On Vacation

Hey peeps...I'm going to be out of town for a bit, but just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all! Eat lots of cookies and drink lots of eggnog while I'm gone. I still plan to open up the Thursday festivities on OT, so maybe I'll see you there!

Yay for checking things off!

Turkey, Artichoke and Havarti sandwiches for lunch, since peeps liked sandwiches so much yesterday.

Cookie news! I have received all my cookiez! My most recent sender made M&M & candy cane sugar cookies. They were uber good! I also got a little prezzie & so did Chris! Oh, and I can't forget the bucket the cookiez came in (see comments of last post). *snort*

I have boxed up my cookiez! I am going to the post office around 2:00 today since I have the car. Hopefully it won't be killer busy. I also have boxed up my secret santa gift. Yay!

Tomorrow night we are going shopping to finish things up. Still lots to get for the family.

Next week I'd like to be fairly stress free. Speaking of...we usually do various appetizers for Christmas Eve at my sister's. This year we are doing take n' bake pizzas. Everyone will eat it and it's easy. Because I'll be traveling to both of my in-laws houses right before Christmas Eve, I'm glad I won't have to bring anything.

I haven't told Chris that I'd like to go to church on Sunday. We'll be at his dad's church, and I always enjoy listening to his dad's sermon, even if I'm not a religious peep.

Welcome back to me!

Grilled ham & cheese sammiches on sourdough, in honor of my CA return.

So, hm. Here are all the random thoughts I've been carrying around this week:

More airline rants
I really, really hate when people carry on big bags. It causes so much wasted time getting seated and so many of the rest of us, that try NOT to be a burden, to have to shove everything under the seat and have no foot room.

Seating chart: ABC DEF. I am assigned seat A. They board early, so I am one of the last on. Seat A&B are occupied by two comfortable men reading newspapers, coffee and pastries on their tray tables. I internally pout, but decide to be gracious (I really wanted to sleep by the window since it was a 6 am flight) and take the aisle seat. Then, a couple boards and says we are in their seats (they must have been B&C in our row). So not only are Frick & Frack in the wrong seats, they are on the wrong side of the plane. Cripes.

Another funny story. A man in front of me must have given the flight attendants a gift of See's candy. They wouldn't leave him alone the entire flight. They kept repeatedly saying thank you, offering to bring him drinks and food from first class, which he always declined. I think the poor man must've felt harassed by the end of the flight!

The burrito memory
I ate a Thai burrito from a restaurant in MSP airport. As I was eating it, I was reminded of these chicken teriyaki burritos I used to get SOMEWHERE that I loved. I could not for the life of me figure out where I used to eat those burritos. I could taste them, see them being made, but could not remember the restaurant. It was killing me. During my trip I remembered. It was a college campus food court thing.

The cell phone story
Thursday night we went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in Berkeley. It was about 30 minutes from our hotel. So we got back at 10:30 and I scrambled to pack and get to bed, as I needed to be up by 4 a.m. My phone rang. It was my colleague saying she couldn't find her cell and wanted to check the rental car. She got the keys from me and looked. Nothing. I put on a coat over my pjs and looked. Nothing. Called the restaurant. Nothing. She'd last used it on the way to the restaurant, so our only resort was to check if it dropped in the parking lot at the BART station near the restaurant where we parked. Threw on clothes. Drove out & checked. Nothing. By the time we returned it was almost midnight. Yawn.

The next day a gentleman called me (I was the last person to call her phone) and said he found it. Yay! I'm still tired, though.

Random language thought
Someday will we evolve to having more and more common, shared languages, as people tend to be more bilingual, especially in English? So many new slang words are universal. Just a thought as I listened to conversations this week.

Books
I need to update on Good Reads. I've been plowing through a lot of good books.

Cookies!
I'm leaving soon to go bake cookies with my sister and niece.

Charity, snow, cookies and such

Warm parmesan-ey artichoke dip today. Dip in!

I think I have all my non-family gifts purchased. I just have to assemble and wrap everything now. Then it's on to the family stuff, but I'm fine waiting on that.

I do, however, need to purchase a few things for our work unit "family" we sponsor each year via the Early Head Start program. This year it's a 19 year old mother and baby. The father just moved back here from Chicago to help support the mother and baby, but is working a low wage job. Mom is trying to go back to school to finish her senior year next semester. She just moved into her first apartment. So, her wish list has a lot of not-so-fun stuff on it, but she did put a few things for herself like a boombox, pajamas and robe. I cut down on my other overall giving this year so I could afford to help our family more. Last year I spent more than we could frankly afford to on charitable giving, so I've done better planning this year. Our secretary and her 9 year old son are delivering the gifts to the family. Always nice to have that personal contact instead of a faceless name.

In other charitable news, I am always conflicted about the Salvation Army bucket. I'm a bit disturbed that (at least in Madison), for those that come to the SA shelter for help, they must attend an in-house church service. I don't like that condition. But, they are a valuable resource, so I usually just stick a buck at a time, or loose change, in. Probably only $10 over the course of the holidays, so nothing to think too hard about, I guess.

In snow news, I am already sick of it.

In cookie news, I have the bestest cookie giver EVAH! *dusts crumbs off shirt* I got yummy white choc/mac nut cookies, toffee oatmeal cookies and a prezzie and a very thoughtful card! Guess I was a good girl this year and got on santa's "nice" list. I hope I got the cookie flavors right, or I will look pretty dumb. :-)

My boss was just put on a gluten-free diet for 2 weeks. I emailed dragonflies for advice. Her doc also told her to cut waaaaaay down on coffee. So, we are replacing our office coffee pot we share with a hot pot for making tea.

Funny Mail!

*giggle*
Dinner Made Easy sent me mail! And the folks there must've spent a lot of crafty time making a lovely, framable presentation of grossness for me!

I'm just sorry that my sender had to consume the Cheeseburger Macaroni to make mine. *shakes head*

I find it even more puzzling that it's sat on the counter for two days and Chris hasn't noticed the absurd thing. Nor did he seem surprised that Dinner Made Easy sent me a big brown envelope. Has he just accepted that I'm weird?

Weekend

Cheesy hashbrown casserole today. I'm in the mood for comfort food.

So, as you may have read, the trip north got cancelled. I spent the night at SIL's house, having some good girl chatter. Drove back home in the morning, during the snowstorm. Yipe! I had one moment of terror: I got to the bottom of a large hill on a small highway. There were two cars with brake lights on ahead and a snowplow in front of them. Figured they were just slowing down for the plow. Nope. The plow was BACKING DOWN THE HIGHWAY. There were cars in the other lane and no passable shoulder. So me and the two other cars were forced to back down the highway to the county road nearby. Meanwhile, in my rearview mirror I see a semi truck coming down the hill behind me. Ack! I hit my flashers and hoped he could slow on time. I said outloud "I think I'm going to die." Thank cod he was able to slow and the stupid arashole plow truck driver got pulled off. Then the stupid highway wasn't plowed in my lane and the poor Neon had a terrible time. I got to the next town and pulled off until a plow came through. No way I was chancing it any longer, and I'm a pretty confident snow driver.

Anyway, so we had lots of relaxation time this weekend. Chris got to plow, I got to take a bath (omh, the scent of Twinkle was amazing!), bake chocolate chip cookies and write about 1/2 of my Christmas cards. Yay!

I will be doing my holiday baking on Dec. 13th and will mail my cookie exchange stuff out on the 14th, just so peeps know. I know what I want to do for secrect santa, but need to go to a craft store. Yep, I'm crafting! Yikes! Be very afraid.

So many things I've thought about posting

And I didn't write one of them down. Let's have a nacho bar open for lunch today. Don't forget to add extra cheese!

Dear Momma,
Please explain why Texans serve thin sliced onions with platters of bbq meats & such.

Dear flyers,
If you sit in the middle seat, could you please refrain from reading the newspaper or other very large publications?

Dear husband,
Why didn't you bother yourself to pick up cat litter and clean out the cat's water dish like I'd said needed to be done while I was gone?

Dear Christmas,
Could you please come a week later this year?

Dear lunch,
Could you please come up to my office? I'm feeling lazy.

None of my exes live in Texas

But a boy online from Texas had a crush on me once long ago. He sent me a Tiffany's pen.

Have some nutty edam with me.

We had our first presentation in Texas last night. I had three glasses of wine beforehand. Then we had three glasses of wine in the bar afterwards. I was rather ill feeling this morning.

Today is a work day.

Tomorrow is our 2 hour presentation. Sigh. I'm so over it already and just want to go home.

Our truck is broken. Not sure what's wrong.

My BIL apparently quit his job yesterday.

I ate a small serving of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.

Miss you!

Long time no see

I'm going French today. Have some Brebiou (similar to brie).

A listie, to catch you up.

1. Lush! I get to take a bath tonight. Chris is gone hunting, so I can enjoy my new purchases with some spa music in the background.

2. The potato conundrum. Why don't I care for mashed potatoes anymore? I mean, I don't hate them. I just never crave them and could really do without. I used to love them.

3. Work. OMFG, am I ever going to have time to play like I used to? Me thinks not.
ETA: Crrrrrry! I'm going to be here until at least 8 tonight. On effing Thanksgiving eve. Why? Because one of my student workers didn't do what I asked her to finish by tonight, even though she said she was doing it Monday and Tuesday. I've got an hour drive home, a house to clean, grocery shopping to do, and to travel to BILs tomorrow and then host my family on Friday. I hate life.

4. Texas. I leave on Sunday and will be gone thru Wed., so you won't hear from me much.

5. Food. I still don't really know what we are having for Thanksgiving. I need to figure it all out today so I can hit the store on the way home.

6. Bravie, could you run over to Pier #1 and grab me a cupcake? I'm so craving them.

Greetings from lovely CA

Appenzeller cheese today.

Things I've done so far in SF:
-Worked
-Worked
-Saw the sea lions at the wharf
-Worked
-Ate the best cupcake EVAH!
-Bought some white balsamic vinegar
-jogged the wharf
-Ate pumpkin pancakes
-worked

Vent

I'm too ticked off to think about cheese. And this isn't an interesting vent. Just need to get it off my chest.

We are doing a presentation on Nov. 26 & 28 in Dallas. Me and the other person are going to be at a conference from the 14-21, have Thanksgiving, and then fly out. So we about two working days to finish this. I came up with an outline, got it ok'd by her and my boss. Did about three hours worth of work starting it, and then the other presenter and I divided the content up to expound upon/do the presenting.

Five minutes ago, the other presenter says she has another idea of how to arrange the whole talk, negating the three hours of work I spent so far on the slides and organization. With only two effing days left to actually work on this thing? You have to be kidding.

For the sake of updating

Pizza, heavy on the mozzarella, today.

I have nothing interesting to update with, so I'll force some randoms.

Football
I'm having so much fun watching the Packers. They seem to be having a really fun season. It makes me smile. We met some friends to watch the game at a bar yesterday. We had a drinking game. Everytime this annoying man at the bar said "Giddy up!" or "Git er done" we drank. Ugh, it was hard to keep up! We weren't shy about it, but I don't think he ever caught on.

Oh, and momma wondered why nobody likes the Cowboys? It's the ego factor. The Cowboy's have always been a very egotistical team and it seems to come from the top down. They far-too-often let their players act like punks over the years.

Lack of motivation at home
I've been horrible about doing projects around the house. I clean, do laundry, etc., but cannot make myself tackle some projects. I think I'm so burnt out from work that I have little energy left on the weekends.

Christmas trees
I think I'm going fake this year. We haven't put up a tree for the last two years because of kittens. They would certainly climb and chew their way to death (I might have to kill them), so we just decided to save ourselves the stress. I miss it though. So now I'm considering a fake tree on the front porch (outdoors). I saw an ad in the Parade section yesterday for an online source with free shipping. I need to check them out. I cringe at the thought of shopping in stores this time of year.

CMAs

Not that I watch the CMAs, but some pics are on the front page of Yahoo.

Observations:
1) Nicole Kidman always wears too much dark red lipstick and looks down when she smiles.

2) Kellie Pickler's hair is so effing cute.

3) Can Carrie Underwood be any more beautiful?

4) Sarah Evans looked ridiculous in that outfit.

5) Jewel's obbies look really weird.

Misc.

Cheddar and bacon spread with assorted crackers today. Seems like the holiday season thing to have. I've been doing a lot of misc. posts lately. Sorry if that's boring.

1. Chris did a very sweet thing yesterday. He picked me up at the bus stop because a) it was bitter cold, and b) there were lots of pissed off offenders walking the same office-bus route I'd be.

2. My boss is driving me nuts. She has no clue that she works in a completely spastic way. Everyone else knows this (even people that don't directly work for her). It used to be manageable, but she's so overextended now and I don't see her committments changing anytime in the next few years.

3. I bought a spin toothbrush yesterday. Long ago, my dentist recommended a Sonic Care one, but I couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on a toothbrush. So instead, I finally ponied up $17 for a rechargable precision spin one (Crest, I think). Do you have a spinny toothbrush? Do you like it? I couldn't use mine yet this morning because it has to charge for 20 hours for the first use.

4. My poster presentation for the conference next week is almost done. I should have to the printers by noon today. I think it looks fabulous. It's hard to do qualitative research posters and make them look nice because there's not a lot of opportunity for charts and graphs. It's often just a lot of words. Now on to my Dallas 2 hour lecture/discussion presentation. Yeep.

5. The new season of The Real Housewives of Orange County started. It's my guilty pleasure. That, and The Hills. I think it's because I'd like to be rich. :-)

My sister's secret

Have some mild brick today.

My sister is getting baptized this weekend. We grew up Catholic, and we were all baptized as children, however, as you likely know, most religions have some form of adult ceremony, as it's said you don't have free will as a child. For some churches, it's confirmation. Others do adult baptisms.

Well, my sister has been very spiritually curious for the last few years. She's said her life has been empty. So, she started doing some religious exploration with some guidance of people at her workplace. The company owner is very religious and part of an evangelical church. She's participated in church book clubs and such over the last year. Last week she tells me she's getting baptized on Friday and hasn't yet told her husband (of 16? years).

He's been very uncomfortable with the whole thing, as he's never been comfortable with her bosses church and feels she shouldn't tangle work and religion. So, in effort to "protect" him from feeling "weird" about the whole thing, she's not telling him.

How would you feel about this if you found out after the fact, or the day of?

ETA: I'm trying to find out more about the church and am having little luck.

Swirly Head

Have some marinated mozzarella, sliced thin and served on a bed of greens.

My head is swirling with misc. stuff.

1. My Friday fun-day was great. I found a fantastic new restaurant, drank some great wines, found a new perfume (but didn't buy it) and had some good chats.

2. My weekend was good. Chris and I went to breakfast before buying new tires for the car on Sunday. Country Kitchen's breakfast has sadly gone downhill. Granted, it had been like six years since I'd eaten there.

3. Does Tom Brady actually LIKE playing football? Gawd he seems pissed to be playing. Even a win didn't get a smile out of him. In contrast, Mr. Favre had a fun time on Sunday. Great game, lots of playmaking, another win for the Pack.

4. I might GET to see Nookie in January. *crosses fingers* YAY!!!!

5. I made some yummy stuffed chicken breasts with a dijion wine sauce last night.

Risky Business

*slides into blog ala Tom Cruise* Cream cheese danishes this morning. I have lots of piping hot coffee, too.

It's FRIDAY!!!! I'm sooooo happy this week is over. It's not been fun. I have three major things to do before noon today, but it's ok, I still have time to play!!!

I have some not-so-confidential questions for you:

1. How many regular OT posters (of present) do you wish would get banned?

2. If you were given the day off today, what would you do?

I'm off at noon today to play with my sister. We've been trying to schedule an afternoon of shopping, drinking and dining for months. The temps are supposed to be around 50 this afternoon, so we consider that pretty lucky for November in WI. Yay!

Boo!

No, not that Boo. Scaaarrrry Halloween Boo!
Forget the cheese today. I have tons of fun size candy bars! Ok, I really don't, but it's fun to pretend.

Halloween Randoms:

• We have two trainings to put on this week. One was yesterday, the other is tomorrow. It's been rush-rush-rush to revise this morning. This afternoon I'm helping assemble materials, so I have a few hours of rest. Maybe I should go to offices trick-or-treating.
• I did scare up a fun cookie in the cafeteria. They are pumpkins decorated with different halloween treats. I picked the ones with M&Ms, because MM would've wanted me to.
• I'm home alone until late tonight. Want to come and play a scary trick on me? Maybe there's a good horror flick on tv.

P.S. My cold is finally getting better. No more sleepless nights and sore nose.

Sucky weekend, sort of

Cajun cheese curds today.

• I had a 3:30 meeting on Friday. Bad idea. I ended up with a load of work to do this weekend. *pout*
• I still feel carpy, although I can tell I'm improving from my cold.
• We watched The Talented Mr. Ripley this weekend, as I'd recently read the book (ok, so I'm like 10 years behind). Wow, was it weird.
• I miss Halloween fun. At least I've convinced Chris to celebrate St. Patty's Day. I get one day to dress silly and drink.
• I made ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans and apple crisp last night. It was good cold-weather comfort food.

ETA:

• We've been watching The Next Great American Band on Friday nights. Yes, we have no life. There are three or four bands I really like. One is country *gasp!*, one is bluegrass *gasp* and the other two are kind of indescribable. If anyone else is watching, I will go look up the bands' names so we can compare notes. I think the country band is SixWire or something like that and the bluegrass one is the Clark Brothers (former members of the country band The Clark Brothers Experience of five or so years ago). Just went and looked...Franklin Bridge and The Likes of You are the other two I really like. I hope Franklin Bridge wins.

The Forgotten Title

I forgot to title the post, thus the current title. Irish cream and kaluha cheesecake today. *passes out forks*

Speaking of Irish Cream, I need to buy some bourban (*giggle*) to make the homemade stuff this weekend (Chris likes that better than whiskey). It's a Christmastime tradition around our house to make homemade irish cream and kaluha. Chris requested we make a batch of ic early.

I think I'll also make pumpkin bread this weekend.

Chris needed new cologne & I found a great deal on the blue Perry Ellis stuff at the VA Hospital (it's connected to the building where I work and items are tax free and inexpensive). Now he smells good again.

OMH-I'm going to OT to blog about some Lush stuff. I didn't know that had so much new stuff for the holidays!

Nose and Baths

I don't think anyone wants my cheese today. Maybe Bob will kindly provide some in her blog.

I'm still sneezy and stuffy and runny all at once. I only came to work today because I didn't get everything done I needed to yesterday AND we still have interview candidates coming in today. I really needed to be here for that.

Tomorrow? Tomorrow I might stay home if I still feel carpy.

I took a bath last night and realized I'm almost out of LUSH stuff. Good thing I'm headed to SF in November and will be staying a few blocks from the store. *hop*

Quick question: Ricotta or Cottage cheese in your lasagne?

Balancing & Misc

Pizza party! Make your own pizza, but don't forget to put lots of cheese on.

• I'm balancing blogs and OT this week. Plus, I have lots of work and lots of cruise planning to accomplish
• We assembled that final piece to the entertainment center last night and put all of the pieces together. Wow. It's big. A little too big for our liking. We have some options, though. When we reassembled the electronics, Chris's receiver just quit working. It was unplugged for about 30 minutes...went to plug it back in and it wouldn't turn on. We just bought it last winter. Good thing it's still under warranty (and yes, we tried it in different outlets). I hate not being able to finish a big project.
• I'm getting a cold. *pout*

Lazy weekend

Cheese fondue with carrots, bread cubes, broccoli and cauliflower.

Here is the work I accomplished this weekend (besides the normal meals, laundry, dishes):
1. Vacuumed asian beetles constantly
2. Cleaned the big shower
3. Took cat to vet
4. Moved old dresser to spare bedroom

Here are the fun things I did:
1. Corn Maze
2. Made donuts (I had a mix that was almost a year old, so I used that...meh)
3. Surfed the web for cruise excursions
4. Sat out in the sun and had beers with the neighbors
5. Read a lot of The Road

Here are the pure lazy things I did:
1. Watched a long Lifetime movie (never finished it) in bed yesterday
2. Took a bath (with a Karma bubble bar and Cerdwins bath melt)
3. Snuggled with cats...a lot.

A floating thought

Better than Kenny Rogers, momma? :-)

Sit, have some mild or chipotle cheddar and ponder with me.

I'm thinking about taking next week off blogging and instead directing all my thoughts and banter to OT. It's my "reclaim what OT was to me" time. Then, maybe I'll get back to enjoying my time on OT and still be able to blog here about other junk. I've just gotten so used to blogging that I never think to post threads on OT.

Is this a dumb idea?

Kenny Rogers & such

Kenny rogers would want us to have some good ol fried mozzarella sticks, wouldn't he?

I did not realize "Coward of the County" was a song about a woman being raped by three men and her husband kicking their arases. It was a bit disturbing. One of our favorite local radio stations is playing songs each day from "The Worlds Worst iPod." The female dj goes "dumpster diving" on UW move-out days each year. She found this iPod while dumpster diving with our mayor. Bizzaro, but very funny. To view a list of the songs so far:
http://1055triplem.com/World-s-Worst-IPod/838593

We are heading out to apply for passports in a few minutes. Are we the last people in the world to get passports? It's effing expensive. $92/pp now.

I made chicken & biscuits (chicken ala kingish) last night. I don't think I've ever made that before. It just sounded good for a chilly October night.

I'm slowly catching up at work, so hopefully I can play more.

Misc Pictures & Vacation

Warm brie and baguette slices today.

First, we've booked a vacation and I couldn't be more pleased!

Flight from Madison to New Orleans: $75 total (used airline miles, but had to transfer a few for a fee)

2 nights hotel in NewOrleans hotels: $130 total

7 Day Cruise on NCL's Spirit from New Orleans; Stops at: Roatan; Santo Tomas De Castilla; Belize City; Cozumel: $1007 total

Total costs (excluding alcohol, excursions and airport to hotel taxi on Saturday): $1,212

Woooooohoooo! All got booked last night. I'm very excited!

Now, for misc. pictures! I'm too lazy to organize them meaningfully.

Cheesehead socks from MM!

Friend Mark, Chris and Chris's Dad at friend's farm for the annual chili cookoff: Armoire:

Bartleby in his new favorite spot since we are moving things around for the new entertainment center:
Bed...sorry so dark.
Our 3rd place chili:
View from my hotel room in SF, near the airport and Bravie's house:

More vacation & furniture talk

String cheese...I'm in a hurry. Lots of work to do today.

Vacation talk:
We have it narrowed down:

• Ventura/Santa Barbara area of California
• Miami area, FL
• Galveston area, TX
• New Orleans area, LA

Today I hope to have time to look at the actual lodging in detail and see if I can use my miles for tickets. None will be overly warm. The California area would likely be warmest, quickly followed by Miami. Galveston and New Orleans would still be chilly in February.

Furniture Talk:
After Chris came home with a box that was SUPPOSED to contain the right dresser, it ended up being the wrong, ugly one again. Sigh. We spent hours at the store on Saturday getting it all straightened out. Turns out they DID sell us the floor model without telling us (and charging us full price), so the manager profusely apologized and gave us floor model pricing. He's also still sending the retoucher out. I'm still pissed, but whatever. I love my new furniture. I still haven't downloaded the pics-sorry.

TGIF!!!!!!!!!

Ugh, I'm so glad it's Friday. Omelets for all! I have egg beaters and low fat cheese for us dieters, but the regular stuff for those that turn their noses at our fake food.

A list for Boo, because I haven't loved Boo enough lately:

1. I picked up about 20 paint sample strips, but forgot to look at them last night.

2. I should have the dresser and entertainment center piece tonight. *hop*

3. My FIL and his wife are coming to stay for the weekend. They are judges for the chili-cookoff tomorrow at our friend's house.

4. For some reason, we decided to plow ahead with winter/spring vacation plans. I'm way on board with this, however, I am not sure if it's intended to be our only vacation for the year. I hope not. We are looking at the Miami, FL area because I really want warm and inexpensive. We are likely going to use airline miles for the tickets, stay at a $450/week condo (through the Armed Forces Vacation Club), and rent a midsized car, so should be a cheap trip. Figure $1800 when all is said and done. Seems like a lot, though, for a "cheap" trip. But it is a week long and there's a lot to do in the area. I've never been through the Everglades, so that's definitely on our list. I'm trying to be more excited about it, because it's a warm vacation in Feb....I'm just having a hard time being excited about Florida when there are so many other places I'd like to visit. We aren't locked in to anything yet, so I'm going to poke around today.

One of those weeks

Cheese straws (those crisp & flaky cheese flavored snack sticks) today.

It's been a super busy week. I was gone from the office Monday and at home yesterday (although I had three hours of phone conferences and other work to do), so there hasn't been much time to get everything done.

Yesterday I got my teeth cleaned and the furniture delivery came. They brought the wrong dresser and were missing a piece of the entertainment center. Yeesh. Not to mention the scratches on the bed. We called the manager last night with a list of the issues and I think it's all being resolved. I say "we" called because while I started out on the phone, "the angry husband" grabbed the phone at one point. All worked out in the end. We are picking up the dresser and missing entertainment center piece, so our delivery charge was refunded. The whole process was very disheartening. There is no teamwork at that place.

Anyway, the bed looks nice and the armoire is huge, but fits ok. The cats love climbing on everything. I'm still waiting for attacks from above at night (the headboard is very "perchable").

Best of all? Chris said, out of the blue this morning, "I think a little darker shade of green would look better on the walls." *hop*

Sinful Sunday

Grilled jalepenos, stuffed with jack and chihuahua cheese (no, Breezy, not dog cheese). I hollowed out the seeds and such, so they aren't too spicy.

1. I've updated on my Sexy Saturday below.

2. I need to go workout, but am really not wanting to. <---update: I did. Then went and had a naughty breakfast. I don't think the inclusion of spinach made the bacon any better for me. Sigh. Wait! Cod made bacon healthy. Phew. 3. I need to do some Hail Mary's before I go today. I'm not used to Sunday church. I wonder how it will be different from Saturday church with Bravie.

Update on Sinful Sunday:
Yeesh, that was already a few days ago. I went to Bravie's to embark on our Sunday adventure. I was there about five minutes early, so I think she made me ring her doorbell three times and wait. *glares* Or maybe she's just old and didn't hear it. I mean, that household is practically ready for AARP to start stalking. Anyway, they made me do some preparatory peeing, because apparently, the church we were going to only had port a potties. We went to the BART (where apparently I made them late *rolls eyes) and then had a really touching moment. I think it was pivitol in the Bravie-Weltek relationship. I had to break it to her that cheese curds were really cheddar cheese (which she told me she hated...I still loved her anyway), and white ones are the same as yellow (it's just coloring). She cried a little. There comes a time every kid needs to know there's not a Santa Claus.

After the BART, we hit the MUNI, where Michelle proceeded to grab my aras. <----proof that later events were so totally started by her. We finally made it to church! For some reason, the church was located at the Castro Street Fair . I was happy to see they were serving Miller milk, so we had a few while searching for the church. Yay Milwaukee! The beer-beeyotch-nekkid-hairy-man (wearing only a bar apron) was quite friendly. He was a Bear (all the servers were), IYKWIM.

After that, I began to suspect Bravie was trying to lead me into temptation. I'm not sure if it was the kissing booth or the fifth glass of milk, but something told me there wasn't going to be church. As we walked, I learned a lot of things. I can't write about them here, as I'd get some strange blog hits, but mostly they involved sex, drugs and rock n' roll. Hoodlums. This seemed no place for fancy girls.

Lo and behold, about an hour into our search, we came upon not one, but TWO churches! They had such pretty rainbow flags. <---I said FLAGS. Nevermind that man taking his shirt off over at Bravie's blog. He was just giving it to some needy man that didn't have a shirt. This church was generous like that.

Bravie, Michelle and their friend V won the hands of God (well, had they won two more, they could've made a hand from those fingerlike things). We all won some oragami (you know what God says about idle hands), too. <---I don't lie.

Bravie won me a glass and Michelle a skull, but I forgot my glass at her house. :-(

Bravie also yelled at some man for me. I'd love to tell the story, but then I'd have to explain why I was laughing so hard. <---I had to swear not to tell. She preached to him of tolerance and brotherhood, just as God would've wanted. <------you won't find the words she used in the dictionary under "tolerance" and "brotherhood," so don't bother looking.

After a beautiful day enjoying all God's creation, we went back home. They indulged me with some Chinese food because I don't have very good Chinese here in Madison. Bravie again had to yell at some woman because our food took over an hour to get there. <---I might be exaggerating here.

I then took Bravie back to my hotel room for a bit before returning her back home. The end.

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!