs os sweet chilli sauce and 1 tbs of soy sauce. add pepper and salt to taste. Stir thru the meat n vegs. and serve on a bed of rice/noodles.
yeah i dont bother to julienne carrots.. its a lazy stirfry recipe!
We love the Hakubaku noodle range. Particularly the soba (buckwheat) In australia find it in the asian section in both Coles and Wooloworths $2.40-ish one packet does 3 meals for 2-3 people.

a smell in the kitchen

and before you start wondering. No its not a good smell.

I go thru the crisper in the fridge and check the fruit n vegs on the bench. my crisper is small so not everything can fit.

And im shocked. Going thru the kitchen yesterday. Checking all the fruit n veg and heres what i found.
The pumpkin ive been to lazy to bother roasting, was going to make muffins, scones or something with it instead but never got around to finding a recipe or how to do that. Its gone off a bit around the bottom. Bye bye pumpkin!

i admit to buying discounted banana's intending to make banana bread. However 2 bananas are fully black, squishy, wet and smelly. Ive saved all the good ones, peeled them, bagged them and put them in the freezer. Its something i might try to get to today. I noticed that it has gotten rather juicy (had them up on top of the fridge/freezer) which meant i was able to ignore them for a bit too long. Some dark brown dried lines indicate its run down the side.

I keep looking. The smell is still there.

inside the fridge, the watermelon i bought 2 weeks ago. It looks mostly fine, no smell. However one side looks like its frozen. I've found out previously that watermelon frozen doesnt taste great, and even in cling/film wrap watermelon either goes completely watery tasting or absorbs fridge smells and tastes like as if you ate the fridge. Not great.

now i'm checking the cupboard. And it doesnt smell great in there.

oh my. I check my discounted brown onions. None are off, soft or otherwise. Despite being old-ish.

I hesitantly check the potatoes. After all theyre 2 weeks old. I bought them full price.. they couldnt possibly be... oh. man that smells bad. Thats the smell. 2 potatoes have gone brown-ish, slightly mushy looking. stinky. I grab the ones that dont have stinky brown juice spots on them. And throw the rest, im not risking that rinsing the still good potatoes with stinky juice will take away the stink. the discounted potatoes i got just recently are fine.

Clean all those juicy-ish spots up with a dash of bleach. And Now my kitchen doesnt have that odd smell. Horray!

awake and quizzing

As seen in maria's blog You Are a Sprinkled Donut

Flamboyant and flashy, you're easily distracted by shiny things. You're definitely a snazzy number, and you usually catch everyone's eye in the room. And you've got the goods to back it up your colorful image. (Though too much of you gives people a stomach ache!)

What Donut Are You?

if im catching everyones eye, then im not noticing it ;)

Pepperoni Pizza

Robust and dominant. When you go for something, you go full force. You tend to take control of situations easily. And in return, you get a ton of respect.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

ummm, me? dominant? hmm...

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

and because im still up and somewhat addicted... the same kind of cookie

You Are an Excellent Cook

You're a top cook, but you weren't born that way. It's taken a lot of practice, a lot of experimenting, and a lot of learning. It's likely that you have what it takes to be a top chef, should you have the desire...

Are You A Good Cook?

awwwww isnt that nice..

You Are 65% Passionate, 35% Compassionate

You are very passionate, especially when it comes to love. In fact, it's sometimes difficult for you to tell between love and lust. You jump in head first, and figure things out later... usually when it's all over!

Is Your Love Style Passionate or Compassionate?

Your Inner European is Swedish!

Relaxed and peaceful. You like to kick back and enjoy life.

Who's Your Inner European?

oh lol

i cant sleep

picture courtesy of baby-gaga.com Im up to week 19 *linkie*

im off instant coffee, i have been for ages now.. and im proud of that and saddened too. I love my coffee!!! However i havent ruled out the occasional iced coffee. But today, doing the groceries i decided to bring home a 2lt bottle of iced coffee flav milk. And i've had hmm 3-4 cups.
Today has been a busy day had about 2hrs in the afternoon to sit around till i had to make dinner and all that. Alot of walking, in the blissfull cool rainy weather.. not that my feet agree, no my feet want new shoes ;) i agree with my feet, however i did agree more with my bump! My bump requested i get more tshirts to wear as err being lazy, busy and i guess both.. i will wear my normal clothes around home that bug me as they dont fit my bump, the maternity tops i wear when i go out.. and well not wanting to pay at the laundrymat to get 2 t-shirts washed 3 times a week they get well..

stinky.

ew.

there i said it. not grubby, no stains.. just that sweat smell, various perfumes smells and not so nice smells... so yes i now have 5 tops to fit my bump. 1 is a winter-ish one with long sleeves the others short sleeves/t-shirts. That will help ease my uncomfortableness and laziness..

where was i?

ah yes. coffee and awake.. even after a tiring day, no naps, no lay downs, past my bedtime its 12:33am. Late. Late for someone who counts down the minutes some nights bored waiting for the magical 10pm! (going to sleep earlier is a problem) Ive got a constant weird frequency buzzing in my head, i cant stop thinking, and for some weird reason its like theres a loop as if a ghost was in our house typing away on the computer, but i dont believe in ghosts so i instantly think someone has snuck in and hid themselves in a cupboard somehow just so when we go to bed they can use our computer. WTF?! crazy huh! And ive got to pee again, why? i have a sore throat (coming down with a slight cold Tia had for a day or two, mainly runny nose but most colds start with a sore throat ive found) so im drinking alot water to ease it...

for a few seconds anyways.

and my lip has got that windburn, dry, split in the middle.. i get that sometimes. However lipgloss makes it pretty bearable until i smile.. x.x

Oh and im not finished!

Im trying to get to sleep, hubby has already fallen asleep he must have been really tired. He is so cute, talking dungeons and dragons (the pen n paper, role playing game) in his sleep. Which is great, much more interesting than if he talked about work. Its a nice change. Very cute. and guess who wakes up and decides to kick me, roll around and get into tight places or like give my belly button a hug? The baby as usual knows im trying to go to sleep (everything is all of a sudden very very quiet) and decides its time to play! >< One other thing annoying me and keeping me up is the xbox 360. Its on, its loud.. sure its not a bother during the day like most noises. But when everything is quiet... its LOUD! You know how some laptops can have that constant whir noise, the fan going and all.. well the xbox 360 has a few fans i think and one happens to be a big fan. i think.. its still on coz hubby is downloading games, trials, add ons to games we already have and stuff.. over a gig or so.

So i guess im waiting until i have to fight to stay awake until i go to bed. theres no point in staying in bed getting frustrated it will only take longer to get to sleep.

On the note of pregnant people getting advice from total strangers. When Tia and I were at the beach on monday, a old lady, english the obvious 2nd language. Told me that being out in the sun for a long time was not very good for pregnancy "Not long time for you here, yes". *rolls eyes* my instant thought was, WTH.. and then agreed that i was over being out in the sun, over the fact that sun exposure will bring out the zillions of freckles on my face that kindly disappear in the winter. or i just fail to see them unless they get really dark.

Pregnancy has been good, i mean.. at our shopping mall/centre currently is a group selling membership to paint balling! Of all things they ask me as i'm approaching if i'd like to play.. i have that uncontrolled reaction to reach for my bump. yes he got the idea.. realises that he was pretty stupid. LOL! and comes back with "does your husband play?" ARGH! lol..

Its now 1am, and i can hear what i think is bass (or someone head butting a wall).. meaning the new neighbors are playing music. ARGH! I met the new neighbor recently.
Within a day of them moving in, i wasnt happy. The teenager decided to have a big fight with some male, (brother? lover? friend? who knows) he was so sure she had stolen something.... she was telling him where to go and whatever else i have no idea/dont want to know.. all i know is that when she wouldnt let him in the front door he would go around to the back and to her window which is right next to our kitchen window. The mum recognized me as i was on my way home the other day, introduced herself as my neighbor, said she had a teen who runs away alot.. yadda yadda.. apologized for any disturbance or noise..

hopefully i can go to sleep soon..

The new bub ultrasound

Taken on 14th february 9am. 18th weeks into pregnancy! Didnt find out if it was boy/girl. The position the baby was in didnt make it easy. It also decided to move and do like a somersault, one minute it was there the next the minute it wasn't! It had its hands into tight fists, the womb was jiggled and it was odd to see the baby react to that like woahhh what the ???!!! the result was a good shot of the hand which i dont think i have. We were given a selection of the pictures on cd tomorrow i will get to pick up all the ultrasound pictures on that kind of x-ray film stuff from the doctors.
So either we wait till the end for boy/girl which i dont personally think i can handle! Me be patient? Ive been told by a few people now that such and such was told it was a boy and it was a girl.. yadda yadda.. but they cant possibly get it wrong later on can they? isn't it obvious? don't they re-check? lol
they also did my kidneys for some reason? for the record i have a great blood pressure even with my tummy fat.. it wasnt what the doctor asked for.. thought it was weird.

cant stop itching

argh! i thought when my feet where healing and pealing from extreme sunburn that the itching was bad then. But Lately my stretch marks thanks to pregnancy are itchy, for some reason my thighs are itchy and now my calf/shins are soo darn itchy.

I dont know how often ive forgotten to get that milky calamine lotion stuff usually used on chicken pox. I dont mind looking like ive had a fight with some wet chalk! If it would take the itch away. Yes i get shaving rash often on my legs and usually a trip to the beach will actually make it happen, weird enough. Maybe now ive been biten by mites or something on my legs.

ive got that itch reliever in aerosol can so i might give that a shot.