No Labor in My Labor Day…

I love Monday holidays.  Granted, they always end with a Muesday, (which generally sucks eggs), the three day weekend they give you rocks.  I really haven’t done a whole lot this weekend.   We went out for dinner on Friday night, which is our typical date night activity.  Afterwards, we went to Sam’s and picked up some of the stuff we needed.

Saturday, we puttered around the house and did a whole lot of little things.   We were heading out to the Pit for dinner with our friends – so we left here around 330 to get there on time.  It’s a place that doesn’t take reservations, so we always try to get there well before the dinner rush.   400 is generally early enough – even with a party as large as ours.  We got there, and checked in, and were told that it was most likely not going to be possible to seat us all together, however, we should still be seated – although separately within a half an hour.  Nearly 30 minutes later, Katie went to the hostess stand who told her that the wait was now an hour to an hour and a half.  (WTF!)  When I went back to the hostess stand, the same girl told me that she NEVER told us that it would be a half hour, and that it would be a lot longer to get a table.  Well, I will stand for a lot of things, but to be rude and to lie to me, when you’re in a position of customer service, well, I just won’t stand for that.

So, we packed up, and hiked across the street to Jibarra.  (And permanently removed the Pit from our rotation)  It was pretty good – just not really what I would expect for Mexican food – it’s more frufru than anything else.  Doubt we’ll go back there either – the wait for our food was way too long….(just not a lucky day for dining in Raleigh!)

Sunday, Charles and I did some culling of our linen closet, towels, and sheets.  (YAY) along with some laundry.  We made dinner, and afterwards, hung out and I read while Charles perfected his Mario Cart techniques.  We turned in fairly early and had a good night’s sleep.

Today has been officially declared a JammyDay.  We haven’t gotten dressed or gotten out of bed.  Charles has been napping, and I’ve been working on some Christmas crochet projects.  It’s been a relaxing day, and as much of a vacation as we can get right now.  (Disney is coming, Disney is coming!)

Tomorrow, we’re heading back into the fracas – hopefully it will be a good week – productive – but good.  Have a few things that I’m concerned with, but I’m pretty sure that they’ll work themselves out the way that they’re supposed to.

Slipping into Fall…

Today’s the start of September, and the start of my favorite time of year.   I am so glad that it’s fall, or well, getting to be fall at least.  Still have a few weeks until the actual event – but it’s all good – we’re at least heading in the right direction!

This has been a rough few days.  I got some news I really don’t agree with (and I’m not going to go into the details publicly (Bad juju, that)).  However it really shook me up some.  Scrambled my ‘world view’ pretty much.  I am dealing with rebuilding the things that got broken, and trying to screw my head on straight.  A day of staring at the wall did a great deal of taking care of that.  Tonight, I’m catching up on my Hulu.com stuff and relaxing after a mani/pedi – so by tomorrow morning, all should be right with my world.  (And that one particular crappy chapter in my life, is now officially closed, locked, burnt, and thrown away).

This afternoon, I took a serious look at enrolling at ECU for their Healthcare Informatics program.  With how the health care industry is growing right now, and me being completely content with working in this industry and watching where it is going, I think it’s a good idea to pursue some additional education in that area.  I am also focusing on my CPHIMS certification as well.  (Now that I’m done with my accounting classes, my study time is open again).

Don’t have many plans for the weekend.  We’re going out to dinner with some friends on Saturday evening – at my favorite BBQ Place here in Raleigh (Mr. Mitchell’s Pit. )  Around that, I’ll be doing some housework and spending time in Gluetopia.  Not sure what else we’ll get into – but with the amount of stress that Charles has been under lately, and all the stuff I’ve got going on, I’m thinking a nice quiet weekend at home is what we need.

We’re putting the finishing touches on our trip to Disney. (YAY!)  Our friends got their flights booked today, so now we can start planning our ‘meeting times’ and figure out what Charles and I are going to do on our first day there since they get in a few hours after us.  I’m thinking a trip to my favorite Mousey Scrap Store and a trip to Krystal Burger for Charles is something we’ll entertain doing!  I just can’t wait to get away!

I should put on my Ears…

I’m in Disney mode.  52 days till we head south for the Mouse!  I’m really excited about this trip – not because it ends with a cruise on the Disney Wonder, but because we’re taking our good friends with us – and their adorable son.  This is going to be my first trip through the eyes of a little kid (besides myself that is), so it’s all shades of exciting for me!

So, last night, I sat down and started my list making.  (I do this before each trip!)   This is what’s been going through my mind..

• Room Reservation/Confirmation
• Camp Reservation for the Kids (pending)
• Pet Arrangements for the Cats (pending)
• Plane Flight Arrangements
• Pre-Trip Hotel Arrangements (Charlotte)
• First Night Hotel Arrangements (Orlando)
• Rental Car Arrangements
• Park Tickets
• Tour Plans
• Cruise Transfer Information
• Cruise Information/Tickets/Room Confirmation
• Excursion and Event information
• Tentative plans for port days
• Flight Home Information
• Packing Lists
• Shopping Lists
• Photo Lists
• Craft Lists (Stuff to make to take on the trip)

Gahhh that’s a lot of stuff!  Thankfully, most of it is already done, and I just need to finalize everything in my plans.  Since we’re going with friends, I’ll put a packet together for everyone involved – so we all have documents handy if we need them.   This is going to be a great trip – but then again – even a bad day at Disney is better than a good day at the office!

I haven’t written for a while, and I know that – I’m sort of tapped out of ideas of ‘interesting’ things to write about, and well, I feel like my day to day life is pretty boring.  (I’m content with it, but it’s not really anything to write home about!)  I need to dig out my writing prompts again – and start to ‘fake it till I make it’.  Considering the November Daily blog challenge is coming, and I fully intend on doing that again this year.  (and hopefully I’ll write a lot more before then and afterwards as well).

Anyway – work has been ..well yeah, been is the right word.  There’s been a bit of frustration going on, and I’m trying to work through it all.  I just get totally annoyed by folks – and too easily it seems.  One day at a time….I made it through today without wanting to strangle anyone, so this is a good thing!

Gonna go work on my listies….see ya later!

If…

If you could have stopped aging at any point in your life up to the present, how old would you want to remain?

Well, seeing that everything that I’ve gone through in my life has made me who I am today, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t want to go back in time to an age where I was younger.  I would want the health and energy from my youth though.  But I think I’d like to stay this age for a long long time – along with Charles

W2D3

I won’t be posting the blow by blow here anymore – it’s just not ‘good reading’ for most of the people who wander by.  However – it IS posted – it’s on Livestrong.com, which you can access with your Facebook account, or with your own account.    If you want to see what’s going on – send me a note, and I’ll add you as a friend.

Monday Musings…

Worked at home today in order to try to get ahead on everything that’s on my to do list.  I made SOME headway – but I’m still in the hole.  I remember seeing a cartoon with Calvin and Hobbes saying that we’re given a certain number of tasks in life to complete before we die – right now, I’m so far behind I’ll live forever.

Or , well, that’s about how I feel.

After I finish all my blogging tasks for the night, I”m going to head upstairs and play around for a little bit.  Just have to catch up on everything that happened this weekend, do my ‘ifs’, and a few other things.  (And watch some REALLY bad reality TV…which is turning into a guilty pleasure!)

We’ve been getting some really good veggies in the Produce Box lately.  I’ve wanted to do some new stuff with it, and dug out some old recipes.   Tonight I made Three Sisters Soup – which we first tried at the Food and Wine Festival a few years ago.  We’ve made it a few times, but it fell out of our rotation.  We’ll have to make it more often – I forgot how good it was!  Now granted, I didn’t have any yet (other than a taste), because I had something else for dinner.  (More on that later).

Here’s the recipe -
Three Sisters Soup

• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 c finely chopped red onion
• 1/2 finely chopped Poblano chili pepper
• 2 c corn kernels
• 1 1/2 c diced zucchini
• 1 t finely chopped garlic
• 1 t sea salt
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 3 c chicken stock
• 1 1/2 c cooked pinto beans
• 1/4 c Panko bread crumbs
• 2 T sherry vinegar

Heat the oil in a large soup pot and saute the onions and pepper until they are soft and translucent.  Stir in the corn, zucchini, garlic, salt, and black pepper.  Cook for 4 minutes over medium high heat, stirring continuously.  Add the stock, beans, and bread crumbs.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the soup from the heat and allow to slightly cool.  Transfer 3/4 c of the soup into a blender.  With the center of the cap out of the lid, pulse the mixture until completely pureed.  Add the puree back to the remaining soup and re-heat over low heat.  To serve, divide the soup among 6 bowls and sprinkle 1 t vinegar over each portion.

Charles enjoyed it for dinner with a sandwich of Charlie Tuna on rye bread.  He thought the soup was a bit bland..well, missing something more than being bland.  So, he added a few dashes of Texas Pete, and he said it REALLY brightened it up!

While I was making up the soup – I also tossed together some meatballs from Trader Joe’s, with some balsamic gravy, some sauteed mushrooms and onions and topped it with a few slices of RF swiss cheese.  I put it in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes – just enough to heat it all through and melt the cheese.  That was REALLY nummy.  And since it was TJ’s turkey meatballs, it was pretty low in calories, low in carbs, and HIGH in taste.  Definitely something I’ll be keeping around to throw together for quick dinners.

I have swim class Tuesday night and Thursday night, and I want to get into a few other things in the evenings – so it will be good to have leftovers around for Charles to have for quick dinners, and they’re healthy and high in protein, so they’ll be good for me to grab as well.

Rana and I went out to Charlotte this weekend – CK had a convention, and we decided to go enjoy ourselves.   Originally, we had planned to go down on Saturday morning, check in for our two classes, and then shop and come home (potentially with a stop at Ikea).  Well, Charles and I had been talking this week, and we decided that with the 3 hour drive down, and an 1110 class, it would really be pushing it to get there on time – and the drive home would make it a REALLY long day.  So, I got a room at the Hilton Garden Inn right down the road from the Convention center, and we headed down Friday night.

Saturday morning, we got up, got dressed and had breakfast.  (The buffet wasn’t all that…but it was..okay).  When we got there, we did shopping.  I got lots of  pretty pretty papers and a bunch of other stuff.  It was a productive trip. (I’m really glad I got the Basic Grey stuff I was waiting somewhat impatiently for!)   Our first class was an embellishment class.  It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, and I was somewhat disappointed in it.   The second class we took was awesome.  It was sponsored by Boxer Scrapbooking  and we got the stuff to make an ADORABLE Mickey Mouse album.  I went back to the booth afterwards and picked up a few things to make a smaller one for after our trip with KT and Kris.    Also got the kits I wanted to get for the Moms holiday gifts as well.    I’ll have plenty to keep me busy for a while.  YAY

Scrapper’s Tool Kit…

Tonight, as I was putting things together for the trip to Charlotte this weekend, I put together my ‘tool kit’.  Over the years, friends have asked me what they should have handy as a starter kit for scrapbooking.    There are so many things that you CAN get to work with paper, but only a few things that you really should have handy in order to do the basic things.  These are good to have around in order to get your ‘groove’ going – and then expand from the basics and follow the directions that your art and interest take you.

While I do have a few favorites for specific brands, none of the items below are particularly ‘brand specific’.    I won’t tell you that you should buy the most expensive items out there – because there is quality at each price point -but for these items, I think you should invest in quality – because these items you’ll use as long as you’re scrapping!

*  Paper Trimmer – 12×12 – I have a Carl rotary cutter that I use here at home, and a Fiskars trimmer that I take with my when I travel.  I prefer the Carl, because it makes much cleaner lines.   The 12×12 size is the best option, because it allows you to do both scrapbooking and card creations.

*  Fine Point scissors - I use Cutter Bee scissors – they have a nice little sleeve that slips over the blades for when you travel – the points are pretty fine for fussy cutting and trimming as well.

*  Hole Punch – I quickly found that a ‘regular hole punch’ didn’t do everything that I wanted to do.  I invested in a Crop-o-Dile and use it for everything.  I like using it because it not only punches holes, but it also sets brads and can be used for basic ‘dot’ embossing.

*  Adhesives – Different jobs call for different adhesives, so I keep a few different ones around.  I have glue sticks for when a quick dry adhesive is needed, a zig 2 way glue pen for when the embellishments are a little heavier or I’m using glitter or flock, and my stand by double sided tape.  On my scrap desk, I have a tape dispenser with double sided tape that I use on nearly every project.  Scotch brand is what I use – and I have a travel dispenser for when I’m on the move as well.

*  Journaling Pens – My favorites are the Zig Millenium pens – they are color fast and come in a variety of nib sizes – I use them for everything from journaling on layouts to doing faux stitching and doodle embellishments.  They last a while as well, and hold up to being ‘forgotten’ on the scrap table and being left open for a while.  (Not that I would EVER do that!)

*  Distressing Ink - One of the easiest ways to ‘punch up’ your pages is to distress the edges of the papers that you’re using.  I like to use pigment inks for these, because they stay ‘wet’ a little longer and let you blend them along edges.  The ones I go to most often are ColorBox Cat’s Eyes in Chestnut Roan (brown) and Charcoal (Black)  I also have ColorBox Cat’s Eyes Queues in metallic colors as well one in various shades of brown.  This lets me do pretty much everything that I want, and it all looks fabulous!

*  Odds and Ends – I also have a corner rounder, and a bone folder – this lets me do more with cards as well as making creases with the various folds that I do in scrapbooking.

All of these things, I keep in a large sized pencil box that I picked up at Target.  (That’s a new addition.  Usually things go into a pencil bag, but I’ve outgrown it!)

If…

If you could permanently alter one thing about your physical appearance, what would you change?

I gotta say, the one thing that I would change is my hair.  Ever since high school, it’s been SO fine, thinning out, and well, pretty crappy.  When I was a girl, I had gorgeous thick hair – it was so full, and pretty.  And now, not so much.  But Charles likes it, and that does make me happy – but I just wish there was ‘more’ of it sometimes.  (Although, I will tell you, I do like how it is getting curly!)

W1D6

Started the day off at Weight Watchers this morning.  I’m ‘stuck’ where I was last week, but I’m not surprised with everything that’s going on.  This weekend I’m going to pay special attention to what my weak spots are, and make sure that I write everything down.

I didn’t log anything yesterday because of being sick – but I was back at it today.

B – 2 fried eggs, one slice bacon, 1/2 slice whole wheat toast with 1t promise spread.

S – Medium banana

L – 1/2 c beef sharwma, 2T hummus, 3/4 whole wheat pita fresh tomato and goat cheese.

S – 1/2 ww pita,  2T hummus, fresh tomato, and goat cheese  (Lunch leftovers)

D -2 wheat flower tortillas, 1T queso, 1/2 c steak, 1/2 c sauteed mushrooms and onions, 1/4 c shredded cheese and sour cream (mixed)  (Fajitas from Moe’s)

I’ll probably have a protein shake yet this evening – but I haven’t decided yet.

Next week, I’ll go back to logging everything in Livestrong so I get true numbers on calories, protein, etc.    That will all get posted here as well, and if anyone has a Livestrong account and wants to link in with me as a friend, let me know, I’ll give you my ID!

Ramping up for Charlotte

Well, the week is almost over. (Granted, much shorter for me than it normally is because of being sick!)  Tonight, I skipped aerobics because I’m just not feeling ‘right’ yet.  Charles and I went out and grabbed something for dinner since I’ll be out of town tomorrow – and I came home and packed my scrap bag for tomorrow. ( Post coming that tells you what’s in my go-to kit).

Today was a crazy day back in the office.  I won’t say that I”m completely on my game right now, because I know I’m not – and I’m beating myself up about stupid crap.  I think I’m making more mistakes than I should, and well, that just isn’t acceptable for me.  I’m sure I’ll get back to it soon, but the next week or so, I need to be easier on myself than I have been up till now.

I’ve got a list of things that I want/need to get done tomorrow morning, and then tomorrow afternoon I have time scheduled in the recording studio for a project that I’ve been tapped to work on.  After that, I should be fairly clear through until Monday, when it all starts back up again.  And Monday, I’ll be back to focused – and feeling up to everything I need to do!