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?????