Secret Santa, and how it goes south.

When you're trying to save money around the holidays you can often get stuck in a pickle.  I like the majority of the people that I work with, but there are always those few that I really don't care for.  When it came to draw names out of the box, I ended up with the 1 name that was seriously put back in the box 3 times by people before me.  I looked at it, wanted to put it back, but I didn't because 1) I was the last person to draw, and 2) I didn't want to be a complete jerk.  So this left me in a tight spot.  This is not a person that I wanted to buy a gift for to begin with, this is not even a person that I like.  What I should have done was not participate and discuss with my friends about what the gift giving plans were before joining the rest of the staff.  The problem with not participating though is the fact that then I look like a Scrooge.  I want to look like a team player, because a $20 gift isn't that bad really, but a lot of my actual friends are getting much cheaper and smaller gifts, because we talked about it.  But here we are, Secret Santa time, and we have to keep up appearances of being a cohesive team, care about everyone, and want to spend a lot of money on people we may or may not like.  

What were my odds of getting the person I ended up with?  One out of twenty-six. That meant that I had a 3.8% chance of drawing his name. Seriously.  How did I manage that?  Next time I think that I'm going to bow out and not participate and just look like Scrooge McDuck and just get presents for people I wanted to.  This added an extra gift to my already overly long list, because given the chance, I wouldn't have ever bought this person a gift. Yet here I am, making/buying my friends gifts and now another gift for someone that I don't even like.  

Next year, or even the next chance to participate in one of these, I am not doing it. The down side here is that I look like a jerk if I don't play well with others and I feel obligated to buy a decent gift, even though this gift is not nice.  It's just a $10 gift card inside of a Christmas card. It's kind of lame and almost a waste of money.  Actually, it is a waste of money because he wouldn't have cared if he got a gift from me if we weren't doing this Secret Santa.  Ugh.  The other bad thing about this is that I feel guilty now for not getting him a better gift, but I really don't want to buy him anything else because he isn't that nice of a person.  There's a reason his name was put back in the box 3 times.  Grrrr....

Ok, that's a lot of ranting.  I could do the right and good thing, give him his gift with a smile, be nice, and show him a little kindness since clearly no one else likes him either.  That's a sad testament to how he portrays himself and comes off to others, but it's the truth.  I even talked to my manager earlier this year about getting this guy fired because he was such a jerk to members and fellow trainers.  My manager said he has a bad attitude because who would like to come to work every day with a group of people who hate him?  I've tried being nice after that conversation, and he received it well, but then he turned right around and tried to steal one of my clients (he didn't succeed and was actually told off by my client), but seriously.  Why would I try to befriend this person who doesn't know how to help anyone or be a good person himself?  Be nice, be nice, be nice, be nice.  Just be nice.  That's what I have to do.  Just be nice.  And bite my tongue and make it bleed.  But still be nice.  Everyone needs some kindness.  He needs a lot of kindness.  Ugh.

The easiest Teriyaki chicken and rice meal ever!

Ok, so I'm all about efficiency and multi-tasking.  I also actually really love to cook, and I'm getting a lot better at it!  So the fact that I've successfully made a recipe multiple times in a row all with positive results is awesome!  I love chicken, rice, and teriyaki sauce, so it made sense to put them all together for a change.

I use the Lawry's Teriyaki marinade, white rice, a whole chicken breast, and kroger brand teriyaki sauce.  I follow the instructions on my rice and this time cut it in half:

3/4 C rice + 1 C water, bring the water and rice to a boil, cover your pot and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes depending on how big your pot is.  After the water is absorbed then take it off the heat and let it sit.

While the rice is cooking I am marinading the chicken, in this case I cut it up into chunks before marinading, it saves me time after it's done cooking.  When my rice is setting up I start cooking the chicken until it's done all the way.  Add the rice to the chicken, add the thinner teriyaki sauce, mix together, and enjoy.

Another super easy thing that I've been enjoying is my egg muffins.  Mix up 6 eggs, add in bacon, cheese, or whatever you want with your eggs.  Pour into a sprayed muffin pan (1 egg per muffin spot for an easy measurement), bake at 350 for 20 minutes, and voila!  You have breakfast.  I eat two of my muffins each morning.  They're super easy to handle and they keep for 5-6 days.  I normally just make out however many I need to get through my super early mornings at work.  When I have to get up and around and be at work by 5, the fewer things that need done in the morning, the better.  When I don't have to go in until 6:30 or 7, I'm much more functional, so cooking a little or organizing in the morning isn't too bad.

Enjoy!