a new group of ladies

I’ve just gotten in from my book club meeting.  Not the club I’ve attended for the past year, but a new one I joined on meetup.  I’ve got mixed feelings about it and I’m really considering msging the organizer with an idea on how to make it better, (I know that sounds arrogant), but I’ll get to that a little later.  Let me tell you about my day first. 

Bfast wasn’t as yummy as I thought it was going to be.  I made oatmeal w peaches and blueberries.  The first time nuked and the fruit wasn’t soft enough.  The second time they were soft, easy to smash w the spoon, and turned the oatmeal a gorgeous purple color.  However I think it was too cooked b/c there wasn’t much fruit flavor at all.  Next time I’ll heat the oats first and then toss in the fruit for warming. 

I had to drive Aaron’s truck to work today and it was drizzle-y.  Not too hard and I found the remote for his radio (finally).  It was weird parking it at school. 

The day was much easier than I thought it was going to be considering we had a new kid start.  Her parents hung out for about an hour, left and came back for the temper tantrum at the start of nap, left again, and then came back in time to pick her up.  They were super worried about little things.  I thought it was a little strange b/c they already have a six year old.  I’m guessing they are super sensitive about this little lady b/c she has a ‘disability’ (in quotes b/c I HATE that word). 

Since she started, we now have six kids in T/R crew!  Now all we need is two more.

The DR asked me to close again and I found out that I could since my meeting wasn’t till seven.  I had/got to hang out in the baby room from 2:45 till 5:30.  The AT was out since her little man went home sick yesterday.  It wasn’t hard at all.  There were 3 babies.  Two slept and went down easily and the other was fun to play with. 

While waiting on the meeting to start I checked my emails, blogs, and FB.  I discovered that I think one of my used to be close friends from high school may have gotten a divorce.  I only mention it b/c she and the guy were essentially high school sweethearts.   They were attached from the beginning, got married a year or so into college, bought an adorable house, and seemed a-ok at our 10 yr reunion.  I sent her an email and hope it didn’t offend her.  Guess I’ll find out in the next couple of days.

Now to the meeting.  We met at Carrabas (sp?).  There were about 18-20 ladies and we sat at a long table.  I ordered the soup and salad combo and got the Sicilian chicken with an Italian salad dressing on the side.  It was really yummy.  I also ordered a glass of wine.  It was happy hour and their house wines were order the ‘med’ size and get it for the price of the ‘small’.  I met some really interesting gals.  There were a couple that actually like sci fi!  The Asian chick sitting next to me has actually seen several of the shows we watch!  The other girl enjoys sci fi books and basically does the same thing, at least really similar, I do.  The down side of the meeting: there were WAY TOO MANY people.  The discussion questions got passed out and then a few minutes (maybe ten in reality) people started to leave.  I was thinking ‘hold up, wait a minute, we never discussed the book’.  I mentioned it to the girls around me and one of the said she thought the girls at the end of the table had already discussed it and that’s why they were about to leave.  So I guess we were supposed to discuss it amongst ourselves with our seat neighbors.  As mentioned earlier if I get brave enough to mention to the organizer I think the next meeting we should sit at small tables in order to discuss it.  It would be a little quieter and maybe a better discussion. 

Also the chick that I think I’ve mentioned a couple of times from meetup, you know the blonde one that hubby thinks may be a lesbian?  Well she and I kind of butted heads.  We were talking about The Help.  She didn’t realize the two main differences btwn the book and the movie and I and another girl explained the differences.  She said she didn’t think it made a difference to the story.  It may not have, but it was a simple difference to tweak that should/could have been left the same (IMO). 

In the morning I get to start the book for Lindsay’s bc.  Hope it’s a good one.  I really need to remember/find that site she was telling us about so we can get more free books (hint if you read this I’d gladly accept the memo again). 

The highlight of my day was the little girl adjusting well on her first day (aka honeymoon period).

Hope you have an opinion and wanna share about what you think…

can it be? healthy 'fried' rice!

Well I didn’t sleep that well last night either.  I couldn’t breathe all that great and woke up multiple times w that wonderful snotty drool we all get.  I wanted to call out and stay home, but knew that wouldn’t necessarily make me feel better. 

I enjoyed another bowl of banana bread oatmeal.  While the oatmeal was ‘cooking’, I prepped my lunch since I didn’t do it yesterday.  I made fruits and veggies we the broccoli garden V8 soup.  This morning I had the genius idea to add raisins or craisins, but I didn’t (since I made poor eating choices this weekend).  This was a good bowl.  While consuming the yumminess I read some more of my book and then paid the mortgage bill.

I actually got to work about ten minutes earlier than usual.  This gave me time to record all my debits/credits so I can balance my books.  I also checked emails and blogs.  The guy I ran into from college at Play requested to be ‘friends’ on FB.  Thought it was funny.  I accepted, but didn’t read anything on his page.  Some of the gals posted pictures of me w tags from Friday night.  Next time I wear that dress I’ll wear a solid black bra.  You can kind of see the prints on it in the picture.  I couldn’t see em in the mirror! 

The day went smoothly.  We had six kids out of eight.  Four of them were mine.  Which basically means I had more DN’s to write than my CT.  We also started our kids art projects to make hand print hearts.  It went smoothly too.  One of the most aggravating parts of the day was the OT kept asking if we had done things we our kids: work on eating w a spoon, try drinking from a straw, practice taking bites of bread, things like that.  It irked me b/c I don’t think those things are important w the kids in particular.  The kid she was referring to about using the spoon needs to be comfortable in class first.  The one w about the straw needs to eat food for us first.  And the guy w the bread I just left out there on his own b/c he is able to self feed while I work on the other three children on my case load.  It’s much easier for her b/c she only has to work with one kid at a time, as to where I’m spreading my focus all around, as well as usually eating a snack myself. 

Oh yeah I started my summaries this morning.  Literally just started them.  All I got done was entering the data.  This afternoon the AT in the baby room son went home sick w a fever, which means she’s going to be out tomorrow.  I only mention this b/c I’m sure the DR is going to ask me to stay late tomorrow and close.  I’m not going to be able to.  I did today.  I stayed and closed the toddler room.  Tomorrow however I need to finish reading my book and then attend the meeting!  I’m super excited (esp. if I finish the book), it’ll be the first time I’ve attended this meetup group gathering. 

Guess I should mention that I didn’t really like the broccoli garden soup.  It needs a little something; cheese? bacon? spice?  I’m not sure but hopefully I figure it out b/c I’ll probably finish it on Wednesday.  For dinner I made an amazing bowl of chicken fried rice.  And yes I’m going to include the recipe only b/c I want to re-make it at a later date.

            red onion, cabbage, bell pepper (or any other mix of veggies)

1 serving (118 g) of left over rice (I used sushi rice flavored w pickled ginger (reserve) from Ru Sans)

            1 serving (56 g) canned chicken

            Sirachi and soy sauce to taste

            Spritzing oil

-          sautee veggies in hot skillet w spray oil

-          add rice to skillet, use more spray oil if needed

-          in separate bowl mix pickled ginger, chicken, sirachi, and soy sauce

-          add chicken (or other meat) mixture to skillet to warm

-          then re add veggie mix to blend and reheat

-          if desired serve w extra soy sauce and green onion

I’m counting this dish as eight points – 4 for the rice, 1 for chicken, and 3 for oil/sauces.  I’m also hoping I can find pickled ginger at the store so I can make this again and not have to wait for Ru San’s leftovers.

My throat is really bothering me so I had an ice cream/frozen treat – WW endorsed dark chocolate covered raspberry in hopes the coolness would soothe my throat.  It didn’t so I broke down and am enjoying a cup of red tea w honey.  I used a dark honey, a whole serving (which is another point) for a change, and it as actually sweet enough. 

Well that’s the end of my day, up till this point.  We are going to finish watching Medium and then go to bed.

The best part today – a successful impromptu recipe.

Thanks for checking me out and hope you’ll try the recipe if you ever crave healthy ‘fried’ rice…

a weekend catch-up

Well today’s the first day I’ve journaled since Thursday.  I’m not sure why I didn’t do one for Thursday, but I was out and about on Friday and Saturday. 

When I got off on Friday I ran by Goodwill and the fashion store next door looking for a black dress.  I didn’t find any.   So I decided to wear my black sweater like dress w some super colorful jewelry I borrowed from my MIL.  I also finally got to wear a pair of my bright colored tights w the dress that matched the necklace.  We started our night at Suzy Wong’s.  I had the red blend and it was fab-u-lous!  It was from Spain, not sure about the rest of the name.  I only ordered the pork and bacon spring rolls since I scarfed down a little bit of pork w some cabbage and rice and brown mushroom gravy before heading out.  The rolls were equally amazing.  I was thinking it was going to be pieces of meat, but it was all meat!  Then we went to Tribe and Play from there.  I saw a guy I knew in college.  Overall we had lots of fun. 

Guess I should mention that the day at work was okay too.  We were understaffed so I didn’t get as much time to do paperwork, but the kids in all the rooms were okay.  I did get off on time, which is always a plus. 

           

Yesterday, Saturday, I went to the Green Hills theater and watched a preview show of the new Drew Barrymore movie.  I liked it.  Then hubby and I had brunch at Mad Donna’s again.  I had the quiche of the day: sausage, tomatoes, peppers, mozzeralla, jack, cheddar cheese w basil.  I though it was going to be a single serving, personalized quiche, but it was a large quiche that had a slice cut out of it.  Hubby ordered the flatbread dish (flatbread, sautéed onions, sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, and topped w the cheese blend).  Since the deal (I got from Sharing Spree) was worth 30.00 bucks we also ordered the biscuit and sausage gravy meal (three biscuits).  Then we drove to Lindsay’s and Colin’s.  We (Aaron and I) decided to make Rueben’s for dinner and had to stop and pick up the ingredients.  We stopped at Wal Mart first and they didn’t have any corned beef so we had to go to Kroger.  While hubby was in Kroger I ran in Panera and picked up a couple slices of ciabatta (sp?) (mainly for Lindsay b/c she doesn’t like rye bread).  The ciabatta was amazing.  It was fresh and warm and a dollar a slice.  I also really liked the rye bread.  Aaron let me get the loaf w caraway seeds.  I also can’t wait to make a grilled cheese at a later date with the left over bread.  We had a great time w em’, shooting guns (reads crazy to me), chatting, cooking, sitting around a bon fire, and eating a wonderful dinner.  I look forward to doing it more regularly (hopefully). 

Today I was pretty pathetic.  I was cold all day yesterday, but the hubby attributed it to my night out on Friday.  However I was wearing four layers before I finally was comfortable, body temperature wise.  So today I was still a bit puny.  I didn’t feel like doing anything and didn’t really.  I sat in my cozy chair and read my book (the one I’ve got to have completed by Tuesday evening).  I also ran to Wal Mart (yes again) to pick up the produce I wanted.  They actually let me use the circular from Alid’s so I got some amazing deals – HUGE pineapples (2), a cantaloupe, and a bag of tangerines for a dollar each.  Also a four pounds of oranges for 1.50 and fugi apples @ 1.29 a lb.  I also picked up a bag of Jazz apples!  I waited for them all last season to go on sale again, but they never did! 

That’s all.  Now I’m going to finish watching Medium and go to bed. 

High this weekend (instead of day since this is three days worth) – our trip to Lebanon!

Hope this week is better than today, thanks for listening to em all…

WW

from

a little better

Today wasn’t anywhere near as bad as yesterday!  I don’t need a body bag and sensory rocking!  I do however currently feel like a bottomless pit and can’t seem to get/keep full.  I’m working on drinking a cup of mocha hazelnut café to fill the void. 

As usual I started my day w a bowl of oatmeal.  I mixed blueberries w a banana, and wasn’t too impressed.  I think it was due to the lack of flavor the bananas usually have.  Hoping they are better for my bfast on Thursday. 

I was able to check my emails and back blogs again.  However upon arrival this morning I noticed that the DR had me going into a room right at two, instead of the infants at 2:45.  I tried multiple times throughout the day to ask her if I had done something wrong to be in a different room.  It was after one by the time I was able to talk to the DR and find out it was just due to numbers/ratios and swapping rooms. 

My little guy w Autism was at school extremely early, thirty minutes!  We had all our kids, just six, again on this day.  I thought we were going to be down one, but she came in as we were getting ready to go outside.  Seems to be one of those families that just can’t get to places on time! 

Today was my thick little man’s last day and his paw paw/gi gi was supposed to bring in celebratory foods, but they didn’t.  I didn’t get a chance to really talk to paw paw at pick up b/c I had to be in the Giraffes room at two for the interview the DR had.  I felt a little bad bailing on my CT, but I didn’t want to catch any slack from the DR.  Luckily enough I stopped in the potty and as I exited I spoke with paw paw for a couple of minutes.  He said they were going to come back in on Thursday to hand out going away items.  Not sure if it’s food or materialistic gifts. 

The kids were lots of fun.  We read books and then went outside.  I had such a great time running w em and going down slides and just being plain rambunctious.  I was able to be alone w em for the last hour.  We played w the i-pad, ate snack, and then colored on the floor.  I have extremely mixed feelings about the i-pad.  I think it could be a great tool, but so far it just seems to be a toy and more entertainment than helpful.  I’m also a bit aggravated that one of the little guys who is a little behind knows and can say ‘i-pad’.  To weird, and I know that putting it here doesn’t express the oddness that’ it actually is. 

Hubs texted me around 4:20 to let me know he was going to be late so I stayed at school and finished my emails and blogs.  Nothing exciting or that I can remember anyways.  I got home right around six.  Instead of sitting down to read like I wanted, I took care of business.  I put away dishes, cleaned dirty ones, and made my lunch.  Then I cleaned the kitties business and took out the small cans of trash.  Afterwards I sat down to touch up my chipped nails and read my book.  I figured out this morning that I need to read an average of 33 pages a day in order to finish by the 31^st.  I’m not thinking I’m going to get that many a day, but maybe hopefully I will this weekend (I also remembered/got reminded that I get to go see a movie this weekend!!!!). 

For dinner I had another tuna casserole.  I opted for cc instead of sliced cheese and don’t think it’s a good choice.  It’s unfair to the cc though b/c I forgot to push the start button on the toaster oven and it sat in there for a while just sitting.  I got impatient and nuked it, which I think made it not as appealing.  If I try it again I hope that I remember to press the button and actually toast it. 

On top of my tuna I ate some cheese-its w pb (it is nationally pb day today), then a couple of handfuls of cereal.  Oh yeah I had a pb cookie too to add to pb day.  I’m not looking forward to what the scale says – too much munching on carbs today.  Hopefully I’ll do better during the day tomorrow since we are eating sushi for dinner!!!!!

The peak of my day was playground time w the boys.

Thanks for making through this whole page…

blah, and some other foul words

Well today sucked.  First things first this entry is going to be extremely short.  This is he second time I’ve typed it!  I was using the layout for another document and saved over it without keeping! 

Since that happened I’m just doing bullets.

Bfast was good – cranberry banana yogurt. 

Got to work early enough to check most emails and fg blogs.  Didn’t finish b/c the net froze on me.

Had to correct my CT’s mistakes she did on the LP’s again!

My little girl, who just got diagnosed with Autism, had an awful terrible obnoxious crying day – made/makes me want to sit in a body bag, cuddled up, and rock.

The little guy on my case w severe Autism had a rough lunch period. 

I told my hubby how awful my day was and he scolded me for needing a safe place and the HR lady saw me and wanted to make sure I was okay.  (On the first entry this was much more in depth and self studied)

At home we had a wonderful meal of broiled flounder w veggies (hubs had a baked potato).  For dessert I baked a pre made pie that my dad gave me a while back.  It was yummy, not looking forward to the number on the scale.  Oh yeah made the pie b/c it’s national pie day, did you know that?

Also one of the chicks I met on Thursday night emailed me and inquired about getting together for lunch.  Just a shame I can’t, thanks job. 

Guess that’s the important tidbits.

My highest was being home w hubby, enjoying dinner and dessert.

Hopefully you’ll stick w me and I’ll do better tomorrow…

it's official and payments been made

Today was a decent enough day.  The hubs snoring or lack there of didn’t wake me!  I did rise around seven thirty or so and started my day.  I enjoyed my underripe banana.  It’s been so long, like two weeks, since I’ve enjoyed that wonderful yellow tropical like fruit.  I say underripe b/c the peel didn’t tear or come down all that easy.  It did still taste good though. 

Of course, since its Sunday I talked to my dad.  And as usual we didn’t really discuss any life changing topics, just our week and food.  I’d really like to be able to have conversations w people that weren’t food or child related, but it comes back to it so often.  Makes me wonder if I had other desires in the past and if so what they were?  What did I used to talk about?  I’m guessing movies or entertainment considering that’s what I did. 

I also worked a little bit on laundry.  I think our gentile cycle is busted.  It washed the clothes, but didn’t rinse or spin.  I went to check the clothes and the machine was full of water.  I turned it around and restarted it and when I went back, yep you guessed it, the machine was full of water again.  So I broke down and turned it to the regular cycle and rinsed/spun them.  I haven’t tried the clothing items on, but I’m hoping that all the clothes are okay. 

After my phone conversation, while working on the laundry, I started my new book I found yesterday.  The first few chapters are really good.  I like that it’s gone from the past to the present and back and forth w each chapter.  I think it keeps the reader intrigued and turning the pages. 

When Aaron got up we sat around and watched Heroes.  For lunch I made a yummy twisted tuna melt.  I mixed a single serving of tuna w a little bit of mustard and relish and onion from TS topped w two slices of my new cheese ‘baked’ till melted and toasty around the edges.  Instead of the typical bread bottom I used wheat thins.  I liked it, a lot.  Hub said it was too fishy and didn’t have enough cream base and really need the bread underneath.  Good thing it was for me, huh?  Was a 4PPs filling meal. 

I went to my ‘meeting’ at 3:30, and was a little late.  I thought I knew where the place was, but parked and couldn’t find it.  I called Aaron to ask him and he wasn’t any help, which I so impolitely told him (but called and apologized for later after my stress was gone).  I swallowed my pride and called Allison and she explained to me where the place was.  I was so close, just a few buildings farther down than I thought.  I got out of my car and started to walk to the meeting place only to discover the lot I was in charged a six dollar fee.  I’m not a huge fan of paying for parking so I got in my car, drove past the place (which means I found it for sure0 and found a free better semi closer parking spot. 

The meeting went smoothly enough.  There were nine of us and we figured out who’s rooming together and where we will be staying.  I’ll be w Allison (sharing a bed), Cathy, and Sheena.  As of right now Sheena and I are the only ones that will be leaving after noon.  She said she didn’t mind driving if the weather wasn’t terrible.  She also mentioned that she thought the people driving shouldn’t have to pay any money for gas but that the riders should cover the whole fee.  I don’t think anyone really heard her or if they did, they didn’t acknowledge her.  I really hope that’s not the case b/c I’d have to pay for all the gas by myself.  I think, even more so after talking w family, that she should fill her tank full, drive it to GA, around if need be, and back to TN and then we can split the cost of the fill up.  I’m going to have to try to figure out how to make it fair so I don’t get stuck paying all of it.  *I just chatted w Aaron and it makes sense to me the way he explained, no way am I going to try to type that in, but I hope that I can make it clear enough to her that she understands it*

After the meeting was over I drove to the IL’s.  On the way I chatted w Allison.  I also made plans with Lindsay to have dinner w them on Wed. at Ru Sans!  We, IL’s, me, and Aaron, ended up going to the Olive Garden in Antioch instead of Rivergate b/c David’s gf Kelsey had an audition out there.  I ordered their pompodora (hopefully I log online and check the spelling of this word) and ate half.  It was good.  Next time I’d order it w more basil.  For dessert I ordered the trio mini cups – tiramisu, lemon mousse, and chocolate w caramel.  I forgot to mention that Carolyn noticed my nail polish I ‘made’ last night.  I really like it.  I dabbed a dark silver as a base and then dabbed the dark purple over it and it’s really pretty.  She liked it too!  That actually says a lot b/c she has horrible sight and noticed it from across the room.   

While we were driving home we all discussed semi deep opinions and then Aaron asked how old his parents were when they had him.  I may have stepped on toes and asked a question he didn’t appreciate.  I know this b/c he poked me when I did it and then reprimanded me in the car.  I wondered if they were aware of what happened to their exes.  I didn’t ask if they kept in touch, just merely wondered basically if they knew whether or not they were still living.  I didn’t want to know their marital status or parental status, just if they knew anything about em.  I was thinking about my parents and how they are aware of one another, but I believe it’s due to me and having children together.  Neither one of his parents had kids w their exes.  Sometimes I forget they were even married before hand.  They make such a great couple, have been together for so long, and seem to be so happy together, it’s like they were high school sweethearts.  I also could have sworn that Carolyn has talked about being w him right after school, but now that I think about it she could have been talking about college since she said they got married when she was around 24.  Dickie is a few years older than her, maybe three, four at the max. 

Digression aside, when we got home I had a horrible hankering for chocolate.  I ate some morsels and a turtle and still wasn’t satiated.  I made a cup of hot chocolate w half a pack and a few chunks of spicy chocolate melt-y’s from my CT.  While enjoying my cup of creaminess I paid the bills, at least the ones I have.  I can’t find the mortgage bill or my student loan.  I have to call them tomorrow, hopefully I’ll remember. 

Well that does it for me today.  The best part is a hard decision: new book/quality time we hubs/meet w the girls. 

Hope this tomorrow is a good Monday…

another brunch

My hubby and I have had a wonderful day together.  It’s the first day we’ve actually gotten to spend time together in about six or so weeks, minus the 31^st and 1^st. 

I tried to sleep in this morning but his snoring wasn’t thinking about permitting it!  I rolled out of bed a little after seven.  Once I got up I started the laundry, primped a little girly style, and ate enjoyed a huge apple.  Afterwards I had some coffee while relaxing.  I tried to balance my checkbook, but my phone battery died so I couldn’t.  Instead I played with my polish, using my toes as a canvas.  I finally mastered fading!  However I can only do it on a nude nail, not a colored one.  I plan on doing it after I finish w this entry. 

Aaron rolled out close to eleven or so and we sat around and chatted a little as well as cuddled.  I’ve found that I enjoy the cuddling a little bit more recently than I have in the past.  I wonder if it’s b/c I’m getting older or if it’s b/c he’s been gone and we haven’t’ had the opportunity as much. 

We had plans to go use my Sharing spree deal at Mad Donnas, but stopped by his parents place first to pick up coupons.  We were seated quickly.  He ordered The Big Don and I had Crab Benny.  I also ordered two for one mimosas (pineapple and pomegranate – the two I had last time were way better (black raspberry and peach)).  My dish was amazing.  I wish the crab cake had been more toasted, but great flavor.  Also I forgot to order the egg poached but the server rang it in that way anyways, instead of fried.  I’m thinking she did it that way since I ordered the hollandaise sauce on the side.  I also had a huge serving of roasted potatoes on the side.  I ate one half of the dish and saved the other for him to eat as dinner or leftovers.  His sandwich was equally as yummy.  It was piled extremely high w eggs.  He wished it would have had more bacon and tomatoes, but was wonderfully rich.  I wonder if it was the bread, the butter on the bread, or the eggs.  Would def. order again! (both dishes actually)  I was stupid and didn’t read the fine print: alcohol not included, so I had to, thankfully, order a little something extra – biscuit & gravy and a glass of milk to make up the difference.  My bill was 31.95 b/4 discount but 6.00 didn’t count so that was the left over.  Well after ordering the biscuit and milk my tab came back at 7.77.  I tipped 14.00, which totals to me spending 29.00 (15.00 for the deal and 14.00 for the tab difference and tip) for 44.00, which literally equals out to 15.00 extra bucks. 

While we were there I saw some amazing artwork by a woman named Lisa something.  I’m sure she’s probably local too.  I tried to convince Aaron to recreate some of her pieces w his tweaks, we’ll see. 

I forgot to grab my WW calculator so we swung by his parents place to pick up his moms.  Oh yeah I forgot to mention that when we went there the first time his dad took pictures of us since Aaron had on his new specs!  I think one of those pictures may be our yearly picture to put in the ornament for this year.  I do need to look at them of course. 

Our first stop was Mc Kays book store.  I found the book I was looking for after much searching.  I found the second book the author wrote and carried it around to use as a reference.  When I didn’t find the first one I was putting the other one back and found the first one!  It was weird though b/c I was putting it back in one spot and looking for the other copies, but couldn’t find them.  Then I realized the second book wasn’t alphabetized correctly.  Lucky me, the first book was the only copy!  I can’t wait to start reading it tomorrow!!!  We piddled around for several more minutes looking at everything they had to offer before leaving.  Aaron looked at things that interested him while I looked at books and when I went to check out I couldn’t find him.  I had to page him. 

Our next stop was Alid’s.  Surprisingly enough there wasn’t anything I needed and I left empty handed!  That may be the very first time I haven’t bought anything, fruit, staples, veggies, anything at all from there!

As planned we went to Costco next and of course spent lots of money there.  The only splurge item we bought that we didn’t really need or won’t use ASAP was a movie.  I did get some fruit that I didn’t necessarily need, but will def. eat. 

Our last stop was Wal Mart.  I finally got some bananas and strangely enough, can’t wait to eat one w yogurt!  I can’t think of a single splurge unneeded item I got.  Oh yeah, I did pick up some sauerkraut in hopes to eat the Rueben dish I was craving recently. 

Back at the house we put away our goods and settled in.  Aaron made my leftovers for dinner and I reheated the venison ground chop steak from the other day w veggies.  My brunch leftovers were super yummy!  Made me kind of wish I’d eaten them instead. 

It’s nine thirty, so I doubt I’ll get to enjoy a cup of coffee tonight, but that’s okay. 

The best part of my day was being w my hubs all day.

Hope your weekend day was good…

gotta rush

Well I can’t do an official post at the current moment.  It’s just after five and I’ve got to get ready for a girls dinner night at the Yellow Porch.  I’m super excited!  I plan on having the Paella w the bananas foster’s bread pudding. 

So this will be exceptionally brief. 

My day was good.  The kids were easy.  I didn’t have to work late. 

Maybe if I have time once I get home or feel more awake (I usually don’t get home from these kinds of things till later and I’m pretty tired typically) I might update.

Excited about having dinner.

Hoping your night is wonderful…

happy dance

Well today was a much better day than anticipated.  Bfast was a delightful bowl of pumpkin cranberry oatmeal. 

The most exciting part was my little guy w Autism continues to do so well!  He’s listening and participating and trying to use words.  Also I found out that our SLT gets to work w him on Thursday!!!

The other part of my day that was so wonderful is my hubby came home a day early!  He wasn’t supposed to come back until Wednesday night at the earliest.  I will admit I’m a little bit aggravated at him currently b/c of something stupid: I wanted dinner and he didn’t put any effort in participating.  I know it’s silly but it just rubbed me the wrong way.  Instead I’m eating a wonderful dish I created: marinated chicken (cranberry jalapeno preserves mixed w spiced cider) mixed w sautéed onions served over butter sugar rice.  I know it sounds icky, but it’s a whole sweet – salty with sweet – twangy – hot combo. 

Well I’m going to chat w him since we made the promise not to go to sleep angry w one another. 

Most exciting point was hubs coming home early!

Thanks for letting me be honest about my feelings…

Time for SOUP

Well today was another really easy Monday!  Easy, but I was extremely tired, all day!!!

I was dreaming when my alarm went off.  It wasn’t just a regular dream.  It was in color.  Also my HS swthrt and I were together, not happily, but he was in it AND I was holding Izzie as she passed.  If I remember correctly I was w him, in a trailer, in a field somewhere, and I ran out to get her to hold her.  It was also weird b/c she was in a pen (or pin, not sure bout the spelling) outside. 

My bfast was another cranberry almond oatmeal, but this time it didn’t plump right so I added a dollop of pumpkin and a sprinkle of brown sugar.  WAY better!!!  I really wonder why it didn’t plump/growl like usual?!? 

In my email this morning my new friend Allison invited me to go on a wine tour in Cali in May.  I haven’t talked to Aaron bout it nor emailed her back yet.  I’m not sure how I feel about it.  I really want to go.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever get a chance again.  She’s trying to have a baby, which means it’ll be a while b/4 she can do it again.  If I ever decide to have kids then I’ll have to put it on hold.  I’m not sure I can even afford the trip.  I’m also not sure I’ll have enough vacation time built up to go.  Also my DR is going to Cali, but I think she’s going in March, or maybe April, def. not May.  Also we really need to use our ‘free vacation’ from the pots and pans peeps and I really wanted to use it in May to go to Maine.  WOW, does any of that make sense at all? 

We only had three kids, out of eight in the class.  Two were mine and one was my CT.  One of my kids was the new on that started today.  He did sooooooo well!!!!  I also think I’m really going to like his mom. 

Nothing wonderful happened in the afternoon.  I spent it playing w the babies as usual.  I’m pretty sure that I’m officially ‘scheduled’ to be in there until five everyday.  It’s not written or recorded, but that’s where I’ve been almost every afternoon since as far back as I can remember.  Also I learned that the co has enrolled another friend in aftercare in the toddlers which means my CT has to stay in there until she leaves every day.  She was able to do paperwork when the other rooms got into ratio, not now, not since there’s seven plus kids enrolled to stay past four.  I’ll never fully understand why the upper powers continue to enroll children when there’s not enough staff to take care of them. 

I didn’t do so great w food choices today.  I started out well: oats, fruits and veggies to snack on, V8 garden tomato herb soup for lunch, and that’s where it went down hill.  The AD of Outreach brought in chocolate chip cookies and chocolate popcorn, which I indulged in.  A parent also brought in her wonderful homemade butter rich toffee and I had a few pieces.  For dinner I made an onion cabbage broccoli tuna pot.  It was okay.  Would have been better with some of that yummy ginger stuff at Japanese restaurants.  Also I think it would have been more appealing over pasta or rice. 

Well I’ve gotten my day down and now I’m going to enjoy, hopefully, a cup of hot red tea. 

Oh yeah forgot to mention that our school is rampant with pneumonia!  Hoping my CT doesn’t catch it considering she catches E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!

The best part of my day was new kid having such a wonderful first day.

Thanks for checking in on me…

*this is an added note – I found out today that Soup for Our Kids is on Sunday Feb. 26^th!*

recoup time

Today is another one of those days where I don’t think I should do an entry, but maybe one day I’ll appreciate myself when I can look back and read em’. 

I slept almost till nine.  It wasn’t a solid sleep-in, but def. nice.  That’s probably the latest I’ve slept in a sper long time. 

Since I didn’t have anywhere to go or anything to do I just chilaxed in bed watching House all day long.  I indulged myself and painted my nails. 

            I used a white base.  Then sponged this wine gold shimmery color that turned out kind of purplish.  And

            finished off with the silver as a tip.  I like look, even though the wine color looks more purple on the nail

            over the white than it does in the bottle.  Maybe I’ll get a pic on my phone and upload it. 

I had another wonderful cup of coffee: the gingerbread spice coffee w pumpkin spice creamer.  For lunch I had cinnamon toast crunch popcorn.  I snacked on fruits through out the day.  Dinner was udon noodles w shrimp.  The noodles weren’t that great and I very seriously doubt I’ll buy it again.  Especially if I remember they weren’t that good.  For dessert I toasted a gingerbread poptart and a cup of coffee spiked hot chocolate.  DELISH! 

That’s it, as you can tell I didn’t do too much.

The best part was the dessert.  I savored it.

Hope your Sunday was god too…

BOOOO (not as in scaring you, but as in 'booing')

It’s around eleven or so and I’m popped, obviously.  The most important thing I want to remember about today was how awful the truck event was. 

I asked a friend on Wednesday if she wanted to go and she said sure and invited a few other friends.  I was okay w it.  Well she hadn’t let me know anything by the end of my day yesterday so I  msged her and she said they were all meeting up and carpooling together and wanted to meet at eleven.  Well I had to stop at the bank first to get cash and found out my friend was going to be about fifteen minutes late.  FF an hour and half, my friend finally found her way after getting lost twice and I was so ready to eat.  Well the trucks didn’t scream ‘you want to eat from me’ PLUS her three, not five, friends had already eaten!  W-T-F?!?!?!?  I thought the whole reason we were meeting was so we could eat lunch together.  I was a bit aggravated.  Not only had they already eaten but my friend wasn’t hungry b/c her nerves were shot from being lost, which I totally understand.  But I didn’t want to spend the ridiculous amount of money they were asking for and be the only one to eat so I headed to the FM and was going to eat at the Carribean place.  As I was pulling out of the drive I decided to just go home and eat b/c I didn’t really need to spend the money anyways, but my friend told me they were going to the FM, SO of course I headed that way. 

Well my friend wanted to be with her friends who already ate and didn’t really want to sit to eat so we opted for BBQ.  After shoveling it we walked through the market and that was it.  What a bust.  I’m not sure I’ll opt to do things w her friends again.  Sort of awkward. 

After I left the FM I went to my IL’s and played on the net.  I finally read all my back dated blogs, but think I lost some b/c I’m sure there were more. 

Is there a high for me today?  Sure, getting all those blogs read!

Here’s to a better Saturday next week…

TGIF

Well today was def better than yesterday.  I wasn’t anywhere near as ‘down’ today.  My alarm went off on time, I showered, made bfast, dried my hair, and then enjoyed bfast.  I made what I’m going to call cran-bana-colada oatmeal.  I put too much pina colada juice, only an ounce, but it was still yummy.  it didn’t require any sweetner.  I also really liked the tart bite the berries added. 

As I was about to get up and finish getting ready for school my DR txted to let me know the school was opening an hour and a half later.  I msged and called the DR to see if I could still go in and do paperwork.  I just had too much to do and didn’t think I could miss an hour of my paperwork time. 

I got there before any other teacher or worker and should be thanked.  There were several parents who came into the building and if I hadn’t of been there he cops would have been.  I know the first parent that came in did not notice my car bc of his personality. 

I had every intention to do paperwork but spent the time trying to figure out how or what on earth I did wrong w  news channel five.  I got a text from them for F.H. Jenkins Elementary being closed.  However, much later, after nine, I found out the other teachers subscribed to channel five received the same text msg, so I didn’t f up. 

I won’t bore you w my daily steps, but I will let you know that I did get all the necessary paperwork I needed to done!  No I didn’t get it done from nine to eleven, but completed it through out the day during the time I was allowed.  I did have to go play with the Rascals which was easy.  There were only eight kids!  I also had to play with the babies for an hour.  Not too bad.  Lots of diaper changes.  I only had to play in the Lions for about ten minutes.  All I did was lay in the floor and share my carrots w a kid and bonded.  My CT came in to let me do paperwork while she hung out.  I didn’t have to go to the toddlers either, I spent the time doing paperwork. 

After my time was over I hung out at school and played on the net.  I copied a few cauliflower recipes in hopes to buy a head or two from Aldi’s this weekend.  I also checked my hubby’s email for msgs from Craigslist.  He had two!  One guy was offering 3000.00 dollars less than hubs is asking.  Aaron said he’d go down to 2000.00 if the guy would come up one. 

At home I msged Laney and we have plans to go to Wanderlands FEASTival tomorrow!  I’m SOOOOO excited!  I was really worried she was going to bail/decide not to go.  She’s got five or six other ladies coming too.  I’m looking forward to meeting new people and maybe making some more friends. 

For dinner I reheated the venison k-bobs and enjoyed an amazing glass of Merlot.  I also started using my wine journal that hubs got me for x-mas.  I actually took my time to enjoy my dinner; a whole 45 minutes!  A while later I enjoyed a wonderful cup of decaf w an energy bar/cookie.  I also did really well making food choices today.  The only ‘cheat’ I ate at school was one Cool Ranch Dorito!  While waiting for my coffee to cool I ate a handful of cashews and one dried fig. 

I need to take the polish off my nails now.  Today’s high is getting all the necessary pw completed!!!!

Thanks for ending your week w me…

debbie downer day

So how do I start an entry to express how I truly feel today?  I usually start my posts w mundane days w what I’ve eaten and slowly progress through the day.  Overall I’ve felt pretty down today.  I’m not a hundred percent sure, my first assumption would be due to the hubby being out of town, but I kind of think it’s a little bit more, however I can’t quite put my finger on it.  It’s times like these that I think I really should have a person to talk to in order to express myself w ping pong conversations.  Not a therapist that says ‘how does that make you feel’, but a person who will listen and try to help me work through it and explain things.  Now don’t get me wrong I’m not going to leave you hanging about how the day actually started, but I wanted to try to express how I truly felt today, ALL DAY! 

My bfast was oatmeal w pumpkin, spice, and cranberries.  It was yummy, I think.  The pumpkin makes the oatmeal a different consistency and I wish I could figure out how to make it more pie-y like.  I though about sprinkling pumpkin spiced creamer in it but didn’t really want the extra non nutritional item, esp since I knew I would have it in my coffee later. 

While eating Aaron woke up, got up, and started his day.  I was shocked, I didn’t think he had to be at work until eight so I asked and he politely informed me that his boss called last night and said he had to be there thirty minutes early and he still needed to finish laundry and pack his clothes. 

Moving onto when it was time to leave I stopped in to ask him a question, I can’t even remember exactly what it was, but basically it caused us to have a rift before him leaving today.  I asked the question, when he answered I viewed it as a sarcastic answer, and in return gave a defensive response.  Then we tried to move past it, almost successfully, and I tried to chat w him again mentioning that I didn’t know if I would be able to take his stuff back to BP.  Then he gave me shit and said something along the lines of ‘it’s not hard to return things, you do it all the times, just take it back, and get a different size’.  Then I tried to explain to him that it wasn’t the item itself, but the fact that he wore it and washed and then rebagged it.  I just thought it was weird.  I mean seriously what if I bought something and somebody else had done that?  Then he had the audacity, is that the correct word choice, to say that he knew I’d worn clothes, left the tags on, worn them, and then returned it.  I’ve NEVER done that and had to tell him.  The most I’ve done is put it on wear it around the house, decided I didn’t like the way it looked or left the house with it.  He on the other hand, wore it, against his skin, for at least eight hours, I’m sure he sweat it in, and then washed it and wanted to pretend he hadn’t done that!  Not to mention I told him it was a guarantee that I would go out shopping, but if I did I’d try to return his too small unworn still tags on jeans and get the correct size.   So now here I was a gain a little riled up. 

I really hate having to go separate ways and have tension between us.  I’m always fearful, shouldn’t be but I’m a half empty kinda gal, that something could happen and the last thing/interaction btwn us was a negative one.  Same concept w going to bed angry w one another (which we vowed, literally at our wedding, not to do). 

So w all that being typed, maybe that’s why I had an off sort of day, huh.  And that’s only the first our of my day! 

Once I got to school I went through my regular routine of checking emails and blogs.  Once I clocked in I tried to get something done,  A child’s assessment book, but then realized I needed to do contact logs, b/c I might not have my laptop (we had to give them all to the computer guy so he could updates) to do work on and could mark the assessment book during nap time.  I didn’t get too far, I chatted w the OT and the HR lady; then went to class. 

The class day itself was good.  We were down three kids.  The twins we haven’t replaced yet and my little girl who is extremely high maintenance, thanks mom.  My little guy w autism continues to do really well.  Today we had fun squeezing and splashing water.  He signed more three times w some assistance.  While we were in the gym he signed, at least tried to anyways, my turn with maximum assistance. 

Once all the kids left I spent my time typing a little bit of a summary, a monthly summary that is.  I know it’s damn near the middle of the month and I’m still not done!  So tomorrow not only do I need to finish these damn things, but I’ve also got to create a goal sheet for my little girl who starts the full time center on Monday, and type a new IFSP for the little guy that takes her place on Monday. 

Strangely, when I went to the infant room my mood level didn’t spike.  I just stayed sort of down.  I spent the majority of time compliaing/discussing w the AT about how men and women think differently.  We talked about how we, boys and girls, do things differently.  I felt like I was bashing my husband, but I tried not to and tried talking positively about him as well.  it made me feel better to know she felt the same about her hubby occasionally. 

I left there a little late and went to the big kids class.  I pointed out the snow to the little buggers and the all got so excited and jumped up and down.  I tried helping, at least I’m hoping it was helpful and not stepping on toes, the OT’s kid.  He’s not doing too well w letter recognition.  He was playing w the turtle counting toys and I tried shaping them into the letter ‘B’, but he wasn’t too keen on playing.  I mentioned it to mom and she said something about not working on it anymore b/c it seems like he’s just getting extremely frustrated w it and she doesn’t want to push him and make it negative. 

At four I checked ratios w all the room and stopped to talk to the DR.  She decided to let me go back to the baby room until the floater was free to take my place.  The floater was supposed to stay in the two’s class until the teacher in the collected snow to play w and then come to relieve me.  Well luckily the baby room numbers dropped down around a quarter after and I was able to leave w out her coming in.  Well when I went into the room where the floater was, or at least supposed to be, she wasn’t there and left almost ten minutes ago!  WHERE IN THE HELL DID SHE GO!?!?!?!?!  I’m sure she went potty, it takes her dern near ten minutes.  Well once I found the DR that’s where the floater was too.  Not sure how long she was there.  The DR let, read had me, call the mom of the little guy who’s been out due to his gma’s health.  And I checked my email and replied. 

When my shift was over I checked my meetup account to discover that my book club group is reading a really interesting book for Jan. 31^st.  I tried to request it online, but it wasn’t available.  I’d really like to read this book and finally get to go to a meeting. 

On my way home I returned my dad’s phone call.  He didn’t really need anything.  I think he was either calling to make sure I was okay since hubby left or to see if I wanted him to come visit this weekend or not.  He mentioned something about it on Sunday, but he didn’t come all last year so our house isn’t anywhere near daddy proofed.  I also told him that clean up would not happen this week.  I felt bad talking to him, I couldn’t my happy vibe up.  I tried, but I just didn’t really feel like talking to him or anybody really for that matter.  Even when I called hubby, my level was low. 

Once I got home I washed dishes, made lunch, and reheated dinner.  For dessert I had two cookies and a cup of decaf. 

Surprisingly enough I do feel a little bit better than when I started this entry. 

Today’s high is my little guy doing so well again.

Thanks for letting me get all this off my chest, so to speak…