Thursday Rambles - May 12, 2011

• I have discovered banana "ice cream" and I think I am addicted - in the way that I get addicted and obsessed about something and make it 20 times in 2 weeks and then never again. Frozen bananas + Vitamix = a cold, creamy, delicious thing. I plan on adding chocolate next time. Or peanut butter. Or both. It's good. If you don't have a Vitamix, I'd cut the banana in small pieces before freezing, but my wonderblender did power through frozen halves with some sad sounds and then a triumphant whirr. I did add a bit of almond milk to help it along but I don't think it was necessary. I'll take a picture next time - I have one banana in the freezer right now but the rest that were in the house were not quite ripe enough. 
• This week Kroger had another "buy 10, get $5 off" sale that I both loved and hated. Loved because there was the potential for free+overage, hated because...10? Really? Just make everything be on sale, please. So first I drove to nearby Big Kroger. They didn't have any of the overage stuff - just empty sad gaps on the shelves. Next my entire family went on an adventure to Collegey Kroger (I just named it that, I'm sure the locals have a name for it). It had free WiFi and it stocked some faux seafood by Yves that I'd never seen before (verdict: good but pricey, I preferred the "shrimp" to the "tuna" and I'd buy again but I'd love if it was on sale/coupon when I did) but it didn't even have spaces on the shelves for the superdealios. Sigh. Today I walked to Baby Kroger for one last shot - no spaces on the shelves there either, but I bought 6 packages of Laughing Cow cheese and 4 boxes of Garden Delight pasta - the pasta was free after the deal and the Cow was $1.50/package - my favorite price to pay is $1/package but between the fact that this year they've only released $1/2 coupons and the sales haven't been as awesome, I figured $1.50 was pretty great. I wish the store stocked more flavors but I took what I could get. I also grabbed another container of almond milk - $1.99, found a bunch of 55 cent coupons at Big Kroger so yay - but I got unflavored, not vanilla. I'm sure I can manage to find many uses for it though.
• It's already in the 90s here. The NINETIES. It will cool off by the weekend but for now...too hot for May. Hrmph. But I'm trying to enjoy it. And to be happy that I have central A/C, a luxury I did not grow up with.
• I have actual paid work coming in now - writing AND editing. Hooray!
• I really don't like who wound up in the ANTM finals. I am ignoring AI almost completely. I read about the Voice but don't have time for it (am rooting for Frenchie and for a local-area woman who a friend sort of knows). Mostly my TV watching has slowed dramatically - which means my Internet surfing has increased. Ah well. 
• I'm reading Love You to Pieces right now. It's no My Baby Rides the Short Bus but it's OK.
• I've had moments of feeling alienated, again, from the special needs community, the CP community, and the parents-of-neurotypical-kids community lately, but I shall not dwell. I also have moments where I'm surrounded by good people, so it evens out. Sort of.
• My kid is kicking ass and taking names with her SMOs. That light twinkles at the end of that tunnel. I know she will stand and walk more soon. 5 seconds here, 10 seconds there, 2 steps, 3 steps. She's a determined kid. 
• Happy Thursday.