Do you hear what I hear?

It’s the tail end of another busy weekend here. Sitting on the couch thinking it’s way later than it actually is.

Friday was a crazy day it work. It seemed like everyone wanted everything and they wanted it NOW NOW NOW. I work in customer support, we sell data, not the kind of data you want. Well maybe you want some, no not you, you over there. We update our database every 2 weeks. Normally this isn’t a big deal. This weekend is one of those update weekends. This past week was also the week a few of the clients I support needed to have their data at the set quantity and price previously quoted before the update is to happen. So of all the day’s this week, on top of covering a coworker, Friday was the worst. Once I finally left the office at 6:45 I had had enough.

Dinner Friday was at a local Mexican restaurant that was new to us. It’s been there for a while and for the life of me I don’t know what took us so long to actually go there. I started with a nice big Sangria.

As I did the last time I started with 2 Fried Pork Tacos for an appetizer, the hubby had 2 tostadas for his. My main course was Rancheras – corn tortillas rolled and stuffed with Chicken, Beef, or Cheese (I had one of each as 3 came in in a order), simmered in red hot tomato sauce, topped with sliced onions and cheese. It was delicious and had just enough heat for me.

Saturday morning was the day we finally finished cleaning up the yard of leaves and stuff. It was relatively painless and thankfully mother nature cooperated and made it seasonably warm for the time we were out there. After that we headed out to our normal weekend errands. Some people may think us crazy but here is the places we went

• Walmart
• Lowes
• Home Depot
• Costco
• Kohl’s
• Stew Leonards
• Home 1

Just another normal Saturday running errands. Saturday night we stayed in and the hubby made homemade pizza. It was delicious as always.

This is Brisket and Carmelized Onion

This is Pepperoni and Prosciutto

The other big thing of the weekend is the doggie sitting of my best friend’s Beagle-Boxer mix, Maggie. She is short and stout, think a baby Hippo with fur. The dynamic between her and our 2 is pretty good normally. But this time we have added in the mix the Foster Dog Nacho. Thankfully they got along well enough, 1 slight growl and teeth snare but nothing major.

This morning we enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee and a bagel, then down into the basement to try and wrap up that project.  The final touch is finishing the painting/sealing of the floor, and painting the metal columns and the chimney with the $7 bottle of Oops paint we bought. Once the painting is done we can move all the stuff back into the basement. Still not finished but the end is near for this.

To wrap up the weekend we met some friends for drinks at a local pub. I wasn’t sure what the drink of choice would be today, the hubby and friends all drank beer since this place has quite a few on tap. When I sat down and saw the brunch menu was offering $2 Mimosas i was SOLD! 4 of them, some Short Rib Chili and a Ceaser Salad and it was time to call it a day. A quick trip to Kohl’s (this time to buy the stuff we looked at yesterday but didn’t have the coupon for) and then it was home to sit on the couch and relax. The best part, the doggie we were sitting for was picked up while we were out hehe.

And now another week is upon us and the holiday is inching closer and closer……

1. Look at me getting all fancy with the unordered list. I learned some new HTML code at work. [↩]

Recap here we go….

December 2nd already? Where the hell has the year gone?

So I know I am way behind, but let’s just jump right into it.

Thanksgiving! What a great day. The hubby and I spent the holiday as usual at my parents house. And as per the holiday tradition we Deep Fried the Turkey to perfection. This year my father also decided along with the 2 Baked Turkeys and the Fried one, we were going to have a deep fried duck. He really likes leftovers, though the only leftovers were from the baked birds as the deep fried carcass was practically picked clean. The hubby and I took that one one home and made soup.

My older brother had also requested some deep fried pickles this year. I had done them before, but this year they came out better. I chalk that up to the hubbies idea to bread them the day before and freeze them. The breading seemed to stick better to the pickles and they fried up perfectly.

There was no black Friday shopping for us. I left the house during the day long enough to meet the hubby for lunch, then didn’t leave again until we went to our favorite Asian place for dinner. It’s getting to be soup time and they make a delicious Udon Soup. Plus since they are a small business we feel good frequenting the place. They have gotten to know us, and some nights we don’t even have to actually order. Is that bad?

Saturday we did venture out for our weekly errands, had a nice NY Strip Steak for dinner, then went to see The Muppet Movie. I LOVED IT! I am a big fan of the Muppets and was excited when I saw they were coming out with a new movie. Now if only they can resurrect the Muppet Show! All of my favorite characters were in the movie and to avoid spoilers, there were quite a few human cameos that caught me by surprise.

Sunday we worked a bit more on the basement. Since the install of the new heating system, we have also painted the basement walls with a waterproofing sealer, and this week the hubby has been painting the floor with a sealer as well. We will have the fanciest unfinished basement when all is said and done.

It was rough coming back to work after the long 4 day weekend. It didn’t help that month end fell right in the middle of the week. With the year winding down here I am looking forward to my week off between Christmas and New Year’s.

Well that’s about all I can think of at the moment. Happy December everyone.

 

It’s Disco Time

Has it really been 2 weeks? I am really sorry I haven’t said much round these parts. Probably because there hasn’t been much to report on.

There is the boring work stuff so I guess I will start there. There has been talk recently, I am assuming as part of the 2012 plan), of cross training within my dept. So after my mini vacation I started training (which took a week) on doing the processes of our Email Deployment Technicians. I had a week of the processing training, how to deploy a customer’s campaign, then I had 3 days of HTML training. I actually did get quite a bit out of the HTML portion of it, and have been processing some of my own clients email deployments.

I guess I finally found the silver lining about my desk being moved. Every day between 2:30 and 3 the sun shines through the window next to my desk and hits my Disco Ball just so. Back when I sat 3 cubes over next to the former work wife, we called this Disco Time!

Sad that this is the highlight of my day sitting here.

On the home front the installation of the new Heating system was finally completed this past Thursday. Having heat has been nice. And the new Screen Saver Display will bring me much joy with the photo album slideshow.

Last night the Hubby and I had our usual Friday night Date Night. First we headed out to a local Irish place we hadn’t been to in a while. I started with a Pomegranite Martini, then for dinner had the Blackened Chicken Ravioli.

Although the best part of the restaurant had to be the sign hanging in the men’s room.

After dinner we had tickets to a local Theater Production of Cabaret. I have never seen this show before so I was excited to see it. I knew a bit about the show but not a lot, it was very interesting to say the least. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a couple of the guys in the show in different roles. The lead (the Emcee) was played by a High School senior so it was hard to get behind him being shirtless for most of the show. Now one of the other guys played multiple roles, HE I would have liked to have seen in the lead role!

And finally I took a picture of the hubby and I in the lobby last night while we were waiting.

Isn’t it Lovely

Isn’t it wonderful. Well there is some wonderful stuff and some not so wonderful stuff been happening around here lately.

And here I thought the snowstorm and the Bucket falling from the ceiling at work was going to be the highlight of the week. I went back to the office Weds and found I had been evicted from Cube 803 and was now to reside in Cube 1007 until the landlord once and for all fixed the leak in the roof.

To say I am unhappy in my new seat (although it’s nearer to the window) is an understatement. Don’t get me wrong I like the guy I sit next to, I just wish he was a little chattier. And by chattier I mean about things other than Sportsball. On the other side of my Cube wall is one of the team leaders, our Email product specialist. Actually on the other side of the wall sit the 3 Team Leaders. It’s not nice being so close to management when you tend to bitch about them out loud.

The best part of Wednesday was that the install of the new heating system began. It was nice to come home and find the Furnace sitting in it’s place in the basement and much of the ductwork attached to the basement ceiling. I have never been happier to see holes in the floor than I was that day.

The short weeks at work tend to be the longest, and this one was no exception. Thursday while on my way home from work the Hubby called to inform me that we lost power sometime during the day. With no heat and now no power we needed to find a place to stay for at least the night. So the phone calls started and my Mom said we could pack up the doggies and head over to her house. Since she lives local it made sense, so off we went, had some dinner there, and headed off to bed in her living room, the pups on the floor, me in the recliner and the hubby on the loveseat. With the power restoration timeframe unknown we needed to find a better option than mom’s living room. Besides with my Sister, Brother, and Sister in Law, and my parents dog it was just a wee bit crowded.

Our good friends, and guys who host the monthly game night we go to offered us their spare bedroom. We bid a fond farewell to Mom’s and the recliner, packed up the doggies, and headed over to their house for the weekend. It was nice to see them and to have a real bed to sleep in. The dogs actually settled in surprisingly well. Especially with another friends Schipperke staying with them. What a bundle of crazy energy this dog was. Saturday was a lazy day for us, late afternoon we headed over to visit with my other Brother and Sister In Law and our niece before my SIL had to go to work. The hubby, brother, niece, nephew, and I all headed out to Chili Night at one of the Fire Dept’s that the Drum Corps marches for.

Sunday we got up and found that the power had been restored! After a lovely pancake breakfast we packed all our shit up again and headed home. The hubby spent some time in the yard cleaning up some of the tree debris from the snowstorm, and I spent the time cleaning up the floors from all the dust and dirt of the heating system install. I then had the great pleasure of cleaning out the fridge and freezer from no power for 2 1/2 days. On the plus side they haven’t looked better!

A good night’s sleep in our own bed then it was off to work this morning. And now we catch up on our shows and enjoy the heat relaxing on the couch.

Wet

So I guess I should be thankful that I wasn’t at work today. Yes that is my desk. Had I been sitting there I would probably be wet and have a headache. The white bucket in the desk fell through the hole in the ceiling.

My weekend In pictures

So much for Halloween.

Hello October?

And so it begins

Hello Again! Not much new to report here.

Been a quiet week here. We have still yet to start the install of the new heating system, and wouldn’t you know it they are predicting a Freak October Snowstorm for today. Well I for one will believe it when I see it (I tend to not believe the weather people as they have cried wolf one too many times). Come on Irene?

Tonight is also our friends 3rd Annual Halloween party. The costume ideas didn’t come to me as freely as they have in past years, but I think the hosts and some of the guests will get a kick out of what we decided. As the token gays (us and another couple are it in the homo dept) and the gracious guests we are, I asked our friend what we should bring (in hindsight I knew I should have asked his girlfriend). He said since I  am so good at making desserts that I should bring one.

This of course throws my brain into high gear to find something to wow them with. Boxed cake mix or brownies won’t cut it with this gaggle. The hosts are also part of our Brunch group (the token straights) so I need to be fancy and wow them. So I took to the interwebs and found a great new food blog. It is written by these 2 girls Teri and Jenni, its called Spoon Fork Bacon, what’s not to love about it with Bacon in the title. I found a great Pumpkin Mousse recipe I will be making for the party. I’ve also found 2 or 3 other recipes I think I want to try. The 2nd one that caught my eye was the Salted Caramel and Bacon ice cream, they made it into Ice Cream Sandwiches using Graham Crackers, There is my next Brunch recipe!

In the silver lining department I think this no heat in the house will do wonders for the Whipped Cream I have to make!

That’s all I got for now, check back later for costume and Pumpkin Mousse pics.

Clean as a whistle

I swear we now have the cleanest basement known to man. 3 hours pressure washing the floors made for a very tiring Sunday afternoon.

Best part of the day was the big pot of chili and cornbread the hubby made for dinner.

Sleepy Doggy

Sent from Mr. D my iPhone