Salad, New Year's Resolution

One part of my New Year's resolution, is eat salad every day.

I mixed baby greens mix and a sunflower crisp salad mix.

The sunflower crisp mix

- green cabbage
- romaine lettuce
- red cabbage
- carrots
- sweet onion vinaigrette
- dry roasted edamame
- Italian cheese blend
- roasted sunflower seeds
- dry roasted quinoa

I never tried dry roasted edamame or dry roasted quinoa before.

Edamame and quinoa never appealed to me. Provided an interesting texture and crunch. Couldn't tell if it made a difference in the taste.

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- green cabbage - romaine lettuce - red cabbage - carrots - sweet onion vinaigrette - dry roasted edamame - Italian cheese blend - roasted sunflower seeds - dry roasted quinoa I never tried dry roasted edamame or dry roasted quinoa before. My New Year's resolution is to eat salad every day. For I enjoyed my 4 month break from work too much. I gained all the weight I lost before September. JustJodine @Blogger #salad, #newyear #newyearresolutions

A post shared by Jodi (@jodinestilladiabla) on Dec 31, 2018 at 9:11pm PST

How I Used Hot Cocoa Mix

I did something weird.

I added Mushroom Hot Cocoa mix in a little 🍯 Sweet BBQ sauce. I simmered beef steaks in the sauce. Turned out to be great. Can't taste the chocolate. Smells like beef mushroom gravy.

The mushroom hot cocoa has spices.

I figured Chicken Mole is Cocoa and spices perfectly blended.

Why not beef steak?

Sorry vegans, I'm not vegan. I'm just trying out vegan foods. I need real meat.

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I did something weird. I added Mushroom Hot Cocoa mix in a little 🍯 Sweet BBQ sauce. I simmered beef steaks in the sauce. Turned out to be great. Can't taste the chocolate. Smells like beef mushroom gravy. The mushroom hot cocoa has spices. I figured Chicken Mole is Cocoa and spices perfectly blended. Why not beef steak? https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/chicken-mole-recipe-1972934.amp Chicken Mole Recipe | Food Network Kitchen | Food Network

A post shared by Jodi (@jodinestilladiabla) on Dec 31, 2018 at 7:24pm PST

Chicken Mole Recipe | Food Network Kitchen | Food Network

I'm

Potatoe Chips

My New Year's resolution was to stop eating potatoe chips. But I already broke it. There was a deal on at the grocery store, if you buy 5 save some 💰. I broke down. I bought 5.

I bought Cape Cod brand, kettle cooked potatoe chips. I haven't had Cape Cod brand for a long time. I saw something I wanted to try, Dark Russet potatoes chips.

Guess what, they are potatoe chips I normally throw away. I don't like the dark chips. I think they are imperfect. I really don't like the taste.

Here's a whole bag of dark chips. Somebody must like these.

I was ready to toss the bag to the birdies in my backyard.

I tried the chips again, now I liked it. But I won't buy it again.

Good thing I didn't buy all 5 of the same type and flavor. Each one is different.

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I call this a whole bag of potatoe chips I don't like to eat. The whole bag is full of dark ones, I normally throw away. But I changed my mind, the dark ones are good. JustJodine @Blogger #capecodchips #darkrusset #potatochips

A post shared by Jodi (@jodinestilladiabla) on Dec 31, 2018 at 2:53pm PST

Oh no, Uno!

My favorite card game. My favorite New Year's Eve party memory.

One New Year's Eve party, we had 12 people playing. We played with several decks. It took over 2 hours for one hand. And one guy had so many cards by the end of the game. He could barely hold all cards. I think he had close to 200 points.

My favorite trick is, seeing reflections in people's glasses 👓, giving me a view of the cards they were holding. Trying to find certain cards they were holding and going to play.

The best part was all the laughter! 😂

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One New Year's Eve party, we had 12 people playing. We played with several decks. It took over 2 hours for one hand. And one guy had so many cards by the end of the game. He could barely hold all cards. I think he had close to 200 points.

A post shared by Jodi (@jodinestilladiabla) on Dec 31, 2018 at 2:14pm PST

No 4 o' clock Break 🕓

We had our first 2nd shift foreman.

Before, our foreman was 1st shift until about 4:00 pm. Then we were on our own.

Since I first started, I was told there was a break at 4 pm and 2nd shift went on that break with 1st shift.

So we were carrying on the same way every day.

Until the new foreman got educated on the breaks. There was no break for 2nd shift at 4 pm.

 

One day...

a new associate came on board. The new guy and the foreman were in the office. The new guy had to watch training videos.

4 o clock rolled around, the foreman runs out of the office trying to catch all the 2nd shift workers, trying to stop everyone from taking a break. 

That was challenging, because everyone went different places for break. It was funny to see the foreman running around. This man was running like there was an emergency, like life or death situation.

I usually stay near my work cell for the 10 minute break. I watched the whole thing take place, and figured out what the foreman was up to.

The next day, we got scolded in our shift meeting, in front of everyone. 

There was a sign for break times, but nothing about breaks when there's overtime. It was 1 extra break for 10 hours. 4 o' clock would be for 10 hours, not every day.

It made sense to me to take break with everyone, because we were left without a worker in the cell. 1st shift workers were a part of the team. 

Second shift had to wait until 6 o clock for the first break. 🕕

From that day forward the foreman tried to get everyone to sit together in the lunchroom. Why, to control us. So he didn't have to run around looking for us. 

Lucky Day, Playing Hooky

2010, I was still job hunting from the recession. It was St. Patrick's Day, I decided to play hooky from job hunting. I decided I was going take a risk, dare myself to do something different and fun by myself.

I drove down to Milwaukee, to the Potowanami Casino. The highway was challenging. I really couldn't afford to gamble, rent was due. But I figured out I could make it work.

I did really good. I played all the money I came with. I decided to play all the 1 dollar bills out my winnings. 

Then I took another gamble, I withdrew more money from my account. I played all the that money. I needed to recover enough money to replace what I gambled.

I played one 5.00 bill, one final play. I tried to find a slot machine that was all alone, not many people around. I ended up winning all my money back and 100.00 extra.

I was able to splurge on eating at one of the casino restaurants.

I discovered it is okay to have a good time alone. 

Cool, cool water

I found a cool idea for me, I get hot at work. 

I experimented one night while I was working. I put a lemon, menthol cough drop in my water. I found it really cools me down. 

I noticed that the cough drop melted in the water in less than an hour. That means my work area is as warm as I thought. It wasn't just me and my hot flashes.

So now I drop a lemon cough drop in my water bottle with ice every night. I get a cool, lemony, refreshing drink of water. Wonder if this works in a hot humid place like Nigeria?

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I found a cool idea for me, I get hot at work. So I dropped a lemon cough drop in my water bottle, with ice. I get a cool refreshing drink of water. I experimented one night while I was working. I noticed that the cough drop melted in the water in less than an hour. That means my work area is as warm as I thought. It wasn't just me and my hot flashes. I wonder if this works in a hot humid place like Nigeria?

A post shared by Jodi (@jodinestilladiabla) on Dec 22, 2018 at 11:51am PST