Tasty Tuesdays

Hey all you cooks! My friend A is having a recipe contest; check out her blog: Many Little Blessings. And here's a link to my recipe, Pork in Mushroom Gravy. (Just trying to pimp my other blog...)

Memorial Day

It doesn't seem right to say "Happy Memorial Day," since there is nothing happy about remembering a departed loved one. Rather, my condolences to you who've lost a loved one and my thanks to you who are serving or have a loved one serving.

I have a cousin serving right now. He's been to Iraq and Afganistan and I suspect he'll be going back. And I have a coworker in the reserves who expects to be called up again. It is a constant hoping for the best, but worrying about the worse for both of them.

Soooo frustrated and tired

I've been working very long, intense days for the past couple weeks and next week should be no better. Lots of things to be updated at the last minute, lots of coordinating, lots of deadlines. It isn't the long hours so much as trying to keep track of everything.

One tiny change will have a snowball effect and affect so many other things. One of my responsibilities is to make sure everyone in the department is aware of and makes these changes. So I send out e-mails, I make announcements in staff meetings, I mark the change on their work. And still, I get the blank looks of "what are you talking about?".

Sometimes I think my job title should be changed to chief nag. Why do I have remind people of their deadlines? Because if I don't, the projects don't get done on time. And then everyone in the department is scrambling to finish the project at the last minute. It may take a village to raise a child, but it shouldn't take a village to finish a project. I'm ready to beat my head against the wall. Better than beating my coworkers, right?

In the meantime, my own projects are falling by the wayside. Hence, I'm working today and tomorrow, sigh.

It was an LM day

I wore my pink Lifetime Moments tee shirt to work today. It is a custom tee shirt from a non-official crop, which makes it even more special. I've been so busy at work (these 10, 12 hour days are killing me), that I forgot my LM order was arriving today. Usually I track it every day online, and anxiously await the day's mail delivery. I got back from our staff meeting to the pleasant surprise of my order. There wasn't that much to show for how much I spent; paper is expensive, lol. Thought I did splurge on a QK tote. I was afraid they would discountinue their current tote since they came out with a new (ugly) one. Since it was on sale, I "had" to buy it. How's that for logic?

Friends

Last night, I saw a dear friend that I hadn't seen in quite a while (she moved out of state). I think I've seen her twice in the past three years, but last night was the first time I saw her, just the two of us. No kids, no other friends.

She decided to fly into town at the last minute and was busy trying to fit in visits with family and friends. Having done the same thing myself, I was flattered to be on her "to see" list.

We tried to find a halfway point to meet and picked a restaurant that we had both heard of and could see from the freeway. It turned out to be quite the happening place and not quite what we had in mind. So we drove around for a bit and ended up on a quaint little street full of restaurants and cute shops. We happened upon a wine bar and it was the perfect place for us--quiet, friendly, reasonably priced. She had a flight and I had my usual cranberry juice, lol. It was wonderful to just sit, relax, and enjoy each other's company. So my advice to you? Spend time with your friends. Something we don't do enough.

12 of 12

Thanks to S, I had two days notice to plan my 12 of 12 photos (credit to Chad Darnell for the concept). Plus the 12th came on a weekend this month so theoretically, I had lots of time to do this. It would have been helpful if I brought the camera with us when we ran our errands, but alas, you'll just have to settle for photos around the house.

Since I had to take photos, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and take a photo of the clothes I'm donating to Goodwill. Then there's the tool A borrowed and needs to return, some tea I've been drinking to get rid of my cough, the stuff I bought at the scrapbook store, and my mail today.



























I usually don't drink soda, but today it was quite warm so I indulged.

This is the "Mexican lasagna" I made for dinner. It is layers of tortillas, refried beans, cheese, and salsa/tomato sauce instead of pasta, beef, cheese, and marinara sauce.

Hopefully, this little seedling will grow up to be a healthy, hardy Armenian cucumber plant.









An empty rabbit hutch. :(


I can't remember if this is a cherry tomato or Roma tomato plant












This is perfectly normal food, dried bamboo shoots.








Here's a stack of A's jeans that he doesn't fit any more.

NSD, Cinco de Mayo, and more

That's National Scrapbook Day for you non-scrappers. Yep, May 5th was a pretty busy day this year. It was National Scrapbook Day, Cinco de Mayo, and National Law Day. I only celebrated the first two, though it would have been cool to get some free law advice.

LM had an awesome celebration weekend (and I think it is still going on if you want to get in on the prizes). Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood for scrapping. I wasn't even in the mood for shopping. I did play a few games and am still working on one of them and made a card for Mom. All the local scrapbook stores were having crops and sales, none of which I checked out because the crops were all day events and I had plans for the evening. I almost went to one store since they were having a sale on the Bind-it-All, 25% off, which is the best price I've seen on them. But I resisted. I finally decided to place an order last night at LM. I almost missed the sale, because I keep forgetting that the deals end on Eastern time, not Pacific time (LM used to be on the west coast, but moved to Michigan). Anyway, I put a huge amount in my basket and used five different discount codes. It is so cool that Jackie (owner of LM) allows us to stack the discount codes. So yes, I spent a fortune on stuff I really don't need, but want anyway, lol.

Saturday night, I had bunco, hence no all day crops. It was a good thing I didn't cancel bunco for cropping since it was my lucky night. First, M was hostessing and she brought an awesome dinner with a Mexican theme in honor of Chinco de Mayo, all homemade: enchiladas and guacamole. Plus two kinds of dessert! She didn't want to bring any leftovers home so I got enchiladas for another dinner. Plus she sent home some strawberry tart and brownies. I think A was more excited about the food than he was about my winnings, lol!

Off schedules

I hate it when A has to leave early for work. It wouldn't be so bad if that corresponded with him getting home early, but usually, it just means a long day for him. So that means he went to bed early last night and left before I got up this morning. No good morning kiss for me today. :(

Not a low-cal dinner

It's a miracle! I cooked! LOL! Actually, I was tired of the freezer dinners and wanted something fresh so I've got three dinners planned for this week, thanks to Foster Farms chicken being on sale for 50% off. Last night, I made Buttermilk Baked Chicken (see my other blog), mashed potatoes, and carrots. Actually the carrots were leftover, but there were still enough for last night's dinner. But the potatoes is what I really want to talk about. Dang they were good. No gravy needed. And the way I make my mashed potatoes? Easy peasy! Just chop, boil till cooked, pour out most of the water (but save in case you need to add liquid back in), lightly mash (I like my potatoes lumpy), add a bit of salt and pepper. Add a few tablespoons of cream cheese (to 8 small potatoes). I had softened cream cheese that I had been putting on my toast so used that. It melted right into the potatoes and made them so rich and smooth. Yum!

ISO SB Supplies

I know, you're saying you've got to be kidding, right? I'm looking for a paperkins-type girl in a Tai Kwan Do uniform with a black belt. Hopefully, the girl has black hair. I need to do a special scrapbook page for a special person. I know paperkins aren't in, but they're cute. If you have other ideas, let me know.

What would make my life better

Getting home earlier. Yesterday, I got home early from work. Traffic was lighter, which was nice. I had time to play on the computer, which was nice. I made dinner, which was nice. I watched the evening news, which was nice (well, the news wasn't nice, but being able to watch was).

Today, I got home around 7:00. Traffic was terrible. I was too tired to cook so thank goodness A got home earlier and made a salad. I missed the news. By the time I finished cleaning up the kitchen, I felt like I should be getting ready for bed (not really, but you know what I mean). What a difference two hour and a half hours make.

So why don't I leave work earlier? I often get called into meetings at 3:00 or 4:00. I used to have video conferences with our overseas counterparts at 5:00. So there was no use in me coming in early if all I was going to have to do was stay late. Also, it seems like no matter how early I go in, face time in the afternoon is important (no matter that I get in before most of my coworkers and bosses). In fact, people in other departments are in the habit of just walking over to my desk in the morning since they know I'll be there (and be able to help them). I sure do miss the days when I had a 30+ mile commute, but was in a vanpool so I had to leave at a certain time.

Not-so-tackle-it Tuesday

Some of my blogging friends have been participating in Tackle-It-Tuesday. I'm not exactly sure what this is, but based on the title and their posts, I gather that you're supposed to tackle an area to clean/organize every Tuesday.

I did do an amazing amount of cleaning on Sunday including 20 minutes just on the shower grout. Unfortunately, for all my scrubbing and inhaling (toxic) cleaning fumes, the shower doesn't look any better. Kinda discouraging.

As for today, I made dinner (stir-fry veggies with ramen), which I consider a major accomplishment, lol.