Why I'll never make it on Top Chef

   Because I am apparently physically unable to successfully roll a wrap. I cannot understand why I am unable to wrap them up and have them NOT get soggy, NOT break, and/or NOT be able to roll up all the way and around. They always fall apart and I end up eating them with a knife and fork. I want a wrap I can pick up with my hands! Sigh. This is a skill I really wish I could master. I've been eating a lot of wraps this week, needless to say. I picked up some at Giant last week and was trying to use them up before the "best-by" date. But I'm over wraps now, and so the remaining few are going into the freezer for the time being. Sigh. The kind I got is called Tumaro's Wheat, Soy, and Flax Flatbread. They're not bad. I had stopped Giant last week after my workout to pick something up, and these caught my eye, and they were half-price, so I figured I'd give them a whirl. They're not bad. I might buy them again. I tend to do this- buy tortillas, make 8-10 unsuccessful wraps, and then go a long time without buying them again because I'm too frustrated. Then a long time passes, I see them, I think, Gee, I haven't had wraps in a while, maybe I'll give them a try again- maybe I'll be able to actually make one!- and the whole cycle starts up again, haha.  :-D

I found a new product at Trader Joe's that will now officially be a necessary mandatory staple in my fridge:

My roommate bought this a while back, but she didn't really care for it. It wasn't spicy enough for her liking. It looked yummy, so I picked up a jar during my most recent trip to TJs last week. Well, either she has an extremely high threshold/criteria for what constitutes as "hot", or I have a much lower one than I thought, because it definitely clears my sinuses!!! I love it! So long, generic supermarket salsa. You've been replaced. It's worth the extra .49-cent splurge.

So I am officially on vacay!!!! Until next WEDNESDAY! And it was a pretty good day too. I got all of my work done early, and my boss let us leave an hour early! So I was able to get to the gym early and catch Oprah while riding the stationary bike. I don't ordinarily watch Oprah, but today she was discussing tips to save money during the holiday season (ironic coming from one of the wealthiest people on the planet, huh? LOL), and it was a good episode. I also did a few weight machines for arms, so I had a pretty damn good workout, and I felt great! What a great way to get my vacation rolling! Oh, and I tried a new workout bar:

 

This was very, very tasty. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was eating a Snickers bar. And it fueled a great workout and kept me full for hours!

In other news, I FINALLY finished Where the Girls Are! I was dragging on that book a bit! Not because it was bad, but I guess it was just a little too heavy and educational for my mood. It was pretty good, very interesting to read about all the conflicting messages that have been targeted to and about women throughout the years. I think that mixed media messages and media bias exist for everyone, though, not just women. My main grievances about the book were that the author definitely comes across a little bitter and jaded at times- yes, the media has unfairly targeted and portrayed women, but at the same time, I feel that women have also progressed significantly in the media than they did fifty years ago. Fifty years ago there were no female news anchors, no women in Senate, hardly any women at all in professions like law and medicine. Maybe we haven't come as far as the author would have liked, but we're certainly further along now than we were back then. I felt like the author didn't do a fair job of giving credit where it was due. ALSO, there were some blatant proofreading and grammatical errors that just enraged me. TWICE the word "psychic" was used instead of the correct word "psychiatric"- once when referring to the "psychic benefits of exercise", and the other sentence was "a psychic breakdown". Huh?????????? Who was this woman's editor??? I HATE seeing grammatical errors in books!

In any event, I reached into my Book Box and picked a new title at random!

  The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. It's only 213 pages, so it should be a fairly quick read. It's about a high school freshman, and the entire book is him writing letters to someone who's never identified, and writing about the normal teenage stuff- family, friends, school, a recent high school classmate's suicide (well, that's not so normal). It takes place in 1991. So I'm thinking it might be like The Catcher in the Rye for the Kurt Cobain era.

I'm thinking that it might be time to curl up in bed with my new reads soon, and quite possibly a bowl of popcorn. I'm all snuggly cozy in my flannel PJs, and I've got my flannel sheets on my bed, and that's going to be all sorts of warm and cozy happiness.  :-)

I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day!!!!