Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
No matter how much time you are gone from work, it’s always the same coming back…
It’s like you were never on vacation!
The best part of coming back was seeing the friendly faces of my co-workers 🙂
Even though the night was busy, it went by fast and now I only have one more left!
I’m very tired…not used to working for 12+ hours straight…bed, here I come.
Monday, July 30, 2012
And just like that, the vacation is over!
So here it goes in a nutshell…
What did I accomplish on my “To Do” List?
Truthfully, not much 🙂  But I guess that is what vacation is for…to take a rest!
However, two MAJOR things did get done — the carpet from the basement got pulled up and put out with all the rest of the bulk pick up items…huge task and felt like a lot of work! AND I called about getting the garage door fixed…something I had been putting off for a long time.
As for the FUN stuff…
again, not everything was crossed off, but I did…go to the beach, enjoyed my anniversary day with Kimm, did some cross-stitch (feels good to be crafty again), and watched several episodes of The Brady Bunch (did you know that before the show was originally cast they had plans for either a blonde mom with three blonde-headed little girls, OR a brunette mom with three dark-haired little girls…and same thing for the dad and sons…blonde with blonde kids or dark haired…good thing it turned out the way it did…I don’t think the show would have been the same!).
I’m hoping that I’ll be able to start back to work tonight with a good mind set…refreshed and ready to go!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
The last FULL day of my vacation 😦
Truly goes too fast. Â I could really get used to not working!
Got home late last night from the get-together and thus up a little later this morning. Â My sink full of dishes greeted me!
Breakfast first.
And computer time.
Lunch of course.
And then finally those dishes…an hour (!!) later and they were all done. Â Making cookies is so much work with all those bowls and pans!
The rest of the day was spent organizing, cross-stitching, making dinner (pizza!), and now relaxing.
The final evening plan: a movie with my sweets!
A perfect end to this vacation 🙂
Saturday, July 28, 2012
It’s hard to even know that it is the weekend when you are on vacation 🙂
But it is Saturday. Â Only two more FULL days of vacation…why, oh why does it go so fast?
Up and at ’em.
Washed the sheets and the towels.
Baked some cookies, specifically this copy-cat recipe for Mrs. Field’s Sugar cookies…SO GOOD.  Made them to take to a co-worker get-together tonight…can’t wait…have to catch up on all the gossip!  Made a sink FULL of dishes but I’m not going to worry about that right now…that will be tomorrow’s task 🙂
Now off to have fun!
Friday, July 27, 2012
It’s hard to believe Kimm and I have been together for 10 years.
And today we just took time to celebrate and reminisce 🙂
Out to lunch at Uno’s–we decided to try somewhere different this year due to running into rude/inconsiderate people at Olive Garden every year–can you believe we got seated next to some doozies at this place too! Â I think they are ATTRACTED to us!! Â First there was a table of four imbibing women who were VERY loud…I guess getting drunk in the middle of the day makes you annoying like that….then we were seated with a crying baby behind us and the husband was on his cell phone, loudly, NON-STOP and even managed to lean in over OUR booth while talking on his cell phone to try to soothe his baby crying…really…I can’t make this stuff up people!
Well, we tried really hard to block all that out and enjoy our meal which I think we did a pretty good job.  But we did decide that next year, no Uno’s…maybe we’ll just order out somewhere 🙂
We took an unexpected trip to Target, to purchase an exercise ball because I was researching online and found out that by bouncing 5 minutes/day it can help circulation to bulging discs, speeding the healing process. Â Well, we got the exercise ball and a whole bunch more! Â I scored with a new pair of jeans ($10 on clearance!) and a new t-shirt ($5 on clearance!).
Dinner we ordered out…veggie grinder that we split since we were still so full from lunch!
It was a very relaxing day and one of the best parts is that I didn’t do dishes all day 🙂
Here’s to another 10 years!
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Enjoy my finds from around the web this week…there were a BUNCH!!
One of my favorite blogs…Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life.  I love Courtney’s philosophy that in a life of healthy food, there is ALWAYS time for dessert…a girl after my own heart…I LOVE me some dessert 🙂
Favorite chocolate bite…Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse…smooth, creamy chocolate-y deliciousness!
Favorite inspire-me-to-be-healthy post…I Like How It Feels. Â Thanks Roni!
Favorite unique pizza…Potato Pesto Pizza…SO going to try this next month!
Favorite thinking-ahead post…Build Your 72 Hour Kit in 52 Weeks…you never know when you will truly NEED stuff in an emergency and I like the thought of slowly building up an emergency kit over the course of a year.
Favorite summer treat…Lemonade Brownies…these look tart and refreshing…the PERFECT summer dessert!
Favorite inspirational posts…
12 Tough Truths That Help You Grow
11 Things You Should Leave in the Past
60 Empowering Quotes to Help You Get Things Done
Favorite Peanut Butter treat…who doesn’t love peanut butter? Â And these Peanut Butter Crunch Eclair Bars look SO good!
Favorite RANT post…Cassie hits several nails on the head in the one where I rant about bacon, where she speaks to the double standard in blogs and society regarding thin vs. heavy people creating/eating indulgent foods…LOVE her Gilmore Girl references…I agree with her whole-heartedly…let’s just judge people less.
Favorite muffin…Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Muffins…mmm, mmm!
Favorite back-to-school-find…SO CUTE…Midori Flash Cards…LOVE the different shapes and bright colors…makes me WANT to learn 🙂
Favorite sandwich…this Veggie and Cheese Bagel looks so good I want to take a huge bite!
Favorite “I need to do that”…create a bucket list! Â Things I want to do…needs to be written down and no time like the present! Â Another thanks to Roni for the idea…
Favorite salad idea…this Barley Corn Salad looks so refreshing…as long as I leave off the grilled chicken on the top, it’s totally vegetarian friendly!
And on that note…my favorite article explaining WHY I am vegetarian…
In the May+June 2012 issue of VegNews, law student Cody Carlson shared his experience working as an undercover investigator for Mercy For Animals. Readers were so moved by his first-hand account of the horrors of factory farming, and asked that we post the piece on VegNews.com so that Cody’s story can be told to even more people. The article is presented here in its entirety.
My Life as an Undercover Investigator
Favorite cheesy treat…how yummy do these Cheesy Garlic Sticks look??
Favorite “how-to-organize” post…use the acronym provided…CALM…Clear out, Assign a spot, Label, and Maintain…
Favorite inspirational quotes…
Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!!!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
I feel like I spent a lot of time in the kitchen today!  Which is good…I like to be in the kitchen 🙂
Two dishes were created…one savory and one sweet.
The savory was pesto…with home-grown basil! Â The basil has really taken off this summer…I think it loves the hot, humid weather we have been getting. Â Unfortunately since I’m trying to save money, I had no pine nuts or walnuts to put in the pesto, so I improvised and used pistachios…and it turned out good. Â Here’s the recipe I use. Â Mixed into fettuccine noodles…yumm.
The sweet was lemon cheesecake bars…a pre-dessert for our anniversary tomorrow!  It allowed me to use up some graham cracker crumbs Kimm’s mom had given us a long time ago…I used this Martha Stewart recipe…I just changed up the crust a bit because I used the recipe on my graham cracker crumb box…but the filling was exactly the same.  We had a square tonight after dinner and Kimm was  a BIG fan…I don’t think I’ve heard “mmmm….mmmmm…MMMMM!!” so much out of her mouth in a long time.  In her words, “it’s a keeper!”  I’m thinking the fresh lemon zest and juice really amped up the flavor.
Those two creations and our daily eating created TWO big loads of dishes to wash…more time in the kitchen!
All of my day was not in the kitchen though…I actually got a bit done…balancing the checkbook, paying bills, ordering our NEW GARAGE DOOR (bye, bye last of the tax refund!), making vet appointments for the cats, cutting my hair, talking to my parents, watching some Brady Bunch, cross-stitching, watering the porch plants.
All in all I would say it was a productive AND fun day.
Now I’m sure we are going to watch something (either TV or a movie) after computer time.
Can’t wait for tomorrow…anniversary day 🙂
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
On Tuesday, I looked at the weather forecast for the remainder of the week and saw lots of “chance of rain.” Â Pretty much the only day that looked 100% clear was Wednesday. Â So I KNEW if I wanted to get my little butt to the beach, this was going to be the day.
So I got all my stuff together…(is it sad, or super organized of me to have a LIST for the beach!) and headed out at around 11 am.
Got to the beach (a small local one in Northampton) at 12 noon.
I had a lovely time…alternating between the water (which was chilly at first), sunning, reading, listening to music.
I tried to avoid getting a deep burn this time…at the first notice of my skin feeling tight, I sprayed on the sunscreen (love the spray stuff…so much less gloppy to apply).
I left at 4 pm, happy.
HOWEVER…I did NOT avoid a burn. Â It was less so than other years, but I don’t think I was able to get my back very well and my upper arms, legs, and face are burning tonight!
At least I have SOME color 🙂  (red > white, no?)
Anyways, it was a really nice feeling to actually be at the beach…there is just something about it I like so much.
Besides that, I feel like my vacation is kind of a bust.  I feel like it is sand running through my fingers…I want to hold on to it so much and enjoy it so much, but mostly I just feel like it is passing me by.  I HATE that feeling.  I want to relax and have fun, but I don’t know what to do for fun, and when I do relax, I feel guilty for not doing the MANY, MANY things that  need to be done around the house.  I don’t know if this is a hormonal thing, but lately I’ve been feeling more and more down…about stupid, silly stuff.  Maybe I am having my mid-life crisis!  I’m trying really hard to turn this around.  I keep thinking…tomorrow is a new day.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Where is the time going?? Â I can’t believe I have been on vacation for four days already…seems like it just started.
Today just flew by.
Woke up late somehow and then got ready to meet up with some co-workers at Red Robin for lunch. BTW, RR is NOT very vegetarian friendly in my eyes…mostly all meat entrees.  In fact I saw only two non-meat entrees…the veggie burger which I had last time I was there, and the mac and cheese with side salad which is what I had today.  Even if the food was nothing to write home about, the company was nice 🙂
After that it was home and then off to Target for the monthly visit. Managed to spend another $100 easy as pie. Â The best part of the visit…we bought a lamp…hopefully it is as nice as it looks on the box as we really NEED a new one.
A quick dinner of tacos again for dinner and now I’m actually relaxing a bit BEFORE I do the dishes…I’m sure I’ll regret that when I have to get up to do them!
The AC has been on all day…it is hot and humid out there today.
The plan is for another movie tonight…not sure what we’ll pick.
Monday, July 23, 2012
It doesn’t FEEL like much of a vacation yet! Â Mostly because I’ve been trying to still catch up with all the household tasks…never-ending I say!
Today I ended up accomplishing a lot:
3 loads of laundry (EVERYTHING clean!)
cleaned the downstairs bath
drove Kimm to meet with her clients
stopped at the vet to get Izzy her medicine and Charlie his food
stopped at the library to return books that were due
picked up needed coffee from Bed, Bath and Beyond (with $5 off coupon)
made dinner (tacos!!!)
did dishes and cleaned up kitchen (meaning cleared all stuff from counter)
did an educational thing for work (have 10 units on capnography to complete and I did one…only 9 more to go!)
And now, time to relax…we are going to watch a movie and have popcorn…High Crimes it is. Â Looks like a good suspenseful one!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Oh I sweat buckets today. Â Even though it was not as hot and humid as it has been, I was doing stuff all day long that brought on the sweat.
Sweat-inducing activities included…
…walking Izzy
…weeding the garden
…cleaning the front porch
…pulling up the rug from the basement with the help of Kimm’s parents
…hauling out said rug and other paraphernalia from the basement and the garage for our bulk pick up this week
When I finally got to hop in the shower it was wonderful!
Finished the night with pizza shared with Kimm’s parents and then just a relaxing time chatting on our front porch with Kimm’s parents (I actually got a bit of cross-stitch done at the same time…haven’t done that in a LONG time!).
SO glad to finally have all that stuff out for bulk pick up. Â We’ve been meaning to do that for quite a while. Â And finally no more carpet in the basement for Izzy to pee on and to just soak up the moisture.
A productive day for sure which makes me very happy 🙂
Okay, Kaye? 