Because I know you are curious

Christmas with MIL was this weekend. I seriously think there's some early stage dementia showing. Or, as my BIL also suspects, it could just be "isolationitis."

Gas is so expensive that she only goes into town twice a week now. Her food pantry volunteer day and church choir practice. She has quit her other activities. Might be gas costs, might be other reasons.

She always does "signing grace." She forgot the words halfway through this year. Might have been the wine. Might not.

She has her answering machine "script" by her answering machine. She has also taped her phone number to the phones and has it written by the bed.

She loves to cook "traditional" dinner (turkey and all the trimmings) when we visit because she's alone and can't cook that much food for herself. At least once a year she cooks this. She left the plastic bag with the heart, etc. in the cavity along with the neck, and also left the plastic on the legs.

And now for the gifts. The gifts to me were uneventful. One good present: Tastefully Simple Mulling Spice. Not my favorite TS item, but very usable. Used mittens and a used ear covering headband for being outside, ugly as sin coasters, used snowman dishtowel and candle topper (without candle) and a cheesy "display" plate with a cat on it, a calendar from the humane society and a religious themed purse calendar with miscellaneous free pen. Chris also got a used headband, along with the centerpiece USED BOXER SHORTS. His brother got USED BOXER BRIEFS. Ew Ew Ew.

We ended up donating to the animal shelter she got her new cat from. The new cat is pretty awesome and loving.

A bonus photo of my sister's pretty living room and my new sock monkey wine bottle cover.

Pre Christmas flurries (of activity)

I was only "holiday stressed" for a day or so. We had several weekends at home, so I was able to settle down, prioritize and focus, so all has calmly worked out.

1) I had big plans to do big homemade stuff gift baskets. Well, they will be smaller than planned, but they are still happening. This just meant I also had to get some regular gifts. Final food bags will include three types of homemade pasta (gnocchi, beef ravioli, cheese tortellini) in small quantities, a container of homemade cookie dough, and spent-grain bread (the leftover grains from homebrewing are mixed into a yeast bread recipe...really flavorful and robust).

2) Gifts are all purchased. I'm not thrilled with what my SIL is getting, nor my step-MIL, but it's done. I'm still mulling over something more for my dad and girlfriend, but we'll see.

3) My charity plan for MIL went completely awry and we aren't doing it. She forgot or just never really understood the plan, so we are again getting some crappy little rummage sale gifts from her instead. I'm still donating in lieu of gifts. Tried to get her to pick a chairty for us to donate to, but she just couldn't wrap her head it, so we need to make a decision. I said we could donate to the food pantry she both volunteers and "shops" at, therefore it would almost be like giving her a gift.

4) My FIL volunteers to drive the Veterans van to the VA hospital, which is attached to the building I work in. He had a few vets to bring yesterday, so we had coffee. He told me step-MIL has some suspicious lymph nodes and a spot on her liver. But I'm not to even tell Chris until they know more (which will be February). Ack. Why would he do this to me? I managed to keep my mouth shut so far.

5) Tonight is a friend's raclette party. This was the one where she told me the EXACT salad to bring last year. This year it was luckily bring a dessert or drink to share. I baked Fro's caramel pecan chocolate bars-easy and yummy!

6) I said no to a party on Sunday over a month ago because I knew it would end up causing scheduling problems with family Christmas. I was right. Wise choice, Kim.

7) I decided not to haul out any Christmas or winter decor this year. We aren't having any visitors and I'm enjoying the slower pace of the weekends with only a few things on the to-do list.

8) Our water heater has been acting up. I was in my robe and slippers this morning at 6 a.m., on my hands and knees in the basement. The flame is having trouble staying lit. So, today I call for service. Sigh. I think we can manage to wait until next week, so no weekend service charge.

9) I baked fewer cookies and treats this year. I usually bake about four or five different items. This year I limited myself to sugar cookies so far. Tomorrow I'm making peanut blossoms. That's it!

10) Edited for Swami. I'm worried about my bloggy friends. How is your holiday stress level?

Extravagance

I know I shouldn't let this bother me, and other people's choices aren't my business. BUT, I'm trying not to sink into a Christmas funk as I'm shopping for gifts.

The sheer extravagance of gifting is bumming me out. A Kindle, and Ipad, Iphone, a $300 gaming system, etc. It seems more and more commonplace. Even to buy a video game is frickin $50. And then you want to give more than one thing, so you end up spending hundreds.

Sure, these are great gifts. And if you don't splurge the rest of the year and can afford to splurge now, great! I just feel this pressure that I hate. And I worry that if I don't give the fancier gift, they'll see what I got them as "clutter" (like I view the .50 garage sale items MIL buys us). Thus, I've been trying to do more consumable items. It's just all causing me some low-level, weird internal stress this year.

The good news? We (BIL & SIL, Chris and I) decided to approach MIL about donating to charity instead of buying gifts this year. Each year we'd rotate who picks the charity and send off an envelope. This was mostly meant to curb the crapola garage sale trinkets she spent money on for us each year. Instead she can take that $30 and put it towards a charity, and we can do the same. And she doesn't always like what we get her. She claims the Under Armor we got her makes her cold, she couldn't figure out the camping lantern and proclaimed it "broken" (when it just needed new batteries instead of the 10 year old rusty ones she put in), etc. Still, she said she bought us some gifts throughout the year, so great, more crap. *sigh*

I also just inquired about volunteering at the local nursing home. It's been on my to-do list for a few months and maybe it will help me with my mood.

Thanksgiving week

Flying back today from my annual conference that always falls on the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year it was in New Orleans. I arrived on Friday and didn't even have a drop of alcohol until last night (Monday). How sad is that? I'd been to NO a few times before, so didn't feel the need to go out, plus I was super busy til 8 pm every night. Glad to be done with the conference and my presentation. Now I only have one day of work this week!

Next year the conference is in Boston. It will be a good chance to catch up with an old friend from high school. I've been toying with not going, though, as it always falls on hunting weekend, meaning I have some nice time to myself at home.

The airport in New Orleans is quiet today. So glad!

Thursday I think we don't have any plans! Good day to clean the house because Friday evening my family is coming for Thanksgiving dinner. We are doing two 12 lb. turkeys-one smoked and flash fried, and one traditionally roasted. I've been in the mood to traditionally roast a turkey, which I haven't done for a few years.

I'm considering heading out for some Black Friday shopping for the first time ever. It's not really my usual cup of tea, but I'm in a pretty relaxed mood this year. I know, no better way to kill THAT than going out on Friday.

So, what are you up to?

State worries

This time of year I'm usually excited about planning for the next year. Vacations, diet goals, hobbies, etc. However, our newly elected VERY conservative governor has his red pen poised to drastically slash the state budget deficit. He's made it clear he'll do it mostly on the backs of state workers. He thinks we're all grossly overpaid and pampered compared to the private sector. Not true for salary in a vast percentage of cases. Yes, our benefits are nice, but that's why we stick around given the comparatively crappy salary. His current proposal has a furlough and additional benefits contribution that would result in a net 25% pay loss for state employees. That's 25% off both Chris's paycheck and mine.

The only shining light is that the UW is pushing for more autonomy given the shrinking contribution the state makes to the UW budget. Less than 12% of the UW budget is funded by the state, yet the control the entire UW budget and many of the policies. Running a research intensive university like a state agency doesn't work for many reasons. Our chancellor's push for more independence has some drawbacks...

• that ~10% gap would need to be made up, but could be done via some cost savings by not being locked into state contracts for supplies-many of which currently cost a lot more because they are obscure research supplies that no other state agency uses.
• less "cohesiveness" with the state to promote the university
• a hit for unions, as they'd have less influence at the UW...and some would argue this would be bad for workers.
• tution increases wouldn't need to be approved by the legislature. This could and possibly should concern students.

The good:

• wouldn't be at the whim of the current legislature on what kind of research we could do (e.g., stem cells)
• wouldn't be on nonsense furloughs (e.g., 80% of my position comes from federal grant funds or private research foundations, yet I'm on the same furlough as other employees...frankly, grant agencies aren't happy about the Wisconsin situation and it's not saving the state much money. A sensible solution would've been to prorate the amount of furlough taken according to how much of the position is from state funding).
• could better adjust faculty compensation to be competitive with other Big 10 and competing schools. We are losing a lot of faculty and that's a dangerous thing for a research intensive university in particular.

I've rambled enough. I'm just fretting and feel like life is on hold until after the new year.

Italy Pics

If anyone wants to peruse some Italy pics, without any commentary/labels, feel free to browse my Walgreen's album:

http://photo1.walgreens.com/walgreens/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5035606003/a=14942014_14942014/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/

The Bathroom Project

I'm just going to keep blogging even if nobody reads it. :-)

We finally started our shower remodel project. We have a big tile walk in shower, and the liner under the tile shifted at some point and caused some major water damage to the sub floor. Turns out the year we built was about the last year the industry used those liners, as too many problems were developing and a new product was coming out. Sigh.

Our contractor came highly recommended and is someone my father works with. He's the "expert" in our region on these shower systems. So, this is good.

Had to knock out almost half the tile on the wall and all of the floor, so we had to design a tile scheme that looks complimentary. Given I don't like how light our old tile is (cream with very light tan marbling-tends to look peachy or pink in the wrong light), it was a challenge. But it would've been financially wasteful (about $1000 more in labor and tile) to redo the whole thing.

So, we are leaving the light cream on top, using a 6" border of 2x2 mixed color in brown-tone tiles in the middle, a marbled medium tan on the bottom and the same 2x2s as the border on the floor.

The side effects of remodel:
-Cats must be locked in a bedroom with their food and litterboxes all day while the contracter is there. He lets them out when he leaves for the day.

-Chris and I have to share a single sink and mirror in our other bathroom. I'm not sure I could adjust to that ever again after having two sinks and a big mirror for this long! It's driving me crazy.

I'm on a food kick

...and it shows. I need to stop the madness!

Apple pie: Made a crumb topped apple pie and it was the best apple pie evah! Didn't even use a fancy recipe-Just Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook, with pecans added to the crumb. I used our home grown apples that I'd held over in the crisper drawer from September harvest. I think those apples were the key.

Tastefully Simple: Was looking at buying some fall/winter items for myself and gifts, but holy hell have their prices gone up. I'm not buying an $8.00 box of pumpkin bread mix. I like it, but it's gone up $2.00 a box since three years ago. No way!

Smoked deviled eggs: Rumor has it they are good. I have no evidence, but would like to try them.

Speaking of cooking

I need to document this somewhere. For my BIL and FIL, I'm suggesting Nolay and I make giant food baskets. Ideas we've had, given our strengths and cooking appliances:

FROZEN:
Chicken tamales
Stuffed chicken breasts (not sure what they'll be stuffed with....probably prosciutto, sage and cheese)
Beef ravioli
Spinach and cheese tortellini
Gnocci
Spent grain (from brewing) bread loaves
A soup of some sort (That chicken and corn chowder on OT looks great, but not sure it would freeze well?)
Frozen cookie dough (anyone have tips on this? I've never done it)
OTHER:
Sun Dried Tomatoes I made this summer
????

Tuscan dinner

I'll be cooking a big Tuscan dinner for one set of in-laws (the foodie ones) on either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Potential dishes that reflect our dining experiences:

-Roasted veggies
-Roasted lamb or Wild boar (we'd just use regular pork unless I could wrangle up some wild boar)
-Tagliatelle with beef and tomatoes or Lamb ravioli or Shrimp spaghetti (using ground shrimp-surprisingly good) or Gnocci with cheese and tomato sauce. I'll likely pick two.
-Panna Cotta with blueberry red wine sauce

In other cooking news, I have a potluck party as my boss's house on Thursday. I'm making the crockpot butternut squash soup I love, and drizzling it with honey because Tummy told me to last year.

Things I miss

It's been almost two weeks that we've been gone. Sunday I start my conferences. :-(

So what do I miss about home/the U.S.?

Regular coffee. While lattes, cappucinos, caffe americanos are ok, I do miss sitting down with a full pot of coffee in the morning.

Eggs. For breakfast they generally have bread, butter, jam and coffee. Luckily a few places have also had yogurt. The good news is, there's almost always some kind of cake or cookie, and I love a country that has cake and cookies for breakfast. This morning we skipped breakfast at our seaside lodge, as we were traveling early to Genoa. We knew we'd be passing a McDonald's about 15 minutes into our trip and planned to stop in for breakfast. I was looking forward to something egg related. Instead, they had nothing of the sorts. Only pastries and various coffee items, and not staff working the counter in sight. Boo, maybe you should go whip these European McDonald's into shape.

Normal dinner hours. Eating at 8pm almost every night sucks.

Wash cloths. You get these giant towels-bigger than our hand towels. Handscrubbing my face doesn't get it fully clean, so I end up making a big mess with these giant towels that are similar to the "tea towel" material we use for some lightweight dishtowels in the U.S.

I know, wah, wah, wah. Miss you all!

Tick tock!

When preparing for a long trip, it's all the little things that take up too much time!

• Food. You don't want to waste food, and it's CSA season for us. I've still had to cook meals to use up things in the fridge, so no quickie frozen pizzas for us!
• Renting the international cell. It wasn't that hard, but it took a fair amount of time to research and understand things. We went with a company online that shipped the phone to us, so we are ready to go.
• GPS/maps. Downloading & plotting points. Still a thousand times better than printing off a bunch of maps.
• Leaving instructions for the cat sitter and making sure there's enough food, etc. for three weeks.

Today I have to figure out train reservations from Prato to Rome. Should be a fun lunch hour. Not.

Mushrooms

I love mushrooms. I mean really love them. So, my curiosity could not be quelled when a tremendous variety popped up in our back yard this fall. There were at least five different ones sprouting, generally near the woodlines.

I took photos and brought them inside to do some computer research. Bringing actual specimens in seemed like a bad idea, as my luck would be that touching certain ones would be deadly.

I quickly learned there is no such thing as easy mushroom identification. I took the one most promising and researched the heck out of it. The other I assumed was a puffball, and was right.

The Puffball

There are lots of tiny ones that went bad in the yard. For puffballs, if you don't get them at just the right time, they turn to spore dust inside and aren't edible. The one I had last night was baseball sized and perfect. Tasted a lot like a morel. They are solid white all the way through. Like slicing into a sturdy marshmallow. For big ones, you can grill slices and make them like personal pizzas. Mine was not that big.

Chanterelles

This was tough.

There are chanterelles,

false chanterelles (not poisionous, but not tasty nor particularly agreeable to some), and

jack-o-lanterns (poisonous, but not deadly) that all look similar.

The color did NOT look like a jack o lantern (more orange), but the "gills" did. The big problem is that chanterelles have "general" looks and growing behaviors, but there is a HUGE variety in looks and the growing behaviors are more "guidelines."

Once I was pretty sure it wasn't a jack-o-lantern, I decided to eat three and see what happened. No real issues. They could be false chanterelles, but they were really tasty. I don't think Chris was convinced.

Last night I went out and pick more, and quickly realized our woods are FULL of them. I tried six and no issues last night or today.

So, tomorrow night I'm picking more shrooms!

Less than two weeks to go

I had to buy a watch. I don't wear a watch, and hate the cheapo one that's gotten me through previous vacations. The face is hard to read. So, I took a leap on another cheap watch online that has a better face. As much as an atomic watch would've been cool for travel, the ones I looked at in my price range were quite ugly.

I also bought a sleep mask for the plane. Not sure it was a worthy investment, but at less than $10, I'm not sweating it. I have a scarf that will nicely convert to a blanket (bought for 1.98 on clearance last winter), a pillow and earplugs to help me sleep, so I should be set.

I have a Jodi Piccoult book and Caucasia to read on the trip. Figured a page turner like Piccoult would help pass the time.

We arrive in Amsterdam very early in the morning, so I plan to get off the plane and freshen up. Fro suggested accessibly packing my toothbrush and brush to clean up. I'm also packing some face wash wipes. I figure washing my face and putting on some basic makeup will make me feel better after the long flight.

The anxiety of traveling to Europe for the first time is starting to sink in.

ETA: Packed my toiletries and my plane bag last night. Realized I need handi wipes, a mini spray lysol (in case there is room odor) and sleep drugs. We are taking two backpacks as our carry-ons. With a stop in Detroit and Amsterdam before getting to Rome, we need things that are easy to carry, even though we'll be a fashion faux pas. One will be a laptop backpack, so at least it doesn't look like I'm a college student wandering Europe.

Trip to Italy

I wanted to start a travelogue of sorts for my October Italy trip. I'm starting with a map of where we'll be. Each marker contains a link to where we are staying. Three of the locations are countryside "agriturismos," each located on a working "farm." The farm may be a vinyard, olive grove, produce their own cheeses, grow fruits, etc.

We go from the airport in Rome (Fuimicino) in the following order:

Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink (not the most direct route, but we are vacationing before conference stops in Prato and Rome).


View Italy in October in a larger map

Looking forward to the weekend

Chris and I spent our anniversary in downtown Madison. We love downtown, it's just a pain to go there (wrong direction from home), park, etc. So, we decided to get a hotel room so we could walk and not worry about drinking and driving. Spent the cool (temperature) evening doing a little bar hopping and trying a new (to us...though I'd tried their food cart offerings) restaurant (costa rican food). Yummy! It's one of those tiny places in an old building, tucked away amongst a largely residential area. Only about 20 seats in the place-tiny. I think late Thursday was a good time to go!

This morning my boss said "stay out and enjoy breakfast-I don't want to see you before 10 a.m." Um, ok. We went to my favorite cupcake shop, which also serves fabulous food. It's in a location that is a real PITA to get to (are you sensing a pattern?), so after 8 am on a weekday was a great time to go. I have a leftover goat cheese and roasted veggie omelet, potatoes and fruit for lunch!

This weekend, we have only a few plans (and hell or high water, it will remain that way). Next weekend is our annual rib cookoff, so we'll be busy prepping the homestead. Lots of yard work and garage cleaning!

We are also picking up our Cannon Run winnings this weekend-yay! I have a feeling we should buy the bar a round when we pick it up. Probably kind of an expected thing to celebrate our good fortune.

My sobfest and more boring stuff

We had a really, really busy weekend. I carefully planned it so we'd have Monday at home to do some projects. I had a lot of fall planting to do (order from a seed catalog came in), canning, and some general cleaning (you may remember I was dedicated to getting those darn cabinet tops cleaned).

Well, BIL called Chris that morning and asked if we wanted to come over for dinner. The call came in right as I was prepping my OTCC entry for this week. I volunteered for OTCC this week because I knew I'd have time Monday night to take my time with dinner.

*cue record scratch and music stop*

Chris said "ok!" to the invitation. They live 45 minutes away, so this would be a significant time suck, and we'd been on the road all weekend. I broke down in tears and sobbed on and off for about an hour. I was angry and sad. Sometimes little things will be the straw.

So, my OTCC recipe became a rushed lunch, which means it isn't my finest work and there are few photos.

In other news, we got a really weird gift bag from MIL for our 10 year anniversary (which is tomorrow). Contents:

• Two used "sauce dishes" still marked with the .50 price tag.
  
• A 1991 published "Home Swapping" vacation book
  
• Speed Racer children's party napkins


• A "Special Olympics Torch Run sponsored by Carquest" hat for Chris


• A homemade vest for me. *blink blink*
  

I brought the vest to work so my coworkers could laugh. Thanks to a webcam, so can you:

Weekend stuff

I thought I'd get the call about my prize details, but didn't. They said "about a week" last Saturday. Hopefully soon!

I bought three new bras. Why does the color of bras get more boring as size goes up? The A and B cups...cute colors. C and D cups? Not so much. I ended up with a beige, brown and a black one. This problem is compouded by the fact that I hate lined bras. The extra padding just doesn't make me feel as "secure" and they take up too much room in storage. And measuring you for bra size is ridiculous, because all bras fit so differently. I tried on the same size bras from the same manufacturers, just different styles. Only one fit. The other two I needed in TWO different sizes. Grr.

I was hoping to get some projects done yesterday around the house. I did get mums planted, but otherwise it was just "keeping up" stuff. I baked blueberry muffins, watered my very dry flower beds and lawn, swept floors, washed rugs, did dishes and laundry. We did watch a movie (Couples Retreat), too, so perhaps that's why I didn't get what I wanted done.

This weekend we have Friday and Monday off work. Thursday night we are going to MIL's and coming back Saturday late afternoon. Sunday in the afternoon we have a party 1.5 hours away at a friend's house. I haven't seen her in years, so I'm making the time to go. Monday is my project day. I WILL get above my kitchen cabinets dusted/degreased/decat-fured.

More good news and Italy

More good news! Our bathroom estimate came in at MUCH less than we thought. I was a little depressed that we'd have to spend almost $3000 of our winnings on it. It came in at $1200 plus the cost of tile. Woohoo!

We've just extended our Italy trip by a few days. The tentative plan is to do two nights in Siena, three nights in Lucca (countryside, on a winery in rustic lodging...maybe this one), then hit the coastal five hillside cities in Cinque Terre for a few days. After that, it's off to my preconference in Prato and then down to Rome for the actual conference for a week. When we are in Prato we'll visit Florence. Not sure if We'll hit the other major tourist cities such as Venice and Pisa. Don't want to cram too much in and make it stressful.

I've never been to Europe, so this is exciting!

We won $10,000. No really, we did.

For those of you on FB, or those of you who want a little more info, here it is.

So we did this Cannon Run thing this summer for the first time. http://www.cannonrunroute66.com/ Kind of this poker run thing. I talked about what a great summer it's been, traveling around Wisconsin (and a little of Illinois) in this blog previously. Well, it all paid off. Today was the "end of season" party where all the winners are drawn. We sat through two hours of cash drawings and other stuff (trophies for best campsite, best bike, etc.). At the start of the two hours, they drew four tickets, and held those as the four grand prize winners (two first grand prize, two second grand prize). So they announced the two first grand prize winners, and we packed up our camp chairs. It was almost time to go. Two numbers left.

XXXX.

Chris nodded along as they called the number. They called my name. Holy.sh!t.

We won $10,000 towards a motorcycle purchase OR $8,000 cash with $2,000 donated to a charity of our choice. No sh!t.

I ran along the crowd, getting high fives as I went up to the stage. Had Chris and our friend not been in shock, we might have photos. But, thanks to the new camera, you have an after shot.

We just got back from our local bar, where we bought everyone a round. We have about $5K in a home repair to do (see last few posts) and Chris's ticket to Italy to buy. Woot! This is amazing.

We have a week to sort out all the details. I'm hoping to donate the $2,000 to a worthy Susan G. Komen 3 Day walker who needs it (*coughbreezyorhersistercough*) but I'm not entirely sure how it works out. Stay tuned until next week for that.

In other news, perhaps I need a crotch purse, as pictured here:

Now, dance with me. Seriously, we've never won anything between the two of us worth mentioning. This feels amazing.

Camera

After deciding we didn't need to buy a new dishwasher (although we haven't actually installed the new handle yet. Worst case scenario, we call the Maytag store to send help and pay for an hour of labor), we took the new camera plunge.

We had a really old Sony Cybershot that was ok quality for the time, but technology quickly advanced. I can borrow the nice work camera for fancier stuff, if needed, so we needed a new pocket sized point and shoot. We have no brand loyalty, just wanted good photo quality in enlarged photos, ability to zoom in as much as possible, long battery life, etc. I liked the idea of supporting a U.S. company, though wasn't 100% committed to that.

We ended up with the Kodak M580. Kind of cool "easyshare" features that will let you skip a few steps to upload directly to Facebook, etc. Should arrive tomorrow or Saturday, so my bloggy and FB friends will be regaled with many photos in the near future.

Things that suck

• Spending money on home repairs
• Sugarland's remake of "Life in a Northern Town"
• Having to work when there's so much to do at home that's more fun
• Getting a $100 ticket for running a red light during our visit to Chicago for the 3 Day (came in the mail...apparently I did not notice the "no right turn on red" sign at the intersection and it was caught on camera. Guess I missed that as I was trying to navigate an unknown area of Chicago during rush hour. Grr.)
• Husband's that know you asked a question, but for whatever reason, don't answer you.

What sucks in your life right now?

3 Day

What a great 3 Day! It was the best weather yet! Doing it with great friends who had just survived breast cancer in the last 12 months was emotional. It was August, 2009 she was officially diagnosed.

Thursday: Crew Day
Mark and Chris had to attend Crew Day to train for their crew jobs, so we went to Chicago on Thursday. Melanie and I did exciting things like buy her a water bottle, sit at Panera and eat snacks (I was good and had a low fat muffie), and found a LUSH at the mall. Woohoo! We filled up on a few goodies for Monday pampering. She is one of those people I've turned into a LUSH cult member.

We tried to go to Lou Malnatti's for pizza, but didn't realize the locations nearest the hotel were only carryout. Boo! Wish their GPS location name would've been labeled "Lou Malnatti's Carryout." Ended up just swinging into a bbq joint that was very average.

Friday: Day 1 (22 miles)
The boys had to be out the hotel door at 4 a.m. at the latest to set up hydration for opening ceremonies. We arrived around 5:30 a.m. We got our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie Mouse, all dressed in pink, and wrote our "hopes for the weekend" on a wall. Manning the wall was our Komen pit stop Staffer from Boston in 2008. We said our hellos. I saw a few other familiar crew members from past Chicago walks, including the lady that made us mad last year by giving us wrong luggage drop instructions. :-)


The boys got to stand with us at opening ceremony. I think it was pretty emotional for everyone. The walk route was great-same as last year (and MUCH better than the first year with Boo-that route sucked). It was fun knowing what to expect.

Mr. January, one of the 60 mile men http://www.60milemen.org/ (and the guy who runs the calender), had lunch with us. He's from Michigan and had done some training walks with Breezy's group. We also walked a bit together and it was nice to hear his experiences walking different cities and doing the calendar.

We were able to tell the boys when we expected to clock in at the day's finish line via phone. They were waiting to cheer us in. That was very cool! They had our tents and bedding set up, which is such a treat, if you've ever walked 20ish miles then had to set up camp (*looks at Breezy and Boo).

Melanie and I had matching side-0f-heel blisters on day one. We ate our dinner of steak, potatoes, salad, rolls and apple pie, showered (new shower trucks which at least had a private changing area this time!), dressed our blisters and listened to 3 Day idol. Breezy-the "Wanted dead or alive" soldier guy was there again and did it! He was great. He has a song online that is being sold on iTunes to raise money for the 3 Day: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/soldier-in-pink-single/id354879325. You can also find him on You Tube doing a performance at 3 Day camp (I think we missed this last year, Breezy!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbQYLkRLGXA

Saturday: Day 2 (20 miles)
My favorite day of the Chicago 3 Day! We walk through some great communities, but Mount Prospect takes the cake. It's the one where officers wear pink shirts, they have extra officers out for photo ops, the Fire Dept. is in pink welcoming us, community members sit in the yard and have "3 Day parties" (one had a sno cone machine for us this year!), they raise money, have a squad car with pink letters, and then travel into Chicago to "surprise" us at the end of a pedestrian tunnel on Day 3! The even come to camp and visit with us Saturday night. The hot officer did a tent rolling demo and it was nice. :-)

A few new blisters on Saturday, but they were pretty minor. We both had our heel blisters drained in medical at lunch (you can barf now) and Melanie was sad she didn't get a picture to scrapbook of that event.

That afternoon we got to see Frodis and co.! They got to the cheering station right when we did. Perfecto! The kiddos are growing! We dined on fruit and sat for a bit. Lauren sang Lady Antebellum for me (*snort*) and Jeff inhaled grapes. I said to Melanie after we left, "See, my online friends aren't weirdos." She completely agreed and said Fro was "very normal." LOL! Good thing she didn't meet Carey first, huh? :-) Thank you so much for coming out and bringing treats, Fro!!!

We called the boys and asked them to bring our flip flops to the "finish line" for Day 2. The tents are a long ways away. We were about .5 miles from the finish and we see them driving along the road in their Mule (like a gator utility vehicle), delivering water to route safety. Great-flip flops early! Not for me, though. Chris couldn't find mine that he'd stuck in the Mule earlier! We feared they'd fallen out. Boohiss!

That night we relaxed around camp more. Some Candy Coburn singer (official "spokescelebrity" for Susan G. Komen) performed that night and then there was a dance party. We opted to hang with the boys for a bit and go to bed.

Sunday: Day 3 (18 miles)
We were lucky to have cloud cover all morning, because the temps were soaring towards the 90s. Breezy-everyone was talking about how hot that part of the route was last year! Right before lunch it started to rain. We had a wet lunch and I developed two new pinky toe blisters (I think I was compensating for my heel blisters by putting weight more on my toes). This meant I'd be hobbling the second half of the day. It was still rainy and windy after lunch, but with about six miles to go, it cleared up and got SUPER HOT!

We listened to Lollapalooza in the background that afternoon and headed to the finish line again at Soldier Field, where lots of family and "3 Day alumni" were there cheering us on. Our boys, along with hundreds of crew and walkers were cheering people into the holding area, and my tears started. It was emotional. I think a few trickled also when we cheered the last walkers in. Melanie opted NOT to walk into closing with the survivors. She a) didn't want to put on the pink long sleeved tshirt and b) didn't want to be the center of attention and c) wanted to be by me. It was still very emotional.

If you want a peak at what a 3 Day closing looks like from above, here's a clip from last year (Breezy and I are somewhere to the middle left in that part!): http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=6956095


The boys had an amazing time crewing. If the 3 Day comes to a city near you-CREW! It costs you only the registration fee of $90 (let me know if you want a half off discount code...I'll let you know when I get one in my email) and you'll have an amazing weekend! You'll run low on sleep, but you can get assignments that match your desired activity level (e.g., can't lift? You might check people in and out, man the "info" table, etc.). Can't do the three days? You can be a volunteer! They are often done in shorter stints (e.g., Volunteers take over crew duties at noon on Sunday, so the crew can fully be part of closing ceremonies). Can't do any of those things? Get out to a cheering station...Frodis will tell you what a rewarding experience that can be from the spectator standpoint.

Thanks for all the support through the years. You all are so special. Now go give yourself a self-exam and if applicable, make sure you are current on your mammogram schedule!

OTCC

Hm. I have three options for OTCC for Sept. 10th:
-Grilled chicken with homemade balsamic bbq sauce
-Cold orzo pasta salad with grilled veggies (vegetarian dish)
-Grilled chicken or pork sate

What sounds best to YOU? Which one would you want to make?

The busy weekend that wasn't so busy

We had two invitations for the weekend: my 15 year class reunion and a group camping trip. We chose neither.

Looking at the photos on Facebook of my class reunion, can't say I have any regrets. There are some people I'd enjoy seeing, but I couldn't rationalize a whole day of small talk with those I don't really care to spend time with. The "event" was a family picnic. Me not being a big kid person, wasn't too excited about that. In the evening, there was an informal gathering at a local bar. Haven't heard how that went.

Instead, we took Friday off (a furlough day for Chris) and went to Galena, IL. It was a nice little road trip. Lots of cute stores. A "charming" little town. Their new brewpub, which wasn't supposed to be open yet, had just opened the day before. It's like they KNEW we were coming. Unfortunately they only had two beers on tap and they weren't that good.

Saturday we went boating with Chris's brother and had a really good time. It was perfect weather.

Sunday we had lots to do at home. I made some refrigerator pickles (even though I dislike pickles, generally), froze carrots, made Karchita's OTCC recipe, did lots of laundry, did the weed trimming, swept the patio and packed for the 3 Day. Oh, we also watched Madagascar 2. Made me giggle.

So, I guess it was busy, but there was also a lot of relaxing.

Blabbering just to update.

Egads, my basement and garage need cleaning. I think I can get all the other major cleaning projects (cabinets and closets) done on weekends or days off with (reasonably) no problem, but the garage and basement are another story. I need to sort and toss/donate a fair amount of stuff. It's just time to part with some things.

I've asked for a computer program to be installed on my new work computer at least three times over the last two months. I really don't want to be a beyotch about it, but my patience is wearing thin.

I have also asked twice for a lock to be installed on a cabinet drawer. It hasn't been done. I'm getting a complex. This is what I get for being the nice one, I guess.

Musings on the Weekend and My Summer

As you may have seen on my Facebook page, we went on a last minute camping trip this weekend. We weren't planning to eat at the site, or even hang out there much (we had day trips planned), so it was pretty bare bones packing. We worked 8-12 on Friday, then took off. I hate being in a rush to pack up and get to work. It's why we almost NEVER leave for any trip right after work. I like the morning to pack, double check, without being stressed.

On the way north, I realized we forgot pillows. That was ok, we could stop and buy cheap pillows.

After the tent was up, we went to grab our clothes and toiletry bags and put them in the tent. Hm. No bags. They were sitting at home, 3 hours away, on our bed. $120 later, we had pillows, clothes, towels, and toiletries. I couldn't really do my hair all weekend, and had no hat. I had to air dry the hair, so I think I may have looked like an unkempt crazy lady for much of the weekend. I did buy a Mr. Owl Tootsie Pop t-shirt because I was in a giggly mood when shopping.

Of note, we also ate here:
http://www.milwaukeeburgercompany.com/page/show/76334-menu

You should really click on the menu pdf and read it. You could order a basket of bacon as an appetizer, or even 1.5" x 1.5" cubes of fried cheese. They were huge.

Summer has been great. I've been taking a day off/week to get my homework done. Then I can spend more time with Chris on the weekends. We've had tons of little road trips around WI, exploring parts of the state we've never been. One of my more memorable summers in recent history.

Two updates in a week!

Try to contain your excitement at my SECOND post of the week.

My energy has picked up a bit since Monday, thank goodness. I bought new walking shoes, so that helped. I needed to buy a second pair for the walk. My Eccos are $130 shoes and I can't afford TWO of those, plus having two different pair is nice over the three days so the rub on your foot changes. I need this style, as traditional shoes don't work well for me on the 3 Day. I know I'll get blisters, and getting feet into tennis shoes when you have blisters SUCKS! So, I bought a pair of Teva Tirras:

It's like walking on gummy bears, to coin one reviewer's comments. :-) Did 3 miles in them last night and they were great.

Speaking of that walk, Chris has finally caved into walking with me. We had a nice walk through town. Less bugs in town and safer than out by us in the country. He said he'd like to walk at least twice a week. Yay! Company!

I was naughty and made chili dogs for dinner last night. I had hot dogs in the freezer, as I keep a pack around in the summer for last minute parties on the patio. It's good kid filler. Well, I hauled those out yesterday and had a container of leftover chili in the freezer, too. Just add cheap buns and a simple lettuce salad and dinner was done.

Tonight, a thawed package of smoked pulled pork I had vacuum sealed in the freezer. No muss, no fuss.

This means I actually have to cook something on Friday night. Or, make a frozen pizza. :-)

What the hell was that?

Yesterday (Monday) I experienced a lack of focus like I haven't seen in a long time. We were running all weekend long, and had Monday off work, so it was our first day home over the long weekend. And it was raining all day. I woke up at 8 and:
1) tidied up the counter
2) did a load of laundry
3) unloaded the dishwasher
4) skipped breakfast in a sort of defiance...nobody (read: Chris) ever says "What should we have for breakfast" or makes coffee. So I didn't even mention it. And of course, nobody offered.
5) watched a 30 minute travel show.
6) tried to read the paper and couldn't focus.
7) went to grocery store for milk and pizza sauce.
8) made homemade pizza.
9) pulled a couple of weeds and wandered around outside, looking at the flowers and veggies between sprinkles. When I say a couple of weeds, I literally mean like six.
10) tried to nap, but my dad stopped over for a few minutes.
11) wandered around the house with no focus. Considered reading book. Decided not to.
12) sat in front of afternoon tv, not really absorbing anything.
13) made steaks and sauteed escarole for dinner. Made Nolay season steaks as it was too much thinking for me. I mean, I thought of the escarole thing, wasn't that taxing enough?
14) sat in front of evening tv, not really absorbing anything. Considered going on the basement treadmill. Didn't.
15) turned on computer thinking about watching something on hulu. Didn't find anything interesting. Chris asked if I wanted to watch Invictus. I didn't.
16) sat in front of night tv, not really absorbing anything.
17) painted my toenails.
18) thankfully, went to bed.

Reading list

As I have mentioned, I don't often buy NEW books to read. Thus, I'm generally about 2-7 years behind the rest of the readers. Right now I have the following to read:

Look me in the Eye by John Elder Robinson
http://www.amazon.com/Look-Me-Eye-Life-Aspergers/dp/0307396185/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277401217&sr=1-1

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
http://www.amazon.com/Bean-Trees-Novel-P-S/dp/0061765228/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277401263&sr=1-1

Caucasia by Danzy Senna
http://www.amazon.com/Caucasia-Novel-Danzy-Senna/dp/1573227161/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277401291&sr=1-1

and a few others I can't think of off the top of my head.

I just started Look Me in the Eye...it's written by a man who grew up with Asperger's and about his experiences growing up with Asperger's. He's the brother of writer Augusten Burroughs (wrote Running with Scissors). I read Running with Scissors a few years ago and enjoyed it, though it was quite gritty. Anyway, in the first three chapters I'm already seeing so much in common with my nephew. Anyone with friends or relatives with Asperger's should read this to gain a little insight, while enjoying a well-writen story.

Oh, and I just read Shopgirl by Steve Martin. Yes, that Steve Martin. It was a quick, fluffy read, but enjoyable.

Great weekend, so tired

We had a great time at the Zane Lamprey show on Saturday (pic is courtesy of a Facebook update by Zane).

We stayed two blocks from the venue at an Aloft hotel. It was certainly a different hotel experience than usual. It's kind of a young, hip club atmosphere. They had Bliss shower/bath products, which I appreciated.

On our way to Milwaukee, we stopped at a bar that's on our Cannon Run route (the one were we hit 74 bars in a summer...a poker run kind of thing with prizes at the end of the season). We were having lunch and couldn't decide what to get, so we took the tip on our Cannon Run card and shared a basket of chicken tenders. They were GIANT. They cut approximately two hunks of chicken right from the breast and batter them in a light, crispy fish-fry like batter. They were so yummy.

When in Milwaukee, we went to our favorite brewery, hit a new distillery, and then went back to the room for a nap before heading out for the evening. Oh, on the way we took pics of me and Zane's tour buses. I'll have to post when we download from the camera phone.

A bar was having a pre-show party, and we've been wanting to try that bar (see my previous post). Well, we decided to scrap it since we'd have to again pay $10 to leave the parking ramp and return. Our hotel was in a great part of town with plenty to do, so we hit the bars there. Well, come to find out, had we hit that bar earlier in the day, Zane & Co. were there filming for their tv show. Booooo! I did get a cool moment though, we saw them pull up to their tour buses and get out as we were heading to dinner. I had a restrained fan girl moment and just stared.

At the show, we were right in the front, at a two person table on the side. We had a semi-blocked view of a screen that was part of the show, but it was worth it not to be cramed into rows with everyone else. Before they started, I hit the merchandise table to buy his book. Turns out, if you bought a book there, you got it signed for free after the show AND a photo op with the guys. Trick is, it's their photographer, so I'll have to buy the pic when it's posted later today. It was fun to meet the guys in person, particularly because we were all drunk (including them), but not sloppy drunk.

Now, let me tell you about Steve McKenna.

This is Steve and a fan at Milwaukee's Bomb Shelter Bar. The beard is a new thing for the tour. Nobody can explain it.

Steve and Zane met in acting school in New York. They became drinking buddies. Zane went on to make tv shows, Steve bought a successful mini-mart. LOL! Steve would often make guest appearances on Three Sheets, as he is a drinking fool. Nobody out-drinks Steve McKenna. So Zane brings Steve McKenna on tour with them. It's a comedy tour, but they are also filming a series for HD Net about drinking across America. Steve's purpose really seems to drink a lot of beer and partake in local eating customs. In Madison, he and a crew member had a fried cheese curd eating contest. Steve won. Steve is on stage during the comedy show for about 15 minutes, where his main activity is slaming a giant mug of five beers.

I have decided Steve McKenna is the smartest man alive. He gets a buddy to take him across America, for the sole purpose of drinking and eating. Rock on, Steve McKenna.

Two for Wednesday?

Ok, so there's no clever rhyme.

1. I'm soooo excited to see Zane Lamprey this weekend! http://www.zanelamprey.com/
Turns out a Milwaukee bar I've been wanting to visit is having a pre-show bbq. It's a real working mans bar in the wrong part of town, but has the best beer selection in Milwaukee, plus a lot of cheapie beers and pickled products. Should be eventful.

2. I have to go to a retirement party tonight for one of Chris's coworkers. Probably more time than I want to spend with Chris's coworkers, but I like the guy and well, I love my husband, so I need to go. Unfortunately Chris has planned the party, so he'll need to stay for the whole thing. It's going to be a long night.

Good Things

I prefer to think of the Bodean's song, not Martha Stewart when I say "Good Things." There have been some crappy things lately (nothing earth-shattering, just the crappy stuff that makes you grumble), so I thought I'd remind myself of the good.

1. It's been a warm spring, with a lot of rain. This is good because everything is growing like crazy. Plants that normally don't bloom until late June are gorgeous right now. I also love my lettuce pots. I just sprinkled seeds in the pot (1/3 of a package per pot) of soil, covered for a few days with a plastic bag, and voila! Two weeks later I had a filled pot!

2. The hammock was finally hung. This was the hammock we brought back from Guatemala two years ago. It was a PITA to get back, so it's a shame it took so long to enjoy it. We should've moved the pole out another foot. Ooops. Oh well, it's nice to read it since you are folded up a big more instead of stretched out flat.

3. We are going "convertible camping" this Saturday night on the Mississippi River. This means everything we need must fit in 2'x3' "trunk" and small compartments behind the two seats. A small tent and the air mattress will take up most of the "trunk." Flashlights, clothes and blankets will hopefully fit behind our seats. Eeek. We aren't cooking at the campsite, just sleeping there.

4. I'm off work today to focus on homework. I'm very thankful I have a job with just over four weeks of paid time off per year beyond holidays. Even if I also have 8 days of furlough each year for two years. I don't think I could do school and work without at least a few weeks of vacation each year.

I went out to take pictures of flowers and the hammock to add to this post, and I found a mess on the deck. I accidentally forgot to bring the foil pan in from my smoked beer can chicken on Tuesday night. There was a pool of beer, chicken juice and wood chips on the bottom. Some animal was hungry. The cats must have been freaked, as they love to sit in the room that has a clear view of the deck.

I remembered that Boo was curious about my rock stealing. Here are two of the bigger rocks we nabbed. I still need the orange one to be bigger to hide the downspout adequately. If you are just above eye level with the rock, it hides it, but as you can see, not from above.

Only my husband...

I took the day off last Thursday to do homework before our long camping weekend. That's the thing about many online courses...the coursework is pretty dependent on an internet connection.

Chris called me around noon. He was at the courthouse in Madison for work and had gone through the x-ray scanner, as required. He was rushing to get into the elevator with a group of people and shoving items back in his pocket. Including the convertible key (the convertible was back at his office...top and windows down). You see where this is going, right? The key tumbled to the ground, just as he was crossing the elevator opening. He went to grab it, but there were too many people in the way and it fell in the crack, down the elevator shaft.

It's our only key (guy we bought it from only had one). We'd been talking about needing to get one made just a few weeks ago.

He found a maintenance worker, and they found the basement door to the elevator shaft. But nobody had the key. Only the supervisor who was off for vacation for a week and the elevator company out of Minnesota.

So Chris goes to the Toyota dealership two blocks from his office. We can't simply get a second key cut that matches the first. We need to have the whole thing reprogrammed and get a new key (of course we'd get two). Cost? About $300. They could at least get the windows up for us without the key.

Instead of waiting around to see if somebody could retrieve the key the following week from the elevator, Chris decided we needed the second key anyway, so had the two keys cut. It took four hours because they kept running into snags. And yeah, Toyota dealership shop rates? $110/hour. Luckily, they only charged us as quoted, because I was ready to make a big ol stink.

So between the key and some cosmetic work on the bumper Chris had done in May, the convertible cost us almost $1000 last month.

The courthouse called him yesterday and has his key ready to pick up. You know, the one that no longer works in the car.

Rhubarb Recipe

Made a new rhubarb recipe this weekend and it was VERY good. Thought my bloggy friends might like it:

http://sweetmary.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/04/rhubarb-oatmeal-bars.html

Furlough Friday & weekend

Another Furlough Friday is upon us. Tomorrow I'll be riding into Madison with Chris (who has to work), taking the car in for an oil change, then studying at the library. In the afternoon, Chris is taking off work and we are meeting friends to hang out downtown. Should be fun!

Saturday I think we are doing a river cleanup in the morning (the bar across the road is organizing it), then planting the garden in the afternoon.

More studying Sunday, while Chris is going to be an extra in a local beer commercial!

To do lists

Work
Edit manuscript and resubmit because the first author is a P.O.S. and won't do it.
Massively revise a training program
Develop a reference manual for group homes from scratch
Write committee annual report

Home
Clean floors
Plant garden
Pull weeds

School
Read 1 chapter and two articles
Write short paper

TV
Watch LOST
Watch Modern Family
Watch Flash Forward

Now that a lot of shows are wrapping up for the season, I think I'll feel better about getting that time back. Because having a TV to-do list sucks.

Diet starting

I've gained far too much weight over the last 18 months. Pants are getting too tight. So, it's time. I'm on a work trip now, so the timing is horrible. I'm actually iritated that we keep going out to eat and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere. I've at least been mostly good at meals. No booze, no apps or dessert, red sauces, whole wheat, etc. I even avoided french onion soup at lunch today, which is my favorite.

Wish me luck. If I can slowly lose 10 lbs over the next few months, I'll be happy.

MIL visit play-by-play

MIL called yesterday to say she'd be at our place around 5 pm, on the way home from her vacation out west. Surprise! We had plans last night to watch niece play softball last night and go out with her family for pizza. So, we only chatted for about 45 minutes her whole visit, as we didn't get home until 9 p.m. I think Chris only said about five sentences to her. He just cannot tolerate her visits anymore. Let's do a play-by-play to understand why:

We pull in to garage, exit car with hands full of misc. items. She's on our heels, as is the dog.

MIL: Oh, you're home safe. Yeah, I had a real good trip. The tents are out drying. I'll pack them up tomorrow. I took Levi for a walk. Sure is lovely out! You have so many remotes so I just read a book and was about ready to go to bed. You are so late getting home!
Me: Ack, the doors are open! The cats didn't get out did they?
MIL: I got your mail, it's on the table. Levi has plenty of food and water so he's fine.

I notice the house smells like LP. Notice the stove knob is ajar. Turn on fan and vent windows.

MIL: I had a cold salad for dinner and didn't use the stove. I left a California orange for you in the fruit basket and some dried fruit in your cupboard. I have some other food in the fridge from my cooler. I ate hard boiled egg and ham sandwiches in the Motel 6 room every day on the road. I brought you some wine. I know you don't like Oakey wines, so the man said this would be good. He wants me to write to him and let him know if you like it. I met such wonderful people along the way. People were real happy to see me and just loved Levi. And I got my oil changed in California. That was more expensive than I thought.
Chris: How much was it?
MIL: $230
Chris: Whaaaat?
MIL: Yeah, they had to replace the oil filter. It was the original.
Chris: I guarantee that wasn't the original oil filter.
MIL: They said it. Smith's never replaced it (the place she usually gets it done). They said it could do real damage to my car. Yeah, they're just real expensive in California.
Chris: Do you have the bill? I'd like to see it?
MIL: Yes, here it is. California is just much more expensive than here.
Chris: They replaced the fuel filter, mom, not just the oil filter. You would've been fine waiting on that.

I tried to explain the fuel filter and oil filter are different. I think she's ignoring me.

MIL: Oh well. They took real good care of me.
Chris: Mom, they took advantage of you.
MIL: Let's open the wine-I really want to try it.
Me: Um, ok. That's really light.
MIL: That IS really good, isn't it? Delicious! I'll be sure to tell him you really liked it.

I know I never said I liked it. Chris plays Mafia Wars and ignores her.

MIL: Oh, and the latern you gave me (we bought an LED lantern for her for her birthday so she could use it camping on her trip) didn't work. I put four batteries in it, two new and two used. It wouldn't work, so you can have it back. I can't use it.

Can we use this line when she gives us crap?

MIL: And yes, all the tornados in the south! Did you hear about the one man that went under a communion table and God saved him?
Me and Chris: Surely is wasn't that it's a heavy object and that's what you are supposed to go under.

At that point, we went to bed.

I feel like I should write something

I really don't have much interesting to say right now, but it's time for an update.

1. I'm in the home stretch of classes for the semester. Undergoing a few more revisions to my thesis/grant proposal and starting my last "regular" class the first week of May. I have another "portfolio" class this summer, but it's kind of an oddball. Then I'll be done! Just three more months!


2. The weather is pretty good in WI for this time of year. We've had a few days in the 80s this month. We could use a little bit of rain this week, but none is in sight. Temps seem to be settling in around the low 60s right now.


3. I'm starting to pack away my winter clothes and haul out the summer. It's that odd time of year where you still need some of both seasons.


4. I have a piece of furniture from FIL to bring in the house today and find a spot for it. I'm not even entirely sure what it is. Part cabinet, part display case..I have only seen it in the back of the Jeep in the dark, as Chris and FIL loaded it yesterday. Added pic:


5. We finally bought a GPS unit. I know, just when everyone is using cell plans with GPS type services, we dive into a Garmin. That's us, about five years behind the technology curve.


6. My favorite TV host, Zane Lamprey of Three Sheets (a drinking/travel show) is on tour. We have seats to his Milwaukee show this summer. I read about it when I was in Milwaukee for work last week, and didn't check the whole tour schedule before I bought tickets to his Milwaukee show. Turns out, he's in Madison the day before. Doh!


7. I moved offices at work voluntarily. I'm giving up the 25% of my job that's in the research admin office and just focusing on my boss's research. Thus, I decided to move my office out of our research admin area, which meant giving up my window. I found a coworker that was a nice "fit" with research admin, even though she's under a different area (kind of a "partner" unit), who really wanted a window. She has a great carpeted office with really nice, expansive wood cabinets and desk. Thus, we switched last week and everyone is happy.

That's all I've got.

Rewards programs

I would just like to share how much I hate rewards programs that have no "membership" card, and rather track your points by having you register credit cards/debit cards with them. JC Penny and Skymiles Dining are the two I've used. In the last few years, we have gone to usually using cash for most of our dining and clothing purchases, so there's no way (maybe there is, but I don' t have the desire to jump through the hoops of finding out) to continue to earn points unless I use a credit/debit card. Grrr.

Sure, I could use the card, then immediately put the cash back into the bank, but jeepers, that's a PITA.

Italy

I'm so excited to be in the process of planning our trip to Italy in October. I have a two day conference in Prato, which is the Tuscany region. Then it's off to Rome for a three day conference. We are going a week early to stay in a different area of Tuscany, then heading to Prato for the first conference, then to Rome for the remainder of the trip.

The thing about Europe is that getting there is the most expensive part. I'm finding some wonderful accomodations and day tours that are reasonably priced.

Here is where we'll be staying for our few days in Prato:
http://www.accademiaresidence.it/apartment6.html

I came out of the closet

Or rather, Chris outed me. As an atheist. To his uber-religious, retired pastor MIL. On Easter weekend.

*rubs temples*

Well now I feel bad.

I may have grumbled about a committee I'm on before. I'm the chair this year (after last year's chair did nada), and there are four members. I can count on only one other member to regularly show up at meetings and help out. Another member, we'll call her Wilma, is semi-reliable. She'll take on a project, but is constantly in "exasperated" and "hurried" mode, so is present only at about 75% of meeting and is kind of spacy on communication. Other than Ms. Reliable, the other members are clinical instructors, so spend most of their time off campus and I rarely see them.

So a few weeks ago, Ms. Reliable was having surgery, but we were having a meeting. I was the only one that showed up for the meeting, despite me sending out the agenda with questions a few days beforehand. Nobody responded.

I sent out a message a few days after the meeting, saying we had an event coming up and I needed their input on the attached agenda. Nobody reponded but Ms. Reliable. Kind of strange "Wilma" hadn't responded to any of the messages. At least she responds to half of my messages usually.Today I found out "Wilma" was in a terrible car accident and broke her pelvis a few weeks ago. Now I feel bad that I was grumbling about her, as it may have even happened on the way to our meeting where nobody showed up. Can you even imagine having a broken pelvis?!

Haircut

I think I'm getting a haircut today. It's about a billion months past due. I hate going to get my haircut. Hate.it. I can't even explain why. Fancy salon, cheap salon, it doesn't matter. I still hate it.

In other news, it's spring break on campus, so it's quiet around work. Students are gone, professors are still on contract, but many of them take off anyway. My boss is in Australia, my coworker across the hall is off with her son who is on spring break from elementary school. My coworker next door called in sick. How this will impact my day:

• I'm having tea rather than coffee. Didn't want to make a pot when it's just me here.
• I might take off early for my haircut.
• I might go out to lunch with Nolay.

Food centric post

I'm going to make a grocery list in a few minutes to purchase stuff for OTCC. I'll be making the stuffed peppers and the chicken saltimbucca this weekend. Both seemed a bit complex to throw together when I get home weeknights at 6 pm.

I was out of town for a few days for work, and ate at a restaurant owned by a Top Chef Master's-Season 2 contender. He co-owns and is the head chef of Spiaggia in Chicago, where the Obama's dined on a November date-night (their first date since post-election in 2009). Well, I did not dine at Spiaggia, but at their Kenosha restaurant called Mangia. It is less high-end than Spiaggia, but still very nice. And very delicious. I have leftovers for lunch today of the Oricchiette con salsiccia (pasta with lamb sausage, broccolini, goat cheese and chilies). *slurp*

I also indulged in a little Kringle. If you've only tried the stuff from the grocery store, you are missing out. The real stuff from the skilled Danish pastry makers is so much flakier and buttery. Yummmmmmm.

Girls weekend/Man weekend

Four days of basketball and scratchy, tabacco chewing, beer swilling boys. Would you:
1) Find something else to do
or,
2) Find something else to do ?


I knew if I stuck around the whole weekend, I'd spend most of my time cleaning and serving up food. Thus, I planned to make Saturday and Sunday a.m. my annual "girls weekend" with old high school friends. Two evenings with constant basketball and messy boys was enough for me.

I met the girls at Starbucks, then went out to lunch, then went for a marathon five hours of shopping at the outlet mall. I tried to hang out with them in the children's clothing stores, but after store #1, I couldn't do it anymore.

We ate too much for lunch, so skipped dinner. Swell idea, eh? We proceeded to drink two bottles of wine at the hotel between three of us and a non-alcoholic one for my preggo friend. Then it was time to go out on the town. One of our friends got a lot of immediate attention from boys (and one sad, Jack Sparrowish middle aged man). One boy thought we were in our mid twenties. I loved him.

We hung out at a karyoke bar. It was fun, and we had lots of great pictures (I had no camera, so don't ask for pics). All the bachelorettes that came in looked so, so young.

We partied like rock stars until 2 a.m. Yikes!

Chris and I are both drank out. His birthday is tomorrow and I don't think we're doing anything. We'll probably delay celebration.

I'm a dumbass

I'm enrolled for only four credits this semester (two 2 credit classes). That is less than my usual 5-7 credits per semester (which is also two classes, it's just how the credit load worked out this time). Stupid me didn't realize this would drop me below the "part time" credit load required for my undergrad student loans to be in forebearance. Argh. In May, I'm back to above 5 credits. Sigh. There's $258 a month we hadn't planned for this spring.

New bed

I mentioned about a month ago that we purchased a new mattress and bed. We scaled up and went king sized. The bed is not in yet, but the mattresses are. We have a lot of guests coming for the NCAA tournament, so we want as many beds as possible. Thus, we asked for the mattresses to be delivered, even if our bed wasn't in. We'll put them on the floor for now.

So, yesterday it was to be delivered between 11-2. That's smack in the middle of the day, and since we live an hour from work, it necessitated me taking more than half the day off. I had a meeting that morning I couldn't miss and Chris had two guys being released from prison, so I was the one elected to be home for the delivery. So, between having to drive separate (we usually commute together) and me having to rearrange a few things and take vacation time, the delivery was kind of a PITA.

So I get home at 10:57 a.m. yesterday. I open the garage door, and there were the mattresses. Turns out they were early, and saw a sign I put out for the winter that said, "Leave packages in the garage, as the steps can get slippery." The delivery guys even "took photo of sign."

ARGH! So, we had to move the giant mattress in by ourselves and I ended up home for no reason. So, I took the time to do a little rearranging of the office bedroom and clean out some file cabinets. Whatever.

Good news, though. The mattress is DIVINE! It has the top 1/2 of the top mattress in visco foam (same basis as Tempurpedic). No cat movement nor tossing and turning from Chris to wake me up. And his snoring in the king bed I can tolerate (still with ear plugs, though). Yay!!!!! And it was very breathable. I was worried it would get hot, but they say with the newer generation of visco and latex, they are both more breathable.

Shopping bargains

It was time for a new winter coat and I found bargains! Sears and Boston Store still had a small selection left at our mall. At Sears, I bought a black wool peacoat with some subtle stitched detailling, a super duper soft scarf, gloves, cute hat and two pashminas for $47 total with tax. Then, I found an Anne Klein camel colored coat for $50 at Boston Store, so I snatched that up, too. So for under $100 I got all that!

Here's the camel coat (I've never had a camel colored coat):

Food smacking...or why I can't live in Asian countries

I understand the smacking of food is not just an Asian thing, but yeeegads, there are some Asians that have it down to a science where you can hear it from another freaking room. My friend Mark also smacks his food. He is not Asian, but rather a farm kid that grew up in a big household of boys. I suspect chewing slowly and quietly wasn't a focus growing up. I spent the weekend with Mark and his wife, and now just encountered a smacking Asian.

What is your intolerance d'jour?

And parents? Please teach your children to chew quietly. *looks pleadingly*

MIL phone calls

I write my MIL letters so I can get out of talking on the phone with her. Plus, I think it's nice for retirees to get letters in the days of so much junk mail. In the past two months, she's decided to start calling my cell phone. I usually let it go to voicemail, as it's the middle of day and some of us are working, not waiting to chat about nothing with their retired MIL. Why do I dread talking to her? There are two main reasons:

1. She talks constantly and doesn't give you time to respond to what she said, so it's not really a conversation as much as her just rambling.
2. If you do get to ask a question or tell her a story, she doesn't listen to what you've said and usually gives a nonchallant "yeah" response or "it's just been lovely weather" to most statements. This makes me wonder if she's having some hearing loss issues and is trying to cover it up.

How often do you talk to your parents and in-laws (if applicable)? Is it a decent experience, or do you also ignore calls?

Weekend

I have nothing exciting to report.

I spent Friday night finishing a paper for a class (for some reason, one of my classes was uber-condensed and ended Friday).

I spent Saturday working on my thesis. I opted not to attend a party that night as I had to keep writing and really didn't want to stand outside around a fire, talking to people I don't really enjoy chatting with. Nolay went, so I was able to have a quiet study time and then downloaded Season 1 of LOST to watch again from Netflix.

Sunday we went out to watch the Olympic hockey finals. I didn't think the U.S. would win, so was just happy that we made Canada work for it. :-)

I hurt my shoulder moving furniture last weekend, and all the computer work I've been doing has exacerbated the problem. I took old hydrocodone last night to get to sleep.

Good day

Yesterday was just a darn good day at our house.

-Chris had a great day in court, with a class of new p&p agent hires being invited to watch a case where Chris wrote the pre-sentence investigaton, which includes a history of the offense/s, personal history of the offenders, gives voice to the victims, and lists the department's sentencing recommendation. The judge and prosecutor publically acknowledged how great the PSI was and the guy got over 40 years in prison. http://www.channel3000.com/news/22663484/detail.html

-I wrote a grant and got the call yesterday saying it was funded for $100K...now we start the flurry of work that needs to be done asap.

-We went out with our houseguest (he lost his job, is retraining here and needed a place to stay) and had a great time.

Now, I have the problem of having a load of homework and housework to catch up on. Sigh.

Weekend Recap

It was a busy Valentine's Day weekend!

-Friday night we went to a Badger hockey game. Chris's work partner was a high school hockey cheerleader (yes, apparently those exist), so at least she knew a little about hockey, unlike us. It was kind of fun. We hit some downtown bars we otherwise never get to, so that was a bonus.

-Saturday we were guilted into heading back into Madison again for the Garden Expo. Chris's mom was otherwise going to come and visit us on Sunday (um, No!). So we tooled around in a very crowded expo center, payed $14 plus $5 parking just to attend, and didn't really get much out of it. We then had lunch at a new restaurant in town, and it was good. You can get shots of hot sauce (of various styles), so we sampled a lot. Then Chris's mom and brother returned back north, and Chris and I stayed in Madison to do one of our favorite things...play trivia at BW3s on Valentine's Day (ok, we were a day off). We won six rounds against a pretty big field, so we were proud.

-Sunday we lounged all morning, had heart shaped cinnamon-pecan pancakes (well, I tried to make a heart shape, anyway), and I did a little homework. Chris did some homework on his own: mattress research. We ended up AGAIN going to Madison and purchased a new king sized mattress and bed (headboard/footboard...yes, we just bought bedroom furniture over a year ago, but we NEED a king sized bed), and an office chair. I'm thrilled! It won't be delivered for another week, though. It's a "hybrid" with double coils (these are individually wrapped), then a thick "memory foam" type layer (not just a topper, it's about six inches of the foam concoction).

Today? I must go pick out bedroom paint, as that never got done last time we moved around furniture.

Life update

So, as most of you know, Chris was in the hospital for a day (and night) this week. It was pretty stressful for us, because the thought of a heart attack at 36 was pretty freaky! Turns out his heart is fine, and it was a pulled chest muscle putting pressure on his esophagus, so he was having trouble breathing. That coupled with the albuterol (rescue inhaler), caused his bp and pulse to spike to crazy levels (220/110 and over 100 respectively). So, he's back to work and feeling much better.

School is back in session, so my online fun time is a little less.

We are having a big bonfire this weekend, burning lots of brush. Let's hope it's warm out, so my toes don't get cold.

Working from Home

Chris is on a furlough day, so to save us gas/mileage, I'm working from home. It's probably better he's here. He'll be watching tv I won't want to watch, and that will help me stay tucked away in the bedroom/office, working on my things for work.

My to-do list only contains one home thing: wash sheets. I think I should put Chris on task fr that.

The weekend contians many home things and homework. Blech!

Definitions

Words have been making me pause and consider definitions lately. Ever feel like you are getting dumber by the year? I can't decide if I used to have a more sophisticated vocabulary (I don't recall ever having to look THAT much up), or I'm just aware of more words now and thus get puzzled more often.

The word "flotsam" came up somewhere...in a book maybe? It's been stuck in my mind to look up, as I wasn't sure exactly what it meant. I finally did. I think the context I heard it in meant "useless odds and ends."

The djs this morning were talking about the word "cynical" and started debating the difference in the meanings of "skeptical," "cynical" and "jaded." I need to figure out exactly what differentiates each of those, as there were many situations they brought up where I wasn't sure which word best fit. There were some where one clearly fit better than the others, but then other situations where all three seemed to be reasonable choices.

Any words puzzling you lately?

Back from the Beach

Did you miss me? I'm back from our little Bahamas cruise getaway. Not my first choice of vacation spots, but the price was right.

The cruise wasn't as good as our previous cruises with NCL, but I think it was a) a more casual cruise because it was shorter and b) NCL hasn't changed their menus in at least three years (though as we speak they are rolling out new ones starting with a few ships at a time), so I'm kind of bored with the food. The entertainment was pretty lame, and well, we won't speak of the craptastic pub crawl experience (fit for 20somethings, not us old folks). However, I did learn to play Flip Cup and I'm quite good. The youngsters were having fun coaching the old lady.

The Bahamas are ok if you just want to beach and shop the days away. Chris bought me a Gucci purse that I'm quite sure is a knockoff, but it's convincing. I drank cocktails from coconuts, snorkeled in the warm Caribbean, and got a little tan. I won't complain. Other than our arrival weekend in Florida (drove through the Everglades in the rain), the entire cruise weather was perfect-sunny and in the low 80s.

Traveling with my sister and her husband was a new experience for us. It was good to have company, though it was harder to plan and do things. It was a little less "loose" than we are used to.

We of course are looking to plan our next winter escape. Not sure if we'll cruise or do land based. We have a reason to go to Arizona (Taliesen West), but it's not really on my travel radar otherwise...have you been there?

A few pics (my sister took far more pics than I did):

Our ship. The little boat is a tender boat that took us to the one island we couldn't directly dock at. They had two tender boats running back and forth. We took this from one we were on.

Between those rocks was where I snorkled.

Cigar factory at the old Graycliff hotel.

A beautiful Bahamian traffic cop. There were a lot of limos due to the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament in Nassau starting that day.