A record!

Wow! Three posts in one day!

Anywhoodle (yes, I have been on the computer too long today), despite the fact that Amy Jo had a problem not too long ago with the design on her blog, I mistakenly clicked on "design template" in Blogger and completely screwed up the simple design of my blog. Boooo.

Since I am have no idea what HTML even stands for (okay maybe I do, but it doesn't mean that I know how to use it!), I had to completely overhaul my blog because I couldn't get it back to what it used to look it.

SO. New picture for the header (one that CP took in Kruger National Park, South Africa, on our honeymoon) and new colors. Do you love it? Hate it?

Wrap-up Friday

Workouts

• This week I jumped back on the working-out bandwagon after some time off. This week I ran twice (both Day 1 and Day 2 of Week 5 in Couch to 5K) and then weight lifted the other day. I plan on doing something this weekend too.
• I am a bit worried about my right heel though. I notice it hurting more after wearing flip-flops so much. I then read this article. Rah roh. But I love my Tevas! :-( I will wear my flip flops a bit less and in general, try to wear better shoes for the rest of the summer.

Replies to Comments

• My difficulty in keeping a secret. Yes Amy Jo, it does make me feel better that I can at least share the secret with you guys. And Kate, I love what you said about the secret keeping me closer to CP. What a great way of thinking about it! And by the way, I am very good about keeping other people's secrets. Mine? Not so much. :-)
• Moving to a more positive outlook. Thanks for liking my blog name ~*Jess*~ and Funderson! It's my favorite phrase!
• Memories. Tia were you a nationally-ranked pole vaulter in college in the late 1990s? If so then you probably know someone I went to high school with who ended up vaulting in the Athens Olympics. Kate, I wish that it was as easy as getting the zipper fixed, but the zipper is fine. It is the fabric that is attached to the zipper that has come loose. According to my mom, as soon as I would sew it back up it would break. Maybe I sew it back up myself but make sure not to put anything too heavy in the bag?

Bastards

This week, CP and I stepped outside to check on the garden and saw this:




We looked at each other with surprise. What the heck ate the leaves off two of our tomato plants? Not only were leaves gone, but chunks of our green, still-ripening heirloom tomatoes.

Damn it. We didn't get to enjoy tomatoes last year because there was not enough sun. Are we going to go through another year without tomatoes???

What could have done this? Deer? A deer may be the only thing that is tall enough to reach the leaves. The two tomato plants to the left were virtually unscathed. Did the zucchini prickles keep the deer at bay?

Then we spotted these biznitches:



That's right. These three motherf*ers (aka Horned Tomato Worms) ate about 15 tomatoes and most of the leaves on two of our tomato plants. Bastards.

For comparison, here is what the two still-healthy tomato plants look like:

We then had to cut off all of the branches that were missing leaves (so that we could tell if there were more worms) and vigilantly watch the plants to make sure that there were only three worms. According to my mom, they are only around for about a week or so a year and eat everything in sight before dropping to the ground to turn into moths.

So far we haven't seen any more missing leaves or found any more worms. But our tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. Yay!

In fact, I just picked these tonight when I got home from work:

Because of the horned tomato worms, we sadly will not have enough tomatoes to make tomato sauce this year. *tear* So instead, we have been eating a lot of this:

That's right. Fresh tomato slices with a pinch of sea salt. CP's mom used to "make" this dish all the time and I am loving it!

Next year we are just going to have to be more careful about these stupid worms.

*NOTE: I'm sorry for the poor quality pictures. I think that my camera cord is now packed away. I promise that once we move into our new house I will stop taking pictures with my Blackberry!*

Memories

There is something that I won’t be able to part with in the move down to CT and this may sound silly. It’s the addidas bag that I use for the gym. It’s a great size because it has a two side pockets I can fit my ipod into, my building security tag, my shower shoes, etc. and then a middle pocket that has plenty of room for my running shoes, workout clothes and knee brace.

The problem with this bag? Is that the fabric flap for the main compartment that is supposed to attach to the zipper is no longer attached, thus creating a big hole. Good for airing out purposes when my stinky clothes sit in the bag after lunch, not so good for keeping stuff in the bag or keeping stuff hidden from view.

THE bag with my gray workout pants poking through the large hole, despite the fact that it is zipped up.

It’s not just any addidas bag though. It is a bag that I received for competing in the Millrose Games.

For those of you that don’t know much about track and field, the Millrose Games are a BIG DEAL. Professional track and field athletes come to the games to compete- the Games are held at Madison Square Garden in NYC. (Funny story- Michael Johnson came to the Games in 2000. I wanted a picture of him, but some security guard wouldn’t allow me to stand next to him to take the picture. So I stood back and took a picture of Michael anyway, with a teammate in the background. Jerk.)

Amazingly, I qualified to compete in both the shot put and the 20 lb. weight throw two years in a row in college. The women that I competed against? Some of them were people that went to the Olympics. In fact, the second year that I competed (2001), I had to throw against the (then) current U.S. record holder. That’s right. NO PRESSURE. Here she is on the far right- Dawn Ellerbe (holding a hammer, the outside version of the weight).

Part of a Sports Illustrated spread on Olympic athletes

I consider myself a taller person (I’m 5’9”), but compared to her 6’2” 240 pound body? I was nothing. I’m sure that she looked at my uniform from a small 5,000-person Division 1 school and had no idea where it was even located!! Dawn ended up winning the weight throw with a toss of over 72 feet. My best throw was just shy of 61 feet, but it was my best throw EVER. I even qualified for nationals with that throw. :-)

I know that keeping the bag despite its hole seems silly. I am totally holding on to the fact that I was an athlete back in college. Ummm yeah TEN YEARS AGO. But I can’t seem to give away the darn bag!! I am proud that I competed against some of the best in the world. I am proud that I stepped up to the heavy competition and not only beat people from larger schools, but also beat three women that threw for a living. Using the bag when going to the gym reminds me of working hard and taking names- just the kind of inspiration that I need when I go to the gym.

CP will have to rip the bag out of my cold, dead hands if he ever wants to get rid of it.

Do you have things from your past that you will absolutely not part with?

Looking brighter

Last Friday I was in a huge funk. I wrote a post that I ended up not publishing because it was just depressing. Whining about my job and how bored I am. Whining about my weight gain, knowing that it has been my fault entirely. Blah blah blah.

While bored that same day, I went poking around the internet. I found stories of people that have gone through so much in their lives, whether it be losing someone special, going through a major accident, or something else. After going through that physical or mental pain, they still had hope. They were still happy. Life was certainly not perfect with rainbows and unicorns, but they were still POSITIVE.

So what the f am I doing? Getting depressed because I am unhappy with my job? When I survey my life, it doesn’t suck. Yes I am unhappy with work because it doesn’t challenge me, but if that is my biggest worry then I need to suck it up. I have a job. I am able to pay my bills with my salary. I am not in danger of losing my job. My boss is not awesome, but she is also not horrible. THINGS COULD BE SO MUCH WORSE.

As far as weight gain, that is my fault. I was doing well after the wedding and then when CP traveled for a bit I slipped…..big time. After my surgery I made a half-hearted attempt to get back into the gym, but never fully committed. I want to be healthy if/when I get pregnant. If/when I get pregnant it is NOT the time to start back in with my running and 30 Day Shred ways, so I might as well start now. Which is what I did on Monday. I brought in my workout clothes and hit the gym at lunch time. Then again today. Last week I would have said, oh well I can’t work out on Tuesday because I will be in training so I might as well start working out the following week. Excuses. I decided to jump into Week 5 of Couch to 5K for my first two workouts back, tomorrow I will strength train.

No one wants to read my whining. I don’t even want to WRITE whining posts anymore.

Sometimes you just need to read something that slaps you back into reality. Stuff that makes you fight back tears at work because you are so amazed at someone’s strength after so much pain. Stuff that makes you go home and hug your husband and your dog. Stuff that lets you know just how good you really have it.

A more positive outlook starts NOW.

Hard to keep a secret

So this weekend at a family party, CP and I were showing pictures of our new place to everyone. We had finished showing the three bedrooms and CP’s dad says, “So where is the nursery?” Not wanting to tip our hand that we are trying for a baby, I said that we don’t have one yet. I basically lied because the other bedroom on the second floor of the new house will start off as the office, but as soon as we get pregnant, will turn into a nursery. (CP has this funny idea that even after we have a baby he will continue to work there instead of having to move the office down to the basement. RIGHT. Silly boy.)

Other than the comment from my father-in-law on Saturday, no one asked about kids. (I also made sure to have two beers while we were at the party less anyone thought that my weight gain since the wedding/Christmas was because I was carrying a kid. Nope, just from eating crap. Sigh)

So last night I was having a dream where I was walking around with my mom and two friends from college (who both have two kids). They were asking me something and I let it slip that we were trying for a baby. Immediately, I backtracked and stuttered out something….then moved on to a new topic. My backtracking was enough to keep them from asking any more questions, but at that point I think that they were a bit suspicious. I then realized that in my dream we were looking for a bathroom. Sure enough at 3am, I woke up and had to go to the bathroom.

Things that I learned from last night:

1. Even in my dreams I can’t keep a secret!!! Gah this is difficult!
2. When I am pregnant I am going to have to go to the bathroom ALL.THE.TIME. I already get up around 2 or 3am every single night (even if I don’t drink anything past 5pm)….when a baby is pressed on my bladder I will have no chance. I AM SO SCREWED.

But really, this secret is killing me! I can only talk about it with CP and you guys. I HATE that I can’t talk to my girl friends about it. About their experiences. I know WHY we are doing it, but it is difficult with my personality. I want to talk things out with friends. I want to know other’s experiences. And it is SO DIFFICULT to not tell my mom because I am really close with her.

Here’s hoping we get preggers soon or else this secret is going to slip out whether CP likes it or not…..

Non sequitur bullets

· Why am I never asked my opinion in polls? You know, the ones that they talk about on the news where they ask random people about how they feel the President, Congress, etc. are doing? Who are these random people that are getting called?

· Do you hate Mel Gibson as much as I do? I have never really enjoyed his movies that much (CP thinks that I am crazy that I hate Braveheart, but that movie bores me). Between his anti-Semitic drunken rantings and his recent audio tapes with racial slurs and assertions that his girlfriend “deserved” the beatings he gave her, I hope that this guy never gets a job in Hollywood again. And that he serves some jail time.

· Speaking of Hollywood types, why o why is Switzerland balking on extraditing Roman Polanski? Yes I realize that it has been years since the rape (of a DRUGGED 13 year old girl) happened, but he pled guilty to a lesser charge and then fled the country. I don’t care if he is a talented director. He should be jailed for what he did. Otherwise it’s just an example of another rich celebrity that is able to escape the law.

· Does anyone else feel some sort of kinship with a country once they travel to it? I find that with some of the out-of-the-way countries I have been to (not talking about places in Europe here), I root for them in the World Cup (without bothering to watch the games- ha!), I listen more closely to news stories about the country and try to talk the country up when asked for advice on where a friend should travel. I have found that I at least do that with Argentina and South Africa. I’m also partial to countries that speak Spanish because although I am not fluent, I can get around, order, understand people, etc…..even if I am shy about speaking the language for fear I get something wrong.

· You remember my post on Friday about being bored? Well that is most of my days here. However yesterday at 3:45pm (I got in a little early and was supposed to work until 4pm), my boss comes running over with an urgent task. Why do the higher-ups give us negative 10 minutes to do any task for them? How about a bit more notice? Or giving us the task earlier in the day? So I stay to help out my boss with the urgent report and end up being 30 minutes late for my hair appointment. This happened about a week and a half ago too (on a Friday no less). I’m literally about to walk out the door to get waxed and then enjoy my weekend when my boss comes running over with something. I guess if I want work to do I need to schedule an appointment, knowing that I won’t be able to make it there on time?

· This week I saw two odd things while walking outside at lunchtime. The first was two girls dressed in jeans and Ugg boots- in 85 degree weather. I don’t get the Ugg boots/miniskirt look so I was even more confused with the ladies in jeans. Can you imagine how sweaty and smelly the inside of those boots must be??? Right after that I saw an older man in handcuffs with the police trying to get him in the cop car while his pants were around his ankles. He clearly was too hot in his jeans!!!

· I think that others of you have talked about this before but prenatal vitamins make my hair grow like crazy! Not just the hair on my head, but I am having to pluck my eyebrows ALL THE TIME. I probably should have checked how long the hair was on my legs before wearing capris to work today- whoops!! AT least my fingernails are nice and strong….

iTunes PSA

I was using my Blackberry at work this morning when I came across an iTunes receipt. I thought that it was odd, but then again I had updated some of my apps recently so maybe it was a $0.00 receipt from that? But then I saw another one and got suspicious. I went into the emailed receipt and saw that they were DEFINITELY unauthorized purchases. A video of the Jonas Brothers in LA? Definitely not a purchase I would make. I investigated further on my credit card activity (since I can’t access my iTunes account at work) and yep, the douchenizzle who got a hold of my account put $40-$50 on 15 different transactions, spending over $500 in 3 days.

*Sigh.* So I immediately called my credit card company to report unauthorized activity. Once again I have a new credit card number. I swear this happens at least once a year with Citibank. Next I try to call Apple…but was then told that people over the phone can’t help with online purchases. I either have to open up a chat window (which I can’t do at work) or email them. How freakin’ annoying Steve Jobs. But don't worry- Apple promises to get back to me within 48 hours!

One of my friends on Facebook alerted me that the hacking of iTunes accounts has been going on for about a month or so. If you have your credit card stored on the site you might want to make sure it is safe and/or take it off so that you don’t have to deal with this too. As soon as I get home tonight I will be taking my (now cancelled) credit card information off the account and I won't be putting it on again. Hopefully the fraudulent purchases get taken off my credit card soon.....CP and I will NOT be paying $500+ in crappy iTunes stuff.

Furniture shopping

Furniture shopping. A fun thing to do because there are so many choices, but also a scary thing to do because you are wondering if you made the right choice. Not to mention the cost of the items! Our current living room furniture is too big for the somewhat narrow living room in our new place, so that furniture will most likely go downstairs into the finished basement (*crossing fingers it fits down the stairs*)- which leaves us with an empty room.

We were trying to balance a few competing thoughts as we looked for a new couch, two chairs, coffee table and end tables this past weekend. Do we purchase something that is a bit cheaper as it will get destroyed/stained/etc when we have kids? (realizing that we would have to buy new stuff sooner rather than later if we go this route). Or do we go with something a bit nicer that could potentially stand up better to kid wear and tear, but would still have some battle scars?

So we headed out to Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Raymond and Flanagan, Bassett Furniture and La-Z-Boy. Being the ever engineer, CP plotted out the room size with a corresponding CAD drawing and figured that we needed a couch with less than 40 inches of depth. Also, not wanting to crowd the room with big pieces of furniture, we decided on a couch with two chairs as opposed to two couches.

We found some comfortable couches at Crate and Barrel but our favorite couch was simply too big for the room. Pottery Barn only had two couches in the entire store and we are not going to buy a couch without sitting on it first! We found a comfortable chair at Bob’s, but the sofa quality seemed to be lacking. We then got very annoyed at Raymond and Flanagan as a saleswoman accosted us from the moment we stepped in the door. She wouldn’t allow us to look around, trying out couches ourselves. She ferried us around the showroom, telling us that we really could fit a bigger couch into the room. Ummm no lady. Listen to your customer!! La-Z-Boy didn’t have anything exciting and was actually more expensive than I had hoped.

From the moment we stepped into Bassett Furniture, the experience was great. A no pressure salesperson/free designer and a way to customize the couch to whatever fabric or leather we wanted, along with picking out the style of the couch, the cushions on the couch, the arm style and even the pleating. Wow! Plus, the store was having a 30% off sale. We found a great wool rug to match, along with a coffee table and two end tables. I was scared to hear the final cost, but with the 30% off it is just as expensive (if not less) than if we bought everything at Crate and Barrel. Plus they offer 12 month interest-free financing. Much better than trying to rush paying off a credit card with an interest rate!

After we got home, we started to look up reviews on Bassett. No bad reviews of the specific CT store, but some bad reviews elsewhere in the country. However, we found plenty of complaints on the other stores (to be fair, Crate and Barrel and the like probably have a bigger market share than Bassett). No one has a 100% perfect record.

Have any of you used Bassett Furniture? Or do you know of anyone that has? We are thinking about going with them……

Bored

Today I was so bored at work I joined Twitter. Well, I joined Twitter for all of 20 minutes. I started to follow a few friends that I knew had Twitter accounts, then Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper (for free workout advice obviously) and Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler (because they are hilarious). And then I actually went to my “page” and read their tweets. Wait why was I signing up for this again? For annoyingly abbreviated words that do not help the spelling crisis we have in our kids?

So yeah, 20 minutes later I deactivated my account. No thanks. I’ll stick with blogs and Facebook.

But what was really behind joining Twitter was the fact that I am bored at work. I know that shocks you- these days companies are “doing more with less.” Everyone is overworked and understaffed. But yet I am bored. Sitting here wasting my day. Trying to find things to do while my boss is around (and asking her for things to do), reading blogs and commenting when she is not. It is awful. I feel horrible that I am getting paid a salary to do this. I was busy one day this week- Monday. The rest of the week? Bored out of my skull.

Unfortunately with this house purchase, I basically have one other option in terms of a job. I am currently working my resume and cover letter to be able to apply, but I am not banking on getting the job. The problems that I had earlier this year will probably come up again. The problem is- even if a similar job became available later this year, it’s going to be even harder to move when I can’t put anything down on my resume- you know, because I am not doing anything at work!

There are reasons that I can’t get into as to why I need to stay in this industry for at least another year. Even if I wanted to move to private law practice I don’t have a CT license so I would have to take the bar (never again!). If I try to change industries I have no idea if my salary would stay close to what I am currently making- which is a problem now that are a buying a house and trying for a baby.

Yeah. So I am probably stuck at this job for a while. Which makes me want to bawl my eyes out, while scratching them out at the same time. Happy f*ing Friday!


Replies to Comments

• In my post yesterday about books I am reading and music I am currently obsessed with, you guys gave me some great recommendations. Thanks!! "The Help" is on my bookshelf just waiting for me to finish "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest." I read "Little Bee" on my honeymoon- fantastic book for those that haven't read it yet. And now I will have to pick up "Candy Girl" because that sounds fascinating! And yes Natalie, suggest away!!
• Thanks for the help with my pre-pregnancy questions. I made an appointment to get my roots colored next week. Technically it is before we could conceive. And that way I won't have any grays for the family party next Saturday! :-)

Recommendations

Recently I have read a few books that I would highly recommend:

Imagine taken from Amazon.com

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

I know that this book, along with the other two books in the trilogy, is the hot thing to read this summer. And I could totally tell why. I could NOT put this book down. The Swedish movie version of this book is now out on DVD (my father-in-law says that it is fantastic) so it has moved to the top of our Blockbuster queue.

I am more than halfway through the next book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and it is just as engrossing. Highly recommended.

Image taken from Amazon.com

On a different note, I would also recommend reading Sperm Wars by Robin Baker. (I guess he updated the book a few years ago- that version is here) I know that it sounds like a weird book to read, but a friend in Chicago read it and recommended it. It is a fascinating read. It is all about the biology of our bodies, mainly sperm. You learn about the different types of sperm (egg getters, blockers, killers), the techniques men use to ensure that they win the reproduction game, how women are more likely to cheat on their significant others when they are fertile (thus to incite a sperm war), etc. It is not a textbook by any means- instead each chapter starts with a "scene" and then the author explains the meaning behind every little detail afterwards. Just like the Nat Geo special I saw "Sizing up Sperm", this is a good book for fancy dinner conversations. Ha!

Other than speed-reading the books above because I couldn't get enough of them, I found a fantastic site that has helped keep all of the books that I want to read in the future in one place. Is anyone else on GoodReads? You can review books that you have read, can check out reviews from strangers and your friends and save books that you want to read on your "bookshelf." It's fantastic- and it even has an iTouch app!

In addition, there are two songs that I can't seem to get out of my head.

The first? "Fireflies" by Owl City. I can't stop listening to it....despite the fact that it was probably a song on a Twilight movie. I don't know what kind of pull this song has on me, but I am seriously obsessed with it!

The second song? Michael Buble's "Haven't Met You Yet." I feel like an old person listening and liking the song, but I can't stop my leg from hopping around with the beat.




Please tell me that I am not the only one crushing on these songs????

Any good books you have read lately that you can recommend? Any songs you are currently obsessed with?

Blogging thoughts

*Are bloggers that post pictures of themselves and loved ones more popular because readers feel as if they get to know them better? Are they viewed as more open and inviting simply because they show their faces? I would like to think that I am able to be more open because as far as I know, I don't have family and friends reading. Thus I can talk about whatever I want. But do I have less of a connection with readers because they don't know what I look like?

*I sometimes wonder what readers think of me when reading my blog. I form opinions when reading other blogs....but I wonder if my personality comes out through my writing? I don't think that my humor does because that is something that is more spontaneous and in person. CP is able to come up with witty and sarcastic comments when writing something....I am the complete opposite. I think that my writing is more to the point. I'm not even sure that I come across as that emotional in my writing. I think law school got rid of any flowery language that I did have....but does that mean that my posts are cut and dry and boring?

*I am still nervous that someday someone that I know in real life is going to come across my blog. Oddly enough a friend of mine from college knows LiLu in real life and I saw that she had voted for her via Facebook. So yeah. Makes me a bit nervous.

*I still haven't told CP about this blog. Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but every once in a while I feel like I am hiding something from him and feel bad. But after two years of blogging, how do I just bring it up like it's nothing? If I do tell him, will he search for it? He knows that I read other people's blogs all the time and thinks that is weird. I just don't think that I can convince him that I have kept the blog anonymous enough. He certainly won't understand me talking about our life to random people on the internet.

*However, I think that now is an important time for me to continue to be a blogger. You guys were helpful yesterday. I can't talk to my mom about trying to get pregnant because CP and I promised that we wouldn't tell anyone that we were trying. I can't ask my friends any questions because then they would know that we were trying. Ugh. So while I could troll random message boards, I would rather talk to people that I trust and/or have some relationship with- even if it is just through blogging.

*I get jealous that other bloggers have met each other and become friends. To meet other bloggers I would have to crawl out of my anonymous shell... Am I willing to do that?

Disappointed

Disappointment is the word of the day. Yep, my monthly friend came today. Not being pregnant is on my mind, but I am not stressing or fretting over it. Who knows...after 20 years of ovulating each and every month maybe my body decided to take a month off (women don't necessarily ovulate every month)? Maybe our timing wasn't right? (note: we aren't actually timing anything. Before I even went off the pill CP said that he doesn't want to schedule things or have our experience seem like the scene in "Election" where Matthew Broderick and his wife are having sex and she is screaming "Fill me up! Fill me up!" because they are trying to get pregnant. Not quite a turn on.) Nothing we can do about it now and we will just continue to "practice" and hope for the best next month. :-)

Meanwhile, when exactly are you supposed to give up things for a pregnancy? Do you live your life and then when you find out you are pregnant that is when you change things? (I'm not talking about alcohol here- I have continued to drink once in a while but haven't been going crazy.) For instance, for a couple of years I have been dyeing my hair to get rid of my grays. Although my stylist uses a product that does not have any ammonia in it, it is possible that if I was pregnant my doctor would tell me not to have it done. Same thing with sushi. I know that most people don't eat raw fish during their pregnancy (even if women in Japan do it ALL the time). Is dyeing my hair or eating sushi something that I need to stop doing for the two weeks where we possibly could have gotten pregnant and I'm just waiting to find out?

The last time I got my hair dyed was in early June so I'm coming up on needing it done again. And sushi? Well, I'm heading out to lunch today with my friend to have some. Can't wait. But really, can anyone shed any light?

On a related note, this past weekend I came across the website www.Everybodybirths.com. I was so fascinated with reading various birth stories that I sat down with my iTouch and read all of the stories. Very interesting.

Busy like a bee

Yeah so I am waaaay behind in my blog reading. Friday at work was an absolute MESS. After the day I had with my boss I seriously needed a drink by the time I got home. However, I had worked up so much stress that my stomach ached for hours. So I was only able to drink one Dos Equis before I decided that I shouldn’t have any more.

This weekend was mainly spent packing, complaining that the seller wasn’t going to do as much off the inspection list that we wanted and showing our current place to potential renters. CP and I put together a list of all of the things that we need to do or buy when we first move into the house and boy is it a long list! And quite expensive. Booooo. Luckily we have some money saved up from the last couple of months which will pay for about half of the items are our list. Thank goodness this place is move-in ready and we are only going to paint a few rooms!

Random happenings

Sadly, I am without my wedding ring for the next month or so. While CP and I were up in New Hampshire this past weekend I went to the store where he bought my engagement ring to get it checked out (it continues to be under warranty as long as I get it checked out every 4 months) and cleaned. As a courtesy, the woman also checked out and cleaned my wedding ring bought from a different store. Sadly, she gave me some bad news. A part of one of the diamonds in my wedding band was missing. I checked it out under the microscope and indeed- a part of the diamond had been shaved off!! CP and I brought the ring in on Monday to the original store and they are going to have it fixed for free. Which of course, they should. I mean, I have been wearing that ring for less than a year!! According to the store manager, the specific diamond looks like it wasn’t set correctly and therefore more at risk for it breaking. I’m still not sure how part of a diamond breaks off....

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Yesterday I got an unexpected phone call from our realtor. Despite the fact that it took the relocation company so long to sign the purchase agreement and then get it back to us, the inspection is due 10 days after the company signed, not when we received the contract back. That means that the inspection must be done before Thursday night. Unexpectedly, CP has been summoned to OH for work so we had to rush around trying to get an inspector to come this morning so that CP could make the inspection before he flies out. Thankfully we found someone and he didn't find anything too bad in the house.

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Last night I got to hang out with two ladies I went to college with and it was fantastic. One of them is nine months pregnant and ready to pop, the other has three boys. I hadn't seen one of these ladies in probably 6 or 7 years so it was fun to catch up with her and hear about her kids. A lot of the discussion was focused on pregnancy, giving birth, etc which was interesting, but I of course had nothing to add. It was a little awkward when I was asked if CP and I were interested in having kids and when. Even though I don't think that either of these ladies would go blabbing to mutual friends that we were trying, I kept true to my promise to CP and demurred when the question came my way.

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Speaking of babies, I should find out next week if we are pregnant or not (if my cycle is the same as last month). I just want next week to hurry up and get here already!! (Despite the knowledge that I am probably going to be disappointed.)

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Tomorrow night we have four people coming to check out our rental house to see if they want to rent it after we move out. We have been promised a break on our rent by our landlord for helping him out. If the people tomorrow night don't work out, we have five more (!!) coming on Sunday afternoon. It's a good excuse to keep the house clean, but also seriously annoying on a work night. All I will want to do is lay around watching tv (especially in this awful heat with only two window AC units!), not small talk with random people while showing them the house. Oh well, it's a necessary evil....

What random happenings are going on in your world?

Cooking wins

CP and I have been doing some cooking recently. Here are some of our wins:

Thai noodles with beef and basil

Ingredients:

10 ounces dried flat rice noodles
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 bunch basil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 serrano chiles, seeded and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3/4 pound beef bottom round steak (pepper steak cut), cut into thin strips
5 green onions, green parts only, thinly sliced
2 limes, cut into wedges

Directions:

Cook noodles according to package instructions, then drain and cool. In a large bowl, mix noodles with 1 tablespoon of the oil and soy sauce. Set aside.

Roughly chop 8 large basil leaves, then transfer them to a mortar. Add garlic, chiles and a pinch of salt and grind with a pestle until a paste forms. (NOTE: I did not use a mortar and pestle. You can easily make a paste by chopping up the ingredients and pouring a little salt on the mixture. Then continue to chop. Also, instead of chiles, I used a heaping tablespoon of Singapore hot sauce that CP made last year.)

In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and the fish sauce together; set aside.

(NOTE: I sautéed zucchini in a little oil at this point to add to the dish.)

Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet. Add garlic-serrano paste and cook, stirring often, for about 1 minute or until fragrant. Season beef with salt and pepper, then add to skillet and cook until brown, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes. Add sugar mixture, stir and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Add noodles and toss until heated through, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons water if it appears sauce is drying up. Once heated through, remove skillet from the heat and add remaining basil leaves. Toss again until lightly wilted, then serve immediately, garnished with green onions and lime wedges.

I would highly recommend this recipe. It was tasty and very easy to make!

Raspberry jam (recipe from this book)

Ingredients:

5 tart apples, stem and blossom removed, chopped coarsely
1 lemon, finely chopped
Water
4 cups raspberries
5 cups granulated sugar

Directions:

Combine apples, lemon and a little water to prevent sticking. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat, partially cover and boil gently, stirring occasionally for 20 min until mixture is soft. Transfer batches to a fine sieve (we used a food mill). Press through sieve to yield 2 cups applesauce. Discard cores and skins.

Prepare canner, lids and jars. (Don't know how to can? This website tells you how.)

Combine applesauce, raspberries and sugar. Boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil until mixture thickens, about 20 min. Remove from heat and skin off foam.

Ladle jam into jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim then screw on lid. Process in boiling water for 10 min.

Yum! We currently have 8 jars of our new jam sitting in our basement!

Zucchini quinoa cakes

I don’t have the recipe because CP made this up, but it was delicious! These cakes were pictured prior to baking.

(Not quite a cooking win, but still related to food.) This is our new compost bucket that sits on our kitchen countertop. We put all of our scraps in there- veggie stems, banana peels, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc (no citrus and no animal parts) and then dump it at least a few times a week in our neighbor's compost bin. It's made out of bamboo and surprisingly doesn't stink! When we move into our new house we plan on getting a compost bin of our own!

Holiday weekend

CP and I had a fantastic holiday weekend. Friday we received great news on our interest rate for our mortgage- 4.5%! Yay for both of us having great credit!

Saturday we headed up to New Hampshire to take advantage of tax free shopping. At our rental house in MA we have a central vacuum (have you ever seen one of these before? I have only seen it in one other house while we were checking out properties in CT. Is it a Northeast thing?) which means we plug the long hose into one of the wall outlets and vacuum away. It works okay, but isn’t so great on carpet (specifically, not so great on picking up dog hair on carpets). Because we were going to need a new vacuum at our new place, we decided to buy a new one this weekend. Ever the researcher, CP spent an hour looking at Consumer Reports and even dragged me into looking at the various ratings. We ended up buying the highest rated vacuum on the list anyway. So yeah, we purchased a vacuum. Exciting stuff.

Saturday night we were treated to a private (aka 15 person) fireworks display. My mother-in-law’s new husband has his fireworks license and had offered to put on a show at our rehearsal dinner back in October. Sadly it rained that night and on our wedding night so he never got to light them. Fast forward to July 4th weekend- a perfect time to set them off! We were impressed with the 30-40 minute firework show. It was just as varied, loud and spectacular as a show you would see in a big city! If we can figure out how to get the video from our camera onto our computer, I’ll try to download some of the show. Amazing. Too bad we couldn’t have had that at our wedding. :-(

Sunday we had brunch at my father-in-laws place and decided to drive home during the heat of the day because my car has air conditioning. Sadly, our house does not, so the 90+ degree temperatures were not fun. The rest of the day was spent trying out the vacuum (we are such DORKS!) and running errands.

Then yesterday I went for a run with Fuzzy Britches and then gave her a bath. She does NOT liked to be bathed which I don’t understand because on a hot day, the cold water cools her down AND she loves to go swimming. After a while she stopped fighting me and just acquiesced. Meanwhile, CP made 10 pounds of sausage (turkey andouille and turkey merguez)! Yum!

What was your favorite thing you did this holiday weekend?

Success!

The relocation company finally signed the purchase agreement and the 10,000 other documents they required so we have a contract! Maybe it’s because the whole process has been sloooow to get going, but I don’t think that it has dawned on me that we are going to be moving. To CT. Next month. Crazy.

So, I’m not quite freaking out yet, but we have a lot of stuff to pack up. Luckily we saved all of our boxes from wedding gifts (our basement currently looks like a graveyard for Macy’s boxes) so we don’t have to worry about that. We have furniture pads saved from our last move cross country. And unlike other moves, this one can be done over two to three weeks (depending on if we make our August 6th closing date or not). After the closing, I will be able to pack up my car every night when I get home, drive into work and then drop the stuff off before heading back to MA. That will make the large furniture moving day(s?) easier. We will be staying in our rental house until the end of August so we won’t have to rush too much.

But yeah. Despite the “easier” move we have in front of us, CP and I should probably start to prepare for it!