Back to cooking

After a hiatus from cooking, I'm getting back into the swing of things. A is thrilled with the freezer dinners, but I'm not. But if it gets him to "cook" (throw the foil pan in the oven), that's one less dinner I have to plan.

So to combat that (and save $), I've gotta get back to cooking. Tonight's dinner wasn't totally from scratch, but I had a bunch of stuff to use up so I had to be creative. I had leftover gravy in the fridge, plus 10 lbs of potatoes. What does that sound like to you? To me, that sounds like shepard's pie. Browned a pound of ground beef with chopped onions. Added a pound of frozen mixed veggies and the gravy. Cooked up half the potatoes and mashed them (still have some left and will make corn potato chowder with it). Should have made the mashed potatoes a little drier, but still, the dish was tasty. And relatively cheap. We each had a huge serving, I made two lunches, and we've got enough for another dinner, if not two.

Had a bunch of apples and pears that were gonna go bad so made a crisp. It was a little too sweet and A thought the oatmeal in the topping was a little too raw, but not bad for making it up. On the other hand, anything with one and a half sticks of butter and one and a quarter cup of sugar has got to taste good, right?

Make and Take Freezer Dinners, take 2

Last Saturday, I did one of those freezer dinner things again. This time, I was by myself since A had to help his dad. It took me just over 2 hours to prepare 10 dinners. I went to Dinner My Way again since I had a coupon for their $199 special (12 entrees for $199). Now you're say, but wait, you just said that you prepared 10 dinners, what happened to the other two? This leads me to my tips for using these places.

First, don't go on the last day of the menu. There's a good chance that some of the ingredients aren't fresh or that they may even run out of ingredients. That's why I said I prepared 10 meals. Meal 11, she ran out of ingredients, but had one frozen already. That was okay with me. Meal 12, I thought the chicken had freezer burn so I asked for something else. She didn't have any more chicken for that dish so she gave me another meal that had been prepared. And, I didn't have to make the sauce for one dish because she had extras frozen. If I didn't have all that, I probably would have been there another 15-20 minutes.

Second, prepare the most complicated dishes first. You're not as tired and it is easier to follow the directions.

Third, it helps to have a large cooler (or two) to bring the food home in.

Fourth, before you go make these dinners, clear out at least two shelves in your freezer. I filled two freezer shelves and half a fridge shelf.

We're averaging 5 servings per meal. Not too bad, but still, more than what we'd spend on our own. It has been nice to not have to do any prep work though.

Blah, halloween

My carpooler was anxious to leave work on time so she could get home for the trick or treaters. Me, I was just happy to get home. A cooked dinner (yahoo!) and we're vegging in front of the TV.

The porch and kitchen lights are out, the universal sign for "don't ring the doorbell," lol. We did have one kid knock and ring, but hopefully, she'll be the only one.

So, in celebration of tonight, Happy Halloween, even if I am a humbug.

$3.09

In keeping with our bad luck of buying gas when price rise, I bought gas today at $3.09. Seven cents more than yesterday. Ouch!

Tag!

One of my fellow LMers/bloggers decided to torture me again and tagged me (B, just kidding! love ya!). Here are the rules (and you know I love rules, if only so I know what rules I'm breaking, lol):

1-Link to your tagger (see above), and also post these rules on your blog. (done!)

2-Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. (see below)

3-Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. (yeah right)

4- Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog. (see 3 above)

Seven facts, you want me to think that hard?!!?!

1. I considering getting rid of worm bin and just having compost bins.
2. I'm obsessed with saving money.
3. I hate getting my hands dirty.
4. I love fried foods.
5. I hate these tagging things.
6. I don't shower every day.
7. I never wanted to have a career and I now I do.

How do you count your savings?

I was talking to a friend about this and I find our different methods of calculating interesting. When I talk about what I save, I do really mean what I save, the dollars that come out of my paycheck and go into a savings account. (I'm saying I, but really, I'm talking about what A and I both save.) She also counts interest and company match on 401K. Since I have no control over those things, I don't count them. My method is easier for me because I can say I put $XXX into my health savings account and $XXX into my 401K and $XXX into saving and each of those numbers is a certain percentage of my income, if I wanted to calculate it that way. I'm not sure how to calculate the interest since that varies. 401K is easy to calculate since I know what the company match is. Anyway, in case you can't tell, we've got a little healthy competition going on as to who can save more. For quite a while, I was "winning." But since her DH makes about 3X what A makes (that's just a guess), she's pulled ahead.

No LM crop for me

In my never-ending quest to be organized, I was going through my e-mail and deleting ones I didn't need any more. I have a folder named LM crop and it contains all the e-mails from the 2004 and a few from the 2006 crop. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, for 2006, there was a crop forum on the message board so there aren't that many e-mails from then. I'm glad I saved the 2004 e-mails because they brought back so many fun memories. I'll have to print them out and put them in that album (yep, still working on that one).

As for 2007, it just wasn't meant to be. I really thought about it. I had a free ticket I could use. If I had committed to going in the summer, we could have pulled it off. But then, the China trip came along, work was crazy, and $$ was an issue (as usual). So, no crop this year for me. Now that it is so close, I'm really bummed. I'm glad that it isn't being discussed much on the boards since that would make me even more bummed. But I hope people will talk about it afterwards. I wanna know what I missed.

What to write

I have so many thoughts it's tough to sort them out. I could talk about how "poor" I am (again) or about the terrible Southern California wildfires or more thoughts on Uncle T or vent about work or my contacts or write about a million other things. Don't know why I'm so tired. Still have that darn cough. Wish I was visiting with S and C.

I'm off to read Harry Potter and drink some tea for a little relaxation.

We have crickets working for us

One nice surprise when I got home from China was our new garage door. Well, it really wasn't a surprise since the door/opener has been sitting in our garage for over a year until A finally got around to putting them up (I could post a page-long vent about that, but I won't). Our old door was an old-fashioned wooden door and I was always afraid the door would collapse on my car as I drove in/out of the garage. This was not an unfounded fear since each of the door springs has broken over time and the replacements did not inspire confidence in me.

The garage is sooooo much lighter now since this door has windows. It is so smooth and quiet. Not totally quiet since it sounds like little crickets chirping when the door opens/closes. So cute!

So tired

Understandably, I think. Not sleeping too well. Went to see FIL last night. A went this morning and his brother was there most of the day. So far, he's gotten six units of blood. I have no idea how much blood is in one of those drip bags. But six units sure seems like a lot.

I do have lots of ideas for more interesting posts (instead of ill family members) and I also wanna get scrapping again. Hopefully soon.

I do not have a black cloud over my head

But that's what people are saying about me. :( So the latest is that my FIL is in ICU. Now this is the one that is really getting to me. All my aunties? Not much I could do. I am more worried about my mom and how she was doing with both of her sisters being seriously ill. But my FIL, that hits close to home, both emotionally and physically. My FIL lives close by. Poor A was so stressed when he called me at work to let me know. Thank goodness his other brother is already on his way down here for a visit. He'll be down here tomorrow night and we should have more info on dad then.

On a positive note, my cousin called to give me an (overly) optimistic update on my aunt and my uncle in SF called me to let me know his wife came home today and to think me for the China photos I sent.

Still, now we both cringe when the phone rings.

The magic number

I hit the magic number last week, for three days! Woo hoo! What the heck am I talking about? My weight, silly. I wanted to hit that number before I left for China, but I didn't. Then, while traveling I figured I would gain weight since I was eating three big meals a day, much more than I normally eat. In fact, mom gained weight her first week! I dunno, maybe stress, maybe it is that time of the month, but whatever the reason, I know at my "advanced" age, I can still hit the magic number. Now, if only I could stay at this weight. That's my new goal for now.

Actually, I was wondering I could hit my pre-wedding weight (which is about 10% less than what I weigh now). I used to try on my Chinese wedding dress on my anniversary to see if I could still wear it. And I could, for several years. Don't remember when I stopped trying it on. That might a little extreme. But I'm thinking about it.

And it continues

Talked to my mom today. Now I have bad news from the other side of the family. An aunt was driving her cats to the vet and totaled her car. She was in the hospital for a few days, but is home now. From what I heard, I think she'll be okay, thank goodness.

And work has its ups and downs. Not thrilled to be working 12 hours days again. A's not thrilled either. I'm still sick, but still getting better.

My phone is ringing off the hook...

and it isn't good news. I've been getting updates about my aunt (in SF) from my cousin, which is good since she's a nurse and can ask the doctor lots of questions and help translate the answers for me. My aunt's surgery was yesterday and unfortunately, they could not remove the tumor. Right now, they're giving her 6 months to a year to live.

Tonight, I get a call from my brother, asking if I have my cousin's cell #. He doesn't tell me why he needs it and seems a bit hesitant so I don't press him. Unfortunately, no, but I know someone who does. After I get the number, I call him back (at Uncle J's), but by then, he's already on the road with my mom (she's finally going home!). Of course, now I get to worry about my brother driving for hours on the road (taking my mom home and then he'll drive back home and go to work tomorrow morning). And do you think I could get him to call me or send me an e-mail to let me know he's okay, of course not!

The reason he wanted my cousin's cell # was so they could get an update on Uncle B (husband of my aunt above). It turns out that Uncle B fell in the elevator today and was in the emergency room. So between calling to get updates, getting phone numbers, returning calls, my ear is sore and I haven't gotten anything done. Plus I still have to call my mom tonight.

So if bad things come in threes, I hope this was the third, and last item.

On a more amusing note, A asked me how many people I talked to (since I lost track of how many phone calls) and it was seven (cousin's DH, cousin 1, cousin 2, Uncle J, Auntie M, my brother, my mom). And if the phone line hadn't been tied up, with all these phone calls, I probably would have talked to another cousin.

China photos

I've been plesantly surprised and pleased at all the comments I've received regarding my China photos (send me an e-mail if you want a link). Surprised because they were taken with a point-and-shoot camera, not a DSLR. Surprised because the photos/subject matter doesn't seem extraordinary to me. Surprised because so many people were surprised at how primative China still is. Pleased because even though I was using a point-and-shoot camera and my contacts were bothering me the whole time I was in China, I think I managed to get some good shots. Pleased because I put a lot of effort into the commentary. Pleased because people took the time to thank me for the photos. Thank you!

Cough, hack, cough

It sounds like I've got it really bad this time. I managed to stay healthy during the entire China trip, but got sick as soon as I got home. It's been a week now, and I'm tired of coughing and sneezing. Since I woke up today with more congestion than ever, I'm staying home in the hopes of knocking out this cold. I'm gonna dose myself with vitamins and herbal tea and hope they do the trick.

Debating whether or not I should go to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. The truth is, I won't go to the doctor unless I absolutely have to because I think it is a waste of money for someone to tell me I have a viral infection and to just let it run its course. But I always worry that it might be something serious, like walking pneumonia, or something I can't cure with OTC meds. I'm sure the worrying doesn't help. But that's how I am. I think I'll give it a couple more days and hope the extra sleep, vitamins, and rest cure me.

Guess I overdid it

Since I've come down with a full-fledged cold. I did go back to work early, partly because we are so short-handed at the moment and partly because I wanted to save my vacation time because my aunts are ill (more on that later). I was surprised and pleased and worried that the first four people I saw all said, "Thank goodness you came back early!" Though there wasn't that much for me to do except go through the 462 e-mails I got while I was out.

I was pretty tired and had a bit of a sore throat. It also took three days for my ears to clear. Or maybe it was the beginning of my cold. My throat is better now, but I'm soooooo tired. I took a two and a half hour nap today. Probably could have slept longer, but I asked A to wake me up after an hour, so he did, but then told me to go back to sleep. He went out to get some dinner and I finally got up to eat. Hope I can fall asleep tonight.

Missed a baby shower today and bunco tonight. Would have missed them anyways if I came back on my original schedule. Ah well.

As for my soap opera life, I think that people wouldn't believe it. A few days before we left for China, my aunt had brain surgery. We went to see her a few hours before we left for the airport and she wasn't doing so well. Unfortunately, we didn't get any news about her while we were in China so my mom was a bit worried. But we did find out that my other aunt (in San Francisco) was going to have surgery the next week, which was a shock to us. Hence part of my urgency to come home early.

As it turns out, my aunt went to the hospital early to prep her for surgery. They needed to stabilize her fluids and blood sugar because she wasn't healthy enough for the surgery as is. My uncle is still in China because he couldn't change his flight. Now I wish I had dragged him to the airport with me and he could have come home early. But he wasn't ready to leave. Since he's 89 years old, he wouldn't be able to "camp out" at the airport by himself, like my mom and I were prepared to do (thank goodness we didn't have to). Yep, I've got stress in my life.

Home Sweet Home

Yahoo! I'm finally home! Did ya miss me? Did ya even notice I was gone? For those of you out of the loop, I went to China with my mom and some other relatives. We visited her childhood home, saw a tiny bit of Hong Kong/Macau, and then spent a week on Hainan island (China) with other relatives. Add in more travel time for me (had to fly to Sacramento and get Mom before heading out to San Francisco Int'l airport) and I was gone for just over two weeks.

We were originally scheduled to come back on Friday (after a 3 day post-China extension in Hong Kong), but Mom developed the "China hack," probably because of being tired, the air pollution, the smoking, and the weather. It was hot and humid, but the hotels and restaurants were cold so all that temperature change didn't help. Also, it was impossible to regulate the temperature in the hotel rooms, it was almost always too cold or too hot. If we turned the air off, the humidity was unbearable, but with the air on, it got too cold. While in China, we desperately tried to change our flight, but no such luck. The airline said they were overbooked and wouldn't even put our names on a waiting list.

So since we were going to be in HK anyways, I decided our best bet would be to camp out at the airport until they put us on a waiting list. As it turns out, we didn't have to resort to such drastic measures. Here's how my day went.

• Left the hotel in Haikou (Hainan Island) at 6:15 am to catch the 8:50 flight.
  
• Had security question me about my contact lens solution (the same solution in the same baggie that went from OC to SFO to HK to Haikou). Had no idea what the guy was saying. My aunt also didn't understand him. Two other security guys were like, why are you questioning her and waved us on.
  
• Flew to Hong Kong. Went through immigration, picked up our luggage, then promptly turned around and went upstairs to Departures to find the Cathay Pacific counter.
  
• Contrary to what we were told over the phone, the flight still had open seats and the wonderfully kind agent got me an aisle seat with Mom next to me. It was done quickly and easily and best of all, no flight change fee.
  
• We had five hours before our flight so we decided to just walk around the airport for a while. We could have gone into HK, but we just weren't up to it. I tried calling the hotel to cancel our reservation, but that was a joke. Couldn't find an internet cafe without a huge line.
  
• Decided to go to the boarding gate, which involved passing through immigration/security and then taking a train to the boarding area. Forgot to take my camera out of my pocket, so had to get wanded.
  
• Found a free computer/telephone center sponsored by a local telecommunications company and e-mailed the hotel to cancel my HK rooms, my brother so he could pick us up from the airport, and my honey.
  
• Didn't trust the e-mail to the hotel so found an HK phone number and called hotels.com. The poor girl (I assume she was in India) didn't know how to cancel my reservation because it had been made online by someone other than me so I got transferred back to the US to a wonderful agent (Joye, I love you!), who couldn't hear half the things I was saying (and vice versa) because of our lousy connection, was patient and helpful and cancelled my reservation no problem, tried to get the hotel to waive their cancellation policy (billing me for one night because I was cancelling too late)-no such luck, and said she'd send me some sort of vouchers to use on a future booking. Such a relief to know I wouldn't have to pay for three nights I wasn't using.
  
• Bought a cup of tea to drink on the plane, but didn't realize I'd have to go through another security check by the airlines so it was taken away.
  
• Had the child from heck sitting behind us. Threw a tantrum the first 45 minutes so the flight. Either cried or kicked our chairs for most of the flight. Had a huge person sitting in front of me, who reclined his seat all the way for most of the flight. Was unable to sleep more than an hour or two. But we were coming home, which was really all that matter.
  
• Thank goodness my brother read his e-mail and was waiting for us at the airport (so I didn't have to deal with Super Shuttle or Bart or a taxi and yet more expense). Went to my aunt's (the one scheduled for surgery next week). She looks awful, but was so happy to see us. Had my first upset stomach of the trip, maybe from lack of sleep? Called the airline and was able to change my flight home.
  
• Went out to dinner, but finally had to rush everyone so I could catch my flight.
  
• Got to the airport 40 minutes before the flight took off. Cutting it a little close, but since it was late, the airport wasn't busy and I got through check-in and security in 15 minutes.
  

Right now, I'm suffering from the worse case of jetlag I've ever had. Still deciding if I should go to work tomorrow or not. I'm just so happy to be home.

I need more memory

I'm terribly afraid I'm forgetting something for my trip and I won't be able to buy a replacement. But what do I really need other than my glasses, contact lenses/solutions, a good pair of walking shoes, and a credit card? Do I need the 35 lbs of stuff I've packed so far?

A and I got into a little tiff (no, not TIF, lol) about memory cards. He bought me a 1GB card and we had a 128MB card sitting around. The camera came with a 16MB card, which is good for like, 5 photos at the highest resolution. (A little aside, Panasonic now has 16GB cards! I remember when memory was like $2/MB and we were thrilled to get a 48MB card for $70-it included a card reader too!) I was a little irritated when he suggested bringing that 16MB card. Like I really want to hassle with switching cards for 5 photos. I'd rather just delete some.

I mentioned to him a few times that I wasn't sure I had enough memory since I tend to take lots of photos. When I was into taking photos (back in the film days), I'd carry two cameras (or at least two lenses), and swap my film as needed (bw, ISO). I'd take a roll or more a day when I was someplace scenic or I was trying to be artsy (someday, I'll show you my chair series). Right now, I've got enough memory to take 24 photos a day at the next to highest setting. I hate that I'm feeling inhibited, that I can't take photos at the highest setting. Granted, this is just a point and shoot camera, but still, I've got a good eye. I'm pretty sure I can still get some great photos. (yes, yes, I know I could have just gone out and bought a memory card; the point is, A didn't think I needed more memory even after I explained it to him and he's the one who usually buys the electronics.)

So tomorrow morning, we're gonna go out and buy another memory card. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Thank goodness for Target.

I'm gonna miss

While on my trip (I just can't call it a vacation), I'm going to miss

Waking to coffee (A makes coffee for us every morning)
Wasting time surfing the web
The fall season premieres
Target
Calling friends on my cell phone
E-mail
Last, but certainly not least, my honey

Blogging etiquette

Or should that be blogging netiquette? maybe that's redundant? In any case, when someone comments on my blog, am I supposed to comment back, even if just to say thanks? If someone asks a question, of course I try to answer. But otherwise, am I supposed to thank people for their comments? Maybe if I did, I'd get more, lol.

I've seen both practices and have no idea which is "correct."

Woo hoo!

I won! I won! What did I win? A $100 gc to my favorite scrapbook store! They have something called Scrapfest a couple times a year and I've participated in every one. This is the first year I only got the minimum # of points, but that didn't matter. That was enough for one entry and that was enough to win something. And not just a little something, but a big something. There was only prize that was bigger. This is a wonderful cap to a relatively awful summer. It made me so happy!

I have no idea what I'm going to buy. I do have an extra long wish list there, but it doesn't have a lot of new stuff on it. Then there the Memory Trends tradeshow next week which may show more new stuff, then the show in January and, and, and...it is never ending, lol.

Self-medicating

I was self-medicating for a health problem for the past week or so. I spent a bit of time online researching and also a lot of time running to different stores to get what I needed. I was definitely showing improvement, but not quite cured. Since I'm leaving for my trip in a couple of days, I finally decided to go to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. I hate waiting. I hate getting the EOBs and being annoyed at how much my copay is. My prescriptions were over $50, and that was for the generic versions. Obviously, they weren't on Target's $4 generic list (too bad). The doctor's visit will probably be $60, $40 if I'm lucky. A keeps telling me that we have the money to pay for health care, but I keep thinking that if I just had a little more time, I could have cured myself with natural remedies that cost less.

Ugg, spending more money

One thing I always calculate into travel costs in extras like clothes and toiletries. I didn't do too bad in the clothing department. I got a pair of shorts for $4 and a skirt for $8 on clearance. Too bad I couldn't find any pants or shoes.

Today I spent a ton on OTC meds, you know, just in case. Stuff like bug spray, itch cream (mosquitoes love me), and cold medicine. I'm still debating on buying Immodium. Never took it before, never had the need too. It's ridiculous. I've got almost a gallon baggie full of stuff. Yes, I've read that you can buy most anything you need in China/HK, but do I really want to be looking for a drug store when I don't feel well?

The biggest expense was a new digital camera. I'm still trying to figure out how it works. My old digital didn't have as many bells and whistles and I think it took better photos. Oh well, gotta move with the times. That 5 second lag between pressing the shutter button and having the photo taken was just too long.

Also bought a new suitcase. I tried, but there was no way I could fit everything into a carry on. Besides, it would have been over the weight limit for the airline.

I'm running out of time. But I guess that means I'm running out of time to spend money, lol.

In a couple of weeks...

I'll be in China. Before you say, oh wow, or cool! or have fun! take note that I have no desire to go, that I think it will be a horrible trip. So why am I going? Because my mom asked me to accompany her. Considering how many things she's asked of me, how could I say no? Other than my mom, I'm not thrilled with the people we're going with (yes, they are relatives). It has been nothing but a headache with the visa, trying to get info out of the planners, trying to get everything done at work before I go (yep, 10-12 hour days are the norm now). My mom had problems getting her passport and bad me, was hoping it wouldn't get resolved in time. No such luck.

So I'm resigned to going. Kicking and screaming. Wish me luck with keeping my temper in check.

No wonder I feel poor

Several months ago, I talked A into tracking our income/expenses again. We did this a few years ago and it is interesting to compare what we spend now versus then. At first, we were going to track money for three months, then six months. I figured six months was good, especially since our six months included Christmas, the months we paid property tax, and the month I recieved my work bonus. So it gave us a more realistic overview. But now that we've done this for nine months, might as well go for a whole year right?

Some months we're better at tracking than others. Some things we're better at tracking than others. Like A always forgets to put in the lottery tickets and Sunday paper. I've forgotten to put in my paycheck a couple of times. Even so, I can't figure out why we're several thousand dollars in the red. I mean, we're paying all the bills so we must have the money, right? I know we've had some unexpected expenses, like my upcoming trip (more on that in another post). A's car habit. That came out of savings. Our savings acct. is smaller, but not as small as that red amount.

You know, I'm pretty good with math. Took a year of college calculus. Took college statistics. Unfortunately, I don't remember any of it. Plus, I never understood math theory. Most mathamatics is rather instinctive to me, in that I'll know if an answer is right or wrong, but I can't figure out why. Maybe that's why I can't figure out why we're in the red. Okay, just had a thought. Maybe I needed to "seed" my tracking by including my savings at the beginning of all of this? I'll have to think about this some more.

My latest "go to" meal

You know how people have those good ol' standbys, a meal that is easy to fix and the ingredients are always on hand. Since it has been so hot, I've been having milk and cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (not all on the same day, of course). I guess it is relatively healthy since I'm eating high-fiber cereal, low-fat milk, and I always add fresh fruit (usually a banana). Can you tell this heat is really getting to me?

Small, Medium, or Large (again)

After spending a significant amount of time shopping online and returning most of the purchases, I decided to take advantage of the Labor Day sales and labor over the sales, lol. As usual, I was totally frustrated with the inconsistencies in sizes. I tried on a size 6 skirt and it was loose. I tried on size 10 pants and they were tight. I tried on a medium top and it fit nicely, but was too low cut and I tried on a small in a similar style and it was falling off of my shoulders.

I bought the skirt anyways since it was so cute and I'm at my skinniest in a year so I need room to grow (or for the skirt to shrink). I finally used my Kohls giftcard from two? three? Christmases ago. Can you tell I don't like Kohls? I wouldn't have bought the skirt except it was free to me.

I know men don't have it this bad when trying on clothes. Forget all this making a woman feel good about the clothes she's buying by relabling a size 12 into a size 6. You're not fooling anyone. Basically, you're making people like me--normal, everyday people--frustrated and we're gonna shop less, not more. It isn't like I work in a business where I need to impress people; otherwise I'd feel even more pressure. Ah well, my coworkers better get used to seeing me in the same thing they've been seeing the past couple years because my wardrobe isn't getting updated any time soon.

Four eyes...

Yep, I wear glasses, more correctly, I wear contact lenses. Went to a new doctor at the practice I've been going to for years and he recommended switching to a different brand of contacts. They would be better for my eyes. Okay, but now, the problem was and is my prescription keeps changing. Oh yeah, and I had bifocal contacts and have hated them for the past year, but the doctor thought he could fix my prescription so they would work for me.

The first pair, while technically the correct prescription were waaay overpowered. I couldn't focus on anything less than 3-4 feet away. Had to wear reading glasses to cook, otherwise I might miss and chop a finger off. The next pair, couldn't see distance that well. Better than with the "original" contacts, but still not well enough for my liking. (And yes, still correct enough that I was legal and not a menace on the road.) After two tries with the bifocal lens, we've gone back to single vision lens. But again, I'm having trouble focusing close up and also mid distances. I'm back to reading glasses, though I can function without them. He's saying I might not ever be able to get back to what my vision was two years ago due to my age. Great, A says the same thing. Getting older sucks!

To add another twist to the mix, I wasn't supposed to use my current lens solution, which I've been using for years--like 15 or 20 years--with these new contacts. Did I mention I don't like change? On top of that, the lens solution he recommended was impossible to find. I went to every drug store in the area and called a bunch of others. I searched online and couldn't find it either. A few reviewer sites said it was difficult to find. No shit! Finally, I decided to buy some from the company website (I thought was very odd for them to sell directly to customers). Turns out, I waited too long because the company has decided to stop manufacturing it due to low sales of RGP lens (Rigid Gas Permeable lens). Guess everyone is going to soft lens. So last week when I picked up my latest lens, I told the optometrist that and he gave me all the rest of the bottles of the solution so I don't have to mess with yet another solution while we're figuring out the contact lens.

So this has been a torturous month and a half. Did I mention that I spend most of my work day reading? It has been hell. And the doctor thinks it could take a couple of months before my eyes settle down. I am not a happy camper. But if all this puts me in a lower powered prescription and also helps my eyes get healthier, I guess it is worth it.

It is so d@mn hot!

The powers that be are happy that is a holiday weekend, since that means a lot of people will be out of town or outside and therefore put less strain on the power grid. Since we don't have air conditioning, I guess we're already doing our part to help, lol.

Haven't been sleeping well due to the heat. Then there's the stress of work. Oh, and A is out of town and that always makes me nervous; I hate being by myself (though I'm more efficient when I'm by myself). I'll be so thankful when he's back home.

The good, the bad, the ugly

Let's start with the ugly. I stubbed my toe and now I have a blood blister. Ouch! The bad, I had a really tiring day at work. Struggled with a bunch of files. Sent e-mails to people who didn't read them. Still working on a "simple" update. Won't be done with it until next week. In the meantime, my other work is suffering.

The good, my carpooler cheered me up on the way home so I wasn't a b*tch when I got home. The bad, we didn't leave the office early enough to catch the free drawing at the farmers market. The funny, the farmers market moved and we didn't know it. The bad, the farmers market moved a few miles away instead of literally on our way home so we won't be going any more.

The good, my $600 worth of sandals from Zappos arrived. The bad, none the sandald fit that well so I'll be returning all of them. The good, free returns at Zappos, yahoo

The bad, I got an offer for some contract work but I had to turn it down.

The good, I got a package with my sister. Yahoo! Whew, glad I did this. I feel better.

Has anyone seen my blue flip flops?

How does one lose a pair of shoes? I did misplace them last year when I left them in an outer pocket of my duffle bag; I hardly ever use those pockets so I forgot I packed them there. And I did bury them under a pile of laundry for a couple of days. But this time, it has been a few weeks. I really miss my flip flops. These aren't your run-of-the-mill cheapie flip-flops. These have arch support and a toe guard and have nice cloth straps. Oh where oh where could they be?

Update
I found 'em. In the duffle bag. Like last time. Can I blame A? He's the one who put the duffle bag away without checking the pockets (maybe he was tired of seeing the bag in the hallway?). Lest you think I'm the only one to do this stuff, I was digging through all our luggage and found two of his tee shirts and a belt in another suitcase. Somehow, I think this means we have too much stuff.

Odd (and sad) dream

Last night, I had the oddest dream. I can't remember where I was, but I was with my family, mostly the older generation (it reminded me of the family reunion I went to this summer). Uncle T was there, and he was dead, but he didn't know he was dead. So we all had to be careful what we said to him because we didn't want him to know he was dead.

I hardly ever dream about people and even more rarely about those who have passed. And never so soon after they've left. I'm a little weirded out by the dream, but I'm mostly sad.

Busy day

We did our usual Saturday morning errands (bank, credit union, 7-11 to buy a newspaper, post office), plus an added stop for me to pick my new contacts (still not happy with them, did I tell you the story about 'em? can't remember).

Then we got a bit of culture. Went to the local musuem since an exhibit I wanted to see is closing this week. Nothing like cutting it close, lol. But it turns out, the gem and mummy exhibits were soooo much more interesting. Loved seeing all the beautiful gems, outlandlish jewelry, and beautiful scultures. Found the mummy exhibit to be very interesting, but cut that visit short because all the dead talk started giving me the heebee jeebees. Stuff like that usually doesn't affect me. Maybe I'm getting more sensitive in my old age.

We ended up buying a membership to the museum. Basically, if we see one more special exhibit, we'll break even. Go twice more and we're ahead. So it looks like we'll be getting more culture in the next year, lol.

Later, I'm gonna help with the kids while the guys go out and bond or something like that.

Sara

If you're interesting in learning a little more about Sara, my sister's sil, here's a link about her and her cancer fight: Sara.

This is so sad, so shocking. Less than a week after being diagnosed, she's in the hospital getting chemotherapy. I'm so thankful she has a strong support system. Poor Jake and Gracie (her little ones) must be so confused.

I'm so tired

My manager was gone for just over a week and every day, there was a new "emergency" to deal with. I had someone e-mailing me or calling me or standing at my desk at least once a day, if not three or four times a day. Such fun. Not! Then we had someone leave so I had to take over half her job. Thank goodness, there was someone else in the office to take over the other half. Obviously, I didn't have time to do any of my regular work.

He's been back a couple of days, but I'm still cleaning up the "emergencies" and trying to catch up. He's still trying to catch up his e-mails. Hopefully, we'll have a replacement soon for the person who left. Hopefully, I'll have time next week to edit the three hundred plus pages sitting on my desk. And update the five manuals I volunteered for since we're short staffed (by two people). And finish up the emergencies (can't forget those). Sigh.

Scrapbook GDA

I need to tell you about my latest scrapping deals. We were at a shopping center that happened to have Micheals. A was patient and didn't mind me taking a bit of time to shop. They had a bunch of stuff at 90% off the marked price so that's where I spent all my time. I got a scrapbook DVD and a Cuttlebug die cut for about a dollar (total) and gave them to my cousin who's interested in scrapbooking/cardmaking (she has a Cuttlebug). I also picked up a few other scrapbook goodies for myself.

Then yesterday, I was at Big Lots and they had a quite a bit of KI stuff. I love KI! Score! But I was good and just picked up a few things. Yep, will power at work, lol.

Update
We went back to Big Lots today to return one item, but went to a different Big Lots. Yep, I ended up buying a few more things. So much for will power, lol. I bought a stack of paper for $2. I guess A does know how much scrapbook paper costs because he asked how many sheets were in the pack. I told him 25. He said wow, that's really cheap per sheet. I told him he should be glad I bought just one pack since there were other papers I liked. But that if I were to use just one or two sheets, the cost per sheet was too high. Of course, I'd share my extras, but really, 23 extra sheets of paper is overkill. I learned that from all the paper I bought at the Lil Davis clearance sale a couple years ago. I'm still clearing some of that stuff out.

If you are the praying type...

please pray for Sara. She is my sister's SIL and was just diagnosed with lymphoma. While I have never met Sara in person, I feel like I know her from all the wonderful tales from my sister. In fact, one year when I was cleaning out part of my Tupperware collection, I told my sister to take anything she thought Sara might want. That's how hightly I thought of her. (Maybe you have to know me and my Tupperware obsession to understand.)

Sara has been a great source of support for my sister, who is far from the rest of her family. Sara and her DH have two children; one is an infant, less than two months old. When I hear terrible news like this, I want to shake my fist at God and cry why?!!? But since I believe in the power of prayer, I instead ask for your help. Please keep Sara and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

I need organizational help

I try and I try and I try and I just can't seem to get organized. I can't believe I'm admitting this in public. Guess I should delete this post before I send out my resume, just in case a potential employeer finds this blog and decides this is a bad trait, lo. But until then, you get to read all about it.

It's not like I forget to do important things. I never miss deadlines at work (or home). But my papers aren't filed, I've got piles of scrapbooking stuff all over the house, stacks unread or half-read magazines threaten to fall over, the stack of ironing keeps getting higher. I've got piles to coupons to mail to friends (I may need to stop doing this since it stresses me out). I forgot to deposit a couple of checks (but I don't need the money right away so I'm okay). Maybe my problem isn't lack of organization, but too much clutter? Anyone want to help me with that?

And toddler and babies make five

Today A and I had a little adventure in babysitting. We went to visit the twins (and the rest of the family, lol), then A went to do some shopping. While he was gone, I volunteered us to babysit since M & C had some errands to run. Thank goodness he got back before they left. It started off well; G was watching a video and the girls were quiet. After a while, the girls started fussing, so I'd pick up one, play with her a bit until the other started crying. Then they'd trade places. They got tired of that quickly so somehow I managed to pick both of them up and we went outside to watch A and G play ball. That was a lot fun. A always surprises me with his patience with kids.

The girls in the meantime, were trying my patience since they both wanted to be held, but not at the same time. A little fussing, a little crying, put one down, pick the other one up, repeat, repeat, repeat, lol. If M & C were going to be gone for more than an hour, I would have let the girls cry a bit, but I didn't want M & C to be coming home to crying babies.

Anyway, I've decided I'm not cut out to watch three kids at once, or if I'm going to, I need to work up to it, lol.

Crop circles

Or maybe I should say six degrees of separation. The other day, I was thinking about all the friends I've met through scrapbooking. I met S at 2peas, I think because of a swap. Then we swapped over at LM. And finally, we met in person for lunch. Through S, I met M, M, H, W, L, and so many more wonderful people. And because of LM, I've probably met 50 or more people at crops and many more online.

Last year, I met A and T at SupperThyme. I signed up for some meals and when I gave her my e-mail address, she figured I was a scrapbooker and we got to chatting. It turns out L knows A's DH through work and hence knows A. Then last week M came down to visit her SIL. It turns out her SIL knows A too and we all ended up scrapping together. So no matter who I know in the scrapbook world, we probably have another mutual friend. Good thing we're a friendly bunch, lol.

Stressed, who me?

I've got a lot going on right now, planning for a trip (more on that in a future post), changes in management at work, trying to get layouts done for scrapfest. I had to drive downtown today and if you know me, you know how much fun it was for me. Thank goodness we have a car with GPS. The drive took waaaay longer than I planned, the wait to take care of my business was waaaaaaay longer than I planned. A HUGE thank you to the lady who gave me her number. It probably cut off an hour or two off my wait. So I gave my number to someone else. It probably saved him three hours.

I'm overplanning, overthinking, worried about things out of my control. And the bad thing is, I'm not stressed enough to be losing weight. Just stressed enough to be stressed.

Received my first Carribean scam call

I assume it was a scam. I got a call from a local area code; didn't recognize the phone number, but answered anyway. No one was on the other end. Immediately after I hung up, I got another call. Again, I didn't recognize the phone number and area code. I guess I shouldn't have answered it, but I did. FYI, 869 and 876 are area codes for the Carribean.

Garlic breath

Yep, that's what I've got. Just finished up the last of the baba ganoush (eggplant) and tzatziki (yoghurt, cucumber, dill) that I got from the farmer's market. Yum! Just thought I'd share that with all of you, lol. A certainly doesn't appreciate it.

Progress and frustration

Last week, I had yet another idea on how to organize my scrapbook supplies. But to get it to work, I needed to move or get rid of a huge stack of magazines. I asked A to help this weekend because he's put a couple of boxes of stuff in the corner of our "library" where I wanted to reorganize. I thought we'd work on this today so passed up a day of scrapping with my buds. Instead, he worked on this yesterday so I did too. I got rid of a couple shopping bags worth of magazines and started to reorganize a bookcase. Then he moved a couple boxes of stuff in front of the bookcase "to sort through later" and now I can't get to the bookcase.

I thought we'd continue on today, but A's been working on the car all day. And I'm stuck here since he's working in the driveway and my car is parked in the garage. Well, I'm not really stuck since I could drive the other car (yes, we're a 3-vehicle family), but I don't want to. And I thought A was going to cook since he's the one who suggested BBQing the pork we bought this morning. But it looks like that isn't going to happen either.

But, trying to keep a positive outlook, I've moved on to cleaning another area of the house. Unfortunately, after filling the recyling can half full of paper/magzines/newspaper, the house doesn't look any different. Actually, I think it looks more disorganized now.

9:45

It looks like 9:45 pm is the new time for cranky old relatives to call me. With no thought as to whether or not my heart might stop when the phone rings at that hour. With no consideration that I might have to get to bed so I can get up the next morning to go to work. Grrrrr.

Yahoo! I broke 10,000!

10k of what, you ask? Yesterday, I finally reduced my e-mails to fewer than 10,000. Of course, that lasted less than 24 hours. But by the end of today, I brought it back down again. Monday will probably be okay because our parent company is on vacation. I expect the count to go back up on Tuesday. And by the end of the month when we get busy again? I hope, hope, hope, I can keep under 11,000.

Why so many you ask? Since I'm a project lead, I get cc'd on almost every e-mail for every project in the department. Plus I get pseudo-management e-mails. Yes, I know how to keep only the last of a mail thread. Yes, I know how to delete e-mails after a question is answered. But we have 11 pages of active projects and that's a lot of e-mails.

The scrapbook store didn't want my money

Yesterday, I stopped by my least favorite store to buy some rub-ons to finish a layout from the crop weekend. I had something I could use, but it wasn't exactly right. I was all set to pay the outrageous prices at this store, but alas, they didn't have anything close to what I wanted. Come on, who doesn't stock white rub-on letters? I can think of at least three brands/fonts that would work for me. They had only one brand in stock and it wasn't the right color. Since I had some time, I wandered around the store and was pleasantly surprised that the store wasn't as outrageously priced as I thought. Some things were a dollar more than other places, but then some things were a dollar or two less than other places. This is one reason I like shopping online. Most online scrapbook stores charge MSRP or a little less. Brick and Mortar stores sometimes charge more than MSRP. I did end up buying one small item, so they got $4.30 out of me. Now I have to decide if I should go to another LSS or just use what I have.

My scrapping weekend

I recently got back from a 4-day crop with my scrapping buddies. I got way more done than I normally do. I attribute that to several factors. One, I planned better and packed more efficiently. Two, I did mostly one photo layouts with very little journaling. Soooo much easier and faster. Three, I was (am) feeling a lot better about my pages. It is inevitable that I compare my pages to everyone else's, but I finally think that my pages can hold their own. I used a lot more embellishments than I normally do, but still, it was a lot less than what most people use.

Another thing I was happy about was that I was able to share my supplies with everyone there. Since I flew to this crop, I wasn't able to bring everything I own, though I did bring a lot, lol. Usually, it is ribbon I share, but this time, it was flowers. I'm always borrowing paper and stuff from everyone else, so sometimes I feel guilty. I know everyone is happy to share, but still....

We made a couple of shopping trips, one to a new store and one to the usual place. The new store, oh my! Great selection, good prices. The store looked very modern/industrial/art store-like, which I liked. The bad part was it was about half an hour from the B&B (did I mention we were staying at a B&B?), too far to make multiple trips (like any of us needed to buy more).

There is one downside to getting lots of pages done. I need to figure out how to organize my pages. Should I file them chronologically? By subject? Themed albums? Some combination of these? What do you do? I need to buy some more pages too. Does anyone have a good supplier for K&Co pages? Right now, they are my favorite, but Michaels doesn't carry them anymore. They are a little expensive so it was great when I could use my 40% off coupon on them.

Happy Independence Day!

Truly, I feel fortunate to live here in America. We're not a perfect country, but we have the power to change, to improve, to speak our minds. I've done some traveling overseas and really, we do have it better here.

As we were driving around today, I noticed a dearth of flags. There were only two homes with flags in the neighborhood. Both families are immigrants. What does that say about the rest of us? Are we taking today for granted? Are we too busy shopping or BBQing?

I remember my dad would put up our flag every holiday. I loved helping him take down the flag at the end of the day. I used to know the proper way to fold a flag, but unfortunately, I don't remember anymore.

Thank you America!

Packing for a crop

You'd think that since I usually crop away from home, and have flown to crops several times, I'd have the packing down to a science. Science experiment is more like it. I have one huge crop tote, but I can't fill it full of paper and metal embellishments because it will be too heavy. My other suitcases are too big or too small or soft-sided or too heavy or something else doesn't quite fit my needs. Of course, I'm too cheap to buy a new suitcase (have you priced suitcases recently?).

What I really need to do is get rid of stuff so I don't feel the need to bring everything, just in case. You know, because I might need something in the six boxes of ribbon, the two boxes of flowers (it was just one a few weeks ago and should be three now), the two cases of brads and eyelets and if I left any of that home, heaven forbid I'm forced to improvise or borrow. On the plus side, I'm not bringing my stamps (well, just two, no three, no four if I can find the set I'm looking for, lol).

Thus far, I have the above mentioned tote filled, a "small" carry on almost filled, and a largish suitcase half filled with clothes and a lamp (yes, I need the lamp and until Ott comes out with the lamp they announced in January, this lamp will have to to). The rest of the suitcase will be filled with more scrap stuff. I'm not looking forward to unpacking when I get home.

How much do you spend on a meal?

I just got back from the grocery store and spent a whopping $25 (big mistake shopping today since everyone is shopping for 4th of July). I say "whopping" because that's for one meal (including sides). Granted, I'm making more than usual because I want to take some over to my SIL's so she doesn't have to cook tomorrow, plus we'll have leftovers for us. But still. It was only two small bags of groceries. On the other hand, I spent $25 yesterday, just on dinner and dessert for myself for Girls Night Out. Let's say I get six meals out of this. That's about $4/meal. I guess that's not too bad, though I like to keep meals under $2.50 each when cooking at home.

Update on yesterday's post

I managed to fill two grocery bags with craft stuff in addition to the previously mentioned box. All went to the local Boys and Girls Club. I also filled another grocery bag with miscellaneous paper to be tossed. Of course, the house doesn't look any neater, sigh.

Why can't I toss things?

I been working at it for a couple hours and all I've managed to purge is one (small) box of scrapbook stuff. It is about the size of an LM order/priority mail box so that says a lot about how little I can part with. That's a couple hundred sheets of patterned paper, bunch of yarn from my fiber obession days, and a few miscellaneous items I'm RAKing on LM. Must be pretty crappy stuff since no one has taken them off my hands, lol. Back to work. Hopefully, I'll have more to donate and more to RAK soon.

It's that time of the year again

When all the sneak peeks for Summer CHA. CHA is the Craft and Hobby Association; they have a huge trade show twice a year; the last show was in January. Over the past couple of years, it has become more and more of a scrapbook show, much to the chagrin of other hobby exhibitors.

All of the scrapbook message boards and stores are posting sneak peeks. So far, it looks like flowers are still in. I'm also noticing an Asian trend, yah! Unfortunately, the messy ink/distressed look is still in. Doesn't anyone believe in clean lines anymore? The same design at the edge and middle of the page? I used to never like the look. I wouldn't say I like it now. But I don't really have a choice if I like the rest of design; Basic Grey comes to mind.

Anyway, I'm really getting tired of all the new stuff. Too many trends have come and gone. So I look, but I really don't need anything new (so far, lol).

Another LSS bites the dust

I was so excited to find a new LSS a couple years ago. It turns out, the owner has a monthly club that she ran out of her garage, but decided to expand into a real storefront. The store was small, but she always had the latest and greatest. She did so well, she expanded into the space next door. Unfortunately, the store was way too hot in the summer and way too cold in the winter. So she found another space and moved there a couple months ago. I didn't go there much because it was even more out of my way.

It seems that it was all too much work so she's closing her store. She'll still have her online community/store and monthly club, but I'm not involved with either of those. I'll miss it. I did benefit from the 40% off sale, but tried to refrain from buying too much. It's always sad to see a small, successful business close. The ironic thing is she's still got her Grand Opening sign up.

Confession time

So what was the real reason I took last Thursday off? Because A was out of town and I wanted one day of not coming home to an empty house. Actually, sometimes I do come home to an empty house, but then, I know A will be home shortly afterwards, KWIM?

Now that A's home (a day early, hurray!!!), I can confess, lol. I couldn't say anything earlier and ask for support because of my weird privacy thing where I don't want anyone to know when I'm home alone.

I'm usually the one running off to visit friends and family. I tried to count the number of times he's gone without me and I don't think it's even ten times, whereas I'm gone 2 to 5 times a year. If A hadn't planned on doing car stuff with his brother the entire time, I would have invited myself along. (I did that the last time he had a car thing, but I think he wasn't too happy about it, lol.)

Hopefully, I'll get a good night's sleep since when I'm home alone, I usually wake up early and can't get back to sleep.

That bill almost gave me a heart attack!

I usually let A open the bills (since he writes the checks), but for some unknown reason, I decided to open our credit card bill. First page looks fine. Just quickly glanced at the second page. Then I looked at the top of the first page where the balance due box is. Gasp! It was two and a half times higher than our usual bill. Gasp!

Hmmm, this required a line by line check. lots of gasoline charges. Oh yeah, I haven't been carpooling as much. Okay. A plane ticket, but that was less than $200. The usual Target and grocery store charges. I found the culprit on page 2--house insurance. A had told me he charged it, but I forgot. Guess we'll be raiding the savings account to pay this month's bill.

Which leads me to my mini-rant. A knew this huge bill was coming so he was depositing all of our checks into the checking account. My logic is, deposit it into the savings account and just write a check from that. At least we'd be earning interest on it. There isn't enough in the checking account to cover the bill so we have to dip into short-term savings anyway. That's why we have that account. To cover big bills or unexpected bills. Sigh, obviously we have different money styles.

Celebrating the first day of summer

I took today off, just for the heck of it. Didn't know it was the first day of summer when I chose today. Just figured we weren't very busy at work, plus I'm maxing out on vacation days so it was a good time to take a day just for me.

I had high hopes of getting a lot done, but as usual, I've piddled the day away, which is okay for a vacation day, right? I did get my haircut. I thought my hairdresser wouldn't be as busy since it was a weekday, but I had to wait a bit for her and her next appointment had to wait a bit for her to finish with me. That's usual for her, but since she takes only 15 minutes to cut my hair, I'm usually in and out in less than a half hour so I don't mind waiting. Plus she's got a pretty good magazine selection, lol.

Let's see, haircut, check. Water the yard, check. Make deposit, opps. Transfer $, check. Post office, opps. Scrapbook, check...sort of. Update finances, check. Not bad for a lazy day.

Hope you had a wonderful first day of summer and the rest of summer is full of fun for you.

More garbage vents

A and I are pretty much with the paper recycling program, but still not doing anything about the cans and jars. The latter are still going into the regular trash, though I think on the weekends, we will be better about taking them out to the recycle can. That's when I empty the compost jar.

The new cans are so huge and noisy; I can hear the cans being taken out all night the night before garbage pickup. As much as I'd like to be a SAHW, I think I'd have to find something to do on garbage day. I took a vacation day today so was home. Since a different truck picks up the different cans, I heard the garbage trucks come by three times. The first was before 8:00 am, the last around 1:00. And now, I get to hear the various neighbors dragging the cans back in.

Parking is a bear on garbage day too. Though much of that can be blamed on people having too much junk or too many cars so they can't use their garage.

Inhibited

That's how I would describe my scrapbooking. Always afraid my page won't turn out like I envisioned. Worried that my pages aren't "good enough." Not wanting to use up the last bit of that patterned paper/doo dad/ribbon because I might need it for something else. Never mind that I have enough supplies to create about a thousand pages. Maybe I should say overwhelmed instead. Too many supplies. Too many ideas. Too many photos. Too many thoughts. Were it not for the wonderful friends I've made through this hobby, I think I'd stop scrapbooking.

Ouch!

Was out in the yard for a bit on Saturday and got a little sunburn. Didn't think I was out there long enough to burn, plus it wasn't during prime burning hours (mid day). Let this be a lesson to you: Always wear sunscreen or at least a hat and shirt (I was wearing a tank top).

102

I took one of those online quizes to check your life expectancy and it said I should live to be 102. Guess that's why I'm so obsessive about savings. Its gotta last a long time.

I went to a family reunion a few weeks ago and saw several aunts and uncles, all in their 70s and 80s and 90s, all still going strong. Most of them are moving a little (okay, a lot) slower than I remember. Most of them needed me to repeat whatever I said, but all in all, they're in good health. Guess that means I'm blessed with good genes, even if I don't think I want to live till 102.

Sometimes it just hits you

We were shopping for a Father's Day card last night (yes, I know, bad scrapper not to make the card, plus nothing like waiting till the last minute), when it hit me. I wasn't buying a card for Uncle T like I usually do. :(

Garbage cans

A few weeks ago, we got our new garbage cans from the company our city contracted with. I thought I wouldn't like them and I'm right. First of all, they are HUGE! 95 gallons! And we've got three of them, one for trash, one for green waste, and one for recycling. All good right? Except a few years ago, our garbage fees increased to build a new processing center to recycle at the dump. Now our garbage fees have increased to pay for this new system, and we're the ones doing the sorting.

I consider us better than average reduce/reuse/recyclers. If you use number of garbage cans as an indicator (the 32 gallon size), we're doing way better than our neighbors. We average less than two garbage cans a week, including yard waste. Much of our yard waste and all of our kitchen scraps are composted. Bottles, newspaper, and cardboard are recycled. Still usable items are donated. Even the dreaded Styrofoam peanuts get reused (FYI, many mailbox/shipping places will take your clean Styrofoam peanuts off your hands).

But now, I have to work even harder at sorting. I have to remember to throw my paper into the paper recycling bag (and not toss something like a food wrapper or plastic wrapper from a magazine on top of it). Cans and non-CRV bottles? Forget it! There is no way I'm going to take the time and energy to rinse them out and take them out to the recycle bin. Easy you say? First of all, I don't have a lot of counter space and I'd rather use that space for food prep or storage. But, let's say I get with the program. Now I have wet cans. I can either dry them (a waste) or let them dry on the counter since I don't want to carry wet cans through the house and out to the yard (plus, nothing wet is supposed to go in the recycle bin). Oh, but I can store the cans in a plastic bag you say? Oh no I can't. Plastic shopping bags go in the trash, not the recycle bin. I don't want to store wet items in a paper bag for obvious reason. See why I'm not with the program yet? But let's say I can get beyond this. Since I don't want empty cans taking up space in the kitchen, I've got to take them out to the recycle bin. Which is on the side of the house since the three huge cans won't fit in the garage. So I either have to go out the front door and through the side gate or out the sliding glass door (which involves opening the shades and unlocking the double locks and reversing the process when I come in). Am I lazy? Maybe.

But on to more venting. Heaven help you if you put toss the wrong item into the wrong bin (like I did this afternoon). I had swept the porch and accidently tossed the bucket into the recycle bin, instead of the trash bin. I did reach in and pull out some leaves and such, but the dirt and everything that fell to the bottom is gonna stay there. With the bin being about four feet high, I had a hard time reaching in. Truth be told, I'm kinda scared of the bins since they're so huge. I keep telling A, you could stuff a body in them and no one would know (I've obviously been watching too much crime TV).

Anyway, yes, recycling is a good thing. I just wish it wasn't since a hassle around the house.

Addicted to

salty snacks. Dare I admit I just ate half a can of Pringles? (that's about 500 calories for those of you who count 'em.) Or should I even be admitting that I buy Pringles? I know I could finish off the rest of the can without any (immediate) problem, though I admit, all this salt is making my mouth sting a little.

I should know better than to have salty snacks in the house during this time of the month. Sigh, some people think it is all in my head, but what else explains the incredible salt cravings I get once a month? Good thing I'm too cheap to buy too many snacks, lol. Although I still have a Pringles coupon in my stash.

Another reason I'm so slow at scrapping

Over at Lifetime Moments, they've started Summer ScrapFest, a three month motivational scrapping frenzy. This time around, there is a new format, with one challenge a day. Today is day 3 and I've already got ideas for today and day 1. We didn't have any plans for the afternoon, so while A took a nap, I thought I'd scrap. I spent some time looking through the LM gallery to get some ideas, wrote out my journaling, and then did a draft of the layout on the computer. I even spent some time playing with Photoshop Elements, but decided I really am a traditional scrapper and am not ready to venture into the digital realm.

Okay, I'm ready pick out papers and scrap! Went to get my photo and discovered that was in portrait orientation, not landscape like I thought I remembered. Grrrr, back to the drawing board.

Five days from now...

I'm supposed to do something with the seedlings my neighbor gave me. Only, I don't know what. She came by as A and I were working out in the yard. She had some seedlings in a pot and thought I might like them. Only I have no idea what they are (flowers? veggies?). My neighbor only speaks Mandarin and I only speak English so communication was a bit of a problem. I did figure out that she was coming back from visiting her neighbor who gave her the seedlings (I think).

Then she wanted to know if I wanted some other seedlings. Some sort of melon (I think), from Taiwan (I think). She went out to her backyard and brought it out some more seedlings. I'm supposed to plant them against the fence (or maybe that's where she planted them?). And in five days, I'm supposed to do something (what???) and not worry if (what???). And during the day (what???) and during the evening, when I get home from work, I should (what???). And in five days, if I haven't killed off the plants, I'll try to figure out the next step.

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.

It doesn't pay to recycle

The day started off right with a trip to the grocery store. They were selling these cool bags with the store logo for reuse. I like the size of the new bags, plus they have a piece of plastic on the bottom for reinforcement. I already would take my paper bags back to the store for reuse, but these hold a bit more. I'm hoping that the baggers will be more amenable to using these bags and I won't get the annoyed looks I usually get when I bring back the paper bags.

Later on, A decided we should take in all the bottles that have been piling up in the house and garage, probably three months worth. We drove to three different recycling places and at all of them, the machines were out of order. We finally went to one place that was staffed, but it was closed for lunch. Thankfully, we only had to wait few minutes. So, for all that effort, we got back $3.55. Big whoop. Not that we were doing this for the money, but doing something good shouldn't take so much effort.

Scrapbooking funny

Yesterday, I went to a friend's house to scrapbook. The guests all brought dinner, which brings me to an aside. My contribution was lasagna from the frozen food section. It was pretty darn tasty (though a little salty). I told A, for the price, that's what we should be buying for an easy dinner. It was way cheaper than those make-your-own-dinner places I talked about earlier, and also way cheaper than going out or fast food. So, if I have the time (they take about an hour to bake), I have a new standby. By the way, I bought the lasagna from Smart and Final. They had a much larger selection than the grocery store.

Back to scrapbooking...my friend has a million supplies and is very generous, letting us borrow ink, use ribbon, buttons, or whatever else she has. I didn't bring my QuicKutz with me because I knew she had way more fonts than me. I was browsing through her collection and brought out two fonts to finish my project. I told her, wow, you have all my favorite fonts and went on extolling the beauty of "Maddie Anne." The rest of the conversation went something like this:
A: I just love Maddie Anne.
Y: I don't have Maddie Anne.
A: Yes you do, it's right here.
Y: Are you sure that's Maddie Anne? I was thinking about buying it. I'm pretty sure I don't have Maddie Anne.
A: This is Maddie Anne.
Y: Really? That's Maddie Anne?
LOL, one of the other scrappers was able to verify that indeed, she did have Maddie Anne. Though we all agreed that maybe I shouldn't have told Y so that after she bought a duplicate, she could sell me her extra at a discount. ;)

I'm sure buying duplicate scrapping supplies has never happened to any of you, lol.

I've been tagged

by Becca to list 10 weird things about myself. (Only 10, lol?) In no particular order or importance, here are the first 10 things that came to mind.

1. I love to sample other people's food, but I can only sample from the untouched side with a clean fork.

2. I hate getting my hands dirty, but I have a compost heap and a worm bin.

3. I never, ever talk about my age.

4. I prefer to eat my pizza with a knife and fork.

5. I prefer savory breakfasts rather than sweet breakfasts.

6. I don't like soda.

7. I like to drink hot water.

8. I have tons of cookbooks, but hardly ever follow a recipe exactly.

9. I can put together a good meal with whatever I've got in the cupboard/fridge/freezer.

10. I don't like these tagging things because I'm usually the last to get tagged so there's no one left to tag (shades of elemenary school) or the questions are too personal. But this was fun. Thanks Becca!

New scrapping buddies

L invited me to a new scrap group last week and it was so much fun. What was most exciting to me was there were Asian scrappers there. Woo hoo! Everyone was so nice (and talented). I don't exactly feel out of place being a multiple minority scrapper, but it does get tiring being the only one like me at crops. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss their next get-together, but I hope to be invited to the one after that.

$3.33

Yep, eight cents in four days. Wonder if the company will ever promote telecommuting.
Lest you think I'm obsessed with gas prices, I'm not. I'm obsessed with saving $ and rising gas prices aren't helping with that, lol.

Dinner report

I was going to give a report on the freezer dinners last night, but was too tired. Guess I better do it now since you asked. ;)

The first place we went to (in December) was Supper Thyme. I think I just didn't pick the right things. Most of the food was casserole type and the "sauce" was most often cream of mushroom soup. Now, I don't have anything against cream of mushroom soup. In fact, it is a staple in my cupboard. I checked their menu for April and May and it seems like there is a larger variety than when I went.

This time, we tried Dinner My Way. They are significantly more expensive, probably $1 to $1.50 more per serving. They have different pricing structures so that's just an estimate. It seemed like they had more things on their menu that we liked and also, a slightly larger variety. It was also helpful to have the meal prep directions on the menu, which helped in the decision making. I also liked that rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes (instant) were included with all the entree. It was a nice extra touch.

I thought the ingredients was of higher quality at Dinner My Way and the recipes a little more complex (in a good way). Saturday, we had Dijon Steak. It was supposed to serve six, but A went back for seconds and thirds so I'd say we got three servings out of it, lol. Sunday, we had Wild Rice Chicken (chicken topped with wild rice/cornbread stuffing, wrapped in pastry). Well, anything wrapped in pastry is a plus in my book. Unfortunately, this dish was overly salty (especially the sauce) and rather tasteless. (I still liked the pastry though.) Then we had Apple Dumplings for dessert. I liked it, but A thought it was too sweet. Tonight, we had Beef Burgundy Roast. I was surprised that A liked it since the recipe included dried fruit. It was a bit sweet, but not overly sweet, so I'd say this was another winner.

We purchased 12 meals, which is more than what I normally would purchase, but like I said earlier, they had a special. I had emptied two shelves in the freezer, but it wasn't enough room to fit everything. Good thing we were giving some away and planned on eating some right away.

Thus far, the pros are dinner planning is a lot easier (especially for A) and I'm trying recipes that are out of my comfort zone. The cons are the cost, not liking some of the entrees, and space in my freezer. Another con, though this doesn't seem to bother most people, is these meals are stored in the freezer. My issue with that is I want to eat as soon as I get home. Neither one of us gets home early enough to put a casserole in the oven to bake for an hour. So during the week, crockpot meals are better for us. I do think if I made these meals myself, the food would be of higher quality (and include more vegetables), but all in all, I think we'll continue to give these places our business a few times a year. After all, there are three more of them in the area that I need to review, lol.

$3.25

Yep, that's the price at the station where I usually fill up. And I'm excited at the price since that's two cents less than it was last week. Hope the price keeps going in that direction, though all the news reports are talking about prices going up.

Make and Take (and Freeze) Dinners

Today, A and I went to one of those assembly meal places and prepared enough food to fill half our freezer and a shelf on the fridge. That's a slight exaggeration, but not much. We made one dessert and 11 entrees (one to give away to the mom of twins). Each item serves 4 to 6, so that's a lot of food. We tried another place a few months ago and found that most entrees ended up more on the 4 side, rather than the 6 side. I suspect that will be the same with what we made today.

The last place we tried was just okay (too many casserole type meals). But I guess that A liked it well enough since he was open to helping me again. I'm a little skeptical of the cost since we paid $199 and that's more than our entire grocery budget for the month. I know I could make the meals myself for much less, but somehow, I think it helps A to have the nice labels all printed up and everything packaged just so. That $199 was a special deal and was about a 30% discount. Otherwise, I would have opted for fewer meals, though, this month there were several dishes that I liked. As we were finishing up, they offered us the $199 special for May, but I knew that there's no way we'd finish all these meals in time to empty the freezer for the next batch (plus there weren't 12 items that sounded interesting).

A was telling a friend about this and he said his wife does this all the time, but selects the pickup option. I think I like making the meals myself better, though it did take the two of us almost the entire two hours to make the meals. I think we were getting in each other's way. It probably would have been more efficient for each of us to make six items, rather than helping each other make each entree. At least when we make the meals ourselves, we can control the spices (less pepper and rosemary, more garlic and cilantro).

If you're interesting in finding one of these places near you, here's a list. It turns out there are six of these places within just a few minutes drive from us. That's a lot of competition. It will be interesting to see who lasts and who doesn't.

Tax day has come and gone

Hopefully, we're be getting our refund soon. Somehow, our tax guy miscalculated and we waaaaaay overpaid last year. Usually, we're pretty close. But with A changing jobs and some other changes in our lives, withholdings didn't get calculated correctly. Every time A paid his estimated quarterly taxes, I'd try not to freak out at the amount. No wonder money was so tight last year.

The funny thing was, I had been thinking, if we had an extra $XXXX, life would be so much easier. And it turns out our overpayment was just about that much. Hmmmmm, and A doesn't think I know how much we spend/earn/save.

I just changed my withholdings and it didn't make a whole lot of difference in my paycheck, but multiply the diffence over the rest of the year and we're giving Uncle Sam a lot less this year. Don't tell A, but I opened another savings account and am socking that money away for a rainy day (which have been coming along more and more often).

Just call me Rudolph

Yep, I've got the red nose going, though today isn't as bad. I ended up staying home a couple days last week since my cold came back with a vengeance. Unfortunately, my Puffs (tissue with lotion) was at the office and by Wednesday, I had rubbed my nose raw. I guess that's one way to exfoliate, lol.

Today I ended up taking a nap so I'm pretty sure I'm not healthy yet. When I was home sick, I had a low fever. Now, I can't even hit 98 degrees. No wonder I'm cold! Being sick sure is getting old.

Who's who

We spent Easter Sunday at A's SIL's parents'. (got that?) We had yummy Honey Baked ham, sour cream potatoes, baked beans, jello, rolls, and a side dish that I made up. I wish I could have taken home the ham bone to make split pea soup. Little G wasn't really interested in lunch. All he wanted was dessert and the egg hunt.

He was sooooo excited when he finally got to search for the eggs. I wanted to hide all the eggs again, just to prolong his fun.

The twins were darling in their matching green gingham dresses. C put different socks on them so we could tell them apart, but we still kept getting them mixed up. Is that E you're holding? No, I've got C. No, you've got E, lol. Good thing their Mom and Dad can tell them apart. Everyone else wants to get them tattooed, lol. Just kidding about the tattoos, but they really would help. Obviously the twins are identical.

They're growing quite a bit. C says they're almost out of premie diapers and will soon be using regular infant diapers. They seem so "big" to me now.

Reminising

So on Tuesday, we both had the day off to recover from the funeral. I was actually hoping for a relaxing day, but it turned out to be a rather difficult day for me. We had some errands to run and everywhere I turned, I thought of Uncle T. Stuff like, I should write and tell him a little something. Or I should make him an Easter card. Or was reminded of something he told me.

It was worse at the grocery store. I thought of all the foods he liked. And then I really lost it in the produce section, I thought of all the trimmings that Rascal used to eat. I never used to worry about having leftover veggies because I knew that Rascal would eat them. The only veggies he didn't like were asparagus and jicama. I used to put small pieces of celery or broccoli or carrots in empty toilet paper or paper towel tubes and then fold down the ends. He'd dig and dig and dig at them till he could get to his treats (which only took a minute).

It's a good thing I went back to work on Wednesday. Back to a "normal" schedule. I'm feeling a little better. Thanks to everyone for your condolences. It means a lot to me.

It has been a long weekend

We're home, finally. The viewing was on Friday and the funeral on Saturday. Did family stuff Sunday and this morning before the long drive home. Came home to find that Rascal had escaped somehow and died. We have no idea how he could have escaped since the cage was latched. There was no evidence that anyone came into our backyard (A had put stops up against the gates so if someone had come in, it would have been obvious).

A took pity on me and buried him tonight instead of waiting until the morning. Maybe it is a good thing, to have another reason to cry instead of holding everything in.