Sexy Saturday

Flaming queso dip with peppers and onions. *waits for flame to go out* Grab some tortilla chips and dig in.

-All the oxygen masks on our plane dropped down about 10 minutes before takeoff. Ooops. We had to deplane and wait for them all to be reset. The plane next to us also had to evacuate. There was a belligerent man on the flight that had to be removed by police. Cops cars on the runway and everything. Such excitement!

-Since I didn't get in til late, I was left with the bar menu at the hotel. Cheesy garlic bread, fries or calamari were my options. *rolls eyes* So, I had some bread and wine. A creepy man sat down next to me, saying "My brother is staying here and I was going to surprise him, but he's not answering his room phone." Twice the man asked to come up to my room to try the Sleep Number bed. Yeah, not so much, creepo.

-The sleep number bed is average. Meh. Otherwise the hotel is nice.

-I am watching the Badger game! Nothing like eating breakfast and watching football at 9 am.

- I ran 1.2 miles today....in front of other people in the gym. Yikes! I was very self conscious, as I'm usually huffing and puffing by the end in my basement and end up holding the side rails. Well, I toughened up, controlled my breathing and didn't hold on. *flexes*

-I'm heading out in an hour to Sacramento! *big grin* I like the rental Pacifica a lot, so am looking forward to the drive.

UPDATE!
Saturday was a beautiful day in the Bay area. Sounds like it was uber hot in Wisconsin (It was almost 80 at midnight, so said the news), but it was sunny and in the 70s as I headed to Sacramento. I stressed over what to wear...it was too hot for my planned long sleeve blouse and blazer. *pout* The drive was a little stressful. It was bumper to bumper traffic most of the way there...On a (Sexy) Saturday! So, not only was I already running about 10 minutes late, but a little directional snafu made me about another 15 minutes late.

MTW and I met at a little Taquellria for a bite to eat. I had a beer after my stressful drive. :-) They have a fun chip and salsa bar, and MTW was a gentleman and brought a bunch over for us to munch on. I had two yummy tacos (ok, so I didn't pick the healthiest option with a chorizo one, but the pork was grilled). We chatted lots about OT, a little about blogland and about our jobs and politics. Alas, he had to get home. Our meets, unfortunately, have always been to short. *pout* I called MM to make our meet-up plans. OMH-she has THE cutest voice!

I then drove a short distance into Old Sacramento. It was so cute! The drive to that area was nice, lots of pretty tree lined streets and clean, nice buildings. Motormouth came strolling towards me. Of course, I knew it was her...blazer, cute shoes, devious grin. We went right to business and hit the shops. We talked about all of you RIGHT away because we found a fun sock store. They had socks of all kinds. Thanks to MM, I am now the proud owner of some cheesy socks. They are so cute! Then, the inevitable happened...she took me somewhere smutty! She kept saying we needed to hit Evangeline's. I assumed it was a shoe and accessory store. Wrong-0. It was a funny, wacky store of gag gifts, costumes, etc. And where does she lead a wholesome girl like me? Behind a curtain in the back, where a sign said I must be 18 to enter. She robbed me of my innocence. Smut queen, indeed! *giggle*

We then had to use the bathroom and were parched, so we hit Round Table Pizza *waves to the pizza OT thread* where we chatted for a few hours. It was such a relaxed, dishy time. We talked about everything. I'm so glad we had awhile to chat during our first meet. She had to run for a date with the kiddos and her brother, which was probably good or I'd be making the trek back to SF at midnight!

On the drive home I realized there are no pictures of our day. MM and I both had cameras. *smacks forehead* She did snap a picture of Orlando Bloom, though. *snort*

Thank you, MTW and MM, for showing me Sacramento and making me feel so welcome. *hugs and smooches*

Fiesta Friday!

Quesedillas and nachos for all you hungry peeps! You might want to make sure you get some before momma gets here.

-It would be Fancy Friday, but I don't see Bravie, my fellow fancy girl, until Sunday.

-I do get to see MTW and MM tomorrow! Yay!

-I had to take work home last night and, thus, didn't have much time to pack. I feel like I packed really random things.

-I fly at 3 pm CST. I'll wave at all of you! Look up! I hope peeps on the plane don't mind me crawling on their laps to wave out both sides of the plane!

Quick poll:
1. Window or aisle seat?
2. Andrew Dice Clay...yay or nay?

Tasty Tuesday

Boo was concerned there was not a Tuesday post, so here it is.

The Happy Hour buffet and bar is open. Requests?

Thirsty Thursday

I've taken all of Boo's fancy stuff from her coffee bar last week. Enjoy a coffee drink with a plate of havarti dill scrambled eggs and toast.

-It's pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin shake time at various places. Yum.

-I have all my travel plans made for my upcoming trips. I'm in California this weekend (and yes, Puffy, if Northern CA falls into Southern CA, I'll come and see you!) through Monday, back again Nov. 14-21 and then to Dallas Nov. 25-27. I don't think I'm going to like the back-to-back travel in November. Can I skip Thanksgiving? I should've just told everyone I was gone through that weekend and spent all weekend sleeping with the cats. *grin*

-Do you think Chris will be ok that long without me?

-Cell phone plans are crazy. We have a cheapo plan that no longer exists. I went to inquire about changing to a nationwide because of my traveling. It's actually cheaper for me to pay the extra $15-20/month on my line of roaming charges when I travel, than to upgrade our plan.

-I'm struggling through my 1 mile runs. Tell me I'll reach my goal of 2 miles by Christmas. *gulp*

Wednesday, Wednesday

Cojack with bacon bits this morning. It's breakfast in a slice!

I've been uber busy at work and will be at least through today. Hopefully I can cross a lot of my list. When I make a list, you know I'm overwhelmed with lots of little projects. I'm not really a list maker.

• I've been starting back on an exercise routine. It's going well.
• I've started reading Comeback for the OTBC...is syren hosting this? I haven't checked OT very closely lately, so am not sure if she's posted anything. Has anyone heard? I'm enjoying the book so far.
• There is a miniscule chance I'll be making a quick trip to Dallas the last week of November. I should know by this afternoon. *hop*
• I get to see northern California peeps this weekend! Is what they say about northern California girls true? I sure hope so. It will be my first time meeting a certain smutty girl.
• I found blouses that fit me well! I have big oobies, so they either fit well everywhere BUT my chest, or they hang on me like an art smock. Well, I bit the bullet and paid a lot of money for Jones New York blouses that fit really, really well. And one is no wrinkle. Woohoo!
• *yawn* Is it Friday yet?

Monday, Monday

Taco dip with lots of cheese today. Dig in.

I have a stupid task to get done this morning. Two people worked on the same version of a 50 page document this weekend, so now I have to merge the two. *grumble* My student isn't in today, so I can't push it off on her. *grumble*

We worked our arases off this weekend. Chris cleaned the carpets (we bought a steam cleaner), chopped wood, mowed the lawn, went on a plane ride and made homemade rootbeer for his non-drinkers in his leadership class. I cleaned the house, we both made food for a party at our house Saturday night, dealt with some paperwork, did about three hours of yardwork, and finished a book so I could start the OTBC reading.

Most importantly, we watched the Badgers and Packers win! Yayyyyy for Brett Favre and another record broken! It was a bonus for it to happen at the dome in Minnesota.

I'm exhausted and feeling a bit off kilter. Oh, and a storm blew through and cut out the satellite in the last ten minutes of Rock of Love. What happened at the end?????

Reasons We Love Momma

We are going to have whatever momma wants today. What would you like, my favoritest person in the world?

Momma single-handedly negotiatied a deal with Chris yesterday about painting and redecorating the bedroom. I think the final deal ended up as this:

1. We first get the furniture in, and if I think it doesn't look right, I get to paint and get new bedding and curtains. He will help move the furniture.

2. Regardless, we get new sheets.

3. He gets to finish the garage walls, but I have to help pick the paint.

4. Momma is moving in with us to be our maid, however, she will not do toilets nor wear a french maid outfit.

I'm still a little concerned that he'll think the new furniture and old paint look fine. I might need to enlist momma's help again after Oct. 10th.

WHY DO YOU LOVE MOMMA?

New furniture

Grilled cheese and tomato soup today.


We bought a bedroom set and entertainment center last night. I hope we can make everything look nice when it arrives. The enterainment center was silly cheap, so we couldn't resist. Not our ideal, but good enough. It's four seperate pieces that connect, so we have some flexibility if we end up thinking it's too big someday.

I can't find a pic of the bedroom set. It's cherry veneer over hardwoods and we got the bed, dresser & mirror and an armoire. There wasn't a matching armoire with this set, but we found one that was REALLY close and was inexpensive. I need to hit Target or such to find some side tables for the bed. The one that came with the set was $350 and was massive overkill. All the furniture won't be delivered until 10/10, so now I must get the carpets cleaned.

Chris also got a deal on a subwoofer, which now completes his sound system. They mismarked it, so we got about $40 off the correct price.

Smack me.

Sharp cheddar and apples today.

Ok, so Chris wants to get the carpets professionally cleaned. I am saying we should just rent a Rug Doctor and I'll do it. WTF? Why am I fighting him on this? I should have my wife card taken away. He says we can't get a bedroom set until we get the carpets cleaned. Yeesh. Who is this man?

I laughed at your suggestions that he might want a John Deere bed. :-) I bet they make one.

I bought some new clothes last night. I went to the mall. I hate the mall. Pennys sucked because there were so many screaming kids, the dressing rooms have started to disappear (being taken over as storage space) and the clothes were not as cute as in the spring/summer lines. And I think I saw all the dresses Puffy posted about! I went to a few other stores and picked up some outfits. I'll be returning about 1/4 of my purchases, despite trying everything on. I decided I refused to keep anything that I didn't love (fit or style-wise). Oh, and salespeople lie. I bought a shirt that I liked in theory, but wasn't convinced it fit right. It's a style I've never worn, so I took her word for it. The colors were adorable and it was a "fun" shirt. I tried it on again at home. WTF...I should not wear puffy sleeves. In fact, I'm not sure anyone should wear puffy sleeves after the age of 8.

I'm still in search of a suit and dress and some killer shoes. I'm going to hit Anne Taylor and Macy's for those.

Shopping and such

Pesto havarti today.

I might do some shopping for clothing tonight. I'm getting worried that all the money will disappear if I don't spend it soon. :-)

Chris has also offered to let me buy a bedroom set under a 0% financing deal. I am not sure if it's him being generous, or if he's scheming for me to say yes to something. Just so you know how much we need a bedroom set, we just had our seven year anniversary and our mattresses are still on the floor. The one dresser we have in our bedroom is a small four drawer chest from my childhood.

The spare bedroom mattresses are still on the floor and the dresser is a chest that we inheritted from somwhere...it's homemade from plywood. I painted it up, so it looks better.

How sad are we????

In other news, I just reserved my rental car for my Oct. CA trip. I needed a fairly roomy vehicle because I might have to transport some students for our training session. I decided to try a crossover vehicle. Hopefully the Chrysler Pacifica I want will still be available when I pick up my vehicle. Since I've had my eye on one for our next non-commuter vehicle, I thought this would be a good chance to check one out.

Listie!

Stolen from Glowpop...

10 Favorites...
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Food: Cheese
Favorite Band: INXS
Favorite Movie: Dogma
Favorite Sport: Football
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Day Of the Week: Saturday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: OMG, how can I pick? Birthday Cake Remix at Coldstone. :-)
Favorite Time of Day: 8:00 p.m., when everything is usually done for the day I can I do whatever I want.

9 Currents...
Current Mood: Mellow
Taste: Crappucino & coffee mix from the gas station
Clothes: Khakis and a black v-neck shirt
Current Computer Background: *looks* fall trees...when did I change that? *boggle*
Current Finger/Toenail Color: french vanilla on fingers, some metallic ruby color on my toes
Current Time: 8:51 CST
Current Surroundings: Semi-clean office
Current Annoyance(s): People eating in my office
Current Thought: I hate my office

8 Firsts...
First Best Friend: Kelli
First Love: Josh Brolin (*dreamy sigh* Brand) or Charile Sheen (*dreamy sigh* Cappie)
First Screen Name: weltek
First Pet: T.J. the stray tom cat
First Piercing: None
First Crush: Morton from A-ha *giggle*
First Music: My sister's early 80s albums and 45s (Think Celebration, The Logical Song, etc)
First Car: Blue Chevy Beretta

7 Last...
Last Cigarette: Never
Last Drink: Malbec wine last night, then my cappucino this morning
Last Car Ride: To work, dropped off by Chris
Last Text Message: No clue...it was weeks ago. I don't have a texting plan, so it costs me oodles to text message.
Last Movie Seen: In theater: We are Marshall At Home: Coyote Ugly on tv (shut up, don't laugh)
Last Phone call: My oldest sister this morning, chatting about her 12 year old daughter's new desire to hang out on Fridays at the hockey rink with friends.
Last CD Played: KT Tunstall's Drastic Fantastic. It's great. We went to Best Buy and bought an old Snow Patrol (meh, it's ok), Interpol (pretty good) and KT.

6 Have You Ever...
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Friends: No
Have you Ever Broken the Law: Yes
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No, but I was interviewed by the police in my teens twice
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Yes
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yes, clearly looking like a hooting and hollering drunk on St. Patty's Day last year.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Yes. New Orleans immediately comes to mind. A few at parties in college, too.

5 Things...
You're Wearing: Black sandals, tan pants, black shirt, black pretty bra, pink, black & white undies
You Did Last Night: Went to happy hour
You Can Hear Right Now: The effing heating and cooling system above my head
You Can't Live Without: Car, if living where I currently do. Books, otherwise.
Do When You're Bored: OT, Blog, read magazines, nap, cook

4 Places You've Been To:
1. Seattle
2. New York City
3. San Francisco
4. New Orleans

3 People You Can Tell Anything To:
Marcy, Chris, a handful of bloggy peeps

2 Choices...
1. Black or White: Black
2. Hot or Cold: Hot

1 Person You'd Do Anything For:
Chris

Randoms

Sharp chedddar, apples and crackers today.

1) Heard on the radio: "I hate it when people use text messaging abbreviations on the internet." Um, the whole abbreviation thing STARTED on the internet.

2) Peet's. We now have a Peet's coffee, which excites me very much. It's not a real, stand alone Peet's, just a coffee bar within the mall at the Sundance theatre. We stopped to get coffee today and it doesn't open til 9:00 a.m. Boooo hisssssss. Then Chris missed our turn to Ancora, so we ended up at Starbuck's. My grande nonfat vanilla latte *rolls eyes at lingo* is a tasty treat this morning.

3) Drinkwell Fountain. Yesterday we bought our cats a water fountain drink container. They seem to like playing with it more than drinking from it so far.

4) Bras. I need a new bra or two. I have one I love, and for the first time in my life, I'm going to seek out that same one online and order one or two, just in different colors. This makes me feel old.

ETA 5) My office. I have a mini fridge, coffee pot, toaster and a food storage cabinet that my boss and I share. A few times a year someone else uses the microwave, but I can handle that. I also made the mistake of putting food on my desk a few times and now my boss just brings everything into my office and puts it on my desk. And then she stands there and eats while talking to me. I can't stand it any longer. The microwave and coffee pot are going into the conference room. The fridge will stay, but I'm trying to figure out where to move the food cabinet.

Karaoke Wednesday

We aren't wearing pants, so what better time to sing a song or two! Grab some deep fried cheese curds and step up to the microphone!

Virtual karaoke is the only thing that might get me to participate. :-)

*cues up Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie*

I always turn the radio up and sing along with this one. I turned down the radio last night while I was singing to hear my voice. Ouch. It was terrible.

Happy, um, Tuesday?

Morning Jr. Cheeseheads. Have some brie and apples while I figure out what to write today.

I've been slammed at work with a major project and I've been slammed at home with continuing cat stuff.

Oh, I've been meaning to blog about my lip. I have a new dark, shadowy spot above my top lip. It's not hair, it's just a slim line of darker skin immediately above my lip and I hate it. It looks like a mustache from a distance. Getting old sucks.

Seriously. Knock it off.

So we are getting ready to leave for our Badger tailgate this morning at 7:00. We notice Loki is hunching to urinate and can't. Fuck. So, we are waiting for the vet to open at 8. *grumble*

Gooooooooo Badgers!

A fresh mozz, tomato & herb fritatta for breakfast. Mmm!

Chris and I will be going to the Badger football game tomorrow. The weather will be a little chilly (60s), but sunny. Great football weather here. We begin with 8:30 a.m. tailgaiting with some friends (in a church parking lot!). It's an 11:00 game, so we of course will do some celebrating afterwards (come on, we play The Citadel...there SHOULD be celebrating).

It will be Chris's first Badger football game. It's hard to get tickets and they are usually expensive. I can always get student section tickets around campus, but who wants to sit with a bunch of 18-20 year olds...really? Not me. This will be the first time I've sat in the non-student section and I'm looking forward to it.

*raises arms in touchdown signal*

Oh what a day

Muenster and crackers today.

Ali was up all night puking. I lost track after ten times. I knew what that meant. She was constipated again. So today I had to take her to the vet. She was hiding under the bed and I had to pry her out by myself. Not fun. Three enemas later, she'll be fine. Poor kitty.

We took Bartleby to the vet for his post-surgery check up. He got a clean bill of health. Yay!

I love fall!

White Reisling Cheddar today. Ok, you can have some wine, too.

September is my favorite month of the whole year. I love the crisp fall smells, football, campfires, no humidity, leaves changing, apples, etc.

Speaking of apples, what's your favorite thing to do with apples? Do you ever make anything with apples?

I usually make a batch of applesauce. I need to dig out grandma's recipe. She always made THE best applesauce.

I usually make one pie, although I'm not a huge apple pie fan.

Sometimes I'll make a crisp.

I usually toss some squash and apples in a nice savory or sweet fall dish (depending on how I season them, it's sometimes savory, sometimes pretty sweet)

I need to make some savory main dish with apples. Chicken stuffed with brie and apples sounds in order.

And I always buy a special caramel apple from the orchard. Snickers and caramel, to be exact.

What I most wanted to do.

Have some goat cheddar with cranberries today. Blogger is making me grumpy, but what's new.

So you might have seen my clothing thread on OT. We did some refinancing and Chris wants us each to plan something for ourselves with a bit of the money. He's planning either a Canadian hunting or fishing trip next year. I had to figure out what I really wanted to do.

First choice: Food & Wine magazine's event at The American Club in Kohler, WI. Unfortunately, it's $790 MINIMUM (and that doesn't include many "events") for the weekend for two people. I don't know any foodies and wineies that would want to shell out at least $300 on the weekend with me.

Second choice: Clothes shopping (this was on OT). I think it's my wisest choice and would make me happy.

Third choice: Spa day with my sisters. It would be nice, but fleeting.

Fourth choice: Hair makeover at a high end salon and a spa service just for me.

Anniversary Waltz

By waltz, I mean listening to music and enjoying some cocktails. *grin*

The Packers AND Badgers won today. Wooo AND Hoo! Plus, Detroit beat Oakland, so Bravie must be laughing.

We didn't plan anything for our anniversary. Mostly because Bartleby's emergency drained our spare cash. After the Packer game we headed to a nearby town to buy some steaks and have some drinks. We ended up at the country club that is just a few miles from our house. We always forget about it, but it's so beautiful and they like to keep the clientel small. They give you a basket of homemade kettle chips with your drinks, so I was almost too full to eat my steak when we got home.

We realized that we are most at ease when we are out having cocktails on a weekend, with no plan in sight. We don't even think about work and just laugh and are mellow. It's not even the alcohol. It's just always been our escape and time to laugh with eachother. Hard to describe the complete ease we feel.

I love Chris. And I love how he accepts my online world with open arms. As many hurdles are thrown out, I always make it through with the love of my DH and my friends. *smooch to everyone*

Perfect Saturday

OMH do I have cheese for you...if you come to dragonflies' house today.



I'm on the Memorial Union Terrace at the UW this morning. Chris and his coworker are taking the supervisors test in a building a few blocks away, so I brought my laptop and am working in the sunshine and watching the sailboats drift by. And I got to feel very smart by telling a group that was on a self-tour what limnology is. Here's a picture of it in the evening...there are only about eight people here right now and the sun is warm.

We are heading off to Dragonflies' house this afternoon for some good peep meeting. The weather is perfect. High 70s and sunny. And tomorrow, it is our 7 year anniversary.

*smooch*

MISC

Cheddar biscuits today. I'm in a nesting mood, so you get hearty food.

Bartleby is doing better. I've been leaving his cone off as much as possible. Hard to get anything done with keeping such a close eye on him.

I was recollecting the vet visit. The vet was very kissey with B. I laughed thinking how pediatricians don't kiss little kids.

Our oven isn't working. The electronic keypad is dead. The part won't arrive til Friday or Monday. Grrrr. Good thing it's summer. And at least the range works, so I can use the stovetop. Yay for gas. And yay for buying the extended warranty. We really couldn't lose because you buy the warranty for $99.95 and get it refunded if you don't use it for the five year period. Well, we've used the oven one twice and never the refrigerator, so we'll probably get the $99.95 back on the fridge and the oven one has definitely been worth it. Stupid oven.

Hope all is well in blogland. I miss you guys and will try to make the rounds today. Chris is staying overnight with his leadership class tonight, so I'm home alone *screams*

Tuesday check-in

I don't have time for cheese today!

Bartleby is coming home today, so I'm off to get him before 8 to avoid another day's charge. I was at work at 6:15 this morning. *yawn* And it's an hour drive here...so yeah, already a long morning.

I'll be working from home most of this week, which means slllooooooow internet connection. *pout*

Good thoughts needed

If anybody has any power of good kitty thoughts, we need some.

Bartleby was acting funny last night. Today it got worse, so we took him to the vet (not our usual one because they were closed). $450 later, they determined he had some "sandy" crystals in his bladder and needed to go to the emergency vet in Madison to get flushed out. Seemed fairly routine. Once he emptied his bladder, he looked much perkier.

At the E-vet, he was rolling around and letting us love him. The E-vet explained the flush and fill, with catheter, system and said we could get him tomorrow. Let's not even talk about how much that cost.

We just got a call. Bartleby has a leak in either his bladder or urethra. His urine is leaking into his abdominal cavity. It might not be repairable. We'll find out in an hour.

We need hugs.

Update: Make that another hour. Either a) It's a repairable tear, b) It's big and unrepairable and he'll have to be put down, c) It's either a or b and caused by the vet inserting the catheter or d) He has a defective bladder and will have to be put down

I hope

If one day it is proven that God does not exist, I hope that some people realize they've been complete bigoted jerks.

If one day it is proven that God does exist, I just hope I get to stick around to hear what he/she/it actually intended when the world was created. And if things like being homosexual and not going to church on Sundays is what puts you on God's bad list? Well, I'll happily burn in hell with the rest of the folks.

whew, I feel better.

Surprise visit

Thin slices of parmesan and apples today.

So, Wednesday, after Chris's accident (did I tell you guys about that? The hood on a state vehicle flew up while Chris was driving it down the interstate at 75 mph...windshield shattered, roof dented in. Luckily he maintained control and nobody was hurt) messed his whole day up, he gets a call from his mom..."Can I come down tomorrow and stay with you til Saturday?" Sigh.

She received an email from pastors in flood-damaged areas down by us, requesting help. So she's delivering "flood buckets" from her area churches, which consist of buckets, lysol, etc. to the churches. And the help she's giving? We'll, she's going door to door, offering to listen and pray with the families. Um, ok. Maybe someone will really like that.

She showed up an hour late last night. I had the table on the patio all set up for us to eat dinner and dinner ready at 7:30. Because it was dark by the time she got there at 8:30, we had to move everything inside and eat dry chicken. Oh well. Not that big of a deal, just a little annoying since she has a cell phone and didn't call.

I'm fine with her staying with us, but that means her giant, hyper black lab is at our house all day. She wanted to stick him in the laundry room all day, which consists of a 5 foot strip of walkway with all the stuff it already has in there. I wasn't ok with that, nor was Chris. Both for the potential bathroom hazzard and for the pure sake it's mean to do to a dog for so long (7-5:30 at least), especially a big one. So we had to clean out the garage this morning and he's happily sprawled out in there with a big blanket.
-------------
OMG, my boss just called and RAMBLED. She basically repeated the ten minute message she left me this morning and then rambled for another ten minutes about carp that has no bearing on me.

Off to do some work...

Blowing off work and stuff

Boo called me cheesy. I take that as a compliment. :-)

Baby swiss, gouda and spreadable blue cheese today. Much away.

I just came back from all school work day. Note, it's only lunchtime. I blew off the afternoon in favor of getting some work done here. I made my splash by presenting some big ideas in our brainstorming sessions, so now I can waltz away.

So, what have I missed this morning?

And would anyone like half my brownie?

ETA:
We may be victims of identify theft. Chris apparently had $3000 of medical services last year in Racine that haven't been paid. Considering we haven't lived there since um, 1998 and I don't think Chris EVER received medical services while we lived there....yeah, not sure what happened. A collection agency is after us now. Sigh.

Whew!

Chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick today because I love you. And you? Because you are my favorite, you can have the raspberry swirl cheesecake dipped in chocolate. Oh, and you? Because you don't like chocolate, you can have a cherry cheesecake cocktail.

I'm slowly getting to a more managemable workload. Next week will be busy, but then I think it's smoother sailing.

I have lost all desire to do yardwork. Do the rest of you get excited about it in the spring and then lose all interest as the summer goes on?

On a semi-related note, Chris made some yummy tomatillo blended salsa last night.

Your choice...

Cojack and Pepperjack with crackers today.

You have a choice between the following services. Which would you choose? Go ahead and rank them if you'd like.

• Interior decorator consultation for a day and $500 to spend on decorating.
• Hair makeover, free of charge.
• Clothing consultant for a day and $500 towards clothing.
• Body waxing services, even the ones where you have to make return visits, free of charge.
• 1 massage per month for a year
• Nutrisystem-esque membership and food for a year (any of those kinds of services, not specifically nutrisystem)

I'm into surveying you, apparently.

weekend recap

Cheesy margherita pizza today. MMMMMmmmm.

I'm working at home today. Little House on the Prarie is on right now, simply because the tv WAS on Discovery Health and I quickly had to change the channel to ANYTHING because I was seconds away from watching a baby crowning. I'm such a wimp.

Weekend randoms:

1. I worked on job stuff all Friday night (until 9) and for about four hours on Saturday. That sucked, but it needed to be done. Chris was gone, so it was ok.

2. On Saturday, I also mowed the entire lawn (about a 2 hour job), picked 8 lbs of romas, 4 lbs of tomatilloes, 2 lbs of hot peppers and basil at our CSA farm. Tomatilloes are NOT fun to pick. The abundance of mud didn't help. My stench reminded me that the "mud" was probably 50% manure. Thus, had to clean my shoes and the floor mats immediately upon returning home. I also shucked and washed all the tomatilloes and canned about half the peppers that afternoon.

3. I rewarded myself with food for all my hard work (shame on me). I deep fried zuchinni, potatoes and onions for dinner. Yep, that was my dinner (*hangs head* *licks lips*)

4. I'm eating so many yummy tomatoes (Swami, wasn't that you talking about eating lots of maters?). Pitas with tomatoes, hummus and cukes two meals, bacon egg and tomato sandwich for breakfast, BLT for a dinner...the list goes on. Today I will continue the pita and BLT trend.

5. I washed our feather bed and pillows this weekend. It is the first time I've attempted to wash the feather bed. Usually I have it dry cleaned. I used the giant 4 load machine at the laundromat and the giant dryer. It dried for an hour and it's still wet. It wasn't supposed to rain today, so I was going to set it outside. However, a storm is passing through again. Sigh. I think I'll take it to the laundromat today and dry it again.

6. I went to a Partylite show on Sunday *waves at dragonflies* I bought a pretty candleholder. The show put me in the mood to home decorate. I have to wait til I save up some fun money, though. Instead, I finished the old butcher block that was given to us just over a year ago. I did a lot of sanding to it (thank cod for electric palm sanders) and used a cherry stain. I couldn't get out a few old burns/stains on it, but it still looks nice. Wish Chris would hurry home so I can bring it upstairs.

7. We have to many bottles of liquor in the house. I need to have a party.

Survey

Triple cream brie, served with currants, baguettes, and figs.

I have a lot of work today, so might not be that chatty. As a side note, Chris is getting much better (I don't think I told you it ended up being cryptosporidium) and is leaving for the weekend. I'm glad to have lots of sleeping time. It's been a long, sleepless week. Anywhooooo, here's my survey:

1. What is your favorite clothing store and one you dislike?
2. What is your most frequented restaurant, chain and non-chain?
3. What is your favorite fall food?
4. What is something you want to do this fall?

Another one from the radio

Chili cheese dip and chips. Mmmmmm, cheesy.

"Karen" is happily married to "Brad" and has two children. Recently, Karen was explicitly hit on/propositioned by her officemate "Louise." Karen can't get it out of her head. Karen experimented in college and now is questioning her sexuality.

Karen asks, "Should I tell Brad about this and discuss allowing me to experiment and figure out this confusion in my head?"

So, Bloggers, put yourself in both Brad and Karen's shoes. How do you think Brad would really react (without knowing anything about him)? What would your advice to Karen be? I actually had an immediate response to all of this, didn't really have to think much about it. It's pretty black and white to me.

Would you rather....

Cheese stuffed soft pretzels today!! Mmmmm, tasty!

Courtesy of a radio morning show:
Would you rather:
Date someone that constantly complains about your friends?
or
Date someone that constantly flirts with your friends?

The djs clarified that by flirting, it would be flirting to the point it made you a little uncomfortable.

In other weird news...

Chris has food poisoning. Salmonella or Cereus. Awaiting test results....

Poor fella.

Strange Cat Behaviors

Allouette herb cheese spread and crackers today.

I have several cat behaviors in our house to document. Can you relate with your animals?

1. Super attachment issues. Ali is at my hip every second. She is my shadow. And if I even start walking towards the couch, she's already jumping up, ready to curl in my lap.

2. Ali has also been peeing on the shower rug in our bathroom for the last month. Nowhere else. It's a really fluffy, long shag rug. I've removed it for good this weekend and she doesn't appear to be going anywhere else. Chris watched her pee on it one day right in front of him. He said she didn't appear to be straining or anything else, so we are assuming it's not a UTI. She's otherwise seemed fine.

3. Yes, Puffy, Bartleby crawls and curls on my chest while I'm in the tub. He's ok with his body getting into the bubbles and a little bit of water.

4. When we are sitting on the toilet, Loki likes to crawl in the pants around our ankles and nest.

5. Which leads me to the strangest cat behvior of all. This morning Chris is still sick. He's been spending a lot of time sitting on the toilet, IYKWIM. Bartleby (not usually the nester) crawled in Chris's flannel pants...and peed. Chris had cat pee on his leg and everywhere.

WTF is up with our cats???

Weekend carp

Plain ol cheddar cheese today. An assortment of medium and sharp. Sometimes a good cheddar is hard to beat.

Chris is sick. He's running a high fever and has the chills/sweats thing.

I ate too many muffins this weekend. Ever had Tastefully Simple's Cinnamon Muffin Melts (*knows a few of you have*)? I ate six this weekend. At least I only dipped the tops in butter before coating them, and not the whole muffin like you are supposed to.

We've been getting pounded by rain and there's lots of flooding in the area. This is when I'm happy we have super sandy soil. In the neighboring counties to our west (where my dad and lots of our friends live), there have been major mud slides, homes flooded out and people stranded. Luckily everyone I know is ok. How are the Texans doing? I should go check momma's blog. They deserve a break in bad weather.

The rain and cool weather meant it was a great weekend for a bath. I tried The Big Comforter (I think that's what it's called) bubble bar. It was ok. More fruity than I tend to like. The cats all came in the bathroom and crawled on me and then laid on the floor cleaning themselves. We were one bathing bunch.

P.S. My toenails have not fallen off. I think I'm safe.

T-Shirt

Gouda and grapes today!

My t-shirt giver is the smartest person evah, which totally gives away her identity. I could not dechipher my t-shirt (well, I could decipher generally what some of it was referring to, but it was making no sense). But, I figured it out with a little research. Now I'm worried that if people see me wearing it, they will conclude that I'm totally smart and will ask me complicated questions.

I would show you a picture, but I'm not sure if we are supposed to reveal until after Labor Day. :-(

I love my t-shirt, despite my fears.

On an unrelated note, would anyone like to join me on my toenail watch? The big ones and littlest ones are still hurty and purple. Who is betting they will fall off over the weekend?

Appraisal

Pan grilled halloumi cheese today with a side of raspberry honey mustard.

We are getting our house reappraised by the bank tomorrow (The appraiser called yesterday...surprise-I'll be there Friday at 7:30 a.m.!). We are doing some debt consolidation, hopefully. I'm a bit worried our reappraisal won't be much. *worries*

This all means that I'll be cleaning house tonight. The good news? I won't have to clean much this weekend. Friday we are going to the outdoor theatre for a beer tasting followed by "Much Ado About Nothing." If my toes are healed enough, I want to do a 10 mile walk on Saturday and catch up on reading The Memory Keepers Daughter that evening.

Menu planning

Monterey jack quesedillas...extra jalepenos in mine.

I'm feeling much better today. The muscle aches are virtually gone. The blisters are healing, but I'm still gimping a bit because they are tender.

What is your dinner menu for the rest of the week?

Tonight:
NY Strips on the grill with sauteed green beans and grilled sourdough garlic bread

Thursday:
Turkey kielbasa with dipping sauces and a side salad

Friday:
Homemade pizza on the grill (ok, I'm using a packaged crust mix)
*We might be having friends over. Thought this would be fun.

Saturday:
? Our plans are up in the air. I bought stuff to make low fat chili dogs, so maybe we'll do that.?

The 3 Day Recap

String cheese today, because that's one thing we had each day! I apologize for the lack of pics. My camera was burried in my pack and I didn' t have the energy to take it out during the walking part.

Thursday

I was packed and ready by noon, and was super antsy. I didn't have to pick Boo up at O'Hare until 6:00 and it was a three hour drive there. I decided to leave early and avoid rush hour traffic. So I loaded up the car and headed to our hotel for check in. After realizing I forgot a few things and locating a Walgreens near the hotel, I went to grab Boo Boo. I was pacing around the baggage claim area and saw a Cheesehead from the back. I knew it was her! We hugged and laughed at her silliness. Turns out the cheesehead had to be her pillow on the plane, as she'd forgotten her pillow at home. LOL!

We hit the hotel to drop off stuff and headed to the Olive Garden, as that is one of Boo's favorites that she rarely gets to enjoy. And, we needed to carb load. Let's not talk about how far we had to drive to find an Olive Garden, mmmkay? It's ok, though, we had tiramisu, so all was well with the world. We also hit Sears (next to OG) to find her a real pillow. Did you know it's hard to find a pillowcase for under $25 at Sears? We finally found one for $5: Dora the Explorer. How cool did Boo look? :-)

We got back to the hotel later than planned and showered, then hit the hay around 10, so we could get up at 4 a.m. Gulp.

Friday

Rise and shine! We got our gear on...and realized my Camelback hose had a leak (that's a hydration backpack for those that don't know). Thanks, Bartleby (the cat). A little tape fixed it up and we headed to the shuttle and to opening ceremonies. It was still dark as we arrived and wandered around. It was so fun to check out all the crazy outfits people were wearing and chatting with other walkers and crew. Finally, a few hours later, we had group stretch with some zen yoga chick. Luckily, and Owen Wilson look-alike was also leading the crowd. :-) Then opening ceremonies began. We'd already been on our feet for over an hour. Sigh. But opening ceremonies were very cool. Lots of survivors and widows marched through the crowd and onto the stage with banners displaying messages of hope and survival. Lots of tears were shed (by me, anyway). Then, as U2's Beautiful Day blared through the park, we left on our walk. Lots of cheers and high fives everywhere, to the crowd of over 2,000 walkers. Ooooh, and we got 3 Day buffs. How appropriate!

Gus at opening ceremonies & general pic while waiting:

The first half of the day sucked, because everyone was bunched up. We enjoyed the snack stations, where we discovered the best graham cracker pb & j sammiches. There was Gatorade, cold water, "dunk stations" for wetting your buffs with ice water, bathrooms and snacks at each station. Hooters sponsored one station.

Us, new Hooters girls:

We had lots of hot men in uniforms ushering us through crosswalks and cheering us as we walked along. Woohoooo! The crowds of cheering peeps were amazing. There were entire fire departments out cheering, residents in their lawns saying "thank you for walking," and big organized stations of supporters handing out things like popsicles (Boo's favorite) and cheering like mad. Again, I got misty eyed.

Enter: Mile 18 of 23 on Day 1. We hit a low point. Boo's feet were swelling and super sore. I didn't catch my blisters soon enough to mole skin them, and they were bulging. We doctored up, rested and soldiered on. The afternoon terrain was terrible. We were off city streets and onto park bike paths, construction areas where there really were no paths, and rocky paths. We weren't talking much by that point. The pain was intense. Boo found drugs, luckily, and we managed to cross the finish line that day.

THEN IT WAS TIME TO SET UP CAMP! Good cod, that was the last thing we wanted to do. We got our gear and a tent and marched over to the campsite. I got to be the "Boss of (our)Camp" due to Boo's lack of camping experience and she got to be the "Camp Decorator." :-)

We then hit the camp post office for our mail and headed to dinner. Holy Batman! We had lots of mail! Thank you to everyone who wrote to us. After such a hard day, it was so uplifting to have those letters and cards. We gushed to the girls next to us about our friends in the box. :-)

After that, it was shower time (they didn't want us to shower before eating due to peeps passing out). The showers were basically semi trailers. In the trailers there were 8 shower stalls and benches, very specialized kind of thing, not at all makeshift. Kind of weird, but they were warm and had decent pressure.

Then? It was almost bedtime. We were exhausted. I took a pic of my blisters, but I'm guessing you don't want to see them. :-)

Here's a pic of tent city (over 1000 pink tents!). This? Is why the cheesehead and furniture came in very handy:

Saturday

Oh for cods sake. How would our shoes go on? Well, they did. We rolled out of bed at 5 am and had a hearty breakfast. We literally limped through the morning walk. Our moods were a little less light. :-) Still, the cheering sections were even better, since it was Saturday and peeps were free to come and cheer! The pain, however, was excrutiating. There was a cute cheerleader group cheering "We, We want, a cure for your boobies!" at one point. At least that made us laugh.

When we got back to camp, we immediately pulled our sleeping mats from the tent, found some shade and napped. Pure pain and exhaustion had set in. We managed to hang out and read our books and some magazines in the "cafe" area before bed. We also used some great foot massagers that La Croix had set up on site. Yay for foot massages!

Oh, I forgot to mention my hot medic. My heel blisters on Day Two were really, really ugly. They needed to be lanced, so I went to the medic tent. Boo had gone to get an ice pack for her swollen feet and thought she'd meet me outside in a bit. Well, it was taking longer, so she came in the medic tent to find me on a cot, with a hot medic at my feet. :-) She happily sat and chatted while he worked on my blisters. What a good friend that Boo is. *giggle*

We found some time to play with sidewalk chalk at camp!

Then we hit the rememberance tent, a tribute to walkers lost and to others we all have lost. We were invited to sign the official tent of Chicago in rememberance, and to fill in the "memory books." It was an emotional visit. There were several women signed up to walk in this event that passed away before the weekend arrived. Their pictures were displayed. I spent time thinking about my loved ones, and all the loved ones of people that donated and otherwise supported me on this walk.

We went to bed around 9:00, after listening to a horrid "3 Day Idol" contest. Poor girl that was in the final three. "I hope you dance" is not an easy song to sing. It hurt our ears.

2:00 a.m....it starts to rain. I made sure my gear was all waterproofed and zipped the front of our rainfly (it was so hot, we left the screen door open and rainfly door tied back for sleeping). The zipper broke on the rainfly. Oh well. At about 2:30, the crew came around camp, yelling for us to grab our flashlights and evacuate our tents immediately, as there was lightening (stupid policies). By then it was pouring. We found our ponchos and flashlights. Then, I had to put on shoes. I almost cried. Mommy Boo helped me loosen up my laces and get into my poncho. :-) We headed to the college campus's building (we were at Oakton Community College grounds) quite a jaunt away, where we sat for about an hour. Then we could go back to our tents. It was just sprinkling at that point. Our tent was dry, so we thought we'd catch an hour of sleep before having to wake up again. Well, some people decided to start breaking down their tents and getting on the road instead. Bastards! We couldn't sleep, but we laid there til about 4:45, when we got up and broke down camp.

Sunday
Okay, so we didn't make it to the big finish on Day 3. We could barely walk. Period. We took an early exit from the event and headed home, feet in utter disrepair.

It was such an honor to do this walk with Boo. She's a fabulous person with a wonderful heart. I loved to hear her stories of her family. I can't wait to meet them some day. I love that Boo.

Next year, we are thinking of crewing or going somewhere to set up a kick aras cheering station. We'll be inviting you....just wait.

Thank you again for all your support for this event. It means a ton to us.

Ta Ta

I'm in a rush to leave, so I'll bid you a quick farewell. I'll be thinking of all of you as I walk with Boo this weekend. Love you much!

Dating Advice

Not for me, sillies. Chris and I have a friend we'll call Paul. Paul came over last night with love woes, looking for advice. Paul is looking for a long term relationship. Yet, Paul is very guarded about his life he's built, and is protective of his time. Basically, I don't think he likes to let girls into his life very easily.

Paul is in his thirties and never dated much. Everyone thought he was in the closet. Turns out he had some abuse in his past and was a late bloomer. He's very educated, enjoys the arts, has a very interesting and good job, is financially stable, and has a few hobbies. He's tall, thin (but not scrawny), and a good dresser. His most noticable flaw is that he's a bit socially immature. He says silly things and giggles at odd moments.

He is a guy who checks out, emotionally, from relationships very quickly. If there's no spark, he quickly checks out. His only relationship that's lasted more than 6 months was with a girl in Japan while he was living and working there. He's started to date a lot recently and is having trouble. He has two girls on the line right now:

1. A Japanese exchange student, 22, in college in the town where he lives. They had an instant connection and started a physical relationship immediately. She leaves in November. If she were staying her forever, he'd probably be dating her exclusively, as he's excited about spending time with her. In a perfect world, he'd want to spend a lot of time with her between now and when she leaves.

2. A girl he met online, from a town about 1 hour away, who is cute, stable and in her thirties. She's applying to law school and likes similar hobbies to his. He also has a physical relationship with this girl, but spends less time with her. He doesn't feel an excited spark, but likes her as a person and enjoys their time together. He knows he's putting her off because of the other girl that is closer in distance and he's more excited about spending time with the other girl.

He's in knots about trying to juggle both girls. What advice would you give him?

Misc.

Pitas, hummus, fresh tomatoes, olives, and feta for your snacking pleasure.

1. I had a good weekend. I watched three movies (Memoirs of a Geisha, The Forgotten, and The Holiday). The Forgotten sucked.

2. I meant to walk back-to-back distances this weekend, but it rained all day and evening on Saturday. So, I did a few miles on my broken treadmill and worked out with weights and my ball. Sunday I did 14 miles outdoors. I'm tired of training. Good thing the walk is this weekend.

3. Tonight we are setting up new bank accounts. Our current bank sucks. We are going to the place that holds our mortgage. Nice to start the consolidation process to one bank.

4. I need to start packing for the weekend, so that I have enough time to realize what I've forgotten and need to purchase.

Movies

Plain havarti and dill havarti, in honor of Seana, today. Also, there is venison jerky available from Breezy's friend. *munch munch*

So I plan on reading and walking a lot this weekend. I have some minimal cleaning projects to work on, also, but I'll need some entertainment. I don't think more Netflix movies will arrive on time for my weekend, so I might stop at Blockbuster. Any recommendations for newer (last year or so) movies?

We finished The Shield Season 1 last night. Cripes, there are six seasons so far that we need to watch. The seventh and final season is airing this fall. I think we'll skip watching it and just wait to watch that season til we get through the others. It's such a good show.

Working from home

Yummy breakfast pastries for Swami this morning, many with cream cheesy fillings. Take that, Tom!

I'm working at home today because I have a major report to finish. I got up as usual this morning, but had a leisurely breakfast and baked brownies. Not cupcakes? Nope. I didn't have enough liners. Chris will be iritated because I used applesauce for half the oil in the brownies.

They just mentioned the Green Monstah on the Today show, as they are doing a segment at Fenway Park. It's the 7th spot on their "America the Beautiful" list. I waved at Monsty.

I also got to see a rather buff looking Matt Damon. I mentioned elsewhere, I now find him attractive. I never did until Bourne and Oceans.

Maybe I'll go to the post office and mail my t-shirt out today. I also have something to mail my walking buddy Boo, as well as some thank you cards to mail.

Anyone want to bring their laptop and work at my house today? I made a very good pot of coffee and the brownies are fresh.

Weekend

The pizza burgers were yummaaaaaay last night.

Today, we'll have Italian kabobs of provolone cubes, salami and grape tomatoes.

Chris is going away for the weekend. Guess that means I can get two long training walks in. Way to live on the wild side, eh?

What else should I do? I should make cupcakes before the weekend, otherwise, I'll be home alone with cupcakes and eat them all.

ETA:
My donation page (Hopefully Boo will post her page on her blog, or you can click on the "Team Page" link on my page and find her name):
http://www.the3day.org/chicago07/nolet

Love you guys!

Reminder & Stuff

Pizza burgers today! I found those old fashioned pizza burgers with the mozz in the middle last week, so I'm making these tonight. I'm quite excited! Does anybody actually know what I'm talking about?

Reminder-today is probably the last day to send Boo and I a letter for the 3 Day!

3-Day Camp Post Office
[Participants Name]
PO Box 577886
Chicago, IL 60657-7886

Check the comments in my post below about this if you need my last name. If you don't know Boo's name and can't get it on time, just send it to me with a notation that it's for "Boo." Or just write us one letter that we can share. *smooch*

I would like to make cupcakes this week because I have some canned frosting to use. I need an excuse to have cupcakes. Help me out.

Mondayisms

Bacon, leek and guyere puffs today.

1. Your weekend plans sounded fun! Sounds like everyone was out and about. Does Frodis have any cookies left for us?

2. The wedding was nice. Not super fun, but not bad at all. I have a very nice cousin in his 40s from Branson that rented an Elvis suit and showed up during the dance to boogie with the bride. That was very odd, but entertaining.

3. I'm not sure if it was the beer talking or what, but I volunteered our house to be the location of the 2008 family reunion (remember when we went to Branson in 05? That was the last reunion.)...eeek! The good news is that my dad will be eager to help finish some projects around our house that we need help with. :-)

4. I'm still watching Rock of Love, and that is pathetic. I think both psychos should have gone home last night.

Weekend

Baby swiss, thinly sliced today.

So, whatcha' doing this weekend? I know Breezy is driving north to pick up her DD. What's everyone else up to?

We are going to the wedding. My dad is picking us up tomorrow morning and we are coming back early Sunday.

The pregnancy juice is being passed around again. One of my best friends (well, we've grown apart a bit over the years, but are still good friends) moved back to town from D.C. and announced she was preggers last night. She's not the "mom" type, so I was quite surprised! My friend Jen also announced a few weeks ago they are preggers, and she's also not "momish." I'm very happy for both of them, though. They knew it was time for them (well, one thought it would take a year and it happened the first time they tried!). I'll get to spend some quality cooing time with some new kiddos next year! Babies are so darn cute.

A companion to MMs Mom post

I think I might get banned from my first message board! There are some wackjobs at this certain INXS fan board. I have only posted a few times on it, but go there sometimes to look for gossip.

I mentioned on MMs site about the blondebimbo at the INXS concert. Well, she posted on the board about how her kids were great because the band members thought they were cute and gave them souveniers (guitar pick and drumstick). Well that was the tip of the iceberg! One mom took her kids to the airport and waited for the band to walk through and made the band members in sight pose for pics with her kids (none of her and the band). The other...this is great...made her young (10?) daughter hold up a sign that said "JD, Taste My Mom" (as in the song "Taste It," which is very sexual and JD has performed some naughty naughty moves on stage during the song).

So I finally said how that was all a little weird and seemed to be rather irresponsible parenting.

Just waiting to get my notice....

Important News!

If you love Boo and I, send us a letter for our walk! Envelopes only, no boxes and they need to arrive in Chicago about one week before the walk (August 10-12). We'll feel saaaaad if we go to get mail and nobody writes us. *grin* I hope Conner writes Boo a letter. Boo had better drop a big hint to Mr. Boo.

3-Day Camp Post Office
[Participants Name]
PO Box 577886
Chicago, IL 60657-7886

Oh fine.

Bruschetta with lots of shredded parmesan today.

Puffy is right. I'll go to the wedding this weekend. A few of my aunts and uncles health isn't the greatest, and since we only see eachother ~every 3 years, I should probably take this opportunity. Plus, this family came to our wedding. It's only proper. I'm going to look at hotels and possibly Priceline it (ok, just did...$60 total, so that helps). It didn't help that local cousin called (who never calls) last night to see what our plans were.

Random: I'm going to start the Middlesex discussion on OT today.

Another Random: I watched a lot of crap tv last night (Chris was gone at the annual EAA fly in): Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, Age of Love and Hell's Kitchen. My brain is thoroughly rotted.

In other news, Chris likes to watch Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger on the Food Network. He likes that she doesn't try to jam pack things too much with substitutes (a chief complaint of his about my food when I get on a healthy baking kick). So we made her energy bars last night and are eating those for breakfast instead of toast. More calories for me (since I was using butter substitute on my toast), but more filling.

Energy Bars
Copyright, 2005, Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Cooking spray
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds (I also added some flax seeds)
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (I just used plain whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raisins (I omitted these and substituted dried cranberries, cherries and blueberries)
1/2 cup pitted dried dates (omitted these also)
1/2 cup powdered nonfat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup pure maple syrup (I used honey because Chris prefers it)
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.
Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until just done, about 20 minutes. Cut into 20 squares.

Nutrition Information
Nutritional Analysis per Serving
Calories 133
Total Fat: 5 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.6 grams
Protein 5 grams
Carbohydrates 20 grams
Fiber 2.5 grams

WWBD?

Welcome to this addition of What Would Bloggers Do? Let's have some onion and dill havarti and chat.

I have an aunt, uncle and cousins in southerrn Illinois. It's a big family and it's one we see about every three years. They are the only part of my dad's immediate family still living in Illinois. I like the family a lot, but we aren't particularly close. My cousins are all in their 30s now. My cousin is getting married this weekend. We received an invitation to reception (I'm not sure what they did/are doing for their ceremony). I told my local cousin I was going and she decided to go, too. It's a 5 hour drive, so it would require leaving on Saturday late-morning and coming back Sunday.

Now, we are back from Seattle and have the 3-Day coming up. Money is tight. I know I'd have to end up charging everything for the trip and have been trying to avoid that. So, WWBD? Should I suck it up and go? Or should I just send a nice gift this week with my regrets? There was no RSVP requirement, so my cousin doesn't know if I'm coming or not. The only part I'd feel bad about is that I told my other (local) cousin I was going.

Sigh. Should I go, or should I be honest with local cousin about why I'm not going?

Beautiful/handsome

Caprese salads for this pleasant, sunny day.

Well, my face is slowly returning to normal (for those that didn't catch it on Bob's blog, I cut jalepenos then scrubbed my face with a cleanser...all while having jalepenoey hands). I was able to use a buff puff pad (from my shelf of rarely used products) to gently buff away the dead skin on part of my face. There are still some patches of flaky skin left. I am hoping by tomorrow they will buff away nicely.

Anyway, have you ever thought, "I'd probably be really good looking IF...?"

I've always thought I could be really attractive if I were thin and had great skin. My eyes would still be squinty, but that's ok. Not that being a hottie is the most important thing to me (I'd have made more effort to lose weight if it was). I just sometimes have that thought as I wash my face at night, or do my hair in the morning.

Things & Pics

I'm fighting the germs now, so it's safe to eat. Taco dip with lots of shredded cheese & chips today.

Wal-born (generic Airborne) dissolved in orange vitamin water makes it pallatable.

My facial skin is so wrecked from the jalepeno face washing incident. It was dry already from traveling, so the sear created by jalepeno hands only made it worse. I have been using all my samples up of super moisturizing lotions and gentle cleansers, as most of my regular stuff is for oily skin. This sucks.

Vacation pics!

Our visit to the Olympic National Park:

Pretty Sushi:

Downtown Seattle:

*cough*

You don't want anything I touch, so no cheese today.

Catt & Maroonclown were spreading germs this weekend. Chris and I both fell victim. *evil eye*

Sorry I wasn't checking in on blogs yesterday. I promise to make the rounds today.

I've missed you!

Crab Rangoon today.

I had an awesome trip to Seattle. We'd seriously love to live there. Sharnina's husband got a job there last week and they are pulling up stakes...they are braver than we are. The land is so lush and the mountains are so gorgeous. People can grow the most beautiful flowers with such deep colors in their yards.

We went to the Olymipic Penninsula on Thursday and perused a bunch of port towns. We found some great chili, great bbq, and decent beers.

Friday we hung out with Jim & Chelli until we met up with the whole group in the city. We had a great, casual sushi dinner with yummy cocktails. The waiter even wanted to start posting on SB. *snort*

Saturday we prepped for the bbq (mmmm, sangria) and drove into town. We met up with the Maroonclowns at Pike Place and wandered along the waterfront. The bbq in the afternoon was awesome. Hot tubbin' was divine.

Sunday was our "tour the city" day. We did some serious shopping in Pike Place, did the Space Needle, and wandered around those areas. We then all went to the Crab Pot for dinner, which was so fun and yummy. They just throw the food on the table and you dive in.

I highly recommend trying to make one of these meets. Even if you don't love everyone there, it is worth it to spend some great time meeting new peeps and spending time in a fun location.

I still missed all of you, though.

Randoms

1. Grilled kasseri cheese with french bread today. You'll love it.

2. It is the day before vacation and I'm not wanting to do anything.

3. My BIL? Rocks. He bought me a refurbished i-pod nano after hearing of my MP3 player drowning. Anybody have tips and hints for me? My Sansa was very simple, plug and play type stuff. I'm just getting the hang of i-tunes. Any settings or such I should make sure I have in place? When importing my cds, which encoder should I have it set to? It's default is ACC, but is MP3 encoder better? I'm so confused.

4. My listy of things to do after work: Buy papertowels and tp, buy cat litter, buy an i-pod skin, buy Chris a book for the plane, return things to Target and JCPenny.

5. I take requests: *smooch* MTW during AND after work.

ETA: 6. The new dictionary includes "GINORMOUS!" I LOVE that word!

I went to Jugville *giggle*

Sit back, have some nachos with cheese. It's time for a long story. :-)


Friday


Friday night I met Dragonflies for a drink on my way through Milwaukee. It was her birthday, so we had extra reasons to celebrate. I had a nice, albiet short, chat with her. She gave me two cupcakes and said I had to share with Breezy. *pouty face*


I then hit the ferry terminal. The high speed Lake Michigan Ferry was the first of its kind...not sure if it is anymore. It's about two years old now. It has very ample seating and observation areas. It made the trip in 2.5 hours. Had I gone around Chicago it would've been about 6 hours. This was much better.

Breezy picked me up at the ferry and we headed back to her new digs with the new man. He wasn't very chatty when we got there because he fell asleep on the couch. :-) I changed into my jammies and insited on having a glass of Breezy Slush. *burp*

Saturday

Breezygirl was in a wedding on Saturday...in Jugville...at The Shack. She looked so grown up as a junior bridesmaid! Everyone commented she was getting taller than Breezy. *snort* BTW, Breezy's ex? Looks about 25. I think she robbed the cradle on that one. :-)

Ok, so The Shack was actually a nice place. But it was in Jugville. *snort* And in case you forget, they remind you that you are in the good ol' US of A.

Oh, I should probably give Bravie a PSA on Breezy's driving: Bring a copy of directions with you. She isn't very good at remembering. :-)

We stopped at a fruit stand on the way home so I could buy some Michigan cherries and blueberries to take home. YUM! We headed back home to drink more Breezy Slush. Wheeeeeee! Then I was kind of high maintenance and wanted to go check out the Summer Celebration grounds early. There was a tiki bar area I wanted to check out.

We made sure we looked extra hot (like we need to try *hair flip*), just in case JD wanted to take us on tour with him.

See, Breezy put in curlers and everything:

Oh fine...I'll be nice and save it for later...blackmail. :-)

So it was off to Summer Celebration and INXS!!!!!!!!! We checked out the tiki bar, which had some strange country/bluesy singing man. It was a little strange. So we headed back to the grounds to hear the opening act, Four Finger Five. We realized we could ditch our seats and go stand up front through the whole concert, so I whined until we did. :-) We were situation next to Four Finger Five's lead singer's dad. Breezy made friends with the dad. And we knew he'd leave when the openers were over, so that also meant we could scoot forward another row. Because Glow would want us to have good seats, we moved up to second row. :-) Breezy is good at elbowing her way into things. The people liked being behind us because she was short. Really, they told me that when she went to the bathroom. *snort*


Literally, this was the best time I'd ever had at a concert. We were so close, the music was so good, and my friend Breezy was by my side (<---look, that's the name of an INXS song).
Here's how close we were (I know, he needs a haircut..but his eyes make up for it):









And this was where JD changed t-shirts on stage. *drool*




See those two heads in front of me in this pic? Yeah, that was littleblondebitchymom and her five year old daughter. He son, close to the same age) was standing in front of her, pressed against the metal fence. Because that's where it's safe for kids during a concert. A fight broke out right behind us between some guys and a few girls. A girl got punched by a guy. Yeah, smart move keeping your small children there, lady. And I'm sure their eardrums are fine. *rolls eyes* Did I mention they got guitar picks and a drumstick? And the mom kept rocking her daughter and hitting Breezy. *whack*


Breezy and I at the concert, managing to have a good time, despite littleblondebitchymom (look! We had beads! I'd be happy to give them to JD):


My JD moments:

I got a cup. He passed out cups to pour champagne into. I got a cup, but he got a little excited with the champagne and it exploded all over by the time he got to us.

Then, during Afterglow, I was singing along, with my hands clenched by my heart (more out of sheer crowding necessity than feeling the love). He pointed at me and put his hand by his heart. *dreamy sigh*

After the awesome concert, Breezy took me to a few bars. Unfortunately, at the last bar, I got a queasy stomach and couldn't even drink soda. Breezy drank enough for BOTH of us, though. I got up in the morning and her pants were in the living room. Why? *HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURL* Yep, she puked.


Sunday

She was NOT in good condition the next morning. She meditated in the backseat while her bf drove me to the ferry. I imagine yesterday afternoon made for a long day. :-)

*smooch* to Breezy for showing me an awesome time and sharing my best INXS memories with me.

What was that thing?

*snacks on tray of squeaky fresh curd*

Hmmmm. I swear I was supposed to go somewhere tonight. WHERE was that?

*taps pencil against forehead*

Nope. I got nuthin'.

Happy Holiday Hangover!

I hate going back to work after a holiday.

Let's have some taco dip piled high with cheddar to wallow in our holiday hangover.

I hope you had a fun day off and celebrated in some way, shape or form.

We did yardwork during the day, found out our shower was leaking and did some repair of that mess, and cooked a yummy dinner. Chris made some guac, bacon & cheddar burgers. I made grilled endive with blue cheese and a balsamic vinegarette and dilled potato salad. Our friend came over for dinner and we ate on the patio. Then it was off to the outdoor theatre to see The Merchant of Venice. It was hot out for most of the play. Around 9:30 it started to really cool down. At 10:00 it started to sprinkle. The play finished at 10:15 (reduced Shakespeare this is not) and then it POURED rain. We walked back to the car drenched.

I never realized The Merchant of Venice was so anti-semitic. I knew the general premise of the play, but had never read it, nor seen it performed. Wow, it was sad in many respects.

Picture Day

Sharp and Medium cheddar slices today.
I just downloaded pics from the camera and thought I'd share a few.

The pie (yeah, not picture perfect, but darn tasty). I took this one just for all of you:


Sushi making night, kitty style:

Garden pics:

This post brought to you by Visa.

*picture a serene, tree lined river, a canoe floating along on a sunny, mild day*

Bag of charcoal: $3

Case of beer: $16

*enter motorboat, whizzing by the canoe*

Capsizing your canoe: $325

Priceless my aras. So, apparently I suck at canoeing on rivers where there are motorized boats. We capsized in deep water. Chris lost his $250 glasses and favorite bucket hat. I lost my sunglasses. We had to swim against current, pushing the canoe (there was no getting back in out there) to a sandbar. OH, and my niece was sitting in an innertube behind us. That added a lot of extra drag. But we made it to the sandbar. I realized Chris didn't check the Camelback (water backpack, for those unfamiliar) pocket before he put it in the canoe. I had my MP3 player in there from my Saturday walk. It no longer works.

On a brighter note, I picked a ton of blackcaps (like smaller blackberries) this weekend. I made a pie, and still have a huge bowl of berries leftover.

"If I were single/attached I would...."

Put the shoe on the other foot from where you are right now. Pretend you are either single or coupled up. What would you enjoy about your new life?

I would eat cereal and frozen dinners for more meals, and would thus probably lose some weight.

I would indulge in more craptacular tv.

7/7/07

Cottage cheese for a healthy afternoon snack.


I will be with Breezy on the lucky 7/7/07 day. What do you think will happen to us?

Weekend & Celeb gossip

A salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, and fresh, sliced mozzarella with a balsamic italian vinegarette.

I walked 14 miles on Saturday. I found a great bike/hike path to walk on for these long distances. It's about a 30 minute drive, but hooks up with the state park with the pool. :-) I realized about an hour into the walk that I should've eaten more than a bowl of cereal two hours before the walk. I found some ripe blackberries along the path, though, so all was good.

I seal coated the patio...that didn't go well. I have marks on it that will need to be sanded out. Sigh.

I went pea picking at our CSA farm. Anybody want some snap peas?

I'm loving A Thousand Splendid Suns. Has anyone else started it? I'm not very far, but am already engrossed.

My Celebrity Gossip: I think Playmate Kendra (one of Hef's girlfriends) is related to Bravie. They look a lot alike.

Alone

I am flying solo tonight. Chris is surprisingly heading to his brother's for some evening boating and morning fishing.

Maybe I'll bake tonight. Glow's suggestion of snickerdoodles was good. Wish I hadn't left my book at the pool or I'd read a lot tonight.

Tomorrow, I'm going for a 10 mile walk and then I'll hit the pool.

Wish I had a DVR of shows to watch tonight. :-) *waves at MTW* Maybe he'll invite me over.

Chips!

Fried mozzarella sticks today with marinara for dipping.

I'm at a loss on what to write today.

Let's talk about chips. What are your favorite kinds?

I bought a bag of Trader Joes Hawaiian Style Salt & Vinegar chips last week. I like them muchly. They aren't as thick as most kettle chips, but a little thicker and crispier than standard chips. I never used to like salt & vinegar chips, but found out a few years ago they are yummy.

I'm also a big fan of plain Ruffles and Dean's French Onion Dip.

Habanero Doritos are my favorite Dorito.

Sour Cream and Cheddar Baked Ruffles are yummy.

And is the Cheeto really a chip? I like em crunchy or puffy. *waves to puffy*

Well, I didn't cry

Nachos with cheddar and asadero for today's snacking.

Tuesday afternoon with my nephews was fine. I only had the older two (the youngest went to daycare with my sister). They were on great behavior. We went to Target and I was able to leave them alone to shop with no problems.

Wednesday was our busy day. They were already in a punchy mood when we left at 9:15 for Cave of the Mounds. They listened to my rules of "be quiet on the tour, listen to the guide, stay on the path." However, I forgot about the "do not touch the cave surfaces" rule the guide talks about. Nick has major tactile issues and was about crawling out of his skin not being able to touch & feel things. They shouted numerous nonsensical things during the tour, and that was frustrating for everyone. Nick started making fart noises with his hands. That was bad. Finally, the tour was over and we were in the gift shop. I told them they could get a bag of stones (they collect things like that) to share. CRASH! Nick broke an item (by accident). Sigh. They didn't make us buy it. I could tell he was upset about it. So we quickly bought our rocks and left.

Then it was off for our picnic. Dumb idea since the boys don't eat normal food. Brett only likes chicken nuggets, no sandwiches, nothing. So he brought cold pop tarts, which he won't eat the edges from. That was all he had. Nick wanted pb&j, with crusts off (well, he wanted "Uncrustables" but I refuse to buy those rip offs), and he ate exactly half of that. And one bite of an apple wedge.

The park had an outdoor pool that is REALLY nice. We went. Brett swam. Nick? Screamed and bellered constantly about the water being too cold to get in. Poor people kept having to walk away from him because he was just repeating phrases loudly at them. Sigh. I wanted to be able to wear a sign explaining his behaviors, but of course, I can't. I felt bad for him. But also iritated he wouldn't swim.

Anyway, at that point, I was pissed they didn't seem to like anything we did, and I was out $50 for the day. We packed up and went home (before I could even get in the pool. I was going to tan for 45 minutes & then swim.). The ride was pretty quiet, but suddenly Brett said "Thank you for taking us to Cave of the Mounds and stuff today." I melted. They didn't hate it.

Gearing up for kiddos

*snort* No, I'm not preggers. :-)

Have some cheesy broccoli and cauliflower today. I need some veggies.

This afternoon and tomorrow I'm watching the nephews. You remember them, the three troubled boys of my troubled, divorced sister? Wish me luck. These kids don't like anything we'd normally do with kids (movies, mini golf, bowling, etc), so I'm being creative.

We are going spelunking at Cave of the Mounds near Madison. It's a cave tour and you can do various childrens mining activities for stones. They are big collectors of rocks, marbles, and lots of actual junk, so I thought this would be good. Now, if I can keep them from wandering off the path and hanging from stalagtites, we'll be good.

As a carrot for their behavior, that afternoon we'll potentially go to the nearby state park that has a pool. It's apparently rarely busy during the week in the summer, and they've been complaining about the bullies at their city pool, so this should be a good thing for them. The park also has some cool trails and observation towers.

This afternoon we are just hanging out at their house and planning for tomorrow. Wish me luck.

I'm back and fancier than evah!

Brie wrapped in phyllo for you today.

It's good to be back at work. It was a long week away.

1. Why do so many children fly at night? My flight out was filled with kiddos. It didn't get into CA from the midwest until 11:30, so there were lots of grumpy children when they had to get up. The kid behind me kicked my seat the whole time. On the way home, I had a red eye flight and again, filled with kiddos. It was a full flight and I had mom, ~6 month old twins and a 2 year old boy in my aisle. The twins were great. The boy? Laid on his seat horizontally and kicked me the whole time in my thigh. I didn't have the heart to say something to mom with the two twins with her. After all, they were being great!

2. See's lollipops are great.

3. Bravie was guessed at 32 years old. That would STILL make me younger than her.

4. Chris and I helped shear sheep this weekend.

Baaaaahhhh.

I?

Am sitting on the top floor of the Virgin Megastore in downtown SF. I am at Citizen Cupcake enjoying a mocha cupcake and an iced latte while watching the city. This makes me happy.

Should I audition?

Cheeeeeesy pizza for all of you that were left out on sushi night. :-)

The Mountain Dew Street Ball tour is at our hotel. There are bunches of tour buses and limos and tall men with crazy afros. I didn't know such a tour existed, but apparently it does. http://www.mountaindew.com/sports/streetball/

I had a last minute dinner with Sharnina last night. She took me to an awesome brewpub in downtown Hayward. She was kind enough to pick me up and chauffer me to and fro. We ate the yummiest appetizers: giant jalepenoish peppers, stuffed with cheese and wrapped in phyllo. *homer simpson drool* We had beer samplers and Sharnina got so plowed that she was bumbling and crying into her thrid sample. Lightweight. After she gathered herself, we headed out for a lovely walk around downtown Hayward, which was cute. We finished off the evening with a drink from Starbucks. Perfection. *smooch* to Sharnina.

A new week

Grilled chicken sammiches with your choice of toppings, to include a slice of cheese.

My printer at home is effed up. I'm trying to print my boarding passes. I'm off this afternoon for a quick trip to CA for work. I'm flying in late tonight and leaving on the Thursday night/Friday morning red eye. I'm getting a bit sick of the long flight.

We had a really nice weekend. The sushi turned out great. Making the rice was hard work, but the rolls were delicious. Chris also made some yummy teriyaki chicken wings. My friend that lived in Japan ate his wings with chopstix. I was impressed.

We also went to the county dairy breakfast this weekend. It's a Wisconsin tradition. County farms in June host a gigantic dairy breakfast on different weekends. My county held theirs just a few minutes from our house. We ate a yummy breakfast (complete with frozen custard for dessert..hehe!) and played around on the farm. Wow do I still hate farm smells.

We then went north to visit some friends at their house. It was a ton of fun.

*yawn* I suppose I should pack up the computer and get myself together for the day.

Everybody take off your underpants.

Have some taco dip with lots of shredded cheddar.

Can it be underpantsless Friday?

Remember-sushi tonight-6:00.