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.

There are a few things I get a little obsessive about

I'm not really OCD about much. When I throw parties, I kind of obsess about stupid things like straightening pillows. Otherwise, meh. However, another example hit me in the face yesterday. Summary of the conversation:

Coworker: Do you or Barb like to pick out food for meetings? I have to choose appetizers and desserts for a meeting of faculty after work hours and am not good at these things.

Me: YES!!!!!!!!!!!

Coworker: Here's the menu, here are the meeting details, a meeting will occur while they are eating, blah blah blah

Me: pecan chicken fingers could get soggy, the shrimp looks too extravagant in these tough fiscal times, about eight of these choices involve crunchy and/or potentially messy things that can be embarassing or distracting during the meeting, the artichoke and crab dip is too rich for this crowd, the andouille cajun fritters too meaty and fried for this crowd, and the beef is probably not a great choice for the 16:2 women to men ratio in this bunch. That leaves about six apps to choose from, and you want three. Here is my first suggestions, as they pair well together, here is my second combo choice....etc.

Coworker: Wow, you really put a lot of thought into these things.

Me: I admit, I can be a little obsessive.

I bet Frodis can appreciate this, as I recall her enjoyment of planning the baptism meal last year.

Rome if you want to...

My boss asked me to go to Rome in October for a conference. Um, ok.

I also am going to Australia at some point this year, as I was just hired on a grant there.

My biggest problem now becomes:

1) Do I stick with Delta? I was a Northwest loyalist until they switched to Delta last year. They have the most flights out of our tiny airport. I like MSP and DTW airports, which are usual hubs. I do not like Atlanta nor Cincinatti, which are additional new hubs for me with the switch. I only have about 15K miles with Delta right now, as we cash in free tickets fairly frequently. One international trip and I'm up to a free ticket with Delta and very close to upgraded status, which is very big.

2) Do I go with United? My boss flies United because they used to be the only carrier to get her to Australia easily from WI. However, they have very few flights out of Madison, and all go through O'hare, which is notorious for bad flight delays. My boss has massive status with them and is a member of their lounge club, so it's great to travel with her. If my ticket is booked with her, I'm also eligible for upgrades, which is important for long flights overseas. I'd be starting over, basically, with miles and status, though. So cons are starting over and fewer flights/O'hare issues. Pros are good chance of international upgrades and lounge use. Not to mention I've never been to Eurpose or Australia and it would be comforting to have my well-traveled boss by my side. Con to that is having to work more during flights.

Whomever I choose, I'll likely stick with for a long time. What to do, what to do. Any advice? What would blogland do?

Time's a wastin'

Classes start in a few weeks, and a week of that is vacation. So I have three weekend days to finish cleaning and organizing projects. Carp.

Yesterday: Freezer defrosting, shower grout scrubbing
Today: Basement organizing.

Yet to tackle: Cabinet organizing, tax receipt organizing
Any volunteers?
What's on your winter to-do list?

Photo vomit

I just downloaded a jumble of photos from the camera. Here are the highlights:

Christmas Gifts from MIL

Never one to disappoint, here are the craptastic gifts from MIL this year!

For those of you who have met me, please tell me none of this screams KIM! (well, ignore the cat creeping into the photo). For those curious, there's a used white/bulletin board, two sparkly pens, a sweater for a 70 year old church piano player, a pink little hand towel with embroidered bells and doves, a book of herbal remedies, a 25 cent bag of used, fake leaves and straw for decor, and a dust mit.

Hotlanta

The big billboard of Anderson Cooper is my favorite one.

My OTCC Chicken in Place of Beef Attempt

This is the dish before going into the oven. I should've resisted my urge to blend the veggies, because it looks better here than it did on my plate when I was done.

Cute Cats!

Chris's work partner gave us this cats-in-santa-hats blanket for Christmas. The cats adored it from minute one. That's big Bartleby in front and little Loki in back. Ali managed to sneak away from this pic.

Virginia Highlights

I feel like I'd better get this all out of my head before I forget details!

I arrived in Richmond on a Monday night. As I exited the secure area of the airport, I see what can only be someone waiting for ME! A darling little boy, with the biggest grin, was wearing a packer jersey and a big foam cheesehead. I literally LOL and proudly told the people next to me, that little guy was welcoming me to Richmond. The whole Boo-family came to pick me up at the airport. What a charming clan they are! Mr. Boo even took my suitcase so I could blab to Boo without causing harm to others.

We arrived in Pleasantville after dark, so I could only admire the quaint holiday decor in the neatly groomed neighborhood. Boo's home is everything you'd expect-nicely decorated, spacious and welcoming. The room I stayed in even had the benefit of a tv, computer and exercise equipment. I don't even get all that at a hotel in my room. No, I did not use the exercise equipment.

I was welcomed with a big steak dinner and mmmmmmm, it was good. Boo & Mr. Boo grill some mean steaks on their big grill (I have grill envy). We stayed up to watch the Bears beat the Vikings (always a good way to end a night).

The next day we took a driving tour of a few interesting areas in Richmond. I got to see a gorgeous neighborhood of big old and new houses with some of the fanciest holiday trimmings I'd ever seen. I also got to see the hip and eclectic area of Carytown, where Boo grew up. We even got to stop for cupcakes.

That afternoon we prepped the OTCC recipe and played games with Conner (ok, the games with Conner thing was pretty much constant when at home).

Mr. Boo came home from work that night, informing us his buddies were playing group trivia at BW3s in a few hours. This excited me, so they kindly bundled the family up (the weather there was disappointingly cold) after dinner and hit the wing joint. We had a blast, while Boo impressed with her hockey knowledge and Mr. Boo impressed with obscure Bond tidbits.

STEREOTYPE ENFORCING HIGHLIGHT: A pretty young blond thang at our table grabbed a can of chewing tobacco and stuck a dip in her mouth. Boo and I both sat there in shock!

Back at home, the family indulged me with the Badger game (Champs Sports Bowl) for a bit, though I was the only one that watched it to the end. Boo kindly put the game on in my room so I could curl up in bed and watch the final quarter.

Our final day, we had a mission. I needed a t-shirt for my nephew from the new local minor league baseball team in Richmond: The Flying Squirrels. *giggle* They have a huge stadium. I was impressed. Richmond must love baseball.

We snuck naps in that afternoon, as that night we were having a girls-night-out! Boo was kind enough to take me to two of Richmond's brewpubs in some neat areas of town. Downtown Richmond was beautifully lit at night, with white lights perfectly outlining all the buildings in the skyline. We played some SUPER pathetic games of pool and had a great time.

I left on a rainy, early morning the next day, and was sad to say goodbye to Boo and her family. Her little Conner is such a charming, smart young man. He definitely is just like his mom.

Thank you, Boo, for everything. *smooch*

One down, two to go

We had Christmas at FIL's this weekend. They really are wonderful people, but good-golly, retirement makes FIL a little overbearing. I ate too much, but at least didn't drink too much. My favorite new gift? A Teavana Perfect Tea Maker:

You put the loose tea in the cup, pour boiling water over it, steep, set the maker over your coffee cup and it drops down. No bits (*waves at MC*) in my cup and no drips. Chris remembered how much I coveted it when we went to Mall of America recently. Step-MIL was heading to Mall of America, so Chris slipped her a gift tip for me. Voila! Can you even believe he remembered!?

I have a pumpkin scone to eat this a.m. Mmmmm.

I sent 75% of my holiday cards this a.m. I'll finish the rest tonight. I also sent out cookies to my bloggy peep today!

Watched The Proposal. One of those cute, silly movies. And you get a nice, long look at shirtless Ryan Reynolds. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Ever seen There Will be Blood? Thinking of taking that to Christmas with MIL, but not sure if it's one of those with lots of uncomfortable scenes for family viewing.

ETA: Funny thing at the doctor's office Friday (annual exam). The nurse says, "Have you recently had a large fluctuation in weight????" My answer was no. Apparetly they had me down at a completely random 123 last time (add 70 to that and it was probably accurate). We had a good laugh. Another interesting thing from my visit. I started getting mammograms last year because of family history, but my doctor said, "I'm concerned that you are so young and that's a lot of radiation to be exposing you to in your lifetime. Let's send you to a specialist to see if a baseline MRI would be best, and then less frequent mammograms." I think that makes a lot of sense. We are in agreement about self-exams still being important and we reviewed propper technique. I was happy about that.

Salad

Let's suppose you were having a very small dinner party (just a few couples) and people have asked what they can bring. You decide to ask someone to bring a salad. Would you tell them what kind of salad to bring? I might ask them to bring a lettuce salad, but I'd go no further than that. Or I'd tell them what else we were having and assume they'd bring something complementary.

I was asked to bring "a spinach or arugula winter salad with cranberries, walnuts and a citrus dressing." Not even "something like" that. It was very specific. I am bringing a baby greens salad with dried cranberries, fresh raspberries, pecans and a cranberry vinegarette. Do you think I'll be turned away?

Am I the only one that thinks this is a bit odd to be this specific?

Ouch!

I've been having neck pain and headaches for about a week now. I rarely have headaches, so it's a bit disconcerting. I frequently have neck pain, though, so no surprise there.

I could be a hypochondriac and assume it's meningitis. Just to feel better, I should take my temperature and see if it's running high.

More likely it's just either snow shoveling or bad posture catching up with me.

I see the doc on Friday for my annual exam. I am afraid to mention it, lest she think it worthy of testing for meningitis (spinal tap!). Let's hope I feel better by then. I've been doing stretches, but should be strengthening my core a little more.

Looking forward to vacation

After this winter wollop, I have our January mini-cruise on my mind. We weren't going to do one, but decided it is worth our mental health. We just needed to do it super-duper cheap. And if there's one thing I can do, it's finding and inexpensive cruise (still working on the "spend less money while on cruise" thing).

So, for $199/pp we booked an inside room on the NCL Sky, for a quick 4 nighter to the Bahamas. We are flying into Miami on Saturday, and leave for the cruise Monday afternoon. I know, it's the Bahamas and not too exciting, but it's warm. We talked my sister and her hubby into joining us.

Well, the price dropped even more last week, so I called the cruiseline to see if they'd sport me an upgrade (NCL is stingy about giving credit when there is a price drop, which is fine). Some people on cruisecritic.com said they've had varying degrees of success, so I figured it never hurts to ask. Me and my sister were both upgraded. Yay-bigger rooms and now we have a window.

I also scored a dress on clearance at JCP this morning. $15 and it will be good for the cruise for dinner, and even nice to wear to work with a black lightweight sweater.

Creative gifting

I am kind of fed up with holiday consumerism for some reason this year. Buying a bunch of expensive things for grown adults bothers me.

So, I'm trying to be more creative this year.

FIL
He needs a new desktop computer. Our old one just needs a new chip, so we are giving him the computer and BIL is having it fixed.

In addition, he wanted a Thai cookbook. Instead, I am printing him my favorite Thai recipes and filling a basket with ingredients he'll need, but might have a hard time finding in his small town.

I also made him and his wife some homemade Kaluha and Irish Creme.

MIL
I've typed up a book of some recipes I enjoy, that I know she'd enjoy and that have ingredients she uses. She's been talking about how she checks out cookbooks from the library, so I thought this was a good idea.

I need to get her something else, but haven't decided yet.

My dad
He lives by himself, but stays with his GF a lot. They both work full time, and tend to eat the same things over and over. We are smoking a pork butt, shredding it, and vacuum sealing it in smaller servings for the freezer. We'll include homemade bbq sauce.

My oldest sister
In addition to some stuff from B&BW, I'm giving her my homemade pepper jelly with a super cute little spoon from World Market, some mascarpone cheese and fancy crackers.

Forecast

TUESDAY:
Mostly cloudy and turning windy with snow developing; heavy snow and blowing and drifting snow overnight.
High: 29
Wind: NE 15-25 MPH

WEDNESDAY:
Cloudy, windy, and turning colder with snow. Blowing and drifting snow likely. Total accumulation: 8-12".
Low: 28
High: 28; temperatures falling throughout the day

THURSDAY:
Variably cloudy, breezy, and very cold.
Low: 4
High: 14

FRIDAY:
Partly sunny and continued cold.
Low: 4
High: 18

SATURDAY:
Partly sunny and cold.
Low: 4
High: 20


*cries*
After almost three hours of futzing, the snowblower attachment was installed yesterday. Sigh.

Lack of Creativity

So my boss likes to "jazz up" reports ocassionally. Our final reports for grants are often strict about plain jane formatting, so we only jazz them up if they are going to outsiders on a fairly frequent basis, or going to someone important.

Well, one report done in March is now going to somewhere important. She wanted to jazz it up. I offered to do it, as our student workers are tied up, and frankly I kind of enjoy this stuff. She says she doesn't want to waste my time and runs off to find someone else to do it. She asked a young secretary who is very competent. I thought it was probably a great choice.

Wrong o. Barb asked her to make the report look nice. Her response? She put a border on the cover page and used arched Word Art for the title and make the author names bigger. All in black & white.

Seriously.

In twenty minutes I downloaded a good Word template and fixed up the formatting intricacies. I'm not exactly a creative genius, but I can at least think to use a template that looks pretty.

Oh, and in unrelated chatter, I am going to be racist and say I hate listening to many Japanese women talk on the phone in their native language. The rhythm is so grating to my ears. They often drag out the end of the last word in their sentence. It's like a roller coaster that keeps going quickly up, then slowly down.

Blu-Ray

We bought a new blu-ray player on Sunday from Amazon. Free super saver shipping, and it's expected to arrive here tomorrow. Yay!

Our old DVD player (pretty basic model, 9 years old) has crappy picture and even worse sound. I mean really, really horrible sound. So we had to decide between a regular upconvert DVD player, a blu-ray player, or a PS3. We do not have a gaming system, but Chris wants one (ok, we have an old Nintendo and Atari, but that doesn't count). However, we'd both rather have a Wii.

Chris tried to trick me into the BUY A TV, GET A FREE PS3 OR BLU RAY deals at several retailers. No way, no how. He's so sneaky. He tried to say this would solve my issue that the living room tv would become "Chris is constantly playing games" tv and I'd be irritated. I also said he'd be bothered if I wanted to do the Wii Fit in the living room while he wanted to watch tv. We have a tv in our bedroom, but it's a pretty old one. So, he claimed, by getting another nice tv, we could turn the four season room into a gaming room. *eye roll* Nice try. I mean it's not a terrible idea, but it's also an $800 idea when frankly, all we NEED right now is a new DVD player.

So I knew I wanted a blu-ray player, as it's where movie technology is going, and you can still play regular dvds. I also like the option to beam in movies from Netflix, though doing so is an extra cost. I like the option, though.

And that is my long, convoluted story of our new blu-ray player. Terribly exciting, I know.

Reflecting on the holiday weekend

I had a four day weekend (we were on forced furlough Friday) and I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. However, I fear I'd just turn into a sleepy blob with one more day.

Thanksgiving Day was good. I went to BIL's and had a shrimp boil. It's never a traditional turkey dinner at his house! I drank WAAAY too much wine. Felt miserable the next morning. It turns out I CAN get a wine hangover.

Friday I spent preparing for my family to come over on Saturday for our Thanksgiving dinner. I put the make ahead mashed potatoes in the crockpot, so I could just turn them on to warm in the morning, brined the turkey, prepped the celery/onions/broth for stuffing, etc. Less to do when my sisters arrived to prepare their dishes. I despise a crowded kitchen. My one sister is terrible, she aimlessly stands RIGHT in the way. If you aren't doing anything, move to the other side of the counter, please. I also snuck a LUSH bath in on Saturday night right before bed. Ahhhhh. I used a new Santa shaped bomb. I forget the name.

Saturday went ok. Middle sis was very quiet. Other sis brought their puppy and I had to lock the cats up. Ali has been constipated again, and was miserable. Didn't need a puppy chasing her. And the puppy is in cat-chase mode still. Sigh.

Today I spent decorating my new artificial tree for the deck and stringing the white-lit greenery across the front deck area. I put some wintery knick-knacks out around inside the house to give the inside a Christmasy feel, too. Far less stress that dealing with climbing and chewing cats.

This afternoon I spent doing homework. One big paper, three article summaries, and editing my small grant proposal left for this semester.

Hotlanta

I'm back from my conference in Atlanta and am loathing to get back into the daily routine of work. It is an exhausting conference, but I sqeezed in some fun. Here's the fun:

Thursday
Went to STRAITS restaurant in Atlanta, owned by Ludacris. I'm so hip. Not. It was very tasty and I met a new friend from DC.

Friday
Toured CNN. Awesome, awesome tour. Did not see Anderson Cooper, however saw many other CNN "celebs." Might have been on HLN, as I was interviewed, but I didn't have all afternoon to watch tv.

Saturday
Nookie Day! She's everything I'd hoped she'd be. :-) Mr. Nookie is also charming and yes, he's a hottie as many of you have noted. We went to lunch, walked Piedmont Park, and sipped some Starbuck's. They were great hosts! Best of all-there are pictures.

Tom Colicchio can kiss my butt

I don't even want to see if I spelled his name right. *harumph*

I decided I needed a game on the computer, but none of the Facebook ones are things I want to get sucked into. I want a game I can play for a day, leave for a week, and come back without it impacting my life whatsoever. So, for the low price of $6.99 I downloaded the Top Chef game.

I am on episode four and Tom keeps telling me my dishes are straight out of cooking school and don't wow him enough. Suck it, Tom.

Lots to update!

1. I broke down and bought Folgers coffee for work. Now I can throw cans of coffee at my coworkers like Carey does. I call it "Recession Coffee." My boss kind of looked at it with distaste (she's basically the other person that drinks from our pot) and said, "You really should have told me we needed coffee." She tried to be nice about it, but in her mind, she was saying, "YUCK!" At least I sprung for the darker roast. It's not bad.

2. I'm going to see Boo the last week of December. This makes me so happy! I get to meet her hubby and sweet little boy. I also hope to see her 747 that she breaks out after a few cocktails. Bonus: It will very likely be much warmer there.

3. We had to go to court yesterday for our neighbors. They are suing the original owners (John Deere house builders) re: a flooding basement (it's flooded numerous times). Original owners (well, husband is dead) are denying they knew of any water problems (wife is saying husband dealt with all that and she didn't know a thing...she's a liar) and say it's the builders fault if there are water issues (the builder should not have let them put their basement all the way in the ground...us and the other two neighbors built to deal with the high water table). It was weird. The lawyers were kind of grasping at straws. My favorite was when the defense asked Chris to tell them about the weather each year since we lived there. I wanted to say, "Consult an almanac, idiot."

4. I get to see (breifly) Nookie in two weekends. Yay! She's been on my wanna-peep-meet top five forever! Ok, I don't really have a list, but if I was asked, I bet I could come up with my top five. But don't ask, because I don't like choosing favorites. :-)

I'm giving out badges

People seem to wear certain acts on their sleeves like a badge. For example, "I don't do Facebook" or "I don't eat beef." They seem to take every chance to bring it up they can.

So, what do you seem to wear like a badge, or what annoys you about someone else?

I worry I use my "I'm in school" like a badge sometimes, but I use it as an excuse (albiet a valid one), not because it's a pride thing. Hell, around here I'm in the minority that I don't have a graduate degree of some sort and it's not something I like to bring up.

The President is Here

It's kind of exciting. President Obama has just landed in Madison and is off to Wright Middle School, a very diverse charter school, to interact with students, teachers and education leaders, then give an education speech.

6 ingredients

There are six essential ingredients to a good football game-watching experience, IMHO:

-Good company
-Comfort of seating
-Quality of tv
-Good food
-Good beer
-Good football

I watched the game yesterday at a local bar (the one on the river, MC) that was also holding a customer appreciation party as they are closing for the season.

Good company? Yep, Nolay kept me company and we had good laughs.
Comfort of seating? Meh.
Quality of tv? Yep-brand new HUGE tv and we sat right in front of it, unobstructed view.
Good food? Good AND FREE! BBQ pork, roasted chicken, brats, dips, salads, beans, chips, fried bar food, fresh fried blue gill, etc.
Good drinks? $1.50 taps until the taps ran dry...of some of our favorite beers that are usually $3-4 a pint.
Good football? Though we didn't win, it was a great game.

BONUS! We won a 12 pack of beer!