But It's a Dry Heat!

It's Alive!

2010-06-26T00:47:00.003-07:00

Well, hello! So have you noticed I've been gone for like nine months? I have good excuses, but quite frankly, I don't think you're interested - I know I'm not!

A lot has happened in the last nine months - I finished my first and second semesters back in school after a very long break and I'm loving it so far. I was an accounting major, but started feeling a little bit like a square peg staring into a round hole. I'm thinking marketing now...
I also started making jewelry and that's what I'm here to talk about now. Denise Yezbak Moore is having an incredible giveaway of a whole LOT of beads and I want them! Here's a picture of them, but you should also click on the link and enter if you like beads too. On the other hand, please don't - I want to win!

I'll be back soon. I'm considering posting some of my jewelry creations here.

Tribute

2009-09-12T21:58:00.004-07:00

First things first - my apologies for leaving those hideous pictures up at the top of my blog for so darn long! Eek!

So....where were we?

Since you last heard from me, I started my new job, got pushed into a slightly different job, celebrated an anniversary, started school, and lost a grandparent. And that's just the big stuff.

I want to talk about my grandfather a little.

That's my grandpa. I love this picture because I really feel it captures his personality. Music, teaching, volunteering, and his family were his life. He always had a joke for you and a funny story. He experienced a lot in his life, he was a WWII vet, a high school teacher for years, raised 7 kids, and volunteered his time to those less fortunate pretty much up to the day he passed away.

Read this article to get a little insight into the incredible man I was lucky to have in my life. His story is a love story. He married my grandmother 62 years ago and they were still as in love on the day he died as they were the day they married. As an extremely intelligent and highly educated man, one of his passions was reading. Due to failing eyesight, it became almost impossible for him to read toward the end, so my grandmother read to him every single day. They did the crossword puzzle together every day without fail, even though he had the disadvantage of not being able to see. He was also able to do the Jumble in his head. Intelligent? No. Genius. Until the day he died, my grandma took care of him without question. After 62 years of marriage, they still held hands and danced at parties. They still said “I love you” every day to each other. Their marriage is the kind that gives me hope that love really can last forever.

He was my step-mother’s father, and I met him when I was about eight (?) years old. For a long time, every time we went to their house, I would run at him full speed and he’d kneel down and catch me and swing me up in the air. I worshipped him and I was his oldest/first grandchild. We shared a passion for reading, and one of the first times I was taken to their house, he took me down to the basement where is “office” was and we looked at his hundreds of books. Then he took me into his bedroom where hundreds more books resided. Earlier this week, after the funeral, I asked my grandma if I could have a book. I didn’t care which one – I just wanted one of his books. I took Major Crises in American History, Volumes I and II, published in 1962. Grandpa had a passion for history and I knew it would make him happy that someone had those books.

He spoke fluent Italian, among several other languages. He volunteered almost every day of his life and was always giving back to the community. He worked with thousands of students to instill a love of learning and with hundreds of immigrants who were trying to fulfill their dream of being an American citizen. He was a musical genius. He could pick up an instrument and just play it. He always had a story for you, and most of them were hilarious. His jokes were legendary. His favorite place in the world was his back deck. I sat out on his deck a few times when I was home for the funeral - tears running down my face, and remembering.

He had surgery almost a year ago for cancer. Through all of that, he kept his sense of humor and optimism intact. On July 21, he was out shopping with my grandma and fell. (As a side note, grandma and grandpa decided they wanted to get some new t-shirts and matching pajama pants. They were out shopping and not only did they find some matching pajama pants, but they were on sale AND grandma had a rebate! Well, I like to say grandpa was so excited, he couldn’t even stand up.) He hit his head and suffered a brain injury. He was in the hospital for five weeks, and home for a week before passing away. He died just the way he wanted to, at home, surrounded by his wife and children.

His funeral was beautiful. I told Tim when I got home that it was the first time I’ve ever sat in church, hoping the service wouldn’t come to an end. One of my cousins sang, another read, and my sister also read. My aunt did the eulogy and it was beautiful – it made us laugh and cry, which is what we were doing all week. There were hundreds of people at both the wake and the funeral. So many people whose lives he touched – former students, former classmates, fellow volunteers with the Lions Club or the Legion. He is buried at the Fort Snelling cemetery. He is missed by everyone who knew him.

Our hearts are broken but he would want us to go on. So we are working on it – slowly. It’s been hard being in Arizona while the rest of my family is in Minnesota. I got back into town a couple of days ago, but all I want to do is get on a plane, go to my grandma’s house and crawl into bed with her. I am eternally grateful I was able to go up for the funeral and say my goodbyes.

If you are the type who prays, please include my family in them – especially my grandmother, as she recovers from the loss of the love of her life. As for me, I have my memories of this amazing man, and I know he lives on in all of us. One of these days, I hope to get the point where I can go more than a couple of hours without crying. He taught us all a lot about what it means to live a full life, and how to help others.

Arrivederci, grandpa.

Is It Just Me....

2009-05-27T22:43:00.003-07:00

.....or have I seen this haircut before?

I don't watch Jon & Kate Plus Eight, but I can't help but see her picture everywhere.

I'm just sayin'.

Some News and a Funny Story

2009-05-26T16:30:00.003-07:00

The news: I got a job. As of next Monday, I will be right in the middle of the mortgage industry again. Scary? Yes, just a little. It's an industry I had hoped to wait out a few years, but they offered me a job and that's hard to come by these days!

Company X is a big company, so the interview process was quite rigorous. Not as bad as some people have had, though, like my frend C, who had to write an essay about why she wanted to work at the company she was applying to. It was pretty involved, though, and it seemed to take forever.

Luckily, though, they offered me the job. I will be woefully underpaid for what I will have to do, but given that this company isn't likely to go out of business anytime soon, and there will be lots of advancement opportunities and great benefits, it's not as bad as it sounds.

So, the story. This gets filed under "What The F--K???!!!"

One of the things I had to do in order to start work is fill out a bunch of paperwork, of course. Your typical I-9 (yes, I'm a citizen), and fingerprinting (no, I don't think I'm wanted by theFBI). I set up a time to go to one of their local offices and complete these two items. I was sent an email with directions to the office and instructions on what to do. So I arrive and their electronic fingerprinting system is down, so they're a little behind. No problem - what else did I have to do that day? So I'm waiting, along with five or six other people. Then she walks in - she's wearing denim shorts that would make Daisy Duke blush and a glittery, sequined, spaghetti-strap top. She walks over to the security guard and says "I'm here for my first day, can you tell me where the call center is located?" He asks her name and she tells him and he consults his list and says "I'm sorry, I don't have you on my list." She says, "Well, I was told to come down here today." So the security tells her he will have one of the recruiters come out and figure out what's going on.

So she takes a seat in the lobby with the rest of us and a recruiter comes out and says "How can I help you?" So the lady repeats her story, that it's her first day, and she was told to come here. The recruiter says "Who told you to come down here?" and she says "I don't know. I filled out my application online yesterday and someone told me to come down here to start my first day. I can't remember her name. But I was the top collector at Company Z." The recruiter says "okay, so you filled out an application online, but no one has contacted you?" and the lady says yes, but then adds that she's not sure if she filled it out right. She then mentioned that she went to the local branch of Company X and the teller told her that the call center was located down here. I'm guessing she asked the teller at Company X where the call center was, she told her, and in her head, that meant she was supposed to show up there asking for a job.

Seriously? The woman was probably in her late 40s or early 50s. Had she never been through a job interview process before? She said she worked for Company Z, which is also another large bank - did she not have to interview there, or at least wait for a phone call? Hmmmmm.....

People are weird.

The Waiting Game

2009-05-16T00:56:00.002-07:00

I have to apologize in advance if this post wanders a little bit, but I'm very tired and my brain is a bit muddled.

However, thanks to the insomnia that has plagued me for years, I've been mostly awake the past few weeks. I'm exhausted, but unable to sleep, which is rather irritating.

When I got laid off at the end of March, I knew it wasn't my fault. I didn't do anything wrong - the company was and probably still is going under, and I was almost grateful that I wasn't the last rat off the ship. And yet, it's nearly two months later, I am still unemployed, and I can't help but feel like a failure. A loser. It's compounded by the fact that this is the second time in a year that I've been out of a job. I've always kind of defined myself by my job. I take a lot of pride in the work I do and the knowledge that I'm good at what I do and I work hard. I know I'm not a failure and I am very well aware that I'm not a loser. It feels that way, though, you know?

There's also some guilt. The last few months I was there, I was pretty unhappy. There had been ~15 people laid off by that time and it was a scary, sad place to be. It was crazy quiet when it used to be filled with the sounds of people typing, laughing, and working. Everyone was scared they were next and when the big boss call them into their office, there was a definite "dead man walking" feel. It was draining to work there. I remember saying to one of my remaining co-workers "I almost hope I get laid off - at least then I'll know and I can move on." I'm sure I'm not the first person in the world to complain about their job and then want it back when the worst does happen. So with the feelings of guilt also comes the niggling fear/guilt that I brought it on myself.

I am also waiting to hear about a job and I'm nervous for a few reasons. A friend of mine contacted me about a job opening she heard about and encouraged me to send my resume. I sent my resume, along with my letters of recommendation. I talked to the hiring manager and had an interview. I basically had the job at that point if I wanted it. However, because it's a big company, there was a pretty long and involved process and it would take a while. No problem - we were heading to Hatteras for vacation, anyway (thank goodness it was paid for before I got laid off). When I got back, I had a second interview with the hiring manager's boss. I was then contacted by a recruiter and given instructions to go online and complete some information for a background check. I had to put down 10 years worth of residence addresses and 10 years worth of job information, including manager's contact information.

The job part was easy - I have my resume that has accurate dates, and I remembered my manager's names on all but one job. Some companies don't exist anymore and very few of my managers are still at the companies where I worked, but that part was relatively easy.

The residence information was tougher. I moved to Arizona in August, 2002, and the house where I'm living now is my TENTH address. I stayed at some places only a matter of months, but who can remember which months? The list turned out to be 14 addresses long. The dates are very blurry, though. Some of the ones in Minnesota, I could remember dates because I knew if it was hot or cold or if it was around my birthday, around when I started a new job, etc. Because of some things that happened when I moved to Arizona, I moved a LOT the first two years I was here and really have very little memory of what months. I know it's been hot every time I've moved, but it's Phoenix - it's always hot!

At any rate, one of the reasons I'm nervous is because you have a 30-day grace period for the dates, but anything more than 30 days, you not only don't get the job you applied for, but you're not allowed to apply again for a certain period of time. Scary.

The other reason I'm nervous is because when I mentioned to her what I made at my old job, she said "well, I know this won't pay even close to that," but she didn't have a salary range, and the recruiter won't give me the range until they get the background check results. So what do you do in that case? Will I make more than I'm making on unemployment? Yeah, I will. Will it pay the bills? No, it won't. And this job, I can already tell, is going to be another 60-hour a week job - nights, weekends, etc. I'm not sure if I can do that for a LOT less money, especially since I'm enrolled in school to get my accounting degree.

The background check was to take 3-5 business days. Today (Friday) marked the 10th day and I haven't heard anything. That's better than a rejection, but still scary.

So this is something that has had me in knots for two weeks. And it's not like anyone else wants to hire me right now - I've sent out about a million resumes and only gotten one call, and that was a resume sent by a friend. I need more friends, I guess.

It has been nearly seven weeks since I was laid off, and I have yet to receive a penny of unemployment. The unemployment office is so backlogged with applications that it takes forever to get anything. While I'm grateful that I qualify this time, I'm getting frustrated. I just want to keep my car and my place to live and be able to pay the air conditioning because it's getting HOT here.

Oh, and One More Thing...

2009-04-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

* I don't care what you say - carbs are delicious.

That's all.

Vacay!

2009-04-28T14:39:00.002-07:00

*Repost - damn Blogger didn't like my slideshow the first time!

We are home from vacation and I can't even tell you how wonderful it was! It was a week of laying on the beach, swimming in the pool and spending time with family. It was amazing.

Instead of rambling on and on about what we did, I will instead give you a list of observations:

* Amberjack is the name of a fish and it's delicious
* The sound of crashing waves is incredibly soothing
* Jet lag sucks
* Dry heat kicks humidity's ass
* Jacob is the cutest baby on earth
* Getting in a cold pool quickly is easier than doing it slowly
* I'm still not a fan of tuna
* Having a baby fall asleep in your arms is one of the greatest feelings in the world
* Excavation projects are fun
* Stairs are not my friend when carrying a 50 lb. suitcase
* Our nephews are the greatest
* I still don't want kids, though. WAY too much work! (Their mom is my hero!)
* I suck at miniature golf
* Sunburned mosquito bites hurt like a beeyotch when you scratch them
* Cabo Wabo and Don Julio are better than the cheap Jose Cuervo
* But 4 (or was it 5?) shots is still too many
* Watching fish being gutted and filleted isn't as much fun as you'd think. But just as disgusting.
* No matter how great vacation is, it's always nice to come home too

They're Back!

2009-04-04T20:07:00.002-07:00

Last year when I lost my job, I found myself with a nasty case of insomnia and when I did manage to sleep, I had some seriously strange dreams. Well, it seems they've started again. Last night's dream was very interesting....

It started out innocently enough with me taking college classes, which I will be doing shortly. I had my laptop bag on my shoulder and I was walking around the campus technology center, which was L-shaped and looking for a place to sit. All the seats were taken and for some reason, the only way for my laptop would work was to plug it into one of the desktop computers that were there. As I was walking up and down the rows looking for someplace, I noticed that there were two plasma televisions on the walls that belonged to my old boss at the mortgage company.

As I noticed this, the boss at my last job walked down the aisle and asked me to go and get her some fat-free frozen yogurt, and she handed me $10. So I walked down to the frozen yogurt place and stood in line for ages. When I finally got up to the front of the line, I asked if they had anything fat-free and the guy said no. I was very upset and next thing I know, Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear and Taye Diggs came up and gave me a hug to try and comfort me.

Suddenly, I found myself in my high school. I was walking toward the front doors when I noticed that they had added metal detectors to the entrance. Considering where I went to high school, that's highly unlikely. My hometown is extremely safe. At any rate, I noticed a guy who was dressed in scrubs like a doctor and he got to skip the metal detectors. Then when he got in the door, he grabbed this big rolling cart of bread dough and started pushing it down the hall. I had a really bad feeling about it so I turned left down one of the hallways. I passed my English professor from college and I made a gesture to her to look at the guy dressed as a doctor. She ran over to him to see who he was and he killed her.

And, obviously, that is when I woke up. So yeah, unemployment is no good for my subconscious, apparently.

We Interrupt This Hiatus....

2009-03-27T19:57:00.003-07:00

I've become a statistic for the second time in a year and will once again be joining the ranks of the unemployed. Unfortunately, the job market is even more bleak than it was last year when I suddenly found myself out of a job. I guess a good thing is that I qualify for unemployment this time and the managers at my company are going to write me letters of recommendation. So, I'm grateful for that. My company has gone through a lot in the past four months - I think I mentioned earlier that I went from having 26 co-workers to having eight. And now they have seven, and soon, they will have five. I found out today two more people are on their way out.

Earlier this week, we arrived at the office to find the doors chained and notes saying "pay your rent". I knew it wasn't a good sign. My division was the one that was going to save the whole company, but some stuff happened this week that made them have to shut it down. The company is going to stick around, but with about 6 employees.

It's not the best timing - I just enrolled in classes to get an accounting degree, so that may have to go on hold. Although, now that I'm not working, maybe I actually qualify for some more financial aid. I still have to pay the bills - rent, car payments, you know, food. And speaking of timing, we're leaving on a week-long vacation in less than a month. At least I know I'll have the time off work.

Last time, I had a lot of good, healthy rage. This time - just sad. I loved my job there and the people I worked with. I'm just very, very sorry I won't be a part of whatever direction they'll be headed next.

It's Been Suspiciously Quiet Around Here....

2009-03-03T22:28:00.003-07:00

Um, yeah.....I haven't been around much. Well, I'm not here to make excuses, but rather to let you know it may be a while before I'm on a regular posting schedule - whatever "regular" is.

Things have sure been in an upheaval around here. We moved at the end of January/beginning of February. It seemed like my sister just arrived and then she had to go. We had great fun while she was here, though. My brother came and left even more quickly. And then there's work. I'm not going to say much here, but there has been a lot of stuff going on, and it's had an effect on me.

The new house is okay - but when you compare it to the old house on, say, a 25-point list, it's just a tiny little bit "not as good" as the old house. In all 25 ways. And I'm fairly certain the house doesn't like us, either. The first or second week here, I was sitting on the couch and Tim was taking a nap. The kitchen light behind me was on and all of a sudden, I heard a crash. One of the light bulbs in the kitchen had shattered. "Um, Tim? Can you come out here? I'm scared..." Yup. Scary. Every time I'm in the kitchen cooking now, I'm worried I'm going to end up with the face full of glass. And the ceiling fan/light in the living room is controlled by remote because the ceilings are so high. But the remote doesnt work. So you have to hit the wall switch and that makes the light go on, but also puts the fan on high, and that's its only setting. So it's either "off" or "hurricane". We usually opt for off. Then there's the noise the refrigerator makes. We're fairly certain it's going to walk across the house and kill us in our bed.

The weather in Phoenix has been freakishly warm for this time of year. It's supposed to get to 90 this week. I'm not quite ready for the heat yet, but it's been a strange season weather-wise. Damn global warming. On the other end of the spectrum, I'll be in Minnesota this weekend. So yeah, I'll be experiencing about an 80 degree temperature difference from takeoff to landing. I've been in Arizona for almost seven years and I've lost my ability to deal with the cold weather. This should be interesting. My sister sent me an email last week reminding me to bring my sweaters. Excellent advice, if, in fact, I still owned sweaters. I own t-shirts, shorts, open-toed sandals and sundresses. This should be fun.

Next month we will be traveling to the eastern portion of the country to visit with Tim's family. They have rented a beach house on Cape Hatteras and we're sooooo ready to see them, have some downtime, and finally meet our newest nephew!

So with everything going on at work, upcoming trips, and just an overall "BLAH" feeling, it may be a while before I am back here even semi-regularly. I still read everyone else's blogs and keep up with Facebook, but for right now, this blog is a bit too much pressure and I'm taking a short break. So I'll be back - but no promises on the timeframe. :)

I Got Sucked In

2009-01-31T22:45:00.004-07:00

How this works: Once you've been tagged, write a note with 25 random things (facts, thoughts, etc) about yourself. 25?! Yeah, I thought so too, but you'd be surprised. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. Remember to tag the person who tagged you

I've decided not to tag anyone because everyone in the world has already done this. If you haven't and you feel like baring your soul, consider yourself tagged.

1. After a bit of a rocky start, my sister and I have managed to develop such a wonderful bond and I now consider her among my best friends. I’ve been so blessed to have her visiting for the past few weeks and I’ll really miss her when she goes home.

2. Moving to Arizona almost seven years was the best choice I’ve ever made. The reasons for the move don’t apply anymore and I will admit to some serious homesickness at first, but I really feel that I’ve grown so much since I’ve been here. I love my life here, and I know if I had stayed in Minnesota, I probably would have stayed in the rut I was in. I don't think you could pay me to move back.

3. No, Tim and I are not getting married. He doesn’t believe in marriage and yes, I’m mostly okay with that.

4. I get pneumonia a minimum of once a year, sometimes twice. This started about 10 years ago.

5. I tend to be a grammar, spelling and punctuation Nazi. Improper English is a huge pet peeve. (I almost hesitate in publishing this one because I really don't want you to scrutinize everything I type from now on - I know typos happen!)

6. It took being tagged twice before I actually figured out what I was supposed to do and to actually sit down and think of 25 things.

7. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I know WHO I want to be (in general), but not what. In my life, I’ve tried a couple different job paths, and I’m still not sure what is right for me.

8. I’ve moved 17 times since I graduated from high school – 10 of them in the past 6.5 years.

9. I think kids are great fun for about a half hour, but then I get sick of them and want them to leave. Therefore, I will remain child-free.

10. Don’t try to talk me out of it – my tubes are tied and I won’t feel differently when it’s my own. Trust me.

11. I always thought of myself as a “foodie”, but in a lot of ways, I’m still learning a lot about it.

12. I still enjoy the occasional macaroni & cheese from the blue box, though.

13. I think about going back to school all the time. See #7 as to why that hasn’t happened yet.

14. I took eight years of piano lessons and 7 years of flute lessons, but it’s been so long since I’ve played, I’m not sure I even know how to read music anymore.

15. That’s a shame, because music is something that was once so important to me.

16. I don’t have a natural talent for music – I had to work at it.

17. I try very hard not to have regrets. I have learned to realize that at that moment in time, given the information I had at the time, I made what I thought was the best decision.

18. I eat my breakfast cereal dry. I can’t stand milk on cereal. It’s not just because I’m lactose intolerant – I just have no stomach for soggy foods that were once un-soggy. For that same reason, I don’t dip my bread in sauce/gravy etc…

19. Crispy, salty snacks are my favorites. I like sweets on occasion and in moderation, but I have a serious weakness for crispy salty.

20. I love my current job for the first time in probably ten years. I’ve enjoyed the work at other places, but not the people, or vice versa. I love my position and the people I work with.

21. I love reading more than just about anything in the world and there is simply not enough time for me to get to all the books I want to read.

22. I love that I grew up so close to my cousins. My aunt was our daycare provider, and we all grew up like sisters. Not everyone is that lucky.

23. I have a mild form of OCD called Trichotillomania, which causes me to pull my hair out by the root, one strand at a time, usually without my even noticing it. As a result, I usually have at least two or three bald patches on my head, but they’re not noticeable. You can usually tell when I’m stressed about something because there will be a small pile of hair on the floor next to me. (This totally freaks Leslie out and if I do it in front of her, she gets mad). :)

24. Bacon is my favorite food in the whole wide world.

25. I don’t know what actual day I was born. I was abandoned and found somewhere in Korea sometime in December and they think I was born in November, but there is no official date. They chose November 17 for me at some point.

Getting Ready to Move

2009-01-04T16:18:00.002-07:00

Why I Love Costco

2009-01-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

I filled my tank for less than $20!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-30T20:24:00.008-07:00

I hope you all had a great holiday! Tim and I had a quiet Christmas - just us and my sister. Although, with my sister, how quiet could it really be?! :)

Here are some pics:

Here's a good picture of the three of us. Don't my sister and I look alike? Well....one of us is adopted. I'll give you a hint - my brothers are blonde, too.

This is Tim and my sister learning to play nice.

Again, notice the family resemblance?

On Christmas Eve, we played a little Super Scrabble. I got my ass kicked, as usual.

I believe my exact words were "fuck, fuck, fuck."

So that's our Christmas in pictures. Hope you had a great one!

Just a Little Something...

2008-12-22T16:30:00.003-07:00

...to get you OUT of the "Humbug" mood...

Our nephew.

Scrooged

2008-12-21T12:11:00.003-07:00

Humbug. That's kind of how I've been feeling this holiday season. It seems as if the older I get, the more pressure there is this time of year. Remember when you were a kid and you just couldn't wait until Christmas? Oh, sweet anticipation. Everything was so exciting - the carols, presents, decorations. Now, I think carols are irritating, presents are too much pressure, and decorations are just too much work.

Tim and I have to move out of our house at the end of January - no big drama there, our lease just isn't being renewed. Decorating would be silly, because that's just unpacking boxes that are already packed. We also found out not too long ago that he was going to have to take a decrease in his salary. This is why we couldn't make it out to Maine to see his family, or to Minnesota to see mine. We've chosen not to do gifts for each other this year, in order to save money for movers, security deposit, and other moving incidentals. In a lot of ways, we are the type of people who would rather just have a nice dinner out instead of gifts. We had hoped, however, to be able to send gifts to his nephews, at the very least, but that won't happen, either.

People tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves this time of year - baking cookies, sending out Christmas cards, decorating both the inside and outside of the house, buying presents for everyone, throwing parties, traveling to see out of town family members. I suppose if I had kids, I might view things differently - I would never want to ruin the magic of Christmas for a child. However, since that will never happen, I feel as though all my years of doing all the things I just mentioned have earned me a free pass to be a Scrooge this year. 2008 was a tough year for us - root canal, pneumonia, salary cuts for me first, and then him, being laid off from my mortgage company, unemployed for two months, my grandfather getting cancer, and a number of other things that I won't get into now. At this point, I'm just going to be glad to see 2009 come and hope that it will be better.

I think my sister will be here for Christmas this year, although she left Florida late, so who knows at this point. If she's here, we'll probably just hang out here at the house, make a nice dinner, and watch some Christmas movies. If she's not here, well, we'll probably do the exact same thing. I'm okay with that.

So that's Christmas 2008 in a nutshell for me. Bah humbug pretty much sums it up. The one thing to enjoy about Christmas this year is that my office closes down at noon on Christmas Eve and doesn't open until January 2. I will still be there off and on to take care of some things, but it's nice to know I have an option.

Thanks for letting me vent. :)

I'm a Mama!

2008-11-29T18:25:00.004-07:00

Relax, Gini & Cathy - you're not going to be grandmas!

Earlier this summer, Tim discovered The Something Store, which is some website where you send them $10 and they send you something. You don't know what it is until you get it. So he ordered two. One of them was an Eggling. I took the Eggling to work a week ago or so, and watered it. Here it is Day One:

Here it is Day 7:

See the tiny little green speck on the left side? If you squint, you may be able to see it a little better. These pictures were taken with my cell phone, so the quality isn't the best, but you get the idea. I'm so proud of my little Eggling!

Thankful

2008-11-27T10:52:00.004-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the States!

I have an awful lot to be thankful for this year. I have a job and so does Tim. We have a place to live, food to eat, and we're both healthy. There are so many people who can't say the same.

We had a slightly difficult week, getting two separate pieces of news that kind of rocked our world. Tim's salary got cut due to the weakening economy, and we may need to move out of our house at the end of January. Last week, four of my coworkers were laid off due to the real estate market in Phoenix. I also have a grandfather who has cancer and a father who has shattered his knee. However, as I said, I have a home and food to eat, and a job that I love.

I was reminded this week of just how lucky we are. The Real Gift Foundation is a charity that my company supports and a number of us volunteered to help pack food boxes on Tuesday morning for families to have a Thanksgiving. Well, due to a lack of food and monetary donations, they didn't need volunteers after all, and they were going to have to turn away hundreds of families who want a Thanksgiving dinner. I'm sitting in my house today with a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, homemade dinner rolls, scalloped corn and onion pie, with apple crisp for dessert. That's for just the two of us. I'm very thankful.

I hope you all take a minute to really think about how lucky you are to have food on the table today, a computer with which to check the internet, a television to watch football, and family/friends to keep you company.

To our families in Minnesota and Maine, Happy Thanksgiving! We miss you and love you!

Getting Caught Up

2008-11-15T20:36:00.004-07:00

Look at this, it's two posts in the same month! Be wildly impressed!

It's been kind of a difficult couple of weeks. On Halloween Day, I started coughing a bit and feeling under the weather. I made an appointment with my doctor, thinking if I were coming down with something, maybe I could catch it early. I went to the doctor and found out I had bronchitis and early pneumonia. So he drugged me up and told me to rest. So I stayed home two days the first week of November.

The second week of November wasn't easy. The company I work for is wonderful. It's really like a family. Well, we lost four members of the family last week, due to the economy. They had to lay off four people and everyone else had to take a pay cut. It was a very, very sad week. I was lucky enough to keep my job this time, but I was definitely sad for everyone who lose their job. Damn this economy, anyway.

I'm very glad the elections are over - it's so wonderful to be able to watch television without being bombarded with political advertisements.

My dad fell off a ladder a couple of weeks ago and shattered his knee. He had to have emergency surgery and have a bunch of pins put in his knee. Yuck. Not fun.

My grandpa also had surgery this past week for a type of cancer. He's recovering right now and I've heard he gets to go home early next week.

It's my birthday Monday. It's a day that tends to be a bit sad for me, but it's coming and there's not much I can do about it. Damn getting old, anyway!

I'm getting more and more excited for my sister to visit next month. She's going to be here for two months, which will be nice. And then my little brother is going to fly down to drive back to Minnesota with her, so I'll get to see him, too. I haven't seen my family in a year and a half.

Tim's family is busy planning their vacation in April, which I'm looking forward to, too. They're renting a house on Cape Hatteras for a week, which should be a lot of fun. Not to mention we'll finally get to meet his newest nephew. I mean, seriously, is he not the cutest baby you've ever seen? My one goal in life is to pinch his fat little cheeks!

Look at those dimples? It breaks my heart that we haven't gotten to see him yet! I think his sister sends us pictures like this just to torture me!

Anybody Out There?

2008-11-06T22:18:00.004-07:00

Anyone still reading this? I could give you a ton of excuses as to why I haven't been blogging lately, like the fact that I've been working 60 hours a week, or the fact that I have bronchitis and pneumonia AGAIN for the second time this year. The real truth, though, is that I just haven't felt like it. So there. :) (The other stuff is true, though, too. I really have been working a lot and I really do have bronchitis and pneumonia.)

The weather has finally turned here in Phoenix, and it's been wonderful! The highs during the day now are in the 70's and 80's instead of 90's and 100's. This is why we live through the brutal summers - the rewards are so worth it! On Halloween, it was in the 90's. It sure is a far cry from my days in Minnesota. Anyone remember the Halloween blizzard of 1991? Anyone? Or remember the day back when we were seniors in high school and we had an ice storm and some people had to stay overnight at school? No? Just me? I think that would have been in 1993, although it's possible it was the end of 1992.

Not much for news around here. My sister will be in Arizona in a month or so and I'm really excited. She's finishing her masters degree and has an internship in Tucson. She'll get here right before Christmas, so I'll get to spend Christmas with her, which I haven't done in at last 7 or 8 years. I'm definitely excited to see her.

There's not much else to talk about tonight. I am headed to bed and really, you should too. It's after 11:30!

I Am

2008-10-19T12:34:00.003-07:00

My cousin Carrie tagged me for a meme, and since I've been woefully negligent in updating this blog, I thought this would be something nice to update with that wouldn't take a ton of time. I'm not feeling well this weekend, so this is merely cutting into my "lying around time". :)

So, here we go:

I am...a daughter, sister, girlfriend, friend

I want...a live-in maid

I have...cramps (too much information?)

I wish...it would cool down once and for all

I know...I need to spend less time working and more time at home

I hate...talking on the phone

I fear...losing my job again

I hear...Iron Chef America on TV

I crave...bacon

I search...on Google

I always...work too much

I usually...spend too much time on the computer

I am not...living the life I always thought I would live when I was 33

I miss...spending time with my grandparents

I love...Tim, my job, my bed

I never...let Tim off the hook

I rarely...leave work on time

I cry...occasionally for no reason at all

I lose...patience too often

I am confused...by this whole bailout thing and why the economy is so awful

I need...more money

I should...go back to school and a degree

I worry...about money

I dream...very, very strange dreams

I tag...nobody. But if any of the two readers I still have want to do this, consider yourself tagged!

In Case You Were Wondering.......

2008-09-28T22:23:00.002-07:00

I'm still alive. Apparently, I've been incognito for almost a month. Time flies when you work 60 hours a week. Tim got a comment on his blog asking if I was alive. So here I am, not chopped into pieces and buried in the desert or trapped under something heavy. I'm just busy. I feel like the woman in the picture above, but her desk is a bit neater than mine.

I worked 59 hours this week and 53 hours last week, so the little bit of time I have away from the office is spent sleeping. In fact, I pretty much spent all day today in bed. I woke up with a headache and just spent the whole day napping on and off. It was decadant and I could use another day to do the same, but alas, it's Sunday and tomorrow begins another week. I've been breaking my rule about not working on the weekends, too. I always used to follow the rule that I was willing to work late every night, but never on the weekends. Well, it appears that no matter how late I work at night, there still aren't enough hours to get everything done without working at least one day during the weekend.

I had forgotten how lovely it is, though, to work somewhere where I feel appreciated and respected. About ten years ago, I had a wonderful job and an even better boss. I had forgotten how nice it feels to have that. I love this company. It's insanely busy and total chaos, but I love it. The people are great and it's a real "family" environment. There's drama, as there will be in every office, but I've made some real friends there.

So, it's getting late and waaaaaaaaay past my bedtime, so I'm off. I just wanted to let you know I'm alive and kicking. Hopefully things will get "caught up" sometime in the coming weeks and I'll have more free time. In the meantime, though, I may not be around regularly. Thanks for checking on me, though!

Twinkies and Racial Incidents

2008-08-31T23:03:00.002-07:00

From Wikipedia: The slang "Twinkies" used by Asians describes other Asians with very little difference in lifestyle and/or mannerisms to caucasian or "white" people. The term is further described as being "yellow" on the outside and "white" on the inside, identical to the composition of the Twinkie snack.

I am a Twinkie. I was born in South Korea in November of 1974 and adopted by a Minnesota couple at five months old. I do not speak Korean, I don't have any memories of Korea and if pressed, I'm not sure I could immediately locate Korea on a map on the first try. (My high school geography teacher is rolling his eyes). I was raised in a small farming town in Minnesota, with a population of 5000. Three Asians, 4997 white people. I don't have an accent (unless you count Minnesotan as an accent), I don't hate the Japanese, and I can assure you, I've never fought your people in a war.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about racial incidents. I moved to Arizona six years ago and since then, I've had quite a few of these incidents. My first job here was working at Barnes & Noble. The very first racial incident happened at the check-out counter. A guy came up to buy a book and there was some small talk and then out of nowhere, he says "are you black?" I was thinking fast that day (unusual for me) and said "if I am, is that going to affect whether or not you purchase this book?" He looked at me rather oddly and then said "no" and I took his money and he was on his way. That was the first of many incidents that happened in that bookstore. I overheard myself referred to as "that little Japanese girl", and I had someone ask me if I could tutor them in Japanese. I always told my co-workers about the incidents and they kind of laughed. Then came the day I was standing at the Information Desk with two of them and a girl walks up and starts speaking to me. In Chinese. I looked at her blankly until she said "oh, you don't speak Mandarin?" Um....no.

The worst incident was when I was working as a teller at the credit union. An older gentleman (I use that word facetiously) walked up to my station and said "Hi, Kim." I kind of looked at him and pointed to my name tag and said "my name isn't Kim." He said "I call all you people Kim." I looked at him with one eyebrow arched (I'm not good at it, but I try hard) and said " 'you people'?" He replied "don't look at me like that. I fought you damn people in the war." At this point, my boss overheard a bit of what was going on and made the very timely suggestion that I walk away for a few minutes.

The ironic part, of course, is that when I was placed at the orphanage in Korea, I didn't have a name because I had been abandoned, so they gave me a name that involves "Kim". Tim laughed a LOT when he saw my birth certificate after hearing that story.

A few weeks ago when I was having the sister of a friend cut my hair, her 5 year old son and I were talking about the Olympics. He asked if I was from China and his poor mother was mortified. He's a child and I laughed it off. Most of the time, I am able to laugh off racial comments, but they are tiresome. I have never in my life asked a white person, a complete stranger, if they're German or Norwegian or Irish. I am not ashamed of being a Korean, but I also don't think it's appropriate to walk up to someone you don't know and ask them what race they are.

Am I being too sensitive?

Why I'm Working This Weekend

2008-08-29T21:54:00.002-07:00

This was my desk as I was leaving tonight. (I've blacked out some of the stuff, including company logos).

Let's go left to right, shall we? On the left, we have a couple pieces of paper. What you can't see in this picture is the pile to the left of that they fell off. It's about the same size as the two other big ones. That pile will take me about two hours to get through. Right next to that is a stack of blue files. That is something that was dropped on me just this week. It will take me about 6 or 7 hours to get through that pile.

Then we have my iHome iPod clock radio and a really, really, really old iPod (both gifts from Tim. Honey, if you're reading this, I'd really like an iPod Touch now. Thanks!) :)

Then you see my computer. What I've blacked out on the screen is my email program that currently has 42 unread emails. I was in a 3.5 hour meeting early in the day, and a 2 hour meeting late in the day. The entire day was spent covering for the receptionist who took the day off, preparing for meetings, and sitting in meetings. I came out of said meetings with more work.

Next to the computer is pile #3. It will take me approximately 8-10 hours to get through this pile.

Then we have several small piles. About 2 hours.

To the right of that (couldn't fit on the picture), we have another pile. That should be relatively easy to take care of - an hour at the most.

You also can't see the pile of stuff to be filed that's underneath my desk.

I really like my job, though. I love the people I work with and I am learning so much. I love having the responsibility, now I just wish I had time to get everything done! So, that's where I'll be spending my weekend. Sigh....

I Slept Through The Whole Damn Thing

2008-08-29T17:52:00.002-07:00

I love thunderstorms. Love, love, love. I used to be really afraid of them, but I distinctly remember one night my stepmom said to me, "I'm not going to have you go through your life afraid of storms. Let's go." And she dragged me to the porch and she showed me how cool they really are - we watched the lightning, counted until the thunder came, drank hot chocolate, and bonded a bit. Ever since then, I love storms and anxiously wait for them every monsoon season in AZ.

Last night was a doozy of a storm - check out the slide show from our local paper. Wow is all I can say. The bugger of it all is that I was freaking exhausted last night and I missed the whole thing!

Enough, Already

2008-08-25T22:18:00.003-07:00

When I lived in Minnesota, March was my least favorite month of the year. By the end of March, it had been cold for literally six months. March was also the snowiest month of the year. It was enough already. That's how I feel about August in Phoenix. It's the end of August (can you believe how fast this year is flying by?) and it's enough with the heat already. I believe we've had a record number of days over 110 already (don't quote me, I 'm guessing based on something I read a while back), and it's enough. I know this will all be over in a month or so, but sheesh.

I have officially been in Arizona for six years now. I moved here in August 2002. When I think back now, it's amazing to me how much I've grown and changed since then. I don't even recognize the girl who moved here. What I remember very clearly, though, is the car ride to Arizona. I got to my new apartment, got out of the car in the 115 degree heat and said "my God, what have I done?" Everyone told me that by the third summer, I'd "get used to it". That's like saying you can "get used to" the cold in Minnesota - you don't get used to it, you get used to dealing with it. Big difference. Well, I rolled my eyes and said "yeah right" and then sat in front of the air conditioner for three years. Here we are, six years later, and I'm chilly when it gets below 75. I can honestly say I've learned how to handle the heat.

I'm still sick of it, though. Enough already.

100

2008-08-20T21:29:00.005-07:00

This list has been ALL over the blogs lately. It's a list of 100 things every good omnivore should try at least once. This list was developed on a blog called Very Good Taste. Here's a link to his original post. Tim and I both saw it and counted how many we've tried.

Okay, so before I post the list with the items marked that I've eated, let me disclose something so you can all stare at me with your jaw on the floor like Tim did. I've never eaten a PB&J sandwich. It's true. I don't like jams/jellies/marmalades. I've also never had S'mores. I don't like marshmallows either.

So without further ado, here is the list.

Here's what to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. I couldn't do this in Blogger, so I just made the text red)

I can't have spicy food, so I'll never be able to eat some of these things (like a raw Scotch Bonnet or some of the curries). I didn't mark these, though.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese (I just can't)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam Chowder in Soudough Bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted Cream Tea
38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (Again, I just can't)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill (I just can't imagine a situation in which this would seem like a good idea)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang Souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a Michelin 3-star restaurant (Not yet, but sign me up!)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash (I've had the American version, but not the traditional Hungarian stuff)
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

For Jen

2008-08-06T20:30:00.002-07:00

Have you been sitting on the edge of your chair, wondering how my new job is going? I'm sure you have. After all, it's all about ME, is it not? :)

It's going pretty well. I am struggling to learn a new industry, which has been frustrating for me. If I had gone to another mortgage company, I would have at least had a clue. Obviously everybody and every company does things differently, but if someone asked for a 4506-T, at least I would know what it looks like and where to get it. This is all new territory for me and it's a little scary. I hate the learning period - I want to be able to just walk into the job and know how to do everything. Unfortunately, 99% of the world needs at least some training before being able to be 100% effective at their job, so I know I'm being unreasonable. (Some people are never 100% effective - believe me, I know.) I was telling Tim last night that I wish it were like four months from now. By then, I'll know what I'm doing and I'll be more of a help to my co-workers. I hate feeling like I'm a burden.

So really my only complaint is that I'm not already great at the job, which is just me being a Type A freak.

The people are very nice. I'm also working with three former co-workers, which is just awesome, too. I had two really good meetings today, which helped to define my job a bit and answered a lot of questions. I'm still a little at the point where I don't even know what questions to ask, much less who to ask and how it all fits into the big picture.

I sound pretty negative, huh? I really do like the job. The company is great and I have real benefits. For example, when I get paid, the company doesn't automatically skim 10% right off the top and put it in their pocket. And I get paid time off. And health insurance that doesn't cost me $400 a month (1/10th that amount, actually). All good things.

So, Jen, that's how the job is going!

Help My Friend Propose!

2008-08-05T19:14:00.001-07:00

My friend Michael is proposing to one of my very good friends, Leslie. Click here to help him propose!

Doing a Happy Dance

2008-07-25T14:11:00.002-07:00

I got the job, I got the job, I got the job, I GOT THE JOB!!! Hooray!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-07-25T02:55:00.005-07:00

I have a confession to make. Tim and I met on the internet. On a dating site, of all things. Yup, I admit it. I used to be embarrassed to tell people that, but it’s so common now, that everyone I tell either met their boy/girlfriend online or knows someone who did. Let’s face it – once you get to a certain point in your life, it’s hard to meet people. I had moved to Arizona in 2002 for another guy and after we ended our relationship, I had no idea how to meet other people. I worked in the office from hell with a bunch of jerks, so I knew that wasn’t the way to go about it. At the encouragement from a friend, I joined match.com and Yahoo Personals. I met Tim through Match, I think. We were both on both sites, so I can’t remember the specifics.

Our first date was four years ago today. We went out for sushi and to a movie. Sushi was at Blue Wasabi, a sushi bar in north Scottsdale that was running a deal at the time where if you wore blue on Sundays, you got 50% off your bill (and their wasabi really is blue). The restaurant was fairly new at the time and we loved it. In fact, we went every single Sunday for at least a few months. After a while, though, we started to realize that it was becoming a major asshole hangout and it came to the point where I didn’t want to go anymore. Plus, I got a bit sushi-ed out. I like it, but every week for a few months was a bit much. Tim, on the other hand, could eat sushi three meals a day every day.

After dinner, we went to see a movie and I learned that Tim is the kind of person to laugh out loud at movies, like me. After the movie, we walked out to my car and he said “well, I don’t know when I’ll be able to see ya again. See ya around.” Gee, thanks. In his defense, he was working weird hours at the time and they were the exact opposite of mine, so I knew what he was talking about. I got in my car and called my friend L and told her the date was a disaster and a waste of time and the guy didn’t even like me. And then I turned the wrong way down a one-way street and hung up. A week later, we went out again. And as they say, the rest was history.

After four years, I still think I’m a pretty lucky girl. He’s so easygoing, he lets me be the bossy control-freak I am. :) We do joke all the time that we’d make a terrible eHarmony commercial because we are definitely not compatible. I love country music and he hates it. Ditto Everybody Loves Raymond. He loves sci-fi and I hate it (it’s that whole suspension of disbelief thing). Same with Formula One. I’m a workaholic of the very worst kind and he’s not at all. I have an unhealthy obsession with being on time (which means early) for everything and he tends to be of the fashionably-late mindset. He’s laidback and I’m definitely a Type A. For whatever reason, though, it works.

So here’s to four good years. Love you, honey!

Still Fighting Boredom

2008-07-20T23:21:00.002-07:00

I miss working. Three months ago, I couldn't have imagined saying something like that, but I really do. I miss feeling useful, like I've contributed something to the world. Plus, I'm a terrible workaholic and sitting around the house all day goes against everything I believe in! Yeah, I miss working - a lot. I don't miss slaving 14 hours a day for no money for unappreciative jerks, but I do miss working.

My friend D told me Friday that she received a call from the company I've had three interviews with. They were checking my references, which leads me to believe they're getting close to making a decision. I've felt all along that I was going to get this job, but it was just a waiting game.

So....still fighting boredom, depression, and insomnia. I'm hoping for an end soon.

Inspiration

2008-07-15T01:59:00.003-07:00

What inspires you? One of the things that inspires me is music and it has always been important to me. My family is musical - my grandmother in my stepmom's side is a pianist/organist and my grandfather was a band teacher and conductor, and plays pretty much any instrument you put in front of him. I started taking piano lessons at a young age, and in 5th grade, I started playing the flute. I quit taking piano lessons when I was a junior in high school for a lot of reasons. I got very busy with school, my part-time job at a grocery store, band, and sports. I also had a hard time finding a teacher I felt was right for me. I grew up in a small town in Minnesota and the options were limited. I'd had the same teacher for about 8 years, but at a certain point, I think I outgrew her. I wasn't born with a musical gift. I'm not naturally talented, but I did work very hard at it and I was good. My sister was born with the gift, but she quit piano lessons after only a couple of years and quit band too. Neither of my brothers lasted in piano or band very long either. Music taught me so much - discipline and passion, to be specific.

Yes, I was a band geek. Here's the weird thing, though. In my school, band was pretty damn cool. The cool kids were in band, not sports. It's okay, you don't have to believe me.... :) The music department in our small high school was one of the best in the state. My grandfather, as a high school conductor himself, had a great deal of respect for my conductor. The number of music department trophies and awards far, far outnumbered any other department's.

Band is where I made a lot of friends and had some of the best experiences of my young life. The summer between 9th and 10th grade, we took a trip to Traverse City, Michigan to participate in their Cherry Festival competitions. The spring of my junior year, we went to Florida and spent a week at Disney, also competing. The summer after my senior year, we went "out west" to Wyoming, Colorado, etc, to compete. Those trips were wonderful experiences and absolutely some of my very best high school memories. It breaks my heart that none of my siblings stayed with it and were able to have these experiences, although they obviously had their own wonderful experiences.

My conductor, Mr. R. was my hero. He had been a teacher a long time and he was loved by everyone, because he truly loved his students and his passion for music. He was hard on us sometimes because he wanted us to live up to our potential. I loved him almost as a second father. He was the teacher you went to if you wanted advice because you got into a fight with your boyfriend, or if you needed help with your homework, or maybe had problems at home you wanted to talk about.

Mr. Hollands Opus was playing on AMC tonight and I was reminded again of my relationship with him and my relationship with music. After high school, I attended college for one year and joined the band program, but my high school was far advanced compared to this band and I was quite frustrated. Since then, though, I haven't found a lot of opportunities to pursue my music. Back in Minnesota, I did join a community band for a year, but since moving to Arizona, I haven't even picked up my flute. I bought a piano about ten years ago, but sold it about 4 years go, so I haven't played piano in ages, either.

My iTunes is packed with classical music, although not nearly enough. Every now and then, I'll hear a song we played in high school, and I'll get goose bumps because I remember how I felt playing that piece of music. It takes me back.

Think about music - I'm sure you have at least one or two or ten songs that remind you of a certain time of your life or a certain person. Music is a powerful thing and it inspires me.

Still Waiting

2008-07-13T21:54:00.002-07:00

The third interview for the job went well last week Wednesday. Both guys I interviewed with (the two owners) said a couple times "well, you're exactly what we're looking for". I'm thinking that's a good sign, not to mention that they've had me there three times to interview me. I still haven't heard anything, though. They were moving into a new office building at the end of last week, so I wasn't really expecting to hear anything. The move started Friday and went through the weekend, so I'm hoping to get a phone call or something the beginning of this week.

My friend S called on Thursday and said that K heard from someone who heard from someone that they were going to make me an offer. It's just a waiting game at this point, I guess.

On Tuesday, I get to babysit for S's little baby. Baby P is about five months old and soooo precious. I can't wait to spend a whole day playing with her! I love babies when they're that age - they're developing their own little personalities, and they don't seem to cry as much!

He's Very Good To Me

2008-07-08T21:23:00.002-07:00

Yes he is. Here it is, 9:23 pm Tuesday night and he's making me popcorn because I have a strange hormonal craving for it. Altogether now....awwwww.

*I am not pregnant - ignore the hormonal comment*

In other news, I have a THIRD interview tomorrow for the job I'm hoping I'll get. Stay tuned...

How Was Your Long Weekend?

2008-07-06T19:09:00.005-07:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend. Because of the whole getting fired thing, I actually had a 6-day weekend. I haven't worked in almost a week.

Thursday we were awakened quite early in the morning by someone calling Tim about work. He got up early and was able to sign off early. Around 3:00, we decided to head to the 4:45 showing of Wall-E. We got to the theater, bought our popcorn and licorice and settled in. The movie was very good. I didn't LOVE it like I loved Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles and the humor was just a little different. Very good, though. There were parts that were freaking hilarious and parts where even Tim started to get tears in his eyes. I won't give anything away for people who haven't seen it, but I definitely say go see it - it's great.

After that, we decided to have dinner at our very favorite Thai restaurant - Osha. We love that place and if finances allowed, we'd eat there every week. It's a cute little family-owned place with mom and dad in the kitchen and daughters and aunt in the front. If it's been a long time since we've been there, they always harass us and ask us where the hell we've been. They know our usual orders too.

Friday was pretty low-key, but we did decide to head to Tempe to check out the fireworks at Tempe Town Lake. We wanted to avoid the festivities (drunken crowds) at the actual celebration, so we parked at a shopping mall just east of it and watched the fireworks from there. They were pretty good. They set them to music and it was obviously impossible to hear the music, but it was fun.

Yesterday, we headed to Wicked Bakery, a cute little bakery a couple miles from us. We got some treats and decided it's our new favorite place. We then headed to Gilbert to have late lunch/early dinner at Joe's Farm Grill, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Drives recently. We had been there once before it was on TV and really liked it, but it's a 50-mile drive and we hadn't been down there since. Well, there was one time right after the show aired that we drove down there, but the line to get in stretched forever and we went somewhere else. Yesterday, though, it was nice and quiet and we had a great meal. After eating, we did some shopping and came home and watched Juno. We received it from Netflix a LONG time ago, but never got around to watching it. I loved it. Definitely see it, if you haven't already.

I was supposed to start another temp job tomorrow, but I don't know yet if that's still on. The lady at the temp agency was supposed to call me Thursday to let me know if it was still a go, and I haven't heard from her. So I figure I'll get up and get ready to go to work tomorrow morning and just try to call her when she gets in the office.

I had a second interview for my friend's company on Wednesday of last week. It went pretty well, but it sounds like it's going to be at least a week or two before they make any decisions. I really want this job. From the sounds of it, it would be perfect for me. And "perfect for me" sounds like a nice change of pace from my old jobs.

What did you do this weekend? Hope it was fun!

Happy Birthday, America!

2008-07-04T11:49:00.002-07:00

Happy Independence Day, Americans! Enjoy your long weekend and please be very safe.

Things Sure Have Changed

2008-07-01T16:21:00.003-07:00

Around this time ten years ago, I was starting to think about looking for a new job. I was working for a huge insurance company in St. Paul, MN at the time and was pretty unhappy. There were a lot of reasons, but I knew it wouldn't work out to stay at the company. Back then, I didn't even own a computer and to be honest, didn't really know how to use the internet. I did it the old-fashioned way. Sunday I went and bought a newspaper and scoured through the "Help Wanted" ads. I then typed my resume and some cover letters at work (don't tell anyone!) and printed them off on cream-colored resume paper. I mailed out 7 resumes. From those 7, I received 7 phone calls, 6 interviews, and 6 job offers.

I don't know if I thought it was always going to be that easy or what. For the next few years, any time I wanted to change jobs, I just did it. I didn't even have to work that hard at finding a new one. It seemed like there was always someone who wanted to hire me.

It is now 10 years later and I've probably sent out 75 resumes and not one of them has been on cream-colored resume paper. Can you even still buy resume paper? No, everything is done via the internet.

As far as my job search, things are still plugging along. I finished my temp assignment yesterday (Monday) and had an interview in the afternoon. The interview was for a company where two of my friends work. We all worked together at "The Bad Place". When my friend Stephanie heard I'd been fired, she forwarded my resume to her HR manager. It took them about 4 weeks to call me, so I had written them off. They called last week, though, and scheduled an interview. It went pretty well, but I wasn't sure if she liked me. Steph called me last night and said that after the interview, she overheard the HR manager tell the hiring manager she really liked me and wanted me to come back for a second interview.

As I was typing the above paragraph, I got a call from the HR manager and I have a second interview tomorrow afternoon. I've said all along that I had a good feeling about this job. After the interview was scheduled, I called the HR manager to ask for a job description. She said they didn't really have one, but she called me to talk about the job. We ended up talking for about a half hour about the position. After that conversation, I felt like "okay, I'm going to get a job there." I have had a very strong feeling about this job.

I certainly hope to find something soon. I have another temp assignment that starts Monday, but I'm not looking forward to it. It's in a very scary part of town and it's a long drive. Tim and I drove down there a couple weekends ago and the building was surrounded by a metal fence topped with razor wire. Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. I'm hoping I get this job and they want me to start Monday and I won't have to go. If I don't get the job, I'm going to have to do this temp assignment so we can pay some bills. So cross your fingers - I will cross mine as soon as I'm done typing!

Looky What I Got!

2008-06-29T14:05:00.003-07:00

I got me some Bacon Salt! I believe I first read about this on one of my favorite blogs, Bacon Unwrapped. I went and checked out the website, but there weren't any stores in Arizona that sold it. You could order it online, but I just never got around to it. One of our friends emailed Tim yesterday because he had just heard about it and went to their website and discovered that one of the "boutique" grocery stores in Phoenix carries it.

Naturally, one of the first places we headed yesterday was AJ's. We love AJ's. It's not as nice as Central Market in Texas (I've never been there, but Tim reminds me constantly that everything is better in Texas), but it's really nice. It's a great place for foodies to wander around and find some treats.

They only carried the "original" flavor of Bacon Salt, but that's okay with me. As soon as we got to the car with the treasure, I ripped it open and put a little on my fingertip and tasted it. It tastes a lot like the stuff that's on barbecue potato chips. Yum! I love that stuff! I totally forgot about it this morning, though, and it would have tasted great on my breakfast! I can't wait to give it a try!

Overheard at the Grocery Store....

2008-06-28T14:00:00.001-07:00

Him: I think I'll be able to pass the test on the first try.

Her: I think you're giving yourself WAY too much credit.

Ouch...

Looking Up

2008-06-21T13:18:00.003-07:00

Things are starting to look up a little. For anyone like me who was viciously, maliciously, undeservedly fired via email, (who, me, bitter?) the best advice I can give you is to sign up with a bunch of staffing agencies.

Here's what's been going on this week:

Remember the interview I told you about? I didn't get the job. I think it's probably for the best. While the money was good, it would have been a huge adjustment for me - going from a corporate to a manufacturing environment. Although they did wear jeans every day! It was a long drive and not necessarily what I was looking for.

The same agency that sent me on that interview is also scheduling an interview for me at a land development company in Scottsdale. Ah...more my type of thing. Money is even better, and it's in the real estate/development industry that I enjoy so much. It's much closer to home, and everything she's told me about it so far sounds great. She said they may not start interviewing until after the 4th of July, which isn't surprising, but she's keeping me updated.

A different agency has me temping last Wednesday through Friday and all of next week with a non-profit organization. The people are great and the organization is really cool. It's called AWEE - Arizona Women's Education & Employment. They started long ago as a resource for women who had been displaced - divorced, abused, etc., and needed some assistance in finding work. They have since branched out to help women, men, troubled youth, and ex-offenders with their job skills. They have workshops for resume writing, interviewing skills, career, exploration, computer skills, and a bunch of other topics, they have a clothing bank to help people with finding professional clothing, they have a computer lab so people can come in and work on their resumes or use the internet to find jobs, and a number of other things. It's a terrific organization and I'm so happy to be working there for a week and a half. It's lovely to make a difference in someone's life.

After my assignment ends there next Friday, I begin another assignment with yet another temp agency that goes for 3-4 weeks. Woohoo!

Working is good. Making money is good. My temp jobs don't make me a ton of money, but at least I'm out of the house (Tim is thrilled about that part) and trying to contribute to the household income!

The Interview

2008-06-16T19:06:00.003-07:00

I had an interview this afternoon. It went pretty well, I think. It's a metal fabricating company in south Phoenix and I'd be the assistant to the CEO/owner. I met with the accounting manager today, and the CEO. I liked the accounting manager a lot - she seems like someone I would definitely work well with. The CEO was a little harder to read, and I'm not sure if he liked me or not. I'll hear something by the end of the week, from what I understand. It's a temp-to-permanent position, which would be good. It's quite a drive and a good portion of the drive is through bad construction, so that wouldn't be much fun. I'm used to having a really simple 7-mile commute. The hours are good, though - Monday through Thursday 7-4 and Friday 7-1. It's also a manufacturing company, and I've always been in corporate environments, so that would definitely require some adjusting on my part. We'll see how it turns out - I have faith that whatever is supposed to happen will happen. Cross your fingers, though, that something happens soon!

Bored Freakin' Silly

2008-06-12T16:37:00.004-07:00

I've learned a lot since I've been unemployed.

First, there is a television station called "Identification Discovery" - ID. They do reenactments of big FBI cases in the past few decades and it's pretty interesting.

Second, there are about 200 episodes of Law & Order on every single day on various stations. Seriously. You don't even have to look that hard to find them. They're just right there. This is a show I never got into but now that I'm home all day and desperate for something to do, they're pretty interesting.

Third, waiting for the phone to ring about a job isn't unlike waiting for the phone to ring after a first date. Of course, it's been almost four years since I've had to worry about it, but still. I remember all too well. Wait.....if you don't put out on the first date, they might call? Is that true? Wow. Who knew? :)

"Bored freakin' silly" is the phrase Tim used last night. He's right. Right as we were crawling into bed, I got very restless and started throwing a temper tantrum because I'm just bored freakin' silly! I've been corresponding with the temp agencies I'm signed up with to see if there is anything - even a one or two day assignment for $8 an hour. Anything. We need money and we need to get me out of the house before I implode! Everyone says the same thing - everyone else is in the same boat and they'll contact me if something comes up. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that with this economy, it's not a great time to be looking for gainful employment. At this point, it doesn't even have to be that gainful, just employment would be nice.

More Crazy Dreams

2008-06-11T11:18:00.003-07:00

I tend to have strange dreams. Maybe it's the stress - I don't know. Anyway, over the past two nights, I've had some real doozies.

Dream #1: I am completely covered in bubbles. For some reason, I'm lying in bed and I'm completely covered in bubbles and I know that if I don't keep popping the bubbles and getting them off me, they're going to suffocate me. Tim said he can't remember if I was tossing and turning a lot, but I know at one point, I woke up with both my feet waving in the air. Weird.

Dream #2: I am at my parent's house and my sister's arms are completely covered in these blisters that are really itchy. Neither of my parents are home so I take her to the emergency room. We're sitting in this HUGE hospital on the second floor and I run into all of these people from my past - high school, college, Arizona. I'm having a great time catching up with everyone, but my sister is bored so she goes down to the first floor where the pediatric section is so she can play with the kids. I'm worried about whatever is on her arms being contagious, though, so I try to convince her to come back upstairs, but she refuses. (She is a stubborn girl, so that's not surprising). Anyway, we end up getting in a big fight and I walked out of the hospital and told her she has to find her own way home. So I go out to the parking lot and realize I can't find my car. I'm walking all around this huge parking lot clicking my thing and I'm unlocking all sorts of cars, but I can't find mine. Then I realize I've walked all the way to my dad's place of work and I wander around looking for my dad. Someone tells me to go through this door and down the hall and I do that, but I end up outside. My dad is out there and he's PISSED that I left my sister at the hospital.

Dream #3: For some reason, I really want to take a shower. I'm just dying to take a shower, and for some reason, it's very, very urgent that I take a shower right this minute. I somehow end up in this hotel room that's nicer than my house. I realize that the shower is in the middle of the living room and it's encased in glass. I feel too self-conscious to take a shower in the living room even though no one is in the hotel room with me, so I go into the private laundry room and crawl into the washing machine.

And then there's my recurring dream. I'm in school and I can't find my books for the class I have to go to, or I can't remember which class I'm supposed to be in, or I can't find my locker, or I can't remember my combination for my locker, or I didn't study for my test. I have some version of this dream at least twice a week.

Does anyone else have weird dreams, or is it just me?

It's Good to Have Friends

2008-06-06T09:51:00.004-07:00

Hi, I'm bored, how are you? My God, this whole "being out of work" thing really sucks. That's not even including the "how are we going to pay the bills?" panic!

I am now signed up with three temp agencies and I've been submitted for one direct hire position through one of them, so hopefully something will come up soon, even if it's just temporary. I also have an assignment for this weekend - just two days - for a foreclosure auction. Since I have a bit of mortgage/real estate/escrow experience, they've given me that job. It's this weekend at the civic center and I have no idea what I'll be doing yet. The auction itself starts at 10:00, but I have to be there at 8:00 for training. It doesn't pay much, but it may give me a chance to network with some people in the industry, and that's always a good thing.

I was thinking today how lucky I am to have my friends. All of them have been really supportive and encouraging during this time. My friend S told me about a position in her company and turned in my resume, my friend A did the same, and my friend T called me this morning and said he's good friends with the owner of about 17 car dealerships and he can probably get me in the accounting department. Then there's L, she lives in California, so probably can't help me much in the job area, but she sent me an email and said "those assholes never deserved or appreciated you anyway." That was exactly what I needed to hear. My friend D took me to the Keith Urban/Kenny Chesney concert and she's been so nice about listening to me whine and cry for hours. It's been so nice to have them all. So, even though I'm a terrible friend, it's lovely to know that my friends aren't.

A Break in the Boredom

2008-06-01T17:53:00.003-07:00

When you're working 10-12 hours a day, having a few days to spend at home doing nothing sounds like heaven. In theory. In reality, it kind of sucks. I am so BORED! I've been sending out resumes like crazy and have interviewed with one temp agency and will be interviewing with another tomorrow. I'm hoping something comes up soon. Both for the sake of our finances and my mental health! Apparently I need to work, otherwise I feel like a big loser sitting around all day. Go figure.

Poor Tim, who works from home, doesn't know what to do with me! He's used to being home alone all day. I'm usually gone 10-14 hours a day and he gets a nice break. I try not to bother him when he's working, but sometimes I just need to hear a voice that isn't on the television.

Saturday, there was a break in the monotony. Months ago, my co-worker (now ex-co-worker) D and I decided to go to the Kenny Chesney concert, which we also went to last yeqr. What we didn't know at the time was that it was going to be a huge all-day thing. It was to start with Gary Allan, LeAnn Rimes, Sammy Hagar, and Kenny Chesney. An 8-hour concert, beginning at 3:30 in the afternoon and ending at 11:30 or so. Wait...Sammy Hagar? Huh? Who invited him? Which one of these is not like the others?

The concert was at the new University of Phoenix Stadium, where we hosted the Super Bowl a few months ago. We had pretty good seats and the concert was great. On Friday, I heard on the radio that LeAnn Rimes wasn't going to be performing because of some vocal issues. Bummer - I was looking forward to seeing her. Gary Allan was great and so were Keith and Kenny. I was in line for the bathroom the entire time Sammy Hagar was playing, but all I heard was screaming. Not exactly my kind of music. Once again, it was just plain weird that he was there.

All in all, a great day. I was kind of depressed and didn't want to go, but I'm so glad I did. It was a blast. My friend took some pictures and when she sends them to me, I'll post them. Kenny is so hot!

Happy Memorial Day!

2008-05-26T14:03:00.003-07:00

Happy Memorial Day, for all of you in the United States! Today is a great time to remember the men and women who gave their lives to protect our country. And a great day for me to remember that no matter how much my (former) job sucks - no one is shooting at me and there is virtually no chance of dying at the office.

Thanks!

2008-05-25T15:27:00.002-07:00

Thanks everyone for your kind comments! I'm starting to feel a little bitter (oops, better). Yeah, I'll be fine and I'll find something else where they actually appreciate me. In the meantime, I am registered with one staffing/temp agency and hopefully they'll be able to keep me busy until I find something else.

We ended up going to Trader Vic's for dinner Friday night. I enjoyed it, but Tim thought it was "eh". I think it's just a matter of me ordering better than he did. I had a Caesar salad to start and the macadamia-crusted Mahi-Mahi with whipped potatoes and broccolini. Tim had an egg roll to start and the seared ahi tuna with rice and sesame vegetables.

The egg roll was brought out on this little metal boat with a candle underneath to keep it warm. Unfortunately, it came out of the fryer lukewarm and the little candle didn't do much to heat it up. I like my food screaming hot, so I wasn't a huge fan. We got some red sauce that was kind of a cross between fruity and barbecue-y (is that a word?) and some hot mustard. I didn't enjoy either sauce, either. The egg roll tasted okay, but the temperature and the sauces turned me off.

My Caesar salad was a very classic presentation with romaine, croutons and shaved Parmesan. It was dressed perfectly - not dry and not dripping with dressing. I enjoyed it, although I've had better Caesars.

My fish was terrific. The macadamia crust was slightly sweet and the fish was nice and flaky. There was a drizzle of roasted pepper beurre blanc that just made everything that much better. The whipped potatoes didn't have a lot of flavor, but the beurre blanc helped in that regard. I'd never had broccolini before, and I loved it! It was like a very sweet broccoli. I think it was roasted, although I'm not sure. Totally rocked my world, though.

Tim's seared ahi came with rice and sesame vegetables. He said the tuna was fine, the rice was fine and the veggies were fine. Nothing really stood out.

We also got a side of the panko onion rings to share. They were cooked absolutely perfectly. The crust was crunchy and golden brown and the onion was cooked to exactly the right doneness. However, what we didn't know was that there was cayenne pepper in the batter. I almost died with my second bite. It was even a bit spicy for Tim. I can't eat spicy foods at all. First of all, being from Minnesota, I have no tolerance for it, but I also have ulcers and spicy foods tend to really give me some stomach pains.

For dessert, Tim wanted to try the Bananas Foster and I got the Polynesian Snowball with bittersweet chocolate sauce. Tim's Bananas Foster wasn't the traditional preparation - it came out on a place with bananas and a scoop of ice cream, then a separate bowl with the flaming sauce. Tim got impatient waiting for the sauce to stop flaming so he blew it out and poured it over the bananas and ice cream. However, what he didn't realize was that he didn't let the alcohol burn off, so his first couple bites were pretty potent, especially given that he doesn't drink. He didn't like it, though. His friend Joe makes Bananas Foster a different way and he prefers it that way. I don't like bananas, so I don't know anything about Foster.

My Polynesian Snowball was awesome. It was Haagen Dazs vanilla bean ice cream rolled in toasted coconut sitting in a pool of the bittersweet chocolate sauce. It was terrific. I loved the toasted coconut - it was crunchy and wonderful. It was almost like it was candied or something. The chocolate sauce was a great addition. I also stole the macadamias off Tim's bananas since he can't have nuts.

To me, it was a great meal, although Tim didn't really enjoy his that much.

On the ride down to the restaurant, however, I kind of lost my "celebratory" mood and turned a little blue. I promised Tim I would only wallow in self-pity for a couple days and then I'd be fine.

I'm working on it.

I Blame Al Gore

2008-05-23T17:41:00.003-07:00

This is so bizarre. This is the end of May in Phoenix. It should be around 100 degrees, if not 110. Today, it was under 70 degrees and it rained pretty much all day. I'm now sitting at home and it's hailing and thundering like crazy. Rain all day, hail, thunder, high wind - I almost feel like I'm back in Minnesota! So bizarre.

Tonight Tim and I are going out for a nice dinner to celebrate my firing. I figure we're about to end up in the poor house and we may as well go down in flames. We're not sure where we're going yet, but I'll write something about it.

Can I just say that this really sucks? Getting fired sucks. I didn't even do anything wrong. There were no performance problems. I know everyone says that, but it's true. Sigh. I'm SO getting out of the mortgage business for a while.

Fired via Email

2008-05-22T08:21:00.002-07:00

Have you ever met anyone who was fired over email? I hadn't until recently. This person's boss (one of her bosses), the president of the company fired her with a four-sentence email. Wouldn't you assume that the president of the company would be a bit more professional than that? And then to top it all off, he tells her to call if she wants to talk about it, but when she calls, he doesn't pick up the phone. And when she sees him in the hall, he just looks away and can't even look at her. Professional? No. Try gutless. Childish. Unprofessional. And a whole bunch of other words I'm too much of a lady to write on this blog.

This is why I'm looking for a job again. I was fired via email on Tuesday. I work for two people - they each pay 1/2 of my salary. One of the guys decided Tuesday that he doesn't want to work with me anymore and doesn't want to pay me, effective that day. Yes, the president of the company. The one who so valued me five months ago that he just couldn't let me leave when I wanted to and when I had some opportunities. Same guy who would have done almost anything to keep me in the company. Same guy.

So let's review here. My salary was cut at the beginning of the year by 41%. Ouch. That really hurt. (It was cut because of "performance issues", which coincidentally came up the day after I returned from being out of the office for a week due to pneumonia and bronchitis) And now? The remaining 59% of that has been cut by an additional 50%. My wages now are equivalent to that of a McDonald's worker. I'm sure they get treated a bit better, though. When I started my career 14 years ago, I was making more money than I am today.

I started out Tuesday pretty stunned/shocked/blindsided. Yesterday I was a mess - crying, panicking, freaking out. Today, I'm just pissed. Oh boy, am I pissed. Even today, the president's office is right next to mine and he walks by me and I said "good morning". He said "morning" without even looking at me. Did I do something wrong? No, actually, I didn't. I know this for a fact. He's just a coward.

What a way to run a business.

Here We Go!

2008-05-18T14:06:00.003-07:00

Today it reached 100 degrees for the first time. It's actually pretty late in the year for the first 100 degree day, from what I understand. I actually haven't left the house yet. I spent the entire morning and so far this afternoon lying in bed and relaxing. Ahhh, heaven.

I'm becoming adjusted to the heat, for sure. I'm the pathetic Phoenician who gets chilly when it's 80 degrees now. My family in Minnesota is ashamed. :)

Tim hasn't been feeling well for about a week. Last weekend, we tried a couple of restaurants we hadn't been to before, and at some point, we both ate something that didn't sit well. Around Wednesday, my stomach stopped churning, but his stomach is still upset. We've been having a pretty quiet week while he rests.

I went in to work for a few hours yesterday, which was loads of fun. I had two piles that needed to be taken care of. I took care of one of the piles (the easy one), and then started on the second and decided I wanted to come home. I hate working on the weekends because I work 10-14 hours a day during the week. Since Tim was sick, though, and basically slept all day, I figured I could go in and be productive.

Not much else has been happening around here, which I hope explains the lack of posts lately from both of us. Tim has been on call for what seems like forever, and has been sick for about that long too. I'm starting to get a bit stir crazy, though, and may need to leave the house at some point today.

Skillet Chicken with Rice and Peas

2008-05-08T12:28:00.003-07:00

The first food blog I ever read was Seth's. His is obviously one of my favorite ones, especially since we're now friends with him and have done a few reviews with him. His site had a link to The Home Cook's site, as well. I'd have to say her site is probably my second favorite. Whenever I see her site in bold with new posts in my Google Reader, it's always the first one I click on. I love reading her recipes and looking at her pictures. There are millions of food blogs out there and a lot of them are very elaborate with tons of pictures. Mine isn't one of them. I don't know enough technology stuff to make my blog elaborate and I take awful, terrible pictures of food. Really, truly bad pictures. This really isn't a food blog, either - it's a blog about my life and I like to cook, so I throw some food stuff on here every now and then.

Every Sunday, Tim and I do the weekly grocery shopping. Before we make out our list, I usually look through my Google Reader starred items to see if anything inspires me. This recipe has been on my radar for a while, but I hadn't gotten around to making it. I was a bit tired after work last night and wanted something that came together easily and wouldn't produce a ton of dishes to wash up. This totally fit the bill, plus we had almost everything already. Tim went to the gym last night and I had him pick up some lemons and an onion (we're never out of onions, it was a weird moment).

This was delicious. You can almost never go wrong with America's Test Kitchen, and this recipe was just great. I loved every single bite of it. The lemon added just a little freshness that made the rest of the flavors pop. I didn't take a picture because of the whole bad pictures thing (see above) and because our plates are ugly and we don't have good lighting, and well, I was really hungry! I'll give you this link, though, so you can check out The Home Cook's picture.

The recipe is below. I will be making this again and again and again. I left out the scallions because Tim doesn't really like them. I also only had about 3 1/2 cups of chicken stock, so I had to add about a cup of beef stock. Chicken stock is also something we never run out of. It's been weird around the house lately.

Skillet Chicken and Rice with Peas and Scallion Recipe
from America's Test Kitchen

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (vermouth)
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas
5 scallions, sliced thin
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in flour to coat and shake off any excess. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown the chicken well on one side, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

2. Off the heat, add the butter to the skillet, and swirl to melt. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and return to medium-high heat until softened, 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the rice thoroughly and let toast for about 30 seconds.

3. Stir in the wine and let the rice absorb it completely, about 1 minute. Stir in the broth, scraping up any browned bits. Nestle the chicken into the rice, browned side facing up, including any accumulated juices. Cover and cook over medium heat until the thickest part of the chicken registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 10 minutes.

4. Transfer the chicken to a clean plate. Gently brush off and discard any rice clinging to the chicken, then tent the chicken with foil and set aside. Return the skillet of rice to medium-low heat, cover, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, 8 to 12 minutes longer.5. Off the heat, sprinkle the peas over the rice, cover, and let warm through, about 2 minutes. Add the scallions and lemon juice to the rice. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with the chicken and lemon wedges.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2008-05-05T12:24:00.003-07:00

Happy 5th of May! I don't eat Mexican food, so there's more for you. Save me a margarita, though!

"Your Mojo May Be Back"

2008-04-30T12:26:00.003-07:00

That's what Tim said to me last night. I made pulled pork sandwiches and sweet potato fries. I don't want to talk about the fries. I love them crispy, but there are so many different opinions about how to make them crispy. I chose the wrong method and they were soggy. Tasted great, but mushy. Bleh.

The pork was the real star of the night. I've seen this recipe for Root Beer BBQ Pork ALL over the place. Like, here, here, here, here, and here. And those are just a few of them... As you can see, people are CRAZY about this pork!

Sunday night on our usual shopping trip, I told Tim I wanted to try it and we picked up a 2-pound pork loin roast and a 2-liter bottle of the cheapest root beer we could find.

So here's the "recipe":

Pork roast - any size you need to feed your family (2 lbs. was perfect for us - we each had leftovers for lunch today, and we'll have some left tonight too)

Root beer

Put the pork in your crockpot and pour in enough root beer to cover. Put it on low for 6-8 hours. Drain the root beer off and mix in bbq sauce. We used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbecue Sauce. Use as much as you like. Use two forks to shred, and serve. It's that easy. I think it's the best pulled pork I've ever made. I've always cooked the pork in water, but this was absolutely amazing!

Here's a picture I took of my sandwich at work today. Please excuse the bad photo - I take bad pictures anyway, but this was with my phone, which doesn't help.

Perfect Timing

2008-04-15T19:51:00.002-07:00

I had a really bad day yesterday. Really bad. It started carrying over into today and then I opened up my Google Reader this morning and came across this post, written by my cousin Carrie. I think she's my cousin. Although I may be wrong. I believe my stepmom and her mom (or her dad?) are cousins, so I'm not sure what that would make us. In my defense, my grandmother is the oldest of 13 children and they all had like 100 kids, who all had 100 kids, who are in the process of having 100 kids. At any rate, Carrie has a beautiful family and I love being able to stay updated on her life even though we only see each other once every five years at family reunions. HUGE reunions, by the way - we need a conference center to get everyone together.

This post was just what I needed to see today. I was so focused on the things that were going wrong and the things I wish I could change, that I forgot to be grateful for what I do have. Thanks for the perspective, Carrie!

It's My Own Damn Fault

2008-04-13T18:02:00.005-07:00

It really is. I went to the haircutting place and really didn't know what I wanted. And because I'm such a doormat, I almost got talked into something I really didn't want.

I had kind of an idea in my head of how I wanted my hair to look. Maybe something like this:

I wasn't entirely sure, though, and I figured I would look at the books they usually have in the waiting section and get a better idea. Well, this place didn't have any books, so I tried to explain it to the guy. He said "no, I don't see that on you. Your hair is too straight and your face is too big." Gee, thanks. So I asked what he did see on me. This is what he wanted to do:

Can you picture me in this asymmetrical cut? No. So then another stylist walked over and started talking to me and told my stylist that style wouldn't look good on me. He was pissed at her, but I was soooooo grateful. Then she said "I'm sorry I just ruined your plans, John, I'll just leave," and I said "No, please don't go!" So he didn't like me much either. So I told him just to cut it into a bob. I'm not in love with it, but at least I don't look like this. I'm sorry, but that is just UGLY and anyone who knows me knows that that is NOT me at ALL!

I know it's just hair, but yeesh. I have standards, ya know.

World's Worst Friend?

2008-04-10T21:21:00.004-07:00

Yup. That's me. I'm the world's worst friend. No wonder I don't have any friends!

I forgot my cell phone at work last night and when I got to work this morning I checked it. Last night, I had a missed call from my friend C. Her daughter, J called and said "Hi, Tara, am I ever going to see you again?" Yes, her 6-year old daughter called me out. I worked with C for about 10 months at the place of evil that is now under federal investigation for fraud. We became very close friends, but I really bonded with her little girl. She's my favorite little girl in the whole world, but it's probably been at least a year since I've seen her. Possibly longer. That's terrible. World's. Worst. Friend.

Then later this afternoon, I get an email from S, giving me a two-month update on her new baby. Two months and I still haven't met the baby. I haven't met Tim's new nephew yet either, but he's in Maine. S and J and the baby live like 30 miles from here. No excuse.

And L? Haven't talked to her in months. In fact, I think she mentioned to me they were going to be in town during March. Did I bother to find out when they'd be here? See if they needed a place to sleep? Nope. World's. Worst. Friend.

I've been so busy working, I've been totally neglecting my friends. And it's not like there's a million of them! I'm a terrible, terrible friend.

Yes, I'm Still in a Rut

2008-04-04T10:00:00.003-07:00

I really don't have much to update you on right now. Literally all I do is work and work-related stuff. I've started reading tons of books and listening to CDs about mortgages. Exciting stuff, huh? Tim hates when we get into my car and we turn on the radio and it's some guy talking about adjustable rates. :) To me, interesting. Him...well, not so much. I can see that. When I say it's "interesting" to me, I may be stretching the truth a bit. I'm hoping to be successful at this job, though. Well, I'm hoping to make a lot of money. Let's be honest. I'm learning a lot and working a lot, and now I'd like to start making a lot.

I have been dipping my toes back into the cooking pool recently and have had terrible results. Two nights ago I tried making hummus. Um, yeah, that's something we need to get on the outside, apparently. It was DISGUSTING! It all went into the trash and I'm still shuddering to think about it! I have seriously lost my mojo. I used to be able to do this, and I was pretty darn good! I made some pasta thing a few nights ago too, and while I didn't like it at all, Tim said it was okay.

Last weekend, Tim and I were at Walmart to look for a light bulb for our kitchen. Personally, if we can't see what I've been cooking, that's totally fine with me, but Tim disagrees. So as we were leaving after determining they didn't have our kind of bulb in stock, we were just about to go through the detector things when we saw the 97-year-old woman at the door who can't even stand by herself try to stop a guy who had stolen a sandwich. She was shouting at him to stop and he just kept walking, and then she started yelling "enjoy that sandwich! Enjoy it!" As soon as he got outside the store, he took off running. What's wrong with people? I'm sure he had the money to buy the sandwich, so why didn't he just do that? And why do they have people standing by the door who can't even walk? The next night, we went to a different Walmart to look for the light bulb again and as we were walking into the store, the beeper went off and the guy kept walking. The 100-year-old woman called out to him, but he didn't hear. There were two guys walking in the door the guy was trying to go out, and they blocked him from the door and turned him around so the lady could check his bags.

Oh, you're never going to guess what happened to me yesterday afternoon. I went to the Walgreen's by my office to pick up a couple of things and as I was leaving the store, I saw that the car to the left of me was about to back out. I didn't open my car door, just kind of stood there waiting for him to back out. He obviously didn't see me, and he started turning the wheel as he was backing up. Well, his side mirror ended up hitting me in the rib cage. (Yes, I'm short - for most people it would be like their hip or their leg. Whatever.) It hurt a bit. He didn't even know he hit me, though! He didn't even pause! You'd think that at some point, he'd look up and see someone standing there clutching their side. Duh. Tim pointed out to me last night that I'm probably lucky he didn't pin me between the cars. My side is a little sore today. When I touch it or if I lean against it, I can't definitely feel something. No bruise yet, but we're waiting. Sheesh...

Okay, that's it for today. I haven't posted anything in a while, and these are the things I'm thinking about today.

Another Try

2008-03-24T21:38:00.003-07:00

Back in September, I finally got my hands on one of the Vosges chocolate bars with bacon. I was a bit disappointed with it, though, because I didn't feel that the bacon flavor was distinct enough.

When we went to Maine for Christmas, Tim's mom bought me another Vosges chocolate bar with bacon. I kept forgetting I had it and finally got around to opening it tonight. I broke off a piece and....delicious! It's great! There seems to be a lot more bacony goodness in this bar than in the one we got a few months ago. It's great and I'm savoring every bite.

Do you want to know how sweet my boyfriend is? (He hates it when I say that). Here's what I got for Easter. Isn't it cute? It's almost too cute to eat!

Philosophical Question

2008-03-19T09:45:00.002-07:00

Yesterday as I was driving to work, I was listening to my usual morning show and they were talking about an article one of them had read in a magazine. Yes, I know, what did we ever know about anything before trashy magazines?

Anyway, it was this survey they had done. I'll be honest and say I don't remember which magazine, how many people they surveyed or the results of the survey. What I do remember is the question that was posed.

If someone were to walk up to you today and offer you $20 million cash, but you would die at the age of 55, would you take the money?

This is a question I've pondered for the past two days. I talked to Tim about it last night and we both think we'd take the money. We're in a different situation from a lot of people, though, because we don't have families of our own. If I had kids, I would probably feel differently. On the one hand, $20 million would probably secure a pretty good future for the family. On the other hand, if I stop to think about, say, my dad, I'm certain I'd rather have him around than the money. And on yet a third hand, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow and never make it to 55, with or without the money.

I have 22 years until I turn 55. I have a feeling I could spend almost $1 million a year until then and lead a pretty great life. Tim agrees with me. Do you think peoples' answers to this question says anything about who they are? Are we bad people because we'd take the money?

What are your thoughts? Would you take the money? Or if it's not enough money, what's the over/under number? Of it 55 isn't old enough, what's that over/under number? I'd love to hear what you think.

An Epiphany

2008-03-18T21:33:00.003-07:00

So I've had this project at work for about a month now. It was something I didn't know how to do and I was really struggling with it. I probably could have gotten help, but that goes against my "I can do it MYSELF" stubborn streak. I brought it home this weekend so I could spend a little time with it, but couldn't make myself do it until late Sunday night. It's the weekend. I work a LOT during the week and I want to relax during the weekend! Anyway, I worked on it for about a half hour, but then got disgruntled and put it away and went to bed.

I had two dreams about work Sunday night. I woke up Monday morning with absolute clarity on what I needed to do for this project and another one I just got. I got to work and jammed it out in about 20 minutes. The project that I've been struggling with for over a month.

No wonder I'm so damn tired all the time! I'm not only at the office 12 hours a day, but I'm working in my SLEEP!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T12:24:00.001-07:00

Kiss Me - I'm .... uh .... not Irish!

Has Anyone See My Mojo?

2008-03-09T01:18:00.002-07:00

I HATE COOKING!

This is partially true right now. I don't know what's happened to me, but I have no desire to cook. NO desire. Even the thought of it makes me tired. I have no desire to cook, and the couple of times I have cooked over the past couple of weeks, it's been inedible. Just ask Tim about the salty meatloaf and the inedible pot roast. Not to mention the greasy chicken parmesan. Bleh. I used to be someone who looked forward to cooking dinner every night, and every now and then, I would even clean up the kitchen or take out the garbage. My house is filthy right now and I haven't cooked in ages and I just don't care.

If you've seen my domestic mojo lying around anywhere, could you let me know? I think Tim's getting sick of eating cereal for dinner out of measuring cups.

And It's Not Even a Full Moon

2008-03-04T18:11:00.004-07:00

Okay, is it just me or do people get crazier every single day? Today has just been a really bizarre day. I started off my morning by calling a title company to schedule a closing for one of my borrowers. I have been emailing and calling this lady for about two weeks. I sit on hold for fifteen minutes until she finally gets on the phone. I ask when we can schedule the closing and also ask if I can verify her email address. (This is my passive-aggressive way of saying "why haven't you called or emailed me back?") She answers with "you know what? I get like a thousand emails a day. I don't possibly have time to read them all." Excuse me? Isn't that part of your job? I get like TWO thousand emails a day and I still manage to at least read every single one! That's part of my job! I can't imagine my boss' reaction if I EVER said that to a client! So anyway, I wasn't very nice to her. I snapped back at her and told her that in this market, she should be BEGGING me for my business, not snapping at me. I never, ever snap at anyone at work, but she really pissed me off.

And then I get a call from someone who wants to refinance his investment property. The tenants are on a lease-to-purchase contract and will be buying the house in a little over a year. So in doing my research on this property, I discover that his tenants have put his house on the market! They're trying to sell a house they don't own! Can you imagine?

I spent about 20 minutes of my morning explaining to another person that no, the cost of your homeowners insurance, which protects you against fire, theft, etc., is not included in the price of the home. It's like car insurance - you have to insure it for as long as you own it and have a lien against it, and it's not included in the purchase price. Naturally, she's a first-time homebuyer who is far smarter than we are. I believe it was her husband's cousin's nail tech who told her she shouldn't be paying for homeowners insurance. Lovely. The only time you don't is when your HOA pays for it, like with a condo. Don't get me wrong - I know most first-time homebuyers don't know a lot of this stuff (I wouldn't if I weren't in the industry), but when I explain it to you, I'm really not trying to trick you and I'm not going to lie to you. Just take my word for it and save us some time.

Then there's the 82-year-old guy who "don't speak to no women about no business matters" and every time I get him on the phone, I have to listen to him scream at me because we're all trying to swindle him out of money.

I can honestly say that the mortgage broker I work for is an honest guy. I've worked for three non-honest mortgage brokers and I can tell the difference. With this guy, his biggest concern is helping the client. The other guys - it was all about filling their pocketbooks. I understand why people are wary right now because of all the negative press recently about the mortgage business. It just makes my job tougher. Good thing my salary got cut by 25% to make the whole thing worthwhile... Grrr

More Random Stuff

2008-03-01T21:59:00.003-07:00

Tim and I seem to be on opposite schedules right now. He works from home, so he rarely leaves the house all week. By the time the weekend comes around, he's ready to get out of the house and do stuff, go places. I, on the other hand, have been working insane hours lately and expending big time brain energy trying to learn my "new" job. By the time the weekend rolls around, I'm ready to hibernate. This morning (okay, afternoon) after breakfast, I was ready for a nap, but instead, I was dragged to the bookstore, the grocery store, Sam's Club, and other places. I have already warned him that tomorrow I'm staying home all day. I may bake some bread. Seems like a strange thing to do since I HATE baking, but we'll see how it goes.

Tim's sister had her third baby boy last week. I feel like an aunt, although technically, I'm not. He's a BIG baby - 10 lbs, 14 oz. Yowza. Every girl who just read that just crossed her legs - I can tell. Anyway, his name is Jacob and he's just as cute as can be. I'm dying to get back out to Maine so we can meet him!

My friends S and J just had a baby girl, too! She was a tiny little thing at just over 5 lbs. and she's absolutely gorgeous, just like her mom! I haven't met her yet either, but am dying to get my hands on her!

Oh, and thank GOD, I don't have any babies! I love them, I just don't want any living with me!

It's hard to believe my littlest brother graduates from high school this spring. He was born when I was a freshman in high school. I never thought he'd grow up! My 15-year class reunion is also this year. Yowza again. Every day when I get out of bed and my knees crack or my back is sore, I'm reminded how I'm not as young as I used to be.

I think I'm officially an Arizonan. Tim and I went out for Chinese food tonight and it was about 72 degrees outside and I was in jeans and shivering. I turned the heat on in his car! I'm such a wimp!

I haven't cooked at all recently. I literally work 12-14 hours a day and when I get home, it's all I can do to drag my sorry butt to the couch, much less prepare a meal. This morning I made scrambled eggs and bacon (okay, Tim made the bacon - I admit it) and I think it just wore me out. I'm just not at all interested right now, which is very strange for me.

I think that's all for now. Exciting stuff, huh?

In a Rut

2008-02-24T22:25:00.009-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, so I figured it was time. I've been in a bit of a rut lately. I haven't been cooking much or doing much else other than working. This promotion has been great, but while I've been taking on additional responsibilities and learning more, I still have all of the old responsibilities, so I've been working a lot. I come home from work every night with a mushy brain because I've been working so hard at learning the new job and I'm exhausted from handling the old job. I'm hoping that will change at some point, but there's really no one to do the old job.

We had a fun weekend. Friday night we went to dinner at Humble Pie in Scottsdale. Tim did a review. He really loved it. As for me, I thought it was pretty good, but it was pizza. I'm not a huge fan of pizza, so it could have been the best pizza in the world and it still would have been lost on me.

When we got home from dinner Friday night, we watched a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. One of the places Guy went was a barbecue place and that made us crave barbecue. Saturday morning we headed to Joe's in Gilbert. YUM! After lunch, Tim suggested going for a drive. He suggested Saguaro Lake, which I have to admit I've never heard of. It's north of Mesa and it was really pretty. Here are some of the pictures we took. We hadn't really planned on going so we didn't have a regular camera with us, so Tim took these with his Blackberry. They aren't the best quality, but you get the idea. We had a great time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T07:58:00.002-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Tim and I are excited for dinner at Tarbell's tonight, so we'll be sure to tell you all about it.

I used to hate Valentine's Day. I used to be one of those people who called it a Hallmark holiday and scoffed at people who celebrated. I was also a very bitter single girl. Now, I take it for what it is. I love Tim every day, but it's nice to have a day to celebrate.

Hope you and your sweetie have a great day!

Promotion

2008-02-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

I quit, and that resulted in a promotion. Go figure. While it kind of makes me mad that I had to quit in order to get promoted, I am glad I don't have to keep job-hunting.

I'm going to get to be a lot more involved in the loan process, rather than just being an assistant. I'm going to be working with one of my previous bosses and the owner of the company. I'm definitely going to learn a lot with those two, which is what I want. And hey, if it doesn't work out again, for whatever reason, I'll have learned a lot and I can try it somewhere else.

Super Bowl, Super Traffic

2008-02-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

This is a big weekend for Phoenix. We are hosting the Super Bowl in Glendale and the FBR Open in Scottsdale. Luckily, Tim and I live in the middle. I have a friend who lives about two miles (literally) from the stadium where the Super Bowl is. She doesn't even want to leave her house. I told her to let people park in her yard for $100 a pop.

Anyway, getting back to the subject. I work across the street from the hotel where the New England Patriots are staying. Traffic has been awful the past week. AWFUL. I live 10.5 miles from work and I never have to get on a freeway, but it takes me an hour to get home. It's rather annoying to have to sit in my car for an hour to go to work, where I don't even want to be, anyway.

Here are some rules of the road I feel everyone should know, but apparently they don't:

Just because you drive a big black lifted truck doesn't mean you always have the right of way.
The "suicide lane" is not a passing lane.
Neither is a turning lane.
When you see a sign that a lane is ending, just get over - don't go flying past everyone and then try to squeeze yourself in-between two cars that are four inches apart.
And back off, for God's sake. If I look in my rear-view mirror and can't even see your headlights, you're too f-ing close!
Honking in a traffic jam is a waste of energy. It's not like everyone was just sitting there waiting for you to tell them when to go.
If you drive a Prius and you're doing 50 mph on the freeway, get out of the HOV lane. You're just pissing people off.

Anything else?

Some Sort of Explanation....

2008-01-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should explain myself on the whole job hunting thing.

Everyone knows the economy sucks right now, right? Well, did you know that the mortgage industry is evil and we are the single cause of the current state of the economy? Dishonest, scheming, evil mortgage brokers are out to get everyone and the poor, innocent homeowners who didn't bother to read their own paperwork were victimized. Now, I'm not saying there aren't jerk-off mortgage brokers out there who preyed on naive homeowners - I know at least a couple of them personally. I'm just saying that homeowners also have a responsibility to make sure they understand their loan product and that it works for them. And if you took an adjustable rate two years ago because owning a $500,000 house with a $400 payment for a year sounded like a good idea and now your payment is now going up to $3000, well, you knew it was going to be a gamble. There are no guarantees that your property is going to continue to increase in value and you'll be able to refi your way out of it. You know how many people I talk to every day who did an interest-only ARM who now owe more on their house than it's worth and they can't even sell it? Or how many people bought their house six month ago and now it's worth $50,000 less? And that's if they're lucky.

Sorry, jumping down off my soapbox for now. Really, I could go on and on.

Anyway, because the mortgage business is tough right now, my company is cutting my salary. A lot. A LOT. Since I'm an admin assistant with 15 years of experience and NOT a mortgage person, I'm getting out of the business. I've worked in insurance, healthcare, financial services, retail, banking and several other industries. I'm lucky that I can work in any industry. Some of my friends in the mortgage business aren't as lucky and have to stay in the business because that's their business. I really enjoy the mortgage business and maybe in a couple years I'll try to get back in it, but for right now, does anyone know of any jobs??? :)

It's Hump Day!

2008-01-23T12:38:00.001-07:00

You know what that means! (Relax Tim, this has nothing to do with you). :)

It means someone is gonna get screwed and it's probably me.

Apparently I'm on a job hunt. Man, I hate looking for a job. It's like dating, but with a lot more rejection. Well, come to think of it, some of my dates were worse than that - never mind.

Now I'm really depressed.

Dreamin'

2008-01-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the mood-altering drugs, the stress at work, the 8 strips of bacon I had for breakfast, the wart on my big toe, the new shampoo I've been using, or the antibiotics, but I had two very strange dreams Friday night. (Okay, only a couple of those things are true - I'll let you decide!) The dreams were one after the other and had a similar theme.

I told Tim about my dreams and he almost fell out of his chair laughing, and I told my co-worker, D, and she has suggested I get some help.

Dream #1:
Tim and I were visiting my hometown in Minnesota. My friend Leslie (California) was there, along with one of my co-workers (Arizona), Tim's brother (Maine), and some guy I don't know. Apparently people flew in from all over the country. We were going to another town about 20 miles outside my hometown for dinner at The Melting Pot. (Trust me, this town doesn't have a Melting Pot - they just barely got a Walmart a couple years ago.) Anyway, we were sitting there eating, and at some point, Tim got up to go to the bathroom and the other guy got bored and sat up at the bar and talked to the bartender. We were all getting ready to leave and paid the bill and got into the car. It was snowing and raining, so I had to sit on the hood of the car on the way home and wipe off the windshield because the wipers didn't work. Every time they turned a corner, though, I fell off the hood and they had to stop and pick me up again.

About halfway home, I realized we had left Tim back at the restaurant. Since I was on the hood of the car taking care of the snow, I hadn't heard my cell phone ringing over and over. He had left a few messages, and with each one, he was getting increasingly more and more angry. Once I realized what had happened, I was upset and basically in hysterics. (This is probably the point where Tim got out of bed and said I was whimpering). So I drove back up to pick up Tim and he was all happy with me, but I was still feeling pretty guilty.

Dream #2:
Tim and I are at my parents house in Minnesota, celebrating Christmas with my ex-boyfriend and his family. (That would NEVER happen). We were going to go out to my grandma's campground for dinner and gift exchange and we were getting everything ready at the house. Just a side note, my grandma died almost six years ago and her campground hasn't been operational in at least 10 years, if not longer. Anyway, at one point, someone told me that the song The Devil Went Down to Georgia was about chopping basil and not about playing the fiddle. I knew that I could chop basil better than the devil, so I was sitting on the floor, chopping basil and everyone was watching. Anyway, Tim had brought my Christmas present to the house and it was in this huge box and it was really heavy, and every time someone picked it up, it sloshed like there was ice water in there.

Once we got the present into the car, we all went to the campground. Since it was Christmas in Minnesota, there was like a big circus tent set up with heaters so we wouldn't all turn into popsicles. I'm sitting at a table eating my Christmas dinner when I realize I'VE LEFT TIM BEHIND AGAIN!!!!! He's standing outside the tent, yelling at us to let him in (apparently the doors and windows were locked. Nice trick for a circus tent) One of the things he yelled was, "Tony, the least you could do is let me in after you took advantage of me and Tara last night!" WHAT???

Oh, and my Christmas present from Tim? It was hundreds of ears of corn in ice water.

I really have to have my medications reviewed.

Buttermilk Pancakes

2008-01-20T15:08:00.001-07:00

Last night's Smothered Pork Chops called for buttermilk, which we never have in the house unless we need it for a specific recipe. Since the recipe only took a half cup, we needed a good way to use up the rest of it so it didn't go to waste. Naturally, my first thought was for pancakes! Tim found an awesome recipe on www.allrecipes.com and we made the full recipe. They turned out great - excellent flavor and nice and fluffy. It made a LOT of pancakes, so we cooked up half the pancakes yesterday and the rest this morning. I had mine with chocolate chips (as always) and I fried up some maple sausage from Von Hanson's, too. I can't even tell you how good this sausage is and I don't even LIKE sausage, usually! I could eat a whole meal of just this sausage, though!

Buttermilk Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. You can flick water across the surface and if it beads up and sizzles, it's ready!
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it's just blended together. Do not over stir! Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/2 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

YUM!

2008-01-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have over 90 blogs in my Google Reader and only about 5 of them are not food/recipe-related. I kept reading about Tyler Florence's smothered pork chops and everyone is in LOVE with them. I tried making them a while ago, but the pan was too hot and I burned them and they turned out horrible. I made them tonight, along with some mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. It was terrific. I thought it would be a complicated dinner, but it came together very easily and quickly. This will definitely be going in the regular rotation. I couldn't really tell if Tim liked it or not. He gave it a thumbs-up, but not as enthusiastic as me.

The roasted broccoli was a new preparation for us. I usually steam it, which is good, but roasted was even better, in my opinion. I tossed the broccoli florets with olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and pepper until every single one was completely coated. I put it on a baking sheet in a 425 degree oven for 12 minutes. As soon as it came out, I put it into a bowl and tossed it with some Parmesan cheese. I loved it.

The whole dinner was a success for me. It was nice to cook again after being sick for so long and not having the energy to stand up for longer than 5 minutes at a time.

Sick of Sick

2008-01-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted - mostly because I've been getting over pneumonia and bronchitis which truly, truly kicked my butt. HARD. I'm trying to remember if I've ever been that sick in my life, and I really don't know. I had viral meningitis almost a year ago, but that was just a lot of pain. This bout of pneumonia was definitely rough.

Today was the first day since December 24 that I haven't felt like crap. I'm still coughing a little bit, but it doesn't feel like I'm about to turn myself inside out. And I'm finally able to stay awake for an entire day. Progress.

I went back to work last Thursday and it was lovely, as is to be expected. Sigh. It was a rough two days, let's just leave it at that. I think I need to get out of the mortgage business. It's not a good situation right now. Luckily, I'm not a mortgage person, I'm an assistant, so I can work in any industry. While I really enjoy mortgages, the morale in the company right now is tough. One of these days, I'm really going to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Really.

Chicken & Corn Chowder

2008-01-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

With the whole pneumonia thing, I've been craving a really good bowl of hearty soup. I made some Progresso Chicken with Wild Rice soup last night, but it wasn't really what I wanted. So tonight, I dragged myself out of bed and made this chicken & corn chowder. It was great. Tim was going a bit stir crazy today and stopped at Wildflower Bakery and got us some sourdough bread bowls. The bread was perfect for the chowder - the tanginess cut through the sweet corn and carrots and added a great dimension to the flavor.

(Sorry about the bad picture. I was starving and it's lucky I even remembered to even take one!)

I don't really use recipes, but I tried to pay attention as I was cooking and here's what I wrote down:

5 strips bacon chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, including the leaves, chopped
1 medium carrot, shredded on the big holes of your grater
1 lb. chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup white wine
2 large potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 cups chicken stock/broth
1 cup heavy cream
16 oz. bag frozen corn
Fresh thyme

In your soup pot, cook the bacon over medium until it's crispy
Remove from the pan and drain on a plate lined with paper towels
Drain off all but approximately 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat
Add the onions and celery to the pot
Cook until the onions and celery start to soften
Add the chicken pieces and carrot, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through
Once the chicken is cooked, sprinkle the flour over everything
Cook, stirring constantly, until flour is cooked. It should start to smell a little nutty
Once the flour is cooked, add the wine, deglazing the pan. Be sure to get the brown bits up off the bottom of the pan - that's where the yummyness lives!
Add chicken stock, potatoes and thyme and reduce heat to low
Cover the pan and let it cook over low for about 10 minutes or until potatoes are soft
Use a potato masher and mash the potatoes and vegetables a bit, or you can use an immersion blender. You don't have to do this, but it does help to thicken the soup
Add heavy cream and defrosted corn
Simmer for 15 minutes
Serve with bacon on top

"Big Trouble, Young Lady"

2008-01-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Even at the ripe old age of 33, those words still scare me to my very soul. It usually meant my dad was upset about something. He rarely gets upset about anything (easygoing guy), but when he does, watch out.

Well, I moved out of my dad's house 15 years ago, but I recently had the opportunity to hear those terrifying words once again. It seems my doctor isn't a fan of continuing to work 10-hour days when you have "severe pneumonia". Go figure.

I went to urgent care a week ago today and was told I had pneumonia. I made a follow-up appointment with my regular doctor for Wednesday. He wasn't thrilled with me and ordered me to my bed.

Normally, I would say "oh thank you - I need a good rest!", but when you're sick, you never really seem to rest like you should. Oh, and boredom? Hello....I'm bored stiff. This is brutal.

So if you've called me in the past few days and I haven't answered, it's because I'm on some really strong drugs that knock me out and I can barely stay conscious long enough to have a conversation.

Bitch, moan, bitch, moan. Okay, I'm done feeling sorry for myself...

Oh, Woe Is Me...

2008-01-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sick of hearing about my tooth yet? Well, the saga still isn't over. I had my appointment yesterday to get my permanent crown, but since the temporary crown had shattered like 12 days before I could get back to the dentist, what was left of my real tooth had moved and the gum had grown up around it and the permanent they made me didn't fit. So, it's back to the lab with a different mold and another temporary for me. No peanuts anymore, though. God willing, I'll get my permanent crown the middle of next week...

And to make things even more exciting, it turns out I have severe bronchitis and walking pneumonia. It's always been like this with me - I so much as look at someone with a cold and I get it, but ten times worse. Tim's brother and mom had colds and I get pneumonia. I'm such a drama queen...

Sesame Chicken

2008-01-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

We really like the sesame chicken at Super Dragon, our favorite Phoenix Chinese restaurant. I ran across a recipe on Amber's Delectable Delights, made a few adjustments, and it came out great. The picture above is actually the picture she posted. I forgot to take a picture in my rush - I was STARVING last night when I got home from work. Her recipe can be found here.

Here is my revised recipe:

Mix the following in a large Ziploc plastic bag:
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. Chinese 5-spice powder
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds (toast them yourself. I know it's an extra step, but it really brings out the sesame flavor and it's totally worth it)
Few grinds of black pepper

Cut 2 chicken breasts into 1-inch chunks
Add chicken to bag and make sure every piece is coated. Shake off excess flour.

Saute chicken in peanut oil until cooked through and golden brown

While chicken is cooking, mix the sauce:

4 tbsp. teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sesame oil

When the chicken is cooked, drain any extra oil, then add the sauce. When the sauce has thickened, it's done. We had ours with jasmine rice.

This is the second time I've made it. The first time I followed her recipe exactly, but it was way too sweet for me. Tim loves sweet, but I'm definitely a savory gal. I cut the amount of honey and added soy sauce to balance it a bit. It was still pretty sweet, but it was a good balance. We will definitely made this again, and I'll probably add some vegetables. I think some carrots, onions, and broccoli would make this a great meal, and they're things we usually have on hand.

Oh, and By The Way...

2007-12-31T20:35:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!

Tim and I are staying in and nursing our colds tonight, but if you're going out, please be safe!

Christmas in Maine, Part 4

2007-12-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that New Englanders are obsessed with L.L. Bean? We ended up with two gift cards, so we figured we would go shopping at some point. I also got a cute little tote bag with paperwhite bulbs in the "yankee swap", which I really liked, but couldn't fit into the suitcase. L.L. Bean has a great policy on returns, so we knew we could just go and get a credit.

The day after Christmas started with another breakfast at The Kopper Kettle. This time, they did have the biscuits and gravy and Tim was happy. He said it was very good. My favorite part of both breakfasts was the toast, surprisingly enough. It's homemade bread cut into about 1" thick slices - it was great.

After a filling and satisfying breakfast, we headed to his mom's house. She went on her lunch break at noon and it would be the last opportunity we would have to see her before we left. On the way, we stopped at his sister's house to pick some stuff up and say goodbye to her, Pete, and the boys.

After visiting with Tim's mom for a while, we headed to Walmart to get me some more cold medicine, cough drops, and tissues. Before I tell you this next part, let me explain just how miserable I was. I hadn't slept very well, I was struggling to breathe, I was coughing constantly, my nose was running, and I was just all-around unhappy. Okay, so here goes. We get to Walmart and discover they don't have any Puffs tissues - only Kleenex brand. I prefer Puffs because they're softer and don't tear, and my nose was already raw. I also HATE the Puffs Plus with the lotion - they're nasty and gross. We get to Walmart and they don't have any Puffs. I was about two seconds from throwing myself on the floor and having a tantrum. So we bought the other stuff we needed, and headed out. Then, we stopped at a grocery store to check for Puffs. If they hadn't had them, I was on the verge of tears, so luckily, we were able to find them. I don't normally go into a rage or burst into tears because of tissues, but in my defense, I was very sick. :)

That night we had dinner at Joe & Deb's - fondue. We've done it there before, and it was good, as always. Unfortunately, I could taste next to nothing because I was so sick.

Thursday we headed home. We left at 5:00 am and got to the airport VERY early, but Tim was nervous because of the freezing rain and the promise of a snowstorm. Our flight out of Boston was delayed about an hour, and our flight out of Newark was a little late, too. Despite these delays, we made it home relatively on time.

Now that we're home, we're settling back into our lives and trying to recover. I am still sick - it's been over a week, and now Tim has gotten sick, too. At least he waited until after we got home to get sick. I have a four-day weekend for the new year, so I've been resting a LOT. Thanks to the good people at DayQuil, Robitussin, Puffs, and Ricola, I may live to see the new year!

Christmas in Maine, Part 3

2007-12-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Christmas day was a busy one in Maine. It started very early in the morning. Tim's family tradition for Christmas is presents and breakfast that morning. We were asked to be there at 7:30 to partake in the festivities. The middle of the night on vacation by our standards, but a strange thing happens when one is in Maine. Time seems to get warped there. We were up early every morning, ready for dinner at 4:00 and ready for bed at 7:00. It's like we turn into senior citizens when we go there. I'm really not sure what that's all about.

On our way to his parent's house, we drove by a Walgreens that I noted was going to be open from 9-6 that day, and I knew that was going to save me. I was pretty sick by then. My throat felt like it had razor blades in it, I couldn't breathe, I was coughing, and all around, pretty miserable.

We got there and the orgy of presents began. Tim's sister and the boys loved the marshmallow guns we got them, and it was a great day. I got Tim this and this. Nothing special, but they were things I knew he wanted. There is one more thing, but I knew we wouldn't be able to bring it home in our suitcases, so I haven't given it to him yet. I'll tell you about it later. :)

I got something very special from Tim. I got a ring. It's not an engagement ring, as he was quick to point out, but it's a very, very special ring. His parents have a quarry on their property and many years ago, they found a great deal of tourmaline. Tim thought the tourmaline was all gone - given to family and friends, or sold. It turns out, they had a few left and I got one. His mom, dad, and sister helped pick out the setting and it's gorgeous. It's a little piece of his home. :)

Breakfast was also a family tradition - French toast, citrus salad, bacon, and lots of coffee and tea. Tim's dad received some Korean ginseng tea from someone as a gift and Tim really liked it. Charlie, in case you're wondering, it was Tim who stole about 10 packs of it out of your box!

After breakfast, we headed to Walgreens to get some DayQuil, cough drops, and cough syrup. Lucky, lucky me. When we got back to the hotel, I zonked out for a couple of hours. Then, it was time for Christmas with the family, round 2. This one was at his sister's house. We had a great time there. The entire family, except Grampy, was there - aunts, uncles, cousins. Grampy had a mishap a couple of weeks ago and he is recovering in a rehab center. There was the "yankee swap" or "white elephant" gift exchange, which was pretty funny, and then a new game his sister did. She wrapped up a present and everyone had to put on oven mitts and try to open it. Imagine the most duct tape you've ever seen in your life. There was a giant box with about six or seven duct taped boxes inside. It was a lot of fun watching everyone trying to get into the boxes.

Dinner was terrific. Jen really did a great job. She had marinated one beef tenderloin and just grilled the second. We had twice-baked potatoes, peas, mushrooms, baked onions, glazed carrots and pea pods, baby spinach salad with strawberries, and I'm sure more stuff I can't even remember. Dessert was mini-cheesecakes, lemon pound cake, brownies, and ice cream. In all, a great night.

After dinner, we went over to Tim's aunt and uncle's house to watch the Bourne Ultimatum on their new HDTV. By the time we left, I was pretty sure the cold or whatever was going to kill me. We headed to the hotel and passed out. It was a great Christmas - just the way it should be with family, friends, lots of food, and fun.

Christmas in Maine, Part 2

2007-12-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

Since we spent Saturday night in Boston, we spent a good portion of Sunday driving. We woke up Sunday morning and did a little research on Chowhound for a good breakfast place near our hotel. We settled on Danny's Diner in Somerville. It was absolutely terrific. I had the bacon and cheese omelet, which came with home fries and toast, english muffin, or pancake. I chose wheat toast. The omelet was perfectly cooked, and we all know that bacon makes everything better, it was exactly what I wanted. You could tell everything was homemade. Tim had a corned beef hash omelet and chose a pancake as his side. The pancakes were fluffy and thick and very good. In all, a wonderful breakfast.

Danny's Diner is a little hole in the wall place, but everyone who was there was clearly a regular. As Rachael Ray says, you gotta eat where the locals eat. Speaking of locals - a quick funny story: There was a table of five older guys behind Tim and I was facing them while we were eating. They were obviously regulars and it sounded like they ate breakfast there every morning. At some point, they were talking about medications and side effects and the one mentioned some procedure or surgery he had been through four times. Judging by their breakfasts, I would guess heart surgery. :) Anyway, he said, in his perfect Massachusetts accent, "I figure I lived through four of those damn things, I must have nine lives. I'm paht pussy". I happened to be looking at them right when he said it and I started laughing and all five guys turned at once and looked at me and got up and left the table. It was hilarious.

After breakfast, we were walking back to the car and passed by a pie shop called Petsi Pies. I stood outside the building and I could smell a very strong apple and cinnamon smell so I grabbed Tim and walked inside. They had some hot cider going, which is what I was smelling. It turned out to be a cute little bakery with a few homemade pastries and pies to order and take home. I wanted a molasses ginger cookie and Tim got a lemon scone. We also got a little bag of Christmas cookies. The cookie was very soft and good, although I'm not a huge fan of candied ginger so I didn't like the little chunks in there. Tim said the lemon scone was also good, and the lemon glaze had a nice kick.

We arrived at our hotel in Brunswick, checked in, dumped our stuff and headed to his parent's house. His parents were there, as well as his sister, her husband their two kids (and the baby on the way!), and his brother Jon. They had prepared a feast for us - lobsters, fresh Maine shrimp, potatoes, peas, and coleslaw. Ahhhhh....... the best part about coming to Maine is definitely the seafood! I can never remember how to pick out the lobsters, so Tim had to show me again. One of these days, I'll learn! I had also never had Maine shrimp before, and I'd never had the ones with the heads still on them. That, too, was a learning experience. It was all so delicious.

Last time we were here (Thanksgiving 2006) Tim's brother had told us about a breakfast place he loved so we gave it a try and instantly fell in love with it. The Kopper Kettle is in Topsham, Maine, and it reminds us a lot of The Farmhouse in Gilbert, AZ. It's down-home cooking at its very finest. Tim really wanted to try the biscuits and gravy since his brother loved them, but unfortunately, they had run out. He ended up getting eggs, bacon, sausage, and home fries. I got basically the same thing, but no sausage. The best part of the meal is the homemade bread. They make their own breads, muffins, and pastries, and their bread is outstanding. Tim had cinnamon bread and I had just plain ol' wheat. I loved my breakfast, but Tim didn't really like his. He was very disappointed about the biscuits and gravy, so it kind of ruined the meal for him.

We spent the rest of Christmas Eve running around. First up was Christmas shopping. His sister Jen had just bought a Wii, so we got her and her husband a couple of accessories for it. His brother Jon has had a little bad luck lately, and he had mentioned to Tim that his DVD player had died, so we got him a new DVD player, and we got his parents a gift card for one of their favorite restaurants. For Tim's nephews, Charles and Noah, we got these. We got to try them out the day after Christmas when we went to his sister's house and they are a LOT of fun! I want to get one to take to work!!! Uncle Tim had a hard time letting the boys play with them!

After our shopping was done, we stopped over at Tim's friend Joe's house to visit him and his wife Deb. We only stayed a couple of hours as we had plans for dinner with his parents. We had dinner with his parents and his brother - leftover lobster and shrimp. Yum! While we were having dinner, we found out there was going to be a white elephant gift exchange on Christmas Day at his sister's house. Oh crap. We didn't know. So, it was off to L.L. Bean in Freeport, where they are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We ended up getting one of these, and this, along with a coffee mug.

Just to give you a little background, L.L. Bean is an obsession out there. It's a HUGE store in Freeport, with several different stores all in one. Everyone out there gets gifts from there, or gift cards to there. In fact, we received a $100 gift card and a $25 gift card for the place.

On the drive from Joe & Deb's house to Tim's parent's house, I felt like my throat was a little dry and I was kind of thirsty. By the time we left his parent's house, my throat was really hurting and I was kind of feeling stuffed up. We tried to go to Walmart or Walgreens or anywhere to find some cold medicine, but on Christmas Eve at 8:00 in small-town Maine, apparently everything is closed. Bummer... Tim's brother had some extra Advil Cold & Sinus, though, which seemed to help for a couple of hours. By the time we went to bed Monday night, I was pretty miserable.

More to come...

Christmas in Maine, Part 1

2007-12-22T19:39:00.001-07:00

We just flew in from Phoenix and boy are our arms... Okay, sorry....never mind. :)

I am a night owl, so on the weekends, I like to stay up late and sleep very late. This weekend, however, is a bit different. This morning, we were up and out of bed at 4:00 am. The middle of the night for a Saturday for us. Our plane took off at 7:40 am this morning, which meant we got to the airport at 5:30. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that busy. I know it was early in the morning, but I was expecting a lot bigger crowd, given the fact that it's a holiday weekend.

Neither Tim nor I are small people, but we're not gigantic either. Imagine our surprise when we sat down in the seats and were practically sitting on top of each other. We were contorting ourselves into pretzels for four and a half hours from Phoenix to Newark. When we landed in Newark, we had about 30 minutes to get from gate C121 to gate A23. Look up the Newark Airport sometime and check out where that is. Fortunately, there was a shuttle and it took us almost right to our gate.

We got on the plane bound for Boston and once we took off, the flight attendants passed out the peanuts and drinks. Well, silly me. I took a bag of peanuts. And I broke my temporary crown into about three pieces. Oops. Eating peanuts wasn't necessarily a great idea.

We got to Boston around 4:30 local time and headed to the Alamo counter for our rental car. After checking into our hotel, we did a little research on Chowhound and found a Thai place to go to. Tim almost got us lost getting there, but I digress. :) While enjoying my pan fried noodles at Montien, I broke the rest of my temporary crown into another four pieces. Sigh. I always manage to do this on the weekend, and this weekend is even worse! Tim is probably going to review the restaurant, so I won't get into that.

It hurts a little, but not too awful. It certainly doesn't hurt as bad as it did before the root canal, so that's good. I'm a little afraid to eat just about everything, though. I'm such a dork...

Stuff - Mostly Junk

2007-12-20T08:15:00.001-07:00

Just random thoughts today.

This whole "getting older" thing is really for the birds. Remember when I used to be able to remember things? Yeah, me neither. I swear - I can't keep a thought in my head these days. Does your brain get full? I don't know, but I hate it.

I had my root canal yesterday and today I can honestly say is the first day in almost two weeks that my tooth hasn't hurt. It's a little sore because it's been through a lot, but I don't feel the throbbing pain from my head down my neck and into my shoulder, and my ear doesn't feel like it's going to explode. Progress. After the endodontist gave me the novocaine yesterday, I asked him to please give me a little more, just to make sure I really couldn't feel anything. I have a deep fear of pain.

We have about 40 million things to do before we head to Maine for Christmas, and I'm so tired and worn out, I doubt we'll get to any of them. We leave at the butt-crack of dawn on Saturday and get back the following Thursday night. I'm really hoping to relax and get some down time while we're out there. My job has been stressful lately, and I'm definitely looking forward to the decompression. I promised my bosses, though, that I would come back from vacation with a whole new attitude and a renewed excitement for my job. That's a tall order, but I think I'm up to it! Some good play time with Tim's nephews should do the trick!

I really wish I liked tomatoes. They look so pretty on salads and sandwiches and they're probably really good for you. I hate them, though. I really, really hate them. I don't even like spaghetti and lasagna or pizza or even ketchup. Tomatoes are one of those things I always thought I'd start to like as I got older, but I haven't. I want to like them, but I just can't.

(Told you this was random stuff)

Yup. That's What I Was Afraid Of.

2007-12-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

Well, in about an hour, I am leaving to have a root canal done. I went to the dentist yesterday and told him I was still in a lot of pain from the temporary crown. He popped it off and had a look (I screamed in pain and then bit his finger, but that's a whole other story) and said I need a root canal. Great. Just what everyone wants during the holiday season when they're traveling - a toothache.

Priceless

2007-12-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I received a very curious phone call. The woman who had sold me my car two years ago after I destroyed my Nissan Sentra called to find out if I was interested in looking at another car. Great customer service, by the way. In the mortgage business, too, it's all about following up with your past clients and working your database. I told her thanks for calling, but I was going to wait a while before really looking at cars. Then last week I read Geggie's blog and found out she bought a new 2008 Toyota Camry in Blue Ribbon Metallic. I looked at the picture on her site and thought to myself, "ooh, pretty blue." That started a chain of events that culminated in one of the more interesting weekends we've had in ages.

Thursday night after dinner, I was surfing the internet a bit and looked a little on the Toyota website to see if they had any deals going on. After I went to bed, Tim did a little looking on Costco's auto-buying program site and on Friday talked to someone about the whole process. Before I left work on Friday, I called Jenny at Right Toyota to see if she was working. If she was a good enough sales person to call me, I wanted to give her a chance. I told her we'd be in around 8:00 - once we'd had a chance to grab some dinner.

After a quick dinner at Osha Thai, we headed over. I told her I was interested in the 2008 Camrys and that I really liked the blue. We test drove it and liked it, so we looked at some numbers. After some considerable crunching and haggling, I am now the proud owner of a 2008 Toyota Camry LE in Blue Ribbon Metallic, too! My payments have gone up, but the way we've structured the lease, hopefully I won't be carrying around any negative equity leftover from the Nissan From Hell.

We were the last customers of the night for the dealership, which is probably also why we got a good deal on the car. We pulled into our subdivision last night and all of a sudden, a light bulb went off in both of our heads. The garage door opener. In the old car. At the dealership that just closed for the night. The house keys on Tim's desk. Inside the locked house. (When L and M were here for Thanksgiving, we gave them our house keys and they never made it back onto my key chain).

The house that we're renting is owned by a former cop who has taken every step possible to make sure the house is secure. It was locked up tighter than a drum. We sat in the new car in our driveway for a few minutes, laughing our heads off. "Well, the seats recline and we have a full tank of gas!" "Should we break a window?" "The house across the driveway is for rent and might be on lockbox - we could break in" "There's a couch in my office" These are just some of the suggestions that were thrown out as we were sitting outside our house. Tim had his laptop with him because he's secondary on-call this week. He pulled it out of the bag and hacked into our own wireless signal. We ended up booking a room at the Comfort Inn about two miles from our house. While there are people we could call for a place to stay, we didn't feel comfortable doing it at 11:30 pm. We spent an incredibly uncomfortable night at the Comfort Inn and were awake at 7:30 so we could get to the dealership right when it opened. Jenny had taken the keys to my old car home with her and started work at 9:00, so we went for breakfast and went back. We got home at about 10 this morning and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon catching up on sleep.

2008 Toyota Camry: $well, enough
1 Night at the Comfort Inn: $71.17
Trip to Walmart for toothbrushes, toothpaste, contact solution, etc.: $14.79
Look on our faces when we realize we're sitting in our driveway and can't get into the house? Priceless...

Double Ouch

2007-12-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

I went to the dentist this morning and yup - I broke it. He numbed me up and took off the broken part of tooth (and showed it to me. Why do they do that? It's disgusting!) And then he did some drilling, put on a temporary crown, and sent me on my way. After the first of the year, I get my permanent crown. Isn't that a nice little treat for the holidays? To make things even happier, I came to work and found myself in a whole bunch of pain. When I called to see if I could get something for the pain (*cough* Vicodin, please *cough*), they mentioned he may have hit a nerve and I may need to have a root canal now. WHAT??? Man, I wish I'd never bitten into that piece of pork.

Ouch

2007-12-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

The mortgage industry tends to attract people who drink a LOT. Think young loan officers who are great in sales and have WAY too much money.

Friday night was the night of our very, very, very lame office holiday party. I've worked for this company for a while and Tim and I have been to two of them. They were always at the Biltmore Resort and involved appetizers, drinks, dinner, and dancing. Sounds fun, but it really isn't, unless you're a total drunk. Most people leave work by 3:00 the day of the party and start drinking and by the time the party starts at 7:00, they're already in a pretty good place. This year, they changed things up and decided to hold it at the Wrigley Mansion instead and it was just drinks and appetizers. As you may or may not know, the mortgage industry is in a bit of disarray lately and I'm sure our company was trying to save some money.

Instead of going to the party, I decided I wanted to have my co-worker D and her husband J over for dinner. I made Giada's pancetta-wrapped pork roast, the Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes and rolls and my version of succotash for dinner. D brought a chocolate trifle for dessert. We also had a simple cheese and cracker tray for appetizers. It was a very fun night and it was a terrific meal. The pork was cooked perfectly and was moist and flavorful. The Pioneer Woman never disappoints, so the rolls and potatoes were great too. My version of succotash was also very good and very colorful. The recipe is below, although I change it every time I make it.

Here's the "ouch" part. We were eating dinner and chatting and I bit into a piece of pork. I think I bit into a stem from some thyme and ended up breaking my tooth. I heard a VERY loud crunching noise and felt an awful lot of pain. I wasn't able to eat a lot of dinner after that.

About four years ago, I had to have a root canal and a crown on one of my teeth. Somehow, the root canal was done wrong and I ended up having to have the tooth pulled almost two years ago. At the time, I didn't have dental insurance, so I wasn't able to get an implant to replace it, so I have a hole on that side of my mouth. The tooth I broke Friday was on the other side of my mouth. Naturally.

Tara's Succotash

1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Medium Onion, chopped
1 Zucchini, cubed
1 Summer Squash, cubed
1 Bag Frozen Corn
2 Tbsp. butter (or more)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and bell peppers and cook until translucent, seasoning to taste. Add zucchini, squash and corn. Cook until zucchini and squash are soft and corn is warmed through.

I use lots of butter. It just tastes best that way. But then again, I love butter with everything. I make this differently every time. I know traditional succotash has lima beans, but I don't like them, so I generally don't add beans. You can really add anything you want, though. I just love how sweet the corn makes it.

NOW I Remember!

2007-12-04T19:58:00.001-07:00

Date: December 4, 2007
Time: 5:49 pm
Temperature: 69 Degrees Fahrenheit

When I first moved to Phoenix, I swore I would NEVER get used to the weather here. Everyone told me that after the third summer, I would completely change my mind. They were right. Today's high was in the mid-70's and it's the beginning of December. NOW I remember why I live here! In the summer, when it's 115 degrees outside and we're all complaining, we just have to remember to hold on until winter. THIS is why we live here.

I will also go ahead and admit that I now think 69 degrees is chilly. When I left work tonight, I was glad I was wearing pants. Yes, I'm a big wimp now.

To my friends in family in Minnesota - so sorry you've gotten 20 inches of snow the past few days and it's below zero. Hahahahahahaha!!!!

Send Blankets!

2007-12-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Friday and Saturday were strange days here in Phoenix. I am speaking, of course, about the rain that fell for about 48 hours straight. This wasn't "Phoenix rain" where there are 15 drops every two hours, this was real rain.

The temperatures got into the 50's and it turns out that the 5+ years I've lived in Phoenix have turned me into a real weather wimp. Apparently 50 is just too chilly for me these days. I know my family and friends in Minnesota are dealing with a huge ice and snow storm this weekend and I'm soooooo thankful I don't live there! A friend of mine said the temperature on Friday was 3 degree above zero. No thanks - 64 was cold enough for me!

Quick funny story - Friday night after dinner, Tim was a little stir-crazy (he works from home and doesn't get out of the house much!) :) so we did a little shopping. As we were driving to Fry's Electronics, it was raining pretty hard. The windshield wipers on my car were making that awful scraping noise that they make when they're worn out. Wiper blades tend to dry out and crack during the long summer months when it never rains, so they don't last long in Phoenix. That noise drives both of us nuts, although it was definitely making Tim more grumpy than myself. After Fry's we went to Walmart to see if we could buy replacement blades and they were almost completely wiped out. It was almost comical. We went to Target, but the new Super Target near us doesn't sell them so we would have to wait until Saturday morning. After breakfast Saturday morning, we stopped at Auto Zone. We pulled up to the store and right in front of the car was the garbage can - FILLED with old wiper blades and wiper blade packaging. We both had a good laugh about it. Apparently the automotive supply stores were packed this weekend. That's what happens when it hasn't rained in months and months.

As of 8:45 Sunday night, it's 52 degrees. Someone send blankets! Oh, if you're in Minnesota, hope you manage to shovel your way out of your house soon. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yum

2007-12-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I found a recipe for a breakfast casserole (hotdish to you Minnesotans!) on a blog I've been reading for a while. After dinner last night, Tim and I went to the store and picked up some roasted garlic bread. You basically cover the bottom of a casserole dish with slices of bread. Top with cooked bacon or sausage and some shredded cheese. Then whip four eggs with a cup of milk and some salt and pepper. Pour eggs over the bread and let sit overnight. In the morning, all you have to do it bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes and enjoy! We both thought it was great. I'll be making this again.

The Feast

2007-11-23T13:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a terrific day and a great meal (if I do say so myself.) :) It was great to spend the holiday with friends and despite the cooking frenzy, it was a very relaxing day for me. That's surprising, usually I completely stress out and freak out and am generally impossible to live with when we're having people over. I think just the fact that I wasn't at work caused me to really relax.

We got up early (well, for us), and I started with the rolls. I had prepared the dough Wednesday night and kept it in the fridge. I took it out around 9:00 am to warm up a little, then I rolled it into the balls and got them into the muffin tins. They rose for about three hours.

They were then baked in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, and here they are in all their gorgeousness:

They were awesome. Simply delicious and nice and sweet. Tim had about three of them throughout the day and we each had a few at dinner. They were great and my very first attempt at bread. Thank God there was no kneading!

Appetizers were veggies and dip and meat, cheeses, and crackers. Here's the veggie "tray".

Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen? Well, I have to give credit to Glenna over at A Fridge Full of Food. I saw this on her blog originally, and showed it to Tim and we decided to give it a try. We went to Walmart and bought a little tin bucket for $.97. The bottom has a thick piece of the end of a loaf of French bread. It is covered with kale and then the skewers are held in by the bread. The skewers have grape tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, and peppers. It was adorable.

I have a dip tray I bought at Cost Plus a few years ago and that was the centerpiece of the tray.

Two of the sections have Ranch and Bleu Cheese dressing, one has different types of crackers and the one you can barely see has sausage and two kinds of cheese. It was great fun and L and M really liked it.

Now to the main course - isn't that why we're all here?

The turkey was absolutely gorgeous - crispy, golden brown skin and perfectly cooked on the inside. Tim thought it was a bit dry, which it was, but the flavor was great.

The mashed potatoes are the best I've ever made. I used Yukon Gold potatoes and sprinkled the tops with crispy shallots. I've decided I'm in love with The Pioneer Woman and most of yesterday's recipes came from her, including the rolls, stuffing and potatoes. The crispy shallots on top of the potatoes were my idea. :)

Tim made the sweet potatoes, and we tried a recipe from Epicurious.com. Tim and L really liked them - M and I don't like them, so we're trusting that they were good.

M loved the stuffing. It was half cornbread and half white bread, and then just the classic onions and celery with chicken broth. Once everything was mixed together, I also threw in two beaten eggs to hold everything in and it turned out good. The original idea was The Pioneer Woman's, but I added the egg. Judging by her reactions, I'm thinking the potatoes were L's favorite. As for me, it was a tie between the mashed potatoes and the rolls. Tim's favorites were the rolls and the stuffing.

Dessert was the pumpkin pie I baked Tuesday night and apple crisp. I ended up having to make a new apple crisp. There was an "incident". I don't want to talk about it. I sent Tim and M to the store to get apples and L and I stayed behind and talked about them behind their backs. :) Anyway, the new apple crisp turned out great. The apples were nice and mushy (the way Tim likes them) and the top was crispy and sweet. L and Tim said the pumpkin pie was really good, too, although M and I didn't try it.

This holiday season, I'm thankful for my boyfriend who puts up with me and all my strange quirks and loves me anyway. I'm also thankful for good friends. I've known L for about 4 years when we worked together and M for almost three years. They're good friends, and when they lived in Phoenix, we used to get together every week for dinner. Now that they live in California, we don't see them enough, but it's still very nice when they come home. I'm also thankful for all of the leftovers in our fridge, which are going to make some great meals. I'm thankful to have such bounty when others have to go without.

Happy holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful day, eat lot of food, enjoy your families and friends, and be safe.

And So It Continues....

2007-11-22T00:53:00.000-07:00

After a quick dinner at our favorite Chinese place tonight, we continued our prep work for Thanksgiving dinner.

Tim did his sweet potatoes (we had to get new ones) and we'll keep them warm in the crockpot tomorrow. We're trying to do everything that needs the oven before the turkey goes in tomorrow afternoon. I prepped my veggies, meats and cheeses for the appetizers, pre-chopped the onion and celery for the stuffing, and made the bread dough for the rolls. Once again, it was the Pioneer Woman to the rescue! She posted her recipe for rolls this morning and I immediately emailed it to Tim and we agreed that it looked great.

Stay tuned - I'll try to remember to take pictures of everything tomorrow before we devour it. :)

Thanksgiving Prep

2007-11-20T21:48:00.001-07:00

The preparation for the big day has begun in earnest. Tim made the brine and did a practice run with the sweet potatoes. We got them for a steal and we were both kind of wondering if they were any good. The jury is still out. I don't eat them, and Tim hasn't decided if they're good or not.

Last night, I made cornbread and cut it up, along with a loaf of french bread for the stuffing, which is now drying.

Tonight I made an apple crisp. It's not very pretty right now, but I'll take a picture once I've plated it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I also made my first pumpkin pie. I've never made one, but Tim and L both like pumpkin pie, so naturally, I had to make it! That hole you see near the middle? That's where I stuck the knife to see if it was done.

Tomorrow night we're going to finish cleaning the house and I'm going to work on my veggies/meats/cheeses. I may also start the mashed potato process since the potatoes get boiled and mashed and then baked. I'm using the Pioneer Woman's recipe, which looks absolutely amazing. If you haven't seen her site, hop over there and give it a look. Her non-food site is pretty great too. She takes tons of great pictures and her recipes are simple and delicious. She's hilarious, too. Her butternut squash recipe cracks me up. If you read it, you'll see what I mean.

More to come...

It's Tradition!

2007-11-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on TV right now. How can you not love that lovable loser? The part where Peppermint Patty is yelling at Charlie because he served toast, popcorn, jelly beans and pretzels for Thanksgiving was just on. I have nightmares about that kind of thing - I spend all day cooking Thanksgiving dinner and everyone yells at me. Yikes!

I am sooooooo excited for Thanksgiving. It is, by far, my favorite holiday. I've gotten to be a bit of a Scrooge about Christmas over the past few years, mostly because of the pressure of gift buying and traveling mess, and how crowded everything is. Thanksgiving, however, is all about being with your family and friends and eating good food. How can you help but love it? Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

It doesn't really matter what the menu is for the beginning of the week, does it? It only matters what we're eating Thursday, and I think we can all agree.

Tim and I spent eight hours grocery shopping yesterday. We went to about 6 different stores to get various things and then finished up the shopping tonight.

There will be four of us for Thanksgiving - myself and Tim and our very good friends, L and M. L and M will be eating another dinner earlier in the day, but they've promised they will come hungry.

So, here's what's on the menu:

Mulled apple cider
Meat/Cheese/Veggie/Cracker "tray" (It's a secret - I'll post a picture when it's done)
Turkey (Alton Brown's brined turkey recipe)
Cornbread Stuffing*
Mashed Potatoes
Buttnernut Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Sauteed Corn with Onions, Zucchini, Squash, and Bell Peppers
Bread
Gravy

For dessert, we have apple crisp and pumpkin pie. The only things that won't be homemade will be the bread and the pumpkin pie crust. The rest will be made by Tim and myself. Tim is 100% in charge of the turkey. I've made or assisted a couple of other turkeys and they never turn out as good as when just Tim does it.

*Is it still called stuffing if you're not actually putting it in the bird? Is that when it's called dressing instead? I really have no idea, but we always called it stuffing when I was growing up, so that's what I call it.

Menu Plan

2007-11-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Monday: Beef stroganoff and salad
Tuesday: Chicken & mushrooms with balsamic cream sauce
Wednesday: Shepherd's pie
Thursday: Hot dogs
Friday: Parmesan dijon chicken
Saturday: Eating out for my birthday.

Catching Up

2007-11-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad, bad blogger. Was it that I've had nothing to say for the past week, or just that I've been lazy? Well, it's a combination of the two. I haven't been feeling well for about a month, and it's really wearing on me.

We haven't done much, but I did take a few pictures of some of our meals. The first is the balsamic chicken. The picture didn't turn out very well, but it was terrific. This was Giada's recipe for balsamic drummettes, but we used boneless, skinless chicken breasts because that was what we had in the fridge. It turned out great, just like last time. It seemed to take a long time to thicken the sauce. I was starving when I got home from work, so I just put some of the sauce on there before it was really thick. We served it with some jasmine rice and steamed broccoli. Great dinner.

I thought this was also a good time to introduce you to Mickey.

Mickey has been with me for about 30 years. He's a plastic dinner plate that I've had for as long as I can remember. When I was very, very young, I didn't eat a lot. (Boy, how times change!) Anyway, it was a struggle for my parents to get me to eat more than a few bites of food every meal, so I got Mickey. It became a challenge to "uncover" Mickey. Mickey was probably made long before dishwashers, but he still goes in. He gets used many, many times during the week. He's my favorite plate, and one of the very few things that will never be "downsized" in all of my moves from house to house or state to state.

Another night, we had a really yummy salad. This was made from romaine hearts, mushrooms, red peppers, and corn. I don't even remember what we had it with, but it was so pretty, I had to take a picture of it.