Settling back in

OMH, there's so much to do. I am back from DC & work is piled up. Plus, every conference generates twenty new things to do.

I'm behind on my class. I was to finish my book on the plane, but didn't. I also need to hit discussion three more days this week and write a paper by Sunday.

They are starting a new nursing school attached to a major CA university. We've been invited to join them. *gulp* My boss is the key decision maker, so now I'm in waiting mode. She leaves for Australia this weekend, so I'm guessing no progress will get made on this for awhile.

So I was thinking

California is a lot nicer in the winter than Wisconsin. I should really consider moving, shouldn't I?

It's been good.

I've been very happy to see some rare faces in the blog crowd this week. I miss all of you that disappeared on us! *smooches*

I leave for DC tomorrow for a conference. I give a big presentation on Monday and am nervous, but I have the weekend to practice. I also got upgraded for both legs tomorrow. Yay! A wierd thing...a good friend has the EXACT same leave time (he's going to NY) tomorrow and we share the exact same flight from Detroit to Madison on Monday. Weird! We are carpooling to the airport.

Carb overload

OMH-I swear all I ate were carbs this weekend. Other than the salmon & veggies on Saturday night, the banana on Sunday morning and some cheese, turkey and tomato on a sandwich...yeah, pretty much just carbs until dinner last night. Here are all the carbs I ate:

• Beer bread-about half a loaf
• French toast
• Oatmeal
• Sandwich bread multiple days
• Baked chips
• Soft pretzel
• Beer
• Brownies (ok, this is carby and fatty!)

On another note, I went out to the bar across the road by myself Saturday just to have a drink. I was getting a little stir-crazy in the house and I don't have friends that live close enough to call at the last minute to go out without an hour drive attached. A couple of 22-ish year old boys decided to flirt with me, which made me feel young. The fact they didn't even look to see if I had a wedding ring made me feel very old and made them seem even younger. The fact that their invitation to go bar hopping in my old hometown made me laugh, made me feel even older. Sigh. I'm old.

This weekend

Well, since my trip was cancelled, I have a weekend alone! It's rare this happens anymore. Here are my plans:

-I have to dig up my next book for class at a library so I can sink my teeth in this weekend.

-I have about an hour of work to do on a paper by Saturday night.

-I want to try two "gift in a jar" recipes to see if they are gift worthy. I tried rice, brownies, coffee creamer and soup so far. The gingerbread coffee creamer was a loser.The rice is good. The soup is average. The brownies are average, but easily improved. I have a hot chocolate recipes that will be a winner. I need to find a main dish type jar to try and also the best beer bread recipe. I've tried one and it wasn't even close to as good as Tastefully Simple's beer bread.

-I need to sweep asian beetles in the basement.

-I might sneak a little Christmas shopping in tonight. I'm giving the ladies in my family the Debbie Meyer green bags and bread bags, among a few other things. Seems like a simple, fun thing to pick up tonight.

Oh, and I think my MIL got fired from her post-retirement part-time gig. Or she quit. At any rate, she's not working at the post office anymore (I think it lasted two weeks). I'm not surprised, as she's losing her mind and isn't well suited for many jobs. Too bad, though. In far northern Wisconsin, it was probably the best paying part-time job she could hope for.

Or not. (formerly known as Gingahbread)

UPDATE! Trip to Texas cancelled-you don't get rid of me that easily. :-)

That's how Monsty prounounces it, right? In honor of the gingerbread conversation on OT this week, I am at Panera eating a gingerbread bagel. It's yummy.

Panera is the only place around here I can get good, free refills on coffee. Free wi-fi, refillable coffee, what's not to love?

Off to pick up the car in about an hour.

UPDATE: Here is my silly key for the car

Oh, and for some reason Blogger doesn't allow new posts on IE on my laptop (it's fine at work & home desktop). I have to use Firefox to post on my blog from my laptop. Any ideas?

Who peed on the floor?

OMG our bathroom stinks at work. It's never smelled bad before, however it smells like someone very unhealthy urinated on the floor and it sat for a few days. *gag*

So I went to the bathroom to check my bra name. I think it's one that is being named in a lawsuit because traces of phermaldohyde (sp??) are causing reactions. Needless to say, I skipped doing that once I encountered the smell. And it's not like I'll take the bra off and walk around braless today anyway.

Four days

Four business days seems like a long time to do a damage assessment on a car. We know it will be totalled, but need the assessors stamp of approval before we go out and get another car loan. It's the smart thing to do. There's still a very, very small chance it might not be totalled, so we need to wait. Oh, and we have gap insurance, so if we owe more than they total it out at, we won't be upside down. Yay!

In other news, I am tired. I was off my multi-vitamin for awhile, but just started back up. Hoping it will give me some energy!

I'm very much dreading Christmas shopping. I'm trying to cut back on cost, so it will be a difficult task to watch the pennies and find a good gift.

Accident

So I packed up the Neon this morning to come to work. I had my suitcase, laptop, the whole bit. I was planning on going to work and switching out the fleet car around 2 pm for my business trip up to the UP of Michigan. About .1 miles from work, KABLAM! Here's the scenario:
<________C
<________B
<________A
>_______>left turn lane
>_________
>_________
>_________

I was in lane C, which was moving normally, not bumper to bumper. Lanes A & B were backed up. They left her a small gap to get through. She decided to turn quickly, maybe not realizing lane C wasn't stopped or forgetting lane C existed? I slammed on my brakes, but couldn't avoid her rear passenger side.

We are both ok, though I'm debating going to urgent care just to get checked out anyway. Her car is totalled for sure, ours is probably totalled, but not sure. She was a shaking, crying mess and I felt bad for her (although I was glad she was cited). I was more angry at the inconvenience of it all.

So yeah, I'm still heading out for my business trip. Chris is being my knight-in-shining armor and handling the claim. And? It's kind of good I have the work fleet car for the next few days! Now, my accident karma should be over, right? No hitting a moose tonight!

ETA: Car IS totalled. Sigh. I think we are upside down about $1000-500 on it. Could be worse I guess. We'll probably get a used commuter car for around $10K and sink our Christmas shopping money into paying off the Neon.

I should probably update

It's really only Tuesday? Hm. Feels like it should be later in the week.

My homecoming queen worker seems competent. She was able to at least make copies with minimal instruction. She'll be here M, W, F which is a HUGE help to me.

Chris and I are making homemade french bread pizza tonight and watching election coverage. Polls numbers should start coming in when we get home at 7:00. We'll also be watching Stewart & Colbert. :-)

I'm leaving for another business trip tomorrow. I'm driving a little state Prius up into the UP of Michigan. I hope I don't hit a moose.

I'm still not done reading Ben's autobiography.