what i enjoy most

The features I enjoy most about our car:

• Automatic transmission (most cars in South Africa are standards) ~ Hands-free for snacking!
• Cup holders everywhere ~ The more the merrier!
• Cruise control ~ For my lead foot...
  
• Back 2 seats fold down for storage ~ Shop-ping!
• Parking alert (as you reverse, it beeps progressively faster the closer you get to whatever's behind you) ~ Just in case...
  
• Mirror on the driver's side sun visor ~ Joy in the little things
• Six-CD changer ~ For non-stop tunage
• Volume control on the steering wheel ~ I'm all about convenience!
• Seat-position memory (which is so great since Niel is much taller than me) ~ Easier to return to my perfect position 'sweet spot' after Niel drives
• That it's ours! ~ We can make ourselves at home in it!

thirty minute meal?

When I was home over Christmas, I bought one of Rachel Ray's 30-minute meal cookbooks. I've made a few different recipes from the book over the past several months, and, for the most part, have enjoyed the new meals.

Last night I attempted a new recipe. I picked it because #1 - I can get almost all the ingredients here, and #2 - I liked the name of it: "My Sister Rita's Lazy Chicken or My Lazy Sister Rita's Chicken".

It turned out great. Niel and I really enjoyed it and I think it is a meal I'll make again. However, the name is a bit misleading. As is the fact that it's in a 30-minute meal cookbook. It took me over an hour, from start to finish. I'm wondering what's so "lazy" about it?!

I wish I could see Rachel Ray make it. I want proof that it can be done in only 30 minutes!

rationers anonymous

Hi. My name is Alece, and I am a rationer.

For so long now, I've had to live on limited supplies of American goodies -- from hair products to snacks. Because I can't just run to the store and get more when I need to, I've gotten very good at rationing. Maybe too good. I've unfortunately found myself eating things that have long since expired (2-year old salsa con queso, anybody?!). But I've always enjoyed knowing my supply wasn't depleted -- that there was more still left in the cabinet.

When our grocery store started selling Snapple, I bought quite a few and stocked them into my fridge. And then never drank any. Even though I knew I could buy more in town, my brain was still telling me to ration. "What if they stop selling it?!"

Well, I decided yesterday that even if they stop selling it, I'm going to enjoy it while it's here. I drank two Snapples in one day!

The guilt was so overwhelming, I haven't drank any today.

twenty-four

I've heard the observation that we all have the same number of hours in a day. And while I know it, sometimes I don't believe it. This week went by so fast, there's no way each day had 24 hours! Yet I know they did, and many of them just escaped me...

Then there's Jack Bauer's day. It never ceases to amaze me how jam-packed each of his 24 hours is. How does he accomplish so much in such short amounts of time?

Forget getting better at multi-tasking or increasing my time management skills. What I really need is some lessons in Jack Bauer-ing!

rules and idiosyncrasies

We spent a few days in Johannesburg this week to attend a leadership conference. I love learning and developing, so I really enjoyed the event. (But talk about information overload! My brain has been working overtime ever since, trying to figure out how to apply all I learned!) It was also great to drive our new car to the city for the first time, spend that time with Niel, and get to eat out anywhere other than our handful of local restaurants.

One of my rules when we're in a city is that we're not allowed to eat at a restaurant we have in our town. I figure, if I'm all the way up in Joburg, I want to be eating some place I don't often have access to. One of my all-time favorite city eateries is Primi Piatti. It's got a casual, fun atmosphere and some of the best Italian food I've eaten in Africa.

I'm a pretty boring orderer -- anywhere I go, I tend to always order the same meal. (At Primi, it's Pollo Giorgio...mmm-mmm!) I guess I'm not very adventurous. I'd rather stick with what I know .

In the spirit of full disclosure, let me just share that I even do this in public bathrooms. If it's a restroom that I've visited before, I will inevitably use the same stall I did the first time. I don't even plan it; it usually just happens. And it always makes me smile to myself as I'm closing the stall door...

Do you have any rules or idiosyncrasies to share?