Posted on February 3, 2010 - by Ashley Jackson

Hoarders

I think Wednesday is quickly becoming my least favorite day of the week. It wasn’t all bad, though–as of today, I’m so far ahead on my car loan that I don’t owe again until October 25 of this year, and on Monday I’ll be making a payment that will take the balance below $9,000! Whoo-hoo! Also, I watched two episodes of Hoarders (because I kind of am one, a little ) and while I was watching I went through some boxes in my bedroom and managed to gather a bag full of trash (which I just took to the dumpster!) and a small pile of things to donate. Small progress, but progress just the same…

Last night’s lack of post was due to a number of factors: I didn’t get home until after 6PM, I was really, really tired, and then The Biggest Loser was on from 9-11PM instead of 8-10PM! I was so annoyed. So, so annoyed.

Anyway. Let there be food.

Here are the brownies I made on Monday night.

They did not turn out so well. I was hoping to be able to take them to work, but ended up disposing of them myself (fortunately, it wasn’t that big of a pan of brownies).

Oh, there’s a picture of Heath.

Dog is not food.

I’ve been munching on Larabars for breakfast. Yesterday I sent my minions (ha) out to get me lunch.

…okay, Jamie and a co-worker were going out to lunch anyway and I asked them to grab me something. This is the fajita burrito from El Cerro (where there was a fire recently!). It looked a little different than the last one I got but was delightful just the same.

They went all out with the to-go bag of chips again.

Seriously. I’m one person! There was a big container of salsa in there, too, which was hot hot hot! I grabbed a big handful of chips to go with my meal and then trucked the remainder of the bag and the salsa down to the breakroom and left it for wandering scientists to devour.

Mid-afternoon, I may have walked to the local store, bought this thing of donuts, and eaten the entire package.

May have. I mentioned in my last post that I’m considering laying off wheat/gluten for a couple of weeks to see if I have an allergy, and I think I’m subconsciously trying to stuff my face with wheat-filled things. These donuts weren’t even that good. Bah.

Today during lunch, I was craving a hot dog. I thought about walking over to Cloo’s Coney Island, a local hot dog shop, but I couldn’t remember if they were still cash-only or how much they cost and I only had $6 in my pocket. Instead, I drove to Cook-Out for a footlong with mustard and onions.

Judge me if you will, but this photo represents progress. Cook-Out has a combo where you can get an entree, two sides, and a drink for about $5, and it wasn’t long ago that I’d go to Cook-Out and order a cheeseburger or chicken tenders, double fries (or fries and onions rings…they also count corndogs and chicken nuggets as sides!), and a Diet Coke. It’s just the way I’ve always done things–I go out for fast food and get the combo, because it’s easier to order (well, not at Cook-Out), and a lot of times I justify it as being less expensive–after all, that cheeseburger and Diet Coke I had a couple of weeks ago cost slightly less than it would’ve cost to get the combo and get the two sides. I’ve finally come to realize that it might be less expensive, but it’s not worth it in the grand scheme of things to buy more food than I need to eat and then to eat it all because I bought it.

So today, I wanted a hotdog, and I got only a hotdog, and it was good. And it didn’t have the added calories that would’ve come from eating a double order of fries (potatoooooes) or onion rings.

Right, enough being deep. Jamie snuck into my cube this afternoon and took a picture of me, which I half-cropped before I realized that the glare from the lights effectively hid any top-secret government information that you should not be privy to. (Ha!)

Sadly, you won’t be seeing many more (or at least not nearly as frequent) pictures of my lunches out with Jamie. Her hard work has paid off in the form of a job offer in a different division of our agency (still nearby, but in a different building instead of on the other side of my cube ). Yay for Jamie! She very much deserves it. But sad, too–who will go out to lunch with me now, or come with me on walks during breaks, or drive with me to the farmers market during lunch? Who will look really embarrassed when I start taking pictures of my food?

I’m sure I can find other people to look embarrassed when I take pictures.

I may even be brave and take pictures at Jamie’s goodbye lunch next week…

Dinner tonight was short and sweet (small and savory…?). Flat iron steak and some Harvest Hodgepodge veggies from Trader Joe’s, sprinkled with buttermilk ranch dressing base.

Lest you think my dinner was too small, please note that I ate candy all afternoon while stressed out and then had the last of my brownies when I got home.

Well, I guess I’m going to bed now, because I thought the finale of Launch My Line was at 10PM as usual but it was at 9PM. What is with TV’s randomly changing schedules? Fortunately I caught the last 30 seconds so I know who won (yaaay!).

Anyway. To bed.