Valentine's Day prep

I woke up this morning a few minutes early so I could shave my legs, since it's Valentine's Day. Otherwise, I hate to admit that I tend to only shave on the weekends in the winter or when I wear a dress/skirt. *shame*

Chris mentioned he'd like the Bon Iver cd, so I downloaded it to my iPod (which we share songs between ours) and had it cued up on the speakers in the bathroom this morning. This made me late.

So, in my rush to lotion up my newly shaven legs, I forgot to put on my wedding ring. And it's Valentine's Day. At least it's not my anniversary.

I also wanted to wear the necklace he gave me a few years ago. I forgot.

Way to start the day out on a bad note!

Things that make me happy

This donut that I'm eating this morning. I haven't had a donut in about six months and this tastes sinful.

Planning the summer vacation. Now that it's February, July doesn't seem so far away.

Planning to plant a peach tree. It might die or never fruit, but right now I'm enchanted by the idea of tree grown peaches in my yard.

Helping my dad get his house ready to sell. It's the house I lived in from birth until I moved out on my own. It's good to spruce it up. He's moving in with his fiance, and it's hard for him to give up the space of his own, so it's been a good bonding experience for us. I'm also now the keeper of many old family heirlooms. Pressure's on.

Mild winter weather.

Doing research site visits. I love research where I go out and spend time in nursing homes or interviewing care recipients in the community. It reminds me that my job makes a difference. Tomorrow I begin a two year stint of long site visits across the country. This one is in Wisconsin-our only "close" site.

Blacklight flashlights. I feel better knowing there was only one cat pee spot. And in Ali's defense, she has kidney failure and peed where we'd put her litterbox when she had knee surgery and was confined in the bedroom. Using stuff called "Anti Icky Poo" to clean it also made me smile.

The Voice! My friend Mark co-wrote a song that was on a snipit last night. That made my Voice love even more intense.

In honor of Boo turning 40

What I've liked about my 30s

• More financial stability
• Settling into a house
• The ability to fit in with several age groups, young and old
• Feeling more confident in my career
  

What I've disliked about my 30s

• Hairs that pop up in random spots
• Still having some acne
• Retirement is REALLY far away
• Not having as much in savings as I'd like
• Doing less spontaneous fun stuff
• More responsibility at work-spending nights and weekends working or worrying

Entertainment lineup

What I'm watching:
Movies Contraband, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Salt, The Italian Job, Blue Valentine
TV shows Top Chef, The New Girl, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, Football

What I'm reading:
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

What I'm cooking:
Chocolate chip cookies, OTCC recipes, paninis

What I'm doing:
Starting Pinterest, planning the spring garden, hemming and mending on a borrowed sewing machine, hauling branches to a giant burn pile for next weekend, stretching and basic exercises

Alone Time

Ahhhhh...I've caught up on some needed alone time. Other than two or three short business trips, and my weekend visit to Carey, Chris and I have been joined at the hip this year. And after an 11 day vacation, followed by a few days off around the holidays, I was feeling a little "crowded." When we are home all day, I often get asked two-three times, "What are you doing?" Sometimes I don't have an answer for that, other than "going to the bathroom," etc. So after a few times, my stress level raises a little.

This week I worked from home one day just to get a little quiet time, then today Chris went hunting around 11:00 a.m. and it's almost 9:00 p.m. and he's still out. I enjoyed the day to myself. But tomorrow, I think I'll be ready for together time again.

I did exciting things today such as:

• Went to local gym open house
• Took a long walk outside (it was in the 40s!)
• Baked three OTCC recipes: kale chips, cinnamon rolls and a pasta casserole, plus some pumpkin granola for my yogurt
• Cleaned out all the inside compartments of the washer (fabric softner & bleach...how to they get so dirty?!)
• Gave some plants a haircut
• 2 loads of laundry
• Sewed up Chris's sweater & hemmed a pair of pj pants
• Cleaned kitchen floor (mistakenly before I made the cinnamon rolls)
• Cleaned up the deep fryer (that was in the garage) from last weekend's football party
• Found cat poop & cleaned the carpet around it and fabric cat toy that was hiding it (Ali's constipation issues make this an occasional issue)
• Cleaned a spare bedroom closet

Now, I think it's time to eat a cinnamon roll and watch some tv...there's gotta be something on at 9 p.m. That's when all the nudity and swear words come out, right?

Can you....?

Random questions for you. Can you....
1. Thread a sewing machine without instructions?
2. Bake good chocolate chip cookies without a recipe, if you had to?
3. Paint your toenails and make it look like a salon job?
4. Fairly easily drive up to your state capitol building with no directions?

What to look forward to in 2012?

I need something to look forward to in 2012.

Gym Membership?
Pro: It's healthy and fun, at least for awhile! I can get partial reimbursement.
Con: I already have a free "gym" (the treadmill sucks) in my basement (and it's in my unfinished basement) and the novelty will likely wear off the gym membership.

Vacation?
Pro: We have plans to either go to the Portland brewfest in July or to do a brew tour around Vermont with our friends.
Con: That's a long way off.

Summer landscaping/gardening?
Pro: We are moving the garden this year to be more convenient, and because I can't get rid of a tomato leaf spot that crept into the garden a few years ago. I'm looking forward to planning that out.
Con: We need to finish off one big project: the back garage stoop. It's basically adding some decking and a step, then finishing off with some rocks and low maintenance plants/bushes. It's a crappy area-shady and in need of some height. I hate Arborvite, and refuse to plant it there. My other options are limited.

New hobby?
Pro: I need to buy a sewing machine to deal with some basic hemming, etc. That could lead to some other fun decorative things. I also have a stockpile of some good cozy material that would make great pajamas. It's already about 15 years old, because I've never taken the sewing initiative.
Con: Cost and I don't know how to sew.

Happy Holidays

We are just back from a 10 day Caribbean cruise. It was extremely relaxing! You may notice my new Facebook profile pic. But of course, no vacation goes unpunished. I have two grant proposals coming due, two grant reports due, two project budgets to revise for reapproval, and of course, very little done for the holidays!

My holiday to do list:
1) Cards-this will be done sometime before Jan. 5th. :-)
2) A few more outdoor decorations
3) Grocery shopping
4) A few more gifts-did a lot of shopping last night with no car, just the bus. My arms were sore.

Chris baked cookies for me last weekend so we had time to join friends for the (diappointing) Packer game. Wasn't that nice? We did peanut blossoms, fudge and toffee.

For Christmas with my FIL, et al, we are repeating the cooking class Chris and I took in Antigua. It's called "Cooking with Rum." I'm buying the groceries, the instructor gave us the recipes, and we are all going to cook the food. There are six of us, and I have a reasonably large kitchen, so it should be fun. We'll have 1-2-3-4 rum punch to drink (parts lime juice, sugar, rum and water) and finish with espresso martinis. They were my favorite after dinner drink on the cruise. We've now had 30 of the 34 "designer" martinis on the ship's martini menu. :-)

I hope everyone has a very happy holiday season. Cheers!

Exciting week!

• Recall efforts against our Gov. started this week. Hurrah!




• I went to physical therapy for my neck at 8:30 this morning. Considering my pain comes on later in the day, this was kind of silly. It became the "how bad can we make Kim hurt in a few minutes" show.




• I fly to Boston on Friday and will be there for the weekend. I only have to give a poster presentation, which is mega easy, so it's low stress.




• I'm buying turkey breasts tonight for next week's Thanksgiving. We are just doing turkey sandwiches Saturday night with my family (with Chris's family on Thanksgiving day), so I thought breasts made the most sense, especially since most of us eat white meat. Target has them on sale for .99/lb, which is cheap for the breasts.
  
  


• I'm going to buy several non perishables this week for the food pantry. There are a lot of good sales.
  



• I treated myself to Starbuck's in the cafeteria this monrning instead of making my own coffee.
  
  

Ok, so maybe this wasn't very exciting.

Going blonde.

Last weekend I took the plunge and went blonde.

Woops, forgot to add a few words in. Let's try this again. Last weekend I took the plunge and went TO SEE THE blonde. Yes, that one. The one in San Francisco.

I hadn't seen any OTers in awhile, and my boss gave me a $200 flight voucher that needed to be used by mid-Nov., so I watched airfare some desirable locales. San Fran was the cheapest, so we made some last minute arrangements for me to go see Carey and Michelle.

And when in Rome, you do as the Romans do. So, Michelle took us to bingo where Carey and I ate a hot dog and donut for dinner. :-) I was a bingo version and really hoped to be able to yell Bingo. Well, I got to do that and more!

Did you know Bingo isn't just like a few games of straight vertical, horizontal and diagonal wins? Oh no, there were like 30 games, each with a twist. Sometimes you were looking for a "postage stamp," sometimes a "kite" shape, etc. Cripes it was tough to keep track. I think bingo will be too confusing when I get old. My favorite game was when they pulled a ticket (you got entered when you bought your bingo cards at the start) for the "Bingo Queen." The bingo queen gets to pick a number, and everytime that number comes up, she or he wins $10. Carey was the bingo queen! So everytime her number came up we got to yell, "Pay the Queen!" And later, Michelle and I each hit a bingo and we all got to yell "Bingo!" Big excitement! LOL!

Saturday was our "Lush and LUSH" tour in the city. We hit the Gold Dust and had drinks with their newly engaged friends. Then it was across the street to LUSH, where I was for about an hour, doing hair product research. I ended up with some free samples and am loving the Recon conditioner. Carey came over with Michelle's credit card for her belated birthday shopping and bought the store. :-)

After that, we went to the Rouge Ale House, as some friends told me it was great. Well, did you know Union Street isn't near Union Square? And there are A LOT of hills between where we were and Union Street. So we hopped a cable car and it began to rain. The cable car took an unexpected turn and we ended up still having to walk the same distance, but it was all downhill. :-) At Rouge, we got a VIP visitor: Tabitha (motormouth)! Despite the lousiest service ever, we still had fun chatting and decided to head back to Carey's instead of searching for another bar in the rain. Tabitha was a trooper-staying late and driving back home in the rain at midnight. Ten years ago we'd have probably been super sloshed and loud. Instead, we just had a great night having some cocktails and telling stories.

Sunday was super lazy football day. Carey made a really yummy fritatta for breakfast, despite the burning smell that took over the house at one point. :-)

I really hope to make it back in 2012. I love these girls and love San Francisco. Thanks to Carey and Michelle for the great hospitality and good luck in Vegas this weekend!

Distracted Today

I'm in one of those moods where I can't focus on the work that needs to be done. Argh. So, you get a new blog post.

I'm getting grumpy about the amount of tv our household watches. The number of mediocre hour long shows is getting on my nerves. Can't we just read sometimes? I say "we" because we have no good spot for quiet reading in our house when the tv is done. It's reason enough for me to want to finish the basement, but that's like a $10K solution to a minor problem. So, I downloaded a free app that plays rain, wind, waves, etc. and listen to that while I read in the four season room. I can't listen to music and read very well. My brain gets too distracted.

Nolay is watching the following hour longs (I know I'll forget some):
Terra Nova
Body of Proof
Hawaii 5-0
Grimm
Pan Am (I also watch this)
Sons of Anarchy (again, I watch this)
NCIS sometimes (or as I call it, Hawaii 5-0 lite)
Survivor
The Mentalist

I think he's given up on Blue Bloods and thank goodness didn't get into TAR this season. Thank goodness Charlie's Angles is over, as he was also recording that. This is in addition to about six half-hour comedies. That's a lot of tv, even with a DVR.

Did you know?

I never thought about it, but as I was making pumpkin bread this morning, I read the last part of the recipe: "Cool, wrap is plastic wrap. Let sit overnight before slicing." Heck no. I want it today. I get that it sets and slices better the next day, and even tastes yummier, but I can't wait.

In other news, I'm learning about the effing Cloud. I got a new iTouch (after losing my other on a plane) and put the "Find my iPod/Phone" app on it. It requires me to use the effing Cloud. Maybe I'll grow to like it, but right now it's just one more thing that requires me to set up an account.

Is it true that physical therapists are trained torturers?

I have had pretty severe neck pain off and on for years. The latest bout was terrible. But then they gave me a shot in the leg of a muscle relaxer and it mostly better within 30 minutes!

Anywho, the Dr. gave me a referral to physical therapy. I've never been to PT, but have heard the torture horror stories. Admittedly, I've been putting off the appointment. A nice massage sounds better.

So what are your PT experiences?

If I post, they will come

I'm sticking with the theory that I just need to post more often and you'll show up. :-)

I'm in Holland, Michigan tonight. I work for the state, I never get wined and dined. However, we are building a nursing building on campus (right now we are stuck in a small area of the hospital and share some classrooms with hospital staff and the medical school). So, peeps are interested in our business. A major office furniture manufacturer that works with our interior design firm is showing off their stuff. Thus, we were flown over on a private Gulfstream, given lunch, drinks, a wine pairing dinner and more drinks at a brewpub.

I'm feeling spoiled and frankly, loving it. It's something I don't get to experience in my normal work.

Tomorrow I'm going to see my MIL, so today, I'm enjoying the bliss.

For the "new" peeps

I won't call you old peeps. :-)

I've really missed our old blogland. I feel like we all shared a little deeper connection here. Thus, I'm pretty happy even when someone pops back in for only a bit. I fret about people when I don't hear much, or even just hear the "surface" chatter. We all have those quiet underswells in life that are often good to muse about here.

I'm riding a wave right now of good things. Nothing great, just enjoying a period of contentment. I'll start traveling more for work soon, and that concerns me, but for now, I'm enjoying the present before worrying about the future.

Of course, though, politics has me down. I'm kind of in a half-attentive mode now, as it's all the same ugliness. We have Herb Kohl's Senate seat up for election, as he's retiring. He was such a good advocate for health care and the elderly, and our state. I didn't agree with all his decisions, but he was a solid, hardworking Senator. There is no shortage of candidates coming out for his seat, so it's going to get ugly.

In random news, I'm trying to find a place to spend a $200 United voucher before the end of Nov. I want to go somewhere where I can stay with friends and spend very little over that $200. Not an easy task.

In related news, I lost my iPod Touch on a plane recently. Bummer.

Something Totally About Work

I'm resigning from my position effective Oct. 2nd.

Because I was hired into a "new" position with the appropriate title and pay, doing what I'm doing now! I hate that I had to apply, but finally! This was a long, hard road. I'm downplaying this with the family and friends, so thought a little online celebration was in order.

*dances*

Something not about work

I've been dwelling on work too much lately, so I'll avoid talking about it here for now.

We've been helping my dad build a giant pole shed for all his antique trucks. My feet get so sore on the ladder with the stupid plantar fascitis. Otherwise it's been a good workout. Unfortunately, I also enjoy donuts every day we start work there. This weekend it was apple cider donuts. Yum!

My dad is moving in with his fiance at some point (well, he already lives there part time), but his house is in such bad shape. I'd love to see it spruced up. We cleaned a few weekends ago, and that helped, but it still needs a few thousand dollars work and some elbow grease. It's a cool 1970s split level (no basement). All my friends even say now "I loved that house!" For a boring 1970s house, it had a good layout, plus had a trophy and awards business in a corner of the first level, so it added some good features.

Kitchenwise, I've been in a sourdough phase. It's not great sourdough (I just used Fleishman's yeast to make my starter), but it'll do. I've used the starter for bread, pancakes, pizza crust and cinnamon rolls. Next: soft pretzels.

Tomato season is almost over. I'll enjoy my last few BLTs for the next few weeks. I had a good fingerling potato harvest. Growing them was fun because it's like opening a present. You never know what's grown until it's time to dig them up! For all my "want to garden, don't want to do much work" crowd, thumbs up to potatoes. They don't have complex soil needs, and they are pretty carefree in my experience.

It was our 11th anniversary on 9/9. We shopped, ate gelato, watched the Badger game, watched Contagion and went out for dinner. It was a long, good day.

I've lost all my "grad school" weight. I'd put on about 8 lbs. over two years, and have lost it, thank cod. Now, to strive for another 5 lbs.

This week: Mission shoe purge and organization.

A Three-fer

First, an Ali update. She is getting better. I know it's only temporary, as there's no "fixing" her kidneys, but it's good to see her being an active part of our family again. She's been enjoying the Fancy Feast Trout Dinner, as the vet said to just get her eating at this point, then transition to the kidney diet. She will get daily sub-q fluids for another five days, then hopefully we can go to once a week.

Now, my rant.
After some grumbles this spring, I am back to loving my job and the crazy work. I don't want to leave. But cripes I feel like a doormat. I'm paid about $15,000 less than my peers for the same work, all because I moved up the chain instead of being hired in.

The state HR system makes it near impossible to get promoted and/or a raise. We just scored three grants this year which covers my salary (and then some, because we planned on a raise for me), all coming from private foundations. Yet, here I am, applying for other jobs because the state has put so many roadblocks in our way.

I'm waiting for the silver lining.

In other news, we are doing a chicken wing cookoff instead of ribs this year. I think more people will enter since chicken wings are easier. Save the date, Oct. 8th! :-)

To all the cats I've loved before

I've never had a pet for a long time. Growing up in the country, we often "inherited" some outdoor cats. Once the cat became an indoor/outdoor cat. His name was T.J. and he was a black and white kitty. We had him for about six months before he wandered off and probably died. Then my sister bought me a tabby kitten. I named him Jordan, as I thought Michael Jordan was kewel. We tried to keep him indoors, but after about four months, he escaped one day. Twenty four hours later, he was dead on the road, hit by a car.

I never became overly attached to those cats, and they were my only experience with pets. Then came Ali. I've probably told the story before of how we met. Chris and I were engaged and living in an apartment. We'd discussed getting a cat, but hadn't pulled the trigger. We'd come home to visit family over the holidays. Chris stayed one night at his mom's, where there was only a twin bed in a tiny house, while I went ahead to my dad's house. I pulled into the driveway at about 10:00 p.m. I went around to the passenger side to grab my bags. Up jumps the cutest calico kitten into my passenger seat! She just looked up at me and purred. After some scritches, I left the cat and went inside. My dad said she'd been around for a few weeks and was very friendly. He'd asked some of the neighbors and nobody was missing a cat. I called Chris the next morning and told him that I think we'd found our cat. That was 1998. She was estimated at one year old.

She was always "my" cat, following me incessantly, cuddling at every turn. If I try to sleep in, she wakes me up by sitting on my chest, nose almost touching mine, purring loudly with big bright eyes staring. She'd do this for an hour if I could stand it. We lived through her knee surgery and constantly struggled for years with her constipation. Today I took her in for what I thought was another enema. She'd been lethargic for a few days, was having trouble using the litterbox, and had no appetite. All issues that added up to constipation before. Today they said she didn't feel impacted, and seemed very dehydrated. After tests, it's confirmed she has kidney failure. We think it's in early stages, but won't know until tomorrow how she responds to treatment. It could be a few months, it could be five years.

*sniffle* It was hard to hear my best kitten friend will never be quite the same.

3 Day Week

In more than one way, it's a 3 Day week! I only work Mon-Wed. because we are headed to Chicago on Wednesday night! I fear I'll miss Frodis this year because of my crew job. We are an "advance" crew, which means we are on another part of the route while the walkers are clipping along. Next week Breezy walks Michigan!

We had a fun weekend. Went to the Jungle Bar for the first time, which is a middle of nowhere trailer house bar. There were more ATVs in the parking lot than cars...and it was busy. The bartender even walked down the bar with a grocery bag of ham sandwiches and handed them out. There was a whirlpool tub in the mens room and a shower in the ladies room. *snort* What an experience.

We are also working on finishing off our front deck. It's never had a railing in the seven years we've lived there. I hate it when simple projects turn out to be a PITA. This wasn't so bad, though. We are working on all these little projects, so if we want to sell the house in the near future, we aren't scrambling.

Chris is applying for a supervisor's job. He had to write an essay response to four questions and will turn that in this week. Then he waits to hear if he's offered an interview. Several supervisors are retiring, so that helps prospects.

I'm still working on my reclassification and raise. Outcome TBD.