Well, I took out one bag of garbage (I have two other bags of non-perishable trash that sit since they are too heavy to life. I look at them and sigh thinking 'oh I should divvy up that trash and haul it out already.' and then I sigh again. ) I did, make myself a delicious pasta lunch, which was fresh mushrooms,broccoli,spinach, GARLIC,and shrimp in olive oil with lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and a little of the pasta water added too. (I got that trick from Martha Stewart. Her little magazine Everday Food is full of wonderful simple and delicious ideas. )I used the twirly tube pasta that's like penne only looks like a corkscrew. It's my favorite. I tried to find the name at the Barilla website, but they don't list all the pasta styles they make. My other fave pasta is mini penne.

I reek of garlic. This pleases me.

I did actually put away the Christmas boxes filled with the taken down Xmas tree and the pine garland. I have room now to put my desk back into my living room. I swept my floor and did dishes. My glitch is that I have to wash dishes before I am able to cook.

Of course after eating such a carbo loaded lunch I will be starving all day tomorrow. I pay very close attention to what happens after I eat certain things. Pasta begets more pasta.

Trust me.

But for me, POTATOES are the worst. Especially french fries. I am pretty careful to only eat stuff that gives me energy. But pasta works when you are broke. And I have lots of frozen shrimp and scallops from them being half price so I can make myself something perfectly lovely with food I invested in last paycheck. That's almost free in my brand of reason.

Another of my white trash specialties is Souped up Ramen. That means I make Ramen noodle soup (preferably Oriental, but Roast Beef is a strong new runner) and once the water boils, I crack an egg in there and break it up in the boiling water so it doesn't cook in a hunk, and drop in the noodles. The resulting broth is very egg drop soupesque. I also might add fresh broccoli, chopped garlic, fresh mushrooms, or frozen stir fry veggies. This results in a massive bowl of noodle soup that makes me very happy. It might be the bright happy green of the broccoli. Anyway, it's cheap and good. And it makes me feel nutured.

The trick is (for me) that if you don't want to eat what your kids want to eat, you should make sure you have your own options. I get sick of nuked chicken nuggets and spaghettios with cut up hot dogs even if the weasels do not.

If I'm not worth my own Ramen, that would be just sad-right?