Got all the moving/cleaning stuff done today. My friends came over a couple of hours ago and hauled off the old sofa. When they were done they offered to help me put the new one together. That was a big help. I put the coffee table together myself. Now I have a shiny new sofa and coffee table. I have to go back to Ikea tomorrow since they gave me the wrong sofa cover. But the cover is white so you're not missing anything important.

( Before and after shots under here... )

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I went to Ikea today. I've never been to Ikea before. Now I think I know why.

There was SO much stuff, it was insane. Luckily I had looked up online what I wanted and had all the relevant information written down. But I had to walk the entire store, literally through a maze of zigzagging isles to get from the showroom to the self-serve furniture section. I could have easily spent the entire day there looking at things. I'm glad I went prepared.

I went for a new sofa and coffee table and that's what I came away with. The guys are coming over tomorrow to haul away my old sofa and bring the base of the new one, which is really heavy, up the two flights of stairs to my apartment. Meanwhile, my new sofa is sitting in pieces in my mom's living room downstairs.

So tomorrow afternoon I'll have a new sofa and won't be sitting in a hole anymore. YAY!

Before and after pics tomorrow.
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First off, I'm not a House fan though I've seen a few episodes, enough to get the joke and I'm starting to like Steven Moffat's Sherlock. The first two didn't impress me all that much but #3 and #4 were pretty good. I've got #5 on my DVR. I have zero interest in the CBS version in the works. All that being said, I thought this was pretty funny.

From one of my new favorite web comics: Hijinks Insue


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I found this link over at Tumblr. I'm still chuckling.

The 35 Greatest Animal Photobombers Of All Time

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...and happen to have some spare duct tape.

I make a duct tape cover for my Kindle. What else?



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If you put cooked brussel sprouts in the microwave to heat them up, they explode like little cherry bombs.

True story :-/

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This is what my life has become. I'm all excited over getting a new freezer. :-/

Anyway, I am excited. I haven't had my own freezer since I moved in here in '94. Geeze, that's almost 20 years. For the most of that time, I've been doing without but, since I'm not working, it's cheaper and easier to buy bulk and frozen stuff, taking advantage of sales. I've been sharing with my mom and there really isn't enough room for both of us to keep stuff. Now I have a 7 cubic foot freezer of my very own :-)

See:


Inside:


I'm going food shopping tomorrow.

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I thought I'd share this over here because it's really cool. I found this German artist, Gesine Marwedel, through a Tumblr link. She does these amazing body paintings. The link below is for a slideshow of her work. It's worth watching this full screen. This site does contain some nudity so may not be considered work safe.

This one is my favorite.


Here is the link to the slideshow on her site: www.gesine-marwedel.de/galerie/bodypainting/

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So, in the last half hour pretty much everyone I know has sent me this...



Guess everyone thinks I'm a math geek or something ;P

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Whole bunch of new content over on my Tumblr. I'm trying not to spam here so I haven't been cross posting each and every post. But, I've found some fun stuff.

akamathchick.tumblr.com

Posted to Tumblr

Check this out: http://akamathchick.tumblr.com/post/21329653447/look-what-arrived-in-my-email-this-morning-meet

If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed I've changed my account name, @akaMathChick. Don't panic, it's still me. I just needed a change. I also started a Tumblr, akamathchick.tumblr.com. I'll be slowly moving over there over the next few days. I'll cross post here for the time being, if I think it's relevant.

I'll explain all of this in a few days. Stuff going on but it's 85 degrees in here and my laptop is hot.

L8R

...though, honestly, this doesn't really surprise me given the low priority education has in the US.

Failbook: A Dozen People Who Had No Idea Titanic Was a Real Ship

Hope everyone had a good day =:o)

Shrimp Tikka Masala
I just made this for dinner tonight and had to share.

Warning: This is hot. 4 out of 5 on the lip melting scale. There are some suggestions at the end for adjustments.

Ingredients
1 pound peeled, deveined shrimp
2 cups frozen peas, thawed

Marinade
1 cup plain yogurt (Greek works best)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

Sauce
2 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoons salt
6 oz can tomato paste
1 cup light cream
water

-In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger. Stir in shrimp, cover, and refrigerate for 1-2 hour.
-Preheat broiler on high.
-Spread shrimp in a single layer on a greased broiler pan.
-Place shrimp under broiler for 10 to 15 minutes. The marinade should just start to brown.
-Thin tomato paste with water to make approximately 1 1/3 cup of sauce. (The consistency will be thicker that tomato sauce but thinner than the original tomato paste.)
-Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 2 minutes. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 1 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat about 15 minutes.
-Add peas to sauce.
-Add the broiled shrimp to the sauce, make sure to drain any liquid from the cooked shrimp first.
-Simmer another ten minutes.
-Serve over hot basmati rice.

So, like I said, this is hot (spicy). There are a couple of things that can reduce the heat. In the marinade, cut the amount of cayenne pepper, 2 tsp is a lot. Also, in the sauce, remove the seeds from the jalapeno before mincing.

I used fat-free, plain, Greek yogurt for the marinade. You can also replace the cream with 1 cup of fat-free condensed milk if you are worried about fat and calories.

Via icanhascheezburger.com

I like this recipe because you can do it as a stew or a soup depending on what you are in the mood for. Also, I don't normally post recipes that require specialized spices but this one is really good and I'll post a link to Penzy's where you can get the spice mix. It's good for all sorts of recipes. The nutritional information at the end is an approximation. It will vary depending on the exact amount of cabbage and type of kielbasa you use.

Cabbage and Kielbasa Stew (or Soup)

1 - 1.5 pounds cabbage
1 kielbasa (14 - 16 oz)
1 medium onion
2 tsp minced garlic
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cups low sodium chicken broth (4 cups if making soup)
2 tsp Tuscan Sunset available here
1 tsp black pepper
3 tsp butter

Stew:
Thinly slice the onions.
Cut the cabbage in half and core it.
Slice each half roughly (1/4 inch slices.)
Slice the kielbasa roughly (1/4 inch slices.)

Soup:
Roughly chop the onions.
Cut the cabbage in half and core it.
Chop each half roughly (1/2 inch pieces.)
Cube the kielbasa (1/2 inch pieces.)

From this point on the recipe is the same:
Melt the butter over medium high heat in a medium size soup pot.
Saute the onion for 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
Add the tomatoes and mix.
Add the Tuscan Sunset and pepper and mix.
Stir in the chicken stock.
Add the cabbage and kielbasa.
Bring the mixture to a low boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

Nutritional Information
1 serving = 1 cup
Calories 177
Fat 13g
Saturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 25mg
Carbs 10g
Fiber 2g
Sugar 5g
Sodium 604mg
Protein 5 g

Funny story...
Before last Wednesday I would have answered this question with, "My wallet and iPhone." But I went food shopping last Wednesday and actually forgot to bring my wallet. I've never done that before. I was done with the shopping and walking to the checkout when I realized I didn't have my wallet with me. I had to call my husband to come up to the store to bring me my wallet so I could pay for the groceries. Luckily the store is right around the corner from where we live. It freaked me out enough that I could do that, that for the first time in my life, I've started carrying a purse.

So, I guess now I will answer this question by saying, "My purse."

This is dead simple. It took me longer to type up the recipe and do the math for the nutritional info than it did to prepare this dish. I suggest serving this over rice.

Chili Shrimp

1 pound pealed, deveined shrimp
1 package frozen peas, thawed
1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes, drained
2 tsp diced garlic (approx. 2 cloves)
1 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour (pastry flour works best)

-Toss the shrimp in the chili powder and let stand for an hour in the refrigerator.
-Melt the butter over medium high heat.
-Add the garlic to the butter and saute for one minute.
-Add the shrimp, tomatoes, and peas to the pot and toss.
-Cover and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
-Stir in flour and cook another 10 minutes stirring frequently to thicken the liquid.

Makes 4 servings.

Per 1 serving
Calories 266
Fat 10.5 g
Saturated fat 5.5g
Cholesterol 195 mg
Carbs 16 g
Fiber 4 g
Sugar 4.8 g
Sodium 493 mg
Protein 28 g

A whole lot. See the last three posts.

So, as part of this whole clean, reduce, organize thing I'm doing I decided to replace all the light bulbs in the living room with full spectrum bulbs. I was tired of feeling like I was living in a dim, depressing space. As I've said before, I have lots of windows but they all face north so there isn't much direct sunlight, especially this time of year.

When I turned on the lights, something in my apartment came to life. I've had this little guy sitting in this same place under the light for years. It was a gift from a friend who owned a Japanese restaurant. He hasn't moved a leaf in all that time. But as soon as I turned on the full spectrum light, he started waving.

Everybody meet the Creepy Little Flower...