Some site changes and racism

First of all, the hawk-eyed will have noticed a theme change. I’m currently using Misty Look by Sadish Bala which is really easy on the eyes and brings so much needed color to my website. I have also activated a comment editing (WP Ajax Editing) plugin which gives commenters a time windows in which they can edit their comments for typographical errors, and the like. So feel free to make use of this very useful feature. I currently have it set for 15 minutes which is ample time to regret edit your comments. ๐Ÿ™‚ If you have also noticed, my current theme supports Matt’s Asides which will hold my musings that are too long to go into my Twitter stream and too short to be called a full-fledged post (not that I’ve let that stop me before). lol.

Today’s been a bit slow, but I’ve got an entire day of cleaning up planned. I’ll be rearranging the freezer where we keep our animal parts so that will be fun. Which reminds me: I need to contact our maintenance point man so he will be able to assist me in this task. M’s having his final exams today so please put him in your prayers! I knew he had an incredible work ethic, but I was really impressed just watching him study and work his way through problems. I’m so proud of my husband and I’m sure he’s tired of me saying that. lol. Which brings me to another issue which blew my mind yesterday. Ever heard of Nuwaubianism? Well, Matt had actually told me about this group, but I didn’t take it seriously. In fact, part of me thought he was making it up! Well, I encountered a Nuwaubian yesterday. Just google “Nuwaubian” and you will understand my shock. The Southern Poverty Law Center has classified the Nuwaubians as a black supremacist hate group. Yes, I definitely believe that is in line with their beliefs. My conversation with the Nuwaubian started out nicely, but when I told him about my white husband, his first statement to me was that he wished he could perform a divorce for us (E no go betta for am). My jaw dropped to the floor. He then proceeded to tell me about the supposed “recessive” gene that Caucasians who originated from Caucasus mountains have and that we (blacks) were not supposed to mix our superior genes with whites’. He gave me a mixture of things that would have impressed a non-critical thinker/scientist and I didn’t say much to refute his ill-informed assertions. In this case, I merely bobbed my head as I was running late to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I’m too tired to even expound on this topic. Just do the googling and you’ll see for yourself. It was a bit sad.

Speaking of Narnia, I honestly was a little underwhelmed. To tell you how underwhelmed, I would have willingly sat down to watch the first version of Narnia. Narnia: Prince Caspian was a little too obvious in telling the audience that it was about Christianity. Here’s what I got from the movie: there is only one right way i.e. the way of Christ. That I agree with, but I just wish they had packaged it (for lack of a better word) nicely (or better than they did in the movie). It was so obvious that they were trying to send that moral lesson that Christ was the right way. For instance, they couldn’t defeat the enemy by their might. Neither could they defeat the enemy by enlisting Satan a.k.a. the white witch. It was only when they brought Christ (Aslan) into their ‘lives’ that they were able to be victorious. It wasn’t all that bad. It’s just that as a wannabe Christian, I know the “drill” and I just hated to see it repeated verbatim. There weren’t any new or eye-popping figures. I guess I should say they simply re-used the old animals which is fine, but I wanted something more I could gasp or coo over. lol. Call me silly.

A brief update

Here are some words of advice to WordPress users who download themes from the WordPress Theme Viewer site: make sure to visit the theme authors’ sites to download the true latest versions. Case in point: Breaking News by ShinRa House. On the Theme Viewer, it’s still only version 1.0. On a hunch, I downloaded the version of Breaking News on the author’s site and lo & behold, it came up as version 2.6.ร‚ย  If only the theme viewer site was as streamlined as the official WordPress plugins directory! I am more in love with my theme right now because it’s not picture heavy at all. I will be working hard to add some more tweaks, but out of the box, it fits all my needs right now. My first week back at work was uneventful and a bit slow. I didn’t have too much to do, but I know that the pace will be picking up pretty quickly. There are a couple of goals that need to be reached and I need to be on my grind. So, as next week rolls along, I shall be rolling my sleeves up along with it. Let’s get this party started!! ๐Ÿ™‚

We’re still apartment-hunting. Thanks in no small part to my aggressive cost-cutting measures, our power (gas) bill is still low.ร‚ย  However, little niggling issues (mostly on my part) are cropping up and making me just a wee bit extra-eager to get our own place. Since I’ve started working, I really get at most 4 hrs per week day to myself. I don’t want to spend it housekeeping especially if it’s not stuff that I’ve majorly contributed to or accumulated. I do a bit of housework myself. Just not as much as I used to when I was jobless. However, PC likes delegating during his free time and me, I like to do things as the spirit moves me. So, even paying me will not entice me to do certain duties unless aforementioned spirit moves me. ๐Ÿ™‚ *sigh* We’ll see how things pan out.

In other news, lol, I just made a batch of kick-ass chili (very thoroughly inspired by J, M’s sister). I followed the Pinto Bean Chili Recipe as found on About.com with some minor modifications. I soaked the pinto beans overnight to get them to soften. Then, I fired up a pot of water to boil and dumped the beans in there and left to simmer for about 1hr or until the bean skins peel off if lightly touched or blown upon. Then, I dumped a big can (and a quarter can) of diced Hunts tomatoes and allowed this to simmer with the beans for over 30mins (the recipe said 5 mins, but I began to panic because it didn’t taste like Julie’s chili yet. lol). Then, I fried up (in 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil) 2 big green bell peppers and 1 and half large onions till the onions turned brown.ร‚ย  I added my seasonings consisting of chili powder, curry (I thought the recipe said curry, but it was cumin. Oops. lol), garlic powder, dried oregano leaves and some maggi. I let the chili simmer for over 4 hrs and M said it was awesome. I am definitely going to try my hand at this again.

In other other news,ร‚ย  I’ve paid off my BoA credit card. I am more than relieved about this. I can now focus all my energies to paying off my SunTrust card. I’m reading a bunch of personal finance articles that are alternately uplifting and scary. lol. I’ll have to write about my findings in a separate post. Till I do, take care!