Courage & a break

I have a fantastic buffet of cheese items today. This includes brie in puffed pastry, squares of cojack, provolone & swiss, gouda fondue, dill havarti on toast points, port wine spread with crackers, and bacon & cheddar stuffed mushrooms.

Earlier this weekend I thought about something that I wanted to post here: Courage.

Something all of my friends have in common is that they have shown courage in some way or another. Sometimes it's not in obvious ways. Sometimes it's in big ways. When I continued to think about this, and the limited history I know about you, my online friends, I also find it's true here. You are all courageous people. Whether it's weathering the storm of depression and raising children, battling an illness, living with prejudice around you and standing up to it, facing demons from your past, supporting loved ones in times of strife, or leaving bad people behind you at home or in a job, you've all demonstrated courage in some way...sometimes daily. I just think you all should remind yourselves you are courageous and should be proud. *smooch*

Then, as the weekend progressed, life slapped me upside the head. I need a little time away from here to sort things out IRL. But I wanted to post that little bit about courage first just because I *heart* you guys and think courage is an important trait. Now, I figure it's a good note to go out on for awhile. See you around OT or blogland eventually.

*smooch*

Rain, rain

Ok, we'll do the Laughing Cow wedges today since there are some babybel haters out there. *rolls eyes*

So it's Friday. What time are we meeting for drinks? It's been one of those weeks. Where are we meeting? MTW's dog house? What will you be having?

Happy Thursday!

Laughing Cow Mini Babybels today.

First, I have to say I love Luna's new cheer. Grate, grate, grate job! LOL!

I worked from home yesterday & couldn't get online for very long. The cats chewed up my laptop power cord, so the laptop was dead. I had to use our desktop which connects to the net at the speed of pondwater & thus, I dedicated online time to work-related stuff. *pout*

The "diet" is going well. I'm focusing on smaller portions with the biggest section of my plate being veggies. I'm steering back away from too much fat in my cooking (I was being too generous with cheese & olive oil lately) & bought a big ol bag of Splenda (next time I'm sending my sister to Sam's Club for it...like Costco as MTW suggested but we don't have one here). I have a ton of bottled water on hand and have been doing really well drinking that.

Exercising is going ok. Since I got the deal on the treadmill, etc at the auction a few months ago I've been faithfully exercising at least 3 nights/week.

My biggest challenges:
1. Snacks. I have a bad portion control thing with snacks. I don't find small portions instantly gratifying and thus want to eat more. I need to be more patient & wait for the small snack to settle in & then check my hunger.

2. Someone to make me oatmeal in the mornings. I had a bowl of oatmeal yesterday & it was sooo satisfying. However, I don't really care for instant oatmeal & I'm too lazy to make real oatmeal every morning. Will you make it for me?

3. Finding time to cook some weeknights with the pt job. It will be over soon (7 weeks), so I just have to suck it up til then & try to pre-prep some meals for Chris to cook.

Thanks for all the great advice & support, you guys. I realized if I lost 10 lbs by the end of the year, I'd be down 20 lbs since Dec of last year and all my clothes would fit well. And then Luna might sing the grate job song for me.

Diet time

Low fat string cheese for us today. It's time I get off the junk food binge. The time is perfect because produce is fantastic right now.

So what is everyone's take on these things:

1) Do I seriously limit my caffeine intake? Is it worth it or will I feel too sluggish? I drink regular coffee in the morning (2-3 cups) and 1 Diet Coke/day currently. Is that too harmful?

2) MM says I shouldn't ingest certain body fluids. Does this mean I'll have to spit out my saliva? I might get a spitoon for my desk.

3) What are your favorite health related websites?

4) Can I made a big batch of brown rice & freeze it in smaller portions for quick side dishes? I've never frozen rice by itself, but I imagine it would be ok. Anything else you can think of making for side dishes in "bulk" & freezing that's diet friendly?

What to write about...

I've got nothing. Well, nothing but some warm parmesan crisps for you to snack on.

It was a boring weekend. Friday we went clothes shopping for Chris. He got a few new pants & jeans, lots of shirts and a pair of shorts. He ventured beyond his usual styles...I was so proud of him! Next frontier: shoes.

I got two new bras. I've been buying cheapies & it was time to get a few nicer ones. JCPennys was having a good sale.

We are dog sitting. She's my sister's golden retriever. She's a great dog, I just feel bad for the cats. And the sneaky dog slept on our bed a few times when we were gone. Never when we were home, only when we were gone.

We had a little birthday party for my dad last night. I made a yummy cake: 1 white cake mix with a raspberry dessert mix and fresh raspberries mixed in swirled with 1 dark chocolate cake mix. Filled with chocolate buttercream & raspberries, frosted with the rest of the buttercream and topped with chocolate shavings & fresh raspberries. It obviously made two cakes (since I used 2 mixes), so today my coworkers & I will be eating cake.

Childhood Meme

Thanks to Survey's blog, I now have something to post today! Enjoy some garlic provolone on turkey sandwiches today.


Pick any 3 things that you remember from your kidhood (ages 0-18) and describe them. This could be anywhere from people you were around a lot, to a certain family vacation, to a certain moment that you remember. Be creative!

Bonus Question: Where did you grow up (location-wise)? Did you like it? Do you still live there? Why/why not?

I'm concentrating on my pre-14 years, as things got dramatic after that & there's too much to choose from!

1) My fourth birthday.
We always had small family birthday parties with cake & ice cream when I was younger. I don't ever recall having "birthday wish lists" before I was 7 or 8, so my parents just bought whatever they thought I'd like. Well, on my 4th birthday they hit the nail on the head. And it wasn't even a cool "toy."

I got a little kid sized table & chair set. It was a nice wooden set, perfect for playing school, office, or doing art. I felt so grown up! I have a picture of me sitting at the table in a cute dress & party hat. Dumb memory, but it's really vivid for me.

2) Getting my own room, Age 8
We had 3 bedrooms in the house. 3 kids+parents= someone sharing a room. When I was a baby & my sisters were 7&10, they shared a room. That lasted til my oldest sis turned 14 or so. At that age, I happily moved in with my next younger sister while oldest sis got her own room. I felt so grown up. I'm sure middle sis hated it. However, we became buddies. Later, my oldest sister graduated & moved out.

So one summer day when I was 8, after I was at the local swimming pool, I came home to mom saying I could move into the red bedroom if I wanted. Oh yeah, red carpet, baby! I was soooooooo excited! I could put up my own posters & listen to whatever music I wanted on my little boombox! My own place to sit & read Teen Beat & my Sweet Valley High books. Sigh. I still remember the weather, the lighting and the smells from that day.

3) Trip to Florida, age 14
Mom had cancer & knew she might never again get to Florida to see her step-sister & step-aunt (her only two living relatives she knew of besides her mother). So she wanted to make it a girl bonding trip & invited me & my sisters. For whatever reason, middle sis didn't come. So my oldest sister, mom & myself hopped the plane to Boca Raton. It was my first plane trip as an adult (we went to Florida a few times as a child). The trip was a lot of fun. I was treated as "one of the adult ladies." While I didn't bond with my mom that much during the trip (it was more her time to spend with her step relatives), my oldest sister and I took off for Disney World. It was the first time I spent much time with my oldest sis, as we were ten years apart & until then we lived in such different worlds. So I fondly look back on many details of that road trip & smile, as it was the begining of a great friendship between my sister & I.

Bonus: I grew up in rural SW Wisconsin. I liked the country life. I missed some of the close friendship opportunities, but most kids my age were in the same boat & our parents allowed sleepovers sometimes. I enjoyed the quiet, imaginitive times I had and the sounds and freedom of the country. We lived there my whole life.

Those things definitely impacted my desire to get our first house in a rural location. I didn't know we'd end up 30 miles from the town I grew up in. I'm pretty opposed to going back to my actual hometown to live. I can't deal with constantly seeing people I know & don't care to talk to.

I'm handy.

Let's have tiramisu today made with lots of mascarpone cheese. It is my very favorite dessert.

I put up a white board in my office this morning with my cute lil' office tool kit. I only swore once. *pats self on back*

Chris got his back pay & 'cost of living' raise yesterday. Yay! He also um, got fired/quit his pt job. Before his boss (our friend) could say the words, Chris quit. I'll defend Chris a little in this one, as he worked with a bunch of lazy, stealing tards. He informed our boss (our friend) of all the bad stuff going on. The workers in concessions signed a petition to have Chris fired for "not having a personality that meshes with them." Whatever, they were just pissed he was telling on them for stealing & being incompetent. The workers said they'd all quit if Chris wasn't fired. And that means they'd have to find all new concessions workers (full time positions and it's only 2 more months of work). So our boss told Chris this & Chris saved him having to say "you're fired" by quitting. Good news is that Chris gets 40 hours of severance pay. It's all pretty iritating. The place is quite disfunctional. I'm happy because more projects will get done around the house now. :-)

I'm reading Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen in between OTBC reads. I like this MUCH better than Sick Puppy. I couldn't even get through all of Sick Puppy.

I got a body wrap yesterday at the beauty school. Meh. It might have been better with different choices at a spa. But I had a 50% off coupon, making it only $15. I wasn't aware you are supposed to bring a bathing suit. It doesn't say it anywhere online, in their brochure, nor did anyone tell me on the phone. So I only got my legs, arms, upper chest and upper back done. I didn't feel that exfoliated nor spa-rific afterwards. It was a nice little light massage though & I wanted to nap under the heat lamps.

I want to be special.

I just applied to be a "special" student here at the UW. :-)

I'm giving more and more thought to getting my master's degree. For that, I'll need to take the GREs. One of the programs I'm looking at is HIGHLY comptetitive. Thus, my boss thinks good GRE scores would really help my case. My GPA is a 3.26 thanks to carpy math grades and working full time while in classes. Bare minimum for entrance is a 3.0. Thus, great GRE scores would really help bolster the case for academic success.

So, anyway, I'm thinking of taking a math brush up course so I don't look so miserable on the quantitative section of the exam. Figure I'd apply for "special student" admission & then I'll make up my mind. I would take a course at a tech school, but I think if I do well on the course at the UW, it will look even better to my potential admitters. Plus getting to classes would be waaaaay easier if I stick with something here at work!

Weekend Recap, aka The Lighter Side

Squeaky cheese curds for snacks today. Since my last post was a little heavy (and I truly thank everyone for sharing their thoughts & experience with me), I'm just going to have a quick, light recap of the weekend.

We didn't do much this weekend but work. Chris invited one of the kids from the theater over to brew beer. That gave me an excuse to make a big meal. :-) So I made beer butt smoked chickens with some yummy rubs, watermelon and a mix of baby reds, grilled corn, onions and big hunks of garlic. For dessert I made one of those Jello No Bake desserts (the Reese's PB one). Yum!

Saturday night was the opening of Arms and the Man at the theater & there was a big party at a company actor's house. Most of these people are so incredibly self absorbed. It was almost painful.

Oooh, SNAKE! I forgot to tell you about the snake! Yesterday as I was fixing the turkey deep fryer (the burner was clogged with carbon chunks) and was looking for tools in the garage, I saw a snake come slithering up like he wanted to make a home on the cool cement. This was no skinny garden variety snake. It was about 3-4' long and 2" in diameter. I bravely walked towards it so it wouldn't go into the garage. It started back out into the grass. I checked its' tail & didn't see any rattles (I can't identify snakes worth crap, so I looked for the obvious). Whew. I got Chris who asked if I'd like it killed. Um, YES! I HATE SNAKES! He first got the axe & tapped it on the ground near the snake. The snake raised it's tail & coiled up. Yipe! I told him not to get near the thing & instead get his gun. So bang bang! He shot the snake & threw the dead body into the neighbors thicket. Heh. My hero!

Feelings, nothing more than Feeeeeelings

My tummy is a little upset so I can't pick a cheese today. First person to comment on my blog today gets to choose.

I've never been a big overemotional sap. However, as time moves on, I'm getting more numb. Is that normal? I'm finding myself a little uncomfortable with it lately. Music doesn't move me like it used to...in fact I barely listen to lyrics. Births and deaths removed from my immediate family have little to no effect on me emotionally anymore. Local killings in the news don't even pique my interest much...it's just "oh, another crime."

I need a shot of emotion, passion, whatever. Of course a shot of alcohol would also be appreciated.

How is your emotional state as time goes on?

Bar Food

Broccoli cheese bites today. Those were on the menu last night. I didn't get them, but would've enjoyed them.

We went out to a hick bar with friends last night. It was called the Keg n' Kettle. *giggle* Know what I like about hick bars? It was $15 for 2 meals & a pitcher of beer. I wanted to have a pizza burger (it's one of those foods from my youth that I get excited about when I see them on menus), but they were out of them, so I had a grilled ham & cheese. It was nicely done on marble rye. For $2.50. Chris had a mushroom & swiss burger for I believe $3.50. They had a bunch of styles of fries and other deep fried wonders...plus soft pretzels. Yum! So I ate my steak fries and sammich and was very full. *burp*

I love good fancy food, but man do I also love decent, cheap bar food.

Facial Cancelled

My facial was cancelled for this afternoon, so let's stuff our face with some cheese to make me feel better. Crab fondue sounds good. Grab your sticks, lop on some bread & dip away.

Am I cheap for using beauty schools for all my pampering needs? Well, except for massages. I'm quite picky about those. I've had some bad ones, so now I only go to one lady that has a little private suite. She's from South America & has the best hands & a wonderful accent.

I'm having a body wrap next week at one beauty school. They have horrid customer service, but it's only going to cost $12 (I have a coupon), so I'll give it a shot. I had a haircut there once that took 90 minutes. I've had a pedicure there & it was ok.

However, there's another beauty school which has a much better atmosphere. The instructors are very friendly and kind to myself and the students. I've only had a few pedicures there & enjoyed them. Hopefully my rescheduled facial will also be enjoyable.

My wish list

Brie with caramelized apples...that's on my wish list, so we shall have it.

Things I'd like (this will come in handy when my family asks what I'd like for Christmas):

MP3 player (I found the one that seems reasonable for me): Creative Labs Zen Nano 1 GB. $65 at Circuit City.

Wok: I have no idea what kind to get. Any suggestions for something at $60 or under?

Sushi rolling kit: It looks fun.

Some cool torches for the patio:

Lots of books, including:
Marley & Me
The Blind Assasin
Population 485
Reading Lolita in Tehran
CIA Life
Naked

A KitchenAid stand mixer

Ok, I'm done for now. What would YOU like?

The overlooked pasta...and other stuff

4 year old cheddar with wine today. It's what I had on Saturday & there's still some left. Yum!

Ozro is the overlooked pasta. I can't always find it at the store, but happily buy it when I do. It makes an easy to eat side dish that really takes on the flavor of whatever you put with it. Even just some butter, garlic & seasoned salt will do the trick. So do yourself a favor, go buy some orzo.

Our weekend was alright. We went north. Had to see MIL, whom we were angry with. It was uncomfortable. I'm glad she went home Saturday morning & left us with the cousins, as intended. Chris's two female cousins (from his mom's side) are nice. One in particular is SUPER chatty. Well, they are both talkative, but one just blabbers on. And sometimes I forget how much people can talk. Nolay tends to give a lot of details in his work stories, but these girls made him look shy & quiet. At the end of each night I just had to detox & say "wow."

I bought some really yummy coffee and some other things at little shops this weekend. We tried a new restaurant and I bought some Napa Valley wines produced by places I'm eyeing up for November's trip. So it was pleasant.

This week I want to bust arse on the patio so we can finish in a few weeks.

Snobbery

Pesto havarti & french bread for your afternoon snack.

I was going to rant about how I generally hate snobbery. Sometimes it comes out on OT from certain peeps & it makes me angry. But then I thought about how I can be snobbish about certain things. So if you see me make a snobby, unnecessary comment that might offend someone, let me know. I usually try to keep a hat on any snobby thoughts or comments. Making a comment will only hurt feelings.

Anything you are openly snobby about? Anyone that's openly snobby to you?

Generating a topic

Grapes and brie on a skewer. Fun appetizer, huh?

My blog topic today is the most recent email between Chris and I:


Chris: You aren't very bloggy today.
Me: I don't have anything to write about. I'm waiting for inspiration.
Chris: Free donuts... We used the Cub coupon. What a great thing, free donuts, a
dozen of any variety we wanted...custard filled went quick. I? am
abstaining.
(SIL)....is bipolar, and on meds. (BIL) called, he's happy...but concerned.

He gave me two topics in that discussion:

Donuts: Why he has them & I don't. Apparently he's buying, so what kind of donut would you like? Apparently you can't have a custard filled one, as they are all gone.

Bipolar SIL: I feel like I should send her "sorry your a little crazy, but aren't we all?" card or something. I'm glad she's on meds. Her personality is overwhelming, anyway, so her bipolarishness makes it even more difficult for BIL, I'm sure. She doesn't deal with meds very well. Everything seems to make her sick, sleep too much, or not sleep enough. Hopefully she'll be ok with these & they can have a little normalcy in their days. *crosses fingers* Maybe boo's SIL has some oils and herbs, or some stickers, she can give to my SIL. :-)

Aromatherapy

Bel Paese cheese and pears today. Wine service starts in ten minutes.

I think I'm going to buy some essential oils to to play with & get me to sleep better. I re-read some sections of the little book Breezy gave me for our OT Secret Santa & have some oils picked out. I also gave myself a foot massage from that book last night.

Has anyone here worked with essential oils before?

In other news, I want to make chinese food tonight. I'm going to find a recipe for General Tso's sauce (but I'll sautee' the chicken & some veggies, so it won't be real GT chicken).

"Ah, General Tso, you were a formidable opponent, but your chicken is delectable!"...Mr. Burns

Sleep schedules

I have some leftover mild blue cheese from last night. Let's throw it on some buffalo chicken sandwiches. But let's not do that til about 11 a.m., mmmmkay?

Do you have the same sleep schedule as your mate?

Chris and I have always gone to bed at the same time & wake up around the same time. However, I'm wondering if I should alter this a little. I have a really hard time falling asleep unless I've been up late. But this may totally screw up my ability to get out of bed in the morning. And then I feel weird about us going to bed at different times...sort of that bonding thing you lose out on. And if he's already in snore mode around 11, I still probably won't be able to fall asleep. Sigh. So really, I just need someone to take an blunt object to my head around 10 p.m.