Monthly Archives: November 2010

I had a physical this morning as part of renewing my life insurance policy which meant that I couldn’t eat after midnight last night since I had to be fasting for my blood work.

Ranger Rick Safety Tip:  Never schedule a physical the week after Thanksgiving.  Or for the day after you go to Trader Joe’s and they have their double creme brie on sale.

I was less concerned about the no food thing than I was about the NO COFFEE thing because drinking my quart cup of coffee is the first thing I do every morning as it keeps the children alive, but I did my best to hold it together until my appointment and I was SOOO draggy that my blood pressure only read 90 over 58 though once I stepped on the scales, I’m sure it went through the roof.

After I was poked and prodded, they sent me on my merry way which happened to go right by Bruegger’s Bagels and I stopped in to grab something to take to work and I really wanted to say “Egg, cheese and bacon bagel” but I’m trying to be sensible since I have three Christmas parties coming up in the next few weeks and I begrudgingly said “whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese” but when I got to the office where I still have no desk and took a bite, I discovered they’d schmeared it with herb spread instead of plain cream cheese and that was eighteen kinds of wrong and it sent me on a path of eating a jillion different things trying to get the herb taste out of my mouth.

I was so preoccupied about the bagel that when I went to the file room to put some records aways, I forgot the security code and didn’t know that if you kept punching in the wrong codes, it eventually freezes the whole system whereby no one can get in AND alerts Corporate Security that someone’s trying to break into the room.

Oops.

And then I came home and decided that I’d wipe the slate clean by going out for a run and came home and may or may not have sustained a shoulder injury trying to wiggle out of my compression bra undergarments.

People, it’s been a day.

I need a do-over.

And coffee first thing in the morning.

Have a nice day.

We left Thanksgiving morning to head to the mountains to be with family, but not before getting in a training run with Heather at 0:dark thirty.

My mood lightened tremendously when Heather popped out of her car wearing her blaze orange running shoes, which turned out to be helpful beacons as we navigated our way through the wooded, pitch-black trail.

And her bare legs and running skirt on a frigid morning meant we ran FAST.

We made it to the mountains by 1:00 and started meal preparations and sat down to a delicious dinner with slightly brown dinner rolls because someone forgot that bread rises and bakes faster at altitude.

Oops.

I would show pictures of the laden table but I was too busy filling my plate with stuffing and squash casserole to whip out the camera.  I do, however, have pictures of the aftermath.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching football, football, and more football (my sports-crazy father-in-law) and working puzzles (my sister-in-law and Mr. CPQ) and knitting (me, who neither watches football well, puzzles well or knits well, judging by the oversized rastafarian beanie I created).

We did venture out on Friday to go see Tangled at the little movie theater in town.

Then we traipsed back to the house and had a birthday party for my niece which is my one chance a year to give girly things, and I’m sure my sister-in-law won’t at all be unhappy with the Barbie blow dryer that blows real glitter all over the place.

And a good time was had by all.

Have a nice day.

We’re on our way to the mountains to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family but just wanted to wish y’all a wonderful day full of good food and fun times.

We’ve already had all sorts of adventure picking out road snacks at the gas station in Hickory because Mr. CPQ is incapable of driving more than two hours without stopping for one reason or another and by another I mean another round of eating.

We were stymied in our quest today because the McDonalds we stopped at was only serving breakfast items and there was a long discussion on Mr. CPQ’s side as he tried to explain to the lady that he had specifically waited to stop in after 10:30 so the line would be changed over so he could get fries and she explained back that it was Thanksgiving and they were only serving breakfast and this went back and forth for ever-lovin’ long and without resolution and thus we ended up getting chili cheese Fritos at the neighboring BP.

This post sure is going nowhere and taking its sweet time getting there. I bet you’re glad you took time to read it.

Anyway, there is no point other than to tell you that as we’ve been traveling down the road, I’ve been thinking about the things for which I am thankful and along with family, food, and clean gas station restrooms, I’m also thankful for you, my blog peeps, who have enriched my life so much this year.

Y’all are all that and a bag of chips.

Have a nice day.

1. I helped catch a criminal.

2.  I’d tell you all about it but this week is a ZOO and I have six minutes of available free time.

3.  I may or may not have used every available receptacle in the house to store the two GALLONS of chicken stock I made yesterday.

4.  We clearly don’t care for dry stuffing.

5.  I found out this morning that Travis knows all the words to “Living La Vida Loca” which made for a delightful ride to carpool.

6.  He also enjoys the Village People and has asked for a CD of their music for Christmas.

7.  I am not kidding.

8.  I’m super excited about my latest grocery store find.

9.  I made these cinnamon buns on Sunday.  They were all that and a bag of chips.

10.  Hopefully, I’ll have time to flesh out a full blog post between now and Christmas.

Have a nice day.

Sadly, I must report the demise of my cushy little corner office with a view. Okay, so it really wasn’t a corner office, more of a “tucked in the corner” kind of cubicle with padded gray walls and flourescent lighting but it did have a view of the parking deck and was conveniently located halfway between the snack room and the bathroom that was stocked with all sorts of free womanly supplies.

Gotta’ love working for a consumer products/pharmaceutical firm.

My group was scheduled for a move to a different floor and I showed up at the new digs only to find out that I didn’t have a desk that had been assigned and I tried not to feel like a fourth grader that didn’t get picked for kickball by squatting at a desk while they tried to find space for me but that only lasted an hour or so until the rightful owner showed up and made me move to a second desk.  So I unplugged and packed up and headed for that desk only to be asked to move by another person who also got transferred in from somewhere else and had a chart that showed her name on the cube so I gathered my things and headed to a third spot but didn’t even get in the door before someone else whose pay grade was higher than mine showed up and made themselves comfortable.  That was the last straw so I picked up my toys and went home and consoled myself with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, for you curious types.

Speaking later with my boss, he said I should probably work from home next week while they figure out the space thing and that’s fine with me since I had a little convo with my mother-in-law about who is bringing what next week to our family’s Thanksgiving meal and it looks as though I’m going to be assigned the stuffing, the sweet potato casserole, and the yeast rolls so I need some time spent in the kitchen getting those things cooked and ready for transport instead of playing musical chairs at the cube farm.

I had to laugh that my MIL entrusted me all the high calorie items because had they been given to my personal trainer/health nut sister-in-law (and I say that in the most positive and loving way possible), we’d be eating low-fat, low-sugar, whole-grain versions of all of the above and that dog just don’t hunt for the holidays.

Speaking of hunting, I’ve been prowling the Internet for sewing machines (I’m asking for one for Christmas) and I’m overwhelmed by the choices. I know many of you are crafty types and know a lot about machines, so do you have any recommendations on features to look for and/or what to avoid?  Right now I’m leaning toward the Brother CS-6000i.

Thoughts?

Have a nice day.

I grew up across the street from a bakery and one of my household chores was to wander over in the afternoon to buy provisions for our supper since my mother did  not believe we had officially eaten unless a bread product was on the table.

I love my mother.

I have gone back and forth about having bread at meals, mainly to keep extra calories out of ye olde diet, but my people love it and I’ve about given up withholding it from them because, honestly, they’re going to pick out my nursing home and I need to keep them happy.

Speaking of happy, Mr. CPQ wanted me to buy these for him.

Clearly, they scream “professional”.

Clearly, I did not buy them.

Moving on.

ANYWAY, there was much rejoicing at the table last night because the boys had this for dinner:

And today I made some yummy challah bread that turned out right pretty, if I do say so myself.

I’m hoping this guarantees the room next to George Clooney’s at the rest home.

Have a nice day.

1.  I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I just didn’t have anything of substance to report.

Not that it has ever stopped me before.

2.  This is the current wallpaper on my computer.

3.  I am currently obsessed with bread baking which in turn leads to bread eating which in turn leads to my pants not fitting.  I checked out a few baking books from the library over the weekend and today’s project includes braiding challah and making flake rolls from the dough that proofed overnight in the fridge.

The flake rolls are technically supposed to be butterflake rolls but the phone rang while I was in the middle of getting everything strung out and I completely forgot to put melted butter between the layers, so who knows if they’ll turn out or not.

I’m betting “not”.

4. I did not impress my co-workers today by leaving my orthotic insole in the middle of the hallway.

Apparently, they’re not meant to be used in mules.

5.  Every day at work I pass by this sign.

And every day it bugs me.

Have a nice day.