See April Work

2012-02-16T07:30:00.001-08:00

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Update Your Web Address

2011-07-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

I know I haven't posted in a bazillion years (that's a word, right?), but just a note to everyone that I'm no longer hosting my blog on a custom domain. Instead of http://www.seeaprilwork.com/, I'm going back to Blogger's free domain, so you'll find me at http://www.seeaprilwork.blogspot.com/. I just don't post enough to pay for a domain anymore, although if things change I'll let you know.

Hopefully I'll have more time to blog soon, or at least to put some pictures up! I thought work was going to slow down, but instead I've been given several more special projects (yay...?), that will take me through July.

I had the idea of going to bed just a little bit earlier each night, bringing my laptop with me, and writing a quick blog post before bed. Clearly that hasn't happened yet. Neither has my idea of getting up a little earlier each day to work out. Hm.

I'm Tired

2011-06-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Will you allow me to vent for a few minutes Blogland? I try to remain positive, because I think being negative only drags you down...however, I'm feeling mentally exhausted right now, and I think the only way to get myself out of this funk is to put everything in writing and get it out of my head.

Thanks for indulging me.

I'm tired.

I'm tired of always having to watch my weight and think about what I'm eating.
I'm tired of watching every dime we spend and feeling like there's never enough money.
I'm tired of being the only one in my household who keeps up on continuous chores like cleaning, cooking, and doing dishes (sorry honey!).
I'm tired of coming to a job each day that holds no meaning for me, and feeling like I'm wasting my time.
I'm tired of credit card debt.
I'm tired of credit card companies lowering credit limits, making outstanding balances even closer to credit limits and weakening credit scores.
I'm tired of feeling powerless.
I'm tired of feeling fat.
I'm tired of my clothes not fitting right.
I'm tired of being responsible.
I'm tired of a crappy iPhone that is slow, closes apps for no reasons, and freezes all the time.
I'm tired of keeping track of so much information, like money, grocery lists, laws & rules, position upgrades, position transfers, and promotions in place.

Is it possible to take a break from all of that for a little while? Just a day or two, that's all I ask.

Disclaimer - I love my life, I really do. I'm incredibly lucky to have a wonderful husband, beautiful daughter, and amazing family and friends. I know I have a good life and I know that while I'm by no means rich, I'm a lot better off than some people.

But everyone's allowed to complain sometime, right?

Thanks Blogland. Peace out.

My Weekends

2011-05-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to spend more of my weekends at home. I hate it when you have a weekend that is so jam-packed full of things that at 9:30 on Sunday night you're trying to make lunches for the next day, do laundry, put a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and take a shower because you haven't showered all weekend and you don't want your freshly-laundered sheets to get dirty.

When I was on maternity leave, weekends didn't matter. One day blended into the next with tranquility and peace, stress-free, only to be occasionally punctuated by stress brought on by a crying baby. I can only imagine it's what retirement is like (minus the crying baby and the fear in the back of your mind that you have to someday return to work). Maternity leave became a problem for me, however, when I began shopping.

A lot.

Fast asleep

All the money that the Husband and I saved when I was pregnant? Yeah it got spent. By me. On crap. See here was the problem - when Busy was tiny, she had feeding issues. When we were at home, she would cry. And cry. And eat. And eat again every 30 minutes because the nonfat milk I produced wasn't keeping her satisfied for very long. When we went somewhere, she slept. She was peaceful. She'd eat, and then she'd fall asleep in her car seat again. It was a beautiful thing.

Really though, the shopping started the month that I was off before she was born. Every day, I'd go shopping. Usually, it was to return items from baby showers that I'd gotten duplicates of, or that I'd decided I didn't want. (Returning things from a registry is awesome - seriously, I want to create registries more often. Just for me. Just so I can return.) This was okay at first, because I was shopping, but I was also returning.

Unfortunately, that got me into the habit of going somewhere every day. After Busy was born, it was nice just to have something to look forward to (I stayed in my house for two weeks (I had a c-section) and after that was going out of my mind). We went to Starbucks (always the drive-though, I didn't want to take her out of the car and expose her to germs at first...or expose anyone in the store to my yoga pants and hasn't-been-washed-in-four-days hair), and that was our outing for the day. Then, we started going to Starbucks and Babies R Us. Or Starbucks and Goore's, the locally-owned and awesome baby-store. We went anywhere that was "baby-friendly." I even looked forward to dr's appointments, because I knew that if Busy cried, I'd get sympathy looks instead of death-glares.

As Busy's eating habits improved (read: I started supplementing her on formula), we started venturing to more places. We'd hit Target - a lot. We'd drive to the outlets. We went everywhere. And everywhere we went, we shopped.

My little shopper

When I went back to work, we'd go out on the weekends. Busy is such a good little shopper. She minds her manners in her stroller or the cart, she helps me make decisions by pointing to the item I should get (when I'm deciding between two of something), and she is so social that she loves people and always seems to be on her best behavior for strangers.

Exersaucer fun!

But then, I'd end up in the awful spiral of late-night-Sunday madness. I'd swear I was going to do things differently the next weekend, and I'd only go out on Saturday, while spending Sunday at home. As Busy has gotten older, this has gotten easier. She is happier at home now - she sits on her quilt on the floor and plays with toys, she plays in her exersaucer, and she rolls across the floor to play with the vertical blinds on the sliding glass door. She also loves to sit outside on the grass and watch her dad work on the garden (or the shed he's building, or whatever else he's doing to our yard at the time).

I've remembered lately how much I love spending time at home. When I was pregnant, I'd clean all day Friday (I sure miss furloughs), do nothing all day on Saturday, and go grocery shopping and prep dinners and lunches on Sunday. And I was happy. Now that Busy is happy and occupied at home, we're spending more time just hanging out there. We're doing chores, going for walks, and enjoying this place that we call home (sorry, sounds sappy but it's true!).

Hangin' at Home Deeps

This past weekend, I failed miserably at spending time at home, but it was for a good cause. Saturday we went shopping and had lunch with good friends (and Busy's Bestie!), then hung out with my aunt who was visiting from out of state (from her I learned there is a second verse to "I'm a Little Teapot"). Sunday Busy and I ran some errands and then went to out to dinner as a little family with the husband. It was nice, except that then we went to Home Depot and got home at 8:30.

Next weekend, I'm looking forward to spending more time at home. I want to spend some time doing some batch cooking, I need to can some more beans, and I want to catch up on some cleaning.

Or, I'll just sing "I'm a Little Teapot" a million times and play on the floor with Busy.

Who wouldn't want to hang out with this face?

Sundays are Great, Mondays are Hard...

2011-04-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone! Well, happy belated Easter blog-land.

What a great weekend I had! It was so hard to come in to work today. Luckily, Busy had a dr's appointment at 9:00 this morning, so I got to come in to work late. Unfortunately, she didn’t' realize that meant we could all sleep in today, so she still woke up at 5:00...which means I woke up at 5:00.

Did everyone have a good Easter? Mine was pretty good. My extended family gets together the Saturday before Easter every year to celebrate, so that each individual family can do their own thing on Sunday. Saturday went pretty well, except that my mom was sick so she didn't make it. Busy didn't get to hunt eggs with the bigger cousins this year (she might have gotten trampled!), but she did have her very own jelly-bean shaped plastic Easter eggs to play with...she thought they were pretty cool (and tasty!). Sunday began with a mini-Easter egg hunt at our house, although Bruiser was much more successful at egg-finding than Busy was. The festivities ended there, and by about 9:00 a.m. I had the entire rest of the day to do whatever I wanted...

Well, not really. The hubby had planned on finishing the shed he's building in the backyard, but the rain changed those plans so he stayed inside and played with Busy quite a bit. That allowed me to do the following:

• Clean Busy's room
• Wash, dry, fold, and put away 5 loads of laundry
• Cook chicken and make a giant pot of chicken stock to freeze for later
• Use above-mentioned chicken to make a chicken tortilla casserole
• Bake a breakfast casserole for pre-made breakfasts this week
• Soak beans to make P-Dawg's famous beans in the crock pot today (recipe to follow if she'll let me share - I thought it was on her blog (visit her here) but I searched and can't find it)
• Puree peaches and pumpkin with my awesome immersion blender to freeze in individual-size portions for Busy
• Take Busy to the grocery store (where I only spent $21.25! I was planning on under $20 so that's not too bad)
• Clean the guest bathroom
• Give Busy a bath
• Vacuum (Busy helped me; she was in her Moby and loves vacuuming)
• Take Busy and Bruiser for a walk

I know, can you believe I got all that done!? Granted, bullets 3 through 5 took place after Busy went to bed and forced me to stay up until midnight, but still...I got it all done.

I also bought this over the weekend. Parents or parents-to-be, I can't even tell you how much I love this space-saver high chair. I have a cute, antique wooden high chair that I got from my brother and sister-in-law, and I was determined to use it and nothing else. I didn't want a plastic highchair that got in the way and looked, well, cheap. Alas, the wooden highchair, while gorgeous, is not so great: Busy slides around in it and ends up slouching down, she leans to far and hits her head on the wood, and honestly, I have to dust it (I love cleaning, but I HATE dusting). It may be better when she's a little bigger, but for now, I've been looking at other options and finally bought a space-saver high chair this weekend.

I. LOVE. IT.

End of story. Get one, you'll love it too.

Happy Monday everyone!

Wishes

2011-04-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

Today I wish that:

Teething happened all at once.
I'd been more responsible with my credit cards when I was in my early 20's.
My husband had been more responsible with his credit cards when he was in his early 20's.
I had a job that was fun to go to.
My eye would stop twitching.
I'd gotten more sleep last night so the aforementioned eye wouldn't be twitching.
I had a $5,000 gift card from What Not to Wear and a whole week to go shopping.
Stacy and Clinton would be my personal shoppers.
I was still on maternity leave.
I had more time to blog.
I had more time to clean my house.
I'll find some awesome deals the next time I'm on Craigslist.
My garden is bountiful this year.

I realize that it sounds like I'm having a bad day after reading this post. Really, I'm not. I'm just having a Monday. I'm tired, it's a little hard for me to get going this morning, and I'm feeling introspective today.

And my dang eye still won't stop twitching...

My Favorite Things

2011-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

"...I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel, so bad."

I love Julie Andrews. I love the Sound of Music. I used to watch the movie every day of summer vacation when I was little, which explains why Favorite Things and Doe a Dear are the only songs I can ever think of to sing to Busy when she's tired.

But today I'm not thinking about The Sound of Music. No, today I'm thinking about my favorite things. Specifically, my new favorite thing that I discovered this weekend. What is it, you might ask? It's sleek...it's powerful...it's…

...not some kind of sports car. Are you kidding? Think about who is writing this. No, it's my brand new Immersion Blender!!

No I'm not kidding. This thing is amazing. I was talking to a friend of mine this weekend about making baby food (sorry folks, it's another baby-related post). I was feeling guilty for not making Busy more food, even though she loves her Earth's Best food (and the brand that comes in a pouch...but I forget what that's called). Anyway, I was feeling bad because she eats a lot of fruits, but not a ton of vegetables, and the variety in baby food is just so/so. However, it's a lot of work to haul out the blender or the food processor (after you figure out which one you should be using) just to make a batch or two of food.

Before my amazing discovery of the fantastic thing known as an immersion blender, I'd made peas, cauliflower, and mangoes, the first two in a food processor, the third in a blender. I'd also attempted kale after another friend raved about how much her daughter liked it, but it smelled so bad after I steamed it that I knew there was no way I could feed that to Busy...mostly because I didn't think I could stand to smell it myself. Anyway, the cauliflower and the mangoes turned out okay, but it was so much work for not so much food. I was feeling discouraged.

Then, during a conversation with my friend about what types of food she'd fed her son, she happened to mention that she always used her immersion blender. She gushed about how easy it was, how quick the cleanup was, and how she could use it for anything - fruits, veggies, meats, whatever. I was stunned, not because of all the ways she could use it, but because I'd never thought about using one of those myself.

That was late Saturday night. By 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, I too was the proud owner of an immersion blender. By 12:30 Busy had amazingly settled into a two hour nap (in her crib...truly amazing) so I was in the kitchen, roasting sweet potatoes, cooking black beans, and having a ball with my new blender. It was great! Super easy, fast to wash, and it worked superbly. My freezer now contains ice cube trays full of deliciousness for Busy.

For those of you interested in purchasing an immersion blender (for baby food or otherwise), I did a lot of Googling to research the different brands. Initially I'd wanted a Breville cordless immersion blender; I've drooled over that in the Williams-Sonoma catalog for years. However, I found the reviews to be surprisingly poor…2 out of 5 stars! It seemed that the KitchenAid and Cuisinart immersion blenders (both with cords) got the best ratings of those in my price range. I shopped at Kohl's (it was closest to my house) and was going to buy the Cuisinart, but I happened to notice they had one Hamilton Beach blender left. This one, with the same 200 watt motor as the other two, had also gotten fairly good reviews, but I was going to stick with the other brands because I own several KitchenAid and Cuisinart products and know they're reliable. However, the Cuisinart was on sale for $53.99, and the Hamilton Beach was on clearance for $11.99.

Sold.

After using the Hamilton Beach immersion blender, I'd say it's powerful and runs like a champ. It's a little awkward to hold, because you have to hold down the button while it's running (not sure if they're all like that). Also, the shaft is plastic, rather than stainless steel (although the blade is a regular metal blade), so it probably won't last me a lifetime. However, it'll last me long enough to make baby food, so for the price, I consider it totally worth it!

I wish I was at home now making baby food, instead of getting ready to start my day at work. I think I might have dreamed about my new blender last night.

Is that bad?

I've got the itch

2011-04-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Not an itch, gross. No, the itch.

I've been itching to blog lately. Really, I just had to scratch my arm.

However, did you know that a baby, plus housework, plus an urgent special project at your full-time job equals not a lot of time for blogging? Who would have thought?

So I've been a little busy this past month. My own little Busy turned 7 months old last Friday, April 1st. I cannot believe 7 months have gone by. It seems beyond comprehension. I was okay with her turning 6 months, because that was just 6. 7 months is more than half a year; in fact, it's almost her first birthday (and yes, I have started planning her first birthday party, because really, it's just around the corner). When she was born, I got sad everyday that she was growing up (thank you hormones); as she got a little older, I kept good memories of her being tiny, embraced the fact that she was learning new things, and was happy with her growing older. For some reason, the 7 month birthday has brought me the birthday blues.

Sitting in her high chair for the first time

Drinking out of a straw like a pro!

Yum, sweet potatoes...

One of my favorites...her dad gets a similar mischievous look on his face at times...

Busy is doing amazing, though - rolling over, sitting up, pushing up on her arms and legs (although no crawling yet) and thoroughly enjoying solid foods. Her current favorites are mangoes and those little cereal puffs. She chomps away with her two bottom teeth (teething = worst period of my life) like she's got a huge bite of steak in her mouth, looking immensely proud of herself the entire time. She talks literally all the time, too - and not just babbling. She has babbled since the day she was born, but this past week she's surprised us with very clearly pronounced "bababa" and "dadada." I know that doesn't mean anything, but she only says "dadada" when her dad is in the room, so I'm pretty sure she knows who he is. And I think "bababa" is Bruiser...

What a sight to wake up to in the morning.

Bruiser likes to burrow under his blanket.

Then he has dreams and rolls over...

On Thursday of this week I completed a project at work that has been six (almost seven) weeks in the making. It was a high level project that turned out to be very political because of the positions involved, and while I learned a lot, I hope not to have to do anything like it any time soon. Besides being exhausted, I don't like politics and I hate people who play the game...I know it's how many people get ahead in this world, but I'm a firm believer in getting ahead through honest hard work. It may not happen all the time, but it does still happen.

My house is a mess (which terrifies me) but my garden is planted, thanks to the hubby. We didn't go hog wild with tomatoes and peppers like last year, so we still have an empty section of the planter box. I'm thinking of a few more tomatoes so I am able to do a lot of canning this summer, but I may plant a few items to make food for Busy (squash, pumpkins, something along those lines).

I've got ideas in the works for quite a few posts, and I'm hoping to find the time now to be able to write them. For now, this has been a brief update on my life. Hope you enjoyed it!

A Case of the Mondays

2011-02-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

Anyone else having trouble getting motivated today? It's currently break time at work, but I almost (almost) feel guilty for taking a break, because I just haven't been that productive today. My mind keeps wandering and I end up thinking about menu planning, and bill paying, and having to drop Busy off at daycare starting Wednesday when the Hubby goes back to work. My mind is in a million different places today, and none of them is here in my cubicle.

Anyone else having a case of the Mondays today?

Adventures in Daycare

2011-02-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

Well Blogland, it's been an emotional week. Not only have I been extremely busy at work (a first since coming back from maternity leave almost two months ago), but today marks the end of Busy's first week of daycare.

Out like a light...I love it when babies sleep like this.

I'm not sure how many of you out there have kids, and of those who do, how many have kids in daycare, but I can tell you, it's a stressful thing! First, you have to find somewhere to send your precious, beloved little bundle of joy. In my opinion, that is the hardest and most stressful thing about daycare. Luckily for me, I found a small, in-home daycare, the same place where a good friend's daughter went. Knowing that my friend and her husband trusted this woman with their daughter was HUGE for me, and was ultimately the deciding factor in choosing a daycare for Busy. Each time I went there, the owner immediately went to Busy, lifting her out of her carseat, hugging her, speaking to her softly and carrying her around to talk to the other children. And Busy seemed to love her! So, I knew we'd found the right place.

The second worst part of choosing a daycare are the days leading up to your child's first day. For only the second time in my life, I was full of anxiety and dread, thinking about taking Busy somewhere without her parents or another family member. Monday night, I cried - would she feel abandoned without us all day? Would she think we weren't coming back for her? Tuesday morning, I cried. I got her ready and ended up making the Husband drop her off...I just couldn't do it. I also made him pick her up, because I wanted her to attend for only a half day at first. When I found out he hadn't picked her up by one o'clock, I might have raised my voice to him on the phone. When I found out at 2:55 p.m. that he was JUST going to pick her up, I told him to GO GET HER NOW in a slightly louder than normal voice (no, I wasn't yelling...sort of). The report back from the first day was good - she was smiling and happy, and she had made friends with a just-over-one-year old named Alonzo.

Aside from crying a bit that first day, I actually handled daycare pretty well. When I think about it rationally, I know that I went to daycare, and I turned out fine. I know that almost all of my friends' children either went or are going to daycare, and they are happy, well-adjusted kids. I know that she's too young to feel abandoned or to worry that we aren't coming back for her. As long as I don't let my emotions get the best of me, I do okay.

I like that we're starting to settle into a routine. I come home from work, kiss her and love her, and she gives me big smiles. We play on the floor for awhile, then she plays in her Exersaucer while I make dinner. I feed her some solids (such a big girl, she had her first solids this week and LOVES them), give her a bath, then she gets in her PJs and has a bottle. Not long after that, it's bedtime for her, and I have a little time to clean up the house, make my lunch, or watch some tv before bed (except for last night, when I fell asleep on the couch right after she went to bed and got nothing done).

My new favorite picture of her...although forgive the quality, I took a picture of a printed picture.

While I'd like to work part-time or not at all, I know it's not possible right now, and so I'm happy with the way things are working out. Of course, I still haven't dropped her off or picked her up from daycare this week. I'm afraid dropping her off might start the emotions going and send me into a fit of tears.

Next week I'm going to have to stop being such a wienie and do it, though - Hubby goes back to work on Wednesday. Yikes!

Smile! No wait, don't...you have bad teeth.

2011-02-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

I loathe the dentist.

Okay, I don’t loathe the dentist personally, but I hate, repeat HATE going to the dentist. My dislike of going to the dentist was compounded about a thousand times when I had to go this week, on Valentine’s Day of all days.

Let me give you some history…

I don't like teeth to begin with, I have a fantastic gag reflex, genetically average to bad teeth, plus incredible hot/cold sensitivity. Add to that the fact that I don’t like the noise of the metal scrapey thing or the drill, plus the fact that I’m a big fat wienie, and you have someone whose stomach becomes a pit of dread when a dental appointment is approaching. As a small child, my dentist was the father of a girl I went to school with (I still remember her first name was Amelia). Bad dental experience #1 happened under his care – I had to get a retainer, and I threw up on his dental assistant (hey, small mouth + those awful trays full of goop + my gag reflex = me barfing on someone). I don’t know what happened to him, but my next dentist (Good Dentist) moved into Dentist #1’s offices, so I guess we just switched to the new guy.

Good Dentist was my dentist for YEARS – like 15. He was gentle, was cognizant of my gag reflex and sensitive teeth, and was just a nice guy. He had the same staff members the entire time he was in business, so you always knew what you were getting when you went in for a checkup. I faithfully went to all of my dental appointments from childhood through about age 18 (mostly because my mom made me). After 18, somehow the dentist slipped through the cracks, and I sort of stopped going.

When I was about 21, I had to get my own health coverage at work because I could no longer be covered under my parents. This meant I had to get my own dental insurance, too. I could have continued going to the Good Dentist, but I lived in Midtown and wanted a dentist that wasn’t in the Burbs. I chose one based on the recommendation of a coworker, and off I finally went (remember, haven’t been to a dentist in 3 years).

Turns out I went to a Bad Dentist. Like horrible, awful, can’t believe I paid her. Yep, I had a bunch of cavities, and actually needed a root canal, too. I never did get the root canal under her care, but did get the cavities filled – all with silver. Really? Silver? Long story short, Bad Dentist was awful - I hurt, I cried, I hated it, so I never went back.

I returned to Good Dentist, begged and pleaded to be seen again even though he wasn’t accepting new patients, and life was good. I had my root canals (not a bad process at all, except for the crowns), and after that, I maintained good oral health so that at each appointment, I was pleasantly surprised not to have any cavities (a rarity for me – I usually had at least one new cavity per appointment). I also made him promise he was not retiring any time soon, because I couldn’t go through finding a new dentist.

Turns out, he did retire.

Not by choice, but because of a bad back. Another dentist took over his practice, and it turned out to be…the daughter of my orthodontist.

Who I graduated from high school with.

Awkward.

Actually, not too awkward. We knew each other in high school, although we weren’t close friends. She was nice, but hung out with a different crowd. Now she’s my dentist. I thought about choosing a new dentist, but after seeing her for the first time (where I warned her about the gag reflex, sensitivity, and wienieness), I decided it was an okay situation and I’d stick with it.

Although I didn’t stick with it. I missed my next cleaning because I had a cold, and gee, I never rescheduled. The Husband has been bugging me to make us dental appointments, so I finally did (six months later). Mine ended up on Valentine’s Day.

So I go in, get x-rayed, and notice that my last dental appointment was in…late 2008. Yikes. Okay, so it’s been awhile. No biggie. I’d been having some sensitivity, so I knew I had a couple cavities, but still – no biggie.

Hippos probably don't get anxiety over going to the dentist.

Turns out, I was wrong.

I need numerous fillings and four crowns. FOUR. I’m on a strict regimen of a rinse, a special paste, flossing, and special gum to chew after meals. One reason is that apparently your pH balance changes during pregnancy and it can really screw up your teeth. One reason is my pure laziness…I know I should have gone to the dentist.

The other reason is Starbucks.

Truly. Apparently it’s really, really bad to sip your Iced-venti-decaf-two-pump-no-whip-mocha throughout the day. Even worse when you do it twice a day. Sure, the iced mocha may keep you full when you sip it, but while you’re sipping away, all that sugar is swimming around your teeth, rotting them one by one.

I was totally bummed after my appointment – bummed and pissed off. Also stressed about paying for numerous fillings and four crowns, especially since this is February and I only get a certain amount of dental coverage per calendar year.

Thinking about it now though, three days later, I had a realization. Yes, I still hate teeth. And yes, I still dread going to the dentist. And also yes, I’m still totally disappointed that Good Dentist retired. But, I’m really happy with New Dentist. Because New Dentist truly seems to care about my teeth. Yes, she’s going to make lots of money off me this year (she could probably remodel her house). But she also gave me the rinse, the flosser and the paste, for free. She told me where to get the special gum. She laid out my treatment plan for me, and when I called her to tell her about my insurance screw up (I have less coverage than I thought, oops), she rearranged my treatment plan, put some things off until next year, and didn’t hassle me about trying to get them all done NOW. She’s awesome. Her staff members are awesome.

I feel…calm. Not happy, but okay with all of this.

If any of you who live near me are looking for a new dentist, email me. Yes, it’s weird going to a dentist who graduated from high school with you, but not as weird as you’d think. And she’s kinda awesome.

So now I’m following my strict regimen, which kinda sucks, but is okay if I think about it as a challenge…I want to go back for my first filling appointment in March and have New Dentist say, Wow April, I’m so impressed with your good dental hygiene. I want to stop the bacteria in its tracks. I want to show everyone that I can follow directions and I’m not a loser with bad teeth.

Goodbye for now, Blog Land. I have to go floss my teeth and chew some gum.

Definitely not my teeth...though one can dream.

There's an App for That!

2011-02-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

I am addicted to the App Store.

It’s such an amazing collection of possibilities. Want to know what the air quality is going to be outside? There’s an app for that. Want to keep track of your baby’s bottles, naps, and poops? There’s an app for that. Need the use of an app that has been given the seal of approval by Catholic officials in the US that helps you through the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Yes, there’s even an app for that.

When I got my first iPhone about 2 years ago, I started off with the 16 or so apps that come standard on every phone. I soon began downloading apps – any type of app – as long as it was free. I had pages and pages of apps that I thought were cool, and that I “just might use some day.” I had pages of games, news apps, banking apps, and even an app to buy things on Craigslist. Then came the pregnancy apps – what I was supposed to eat, how the baby was growing, pregnancy Q&As. I soon began to forget what apps I had because I had so many of them!

I rarely updated the software on my iPhone, so I didn’t realize I could create folders to store my apps in…until I bought my iPhone 4 in November. Heaven. Utter, simple, complete, heaven. I now have only two pages of apps containing…

…132 apps.

I told you I have a problem. But at least now my problem is organized! My first page is all of my frequently used apps – Facebook, Twitter, Weight Watchers, and Shazam. I have folders containing all the newspapers/newsites I like to read. Another folder is my “Shopping” folder, with Macys, Babies R Us, and Target apps. There’s the “Lifestyle” folder that contains my Groupon, Confession, and Zillow apps.

I love finding new apps. Sometimes I lie in bed at night searching for new apps. Then I can't put my phone down, and I get on this downloading streak and before you know it, I need a new folder for all my apps! I was going to list all of my favorites for you, and tell you a little about each one, but when I made the list, I had too many favorites. So, I’m going to list most of my favorites, but only feature my top five favorites.

Honorable Mention Apps (in no particular order). If you have an iPhone (or Droid/Blackberry, some of these apps are available for those phones) I hope that you’ll check these out; they’re definitely some of my most used apps.

Shazam

Messenger

Bento

Lists

Etsy

Babies R Us

Plants vs. Zombies

Oregon Trail

Angry Birds

Bejeweled

Quick Bank

Google Reader

Lose It

What to Expect – Pregnancy

Netflix

Here are my top five favorite apps, in no particular order. Please note that my favorites can and do change as my life changes, and you’ll notice that several apps are baby-related at this stage of my life.

Golden 1 - This is my credit union, and I’m so, SO happy that they have an app. It is simple and user-friendly, and I use it all the time to check my balances, transfer money, etc. Five gold stars to Golden 1.

iBreastfeed - This is an app that was created by Medela, a company that makes breastfeeding equipment and supplies. It helps you track not only when your baby last ate, but when they last slept, peed, pooped, etc. There are several apps like it on the market, but this one was the best one I found – and it’s free.

Momento - I used to keep track of Busy’s milestones on my iPhone calendar, until I found this app. It lets you record a “Momento” or special moment, tag it, take a photo of it, and it stores them all for you. In case you can’t remember the first time your child did something, you don’t have to search through every day on your calendar – just scroll through your Momentos. Awesome.

Week Calendar - I actually use this in place of the iPhone calendar that came on the phone. I like that it has a weekly view, and that I can change the colors of events so that different categories have different colors (work functions vs. personal items, for example). It pulls all the information currently in your iPhone calendar when you sync, so you don’t have to retype everything.

Voice Memos - This app has been invaluable. I recently blogged about how my short term memory has always been awful, but that it’s gotten even worse since having a child. I record everything now – to-dos, grocery lists, things Busy has done that I want to write down. Nothing is safe from my voice memo.

What are some of your favorite apps?

Listmania!

2011-02-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

I love lists.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I love lists. I just do. I feel so in control when I’ve made a list, whether a grocery list, to-do list, inventory, even a budget (I consider that a type of list).

Last night, as I crawled into bed, I realized my mind was still going a mile a minute, if not more. I was so comfortable, with my personal, portable heater pressed up against my leg (otherwise known as Bruiser), that I thought if I repeated everything to myself enough times, I’d remember it in the morning.

Yeah, right.

My short term memory has always been horrible. My long term memory is great – I have vivid memories from a camping trip when I was three (confirmed by my mom, who couldn’t believe I remembered those things), but my short term memory has always been horrible. When I was pregnant, I started getting “Pregnancy Brain” and began to write down more things than ever before (for fear of forgetting them). People told me “Mommy Brain” is even worse, but I didn’t believe them.

I believe them now.

Yesterday I was having a conversation with my mom, and halfway into it I forgot what the point of my story was. Completely forgot! I think of things to do a lot when I’m driving, and I’ll forget what they were by the time I get home (although I’ve started using a voice recording app on my phone for moments in the car). I had a brilliant idea for a new invention – something that was actually feasible for me to make, and that I think people would actually buy – and I CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS!

So, as I lay in my warm bed last night, I realized there was no way I’d remember everything I needed to remember in the morning. I reached an arm out from under the covers and felt around in the dark for a notebook and something to write with. Using only the glare of the TV for light, I wrote my list…two pages worth! There’s no way I would have remembered half of those things today.

Last night, I thought my list looked fairly neat. Today, in natural light, alert and awake (well, awake at least), it’s not so neat. In fact, I had a hard time identifying some of my tasks.

See for yourself:

Can you decipher the entire list?*

Pathetic, no? I felt so much better getting everything out of my head and onto paper. But now, I have to find the time to do everything! Guess I’d better stop blogging and get busy.

*One final note - I used to take pride in my handwriting. Now, it's embarrassing. I almost re-wrote the entire list before writing this post, but that takes the fun out of trying to decipher it. I blame carpal tunnel (believe in it or not, but trust me it's real) and writing in the dark.

Meet Some Other Bloggers

2011-02-04T16:04:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Busy and I had dinner with a group of gals who are all totally amazing in so many different ways. Why did we all gather, you ask? It was the first annual EG Bloggers Dinner!

L to R: ME, Tracy, Heather, Katie, Hutch

Having dinner with Tracy, Heather (my sister-in-law), Katie, and Hutch was just the motivation I needed to continue blogging, especially as I was toying with the idea of creating an additional blog (check out my new blog following my journey to health by clicking here). I went to school with each of these ladies, and graduated in the same class with all but Heather. Katie and I were even best friends from elementary school into high school! I’ve been reading their blogs, chatting with them on Facebook, and following their tweets for some time, but with the exception of Heather, I hadn’t really seen any of them in person in quite some time. I never would have thought that blogging would have been the thing that brought us all together.

It appears that I’m the last of the five to blog about the dinner, so I won’t go into too much detail; if you want to read more about it (and really, you should), Heather did an awesome job of putting metaphorical pen to paper on her blog here. I’ll simply say that these are the five blogs I read the most, and if you haven’t already, you need to check them out. Tracy can dress anyone in any style “on the cheap,” Heather can describe even the most mundane day with a style and grace of writing I could only hope to have, Katie has fantastic regular features that I look forward to reading each week and keeps me shouting at my computer, “Me too!”, and Hutch constantly makes me snort liquids through my nose.

It was a great night and I can’t wait to meet up with them again!

New Blog!

2011-02-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, SeeAprilWork is not going anywhere. But there's a new addition to this gal's blog-o-sphere.

You might be reading the title of this post and saying to yourself, “April, you are not so great at updating this blog. Why would you start another blog?” Well, let me answer you. This blog is completely random, and that’s what I love about it. I wanted to blog about my journey to a healthy lifestyle, but I didn’t want it to completely take over the blog. So, I started a second blog that is solely dedicated to healthy living – eating well, exercising, and learning to not just diet, but eat to live, rather than live to eat (because oh man, do I live to eat!).

So, click on over here if you want to check out my new blog, SeeAprilLose! It’ll be fun, I swear.

I'm So Crafty

2011-01-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I like to think of myself as a fairly crafty person, but here’s my little secret- I’m not very creative. I’m great at seeing something, figuring out how it was made, and duplicating it, but original ideas…? I don’t really have ‘em.

When I was on maternity leave I went shopping – a lot. Busy is a great little shopper, and some days she would only take substantial naps in her car seat, so off to window shop we’d go (okay usually it wasn’t window shopping, but that is beside the point). One day we were in a local children’s store, and I saw something called a “Taggie.”

At first I thought, that’s stupid, it’s a piece of fabric with some ribbon sewn on the edges. Busy, however, seemed mesmerized. She loved the feel of it, and had I let her, those ribbon “tags” would have been in her mouth faster than you could imagine. Thinking it would be a good toy for her to chew on while in her car seat, I was going to purchase it.

Until I looked at the price tag.

$14.99 for a tiny little piece of fabric and some ribbon! I couldn’t bring myself to pay that amount, but oh, how Busy loved it! The solution – I made my own.

It was so easy. I had some extra fabric at home, along with a selection of ribbon thanks to my newfound hobby of making pacifier clips. A few snips, a few pins, a little sewing, and ta-da! My very own, very inexpensive, “Taggie.”

What do you think?

In reality all the ribbons are the same length, so I'm not sure what visual trick I used to make the red ribbon appear to be so much longer than the rest.

Work in Progress

2011-01-25T09:59:00.000-08:00

So the new look of the blog is under way, but it's not quite finished yet. I've added some "Pages" near the top of the blog, but haven't had a chance to add any content. Stick around and hopefully you'll like the finished product!

Goodbye, Old Friend

2011-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Goodbye, Starbucks.

Goodbye for real this time. I’ll miss you, oh yes I will, but our relationship has become unhealthy, and for this reason I must say goodbye.

Goood-byyyyeee (I can hear Julie Andrews’s voice in the background, singing “Goodbye” with Christopher Plummer as they walked off the stage to escape the Nazi’s)…

Anywho, back to reality. Let me explain my history with Starbucks to you. It all started in September 1998 when I got a job at Plantation Coffee, the local independent coffee shop. I didn’t even drink coffee at that time, but I was desperate to leave Linens ‘n Things, where’d I’d been working for all of one month (it was hell). My SIL P-Dawg worked at Plantation and said it was a pretty good job. I got hired, and there my story begins.

As I mentioned, I didn’t even drink coffee. I kept trying the flavored black coffees, because I wanted to like coffee, and they smelled so good. It was amazing to me how something that smelled so wonderful could taste so awful. Because we were allowed to drink whatever we wanted for free while we were working, I began experimenting with espresso drinks.

And it was then that the iced mocha entered my life.

It was glorious! Cool and refreshing, slightly sweet but not overly so, slightly bitter from the espresso. I’d never experienced anything like it. Soon, I was drinking three to four mochas a day (hey, they were free) – one when I got to work, two more while I was there, and one that I’d drink on my way home. I was a senior in high school and was incredibly busy, so I imagine the caffeine was pretty helpful, although I think I drank so much soda, too, that caffeine didn’t affect me too much. After all, the mocha I’d drink at the end of my shift lasted me until I got home, and I’d drink it as I got into bed at night and fall right to sleep.

Fast forward to college, where there was a coffee shop on the way from my morning classes back to my dorm where I began to stop every day. I had this glorious thing called a “food card;” basically I paid tuition, housing, and food at the beginning of every quarter. Paying for food ahead of time guaranteed me three squares a day at the school cafeteria, but it also gave me a few hundred dollars per quarter to spend like cash at the other eateries on campus. Needless to say, I ate most of my meals in the cafeteria because I quickly spent all my extra cash at the campus coffee shop.

When I left school and came back home, I began working for the state. Just one block from my building was a La Bou. My coworkers would go every day to get coffee, so I’d go with them and get an iced mocha. When I began doing the Atkins diet after about three years of working for the state, I started going to La Bou each day (I’d gone a few days a week before but not always every day) and getting black coffee, then flavoring it with non-dairy creamer. It took awhile, but I began to like the taste of black coffee (heavily sweetened with flavored creamer, I should add). After awhile, I began stopping on my way to work at Starbucks; up until this point, I’d never really gone to Starbucks. I loved Plantation Coffee’s mochas, and I liked La Bou’s flavored coffees, but I’d never really ventured into a Starbucks. However, I was now heading to work from my then-boyfriend-now-husband’s house (yes, I stayed at his house before we were married, I’m sorry), and there was only a Starbucks on the way (and I was going to a different job, so the La Bou was not nearby). I’d get a venti black coffee with room and add smooth, creamy, wonderful half-and-half.

It was then that I got hooked on Starbucks. Damnit.

Our relationship evolved from black coffee every day to black coffee and a pastry every day (this was clearly after I had given up on Atkins). Soon I wasn’t going to Starbucks in the morning (I had moved downtown by then and had a five minute commute to work), but I was going every single day of the week with my coworkers on our morning break. By this time the husband (still boyfriend back then) and I had shacked up together downtown and we’d leisurely stroll to our neighborhood Starbucks at least one day on the weekend. I should note that at this point in time, I was getting various drinks from Starbucks but they were all either black coffee or non-fat mochas.

Fast forward to my time working for a different agency. Each morning, I again went to Starbucks with some coworkers. The difference is that each afternoon, I again went to Starbucks with some coworkers. The folks at Starbucks knew us so well that the week before my wedding I was chosen as “Customer of the Week,” and the baristas gave me a card that they all signed. At this time, Starbucks went to 2% milk instead of whole, and I discovered how amazing an iced mocha is with 2% milk instead of non-fat.

Fast forward once more to the present, and my drink is an iced-venti-decaf-two-pump-no-whip-mocha. The people at Starbucks know me. Sadly, they actually know me at multiple Starbucks. When I was on leave for the month before Elizabeth was born, I started each and every single day by going to Starbucks and getting my iced mocha (decaf, of course) and a classic coffee cake.

Every. Single. Day.

After she was born, I was on leave for four months, and while people brought me coffee at first, I soon became stir crazy and needed to get out of the house. I didn’t want to take Elizabeth anywhere where there were people and germs, so our activity became going to the drive-through Starbucks. Again, I went every day.

As bad as that was, the problem began when I started going twice a day. Not every day, but often enough that a significant portion of my disposable cash went to Starbucks. Then, I told myself I was going to stop. I told myself, “Self, this is the last day that we’re going to Starbucks.” So, naturally, I went to Starbucks three times that day, because it was the last day. I actually did start making coffee and espresso drinks at home for a period of time, but that didn’t last long, because Christmas rolled around and I got Starbucks cards as gifts. I resumed my daily routine of both starting, and ending, my day at Starbucks.

It has got to stop!

And so, it will stop. Yes, awhile ago I posted on Facebook that Starbucks and I were going our separate ways, and while we did for awhile, as mentioned I was drawn back into the addictive web that is Starbucks. This must be what smokers experience when they try to quit. It’s hard!

And what has changed this time, you might be asking. Well, first I’ve made a commitment to my health. Second, the husband and I have been talking and it is our ultimate goal that I work part time. To make that happen, we must pay off a few bills (evil credit cards) and replenish our savings (maternity leave doesn’t pay that well, folks), and that means no mindless shopping and NO MORE STARBUCKS. Because this time, I’m not doing it just for me, I’m doing it for Busy, too.

And so we must say goodbye, Starbucks old pal. You’ve been a good friend, a comfort when times were tough, but I don’t need you anymore…and I certainly don’t want to pay for you anymore!

Bear with me here...

2011-01-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of dusting off my limited HTML skills and learning some new ones while I fix up the old blog template. It'll probably look different today than it does tomorrow, and things will definitely be moving around.

In the end, though, it'll be worth it, so I hope you stick around!

The One Constant in my Life - Weight Loss

2011-01-18T11:54:00.000-08:00

If you want to look young and thin, hang around old fat people. – Jim Eason

When I was pregnant, I ate healthier than I’ve ever eaten in my entire life – and amazingly, it was easy! Knowing that the development of that little life was totally dependent on what I put (or didn’t put) into my body made passing up the Twinkies and choosing the banana a no-brainer. Sure, I slipped up every once in awhile, and during the final month of my pregnancy I may have had a McDonald’s chocolate milkshake every single day…but then I’d come home and have salmon, brown rice and green beans for dinner.

I gained 29 pounds with Busy, and within two weeks after delivering her I’d lost all but five of those pounds. In the next few weeks I lost those last five pounds, then five more, and even a few more. Unfortunately, my eating habits quickly returned to pre-pregnancy mode once I stopped exclusively breastfeeding, and those extra pounds I lost somehow got packed back on.

Before I got pregnant I was trying to lose weight, mostly to get my body ready for pregnancy, but also because I was heavier than I’d ever been. While I was also happier than I’d ever been, I was tired of the extra weight and wanted it gone. Now that I have a child, I want it gone more than ever, mainly because I want to be able to keep up with her when she’s an active toddler (and beyond). My secret reason, though, is this – when summer rolls around Busy will be nearing one year of age, which is the perfect time to start swimming lessons with some Mommy & Me swim time. I LOVE to swim, and have always loved it. However, I avoid pools like the plague, because I am so incredibly embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit.

I’ve felt this way since high school, which is ridiculous because I look back now and I looked great in high school (I’ve always had curves, but back then they were good curves, not fat rolls). I have always looked forward to the day that I could take my kids swimming, and there is no way I’m going to ruin this chance to enjoy the pool with my first born because I’m mortified to be seen in a swim suit.

Because I now have a goal in mind, I am a woman on a mission. I have a pantry and refrigerator full of healthy food (not to mention two freezers in the garage – seriously), a lunchbox filled with veggies, fruits, and lean proteins at my desk, and a water bottle ready and waiting.

I WILL LOSE WEIGHT.

The healthy way, so it stays off and does not come back. I’m putting it up here on my blog so that I will be held accountable to you, Blog Land, and so that I can share my journey with anyone who chooses to read it. In order to be sure I keep it up, I will state my starting weight, keep track of what I’ve lost, and hopefully reach my goal weight with the world watching.

So here goes. I weigh….

Nope, I can’t do it. I can’t share the number. I know numbers on a scale don’t mean anything in the real world, but really they do. I know you won’t judge me Blog Land, but it’s too scary. Let’s just say, it’s a big number. Real big. Three big numbers, actually, which add up to a prime number.

Maybe someday, when I’ve lost the weight, I’ll share it with you. Maybe that’ll motivate others. But for now I’m keeping it to myself!

Now, I have to get back to munching on my green beans while trying not to think about Twinkies. Wish me luck!

Oh Costco, how I've [Not] Missed Thee...

2011-01-16T22:14:00.000-08:00

I have an uncle who absolutely loves Costco. We joke that everything he buys is from Costco, because really, about 98% of what he buys actually comes from Costco (the other 2% comes from Home Depot). He even has a "Costco Room" in his house (okay, it's a very large pantry in his very large laundry room, but to us, it'll always be his Costco Room).

I, on the other hand, loathe Costco. I haven't been to Costco in years.

Unfortunately, now that I have a baby, I find myself needing to go to Costco again. I avoided Costco for the first three months of Elizabeth's life, but after I needed to start supplementing her on formula, I started buying Kirkland brand formula because a) it's super cheap and b) it's actually a highly recommended brand. Several moms I know also love the Kirkland brand diapers, and since I was buying formula at Costco, I decided to start buying their diapers (I'm totally a Pampers mom - I LOVE Pampers Swaddlers and recommend them to everyone - but they are incredibly expensive, and I'm trying to recommit to saving money wherever I can. Although the Kirkland brand diapers are pretty great, I'll admit I miss Pampers. (Moms, I have a post I'm working on for baby items I recommend (because I know you all want my opinion), and we'll talk diapers...let me just say now AVOID HUGGIES AT ALL COSTS. That's it for now.)

Don't get me wrong - Costco has some great stuff, and they do have good deals. I used to shop at Costco each month, buying paper towels, toilet paper, soda, chicken...the list went on and on. Unfortunately, that was the problem - the list was long and I never left Costco without spending $100-$200. After Costco, I'd head to the grocery store for "big shopping" and spend another $100; add to that the money I'd spend picking up "just one thing" multiple times a week, plus buying produce and milk throughout the month, and I was spending over $500 each month on food and household items. That might not be too bad - except that there were only two of us!

One problem I found with Costco is that I often found better prices at stores like Winco and Wal-Mart. Okay, I don't always like going to those stores, either, but sometimes the savings were significant. Plus, I already had to go there, so it became easier to make just one trip and not another trip to Costco.

Another problem I had with Costco were the lines and the PEOPLE! The Costco nearest to my house (both the one near my house when I lived downtown, and the one near my house now), are always packed - always. Minutes before they open until minutes before they close, the parking lot is full and cars are driving around, blocking lanes because they're waiting to get that perfect front spot.

I hate all these people.

Why? They're rude. I love people, but I love people who are sociable and have manners. People at Costco do not have manners. Take today for an example. I've been going to a Costco a little ways from my house because it's not as busy as the one near my house; today, however, I made a quick run to the one near my house because I had the opportunity to go baby free. I got a parking space fairly close to the front of the store (amazing), and went in to get my items. I had three items, count 'em, THREE: a set of storage boxes and two cans of formula. I went to the front of the store to get in line, and....crap. 90% of the check stands were open, and they all had a line of at least three people, if not more. I found a line with two people and headed over. Just as I pulled up, a young punk (he was probably 25 or so, which is younger than me so therefore young punk) pulls up to the same line. We literally arrived at the exact same time. Now, I had three items...he had two carts! If I were in his shoes, I totally would have let me go first. Three items, come on, it's not going to take long to check out. Did he let me go first?

Of course not.

No, he pretended not to see me, so I moseyed back to another line. Jackass. Then the line I was in didn't move at all, so he and his two carts ended up checking out before I even got my items up on the conveyor belt.

You've got to love the people who check your receipt when you leave, too. I've always wondered what they're actually looking for when they study your receipt with a highlighter in their hand - are they actually looking at each item I have and checking to see if it's in the cart? Are they making sure I haven't smuggled a flat screen tv under my 10 lb. bag of onions? I think they're just faking it, honestly.

Today, my suspicions were confirmed.

In front of me was a couple who had a cart full of items. The husband was pushing the cart, and the wife had the receipt. A Costco employee took the receipt and began scanning it (all important highlighter in hand). She looked at it for quite a while...and while she was looking, the husband was pushing the cart right out the door! I don't think she looked once looked at anything in the cart, because she sure didn't seem to notice the husband (and the cart) were halfway to the car by the time she gave the receipt back to the wife!

So there you go, my frustration with Costco. Maybe you love them, maybe you don't. Either way, thanks for letting me vent about them a bit!

Observations from a candy wrapper

2011-01-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Lots of people have been saying some awfully nice things to me lately: "Glad you're back," "You look great," "Happiness looks good on you."

Wait, what was that last one?

Okay so the one who has been saying the nicest things to me? Dove Chocolates. That's right, candy wrappers speak to me, and boy are they nice lately.

My coworker has a wine glass full of Dove Dark Chocolates on her desk, ready for any of us who are having one of those days. Yesterday I had to deal with a ridiculous issue at work (seriously, you wouldn't believe some of the issues people bring to HR), and after I put out the fire, I wandered over to my coworker's cubicle for a little piece of heaven. I unwrapped my piece of candy and saw the message, "Happiness looks good on you."

How nice.

It totally made my day. A simple little message in a cheap piece of foil brightened my spirits and made me smile. So of course I had another one, because I wanted to see what the other messages were. My second piece of chocolate carried the message, "Be free. Be happy. Be you." I loved it!

I had grabbed three pieces of chocolate (don't judge!), but I didn't eat that third one right away. This morning, however, I saw it sitting there on my desk, staring at me, just waiting to be eaten.

So I ate it. Strictly for educational purposes, of course. And it's message was even better: "You are exactly where you are supposed to be."

Now how did a piece of chocolate know that I was feeling guilty this morning for leaving my sweet, adorable, baby girl at home? That I felt like a horrible mother because I had to work late last night and didn't get home until after she was asleep? I know it's just a cookie-cutter message printed in a thousand chocolate wrappers, but today, that wrapper made me feel validated. Yes, it sucks that I'm away from Busy (I'll have to explain her nickname later), but for now, someone has to go to work to bring home the bacon. I'm incredibly lucky that I was able to be home for the first four months of her life, and I'm even more blessed that G is able to be home with her for the next two months. It sucks that we can't afford for me to stay home with her indefinitely, but I know that I'm working full-time now in order to be able to afford to stay home with her part (or full!) time with her in the future.

I just have to keep telling myself that.

Random Thoughts from People Our Age

2011-01-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

You may be asking yourself what "our age" means...let me preface this post by saying as of last Thursday I turned 29.

Today is my 5th day back at work after five months of ~~heaven~~ maternity leave, and I’m still trying to clean out the old email inbox. One exciting item of note was this email forward a friend sent me, titled, “Random Thoughts from People Our Age.” As I was reading through it today, I laughed so hard that my coworkers had to repeatedly ask if I was okay. I also had to stop myself from saying, “Yes!” and “OMG I do that too!” every other line.

I sent this on to my brother, who replied that he laughed his ass off, and was about to forward it to his coworkers until he realized he was the only person in his office under 40 and no one else would get it. I felt so sad for them.

Enjoy!

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.
Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?
There is a great need for sarcasm font.
Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.
I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
Was learning cursive really necessary?
Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.
Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".
How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."
Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...
My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?
It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

heaven

Whoa, what happened?

2011-01-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

Man, what happened to my blog? I take off for five months to have an adorable baby and when I come back to blogging, it looks different! I'm going to have to figure out why my blog doesn't look like my blog and try to fix it for you guys.

In the meantime, I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I told myself that since I have no time at home, I'd spend my breaks at work (now that I'm back, ugh) blogging. I haven't done it in the last two days, but today I read something about blogging posted by the Pioneer Woman that stuck with me. She said, Just blog (basically). Really she said you don't have to post a novel, just write something, and don't give in to writer's block.

So here I am, writing something.

And here's a picture of my absolutely adorable little offspring (no I'm not biased) who turned four months old on January 1st. I can't believe she's so big! On a related note, I turned 29 yesterday, January 6th, and I'm trying not to think about how old I am. It was the first birthday where it didn't feel like my birthday, and like it didn't matter that much anymore...and I wasn't sad about it. Guess that's what having kids does to you, makes you care more about others than yourself!

Bye-bye for now!

Observations from maternity leave

2010-08-06T14:29:00.001-07:00

Wednesday was my first day of maternity leave!! Yahoo! It still hasn't really hit me that I don't have to go back to work until January...I feel like I've just been calling in sick and I have to remember everything for when I go back on Monday. I suppose it'll hit me when, oh, I have a baby.

Anyway, I didn't do too much on Wednesday (although I've done a bit too much this week; I'm definitely starting to learn my limits, and at 36 weeks pregnant, limited I am). I went to the grocery store, went to Starbucks, and did some laundry. Here are some random things I observed on my first day of maternity leave (which was also the day I hit 36 weeks):

1. People don't always hold the door for pregnant women. Why don't people hold the door for people anyway? I don't think this is something that men should strictly do for women - I hold the door for people all the time, men, women, doesn't matter. I was raised to be polite, and I think holding the door for someone is a simple gesture that you should always do for others. On my first date with the hubby, I knew he was the one for me; not only did he hold the door for me at the restaurant, but when he came to pick me up, he actually walked around to my side of the car and opened my door for me (and to this day, if he's around, I don't open doors).

2. Winco is just as busy at 9:00 a.m. on a Wednesday as it is at 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday. This was a bummer, but after I got over the crowd, I realized that it was crowded with old people, disabled people, and older housewives. This was much preferred to the crowds of the weekend that include parents who bring their entire brood with them to the grocery store.

3. My dishwasher is broken. This is truly a bummer; as I've been both busy and tired lately, and my kitchen is suffering from my laziness. The dishwasher has been making funny noises for a while now, but it still worked...until Wednesday. I always wash my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, but hubby loaded the dishwasher last (exciting, no?!). He doesn't rinse, wash, or scrape food off the dishes so much before he loads the dishwasher (which is probably why he almost never does them, it drives me nuts). However, I was so excited he did the dishes this week; I began to unload the dishwasher, and thought that it hadnt been run - there was crap all over the dishes. I ran the dishwasher again, and when I went to unload the second time, still crap. I ended up hand-washing those dishes, then did another load today (washing all dishes before I put them in the dishwasher...redundant, maybe, but I was always taught this way) just to see if maybe it was the non-prewashing that was the problem. Nope, they're not shiny and water-spot free. Total freakin' bummer. Oh well, I guess this is why we have a home warranty.

4. There are a lot of people out and about on a Wednesday, and not just at the grocery store. I went and got gas at Sam's Club, which is almost never busy. Wednesday, packed! I also saw a semi at Sam's club for the first time (at the gas station). I couldn't help myself, I had to ask him how much it cost to fill up his tanks (because I was filling up the truck, which is always double the cost of filling up the Jetta). He said it cost him about 600 bucks, and would last him two days or about 1600 miles. I thanked him for making me feel better about filling up my tank, and told him to have a good day. He was a nice white-trash-hippie trucker.

Well that's it. I'm sure I'll have more random observations from maternity leave soon. Enjoy!

Random Thoughts

2010-07-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

Some days I just don’t have a full topic to blog about, but I try to save random thoughts or occurrences and figured I’d combine them into one blog post. This is one such post.

1. I’m almost 35 weeks pregnant, and last Friday my coworkers decorated my cube with pink and white streamers and other baby decorations. Today no less than three people (and it’s only noon) have come by to congratulate me on the baby, not having known I was pregnant. I’m not sure if I should take this as a compliment (e.g. I haven’t gained much weight), or be a little offended (e.g. I don’t look pregnant because I was already chunky). Maybe it’s just a testament to how unobservant people are.

2. I let someone over on the freeway this morning, and the person actually waved. NO ONE waves anymore, and that’s one of my big pet peeves. It made me smile when they waved.

3. Today someone at work returning to their desk from the restroom stopped me to talk as I was on my way to the restroom. This happened several times last week, too. Don’t people realize it’s not a good idea to stop a pregnant woman on her way to the restroom!? Although, maybe these were the people who didn’t (and/or don’t) know I’m pregnant.

4. Yesterday I was sitting at a stop light and I saw a small Saturn coupe also waiting at the light. Something or someone was in the passenger seat, but I couldn’t make out what/who it was. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a Great Dane…sitting in the passenger seat of a tiny convertible coupe. I think the top had to be down on the car because the dog’s head was taller than the windshield! It was adorable, and the dog looked like they were having a great time.

5. Here’s another pet peeve – people who don’t drive the speed limit. I’m not saying everyone should speed, but in the past week I’ve been stuck behind three separate people on three different days who were going 40 MPH on a 55 MPH road near my house. Learn the speed limit, or take another road if this one is uncomfortable for you (it’s a little bumpy and narrow, but totally straight). This drives me NUTS! Drive the damn speed limit already.

Rudeness and the grocery store - do they go hand in hand?

2010-07-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or are there more rude people in society today? Perhaps it’s because I’m pregnant and I can switch from hot to cold in no time flat, or perhaps it’s because parents don’t teach their children manners anymore. Either way, something is seriously wrong with society.

Take for example two recent experiences I had in the grocery store. I go grocery shopping every week, and it’s usually early in the morning so I can avoid as many people as possible (this is because I shop at a local non-union grocery store with great prices that is open 24 hours, so there are ALWAYS people there – always. I went at 11:00 p.m. back in my carefree single days and it was packed (with lots of people and children in pajamas, but packed nonetheless)). At this store, you must unload your groceries onto the conveyer belt, and then bag your groceries yourself. People often ask why I go grocery shopping alone if I have to bag my own groceries, but I enjoy shopping alone. First, if I brought my husband, we’d buy a lot more, because he’d just throw things into the cart. Second, I HATE people who bring their spouse and their six children to buy groceries…you know the kids are going to misbehave, and the parents usually end up arguing and not watching the misbehaving children.

Anyway – I usually have a pretty good experience at the grocery store. I park far, far away in a shady spot, away from the busy parking section in front of the store where angry people are fighting for spots. I grab my cart and get out my list (I’m actually one of those people who shop with a list and follow it – a newly acquired skill), and I head into the store. (I should also mention, my grocery shopping tradition is to go first to a drive-through Starbucks, so I come to the grocery store prepared with my Iced Venti decaf two-pump no whip mocha.)

In addition to the hordes of complaining children, there are always people who stop their cart in the middle of the aisle, abandon their cart completely to wander far away from it, and people who are just generally annoying. These things don’t bother me too much – I take it in stride and figure they’re going to happen, so I don’t get worked up over them. I start out in the produce section, and then work my way through the store. (Shopping tip – I used to make a list but go up and down every aisle, JUST IN CASE there was something there I forgot, so I never actually followed my list and bought way too much stuff. Now, I know the store well enough that if something on my list is not in that aisle, I skip the aisle; helps me save time and money.)

Finally, I end up near the check stands. My solo shopping expedition strategy used to be to find the line where the person in front of me didn’t have a lot of stuff, so I could start unloading my basket. Now, I realize that just means I have less time to unload, and then I’ll be rushing. If someone with a huge basketful of stuff pulls in behind you, you’re set, because you know you’ll have time to bag your groceries before they’re done being checked out. Back to my point, I try to find a line down at the not-so-busy bakery end of the store, and get to work unloading my cart.

Here’s where I got really angry in the store a few weeks ago (and again just this past weekend). I’m unloading my cart, and it’s a deep cart, so to reach the items that are in the very back, I’d pulled my cart to the side of the conveyer belt, rather than left it at the end of it, and am unloading my groceries about on the middle of the belt (plus, with a pregnant belly, I just can’t lean that far over the edge of the cart anymore!). In this instance, I happened to be at the busier end of the checkout counters, so there was more traffic milling about. There was no one behind me in line, and there was a single older gentleman in front of me (who looks like he bought the entire store).

As I’m placing my items on the conveyer belt, this woman and her five children come screaming up behind me to get in line before anyone else takes their spot. THEN (and here comes the anger), even though the woman can clearly see I was only about halfway through unloading my groceries, she started to unload her groceries onto the end of the conveyer belt! I looked at her in disbelief, shook my head, and continued unloading my groceries. I was a little too shocked to say anything, and I thought when I run out of room, I’ll ask her where I’m supposed to finish unloading my stuff and make her move hers.

Turns out, I had just enough space to unload the rest of my groceries without moving hers, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and waited patiently for the checker to finish with the man in front of me. He was (slowly) bagging his groceries, and the checker began on mine (there are two aisles at the end of the check out stand so two people can bag at once), so I moved my cart to the end of the aisle to prepare bagging (those of you who bag your own groceries – if you have a lot to do, don’t you start bagging right away too?). I look up after awhile and see that the checker is almost done with my groceries, so I grab my purse and head back to the checker to pay.

Well, I attempt to.

Rude Mama behind me has pushed her cart so far forward so that I can’t make it to the checker. I look at her and rudely say, “Excuse me, I need to pay.” (Really, it wasn’t that rude.) She moves her cart back an inch or two. By this time, I’m frustrated and state, “No, further, I need to get to the checker to pay” while making “shooing” motions with my hands so she moves.

Who F’ing moves their cart up in front of the ATM machine at the check out stand when CLEARLY they can see that the person in front of them hasn’t paid yet!?!

At this point, I was totally frustrated and angry. I had to hip-check her cart just so I could squeeze in between her cart and the checkout stand to pay for my groceries, so I returned to the end of the aisle to finish bagging in not the best of moods. I noticed that the elderly gentleman was still bagging his groceries, so both lanes at the end of the aisle were taken. Normally, this would cause the checker to pause before starting on the next person.

My checker, being oh-so-helpful to the wrong people, began to ring up Rude Mama’s groceries (she didn’t have much). In a normal situation, I’d be bagging as fast as I could to get out of their so I wasn’t holding people up. Instead, because I don’t like this woman, I bag as SLOWLY as I possibly can. It was great – talk about calming. This caused the checker to hold onto Rude Mama’s few groceries at the check stand (although she’d already paid, there was nowhere for them to go down the lane to the bags).

Again, the checker decided to be helpful when really she should have minded her own business. I was slowly bagging my groceries, and as slowly as I was going, I was still beating the elderly gentleman to my left (who I’d now engaged in pleasant conversation, just to slow the process up a little bit more). Rude Mama and her kids were hovering, unsure of which lane their groceries were going to end up in. Then the checker, damn her, grabbed some bags and bagged Rude Mama’s groceries herself so they could leave the store.

Damnit.

So, they left the store and I finished bagging my groceries at normal speed, bid farewell to the elderly gentleman (who was still bagging) and took off.

This past weekend, I didn’t have a bagging issue, and I didn’t have an issue with someone unloading their groceries before I was done. However, I had begun bagging my groceries and, seeing that the checker was nearing the end of mine, walked back to the check stand to pay. The woman behind me had her cart parked totally across the aisle, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CASHIER! Again, what is wrong with people!? How is it even feasible to think that is a good place for your cart, when you know I haven’t yet paid for my groceries? Why do you think I’m not going to come back and rudely tell you to get your cart out of my way so I can pay?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!?

Honestly, I’ve defended this grocery store for years. I assumed people were too sensitive, too angry, or whatever and I continued with my happy shopping adventure in peace. I hope that I’ve just started shopping at the wrong time, or perhaps on the wrong day, and that a simple adjustment to my schedule will do the trick, because I hate to think there are this many more rude, ill-mannered people in the world who lack common sense and manners.

As I get ready to give birth, the type of world I’m bringing my daughter into worries me. Then again, I just remember how my parents taught me manners and respect, and know that I’ll teach my daughter the same things.

Although, maybe that’s what’s wrong.

Maybe my manners are too good – if I didn’t have manners and didn’t know how to properly act in social settings, I wouldn’t be annoyed. I’d be annoying other people, sure, but since I wouldn’t know the difference, I wouldn’t care.

Maybe today’s slacker parents are on to something! But you’re right, I can’t sink that low.

Who knew a "Black Thumb" could plant a garden?

2010-07-16T11:24:00.001-07:00

I planted a garden this year, which is a major accomplishment for me (I’m the person who has killed an African violet, a cactus, and zucchini…all things that are supposed to be incredibly hard to kill). It started out small, just some tomato plants in a few five gallon buckets. I also got a couple of cucumber plants, and I figured that was plenty. I wanted lots of tomatoes so that I could can them and make spaghetti sauce and salsa from fresh tomatoes year round, and I’ve been eating lots of cucumbers lately.

This is how my garden started, all in pots.

After I bought all the potting soil, pots, plants, etc., and planted them all (by myself), the Husband decided he wanted to grow some chili peppers this year, and maybe some heirloom tomatoes. Keep in mind he has never had a garden. Also keep in mind that I tease him mercilessly because when he starts a new hobby, he goes all out…there is no easing into something new for him. Needless to say, my small bucket-garden was transformed into a 4’x16’ raised bed, completed with four heirlooms, three cucumbers, five roma and beefsteak tomatoes, two okra (for no reason other than that he liked okra when his grandma fried it when he was a kid, although he hasn’t had it in over 20 years), one bell pepper, and several (too many to count) Serrano, jalapeno, poblano, and God knows what other kind of peppers (we ran out of room because someone planted so many peppers, so my cherry tomatoes all went to my parents).

Our first harvest - Poblano peppers on the left, banana peppers on the right

Don’t get me wrong – I wanted the raised beds, and I’m thrilled to have them. However, you’ll notice I didn’t get raised beds until Husband decided to plant peppers; he was more than content with my tomatoes hanging out in buckets. You may also be wondering why he planted so many peppers. Well, he wanted to try different varieties, so instead of buying a few at the grocery store and trying them, he planted his own (multiple plants of each variety, did I mention?). He also decided he’d make hot sauce out of them. Finally, and I warned you earlier he goes all out when he tries new hobbies, his main desire to grow chilies was to try growing the hottest chili pepper ever created – the Ghost Chili. My dear husband went online, ordered seeds, and nurtured these seeds like I’ve never seen him nurture me or the dog. You have to wear gloves to even pick these ghost chilies, so I don’t know who in the hell is going to be eating them. He also got a few other varieties online, some of which died, some of which are growing nicely (damnit) in our over-crowded garden. (Oh, and let me just say here, we discussed how this was our “experimenting” year, so we probably wouldn’t have so many plants next year. Last night he told me he wants to build more raised beds for next year. Our backyard is beyond miniscule, and there’s already a patio and a raised bed. There is NO ROOM for more raised beds, unless he wants our children to play in them instead of the small patch of grass that currently remains.)

Jalapenos, banana peppers, and tomatoes

Anyway, back to the reason I wanted a garden. I LOVE canning things, but there aren’t many things I can successfully can and eat later – beans, butters, and tomatoes are about it. Other veggies that you might can taste weird to me, because I mostly like fresh, crunchy produce. Oh and I like jam. So, I have a water bath canner, but I was thinking about canning tomatoes, and have decided I’m going to make batches of spaghetti sauce, then just can the sauce; when the baby is born, I’m not going to have time to make sauce from scratch, so I thought I’d just make it now and be good to go. Once you start adding stuff to tomatoes, it changes the pH balance, and they say you need a pressure canner to can tomatoes once you add anything, as their pH balance is on the cusp anyway.

This is what my garden grew to after Husband got involved. I'll have to take pictures of it tonight so you can see how big everything has gotten; this is right after we planted.

I’m going to buy my pressure canner this weekend (so excited!!) and last weekend I bought a food mill, in preparation for canning (and because I watched Barefoot Contessa make a vichoisse and it looked amazing, and I’ve wanted one for awhile. It’s just a cheap one ($30) but it works great! I made spaghetti sauce last night from some tomatoes we’d picked this weekend, and the food mill was AWESOME! Part of the tomatoes I’d boiled, shocked, and then peeled over the weekend. But, half of them I threw right in the pot and let them cook, then put through the food mill. SO COOL how it takes the skins right off!! Husband said it was the best spaghetti he’d ever had last night, all made from tomatoes out of our own garden. Pretty cool.

I can’t wait to can this weekend. What are you going to be doing this weekend?

Let me tell you about my morning

2010-07-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today must just not be my day. I woke up late and almost, almost stayed in bed…now I’m thinking I should have.

Let me describe my morning to you.

The husband and I carpool to work. Usually we take my car, but as I get more and more pregnant, getting in and out of his truck is easier than getting in and out of my car, so today we happened to be in his truck. I drive to my building, and Husband takes over from there, driving to his building since he has free parking and I don’t.

This morning, I’m getting on the freeway, and attempting to merge all the way over into the carpool lane. I’m almost there, but I stop in the 2nd lane to let a motorcycle and white Sequoia go by in the carpool lane. I can see another car coming, but they’re fairly far back, so I accelerate and move over. And since I’m in the V-8 truck and not my gutless car, I mean accelerate. No one could have accused me of cutting this other car off (which also happened to be a Sequoia, but was blue).

So we’re driving along, and I can see the carpool lane ahead of me…it is non-stop cars. We’re going about 60, and the single-car lanes next to us are doing about the same. All of a sudden, I notice blue Sequoia from behind me is next to me, and sure enough, she merges right over in front of me. SHE SPED UP TO GET ONE CAR AHEAD OF WHERE SHE WAS! And not only that, but I was right behind the white Sequoia in front of me, so she cut me off to go no faster than she was going before. I began to give her the benefit of the doubt, thinking maybe she couldn’t see through my tinted windows and thought I was holding up traffic. But I think that's unlikely.

I noticed that I could actually get over one lane and speed up, passing the now three vehicles (two Sequoias and a motorcycle) in front of me, so I did. Yes, part of me was doing this because I was pissed at the blue Sequoia (which happened to be driven by a short middle-aged woman who probably couldn’t see over the wheel), but whatever…I moved up and in front of the slower traffic without cutting anyone off.

So, we’re driving along, and I’m once again behind some cars that are going about 60 or so. I tend to leave quite a bit of space in between me and the car in front of me; this is a habit from learning to drive in a vehicle without power brakes. There are cars slightly ahead of me in the lane next to me, but at the rate I’m going, someone could BARELY squeeze in front of me (however they would definitely be cutting me off and I’d have to slam on my brakes). All of a sudden, I happen to glance to my right and…BLUE SEQUOIA IS SPEEDING UP TO PASS ME! She’s also flipping me off WITH HER CHILD IN THE FRONT SEAT (I don't really know why she's flipping me off at this point, since when I passed her I also passed two other vehicles and didn't cut anyone off...perhaps she was just angry)!! Instinct kicked in and I floored it, closing the very small gap in front of me so that she couldn’t cut me off once again (I may have also flipped her off, but she deserved it; this was before I could see there was a child in the car).

Now, blue Sequoia is behind me yet again. There was now a bit of space in front of me as some cars had merged out of the carpool lane. I could have sped up, as I was still going only about 60 MPH, and the speed limit is 65. However, I am of course a cautious driver, so I felt it would be unsafe to speed up with this much traffic around me.

What would you do in this case?

You got it - I took my foot off the accelerator and coasted for a bit.

Normally, I don’t condone this type of behavior, but I have to admit, it was very calming.

A few minutes later, blue Sequoia merged out of the carpool lane yet again, so I sped up and left her in my dust. I think she was going to get off the freeway, but she could have been moving over to pass me. Either way, F her.

So later this morning, I experienced another incident. This one is in no way bad, yet just annoying (at least to me). I didn’t have time to eat breakfast this morning, so I went down to our cafeteria about 9:00 a.m. to get something to eat. I ended up choosing to stand in the grill line; usually when I get breakfast I just get hashbrowns, but French toast was all of a sudden calling my name!

You should know that the grill line at work often takes FOREVER. There were two women behind me in line, chatting about banking. I couldn’t help overhear, because they were standing very close (but that’s another blog topic), and because, so sue me, I like to listen; I think human behavior is interesting, and that involves listening to people and watching them.

So these two women, one near my age and one nearing retirement age, are talking about our local credit union. We happen to have an ATM for said credit union in our building, so it’s a very popular bank for employees to bank at. The younger woman was complaining because there are not many branches of this credit union near her house, but it’s so convenient because the ATM is here at work. The older woman joined in on the complaining, talking about her son who lives in Southern CA. Apparently there are “no” (and I quote) branches of said credit union down south, so she cannot transfer money into her son’s account. (I’d like to stop here and point out that she’s wrong, and there are branches of said credit union throughout California. Also, I’m assuming based on her age that her son is of at least college age, if not older; the fact that she is still putting money in his account worries me.) She then continues by stating that she told her son she’d just have to mail him money.

(Allow me to stop here yet again. In today’s day and age, there is NO REASON for anyone to send money through the mail. It just isn’t safe. I’m a member of the aforementioned credit union, as are my parents, and years ago my mom linked her account to mine (and vice versa) so that we could transfer money to each other. Years ago.)

So I’m standing there, yearning to tell these women that a) yes there are branches of said credit union down south; b) she should really link her account to her son’s so she can easily transfer money; and c) you’re a member of a credit union, you can go to ANY OTHER CREDIT UNION and withdraw or deposit money at their ATMs for FREE!

It really bothers me that there are people this stupid in the world. Okay, maybe they don’t know there are other credit unions down south, but wouldn’t you think about maybe doing some internet research? See where the closest branch is to your son. Call up the bank and ask them what the easiest way to transfer money to your son is (because clearly, this woman nearing retirement age was not technologically saavy, so okay, maybe she didn’t think about linking their accounts).

So I’m standing there, just burning with the desire to correct them, because I hate it when people have incorrect information (and sue me, I like to be right, and in this case, I know I am). Also, I don’t mind when strangers talk to me (such as the old ladies in the grocery store that apparently love me and always talk to me). However, since meeting the Husband, I’ve learned there are many people unlike me. He HATES it when people make random conversation with him in the store. With this in mind, I’m hesitant to interrupt the stupid women, because I now realize there are people who don’t want a stranger’s input.

In the end, I didn’t interrupt them. But I’m still thinking about it, because again, it bothers me that they have incorrect information and apparently don’t have the smarts to think outside the box a little bit.

Is it just me, or would that have bothered anyone else?

Don't think me a nerd...

2010-07-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

...but I love cleaning products.

Awhile ago (okay, back in February) I wrote about my homemade laundry detergent. I’m happy to say that I made a batch of detergent the first week of February, and am currently on my last container, with probably three to five loads-worth of soap remaining. That’s FIVE MONTHS of laundry detergent that I made at home for about $2.50, if that.

Since then I’ve been Googling other homemade cleaning products, and have found a great all-purpose cleaner containing water, vinegar, and Borax, as well as some creative uses for salt and lemons.

My most recent discovery was that of a dishwasher detergent. I’ve been using the Cascade “Action Packs,” which are the little packs of detergent and spot-free rinse in one package. They worked great, but they’re pretty pricey. During one trip to Winco I bought a package of “Finish” tabs (the brand that used to be Electrosol, or something along those lines) because they were cheaper and Winco didn’t have Cascade. You definitely get what you pay for, because those didn’t work nearly as well. I promised myself that after the Finish tabs were done, I was going to find a new product that was cheaper, worked better, and was preferably homemade.

After doing my research online, I found that you can make dishwasher detergent by combining equal parts washing soda and Borax. Those are both products in my homemade laundry soap, so I already had them at home. I mixed equal parts together then added slightly more Borax because we have hard water (as instructed); I put it in a large container so I ended up using 7 cups of washing soda and 8 cups of Borax. I did my first load of dishes last night with the new detergent.

The results? AMAZING! My dishes were clean, and there were NO water spots. I basically consider this to be a free product, because I bought the washing soda and Borax back in February when I decided to make laundry soap. If I was going to guess what it cost, I’d say about $3.00 (assuming in making the amount of detergent I did that I used about half a box each of washing soda and Borax, and that they cost about $3.00 each, respectively). This amount of detergent will last me a LONG time, as I used about ½ a cup’s worth for my full load of dishes, so I’m pretty happy.

Just in case you’re not sure what these products are, here are some pictures. For those of you who live near me, the only store in town I found washing soda at was Winco. Borax can be found at Target, Winco, Safeway, etc.

I love finding cheap things that work great, and it’s even better when they’re homemade! Sometimes I wish I was a pioneer woman who had to make her own butter, cheese, cleaning products…and then I start to imagine life without air conditioning and am pretty happy to be here in 2010.

Clean House Anyone?

2010-07-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

I’m back!!!

Well, I’m trying to be back, at least. I’ve decided that my time would be better spent capturing your attention with my creative prose than surfing the web reading boring and/or depressing news stories about our state’s financial woes. Okay or I’m just bored so I’m going to blog.

Thanks to satellite TV, I’ve greatly expanded my repertoire of television shows from just Law & Order and Criminal Minds to cooking shows, reruns of awesome oldies, and even some reality TV shows. One show I’ve been watching (well, I guess they’re split into two) is Clean House and Clean House: Search for the Messiest Home in America. At first I was addicted (much to Grant’s chagrin, as he hates the sound of Neecy’s (sp?) voice), but now I’m starting to be selective about which episodes I watch. Here’s why.

Long ago I watched that show with Ty Pennington where they find a family, and completely redo their house in seven days. I stopped watching it because I got sick of the sappy stories and the realization that these people would probably trash the house after a few years anyway (and besides, half these houses were in the ghetto…perhaps you should have just bought them a nicer house in a nicer neighborhood to give them a little boost ahead in life…because their ghetto neighbors are probably going to tag/rob/f*%k up their house in some way).

Then I started watching a show on BBC America called How Clean is Your House? These two British ladies come in to houses that are not only full of clutter but dirt, trash, grime, and quite often parasites as well, clean it all up, and teach the homeowners how to clean. They don’t replace any furniture, they don’t redecorate, and they simply clean it up.

Now I’m watching the aforementioned Clean House series and once again, I’m starting to get sick of it. Why? Take these two examples. Example number 1 involves a woman who has a good job as a nurse, two spoiled daughters (they admitted on the show they get whatever they want…and btw both are over 18 and live at home), a husband who is always out of town, a very nice, large house, and a shopping addiction. Her house is full of clothes with the tags on them, and clearly she is not hurting for money. She also admitted that she is not ready to make a change in her life (not shopping), but just wants someone to come in and clean up her house.

Example two is a woman who has been divorced for about a year and has four boys, ranging in age probably from pre-teen to early twenties. This woman was a stay at home mom for years, then had to get a job when she got divorced, so she doesn’t have much time to clean. She did everything around the house, and her four boys played sports and sat in their “man cave” and played video games, doing nothing to help mom.

In Example #1, the family did end up getting rid of stuff, but I hated to see them get their house redesigned, especially since Neecy “gifted” them a brand new, clearly expensive (and extravagant aka ugly) bedroom set. This woman brought everything on herself by shopping all the time, not cleaning up her house, and not teaching her daughters to clean up after themselves (and not punishing them when they contributed to the mess). In fact, she didn’t even seem that appreciative with all the hard work the Clean House crew did.

In Example #2, I almost cried when they revealed the house because the mother was so emotional and so thankful. Her boys really stepped up, sold their stuff to help buy their mom a new bedroom set, and even wrote out chore lists and learned to do laundry and iron their clothes. The entire family really learned a lesson, and you could tell that they were ready to make changes in their lives and the boys were ready to actually help their mom, as they could see they’d been taking advantage of her for years.

I guess that my point with all this is I’m tired of seeing people taking advantage of the system, getting things for free without really having to work for them, and basically being dead beats. No, I’m not perfect, and sure, I’ll take some things for free. But, I work hard, I had to learn to control my spending on my own, and I think there are always creative solutions to your problems, you just have to work hard to find them.

Although maybe this was their creative solution…?

Major Compliment...I Think

2010-02-22T10:16:00.001-08:00

Someone just walked past me and said, "Oh April, you always look like your name."

Huh?

She then continued, "You always look like a fresh breath of spring."

Um, thank you, I think. In 28 years, that's one I've never heard!

The English Language

2010-02-17T14:12:00.000-08:00

Today I was doing a bit of internet research and I came across the following. I love words, reading, and learning, and sometimes I forget how confusing the English language can be. I thought this was pretty amusing, so I wanted to share.

WORDS TO CONFOUND THOSE TRYING TO LEARN OUR LANGUAGE!

1. We polish the Polish furniture.
2. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
3. A farm can produce produce.
4. The dump was so full it had to refuse refuse.
5. The soldier decided to desert in the desert.
6. The present is a good time to present the present.
7. At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
8. The dove dove into the bushes.
9. I did not object to the object.
10. The insurance for the invalid was invalid.
11. The bandage was wound around the wound.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow how to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19. I shed a tear when I saw the tear in my clothes.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can i intimate this to my most intimate friends?
22. I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

Source: Father Terry Fulton’s website, http://www.frterryfulton.org/Thoughts/thoughts.htm

Likes and dislikes

2010-02-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

NOTE - I edited my last statement regarding what I don't like about pregnancy...because I realized it sounded harsher than I meant it to.

Things I like about being pregnant (so far):

Being pregnant in general.
Getting to experience being pregnant myself instead of listening to others talk about it.
Knowing that at the end of pregnancy, there’ll be a cute baby.
Knowing that if I overindulge every once in awhile, it’s okay…the baby needs nutrition!
If I’m not feeling well, my husband takes very good care of me.
During the first 10 weeks, knowing that I had my own little secret.
That I’m not barfing (although feeling queasy is no picnic).

Things I don’t like about being pregnant (so far):

Having headaches and not being able to take anything (those of you who know me know I used to have headaches every day, and quite often didn’t take anything…but knowing that I CAN’T take anything somehow makes the headache worse).
Feeling tired ALL THE TIME.
Feeling occasionally queasy and quite often bloated.
That my digestive tract has slowed, and I quite often feel sick after eating.
My pants already feel snug, and the waist digs into my stomach when I sit.
People constantly asking me how I feel and/or offering unsolicited advice*.

*This last bullet refers not to friends and family who actually care about how I feel, but about those people (be they coworkers, strangers, acquaintances) who use "How are you feeling?" as a conversation starter, when really we have nothing to say to each other.

Give me your recipes, please!

2010-02-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

Lately I’ve been really bad about making dinner and lunches to bring to work. I get home and I’m so tired that all I want to do is eat a bowl of cereal and sit on the couch. However, my health and my wallet are begging me to get back in the groove and start using all the food that’s going to waste in my fridge.

I’m going to write a post soon about meal planning, but for right now, I actually have a question for all of you. What are your staple meals? What meals make it into your weekly rotation every week, or perhaps are your standby meal for when you just don’t know what else to make. Mine is spaghetti, but I also have tuna noodle casserole and chili. My mom used to always rotate wok chicken, chicken tacos, chili, pork chops, etc.

I’m trying to build my cache of recipes and I want to know what your tried and true recipes are. Maybe it’s something you found, or maybe it’s a recipe that’s been in your family for 50 years. If they’re short, post them in the comments section; if not, email me here.

If you send them to me and I end up making it a regular in my rotation, it could end up in the family cookbook I’m making.

Book Review - Twilight Series

2010-02-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

Let me start by warning those of you out there who haven’t read the Twilight books that you shouldn’t read this post. Of course you’re welcome to, but I spoil many things, and I share my opinion of the series with you.

I've never felt compelled to write a book review before, but after reading these four books, I had to share my thoughts.

I hate the Twilight series.

Okay, two of the books were really okay reads. But the other two, I'm not even sure what happened because I was thinking about how much I hate the main character the entire time I read them. I was also thinking that the books are not quite appropriate for the intended audience (I'm sure teen and preteen girls). Why, you ask? Well sure, the author doesn't come right out and say she thinks you shouldn't have sex before you're married (a good message, although not really realistic anymore), but it's clearly implied. Contrasting this implied message is the fact that Edward spends EVERY NIGHT in Bella's bed - what kind of a message is that!? "Sure honey, you shouldn't have sex before you're married, but it's okay to sneak your much older boyfriend into the house every night while I'm asleep and sleep in the same bed with him, as long as there's a blanket in between you." Yes, Bella does turn 18 in one of the books, but she's 17 for a lot of the time, and again, I dont' think that's an appropriate message to send to the intended (or unintended but popular) audience for these books. If as an author you're trying to send the message that abstinence before marriage is the way to go, sneaking your boyfriend in at night doesn't really support that message. No guy in the world is as strong willed as Edward.

Having said that, let’s continue. During the past week I read the Twilight series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. I’d had a borrowed copy of Twilight for over a year, and had just never gotten into reading it. Finally, I was out of other books, and so I started it. I was actually quite addicted to the first book – while it was an easy read, it held my interest all the way through. I was so excited to move on to the second book that I purchased it, rather than waiting for my friend to lend me her copy (that was a mistake, now I’m stuck with a crappy book). I borrowed the last two books from my friend, and had a really hard time finishing them. Let’s look at each book individually.

I enjoyed two of the books, and absolutely hated the other two. Twilight was one of the books I liked – it introduced the characters, the setting, and had some action in it towards the end. However, I can see that this book would make a horrible movie, because although there’s action towards the end, that’s it…not much else happens. I don’t really remember much about New Moon, so clearly I didn’t enjoy that book very much. I didn’t realize at first it was mostly about Jacob, so I kept waiting for vampires to enter the story. I really decided in this book that I don’t like Bella, the main character, so that made it hard to want to keep reading the series. I don’t like how weak-willed she is, and how she keeps trying to pull Jacob in, knowing his feelings for her, while she’s sure she’s in love with Edward. It feels like she’s using him for her needs and completely ignoring his.

I made it to the third book, Eclipse, but this was the hardest book for me to read. Honestly, I don’t even remember what happened in this book, because all I kept thinking about was my hatred of Bella. I almost stopped reading the series here; I got so sick of “No I won’t let the people I love be hurt” but oh yeah, I’m not going to do anything to stop them but whine. Bella also still at this point can’t understand why Edward loves her, because she’s plain and he’s so beautiful…get over it and get some self-confidence! The guy (well, sort of) has had a century to find a woman and he found you – clearly that means something, yet she doesn’t accept that EVERY TIME HE TELLS HER. I get sick of her fishing for compliments (though the author doesn’t write it like Bella is fishing for compliments, that’s how I see it).

Finally, I made it to the final book, Breaking Dawn. This one was again fairly interesting – although things aren’t continuously happening, I didn’t find this book to drag like the previous two. It was interesting to meet all the new vampires, and I love the show of solidarity in the end; I absolutely love when people stand up for others for no reason other than that it’s the right thing to do. I also enjoyed that much of this book was told from Jacob’s perspective, saving me from Bella’s whiney thoughts.

Overall, my life would still have been complete if I’d never read these books. Sure, the first and last books were interesting (to a point), but I had to struggle to read the second and third books. I feel like I’ve wasted a bit of my life over the past week – there are so many things I could have been doing besides reading this series. If I never pick up another book by Stephanie Meyers, it’ll be too soon.

Homemade Laundry Soap

2010-02-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

Lately I’ve become more interested in becoming more self-sufficient. Not only that, but I’m more interested in using/eating products that either have fewer chemicals/preservatives in them, and/or that I make at home so I know exactly what is in them. I’m not going all tree-hugger, but I am trying to put fewer chemicals in my body, and I’m interested in living a simpler life, hence the making things at home. That, plus I’m sick of being furloughed and losing 14% of my salary, so I'm trying to save money in creative ways.

This year, I’m starting a garden (though those of you who know me know about my black thumbs, so it’ll be interesting) in order to have fresh produce around the house. We just purchased a steer and a hog from a friend of Grant’s who raises livestock raised on his own, homemade, organic feed (this is a great arrangement until a few years down the road when we can move back to the country and raise our own animals). My friend’s mom sells eggs from her chickens, and we buy those when we can. I'm also going to take canning lessons from my friend's mom so I can learn to can things like tomatoes for salsa and spaghetti sauce, pickles, beans, etc. I was raised in the country, and I raised livestock, but we didn't do a lot of "homemade" things at our house - although my mom made some GREAT homemade pickles when I was a kid. Too bad she stopped...

I’ve also been reading a book called "Storey’s Basic Country Skills.” I bought this awhile ago to learn how to can foods, and have ended up learning so much more from it! It talks about finding your land in the country, planting gardens and fields of hay, raising livestock, making soap, and canning/storing your harvest, plus a lot more. I’ve also read a few articles on the “Simple Living Movement.” I’m not ready to dump all my possessions and move to a 100 sq. ft. cottage in the woods, but it has made me realize that I can spend more time doing things at home, instead of buying things in the store.

Case in point – I recently watched an episode of “18 Kids and Counting” (now “19 Kids and Counting”), a show that I’ve really begun to enjoy. In this episode, they made homemade laundry soap. It looked easy and inexpensive, and one batch of soap lasted their family (of 20 at the time) 2-3 months! Imagine how long this soap that costs under $2 to make would last my family of two!

So I found the recipe on the Duggar’s website, and did a little Googling. Turns out it’s a very popular recipe using Fels Naptha soap, washing soda, and borax. I had borax at home already, and I was pretty sure I could find the other ingredients easily enough, even though I’d never heard of them.

Turns out I was wrong.

However, after much running around town and almost purchasing the remaining ingredients online, I found everything I needed at Winco, of all places. (Note – once I found the soap, I told my mom about it, and she said Fels Naptha is what my dad uses for poison oak…in case any of you out there are as allergic to poison oak as my dad).

Anyway, I made the laundry soap and so far, I really like it. It has a pleasant smell, yet when the clothes come out of the washer, they just smell like clean clothes, rather than an overpowering perfume smell like some laundry detergents.

Here’s the recipe, along with a few pictures of my soap-making process.

Homemade Laundry Soap
1 bar Fels Naptha Soap
1 cup Washing Soda (I used Arm & Hammer)
½ cup borax

Grate the bar of soap ( I was going to use the grater on my KitchenAid, but ended up just grating it by hand, which was easier than I thought).

Melt the soap in a large saucepan with 4 cups water. When all the soap has dissolved, pour it into a clean 5-gallon bucket. Add the washing soda and borax, and stir until all the powder dissolves. Fill the bucket with hot water, then put a lid on the bucket and let it sit overnight.

(The liquid will become a gel after sitting overnight. I thought it would become a gel like a liquid laundry detergent, but mine became an almost solid gel. This may have been because I put it in my garage and temperatures overnight were in the 30’s to 40’s.)

Fill a smaller container (something with a lid – can be an old laundry detergent container that you’ve cleaned, a glass jar, etc.) with equal parts of the soap/gel and hot water. Shake well to combine (the total laundry soap from this recipe is 10 gallons; if you have two 5-gallon buckets you can add the extra water now, but I just mix half detergent and half water when I refill the smaller container).

Use 1 cup of the soap for each load of laundry. On the Duggar’s website it says if you have a front loading machine to use as little as ¼ cup (although this soap doesn’t get really sudsy, so I think you’re okay to use more than ¼ cup).

I made a note of the date I made the soap, and I’m excited to see how long it lasts me. Ten gallons of laundry soap for under $2!!

Here are some pictures from my laundry making process, although I forgot to take pictures of all the steps:

This is the bar of soap that you grate and melt. It cost $1.26/bar at Winco.

After I dissolved the grated soap in water and mixed it with the powders, I filled the bucket with hot water. I stirred it some more, and this was what my bucket looked like before I put the lid on.

Okay, so I forgot to take pictures of lots of the steps. But at least I took a couple!

Update on the 50 Book Challenge

2010-02-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

I started January off very slow, but am proud to say it feels like I've been doing nothing but reading lately, and I'm making a (sort of) impressive dent in my 50 book challenge.

Here are the books I've read so far:

1. Two for the Dough
2. Three to Get Deadly
3. High Five
4. Ten Big Ones
5. Four to Score
6. Belly Laughs
7. Twilight
8. New Moon

(Note - the # books are all in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.)

Now I know - none of those are exactly tough reads. I needed some light material to get me back into the reading groove. I'll keep you guys updated periodically on my reading progress.

I have some news...

2010-02-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

Those of you who follow me on Facebook now know my secret – I do indeed have a bun in the oven! I’m pretty excited, and it’s been all I’ve wanted to write about…hence my scarcity in Blog Land for the last 10 weeks.

I have to say, pregnancy so far is pretty boring. I don’t know about the rest of you, but until my first dr’s appointment three weeks ago, I didn’t even believe I was really pregnant (even though three separate home pregnancy tests told me otherwise…and actually it still doesn’t really feel “real”). I haven’t been sick (thank GOD), I do have to pee more often but I’ve been drinking more water, and I’m worn out all the time, but I’m not completely exhausted when I get home every day. So for myself, before I told the rest of the world, I needed the dr to confirm that yes, there really was a baby in there (just one, thank goodness), and yes, everything was okay.

Even after the dr confirmed the pregnancy, and I had my own little sonogram picture to carry with me, I still didn’t want to tell everyone. When I first found out, those first few days, I wanted to tell everyone – my friends, my family, the woman behind me in line at the grocery store. However, the longer I waited, the more I wanted to wait; it was nice to have our own little secret. Plus it became sort of a game to me, to see how long I could wait before telling everyone.

Well, the secret’s out. Not only does everyone on Facebook know, but I finally told everyone at work today as well. And let me tell you, my coworkers are not quiet, nor are they shy. I think everyone in the vicinity of our cubicles knows – but that does save me the trouble of telling the rest of the office.

I’m sure as time goes by I’m going to be blogging about pregnancy a lot more. I hope you guys don’t mind. Those of you who’ve had babies will feel my pain/joy/excitement, and those of you who haven’t, well, I hope I can share something with you that you didn’t know. I read Jenny McCarthy’s book “Belly Laughs” this weekend, and I appreciated her openness – although there are a few things I wish I still didn’t know.

A boring little update...of nothingness, really

2010-01-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

I really don’t have anything to blog about today. My weekend was pretty routine – Friday Henry and I hung out. We had our usual morning Starbucks then did some errands, before returning to my house where Henry played Super Mario Brothers Wii and I sat on the couch and watched him. Saturday, I didn’t leave the house at all, which was fabulous. I caught up on some Tivo and made dinner, and that was about as productive as I got. Sunday I went to church with PDawg, which was interesting. I’m SO not used to churches that a) don’t have their own sanctuary and meet in a high school gym; b) sing…a lot; c) have a pastor that wears Converse; and d) encourage you to “feel” the spirit of the Lord but raising your arms, closing your eyes, etc. I grew up in a stuffy Catholic church – totally different. Still, it was a nice experience.

So again, I really don’t have anything to blog about today. I think I’m writing only because I’m on a break at work, I’m bored, and I’m antsy…not sure why I’m antsy. It’s 9:26 in the morning and I’m already ready for this day to be done.

On a positive note, I did make it to the gym last night. It was SO busy; I couldn’t get a treadmill because of all the newbies. I can’t wait for another few weeks until they stop coming.

On another positive note, I’m going to dinner on Thursday with Katie! Katie (see her blog here) was my bestest friend all through elementary and junior high schools. We sort of hung out with different crowds in high school, but then reconnected on…you guessed it – Facebook. We still live in the same town, so we’re FINALLY meeting up for dinner! I can’t wait!!

That’s it for now. Maybe later I’ll have something interesting to write about. Maybe not.

The Good, the Bad…the Old.

2010-01-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I am now 28 years old and firmly entrenched in my “late 20s.” The mid-20s are gone, and my early-20s are looong forgotten (actually, much of the early-20s are quite literally forgotten).

Each year when my birthday rolls around, as I creep up there in age, I feel like this is the year that I have to grow up, be serious, and start my transition into adulthood. After all, I’m no teenager anymore. This year though, I’ve wondered what exactly I expect myself to do…after all, I’ve been supporting myself for years, have held a steady job, and gee, bought a house. This year, instead of focusing on the things I could do to make myself more of a grown-up, I decided to focus instead on how I actually have grown up, and the events that have led me to 28.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

I’ve had a steady job since I was 16. I actually started working when I was 14 (not counting baby-sitting and pet-sitting jobs). The summers when I was 14 and 15 I worked at Orange Julius at the State Fair. When I was 16, I started working at Linens ‘n Things – I remember taking Mom’s van to the interview because it was hot and I didn’t want to sweat my makeup off in my truck with no air conditioning. I only worked at Linens ‘n Things for a month (it was AWFUL) before moving to Plantation Coffee, where I finished out the school year. I had a summer job working for a beer distributer before going off to college. I actually didn’t work the first part of my year in college (mom didn’t want me to work) but by the third quarter I’d gotten a job with the school’s cafeteria, transferring recipes from their old recipe cards to their new computer program. I started with the state about a week after I came home from school, and I’ve been here ever since, moving on up the ladder.
I’ve lived on my own. I went to college at 17, came home for two years, then at age 20, moved out with a friend. We had a gorgeous apartment that we shared, until we moved in with her then boyfriend. After a few months of that I started looking at getting my own place; there was a short two-month period of living back at mom and dad’s before moving into my very own, roommate-free apartment. A year later I moved downtown, again to my own place, until Grant moved in. We’ve lived several places since then, but have always paid our bills and our rent on time.
I bought a house. Okay, I bought it with Grant, but we were mature and responsible and waited until the market settled down and we could actually afford a house. Then, we bought something in our income bracket. We were furloughed the month we signed the papers, and we’ve still been responsible enough to curb our spending in other areas (namely my shopping habit) so that we can afford our home.
I own a dog. Yes, this is a grown-up, responsible thing. Bruiser is my first inside-dog, and when he was a puppy, I swear he was a baby with fur. He’d wake up every hour at night to pee, and let me tell you…it’s much worse to go outside in the middle of the night in winter with a miniature dachshund than it is to change a baby’s diaper in a warm, dry room in your house. Also, he whines and barfs and constantly needs your attention. He’s good training for having a child.

Those are just a few examples. Now, I’m not perfect. I’ve racked up a boatload of credit card debt, eaten ramen for breakfast, and spent my phone bill money on a purse. But, everyone is allowed a few mistakes as long as you LEARN FROM THEM! Repeat them a few times, maybe, but eventually – learn from them so you don’t keep making those mistakes and so that you can grow.

I suppose that’s why I finally admit I’m a grown-up. Not only am I responsible, but I’ve made mistakes, learned from them, and moved on. I guess that’s an adult.

Goal #1, Day #1

2010-01-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, I got up on time this morning (having gone to bed early last night...I really do feel better in the morning after getting a good night's sleep), showered, blow dried my hair and put on some makeup.

What do you think?

Oh, and I got my new glasses last week...cute, no?

I Don't Do Resolutions

2010-01-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

For the last two years, I’ve made resolutions. To be completely honest, I can't remember what they were...although I do remember putting a lot of thought into them and feeling that they were grown-up, mature, reachable goals.

Since I don't remember them, I have a feeling I didn't achieve many of those goals.

This year I'm doing something a little different. I'm going to name one "goal" at a time (rather than resolution...that seems so final) that I'm going to attempt to achieve. Rather than measure success by whether or not I achieve said goal, I'm going to measure success by whether I change my habits and work toward the goal. If my goal is to get healthy (this is more broad than I would make my goal, but just as an example), I’d measure success not by how much weight I lost, but by whether I was going to the gym or doing some form of exercise regularly and consistently, or whether I’d incorporated more fruits into my diet, etc.

My first goal for 2010 was inspired by my friend Katie’s blog (you can read her inspirational post here). She describes her utter frustration with women who leave the house looking trashed. Now, I don’t leave the house in sweats and slippers, but lately, well, I’ve stopped caring a whole lot. It’s really a combination of laziness, having just enough self-confidence to not care what others think, and well, laziness. I never leave the house in PJs, although sometimes I’m in jeans and a sweatshirt, because it’s comfy. I don’t normally wear makeup on the weekends anymore, and even during the week I only do my eyebrows and slap on some mascara. My hair – well, it has its ups and downs (literally…and its frizzies, its greasies, and its flats). I try to always look put together, but sometimes, in the rush to get out the door, I feel frumpy, not cute.

So – my first goal is to spend more time…on myself. I will ALWAYS do something to my hair, and I will no longer let it get to that day where you just don’t want to wash it because it’s cold outside so you throw some baby powder in it and put it in a ponytail (wait, are you saying you didn’t notice my hair today?).

I will always put my face on, even on days when I am supremely lazy. This will include, at a minimum, eyebrows, mascara, and lipgloss. During the work week, it should also include powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and blush.

I will spend some of my free time primping, plucking, exfoliating and moisturizing. I hate doing any and all of that, but I will make an effort to have trimmed nails, smooth skin and non-reptilian heels.

I will continue my exercise routine with gusto (it needs some gusto…in the last month it really got some wind taken out of its sails). This is not necessarily to lose weight, but to help me sleep and give me some energy.

Finally, I will go to bed at a decent hour every night so that I don’t hit snooze eight thousand times in the morning, only to finally wake with a headache because I slept so little and so not well.

Thanks Katie for the virtual push – and thanks everyone for reading! Keep an eye on the blog for periodic updates to this goal, as well as other goals for 2010.

Writing Project #1 - Article Thoughts

2010-01-04T22:12:00.000-08:00

I've always been a big fan of reading, and there is one type of book that I particularly love. I love books that not only tell a story, but really let you into the character's head so you know what they're thinking and why. A few of my favorite books are Save Karyn, the Confession of a Shopaholic series, and The Devil Wears Prada. I know, they're not literary classics, but in each one, the main character leads you on a journey of their inner-most secrets. There's always something in these books that you can relate to, even if you don't want to admit it. Like in the Shopaholic series - as I read I can literally feel the thrill of hunting for a new purse, finding just the right one, and reaching into my wallet at the checkstand to pay for it...the feeling of victory when the screen flashes "approved" and the cashier hands the item to me and it's officially mine. To me, reading books like these are like looking in someone's house to see how they live: what's in their junk drawers, what brand of makeup is in their bathroom, what bills may be laying around in their piles of mail.

I love to learn the things about people that we don't normally share - I've said it before, I'd love to stop random women on the street and ask them what's in their purse. I think it's so interesting to see what other people have, why they have it, what they use it for (after all, at first glance would you guess the permanent marker in my purse is for writing? It's not - it's for filling in scuffs on my black shoes...see, interesting, no?).

Today I read an article on CNN.com, one of my favorite websites to peruse when I am on a break at work. This news story caught my interest - I really couldn't care whether this woman can't sleep, but I loved reading the things she worries about that cause her not to sleep. Not because any of the things she worries about are things I worry about - after all, I couldn't care less if acid wash jeans make a comeback, and I don't worry about getting the ebola virus (okay, maybe a little) - but just because I'm curious what others think. Here's a list of things I worry about when I can't sleep:

I worry that I'll never get back in shape. It used to be so easy to lose weight, 'back when I was young.' I'll be 28 in 2 days, and it sure was easier to lose weight at 21 than it is at almost 28...what's it going to be like when I'm 40!?!
I worry that I'll never pay off my debt, and I feel guilty about the amount I charged up. I admit it - I used to be a spendthrift. Perhaps it was a little too much Shopaholic influence, or perhaps it was just a normal 20-something getting carried away with a hobby she loved, but boy did I use my credit cards. To my credit (ha, get it?), I haven't used credit in about three years now, and my debt is well on it's way to being gone. But I lie awake sometimes thinking about the things I could be doing (or buying) if I wasn't still paying off old debt.
I worry about what I'll do with my life. I went through a phase recently where I didn't really see a reason to have kids; after all, unless you know they're going to become the president or create a new life-saving drug, then really, you're just bringing someone into the world who is going to use up it's natural resources and contribute nothing to society. I mean, what have I contributed? What do I really want to do with my life? Should I make a radical change and try to work in a "helping" profession? Will that make me feel like my life is meaningful?
I worry about trivial things like what I'll wear to work the next day. I have a closet full of clothes that don't fit, and the clothes that do fit are pretty limited. Either that or they're the ones strewn about my bedroom that I can't find when it's dark and I'm not fully awake in the morning.

So, read the article, then think about the things that keep you awake at night? What are they? Do we share any worries? Do you have any strategies for dealing with your worries? I'd love to hear them!

The Writing Project - Accidentally Continued

2010-01-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

Do you remember me saying that I was going to be disciplined and write at least one article/story/something a week? Well, I got sick right after I wrote that, and then discipline all but disappeared from my life.

Until today.

Today I had a stroke of genius! I was trying to decide how I’d decide what to write about. I read a news story where a man rolls some dice each night and the numbers on the dice become the number of words he includes in his story each night. Then I thought about the movie Julie and Julia, and how she wrote each day about the recipe she cooked the night before. I needed a great idea, but I’m not so great at coming up with new ideas – I’m actually better at copying and improving upon other’s great ideas.

Today I finally got an idea of my own. It may not be great, but it’ll work for now, and hopefully it’ll keep you interested. I’m going to write each week about a news story.

Don’t start yawning on me now – just wait. It isn’t necessarily going to be a huge news story about peace in the Middle East (or lack thereof), or the rise (and fall) of Wall Street. I know this is probably bad, but honestly, I don’t care that much about those things. I read news stories about things that interest me or affect me. I know both of those things do potentially affect me, and should definitely interest me, but they don’t. I’m interested in missing person’s cold cases, the horrible leadership of our great state, or a great shoe sale at Macy’s. I may be interested in articles on child-rearing (hey, it’s in the future) or urban planning, or the newest superfood. I like to think I’m a pleasantly eclectic mix of interests…not too heavy on one subject so as to alienate my readers who, like me, may crave variety.

Today’s article (coming soon in another post) is actually neither of those, but more of a light-hearted look into the way someone else thinks (which, as you all know, is something I love…taking a look into others’ lives).

So, join me on my writing project – comment, leave tips, leave thoughts. Or don’t. Whatever works for you.

The 50 Book Challenge is Back

2010-01-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

Last year (well, two years ago now I suppose, since its 2010…eek!) my friend inspired me to read 50 books in one year. I didn’t make it to 50, but I did make an impressive dent in the library (okay, I think I read 36 books…still, nothing to sneeze at). In 2009, I completely failed at reading. Sure, I read lots of books, but many of them were repeats, and I think I spent more time watching TV and playing video games (easy to do since we got Direct TV and a Wii in 2009).

2010 is going to be the Year of the Bookworm in my household. Okay, Grant hates to read, but it can be the Year of the Bookworm for me. Inspired by yet another friend (who read 48 books in 2009!) I’m going to renew my vow to read 50 books.

And I’m already four days behind!

The rules are as follows (yes, there are rules):

Any book that contains a majority of words and minority (if any) of pictures counts as a book. For example, I’m currently reading “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” If I finish, I’m going to count this as a book. There’s a whole story in the beginning, and scattered throughout the recipes are additional narratives. In my book, this is a book.
You cannot read the same book more than once. You can, but it won’t count more than once. You can even reread a book you’ve already read, but you can only read it once this year for credit. For example, I’m going to read the Harry Potter series this year. I’ve already read them all, but the first time I read them this year will count towards my grand total; if I reread them a second time this year, the second time does not count as a book.
The year is a calendar year from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. Which means I’m already four days behind – shoot!
You must track your books. You must keep track of the books you’ve read (for obvious reasons, such as so you know how many books you’ve read, and then also just for fun), the author, and how many pages each book is. More pages isn’t always more impressive, but it’s still neat to see how many total pages you read.

So – anyone else up for the challenge? Come on, who wants to read 50 books with me?

A day of food, fun, and culture

2009-12-20T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today I embarked upon an adventure to the big city. I hopped in my car, fueled myself up on Starbucks, and hit the road.

Okay, first I picked up Emily. Then we hit the road and headed to San Francisco!

I love San Francisco during the holidays. There's the humongous Christmas tree in Niemann Marcus, and the wreaths on Macys, and the decorations in every single store on Union Square. I love to walk around, window shop, and drink hot chocolate or a peppermint mocha.

Today's trip was even more fun-filled because we went to see 39 Steps. It's a play that's been on Broadway and was apparently adapted from an Alfred Hitchcock story. It was just two hours long, and it was great! There were four actors playing over 100 characters...you can imagine the hilarity that ensued.

Emily is my "cultural" friend...she introduces me to Music Circus, children's theater, and Banana Republic. I introduce her to country music, life outside the theater, and office supplies. We're an odd, yet good, match.

We decided to go down early and do some shopping and have lunch before the show. It was a day of firsts - my first show in San Francisco, and Emily's first venture into Nordstrom's restrooms and the Container Store. I know - totally exciting.

So, I took some pictures to document our day.

This is a picture of my lunch from Mr. Hana's. It was a teriyaki chicken rice bowl with mixed veggies...so yummy!

This was the gorgeous chandelier in the theater we were at. I already forget the name of the theater...I think it was the Curran.

I love to people watch, and I didn't have to look far to find this lady in her, um, lovely outfit.

This guy wasn't hard to find either. He didn't even need to honk his horn driving down the street...we saw him anyway.

These guys were singing Christmas carols as we walked out of the theater. They were great, so I took their picture, then gave them money for taking the picture. I thought it was only fair.

That was my day in the big city. Hope you enjoyed it - next time I'll try to take a few more pictures. Not that I do exciting things like theater in San Francisco very often...

I want to be a writer

2009-12-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

I want to be a writer.

Really, I do. I dream of writing articles, book jackets, novels, even editing...I would love to have a home office and someday, quit my day job to be a writer (seriously, I want to be Angela Lansbury, minus the scary adventures she had every Sunday night at nine). However, there are several obstacles keeping me from reaching this goal.

1. I lack discipline. I show great enthusiasm for starting projects, but finishing them is a real challenge. Finishing anything is a real challenge for me - I get bored about midway through whatever I'm doing, when the initial excitement wears off (I often tell Grant he's lucky...I must really love him because he's lasted longer than much else in my life!).

2. I lack creativity. I am great at seeing something and copying it without directions, even improving upon it. However, original ideas don't come to me very easily (unless it's a way to improve efficiency or organize something). Since plagarism is a bad thing, this obstacle could present a real problem.

3. I don't know how to get started. Should I try writing plays? Poems? Book jackets? Magazine articles? How do I get started? Do I submit them somewhere myself? Is there a process I'm not aware of to be published? I just don't know.

I think I'm finally ready to start working on these obstacles. I've decided to start small, by writing one piece a week and publishing it on my blog. It could be a movie/book review, a short story, a poem, a narrative on my day...we'll see. Hopefully, this will help with both obstacle 1 & 2. Then, I'll just need help with #3! Any writers out there in Blogland??

Current Projects!

2009-12-18T21:48:00.001-08:00

Lately, I've felt the need to take a break from blogging. I've had so many things going on that I've become completely unorganized...and when I'm unorganized, I feel out of control. Then, I spend all my time trying to get organized, which leaves little time for anything else (like completing the mountain of projects I'm in the middle of).

I've been working on many things lately, which has led to a lack of doing housework, laundry, cooking...this week I've taken lots of stuff to Goodwill, gotten my house cleaned up and gotten on top of my laundry, so now, I'm feeling in control.

I love feeling in control.

But wait, that's a totally different post. This is supposed to be about my current projects.

First, an explanation - I don't have anything I'm really passionate about. I like lots of things, but I'm not into any one particular thing enough to, say, start a business doing it. Lately, this seems to be a problem, because I spend my free time trying to master cooking, baking, quilting, sewing, decorating, cleaning, etc., etc., etc. This leads to many, many unfinished projects. Like these:

I'm making this quilt as a wedding gift for my friend Renee. She got married in August...although in my defense, I was the Matron of Honor, and there was NO WAY to finish this before the wedding.

I'm working on a photo project. It started as organizing a box of my mom's photos...it's morphed into organizing, scanning, and completing a family history. (Who's that cute little baby on top...? Oh yeah, it's me!)

I'm making my friend some terry cloth burpers for her little one due in January. The top two are samples, and the bottom photo shows the fabrics I'm making Joey's burpers in.

Below is a good example of my recent unorganization...my craft room/office/sewing room. The mess is incredibly disturbing.

Nine months in my house and I've finally started decorating my house (well, the walls, anyway). This is my oh-so-cool plate-wall-decoration-thingy. Made cooler by the fact that I got it on clearance!

I also put up a few wedding pictures. I'm going to have a few canvases printed as well...can't wait! Just have to figure out where to have that done.

Another project I don't have a picture of - making aprons. I found the cutest pattern to make aprons, and I was sure I could dive right in and make aprons for everyone I know. However, I haven't sewn clothes in...15 years? So, I haven't started yet. But I'm going to!

So, this has been my life lately, along with working full time and taking care of the house. And, learning how to be more like Martha Stewart and Monica Geller! And Julia Child...but that's another post too.

Stan

2009-12-17T13:50:00.000-08:00

Today my coworkers and I went to Hot Italian for lunch. I've never been before, although I've walked by it many times. If you haven't been, you should - they have pizza, calzones, panninis and sandwiches that range in price from $9 to about $15. The servings are huge, so you'll definitely get two meals for the price of one here.

As we were waiting for the rest of our party to arrive, we ordered drinks. I picked up my Diet Coke (I know, I'm wild) and there on the table...was this:

I named him Stan. I don't know why, he just looks like a Stan. He made it all the way through lunch, but by the end, he was really beginning to fade.

Poor Stan.

A work haiku for you

2009-12-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

More apps on my desk
Wanting to be routed now
I don’t want to though.

Clearly I'm not in the work zone yet. I'm thinking about work (as evidenced by the lovely haiku above), but I'm not really in my groove.

The day is progressing slowly.

And may I add in a related note? Good. I'm sick of furloughs. I miss having money, and I'm tired of feeling broke.

Dear Governator - I WANT MY MONEY BACK.

My little boy

2009-12-16T21:40:00.001-08:00

My little boy is not so little anymore.

For those of you who don't know me so well, he's not my son.

He's my dog.

Yep, I have a dog who is like my child. I know you're all saying, "April, a dog is nothing like a child." I get that. However, he is VERY good training for having children. He woke up every hour at night to potty when he was young; he barfs and poops and I have to clean it up, he even whines. On the good side, he snuggles and cuddles and loves me too.

For a long time, Bruiser weighed 12.9 pounds. He's a miniature dachshund, so 12-15 pounds is an appropriate weight range for him. For the first two years of his life, we lived in an apartment in Midtown, and we went on walks almost every night. Now, we live in the Burbs and don't go on walks nearly as often. Bruiser still plays outside a lot and chases his toys, but he is WAY lazier than he used to be.

The last time I weighed him, he had gone up to 14.9 pounds! TWO POUNDS GAINED! I called him porky even then, and started to worry about watching his weight. Today, I weighed him again.

16.4 pounds!

Crap, in miniature dachshund terms, he's obese. So, tonight Bruiser and I went running (because technically, I'm obese too...scary). I ran, Bruiser not so much. He apparently needs to practice walking again. He's still very good on a leash, but he had to sniff EVERY light pole that we walked past, and had to pee on most of them. Needless to say, it was a short walk/run. We're going to try again tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures of Bruiser I found when I was going through my computer tonight. You can see how he got older, and fatter, in the progression (pictures are in reverse progression...starting with tonight. That sweater used to fit him much better - now he looks like a sausage in stripes).

Bruiser just after our failed walk/run tonight.

Almost two years old.

He doesn't get tennis balls anymore...he gets seriously obsessed.

Awwwwwww...

He looks so young! He loved that blanket...actually he loved it to death.

Back to Blogging

2009-12-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry.

I want to blog.

Really, I do. Ideas keep running through my head. Things I do during the day, pictures I take, and articles I read all make me want to blog about them. I read other blogs and want to be like those people.

And yet, I can't blog.

I haven't blogged in SO long. I know, I've completely failed you all. I've had things to say, and I'm sure you're all completely anxious to read them. I know, everyone wants to know what I have to say.

I think my problem is that I spend all day on the computer, and when I come home, I don't want to open my laptop. At. All. But, I'm going to be more disciplined about it. I'm going to think of blogging as a task I have to get done (an enjoyable one).

Here are some topics I've got in my head that you can look forward to:

- The movie Julie & Julia
- Projects I'm working on, both crafty and serious
- Bruiser and how he's growing...out, not up
- Mature new years resolutions (not "adult" in that sense, but grown up, responsible, well thought-out resolutions)
- Ridding my life of poisonous people

I know, you can't wait, right!? So, I'll go get started.

I hate Kohls

2009-11-23T08:21:00.001-08:00

I've never been a big fan of shopping at Kohls. The only thing I ever really find their is holiday stuff that's on clearance (like the $4 tablecloth I recently found). Otherwise, nada.

Why? They may have great sales, but like Mervyns, I always find that their sales are not great. Sure, you may save $30 according to your receipt...but the sweater you just bought is still $35 instead of $65. I'm sorry, occasionally that's okay, but I'm cheap.

The other reason is that in Kohls, I have to try EVERYTHING on. In some stores, I know what size I am, and that size is a constant no matter what I'm trying on. In Kohls, size can change by designer, or simply by whether it's a long or short sleeved shirt! Also, I'm not a size 6. Never have been, never will be, and I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is that Kohls has a HORRIBLE SELECTION of clothes in larger sizes. Sometimes, a large shirt fits me. Sometimes, an extra large. Sometimes, I just need a plus size shirt, and I'll be damned if I can find one there. Oh wait, I did find one, but plus size to Kohls means super long with no shape to the shirt whatsoever, and their plus size section comprises maybe less than 1% of their entire women's clothing section.

Now, I know why. In an article in the paper this morning, I saw this comment:

"Kohl's, the department store, not only varies its mix by climate – wool coats in Spokane, Wash., but not in Orlando, Fla. – but by lifestyle and size: More small sizes in California and other states with sizable Asian populations and more large sizes in, say, Milwaukee, Maschmeyer said. Shorts might not go on sale as fast in warmer climates as in the Northeast."

Apparently, Kohls caters to Asian women. Great for them, not for me. See if I ever shop there again.

Secret Starbucks

2009-11-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

Today my friend sent me a story about Secret Starbucks, which turned out to be way less exciting than I anticipated.

After reading the story I started reading some of the comments. I came across this one and, after reading it, sat at my desk, guiltily looking around...at my Starbucks cup...and my Coach purse.

WHO AM I!?

Comment:

"Starbucks, of course, is a brand. And when you have a brand, you do whatever possible in order to sell it. Starbucks has that “special” appeal, and going to Starbucks becomes more than just grabbing a cup of coffee to go. Unfortunately, I see people who use Starbucks as a way to exemplify who they are as a person, in which that starbucks cup becomes just another accessory to go along with a Coach handbag."

Crap.

How did I spend my lunch hour?

2009-10-21T12:54:00.001-07:00

That is an excellent question. To me, the answer is incredibly interesting and exciting; to you – well, it may reinforce your opinion that I am, in fact, a great big nerd.

I spent my lunch hour…Googling pictures of people’s desks.

Yep, I did. And it was FASCINATING.

You have to remember, I have this thing about seeing into people’s lives. I love to look into people’s homes to see how they decorate, look into women’s purses to see just what everyone is carrying around with them, and I even like it when celebrities show you the inside of their fridge on MTV Cribs.

No really, I do.

I don’t know why, but stuff like that fascinates me. Awhile ago, I’d mentioned to my SIL that I was going to do a post on my desk. Or maybe she’d seen the pictures I posted of my desk so many desks ago at my old job. Either way, she did a post on her desk, which you can see here. She did a great job!

I’ve been seriously slacking lately, so no post yet on my desk. Yesterday I moved offices (okay, cubicles) at work, so I figured it was a good time to write the desk post. Below are several pictures of random desks, both messy and clean, as well as my current desk (well, until yesterday), a former desk, and some random other stuff.

First let me say this – I have a thing about desks. My desk has to be clean; I put everything away at the end of the day, and quite often it looks like I don’t have anything to do. This is not true, however; I simply keep ONLY what I’m working on on my desk. Your desktop is not to be used as storage, so I keep my pens, scissors, tape, etc., in my desk drawers (plus, people used to steal my pens). (Disclaimer – I think there is much more stuff on my desk than usual in the following photos, because I don’t have much drawer space).

HOWEVER – a messy desk is like a car accident. You can’t help but stare at it, try to see what’s in those piles, and wonder how anyone can work in that environment. I love to look at messy desks and a) wonder about the person who sits there, and b) just take in the sheer amount of crap.

I don't know why I love that this is Al Gore's desk, but I do. I wonder what his secretary does? Clearly, she doesn't file.

This picture can be found on the Productive Coder website. Sadly, this looks like a lot of home offices. Not only does it store the computer and every single scrap of paper that a person might want to save, but it's a dumping ground for anything and everything else.

This horrific office was found on the Get Your Biz Savvy website. See, it's like a car accident - you can't stop staring.

This is a before picture of a messy home office, organized by Heartwork.org.

This is the after picture of the above office. I don't think it's any better. Sure, the papers are in a crate, and some of the mess is gone, but the post-its are still randomly stuck to the desk and there is crap everywhere. Horrible, horrible after shot.

Finally, a shot of my desk. (Click on the photos of my desk(s) below to see the text I so cleverly inserted...) Well, this is my old desk at my last department. Yep, I had a computer desk, no drawers, and I shared a computer lab with many, many other people. Yet, I loved it, because the building was great, parking was free, and I wasn't in the main war room with people who had a desk but no computer.

Okay, don't laugh - I have a stapler collection on display. I don't have a lot of decoration at my desk, but each of these has a special meaning. Oh, I do have another electric stapler on my desk that I actually use - Swingline electric stapler...BEST thing ever invented.

Yes, that is an Easy Button.

And finally, the rest of my desk (okay, there's another entire tabletop behind me, but it's just workspace...nothing on it). I've taken a few things down because it got to be too much, but this is the general idea.

As I was researching today, I came upon a website called whereiwrite.org, which is a photographic project showing science fiction writers and their offices. It's an interesting project by photographer Kyle Cassidy, who documents American culture.

I visited the site and got so excited - this is what I want to do! This is my job, to DOCUMENT AMERICAN CULTURE!!! A perfectly legitimate way to peer into people's lives, document it, and learn a little something during the process. I like photography, so it's perfect. Now, how to get started...I need some people willing to let me photograph their lives and interview them about it. Who's interested in being a star!?

What a lunch hour - great photos, interesting websites, and the discovery of my life's work.

Charity Cake Auction

2009-10-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

Every year at work there is a charitable giving campaign. I've worked for many departments, and every one handles the campaign differently. Some simply pass out the forms to employees, some have bake sales or lunch sales, and some, like the department I work for now, truly go all out.

As the kick-off event for this year's campaign, my department held an American Idol type contest with a lunch sale, and today we're having a cake and gift basket silent auction. I decided to make some cake pops, since they seem to be so popular (I don't know, I still haven't tasted one...I'm afraid they'll be too good). The photo I posted of the Halloween cake pops were my test batch; I'm afraid the pen I had did not work very well, so I made pops with colored sprinkles instead.

I dropped off my cake pops and instantly had Cake Pop Insecurity. These people go ALL OUT when it comes to the cake auction. There were at least 50 cakes, if not more, and some of them were professional quality. Okay, some of them were done by professionals, but then again, some non-professionals around here are just really talented at decorating cakes.

I took my phone with me, hoping to get some pictures that would be worth of the Cake Wrecks Blog I like to visit. Instead, all I got were pictures of some truly amazing cakes.

See if you can guess which ones are home made - some of them may surprise you!

My contribution - Halloween Cake Pops!

What cute cupcakes!

What a great pumpkin...I wonder how they got the edges to look like that?

I'm impressed with the fondant.

I absolutely love this one! What a great idea.

SO freaking cute!

Hm, not sure why these didn't rotate.

This is just so creative - fruit leather pepperoni, blueberry olives, and marshmallow creme mushrooms.

Who doesn't love Sponge Bob? I'm actually really impressed with this one because a firm that consults with us donated it. How wonderful is it that consultants are donating to a charitable campaign? Very wonderful.

I don't usually like cupcake cakes, but I thought this one was pretty cute. Well, in a scary, ghoulish Halloween sort of way.

Apparently this one is from a movie. I don't know what movie, but I just love this cat's big old belly!

I don't know "who" submitted this cake. (I crack myself up!). I do love how they used mini cupcakes to make baby owls.

Winter storms

2009-10-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

The City of Trees and wind do not mix...

Halloween Cake Pops

2009-10-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

I have a cake auction at work this week, and I decided to make cake
pops. I wanted to make a test batch because last time I used colored
candy melts, they didn't melt very well. However, these worked great!
The black edible ink pen did not work as well...it was very hard to
get the ink to show on the frosting.

Overall, I think they're cute! What do you think?

This is me...

2009-10-07T10:52:00.001-07:00

...in training. Exciting, no?

My Starbucks Experience

2009-09-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

I love Starbucks.

I do. I know, we've talked about it a lot on this here blog. I love the smell and taste of the coffee, the fact that the baristas know my name, and just the overall experience.

Yesterday, I went to my favorite local drive-through Starbucks. I got an iced Pumpkin Spice latte, and drove home to leisurely sip my drink as I did homework on a fine Sunday afternoon.

Later last night, I was doing the dishes and getting the kitchen cleaned up. There was a bit of latte left in the cup, so I dumped the latte down the sink before throwing the cup in the trash. As I tilted the cup and watched the latte drain out, I heard a "clink."

Hm, strange. All the ice had melted, so I thought this was a bit strange. I looked into my sink and saw...

...a dime.

Yep, someone's dirty, filthy, germ-laden dime was in my latte.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

It was too late to call Starbucks, so I stopped by tonight after I left the gym. The manager was apologetic and gave me a free drink (dime-free), then had me fill out an Incident Report. She figures that a dime dropped from someone's hand into the ice machine on it's way to the tip jar; apparently the tip jar for the drive-through window is kept near the ice machine. I wondered aloud how many other people had gotten an extra surprise in their drinks.

I really hope someone from the corporate office calls me. After all the germs I drank, I think I deserve more than one free drink. After all, I probably paid for that store.

And the answer is...not ready.

2009-09-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

What was the question, you ask? Well, since getting married, several people have wondered aloud when we're going to have kids. I know I want kids, but now that I can have them (I know, I could before, but now that it's "socially acceptable" to have them) I'm terrified to do so. How does someone decide it's the right time? How do you make that decision to try to do what you've spent so many years trying to prevent?

Anyway, I tell everyone I have a dog, and for now that's enough. And truly, he is very much like a child. When we first got him, he woke us up every hour at night to go out and potty (and let me tell you, it's easier to go into a warm bedroom in January to change a kid's diaper than it is to take a small puppy who doesn't like the rain outside to potty). We were so tired and stressed out, we were always on edge.

Yesterday, Bruiser was apparently helping to prepare me for motherhood. How, you ask?

He barfed all day long.

He barfed three times before I even got up yesterday. Then he laid around, lethargic, all morning. Every time he drank some water, it came right back up.

It was truly, thoroughly, disgusting.

Many of you probably think that isn't so bad. Clearly, you don't have my gag reflex. It's bad. So bad that I begged and pleaded with Hubby to clean up each new pile as it appeared on the floor or the carpet, and was informed each time that it'd cost me a foot rub, then an additional foot rub, and so on.

I didn't even care.

People keep telling me it's different when it's your own child. But I don't care. Bodily fluids belong inside your body, and nowhere else.

Ew.

Today I made...

2009-09-26T22:49:00.001-07:00

Last week I got a few veggies at the grocery store, then went to the
farmers market, and forgot my produce delivery was coming, too.
Needless to say, my fridge was a little full.

So, today I made a batch of vegetable stock. Here's a picture before I
added the final ingredient, lettuce.

I used just things that were going to go bad if I held onto them, so
this batch contained onion, garlic, sweet potato, bell pepper, tomato,
carrots and mushrooms. Now it's in the freezer to be used later in
some sort of recipe.

Review: Super Wal-Mart in the ghetto

2009-09-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Sunday, which meant it was time for my weekly trip to the grocery store (note: I didn’t go last Sunday, I’m so proud of myself!!). I had only a few things on my list (okay, 10-20 or so), but I didn’t feel like going to Winco, and I’m definitely on a budget this month, so Safeway and Bel-Air were out. Two weeks ago I went to Foods Co., where I’ll never set foot again, so my only option left was to try the new Super Wal-Mart.

When I lived in Midtown, I went to the Super Wal-Mart over the river (and through the woods…); it was only a ten to fifteen minute drive. Now that I’m back in the ‘Burbs, that’s not a feasible option. So, I decided to brave (duh-dunh-dunh…) the Super Wal-Mart in the ghetto.

For those of you who know me, you know what I’m talking about – for those of you who don’t, good, you’re not supposed to know exactly where I live. Anyway, this location used to be a mall. When I was a young, young child, oh-so-long ago, it was the mall we went to, even though the neighborhood was already not so great at that point. As time went on, we just stopped going there, driving another twenty minutes or so to a better (albeit not fantastic) mall in a busier part of town.

A few years ago (or has it been that long? I don’t think so) the scary-ghetto mall closed, and plans were announced to open a Super Wal-Mart on the site. There was (is?) a regular Wal-Mart just down the street from the proposed new location, and it went from new to crap in a matter of a few years, if not months. So, although a Super Wal-Mart would be cool, I had my doubts about the success of the project.

Fast forward to a month or so ago. I drove down the main road in front of the old mall, and couldn’t believe my eyes. The mall was gone, the Super Wal-Mart was up, and there were a TON of little shops in the shopping center (along with a vacant anchor store that was supposed to have been Mervyns…oops). It looked new, nice, and I was semi-impressed.

Fast forward even more to yesterday. As I drove into the shopping center, I was initially impressed by how many stores had opened here. There was everything from nail salons to cell phone stores, from a custom-frame store to, dare I say it, a drive through Starbucks! I motored back to the Super Wal-Mart and immediately found parking, a mere four spots from the front. Hm, good parking karma? I wondered what awaited me inside.

I made my way inside, and the store was…clean. And not jam-packed. I expected it to be a zoo, as it was Sunday afternoon and church had let out. There were a ton of cars in the parking lot outside, yet the store felt comfortable inside; I wasn’t crowded in any aisle (well, except one, where a mean-ass looking chick and her four million kids almost rammed my cart to reach over me and grab something off a shelf…but then again I was in the ghetto, so I was expecting something like that to happen), and when I went to check-out…NO LINE! Sure, a couple of check stands had one or two people in line, but I walked right up to my friendly checker and began unpacking my cart (my only complaint about my friendly checker was that she appeared not used to packing groceries in canvas bags…she actually sucked at it, but was very nice about it!).

Oh and the best part? There was a Golden 1 branch inside – an actual BRANCH! And, it was open at 3:51 p.m. on a Sunday. What? A bank open on a Sunday? That’s right, I said open on a Sunday. Amazing.

Overall, I was surprised and impressed by the shopping center. I will still NEVER go there at night, alone or with a fleet of armed guards in tanks, and I am a little wary of going there alone during daylight hours. However, that aside, I say take a buddy and travel to the Super Wal-Mart in the ghetto! Once you get inside, it’s not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon (but don’t blare country music from your car on the way there…you never know what could happen).

Oh My

2009-09-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

7:28 a.m. on a Monday, and already three people have asked me if I'm okay and/or if something is wrong. And I'm wearing makeup today! I think it's a sign that I in fact should have stayed home.

Just one more neurotic thing about me

2009-09-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

So, I always knew that I was kind of a nerd. I don’t mean in general (although perhaps I am), but specifically, for today’s topic, I’m talking about my car.

You see, when I was younger, my dad had this thing about “not putting miles on the car.” I never understood that – it’s a car, it’s supposed to have miles on it, right? I mean, you drive a car, you don’t let it sit in your driveway while you take the bus.

Apparently, I have morphed into my dad over the years. I knew that I get very nervous putting more miles on my car; I do after all keep track of my miles, like many of you probably do. However, I don’t keep track of miles per tank to see how many miles per gallon I get. Nope, I did that in the beginning, but my car is old enough now I know how many miles it gets. No, I keep track of how many miles I drive each month, and then I compare those miles to the month before.

Like this month, I only drive 1080 miles. That’s a lot, yes, but last month it was 1572. A few months ago, before I moved back out to suburbia, I put MAYBE 500-600 miles per month on my car. Ah, those were the days.

Anyway, I know that I’m getting a little anal about mileage. My car is getting older (8 years at the end of this month!), and I worry about things breaking now that it’s getting up there.

I guess I didn’t realize just how anal I was getting about mileage. You see, last week my car turned over to 100,000 miles. A historic event, so I took a picture of the mileage with my phone (after all, it’ll never hit 100,000 miles again, right?). See the picture:

Well, I was scrolling through the other pictures on my phone, and I found this one. I guess maybe I was worried I’d miss 100,000?

Then of course, I scrolled back a little further and found this one. I don’t even remember taking this.

I think I’m getting a little out of control. I won’t tell you just how many pictures I took at 100,000 miles to get “just the right angle” where the sun wasn’t hitting it.

The pen is mightier than the...electronic

2009-08-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

I love all things relating to organization. One of my favorite things has always been my planner - it's so much more than a calendar. On the calendar itself I keep track of appointments, things I've done on particular days, outfits I've worn, notes and other random bits of information. I keep passwords, budgets, quotations, and lists.

Oh the lists.

Lists of things to blog about, things to do, things to learn. After awhile, my planner gets so heavy and so big that I hate to carry it around. I like to use big planners, because at work I can write meeting notes on the daily calendar. Some people leave their planners at work - but then my numbers, notes, and lists don't come home with me. If I bring my big planner home, I either need a bigger purse (which inevitably leads to me throwing loads of crap I don't need into said purse) or bringing another bag entirely, just to carry my planner.

When Palm Pilots came out, I was ecstatic. Here was a way to carry all of my information in one tiny little package. Alas, it didn't work out. I had my phone, my Palm Pilot, plus lots of post-its and other lists I'd write at work. I couldn't stick random things in my Palm Pilot like pay stubs and prescriptions, so those ended up clogging up my purse.

I ended up switching back to a paper planning system. I took a Franklin Covey class and fell in love with the Covey system. Then, I got a Smartphone. Talk about love. A phone, internet, email, calendar, and notepad all in one? Beautiful.

But, there were issues. I missed handwriting things; you can only type so fast on those little keyboards. Plus, I was still writing things on post-its and having to transfer them to the Smartphone. I couldn't jot little notes or thoughts on the calendar of a Smartphone. I liked having email at hand, and my calendar; however, at work you HAVE to use your Outlook calendar, because that's how people schedule meetings with you. Using two calendars is not efficient, and I began forgetting things.

For awhile I had a Blackberry through work - this was a great system. I could use one calendar for all things work and personal, and take it all home with me in one little package. I could type notes and lists quickly on my computer with a regular-sized keyboard, and they synced automatically with my Blackberry.

Then I changed jobs and lost the Blackberry. Bummer. Ever since I lost my Blackberry, I've had a hard time finding a system that works for me. I feel like I'm always using two calendars, which is really just twice the work.

Plus, I truly like hand-writing things. I love office supplies, pens, paper (more on this subject in a future post) - I was still writing things down and transferring them to my Blackberry. I started feeling guilty using a paper planner...couldn't I be so much more efficient using a Smartphone? Multiple functions in one little package? I was saving trees by not using so much paper.

I'm back to using a paper planner now (I found one that's not so bulky and fits in my purse). I miss having alerts automatically pop up, but I can deal with it. I also now have an iPhone. At first, I tried really hard to use the notes and the calendar functions. However, as I find more apps to download, I feel less guilty not using the calendar. The iPhone does so many other things, and combines so many other functions into one tiny little package, that I don't feel like I'm not using it to it's fullest by not using the calendar.

(On a side note, hello, boss, how about my own Blackberry? That would solve all my problems.)

I've started a new job recently, and it's a job where I don't have as many meetings, so it's not a big deal that I'm using two calendars. However, one thing I'm still struggling with is finding a system for notes. When I used a Franklin planner at my old job, I used Daily Pages so that I could put my appointments on the monthly tabs, and then I could record voicemail messages and/or notes from meetings on each daily page. All my notes stayed together, and I wasn't using multiple tablets and losing things all over my desk.

Now that I'm using a smaller paper planner that can fit in my purse, I'm not recording v/m's and meeting notes in my planner. Using the Franklin Planner would be duplicative, so that's out. Lately I find myself using multiple tablets and an awful lot of post-its at work. I feel so unorganized - things are in multiple places and get moved all over my desk. I need a system!

What do you all do at work to keep things organized? I know many of you work in different industries - writers, teachers, insurance folks. Each industry is different, but you still need paper, you still must make notes. How do you keep everything organized?

Please - help!! Leave me a comment, send me an email, take a picture of your desk (seriously, I'd love to see a picture of your desks...).

To feel or not to feel...guilty

2009-08-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

Guilt:
• remorse caused by feeling responsible for some offense
• a cognitive or emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes – whether justified or not – that he or she has violated a moral standard, and is responsible for that violation
• closely related to the concept of remorse
• responsibility for wrongdoing

Why do people feel guilt? Why do some people feel guilt more than others? Why do some people, myself included, feel guilt over stupid things that the other person has probably already forgotten about but that I stew about and think about and replay over and over in my mind?

Let me back up.

My brother and I often talk about the fact that we have two kinds of guilt. First, we have Catholic guilt, which all other Catholics can relate to and tell you non-Catholics about. Okay, we’re not exactly attend-church-every-Sunday-practicing Catholics, but still, the guilt is always there. Second, we have our own family guilt; we actually call it “(insert last name here) guilt” (sorry, I’m not quite ready to reveal my full name and identity to everyone in Blog Land). We’re hit with a double-whammy of guilt. I don’t know why, but it’s always there, even when I probably have nothing to feel guilty about.

Take last night. I was a bitch. Well, not so much a bitch, but a sullen and withdrawn person who wasn’t bubbly and friendly like she usually is (no really, I usually am). I’ve been working, getting used to a new schedule where I get up at the butt-crack of dawn (excuse the vulgar language, but that’s really what time it is), starting school again, battling with my weight, and preparing for a wedding (not my own, but one I’m in). After awhile, it starts to take a toll on you.

Last night, apparently, I was done. I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I couldn’t put on a happy face, and so…I didn’t.

Later, I felt really bad about it. Now for most people, you might feel bad about, resolve to change, and be done with it. But not me. I felt bad about it, resolved to change, and then moped around thinking about it for the rest of the night. I feel better this morning, but I still have that guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why?

Here’s a little something about me. I am a pretty easygoing person. I am anal and organized, but I’m a true procrastinator. I’m a hard worker and set high standards for myself, but I’m lazy. I don’t get stressed out or anxious, but guilt and regret often sit like stones in the pit of my stomach. I’m getting very good at not caring about what other people think of me, but I often retrace my actions in my mind to analyze them for myself.

I am an oxymoron on so many levels.

The problem is that I don’t know how to stop dwelling on things. Take last night – I wasn’t flat out rude, I was just (as previously mentioned) a bit sullen and withdrawn (add to that the fact that I was PMS’ing, and you can imagine my mood). I resolved to turn my attitude around, and that should be that.

But it’s not.

I’m still thinking about it today. It’s there, in the back of my mind and the pit of my stomach, affecting my overall mood. How do I let it go? Why can’t I let it go? Why do I keep replaying it over and over in my mind?

Why do I feel this darn guilt?

Ugh.

Oh my God

2009-08-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

I went to the ghetto mall at lunch yesterday, and as I walked past a
shoe store I thought, "Oh those are sort of cute." I saw a pair of
simple, sleek black pumps in a store window where there usually sit
gangster shoes and FMPs.

They were simple and sleek from the front, at least. Then I noticed
the heel...can you see the heel?

It's a gun.

That's right, a gun.

Now, I'm not opposed to guns. My husband owns guns, my friends hunt,
and I myself enjoy going to the shooting range. However, the store
with these in the window markets to teens. Who wants their teen
walking around in shoes with guns as heels?

No surprise that these were in in the ghetto mall.

Addendum to today's shopping post

2009-08-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

I decided to visit Oprah's website after reading this morning's article on CNN.com, and was reading some financial tips from Suzy Orman. I love Suzy Orman - she gives real life advice that is practical, and often easy to apply in your life.

One of the tips from Suzy corroborated my feelings on shopping that I discussed in today's earlier post, and so I thought I'd post Suzy's advice today as well. You can read all of Suzy's tips here (I think there were only three).

"Adjust your attitude toward spending. The only way you will ever permanently take control of your financial life is to dig deep and fix the root problem. For example, if you have credit card debt, there's a very good chance that what needs to change is your spending. There's a reason so many people who declare bankruptcy once end up back in bankruptcy court again: They continue to live beyond their means. I guarantee that if you make the commitment to changing your behavior so you can live without financial stress, you will have a vastly richer life."

Sing it Suzy...

Six Common Shopping Traps...aka some of the reasons I shop

2009-08-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

I got to work early this morning (I know, a shocker, but I ride the bus now so I’m always here early) so I decided to read the news before actually beginning my day. After all, I like to be informed about the happenings in the world.

While perusing CNN.com, I was quickly drawn to a headline that read, “6 Common Shopping Traps – How to Avoid Them.” Okay, so this isn’t world news, but as both a fan of shopping and someone who has had her income slashed three times this year (thank you again, Governator), I thought this might contain pertinent information. I enjoy reading about tips from people in many areas – money, fashion, organizing, etc.

I clicked on the article and found it was from Oprah’s magazine. It started off by describing compulsive shopping; did you know that according to a Stanford study, 1 in 20 adults is a compulsive shopper, buying things they “…don’t want, use, or even need?” I didn’t know that, so I read on.

(I should tell you that just this morning I was talking to my friend on the bus about shopping. I used to love to roam the aisles at Target; I’d go to the store with a list of five things, but I’d walk up and down every aisle, lest I see something I hadn’t thought of, or find something new. I am in need of a few toiletries at home right now, mostly toilet paper itself, but I am reluctant to make the trip to Target to buy it, because I can’t seem to leave the store without spending at least $75, mostly on stuff that I don’t need and probably won’t use too often. I don’t want to go shopping because I’m afraid I won’t be able to go in, get toilet paper, and leave. And I refuse to go to WalGreens or Rite Aid to get it because it’s so much more expensive. OMG I’m a compulsive shopper!)

The article then talked a little about the difference between shopping 100 years ago, versus shopping today. I hadn’t thought about this – think about women in pioneer days. They “went into town” and went to the general store, which had everything from food, to household goods, to fabric. Women didn’t shop for pleasure, they shopped to buy necessities.

Today I find myself shopping for pleasure and actually putting off shopping for necessities (remember the toilet paper comment from above?). And I don’t go to one store, like my great-great-great grandmother may have done. I don’t even stick to one store for groceries - I go to three or four!

How has shopping evolved from purchasing necessities to shopping for fun, for therapy, for a solution to boredom? For me, it was money.

I had some of it.

Thanks to the downtown in the economy I have less of it now, so I can see how reckless I used to be concerning spending. My problem is that I truly enjoy shopping; it really is a hobby for me. I enjoy the hunt for the perfect purse, or shoes, or whatever (it could be a pencil, a set of sheets, it doesn’t matter). I enjoy the thrill of deciding which items I want to purchase from my loaded cart, then going to the cash register and knowing I can afford them. The thrill of swiping my card (debit only, I don’t use credit cards anymore), and seeing “Approved” flash across the screen.

However, lately I’ve been looking at ways to pare down, in case another cut to our income comes down the pipes (which is rumored to happen this fall). I know I need to stop shopping purely for pleasure, and I’m getting better. Now I go to the register, and instead of feeling the thrill of knowing I can afford this, I feel guilt. Instead of getting home excited, I get home and know I’m going to return it tomorrow. I’m trying now to focus on other less expensive hobbies that will occupy my time without emptying my wallet (although I do love shopping for a good wallet!). I realized that shopping and the things I buy don’t define me; I’m still the same person without a $200 bag, or without a house full of stuff (speaking of the $200 bag, you can read about the downfall of my purse obsession here).

Anyway, back to the article. Oprah’s magazine gives us six common shopping traps.

1. You’d better shop around.

Apparently when you’re purchasing multiple items in one store, you are already spending a lot of money, so you’re less likely to care about throwing a few more things in. The article gives the example of already spending $200, and therefore not caring about adding a $20 T-shirt. They advise you to make purchases at several different stores instead.

This is Target for me – the more I put in my cart, the less I care about adding a few more things. Sam Walton must have understood this concept perfectly, hence the creation of Wal-Mart and Super Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart you can buy clothing, cleaning products, toys, fabric, toiletries, even tires! Add the full grocery store of the Super Wal-Mart, and it gets worse. You’re spending $200 on groceries, $50 or so on toiletries, you throw in a bathmat and a DVD or two, and it’s not that big a deal. Or so you think.

2. Don’t buy into bargains.

Huh? Aren’t you supposed to shop for bargains? No, no, no! Our brain apparently registers the bargain and gets excited about the discount, so we purchase the item, even if it’s something we don’t need. However, if I’m at the grocery store, and black beans are on sale, I’m going to stock up, because I know that’s something I eat all the time and I’ll be back to buy again. I do, though, fall victim to the bargain scam on items I don’t need; I know I have (and will probably continue to) buy things I liked, but really didn’t need, simply because it was a great deal.

3. Cash and carry.

Everyone has heard that if you are a shopper who tends to overspend, you should only pay for things with cash. You think more about whether you really need the item if you’re paying for it with cash than with a credit card. The Stanford study even goes so far as to say that there is evidence the enjoyment of purchasing things is paired with the touch of plastic. I actually believe that; as mentioned, I don’t use credit cards, but I never carry cash (because if I have cash, I will spend it…I’m the opposite of the “cash and carry” person). Instead I use my debit card, but because I’m using a card, I get the same feeling that someone using a credit card gets. The amount I’m spending is more abstract, because I’m not counting out and handing over cash. However, I don’t excuse that by thinking that I already have a credit balance, so adding to it is not going to hurt, since I’m actually withdrawing funds directly from my bank account. I know deep down that I’m spending cash (especially when I look at my bank statement), but at the same time, I understand the feeling of using a card and not really thinking about the amount you’re spending.

4. A bad mood can cost you.

According to the article, sadness can devalue one’s sense of self, so we shop to evaluate one’s sense of worth. However this doesn’t explain why the urge to spend may come on when you’re mad, bored, busy, happy…or maybe it does. Maybe all those times are to evaluate one’s sense of worth.

5. The fall of the mall.

I hate malls – the parking, the crowds, the fact that I always seem to need to go to only two places, which are on exact opposite ends of the mall. However I understand that many people love the mall; here they can socialize, de-stress, and shop to their heart’s content. But there is a problem – apparently the ‘ole mall isn’t doing so good. A research firm in New York estimates that 3,000 malls will close in 2009.

I’m not sure how this “common trap” is explaining to us why we spend; let’s just assume they’re saying malls are bad because there are so many stores and move on.

6. Ration your willpower.

They say your ability to fight temptation weakens as you get tired. I think the article loses it here, though (thank goodness it’s the end). They say to practice building self-control in small doses by sitting up straight, using your non-dominant hand, or not swearing for a week. I’m sorry but not swearing for a week is not going to help me stop myself from shopping. Not swearing for a week is going to make me so f$%*ing frustrated that I’m going to shop to make myself feel better. Perhaps I’ll re-evaluate my sense of worth.

I myself am the opposite of what the article says – I don’t lose the ability to fight temptation as I get tired, say at the end of a shopping trip. When I go out for a day of shopping, I spend way more up front; I’m pumped, I’m excited, I’m all about the great deals! As the day wears on, I get grumpy; I don’t really want to go to any more stores, I don’t really care if I buy anything else. Seriously, ask my mom and my aunt – they used to take me “antiquing” or “yard saleing” with them, but they had one rule for me: No whining. What can I say, I got grumpy towards the end of the day!

So what do you think? Does the article have merit? Why do you think you shop? Or, how do you discipline yourself to not shop? Maybe you just don’t like to shop. I’d really, really like to know why…since I’m trying not to like it so much.

Techie Toy

2009-08-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

My coworker was just talking about how it’s kind of stuffy in the office today, and I agreed. I was sitting here, wishing I’d remembered to bring my fan in, when another coworker reminded the first one she already had a fan, which coworker #1 then let me borrow.

Check this thing out (sorry the pictures suck, my iPhone has one flaw in that there’s no camera flash). It’s a USB Mini-Fan – a bendable rod that has a fan at one end and a USB port at the other. I can plug it right into my monitor, which has two USB ports, and I’m instantly cool and refreshed. Yay!!

Yes, I really am that person

2009-08-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

I like to think that I’m a fairly organized person. Some people will tell you I’m an incredibly organized person, but the truth is, I have great organizational ideas, but not all of them make it in to production, so to speak.

I keep a TON of lists, and I’m very good at seeing something and knowing how to clean it up, keep it neat, etc. Again, it doesn’t always happen, but I spend a lot of time thinking about organization.

One of the things I’ve been thinking about is how I never know if I’m getting a good deal at the grocery store. I can’t remember what a good price is for a can of diced tomatoes, or a bag of pasta, or even a pound of ground beef. I’ve been thinking about making some sort of chart, so I can enter the prices that I’ve paid at different stores for different grocery items, and then compare them so that I know what is actually a good price.

Some of you may just go to the same grocery store all the time, but I shop at many different stores. There are some things I get only from Trader Joe’s, then there’s the “big shopping” at Winco or, if I’m willing to drive, the Super Wal-Mart. Then there’s the “quick stops” on the way home at Bel-Air or Safeway, which are right across the street from each other and on my way home. I also go to Costco, but I don’t really think its right to compare prices from Costco, because there really is no comparison.

Lately, I’ll buy something on sale at Bel-Air, but then realize it’s not really a great price. Or, even at Winco, I’ll think, ‘Wow I could get this so much cheaper at Wal-Mart.” I used to spend a lot of time in the grocery store, writing down the price of each item on my list. Of course, that was when I was buying for one and I didn’t have as many items on my list. Now, I write a list, but I never use it…I just roam up and down each aisle of the store, grabbing what I need (which is why I always seem to buy so much – I can’t stick to a list).

So, yesterday, I started my chart. Yes, I actually created a spreadsheet of how much I’m paying for items at the store, whether it’s a regular price or a sale price, and then figuring out where the best place is to buy that item.

I really am that person.

Look, here’s a little sample. Don’t think I’m too weird…although if you do, I’m okay with it.

Loose interpretation of a guard dog

2009-08-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

I was helping my friend move this weekend, and when I pulled up to her
house, something caught my eye...a dinosaur in the window.

Really. Look.

I was worried he was going to get left behind. Although maybe the new
people could have used a good guard dinosaur.

Open sesame...or not

2009-08-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

I’m a big goober.

Or at least, I feel like one. Let me start out by telling you about my first week at my new job. I started a job this week with a new department, and so far it is amazing. The people are nice, my manager is wonderful, the building is gorgeous, and my work is interesting. Don’t laugh, though, when I tell you my favorite part so far.

The break room.

Wait, now hear me out. I’ve been working as a government drone for 9 years now. For the first four years, I worked for one department, and their building was pretty nice. It was about ten years old when I started there, and each floor had two break rooms that were probably 12’ x 12’ rooms. They each had a refrigerator, sink, microwave, and some cabinets. Some of the break rooms had a table, but not all. That was it – basic, but nice to have around.

Each department that I moved to after that was in an older building that was built when they apparently thought people didn’t need break rooms. Maybe everyone bought their lunches back then at the cafeteria (although none of the buildings had one of those, either) like in one of my favorite movies, Nine to Five, and the employees didn’t need a sink in which to wash their Tupperware or their coffee mug. Anyway, I’ve spent the last five years washing my dishes in the bathroom, or often not washing my dishes because I was avoiding the bathroom (you know how I feel about public restrooms) and then throwing away perfectly good Tupperware because it was uber gross.

In this building, each floor has multiple break rooms. The one closest to me is better than anything I’ve ever seen. Not only is it big enough to have several (probably ten) tables, it also has a soda vending machine and a snack vending machine. There is also a sink, WITH a separate hot water spigot, as well as six, count ‘em, SIX microwaves. No more waiting in line to heat up my food!

But the best is yet to come. There is a machine that has two spouts – one delivers ice, in nicely shaped small round pieces, and the other delivers…FILTERED WATER! For free!! This may not sound too exciting to some of you, but let me explain how amazing free water is for us government folks. First, the water straight out of the tap downtown is often brown and tastes like metallic dirt (and I am very picky about the taste of water). Because of the awful downtown water, you cannot fill your water bottle at the drinking fountain, and God forbid the government provide anything to their employees (I buy my own post its for crying out loud). For these reasons, employees start “Water Clubs” and pay into a fund every month to have Alhambra or another bottled water dispenser delivered to the office. The price is sometimes set at $5 a month, but can vary depending on how many people are in the club, how much water they drink, and how many people sneak in and take a cup of water without paying (at one department I worked for, there was also a coffee club, and the coffee people would fill the pot with water from the Alhambra cooler, even though they weren’t water club members!); at one time I was paying almost $10 a month for water. And that was back when I didn’t drink more than a glass a day, if that.

So, you can see why free filtered water is the best thing about my new job so far. Plus, I’ve started making iced lattes at home, and now I can bring that in my thermos and then fill my cup up with ice for free, instead of paying $.25 for a cup of ice every day.

Now that I’ve told you the best thing about this place, let me describe to you the worst thing. Apparently, this is a very secure building, which is nice. So often I see departments paying security guards who don’t do anything when people walk in off the street without showing a badge, only to get upstairs and try to sell people stuff (really, I almost got a movie package deal once before my boss shooed the guy away). However, this building is almost too secure. Each day this week I’ve made some sort of faux pa in the morning, which leads me to think the security guys are watching me on camera and messing with me for entertainment purposes.

On Monday, my first day, I drove to work and paid to park in the garage downstairs. There is access into the building from the garage, but I didn’t know how to get in. I had to call my relative who works in the building and ask how the heck I was supposed to get inside (and let me tell you my work hours are 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., so my first day I was here at 6:30). Before 7:00 a.m., you need keycard access to enter the building. I found out I had to push an intercom button, let the guard know I was a new employee, and a guard would be down to escort me inside.

Apparently, the guard I reached was tired.

When she came on the intercom, I identified myself as a new employee, and was told I’d have to wait until 7:00 a.m. when the doors opened. That was it – no offer to let me in, nothing. Luckily, there were some workmen in the garage going in and out of the freight elevator, and they let me ride up with them. Success.

Day two. I rode the bus to work that day, so I attempted to enter the building though the front main entrance. Here there is a set of glass doors (sliding and one with a handle), then a vestibule area (affectionately called the “man trap”), another set of glass doors (sliding and with a handle), and then the main lobby with the elevators. I was here before 7:00 a.m. again, and when I walked up to the front door, a man was badging in the first set of doors, so I slipped in behind him (I know badging isn’t a word, but go with me). Mistake number one; apparently you are not allowed to follow someone in. In the man trap/vestibule area, we were stuck. I attempted to “badge in” at what I thought was another keycard pad; it wasn’t, it was just a black box on the wall for an intercom…not a keycard. Mistake number two. Finally, an alarm sounds, a green light comes on, and the second set of doors open; I again follow behind the gentleman. Mistake number three; again, I’m apparently not supposed to follow him in.

Wednesday, I again drive to work; I have lots of stuff that I’m bringing from home to set up my desk, and I figure instead of bringing one binder a day on the bus, I’ll load it all into my car and be done with it. I again park in the garage under the building, and this time, I’m all prepared to badge myself in; forget the lazy security lady. I walk up to the first door, badge myself in, and walk into the vestibule. I can see a man getting into the elevator through the second set of glass doors; he sees me and holds the elevator. I walk up to the second set of doors (in the garage there is only a sliding set of doors, no door with a handle), expect them to slide open in front of me, and…nothing.

The man gestures towards the wall, where I see a black box. I attempt to badge myself in with my keycard; again, this is a misleading intercom box, not a keypad, so I look like a goober in front of this guy. I’m standing there, in front of a set of glass doors that won’t open, just waiting. Finally, they open, and I make it into the elevator, just as the alarm sounds and the doors begin to close because they’ve been held open too long.

Today, I felt confident. I took the bus to work again, and I had my badge out, ready to go, as I walked towards the main front entrance. I badged my way in the first set of doors, and, because my parents raised me to be polite, I held the door open for a woman entering behind me. She said thanks but we were supposed to go one at a time, so, feeling a little foolish for trying to be nice, I walked in alone. (It was jus today that I found out we aren’t supposed to follow each other in.) I hear the alarm sound, so I walk forward and again, confidently, reach to open the door to enter the lobby, right as the alarm stops. Mistake number two today – apparently you have to rush forward and open the second door while the alarm is still going off. I stand there, waiting, thinking the woman behind me will go in the first door and then I can open the second door (and this time didn’t try to badge in at the non-existent keypad). I guess she takes the one person at a time rule seriously, because she doesn’t come in. Finally, I hear her on the intercom with the guards, letting them know I’m stuck in the man trap. The alarm sounds and I rush inside without thanking her, lest my humiliation and embarrassment at not being able to open a door show on my face (no mistake number three today, since I was the only person stuck in the vestibule and couldn’t follow anyone in if I tried; perhaps I’m actually improving).

As I walk in, I can see across the lobby to the set of entrance doors on the other side of the building. I can faintly hear the alarm going off over there, and see a woman entering through the second set of glass doors. Then I notice two men, lined up outside, patiently waiting for the woman to enter before each one tries to enter the first glass door.

Why has no one told me about these entrance protocols?!

I rush onto the elevator, and just know that the security folks are watching me, waiting to see what floor I get off on, so they can follow me around with their cameras and laugh.

Maybe week two will be my week to master entering the building. Although, I’ve already screwed it up so many times, I’m a little nervous to do it again!

What came first, the chicken or the teriyaki?

2009-07-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Dinner last night was pretty simple, yet delicious. I asked hubby to take out some chicken in the morning, although I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I realized I had some leftover brown rice that I’d cooked, so I was thinking stir fry. However, it was hot yesterday, and I didn’t feel like cooking inside. So, I decided to bbq teriyaki chicken.

One problem – no teriyaki sauce.

Don’t you hate it when you think of something to cook, and you can practically taste it, and then you find out you don’t have the ingredients? I hate that! I think that’s one of the reasons I tend to overshop; growing up my mom had a huge pantry (I’m so jealous of it now) and she always had a few of everything in there. She was always prepared.

Anyway, being the resourceful gourmet chef that I am (no really, don’t laugh), I turned to my faithful friend Google and started searching for sauce recipes. Turns out it’s not that hard to make teriyaki sauce. Cool!

There are lots of ways to make teriyaki sauce. I chose a simple version of soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic. Remembering as always that I don’t measure, here is what I did (just taste as you go along, and you’ll be fine (unless it’s baking…then you have to measure)).

After gathering my ingredients, I poured approximately 2 cups or so of soy sauce in a bowl. I mixed in a couple squirts of lime juice, a lot of brown sugar (probably 4-6 big teaspoons…taste as you go, you can always add more soy sauce if you overdo it), a few teaspoons of ground ginger (I didn’t have fresh; actually I ran out of ground, too, so I may have added more if I’d had it), and then a few cloves of garlic. Since this was a marinade I didn’t bother to mince my garlic, but just cut it into big chunks.

I love, love, LOVE fresh garlic, and I’ve spent years looking for the perfect garlic press. I’m currently still impressed with the Pampered Chef garlic press, but I have yet to buy it. Why? Because I have a simple method for peeling garlic, and then I usually just chop it up (or I use roasted garlic…I’m planning on roasting some this week, so I’ll take pictures). Here’s how I peel fresh garlic.

Step 1: Pull a few cloves of garlic out of the head. Don’t worry about trying to get any of the paper-thin skin off.

Step 2: Take your nice, heavy salt or pepper shaker. On a cutting board (or other surface where you won’t crack a tile), give the garlic a good whack with the shaker.

Step 3: Ta-da! Easily peel that clove out of it’s skin.

I know, so simple.

Anyway, here is the chicken after marinating for just about an hour, if that.

Now, onto the grill (I love our new grill! I finally talked hubby into a gas grill…he loved his charcoal one, but I’m apparently lame and couldn’t ever light it).

Ah, bbq’d chicken – isn’t it beautiful? It was tasty, too. I can cook in the kitchen, but I’m not yet a master of the bbq. Good thing hubby is, and knows how to perfectly grill chicken (I think he gets extra points for the nice grill marks).

Delicious!

On a related note, even though it was hot last night, I did some other cooking in the kitchen (sorry, no pictures). I bought a bag of yellow onions at Costco, because they were just so cheap. I was sure I could do something with all those onions!

I decided to make French Onion Soup, for two reasons. One, I love it, and I’ve never made it before, and two, I use canned French onion soup when I make roasts, and that stuff costs at least $1.75 a can. Ridiculous! By making my own, I have a little I can eat now, and then I’ll freeze the rest so it’ll be ready when I make a roast. (You can find the best roast recipe ever here. And an addition to the best roast recipe ever here.) I also like the idea of making my own soup so that I know what’s in it; no preservatives, no junk, just onions and broth (okay, and butter and a little cheese).

I’ve started making my own stock, but I haven’t made beef stock yet, so I had to use canned broth this time (I know, there goes my hope of no preservatives…oh well). I don’t have pictures, but here’s what I did (and I measured this time!!).

French Onion Soup (adapted from the recipe for Mimi’s French Onion)

2-3 large yellow onions, sliced fairly thin (about ½” slices)
4 15-oz cans beef broth
1 can beef consommé
½ stick (4 Tbsp) unsalted butter
Grated or shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese (okay, this one I didn’t measure; start with a ½ cup, taste, then add more; I think I used 1 cup)
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté your slice onions in a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (I have a Le Crueset 5.5 quart Dutch oven, and it was perfect for this recipe). The onions will need to cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and golden. Add the beef broth and undiluted beef consommé. Let the broths heat, then add the cheese, salt and pepper. Let cook over low to medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes.

I stopped at this point. If you are making soup to eat, rather than reserving it for cooking, you can put the soup in individual oven-proof crocks, add a slice of baguette and some Gruyere or Mozzarella cheese, then bake or broil your soup. Even without the topping, the soup is absolutely delicious (and your kitchen will smell so good!).

Waste Not, Want Not…Make a Cobbler!

2009-07-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

I’m ashamed to say I used to waste a lot of food. I’d go to the grocery store and buy with the best intentions of making lunches and dinners every day of the week. Then, I’d eat lunch out, or be too tired to cook, and all my food would go bad. I’d go to the store the next week, again with the best of intentions, and when I got home I’d have to throw out all my spoiled food to make room for the new food. The ugly cycle would continue.

Lately, I’ve been trying my best to be less wasteful, in many areas of my life. I use canvas bags at the grocery store, a reusable lunch bag at work, and I even take my lunch in Tupperware containers, instead of ziplock bags. When it comes to food, if I haven’t used something and I know I’m not going to use it before it spoils, I’ll try to freeze it, like with fresh blueberries, make it into a soup like with chicken or rice, or find some other creative way to use whatever might go bad.

Last night, I noticed I had almost an entire bag of nectarines that didn’t get eaten this week. I planned poorly and overbought this week, purchasing raspberries, blueberries, and carrots at Costco, then purchasing nectarines at the grocery store. I like nectarines to be really firm, and these, while still good, were very ripe, soft and juicy.

I didn’t know what to do with them, but I didn’t want them to go to waste. I was searching around online for a recipe, and I came across a recipe for a peach/nectarine cobbler. With a little tweaking of my own, I made a very delicious nectarine cobbler!! (I should note it was also my first cobbler ever – I never really understood cobbler before, but now that I like fruit, it sounded tasty.)

I got this recipe from the Food Network website, but I did a little tweaking of it as well (I do love to tweak things).

Here is the standard, un-tweaked recipe from the Food Network Website.

Filling:
4 c. sliced nectarines
½ c. cold water
1/3 c. unpacked light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Topping:
1 c. all-purpose flour
½ c. sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ c. milk
½ stick (4 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened.

Garnish:
Cinnamon Sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare topping: In medium bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking powder. Add milk and butter and beat until smooth.

To prepare filling: In large saucepan, combine all ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is thick and bubbly, about 5-10 minutes.

Pour filling mixture into 13x9 glass baking dish. Spoon topping over filling and spread carefully and evenly with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake 30-40 minutes until topping is golden brown and knife inserted into cobbler comes out clean.

So, now for my changes.

First of all, I don’t measure. I measure when baking, so my dry ingredients for the topping were measured. However, for the filling, I just cut up all the nectarines I had, added a ½ cup or so of water, and then spooned in a bunch of brown sugar, a little cornstarch, and some butter (in case you’re wondering the filling turned out beautifully).

In the topping, I added a splash of vanilla to the batter once it was mixed. I think this really added to it, and next time I’ll add a little more than a splash.

Here it is, step by step (although I may have forgotten to take pictures of a few steps, as I’m prone to do).

To begin, I took the skin off all of my nectarines with a knife, which was easy to do considering they were so ripe (and incredibly messy, since they were so juicy; yet another reason I like nectarines when they're firm).

Then I placed all of my nectarines in a saucepan (again, the recipe calls for four cups...I put in what I had left, which was about 6-7 nectarines). I put 1/2 cup of water over the nectarines, then added brown sugar, cornstarch, and unsalted butter.

After it had simmered over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, it looked all thick and yummy, like this.

While the filling was cooking, I made the topping. I put the flour, sugar, and baking powder in the super cute pink KitchenAid mixer, then I added the milk and butter. I also added a splash of vanilla, which I think added tremendously to the dish.

In a small bowl, I mixed the cinnamon and sugar, to sprinkle on top of the cobbler before it went in the oven. Then, I poured the filling into an ungreased 13x9 pan (it says to use a glass pan, but I used my favorite white porcelain pan...it bakes better than anything I've ever seen).

The recipe then says to drop the topping onto the filling and spread evenly and carefully with a spatula.

That was impossible.

Maybe I did it wrong, but my topping was rather sticky, and my filling still very hot, so the topping did not "spread evenly over the filling." Instead, I just mixed it all up, making sure there was some topping dough fairly evenly throughout the pan (I actually like the way this turned out, too, when the cobbler was done baking).

I sprinkled some cinnamon/sugar on top and put it in the oven. After just about 40 minutes, it looked like this.

I wish I could describe to you how good this smelled...it was absolutely amazing. Here it is on a plate - you should really make this, it was so good!

Just for fun, here's my baking center. This is the section of my kitchen where I keep all my baking supplies, and on the counter is my mixer. In the drawers below (that you can't see) I have cake decorating supplies, and all the mixer attachments, plus parchment paper and that sort of thing.

I've found that I do a lot more baking having everything in one place in my kitchen. And, I never used my mom's KitchenAid mixer when I was little, because I had to take it out from under the counter, use it, then put it away when I was done. Having it sitting on the counter makes me use it more often, and it's next to the fridge, so it doesn't take up much space, and it's hidden from view most of the time (not that I don't want to look at it, I just don't like having a lot of things out on my counter).

And finally, Bruiser. He was all worn out after a day in the kitchen!

Now for my next dilemma - what to do with my summer squash?

Concerts in the Sticks

2009-07-27T08:34:00.001-07:00

I’ve never really been a fan of concerts. Sure, I’ll go to them, but there’s so much work involved: you have to get there early, pay for parking, struggle through the crowds to your seat, then sit through one or two bands (and their set changes) you may never have heard of until you finally get to the main event. Then there’s expensive food and drinks, $40 T-shirts and $60 sweatshirts, if you so desire.

There have been a couple of concerts I’ve really wanted to go to, and enjoyed, but usually, I’m not one to spend my money on tickets. However, months ago, a friend asked if I wanted to see the No Doubt concert that was coming to town. I said sure – I’d never been to the venue, and it was with a group of people that I knew I’d have fun with. I’m not actually a fan of No Doubt, but I thought, What the heck.

I love No Doubt.

I’ve never, EVER been to a better concert. On the radio, I really don’t like No Doubt much; I’ve never been a fan of Gwen Stefani, either. But Friday night, I was truly, thoroughly impressed. The first two bands were okay – I’d never heard of the first band, and although their singing was terrible, the music was pretty good. The second band, Paramore, wasn’t bad either.

Then, No Doubt came out. The stage was amazing, and the band truly looked like they were having a great time. Gwen Stefani was fabulous – she never, ever stopped moving and dancing, even when she wasn’t singing. And her voice – wow! Usually, a singer sounds worse in concert than they do on the radio, but she was the opposite. I found myself enthralled throughout the entire time they played (almost two hours). Her voice live is wonderful. Plus, she really seemed to enjoy the crowd, more than just to say “I love you guys” like most singers do.

Really, I’ve never enjoyed myself more at a concert. If you have the chance to see No Doubt live, you need to go.

But here’s the fun part…I didn’t have my camera, but I did have my phone. And while I was waiting for the first two bands to finish, and waiting during their half hour to 45 minute set changes, I watched the crowd. You should know, the venue where we saw the concert is out in the sticks, and the people you see out there are, well…interesting. I now present to you my photojournalist essay of the concert, or at least, the concert audience. Enjoy!!

***Editor's note - I LOVE people watching. Love, love, love it. And, I'm sorry, but I'm judgemental right from the get-go. I figure people are judging me right away, so I don't feel too bad judging them. If any of my comments below are harsh, it's just my first impression of people (and if you were there, I'm sure you'd agree with me). And sorry they're not the best quality pictures - they were taken on my phone.

So, I was wearing capri jeans and a cute polka-dot t-shirt...nothing fancy. At a concert you can see anything from shorts, to this. These ladies were a little dressy.

Then there was this gal - the total opposite end of the spectrum. She was having a GREAT time, dancing around...maybe too great a time.

Here's another one. She looked fairly normal - until I looked down and saw her socks. I'm not really sure how they contributed to her outfit.

This group was truly disturbing (and although we were surrounded by people getting higher than a kite, this group wasn't...which makes it all the more disturbing). The girl who is showing the camera to her friend sitting down was taking pictures - of herself. Now, I take pictures of myself too. My face. This girl was sticking the camera UP HER DRESS and taking pictures, then showing the pictures to her friend. I kid you not. Her friend sitting on the ground then stuck the camera down her own shirt and took pictures. The guy with them stuck the camera down his pants and took pictures.

Yes, these were really people sitting near me.

I don't really think you need much of an explanation for this one.

These are just to show you how many people were there...apparently it was the first time the venue had been sold out in seven years.

The aftermath...look at all the trash.

All in all, a great concert. Sorry I don't actually have any pictures of the band!

Thankful Thursday!

2009-07-23T13:58:00.001-07:00

Today I was reading a few new blogs, which happen to be written by people I went to high school with (it’s so fun to catch up with people I used to know!). One of the blogs has a regular feature called “Thankful Thursday.” Each week, the blogger writes what she’s thankful for that particular week.

What a great idea!

Since today is Thursday, I thought I’d start my own weekly Thankful Thursday feature. I’ll warn you now that they won’t always be deep, gut-wrenching things I’m thankful for…it may just be a particularly good latte I had or a nice customer service agent. Anyway, here are the ten things I’m thankful for this week:

1. Home cooked meals. So far this week I’ve made a pasta bake, tortilla casserole, and chili. Yum!
2. Fresh fruit. After being on vacation and not eating healthy every moment of every day, it’s great to have a freezer full of bright, fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
3. Starbucks iced venti decaf latte. Yes, I started drinking coffee again (just lattes), and after being on vacation for five days, one of those babies was heaven.
4. Air conditioning. While on vacation the a/c broke in our house – and it was over 100 outside. Today they fixed it…six days later.
5. Overtime. They are now offering overtime at work, which is nice since I’ve had 15% of my paycheck cut.
6. Cleaning. I didn’t get to do my usual weekend cleaning since I was on vacation, so my house is a little dirty. Today I’ve enjoyed doing dishes, picking up, doing some laundry…yes, I do like cleaning!
7. My niece and nephew. They were with us on vacation, and they are a constant source of entertainment.
8. JoAnn’s. I’m still in a very crafty mood, so I paid a visit to JoAnn’s yesterday for some fabric. I’m going to make a quilt with simple 9-patches…I’ll post pictures as I make it.
9. Gardening. I got two tomato plants from my neighbor, and this weird tree-like clipping from my grandpa. Yesterday I finally got them all in the ground! Yes, this is the extent so far of my gardening.
10. Dinner with my mom. Yesterday I was going to run some errands and my mom happened to call as I was walking out the door. She was in town and so I ran errands with her, and then we went out to dinner. It was so nice to have dinner with her; since she retired I don’t get to have lunch with her at work anymore.

Okay, so is anyone thankful for the same things? Or, what are you thankful for this week? Let me know!

Chili Cook Off!

2009-07-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love chili.

My favorite chili in the world has always been my mom’s chili. I remember her making a big pot of chili and some cornbread on a cold winter night; it was one of my favorite meals. I always make my chili just like my mom does, but tonight, I decided to do something a little different. I started off with the basic recipe, and then tweaked it a little bit.

Mom’s chili recipe is:
- 1 pkg Jimmy Dean sausage (or the sausage links that come ten to a package in the white package…I can’t remember the name)
- Ground beef (if you choose, Mom didn’t always put this in)
- 2 cans kidney beans, with juice
- 2 cans red beans or navy beans, with juice
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (I think sometimes Mom added more)
- 1 bottle chili sauce
- Lots of chili powder
- Corn and olives if you choose

You basically cook the sausage and ground beef (if using beef), and then throw everything else in the pot and let it cook until it’s hot (I absolute LOVE one-pot dishes). It turns out more soupy than some chili I’ve had; it definitely has sauce, which is what I always liked about it. I can’t even describe the delicious flavors to you, but the chili sauce and powder are key.

Lately I’ve been trying to use up everything I buy, even if it means freezing things. I’ve also been into cooking meals ahead of time and freezing them, or just prepping meals for cooking later. I decided to make chili tonight and then put it in the freezer so I’d have a meal ready when I didn’t feel like cooking.

At the grocery store this week I made a new discovery (well, new for me). I was looking for a can of Dennison’s Vegetarian Chili, which is something I’ll put over brown rice (instant meal – delicious!). The grocery store I went to didn’t have any vegetarian chili that was just beans…they all had other junk in them.

In the bean section I found plain old chili beans – something I’ve never bought before. I know what some of you are thinking – seriously, how have you never had chili beans? Here’s the thing – I love beans. I could live off of them. However, growing up, we had canned refried beans, canned kidney and garbanzo beans, and that was it. It wasn’t until recently that I started eating black beans, pinto beans, etc. So anyway, I noticed these chili beans, and thought they’d be perfect; they’re just pinto beans in a tomato sauce with garlic and a few other spices. And let me tell you – they’re perfect!

I forgot to take pictures while I was cooking, so I’ll just tell you about the chili I made tonight, which is now my most favorite chili in the entire world (and remember, I tend not to measure things…I just go by taste

April’s Amazing Chili

1 pkg Jimmy Dean light sausage, cooked and drained
2 30-oz cans chili beans, with juice
2 15-oz cans kidney beans, drained but not rinsed
2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 bottle chili sauce
Garlic salt
Mexican spice mix (I’ll explain this in a bit)
Chili powder

Cook the sausage. In a large pot (I used a 5.5 quart dutch oven) combine cooked sausage, chili beans, kidney beans, tomato sauce, and chili sauce. I added 1/3 to ½ bottle of chili powder (start with ¼, then add more according to your own taste), and then added garlic salt to taste. I didn’t measure it, just sprinkled a bunch in the chili.

Finally, I added some of my own “Mexican Seasoning” (no, it might not be the most appropriate name, but sorry). (For my special seasoning, I purchased those $.99 packages of seasoning you get in the Hispanic food aisle – one cumin, one curry, one chili, one cayenne, and one ancho chili (I think…it was the dark one, although not hot). I combined the entire packages of curry, chili, cumin, and ancho chili in a large spice bottle, and added about a third of the cayenne package. I like spicy things, but you may prefer not to add the cayenne at all. Shake it up and you’ve got a great new seasoning!)

Cook it until everything is hot, and you’ve got amazing, thick, and delicious chili. If you want to try it, come to my house and I’ll make you some. Or, make it on your own – I promise, you won’t be disappointed!! This chili is great just cooked, and even better the next day.

Enjoy!!

It is sooooo vacation time

2009-07-14T16:16:00.001-07:00

That's right, I'm outta here.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I leave for Yosemite with P-Dawg and her monkeys. It's time for our annual trip, and I'm so looking forward to it. This year it's a small crowd - just eight of us. That may not be small to some of you, but when you consider there are 35 of us on a full year, it's pretty small.

I'll be trying to think of good blog posts while I'm there, although I won't have access to a computer. I will take tons of pictures, however.

And, on a random note, I'm trying to think of more blog topics that aren't just me rambling to you about my life. I was reading P-Dawg's blog and I saw that she asked for questions from her readers, and she's doing a Q&A type thing. What a great idea!!

So, is there anything anyone wants to know about me? My job, my home, my family, or my mad cake pop making skills? Cooking, cleaning, my obsession with Martha Stewart and Monica Geller?

Go ahead, ask away!!

And bye ya'll. I'll be back on Sunday.

OMG people read my blog!

2009-07-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

How cool is this?! I got an email from a woman who works for a public relations firm that works with Home Goods. She read my blog post about my awesome shopping trip this weekend, and all the great stuff that I got at Home Goods.

This is part of what she wrote:

I wanted to let you know HomeGoods has a Customer Finds section on our website where shoppers like you can submit great finds at great prices. Here is a link to the site: http://openhouse.homegoods.com/index.php/finds/ – as you know our merchandise is always changing and this site is a great way for us to spread the word on great finds. We would love it if you’d share your finds with other HomeGoods shoppers!

So, now I'm off to write about my fabulous finds on the HomeGoods website. Maybe you guys should do the same!

Look what I made!

2009-07-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

I think I'm one step closer to domestic goddess.

I’ve always loved “home-maker” activities – cleaning, cooking, baking. I know, call me strange, but I think I spent a previous life either as a 1950’s housewife or a woman on the prairie (I get so excited over new appliances - you should have seen me when we got our washer and dryer!). I love doing crafty things at home, and now that I am infact a wife and a homeowner, I love making things for my own home (I did before as well, but it’s different when you’re living in an apartment).

So this weekend I’d been spending a lot of time looking at people’s blogs, especially Bakerella’s. I love her blog – she makes cake bites, cupcake bites, and cake pops. They are so incredibly creative, and I can only hope to one day make cake pops as well as she does. She was even featured on Martha Stewart!!

I spent yesterday shopping for things for my house. My day didn’t start out that way, but I’d been looking at several websites the day before (Cost Plus, Pier 1, etc.) and found several things I just “had” to have.

I should mention here that I’ve also been re-watching my Friends dvds. Can I tell you a secret? (I thought so.) I wish Monica Geller were a real person, so I could meet her and talk cleaning and cooking. I also wish I could meet her so she could tell me where she got all the fantastic things in her apartment; I swear she is my decorating guru (no, I don’t have purple walls, but I love her dishes, bowls, coffee table…I seriously take pictures of the tv so I can remember a specific item and then I shop around for something similar. Yes, I really do).

So with Friends, blogs, and home-maker stuff on my brain, I headed out. I got a great platter and pitcher at Cost Plus, then I went next door to Home Goods; I really shouldn’t have. Here I got some plates, and a great serving bowl. I put back a LOT of stuff (my family makes fun of me because when I shop, I shop for a long time. I put everything I like in my cart, then as I walk around the store some more, I decide I don’t need everything and I put stuff back. If I go in and out of a store quickly, grabbing things and then heading straight for the register, I’m in trouble. Then comes the buyer’s remorse and the flurry of returning).

Then I went to Pier 1 and got some great glasses and a couple of mugs. Next was JoAnn’s…I went there only for felt, because I got the idea to make my own plate separators (I saw plate separators at Bed Bath and Beyond, and almost bought them but thought, Why pay for these when I can buy a yard of felt and make my own in multiple sizes? Now I have separators for plates, bowls, platters, etc.) I also bought some fat quarters because there were buy two get one free, although I have no idea what I’m going to make with those. Finally, I found a yard of upholstery fabric in the remnants section. It was originally $39.99 a yard, but because it was a remnant it was $19.99 for the yard, and it was GORGEOUS!! I’ve been looking for fabric to recover a bench I have in my entry way for years (I haven’t really been looking that hard, but I’ve been meaning to recover this bench for years), and so I snatched that right up (pictures coming later of the bench; I have to wait for hubby to bring his heavy duty staple gun home from his shop).

Finally, I went to Michael’s to check out the cake decorating stuff (oh I got some at JoAnn’s as well). I want to head out to Cake Castle, which is the only true cake decorating store that I know of in or around town, but it was too far to go yesterday and Michael’s was just fine for what I needed. I got fondant and gum paste mix, so I can play around with those. I got cute cupcake wrappers, a few new colors to make different frosting (including copper, which apparently is used to make flesh tones…so exciting!), some candy melts, and a few candy molds, plus lots of other stuff. It was so much fun!! The only thing I couldn’t find was edible ink pens to draw on the cake pops and/or cupcakes.

When I got home, I unloaded everything (making a huge mess) and got to work unwrapping stuff, putting a few things away, and working on my bench (this was before I found out there was no staple gun to be found in our home). I got the bench seat uncovered, and I put an oil on the wood of the bench to brighten it up a bit. It looks good!

Then, I got to work on the cake balls. I forgot to take pictures in the beginning stages, when I crumbled everything up, but I’ll do that next time.

First, I made a regular old chocolate cake.

Then, I let the cake cool completely, and I crumbled it in my food processor (I got a new one, but more on my food processor later). Next, you’re supposed to mix almost an entire can of frosting into the crumbled cake; however, the only frosting I had was funfetti, which I don’t think would work very well. So, I whipped up a batch of buttercream icing using my absolutely freaking adorable pink KitchenAid mixer…I know, I felt so Martha Stewart.

Then I mixed the frosting with the crumbled cake, and formed the cake mixture into little balls. Meanwhile, I melted my candy melts. I then placed the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and inserted popsicle-stick things (the round paper ones, I am blanking on the name right now) that I had dipped in my melted candy melts halfway into the pops. Then they went in the freezer.

I left them there for ten to fifteen minutes, just to firm a bit so crumbs wouldn’t make it into my candy melts. Next, I dipped the cake pops into the candy melts, let them drip off the excess, and rolled them in different sprinkles. Finally, I stuck them in a piece of foam to dry.

They turned out so cute!!

I wrapped each one in a little cellophane bag and they were ready to go!

Now, I just have to figure out what to do with them…

Okay, so here is what I learned on my first foray into cake pops:

1. Bakerella says that you make the balls quarter size, and that a regular cake mix will make 40-50 balls. My mix made 22 balls. Clearly, I made them a little too big.
2. Apparently one of the reasons to make the cake pops into small balls is so that when you’re rolling them in the melted candy melts, they don’t fall off into the candy because they’re so heavy. I ended up sort of tapping them in the candy, rather than rolling; when I rolled them they came off their stick.
3. It must take a lot of practice to make them perfectly round; mine were not, although the melted candy and sprinkle coating did help hide their imperfections.
4. Getting the melted candy perfectly smooth seems impossible. I’m not sure how Bakerella does it.
5. Next time I’ll put a little less buttercream in the cake mixture. I didn’t measure because I had homemade frosting, rather than a can; they came out fine (and are actually pretty darn tasty) but they could use a little less frosting.
6. Even though I had a few mishaps and my cake pops aren’t perfectly round, they are absolutely freaking adorable and I had fun!!
7. Cake pops are messy, and your kitchen may look like this when you’re done.

And just to finish it off, here's a shot of some of the stuff I got yesterday

Alright all you crafty people - I showed you mine, time to show me yours. What will you guys come up with next??

The downturn of America

2009-07-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

Articles like this one make me angry:

Squeeze Inn sued by disabled woman

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Aficionados say the burger sold at the Squeeze Inn is perfection, the consummate marriage of bun, ground meat and melted cheddar cheese.

But a woman has filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying the one-time coffeehouse with 450 square feet of space is anything but perfect. The suit alleges the kitschy confines break state and federal laws protecting the rights of people with disabilities.

Among the allegations:
• Parking at the Squeeze Inn is not accessible to disabled people, nor is the main entrance.
• The inside seating area, which has about a dozen stools, does not have accessible tables.
• The outside seating area is hard to navigate and lacks adequate floor space for wheelchair use.

Kimberly Block, who filed the suit, could not be reached for comment. She is described in the suit as a person with limited use of her legs. The suit alleges she is being discriminated against in violation of California law and the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The suit asks the court to require Squeeze Inn owner Travis E. Hausauer to make fixes and award an unspecified amount in damages. Hausauer could not be reached for response.

For years, the Squeeze Inn has been named to lists of the best burgers in town. Business has soared this year since the Food Network featured the Squeeze Inn on its popular "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" program with host Guy Fieri.

___________________________________

Having visited this burger joint, I do realize that it is not handicap accessible. It is in a former coffeeshop, and is TINY…there isn’t hardly room for non-handicapped persons to move around inside.

My problem, however, lies in this woman’s lawsuit. She is suing and asking for the owner of the Squeeze Inn to update the restaurant to be handicap accessible. Okay, this seems reasonable. However, the suit then apparently goes on to ask the court for “an unspecified amount in damages.”

Why is this woman asking for damages? I see no reason other than to make herself rich. She was not hurt during her visit to the Inn. She was not slandered. As far as we know she was not ridiculed (and if she was, I’m sorry, and that's unexcusable, but at the same time, everyone is ridiculed at some point in their life...that’s a part of life).

I get so angry when things like this happen. Have we really become a nation of people who sue others as a way to earn our living? This woman could have a very strong lawsuit just asking for the restaurant to make ADA changes. Does she really have to go as far as to seek money?

I wonder what her day job is, or if she even has one.

À bientôt, Facebook…

2009-07-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

I’m tired.

I’m tired of manically checking Facebook on my phone to see if someone has updated their status. I’m tired of logging in on my computer and wasting hours looking at pictures. And so I say, later, Facebook.

It’s not goodbye forever, but for now.

When I first jumped on the MySpace band wagon oh-so-long ago, I loved being able to find people I knew and look at their pictures. I could see what they’d been doing with their lives, look at their kids, their houses, etc. For a person like me who loves to see how people live, it was heaven (not a stalker, I swear). After awhile, I got sick of MySpace…it became so cluttered! Everyone had music, backgrounds, blinking things, flashing things, etc. It was so busy, I couldn’t take it. I didn’t check my page for months, and finally just took it down.

I went to Facebook after many friends told me they were using that site instead. It was great! It was clean, uncluttered, and so much more professional. Plus, there were so many people on Facebook that I hadn’t seen or spoken to in years! It was great to catch up with these people.

I found myself checking Facebook more and more often as more friends either joined or just found me online. I downloaded the Facebook app on my phone and checked it all the time. Then I got mad or frustrated when I’d check and nothing had happened…in five minutes! How could no one post any updates in five minutes!? That’s plenty of time, I thought to myself. I needed to calm down.

Then I noticed that checking Facebook on my phone was one thing; I didn’t ever spend too much time in one sitting on my phone, because it’s convenient, but it’s not the most user friendly app. When I get home from work, I usually have no desire to turn on the computer. Sometimes, though, I’ll log in to Facebook on my home computer…and waste HOURS looking at pictures of friends, then looking at friends of friends, then random people who knew my friends. I’ll sit there, mesmerized, as the hours pass. And as I struggle to tear myself away from the screen, I’ll realize how much time I wasted, and I’ll get mad at myself. There are so many other things I could have been doing besides looking at pictures of people I don’t know!

After awhile I started noticing parents of friends were joining Facebook. That was a little odd for me; I see Facebook as a site for friends…once parents join, it makes me feel more restricted. What does my status say? Was I too descriptive/negative/offensive? What are they going to think of me?

Next, I found family members online! Not my brother and his wife, but cousins and second cousins and distant aunts. This was great – we have a large extended family, but I don’t get to see many of them very often (even though quite a few live in the same town…actually one lives about a mile away). I always see at least one second cousin when I go to get my hair done; they always seem to have the appointment after mine, but that’s about the only time I see them. So I had fun adding those relatives as my “Friends” and catching up on their lives (although then I got depressed…cousins who seem so much younger than me are of drinking age and are graduating from college).

Through all of this, I began to feel less enthusiastic about Facebook. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a rather addictive personality. I develop addictions for many things, Facebook being one of them. I was addicted to checking it and reading people’s statuses, but at the same time, I was sick of reading what everyone was doing, every second of every day. Some people update their status seven, eight times a day – and I’m guilty of that too! I find myself sitting somewhere, bored for a minute, so I whip out my phone and update my status. But really, who cares if I’m at Music Circus, or if I had coffee today, or if I’m at work. After awhile, I don’t even care.

Then there are the negative nellies…not those people who may have had a bad day and need to vent, or even those who aren’t feeling well and just maybe need to get that out there. I’m talking about the people who either consistently have nothing positive to report on, or those who continuously update their status with sad, dreary, or depressing remarks about the current situation in your life (there’s two types of those people: 1) those who are open about whatever is going on in their life, in which case everyone knows what their status refers to; and 2) those who update their status with cryptic yet depressing remarks but only share what is going on in their life with their close friends, even though the rest of the world can read their status. The first type I’m okay with; the second type bothers me, because I wonder what is going on, if this person is okay, yet I feel like I can’t ask them because clearly they’re not ready to share their story with the rest of the world.). I think that right now, everyone has troubles, and so I’m sorry, but I’m tired of reading about everyone else’s. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel for you, it just means that I too have negative things in my life, yet I am trying to be positive – and it’s hard to be positive when you’re reading negative things all day.

So, I’ve decided to take a break from Facebook. I am not taking down my page completely for several reasons: 1) maybe I just need a short break before the desire to read about others overwhelms me again; 2) I have a lot of “Friends” I’ve accumulated and I don’t want to have to find them all again; and 3) every once in awhile I might feel the urge to check in for a quick minute without going hog wild and spending hours online.

In exchange, I’m going to work vigilantly to update my blog more often. They may be short blogs, they may be long, they may be specific or totally random, but I will definitely put more info here so you all don’t miss me too much on Facebook. For now, adios!

Oodles of randomness

2009-06-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

I really don’t have a specific topic in mind, but I knew it was time for another post (okay way past time), so here’s a little randomness from my life lately.

Yesterday was my one year wedding anniversary!! I can’t believe it’s already been a year. This year, I’m so calm, so happy at work, and living a normal, everyday existence; last year at this time I was a hidden bundle of nerves and stress. I was thinking back on the wedding planning process, and I never really got too stressed, which was funny; I was working at my full-time job and filling in for two vacant full-time positions, one of which was a high-profile position working for our board members. I was working late nearly every day, and bringing work home every night. My mom kept calling me and asking if I’d done certain things for the wedding – I had everything all planned out in my mind, but the procrastinator in me just hadn’t gotten around to actually doing it yet. My aunt finally suggested I take off a day a week leading up to the wedding, which ended up being a fantastic idea; my mom and I spent each of those days doing wedding things, and I probably couldn’t have gotten it all done without that time (although I did save writing the ceremony, choosing the music, and making placecards, menus, and other paper items for the night before the ceremony…I seriously do my best work at the last minute).

Today I felt so sad. I don't really know why, but no longer being a newlywed for some reason makes me feel old. It's kind of like the day after the wedding...we went to breakfast with my family, and I didn't want to leave because it meant the wedding was officially over. Later that day I went to the grocery store, and I remember standing at the checkstand, thinking, "No one knows I was a bride yesterday. Nobody thinks I'm special right now; I'm just like everyone else, doing normal, everyday things like going to the grocery store." My friend told me the day after her wedding she sat on her hotel bed and bawled because the wedding was all over; I totally know how she feels.

Sunday it was 107 outside, so Grant and I spent a lazy day inside watching movies. We went out to dinner to celebrate, although we didn’t make it out until almost 8:00 p.m. because of the heat. We had a great dinner, and then Grant had a great day off on Monday, which he told me he took to celebrate our anniversary. By himself, apparently, since I was at work. We broke out our one-year old cake when I got home, had a piece, and then Grant went to school. I spent my anniversary evening helping Renee make invitations for her own wedding this August; I thought it was appropriate to do wedding-related stuff last night.

Here are a few pictures from last year, just for fun!

PDawg, aka my sister-in-law Heather. (And what a good shot of my absolutely-freaking amazingly beautiful bouquet!)

A shot of our candy bar. I wasn't going to do this because I tried to stay away from all things trendy at the wedding, but I'm glad I did it. I didn't have to buy any of the jars because Mom has so many glass containers (her antiques finally came in handy!) and it was a huge hit with all the guests (children and adults alike...and the reception staff).

Me and Grant, being cute, listening to toasts. I need to watch the video because I still don't remember what my dad said, but all my friends said he made them cry.

You may not be able to tell, but that is my cousin under my dress. What is she doing, you might ask? Trying to bustle me. It wasn't easy.

This is me laughing hysterically at my cousin under my dress. You know you are too.

Saturday was Renee's bridal shower, and it was so much fun! I threw it with a few other bridesmaids, and we spent Friday night getting the food ready and making the favors. I was up until 4:00 a.m. Friday night (Saturday morning, I guess), making the stuffing for stuffed mushrooms and making cinnamon & sugar tortilla chips for the fruit salsa (which I may never make again, because they were the bane of my existence that night/morning).

I’ve realized how much I love hosting parties! I like making food, setting it all out on adorable serving platters, and just having people over. I’ve gotten to practice a bit this year – Mom’s retirement party and Renee’s shower – but this Saturday will be my first party at our new house! I can’t wait…we have this great kitchen counter that is HUGE and can hold all the food, and we live on a court so there should be a nice space for fireworks.

If only parties didn’t cost so much, I’d have them all the time! I am beginning a nice collection of serve-ware, so at least I won’t have to buy platters, trays, bowls and the like anymore. I mean, I can, and probably will, but I don’t have to.

OMG I was tagged!!

2009-06-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is so cool, I was tagged! Heather tagged me in a post called "Show me your heart."

The tag: "with as much creativity as you can muster, show your heart in: a picture, a poem, a song (or piece of music), a phrase (or quote), an item of clothing, a place, and (just for fun) a Disney princess. If you want to join in, tag 6 more blogs."

I think I have mentioned to you all my complete and utter lack of creativity...yes? But I'll try.

A picture:

One week from today it'll be one year. Wow, time flies.

A poem:

I'm going to have to work on this one for awhile...check back later.

A song:

"How bout them cowgirls" by George Strait - it reminds me of my teenage years when I was young, carefree and naive. No, I didn't herd cattle or ride colts, but I baled hale and raised hundreds of lambs.

I felt the rush of the Rio Grande into Yellowstone
And I've seen first-hand Niagra Falls
And the lights of Vegas
I've criss-crossed down to Key Biscayane
And Chi-town via Bangor, Maine
Think I've seen it all
And all I can say is

Chorus:
How 'bout them cowgirls
Boys ain't they somthin'
Sure are some proud girls
And you can't tell 'em nothin'
And I tell you right now girls
May just be seven wonders of this big, old round world
But how 'bout them cowgirls

She's ridin' colts in Steamboat Springs
Bailing hay outside Abilene
She's tryin' hard
To fit in in some city
But her home is 'neath that big, blue sky
And the Northern Plains and those other wide open spaces
Now days there ain't as many

Chorus

But how 'bout them cowgirls
Boys ain't they somthin'
Sure are some proud girls
And you can't tell 'em nothin'
And I tell you right now girls
May just be seven wonders of this big, old round world
But how 'bout them cowgirls

Boy, she don't need you and she don't need me
She can do just fine on her own two feet
But she wants a man who wants her to be herself
And she'll never change, don't know how to hide
Her stubborn will or her fightin' side
But you treat her right and she'll love you like no one else

Yeah, how 'bout them cowgirls
Boys ain't they somethin'
Sure are some proud girls
But you can't beat their lovin'
And I'll tell you right now girls
May just be seven wonders of this big, old round world
But how 'bout them cowgirls

How 'bout 'em boys

A phrase:

"Comparison is the thief of joy." - Skinny Bitch

An item of clothing:

Okay, so it's not an item of clothing, it's a quilt. But really, can there be a better symbol of cozy, homey, loveliness than a quilt? I didn't think so.

A place:

Small town America. When I think of the perfect place to live, I think of a large ranch outside a small town in middle America. This picture (courtesy of The Pioneer Woman's website) makes me think of that perfect place:

A Disney Princess:

Cinderella: I love a Disney Princess who's also a maid. Long live the clean freaks!

Okay, so the final part of this tag is tagging six more people to do the same. I think four people regularly follow my blog, and one of them is Heather. So, I'll just tag those who are left and/or people I know who have a blog who might stop by.

The Arc
Kendal's Tendrils
Grateful for the Everyday

101 Things About Me

2009-06-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

1. I met my husband at work. He was a contracted vendor and I was an employee, under my desk, butt sticking out, searching for a box.
2. Ask my husband what he remembers about when we met, and it’s the butt sticking out from under my desk part. Go figure.
3. I just bought my first house (with hubby) almost four months ago. It’s about a mile from where I grew up, even though I swore I’d never move back here.
4. I have two dogs, although only one lives with me. The other lives on acreage with my parents and has been adopted by my dad. She’d hate the suburbs.
5. I can’t wait to move back to the country and have a plethora of animals, both domesticated and farm, like when I was growing up.
6. I want my kids to grow up and be in 4-H and FFA like I was, but I also want them to play sports, unlike me.
7. If I have girls I want them to take dance lessons for ever so they’re comfortable dancing in crowds…I love to dance but never do it because I feel like I have no rhythm and look like an idiot.
8. I always thought working in an office would be cool, but now that I’ve been doing it for 9 years (next month) I think it sucks and now I don’t know what I want to do.
9. I want four kids, but only if I can be a stay at home mom when they’re young.
10. I’m terrified of having children. Pregnancy, birth, the whole thing – I don’t have them yet because I don’t know if I can do it.
11. I don’t play well with others. I hate working on teams at work or in school.
12. I like things to be done my way (did you get that from #11?). I’m working on compromising, but it’s a long battle.
13. I am obsessed with keeping things clean but at the same time I’m a natural born slob. It’s an internal struggle.
14. The only thing my husband and I fight about is cleaning. I voluntarily do all the cleaning, but ask that he just pick up after himself. He’s trying. I think.
15. I think vacuuming is calming.
16. I am a professional procrastinator. I think I do my best work at the last minute.
17. I don’t have any hobbies. Unless you count watching TV as a hobby.
18. I’m not passionate about anything. I like lots of things, and I enjoy doing lots of things, but if I had an unlimited amount of money to start a business doing something I’m passionate about, I couldn’t think of a business to start.
19. Besides the house I grew up in (17 years of living there), the longest I’ve lived in one house is 2 years and 2 months.
20. In nine years I’ve worked for six different departments.
21. I have excellent writing and grammar skills, although I don’t remember any of the rules of writing; I simply know when something is right or wrong (although if I’m writing fast like when I’m blogging, I may not go back and fix things, so please don’t point out all of my errors).
22. I hate my teeth. I didn’t take care of them when I was young like I should have, and now I’m paying the price.
23. I’m irrationally afraid of the dentist, even though my dentist is fantastic. I practically get an ulcer every time I have to go to a dental appointment.
24. I would love to be a writer for a living but I have writer’s block…all the time.
25. I have a lot of great ideas but I don’t follow through on anything. That’s probably my worst fault.
26. I love Donald Trump. I know, I’m sorry, but I do.
27. I hate most reality TV shows. The only one I really watched was Newlyweds with Nick and Jessica, and that’s because I had a non-sexual girl crush on Jessica.
28. I love to watch TV, and I own a TON of TV series on DVD.
29. I love to read, and I choose books by their cover. I’m usually pretty good at choosing great books this way.
30. I don’t like it when books become movies (except for Harry Potter). The movies are never as good as the books, and they ruin the way I imagine the characters (e.g. Confessions of a Shopaholic).
31. I was addicted to Starbucks and went two to three times a day, but I quit drinking coffee three months ago. I still want it every day, but so far I’ve been strong.
32. I would love to be in law enforcement, but I’m scared of criminals and I’d throw up at disgusting crime scenes.
33. I cry over everything – movies, books, weddings. I even cry when I’m angry.
34. I tend to be a loudmouth, yet I’m afraid of confrontation.
35. I don’t mind giving speeches (and even sort of enjoy it) but I’m terrified of raising my hand in class.
36. I’m comfortable speaking up at work, but won’t do it in class – I get nervous around people my own age.
37. I always wanted more siblings (sorry E!) because my mom had six sisters and they all do things together. I wanted a big group of siblings to hang out with.
38. I wish I was better at managing my money. I used to be a great saver, but I’ve become much more of an impulse shopper as I get older. I’m getting better again.
39. I’ve had more cell phones than anyone I know. I started buying them on eBay, using them for awhile, and then selling them again. I got an iPhone a few months ago, and I think I’ve finally broken the cycle.
40. I would love to be a stay at home mom, but I also want to be a high-powered corporate career woman.
41. If I had the chance to be a stay at home mom, I’d worry about the stigma attached to it when (and if) I was ever ready to go back to work.
42. I judge people based on first impressions. I know that’s not a good thing, but I’ve always done it.
43. Before I met my husband every relationship I had broke up after the first fight; I thought that a fight meant it was over.
44. I’m a selfish person, yet I love giving to others. I love giving gifts, doing nice things for people, and volunteering my time (although I don’t do much of that).
45. I’m a total control freak.
46. If I could be any TV character, I’d be either Monica from Friends or Samantha from Bewitched. Or any female law enforcement FBI agent/cop/detective.
47. I love to buy cars. I enjoy the car-buying experience and haggling with the salesmen.
48. My dad is my work idol. He was a great manager and director and I wish I could be just like him.
49. A Starbucks Iced Venti Latte is my perfect food (did I mention giving up coffee has been a struggle?).
50. I try not to let what others think matter, but it still does.
51. I often wonder what I would be/do if what others thought didn’t matter to me.
52. I think it’d be an awesome experience to be in the military, but I’m afraid I’d be shipped overseas.
53. I love rules and think everyone should follow them.
54. I love order, structure, and planning (I guess that goes along with #53).
55. I think I should have made this list “50 Things About Me.”
56. I love to shop, and it doesn’t matter what it’s for. I love the hunt of trying to find a specific item.
57. I went away to college. I chose the college because I’d just been dumped and it was the farthest college from home that I’d been accepted to.
58. I didn’t want to go to school and only went away because of getting dumped, and because my mom pretty much made me go. I came home after a year.
59. I often wish I’d stayed away at school and finished my degree, and had the typical college life. But, then I wonder where I’d be in life if I’d stayed. I’d never have met my husband, so although I sometimes wish I’d stayed, I’m glad I didn’t.
60. I don’t have any desire to finish my college degree because I don’t know what I want to do with my life, and I think what you do should be related to what you went to school for.
61. I don’t like ice cream.
62. I don’t have a favorite color.
63. My idea of a perfect night out is actually a night in – eating sushi in a clean and tidy home, watching Tivo or a movie.
64. I get stressed out when my house is messy.
65. I once did the Atkins diet and lost 35 pounds, but I gained it all back and then some.
66. I don’t particularly like meat, although I’m not a vegetarian. The Atkins diet was hard.
67. I get jealous very easily.
68. All of my past and current managers and coworkers think I’m an extrovert, but really I’m an introvert who’s a wannabe extrovert.
69. I think it’d be cool to be a newscaster.
70. I have zero artistic ability. I can’t draw, paint, match colors, sketch.
71. I have a fantastic long-term memory, and can remember really random things from my childhood.
72. My short-term memory sucks, and I often can’t remember things I did or said five minutes ago.
73. I wish I had interior-decorating skills.
74. I was raised Catholic but discarded organized religion as a teenager. I’ve always believed in God but thought it wasn’t “cool” to go to church.
75. I would love to find a church that feels like a “neighborhood” church from “back in the day.” I want to find a church where I know the other parishioners and the Fathers, and they know me and my family.
76. I sometimes wish my husband was religious, although I’m accepting of the fact that he’s not.
77. I like to read books on management, organization, and improving myself in general.
78. I’m an energy Nazi – I practically follow my husband around turning off lights after he leaves a room (which I realized is what my dad used to do to us kids!).
79. I love listening to music but have a hard time remembering band names or song names.
80. I easily remember numbers, especially phone numbers.
81. Although I love country life, I’d also love to live in a big city.
82. I raised sheep and goats as a child/teenager.
83. My cousin used to call me Goat Girl.
84. I don’t have any specialized skills; I’m more of a “Jack of all trades, master of none.”
85. I like to learn a little bit about a lot of things, but I’m not really interested in learning a lot about any one thing.
86. I love to swim but hate being in a bathing suit in front of other people.
87. I like to be the center of attention, but I’m also completely shy.
88. I’m afraid of failing.
89. I often think I’m an old woman trapped in a young woman’s body.
90. I wish I was Martha Stewart.
91. In my lifetime I’ve had six dogs, one cat, a few fish, a hamster, and hundreds of sheep and goats.
92. I’ve also had five cars.
93. The first brand new car I bought was a 2002 VW New Beetle, and it was a lemon. It died four times in three months and spent more time in the shop than with me.
94. I’ve always lived in the Northern California summer heat, but I hate hot weather.
95. I often think my husband is wonderful to put up with me and all the little things that bug me.
96. I kind of like doing yard work.
97. I’ve always wanted to raise cattle and horses.
98. I think it’d be awesome to live on a working cattle ranch.
99. I can’t wait to start a vegetable garden, even though I’ve never been able to keep a plant alive.
100. I love learning about other people by looking into their houses, purses, and cubicles, but I’m not a stalker. I seriously just like to know how people live and work (I might pick up some tips somewhere!).
101. I got the idea to do this list from the blog “Angry Julie Monday,” which I read for the first time today and absolutely love!