I had my end of rotation presentation today at work. If you don’t know me real well you might not guess that I get so nervous with presentations. Even the people I have worked with on this wouldn’t believe me when I said I get so nervous. I do. I can’t help it. Fortunately if you don’t know me real well you would probably not pick up on it. But unfortunately there were going to be a lot of people in the meeting that do know me well. I practiced my presentation. I made notes on every slide of what exactly I was going to say. I did a dry run with the immediate group and they gave suggestions. I practiced it with Matt – he had no clue what I was talking about, but he said it looked good. I locked myself in an office and read it out loud. I had this thing down. 10 o’clock here I come.
But then 9:30 rolls around. My stomach starts doing the twisty dance. I tell myself to calm down, I apparently don’t listen. The only lucky thing was that I had gotten Darcy to ok me standing at the back to present and run the computer. I know it’s not the usual, but I figured every little bit helps when you have nerves of cotton like mine.
I start the presentation. It goes pretty well but my voice starts to go wobbly. I have prepared myself with water and stop to take drinks, but it only minimally helps. I talk too fast, but can’t slow myself down. Yup pretty much usual for my presentations. I get through it and it switches to question and answer. This I am ok with. My presentations would go much smoother if people would interrupt me. Apparently that distracts me enough to keep me from being nervous.
In the end, the people who didn’t know me well didn’t think I sounded nervous. The people who do know me well were in shock. How could I be that nervous when I did all this work and know it better than anyone? Yeah it’s a mystery to me too. I think I did better than when I was in Shreveport, but Brittney wasn’t there to tell me. It had to have been better than my thesis defense – I am pretty sure my voice cracked on that one.
Either way my group took me out to lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack and as a reward to myself for at least getting through it I ate a ton of crab. The waitress even nicely tied a bib on for me since I was in my work clothes and all. Yum! After lunch I finished archiving all of my files and then packed up my stuff to go to my new office. I met a few people in my new group, but won’t really find out what I am doing until tomorrow. I am going to miss me old group a lot – I think it’s going to take me awhile to wean myself away from going there all the time. But at the same time I am excited for what my new project is.
Darcy you were a great mentor and I hope you can continue mentoring new hires for the rest of your career because it’s a sad thing for the newbies if you can’t. Thanks for all the instruction and encouragement.
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Be Nice in Traffic!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Today was almost marred by traffic. It was a rainy morning and the Beltway was full of drivers going 30 when the rain really wasn’t all that bad. I ended up going around a car then getting stuck in the right hand lane when traffic next to me backed up. The right hand lane before my exit is a merge lane – a legal merge lane – but forces you to merge in right before the exit. I usually avoid this lane because traffic is flowing and I hate having to merge in because Houston drivers are jerks.
This morning was no exception. I decide to be nice since people seem to have it out for mergers and don’t force my way up as far as I can. I pick out a spot behind a truck, two spots back from where I could go. You know what I mean here, right? Merging is like a zipper – the cars are the teeth, they line up in a certain order – everyone knows this. Anyhow as I am getting over to merge I notice a problem. The car behind the truck is not letting me in. I scoot up, he scoots up – he is like 2 ft away from the truck. This goes on for a reasonable amount of time – but most normal people usually let you in when the lane is getting too small. Not this guy, he not only makes a dangerous situation out of it, he honks at me. This gets me irritated – I am doing nothing wrong, I just want to merge and move on with life. I finally stop and merge behind him – but not without looking at him in disbelief! My adrenaline is going crazy over the whole ordeal.
Then miracle of all miracles this guy works for the same company – and we end up in the elevator together. I could have let it slide, but I so didn’t. I very politely said “Why wouldn’t you let me merge in?” He obviously had not recognized me… He came back with – anyone who makes that commute knows that those lanes merge. (The whole conversation only lasted a floor’s ride) I politely replied that I had let two car lengths go before trying to merge in. At this point I think I had flustered the poor guy because he got off the elevator at my floor. I pointed out it was my floor and got off the elevator. It wasn’t a dramatic conversation and I was still irritated when I got in, but don’t you know he will think twice every time he tries to block someone from merging. This is why I have a strict rule of not being a jerk driver close to work – you never know who the person in the other car is…
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I Can Walk 10,000 Steps!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Monday was the start of the walk-a-thon at work. It’s a contest that is designed to get us thinking about our health with a bit of incentive. We all got pedometers at a meeting and told that we would form teams (random) and the team with the highest score wins. It’s a pretty good prize too - $250 gift certificate for each member. And every week they give away prizes to the top 3 teams of the week. Then there are also personal prizes. All this for a mere 10,000 steps a day.
Well I thought it was a “mere” 10k steps a day. My first week wearing it – the practice week I got: 5288, 8014, 7608, 0, and 5741 – the zero was because I totally forgot to wear it one day. But starting today I’m not just letting myself down if I fail to reach 10k, I am letting a whole team down! Man, management is clever where I work!
My goal is to get at least 10,000 steps a day, maybe more. I don’t so much care about the prizes, but if I can get into the habit of exercising, maybe I can back into working out again once the month is over. The real winner here is my health – well that and Eliza since we will be taking a lot of walks! I’m going to try to make an excel spreadsheet (because I love Excel!) and keep track of my steps. Wish me luck!
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Cookie Day Version 2, Part 2
Sunday, January 28, 2007
We wake up in the morning and face the challenge of finishing the cookies we started yesterday. We still had to dip the shortbread, finish and ice the sugar cookies and make the brownies. Brittney wanted to be on the road by 4, so we got started. I made the brownies while she dipped the shortbread. I must say that while making brownie’s from scratch I decided that if these brownies weren’t the best ever, I was going back to the box. Brownies are a bit labor intensive.
Then we finished off the sugar cookies. I think Brittney and I must have had more fun picking out which shapes to use than anything. Brittney’s favorite was the train – Oh I mean the triceratops! =)
The homemade brownies (they were actually pretty good!)
The chocolate covered pecan shortbread:
Then we took the dogs to the dog park while the cookies cooled – they had to be neutral temperature to be vacuum sealed. Maddy had never been to the dog park, so Brittney was super excited. Maddy’s first experience went ok, but that’s probably more of a story for her momma to tell. Needless to say, Maddy didn’t get much further than this from Brittney the whole time:
Eliza once again forgot how to swim and this time didn’t seem to have the ability to remember. I think it might have been that the water was a little too cold, but she waded in to swimming depth to reach the stick I threw in – she just would not swim! It was a bit ridiculous – but funny. I had to assure the people around that she could swim, she just couldn’t remember that she knew. Otherwise I just look like a mean mom harassing my dog to swim when she is scared.
We got back in time for Brittney to shower herself and Maddy – both a bit muddy! I got everything all vacuum sealed. I tried my best to reduce smooshing and all that, but I am thinking Tom and others won’t care too much if the icing is smudged. Though I did cheat and not cut the Rice Krispies up. I mean they would probably just smoosh all back together anyway! Here is the grand total of all the cookies we made. The stack on the left is for Tom. The stack on the right is for a group of guys that include the son of a coworker of Brittney’s. We do what we can, right?
p.s. - I am going to try to add the recipes for all of the cookies, but it requires typing them in, not just copy and paste. But they were all so good, I might just do that for you!
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Cookie Day Version 2, Part 1
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Brittney came down for the weekend to go with me to see an old professor’s band play, but also to make cookies. I wanted to make more cookies for Tom since I had been so bad about writing and because there’s no much I can do for our soldiers into Iraq, but I can send cookies! We had big plans of going to the dog park, grocery shopping, making cookies and then going to see the band. The dogs were excited about the dog park (even though they didn’t really know we were going.
Too bad for the dogs that it rained all morning and the dog park got cancelled. We decided to get them groom instead but they only had time to groom Maddy – since she is smaller. Eliza went with us for a car ride instead. Brittney and I hit the grocery store first to get the supplies to make all the wonderful goodness. We had narrowed the wonderful selection of cookies to 6 – Sugar Cookies (so I can play with all of my new cookie cutters), Chocolate Dipped Pecan Shortbread, Brownies (from scratch!), Coffee Bean Cookies, Maple Cinnamon Pinwheels and Rice Krispie Treats.
We started by making the cookies that require the longest time chilling, so we actually started baking the Coffee Bean cookies while we made the Rice Krispies (since it doesn’t take long). I pull the first batch of cookies out of the oven and put the new one in while the first one cools for a minute. Then Brittney asks me why the cookies are smoking. I say I guess they are still cooking in the hot pan. I start pulling them off, but they are black! I pull the pan off the top of the stove and that is when I realize the problem. We didn’t turn the burner off after the Rice Krispies and I had stuck the pan right on it. The burn pattern on the bottom of the cookies was quite distinctive – as was the brown area on my Silpat. I’m not sure if this is permanent damage of not – I guess we will see.
We didn’t get finished with all of the cookies before we had to go out, but we did pick up Maddy, who looked so pretty with her new hairdo! She looked much better! =)
We went out to see my old professor and advisor, Janok play with his band. I have known since almost the day I met him that he plays the drums – and loves it! But I never have heard him play. They were playing at the Derrick Tavern. We picked up my friend from work, Jason and met my other friend Sarah there. The band was really good! The clientel at the Tavern were definitely not my type – and one lady in particular was so outlandish that we spent most of the time staring at her with unbelieving eyes. =) We stayed long enough for me to go say hi to Janok on a set break and my other friend Annie that was there. Then we called it a night due to smoke, crazy people and just being tired. (I would have had some pictures of the band and the cool stuff in the Tavern, but when I turned my camera on, it said ‘No Memory Card’. Grrrrr!)
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Oh Eliza
Friday, January 26, 2007
I made a roast chicken and awesome salad for dinner last night so I had some yummy leftovers for lunch. I think everyone was amazed at how healthy it was – ok so I might have a bit of a reputation at work for being a meat eatin carnivore. So sue me, I’m not a fan of vegetables – but I even put bell peppers in the salad! Go me! I am trying to lower the cholesterol, just don’t expect me to eat too healthy just yet. =)
I get home and Eliza is hiding from me – which has been happening a lot recently – but this time she had a reason to be hiding from me. I found this in my bedroom:
That was some supplies I bought last week to make a photobook for my friend Theresa who is getting married. Apparently Eliza did not like the backgrounds and styles I had picked out. I do have to day that Eliza is very good at looking all sorry and upset:
While I was cleaning up the mess and internally grumbling about my dog who randomly destroys things I found an outlook in the mess that cannot be forgotten.
She’s good for that!
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My Protector!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Tonight was bowling night. I was actually bowling pretty well, I almost got a turkey until I fudged it up. Oh well. Anyhow I was
sitting at my table, minding my own business when one of the waitresses came up to our table. Kinda weird I guess. But then she
said that some guy wanted to buy me a drink. Say what? I stammer out something about having mono and not being able to drink. I mean
yes, I probably should have said I was married first but my brain usually checks out when I am put on the spot. She said ok and walked
off. This lead to my team making fun of me for a good half hour. Every time I flubbed a ball they would tease me about being
distracted. I called Matt to tell him about the sorta weird compliment. He asks if I was wearing my ring - which I was. He said he really needed
to get me a new ring - a bigger ring. I would never argue with that statement. But since this is only the second time a guy didn't
notice my ring, I think I have a few more instances to go. *sigh*
Then I get home and decide to go up the stairs in the front and back down in the back to boost my step count a bit. Well I am walking
up my stairs and I hear Eliza barking. Weird. Then I notice someone at my door - I assume the barking means they are knocking. I am
cautious when I am coming down the stairs. The guy has walked away from my door but stopped when he saw me coming. He was pretty young.
He asked if he could ask me a crazy question. I saw maybe. He asks if I am a Nice or Mean person (nice obviously). I saw excuse me?
He said he is playing a game where he asks 50 people if they are mean or nice. I immediately get it - he's selling magazines.
I have been suckered into that once and ended up paying way too much money for magazines I didn't want. They pretend to be neighbors
but they aren't. They are never up front - they always say it's a game or a contest. Only when they have your attention do they whip
out the magazine list. I've fallen for the original line in a parking lot, but told them to go away when I figured it out. I swear
people selling magazines are on the top of my pet peeve list. Anyhow back to guy - he asks again if I am a nice person (keep in mind
Eliza is still barking) I say "No, I'm not. And neither is my dog" Then I go in my apartment and try to calm Eliza down. She was so
worked up about it. She even destroyed a piece of paper to show her protection skills. Haha, at least I hope she didn't do it before
the knocking. My Hero! =)
Girl's Night tomorrow!
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Car Woes
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
I was going to write a blog last night, but Matt called me while I was working on dinner and said his car had just died. I needed to
head his way and rescue him. The problem was that he was about 2.5 hours away. *sigh* I put away the bread dough I had started and
the duck I was thawing, then packed Eliza and I into the car. We get Conroe and Matt calls yelling about how he is McGyver and how
awesome he is. We decide that I should keep heading north just in case. I finally stopped in Madisonville to wait for him. After
the whole ordeal, I drove long enough to get to Dallas but without getting anywhere. I'm telling you I should have known this was
coming because my headlight burned out this morning. I swear those things go out all the time - luckily I started carrying a spare!
I get home from work today, pulling into the garage and I notice the other headlight is out! What??? Unbelievable! Obviously I am
jinxed when it comes to headlights! We make a run to Auto Zone to pick up a new battery for me, new headlight, and some part for
Matt's car that was the broken part. Don't ask me, something about distributor thingie.
But today was all about the awesome dinner I had planned the night before. The bread I started yesterday was useless, so I threw it
out. I replenished my starter, but I had no idea whether or not it would recover for today. I mixed up the dough and put it to rest
and rise. Mmmmm...
I get to work cutting up the duck - realizing too late that I was supposed to brine the duck. Oh well, maybe next time. I am supposed
to cut this young duck into quarters. I tried doing it with a knife, but that didn't work so well. The little ribs I cut through were
stabbing me quite painfully. I finally grab the scissors and go to town. I got the quarters apart, but then I realized I was supposed
to take the wings off first. Argh! It took forever to gets those wings off, I was cutting, snipping and pulling for a good ten minutes!
Matt comes over to help after I was done chopping the duck to pieces, thanks hon!
The bread comes out of the oven in time for the duck to go in. It looked so good, but it got a bit taller than I expected. That's why
the top got a little brown. It was about a half inch from the electric coils. *sigh* Oh well, but it tasted so good!
All in all the dinner was a royal success! The duck was a bit drier than I would like, but that is probably because of the lack of
brining. Matt loved the duck and wants to try it again next time he is down. Maybe next time I'll get around to making the salad. Oh
yeah and the sourdough bread wasn't sour at all. I'm hoping it's just because I used part of it the day before and replenished it with
the normal flour/water mixture. Hopefully it will taste like it should next time
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Birthday Weekend
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Thursday and Friday were work as usual. There was a health fair at work on Friday and some of the managers on our floor had helped set
it up, so they encouraged us to go. I decided I would go since they had free cholesterol screens. My cholesterol has been creeping up
since the first time I gave blood in highschool - 160, 200, 224. But I had never actually gotten it screened with the HDL/LDL, so I
figured it would be a good opportunity. It takes about 7 minutes once you get your finger pricked. I went over and got my BMI while
I was waiting - a nice normal BMI. Then I went to go get my results... and I think they should prepare you for bad results better
than just handing you the paper.
Total - 238
HDL - 76
LDL - 137
You can look up the ranges if you want, but they are all of the edge of boderline high and high. One of tha ladies suggested I should
probably go see a doctor since I am the ripe old age of 24 and with the cholesterol of an obese, older man. No offense to any older,
obese men, but people refuse to believe that my levels are real. Anyhow, it's all my mom's fault - this is hereditary. I decided to
try taking fish oil, niacin, and red yeast rice along with maybe some oatmeal, cheerios, and oat bran for two months and get retested.
If it doesn't improve at that point I may consider changing my diet. Maybe...
Saturday Brittney and I met up for breakfast again then on to shopping. We went to Williams and Sonoma which is possibly the best
kitchen store apart from the price tags. She had a gift card, so we had fun looking at everything, but she eneded up buying a set
of 10 nesting glass bowls. I am jealous. Though I did finally buy my rolling pin bands so I can roll out my cookies with precision
and ease! Yay! It was a fun trip, though I doubt that this poor bird stuck in the store felt the same way. I told him if he flew
down to my hand I would carry him out but he didn't trust me. So I took his picture instead!
Then Matt and I had two parties that night - one at his relative's house and one that was a get together for our birthday. I managed
to make myself sick by drinking coke. I know better than drinking that much coke through a straw, but I did it anyway. The problem is
I can't burp - I've burped maybe 4 times in my whole life. So if I drink carbonated drinks too fast or through a straw I get gas
build-up in my stomach and have no way to get rid of it. This leads to a generally horrible feeling. I tried taking Alka-Seltzer -
yeah that made things 10 times worse. I finally went and laid down in the car. I swear my body is shutting down at the ripe old age
of 24. I might just have to swear off cokes for good now. I still think Mountain Dew might be ok - it's not very carbonated. So if
anyone has every seen me beating my coke glass on the table to make the bubbles pop - now you know why. I prefer a mostly flat coke
anyday to dealing with massive tummy-ache.
Oh I also finally got the donut this morning that I have been craving since I got sick with Mono. I even got a chocolate milk to go
with it. It was wonderful and delicious - it almost made up for the worst birthday ever this year. =)
Sorry it's missing a few bites, I almost forgot to take a picture of it for you guys! Silly me!
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Ice!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
We've been keeping a careful eye on the weather down here in Houston. Most people here (myself included) have had few, if any,
opportunities to drive on ice so it creates a dangerous combination. A few people didn't come in to work on Tuesday because it was
supposed to be icy - but that never happened. I left a bit early that day because the pink blob representing sleet was getting a
little too close to my apartment. But I went to bed before things got too nasty - not the case for when I got up.
I got up the first time at 6, I looked out the window and saw ice on the trees, BBQ grills, etc. Plus it was still raining. I reset
the alarm for 7 thinking maybe the sun would melt things out. I got up and checked the news - all reports of accidents, freeways
closed due to ice and already one fatality. In the words of the news anchors - if you don't have to leave your home, Stay Home! I
am not one to argue with news anchors, so I set my alarm for 8 and go back to bed. I finally get up and shower and eat breakfast -
I call my coworker Jason (who is both from Montana and Michigan) to see if he has braved the ice since he is one of the few of
us that has been around ice his whole life. He is still at home, so I tell him to call me if he goes in and report on road conditions.
I putz around the place, do the dishes, eat breakfast, etc. I feel like I should be at work. I really want to go in - I don't want
to be the employee that uses any chance to not to go to work - Mono, ice - you get the picture. Jason finally calls around 10 and
says the roads are wet, but not icy. Woohoo! I put on my work clothes and head out. The entrance to the Beltway is blocked off, so
I have to get to work the long way, but it doesn't take all that much time. I get there safely and notice that the garage is fuller
than I would have expected - I find out later that they blocked off the upper layers of the other garage because of the ice. Safety
First!
I only got to work a half day, but it was well worth it to be one of the employees that came in. Our little group was mostly there
even if we were straggling in at random times. The weather is 35 right now and supposed to be a high of 43 tomorrow, so work should
be back to usual. Yay for work! (I am so weird sometimes!)
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Back to Work
Monday, January 15, 2007
I got to go back to work today!!! I have not been to work since December 22nd of last year! I had to check in with our health department and they put me on a sedentary
restriction - but that's not too hard when I sit at a computer most of the day. Everyone was really happy to see me and ask how I was doing. Apparently mono is known
to make people lose weight so everyone expected me to be skeletal (obviously not the case). I only had 122 emails to check - most of it was either meeting invitations
that had already expired or notes of databases that had been changed, so it went fairly fast. I was doing fine until about 3ish then I got super tired. I'm not sure
if it was from the crappy sleep last night or the mono - but I made it until 4 before going home. Yay!
Of course my dog had some fun for me today. She refused to do her business yesterday and then hid under the stairwells this morning instead of going to the bathroom.
Then I noticed a little spot of something on my bed that under investigation turned out to be the most disgusting smelling substance on earth - seriously I almost
threw up! Then I noticed she was seriously licking her butt. Hmmm... I mention this to a few people today and the consensus is something wrong with anal glands - gasp!
I usually would look this up online, but I just do not feel comfortable typing "anal glands" on a work computer. So I just call the vet and schedule an appointment.
I hear that people can do it at home but that is a big "No Way!" on my part.
I go to the vet and try to explain the situation without saying "anal" but it's pretty much impossible. We go in and explain to the vet who was pretty cool and super
nice. They take my poor puppy in the other room because of the smell and come back pretty fast. Turns out she had pretty much taken care of the problem herself with
all the licking (gross). They ended up not charging me for it, so I went ahead and got her the Bordatella shot she needed. No reason to waste a trip to the vet. She
was not as excited about the whole thing as I was. No idea why...
On a happier note, I am baking bread! I am doing it the Alton Brown way and started the yeast this morning before I went to work, then starting the mixing and rising
process when I got home. It didn't rise as much as I thought it should - but who am I to judge the bread? Maybe that's all it can accomplish, and that's ok with me!
I finally have it in the oven and it smells delicious. I even got to use my new bread pans, so exciting! In other news, my attempts to catch wild yeast are not going
so well I am making the sourdough starter with yeast from the jar. I will try again to catch the wild stuff when it is warmer outside, maybe the yeast are too cold to
try and find the tempting home I made for them.
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Nice Weather
Sunday, January 14, 2007
And by nice I mean horrible. I was hanging out just fine in Dallas when I start hearing reports of freezing rain. Hmmm... probably should keep an eye on that. I check the
weather periodically - while Dallas is falling below 35 degrees, Houston is in the 70's. Interesting. By Saturday morning, I decide that I need to leave Saturday
afternoon. Sunday is supposed to be freezing rain and I do not want to drive back in that. It's raining cats and dogs in Dallas at the moment, but no freezing rain. I
meet Brittney for lunch - only the 3rd time I've seen her since Christmas I think. On the way back the sides of the roads are starting to look like rivers. Maybe I'll
pack up my stuff. As soon as Matt gets home I am going to leave. Change that - as soon as Matt gets home and we wake up from our impromptu nap, I'll go.
The drive back was horrible. It rained the whole time. I was in no hurry to get in a wreck, so I stayed in the right hand lane and drove as fast as was safe. Most of
the time I was going 55. But the further south I went, the worse the rain got. At one point I was driving 25 mph being passed by idiots going 60. Apparently they can
magically see through the rain that I can't - maybe their wipers have a "warp" speed setting. Eventually I get tired of being blinded by people passing me and pull
off the road. I call Matt and tell him where I am so he can check the radar - apparently I am smack dab in the center of a huge red blob of rain. He tells me to wait
about 10 minutes until it clears and then go - or I will be swamped by the next red blob coming through. This plan works well enough to get me home safely. Whew.
Then today I set my alarm to get up at 8 - I need to prepare for going back to work. I manage to snooze until 9:30 - alright I may have turned it off at some point.
Give me a break! Then I decide I need to buy groceries in case we get slammed with bad weather. But first I need to finish unpacking the car and put away my new kitchen
toys. Well then I need to rearrange this and clean that. Somehow I decide to start spring cleaning early. But I got so much done! I fixed up my kitchen so it actually
all fits! Even my new stuff! Yay! Cleaned out the fridge and cabinets and made room under the sink for my larger items. Then I pulled my two plants inside - they don't
like the cold weather anymore than I do.
Then I go to Wal-Mart - have a panic attack when I realize I didn't shut my garage. Go back to my apartment and shut it. Go to Kroger's and buy food - including a nice
porterhouse steak! Hey, they were having a sale. They were also having a sale for Lean Cuisine. Buy 6 for $10 - and it you bought all 6, you would get a free gallon
of ice cream! Does anyone else see the problem here? I did not buy 6, just one! (My favorite!) Then I realized I didn't have a cast iron skillet - a neccesity to cook
my steak. I stop by Ace Hardware and the polite young man informed me they did not have any skillets, but they sure had a lot of hardware - I think he was trying to
be cute. I finally get a skillet at Academy, and it's a beauty! 12" of steel! I take the skillet home and properly season it. The smell isn't the best and it kinda
set off the fire alarm, but it sure cooked up one heck of a steak!
What a good day, all the cleaning and shopping and good food! Ok, so I still have a pile of clothes in the closet I need to hang up. I might also need to vaccum half
the apartment, but I prefer to look on the glass half full side of life. I had enough energy to do all this. That means I am getting better, much better. I would have
never thought I would be this glad to be going back to work, but I am! I am super excited! Hopefully my coworkers won't harass me too much, but I am thinking they
probably will. It's alright, I can take it! I'm typhoid Jen. =)
Sorry there are no pictures of my awesome skillet or steak, I left my cool new camera in Dallas. Le sigh!
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Sick Days #3-9
Friday, January 12, 2007
Sick Day #3 - Thursday, January 4
Eliza started the day off with the sound of dry heaves. I stumble out of the bed to pull her into the safety of bathroom linoleum. She barfs and I make her sit in the bath-tub while I clean it up. She looks pitiful, but that little bit was it. I have now decided that maybe she is lactose intolerant and therefore no more milk for Eliza. She does not like this new development and runs to me every time I finish my cereal with a desperate look on her face. *sigh*
My Name is Earl and The Office both have new episodes - the highlight of my day. Right at 7 I try to tune to NBC, but it's not there. I freak out and call Matt - he suggests trying to turn the cable box back on. I do and it works! I miss the first part of the episode, but not too much. Then the box turns off in the middle of The Office! Argh! It turns back on and I catch the end - luckily NBC puts new episodes online (though I haven't watched them yet).
Sick Day #4 - Friday, January 5
Supposedly this is my last sick day and I am super excited. I spend most of the day in bed, then watch a ton of episodes of the Dog Whisperer. Then the 70's Show - which I love! It was actually the most boring day, but no big deal since it was the LAST sick day! I email my admin that I will try to come back to work and she tells me I need a return to work permit from a doctor. So I call my local clinic but they can't get me in until Monday. No biggie - I can work Monday afternoon!
Saturday, January 6
Matt comes down today after eating lunch with his dad and uncle. He shows up around 11 - I'm still in bed. He just hops in to nap. We don't do much - though we do get dinner and drive around to look at houses. He finally found the neighborhood he had wanted to show me. I love it! It's built around a fake lake, so that every house backs up to water and has a dock. I want to live there so bad - but only if they don't mind if the girls swim. Well that and it was a bit expensive. We watched the Bourne Identity, but I was too tired to watch the supremacy too.
Sunday, January 7
Happy 24th Birthday to Me!!!
Matt gets up to take the girls for a walk and makes some cinnamon rolls I had in the fridge. After eating the rolls I decide more sleep is in order. I have already informed Matt that I have become a pro-sleeper, but he still thinks he is better. Around 1-2 he tells me to get out of bed and calls me a lazy bum! Haha, I told him! We go to Target and get me my birthday present - a Stir Crazy Popper! YAY!!! We use it before he has to go back to Dallas and it is awesome! I'm going to use it all the time!
Sick Day #5 - Monday, January 8
I go to the doctor - my first attempt at driving in a while. I get there ok, feeling a bit icky. I see the doctor and tell him the ER story - he listens to all the organs and looks in my ears, etc. He asks if I know about the spleen - I do - no strenuous activity for 6 weeks because it could rupture my spleen. Then he informs me that I am contagious for 18 months - as in no eating or drinking after anyone or kissing... what??? He then tells me he wants to make sure the pneumonia is gone and check my liver. I go over for the necessary blood work and X-rays.
I get back to the room and he says the pneumonia is gone, though my lungs will be irritated from it for awhile. Then he says well you are here for a return to work slip. I say yes. He asks about my job, I say it's all computer - very unstrenuous. He says well you've only been out for a week, mono generally takes a recovery of 2-3 weeks. He says he wants me to take another week off. This seriously bums me out. I call Matt and he thinks I'm crying - which I'm not, I'm just stressed and still congested.
I call work and tell them the bad news. I decide that if I can't go to work, that I am going back to Dallas. At least that way I have someone to take care of me if I need it. I pack up and go home! (Unfortunately, I left my suitcase of clothes in Houston... luckily I planned on washing my dirty laundry so I have enough to survive the week.)
Sick Day #6 - Tuesday, January 9
Matt has today off so our big plan is to make BBQ. I started watching all my Alton Brown DVD's and we decided to try and smoke a pork shoulder/butt. We got the meat the night before at Central Market and prepped it in a brine. We pulled it out of the brine this morning and then stuck it in the smoker. He smoked it for about 4 hours, then stuck it in the oven for a few more hours (it was his job to make the meat). His parents were coming over to eat so he was really nervous that he would screw it up. He keep saying maybe I should have a back-up plan - I told him pizza was the back-up plan. I even made monkey bread - though I cooked it a little too long because it was my first time and I didn't want it to be gooey inside.
Dinner was good! While he was finishing it up, I sat with the in-laws and watched Alton Brown DVD's. They seemed to like it - though I found out where Matt got his dislike of lamb. Of course his dad didn't like quiche or rare meat either - both of which I have convinced him otherwise. =)
Sick Day #7 - Wednesday, January 10
Matt was off again today. We took a jaunt up to Allen to go to the Kitchen Outlet store. I got a few things I wanted for the kitchen - especially the glass brownie dish I need to try to make fudge. Matt even got something - a coffee press. We saved on dinner by eating leftovers. Oh and he dropped my car off to get the alignment fixed!
Sick Day #8 - Thursday, January 11
Matt worked, so I got to sleep in. Yay! I made monkey bread again - which Matt has now dubbed Monkey Brains - for him to eat for breakfast so I could safely sleep in. I spent the morning do much of nothing. We took the dogs for a walk when he got home.
Then we met my parents for dinner so they could give me my birthday presents - they had some for Matt too! We finally got to go to a place Matt had been trying to take me for years, but had always been closed. I got a new book - Brother Odd - that I am very excited about! And more kitchen stuff, two bread pans! I can't wait to try them out back in Houston!
Sick Day #9 - Friday, January 12
I've managed to pare down my sleeping to 10 hours a day. Today I looked through some Home & Garden magazines the MIL brought over. I cut out some pictures of ideas for future house, garden and some nifty recipes. Then I decided I need to update my website. Currently I am typing away while watching SpongeBob Squarepants. Oh and they just showed popcorn... maybe I should go make some! Yum!
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Sick Day #2
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
After sleeping for about 17 hours with a slight break for breakfast then lunch/shower, I finally got up. Eliza doesn’t seem to mind sleeping in with me all day as long as I make sure to take a break to walk her. She was walking all around my head and trying to lick me so I said Eliza lay down! She then proceeded to lay her head on my neck… how cute!
My coughing has gotten quite violent today, which I suspect is actually a good thing. And I’ve eaten more, which is good. My favorite part of the day is the fuzzy socks my mother-in-law gave me – along with Matt’s gorilla slippers he is letting me borrow. Least favorite part was that the maintenance guys decided that today was lawn mower/blower day – luckily I was tired enough to sleep through it. =)
Random thoughts of the day:
Eliza ate a carrot! Or at least a little piece if one – maybe she is part rabbit, she is fuzzy!
Why has Alton started measuring flour by weight? I do not have a fancy smancy scale! Well you know what, Mr. Fancy Pants? I already have an awesome cinnamon roll recipe, just ask my dad!
I am addicted to the Dog Whisperer show – that guy is amazing. There are these crazy wacked out dogs and he comes in and has them behaving just by saying tssss and touching them. Ok, it might be more involved than that, but it you have the National Geographic channel, you should watch it – it is truly amazing. I am trying out all the methods on Eliza – she doesn’t mis-behave that much, so I am working on the barking when people run up and down the stairs. She seems confused, but stop barking.
Ed Note – I know I called him Mr. Fancy Pants, but I still love Alton! I don’t mean it!
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Sick Day #1
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
I managed to make the drive back to Houston last night and immediately called in sick. I felt on the verge of severe illness the whole drive, but I made it. I left a voicemail with my boss telling him why I would not be in and then said I would call today with more details. After being in bed 12 hours and actually sleeping most of it, I called in to work.
I told my boss all the details of getting sick and going to the hospital and what the diagnosis was. I said I wasn't even sure how many sick days I had, but he said that the company was pretty good with time off for illnesses - which this is a doozy of an illness. I told them they might want to disinfect my desk - unless they want sick days too. They wished me a speedy recovery but told me they would rather not be infected - ie stay home!
I then called my admin to see how many sick days I have. I told her I was sick - which she said was pretty obvious from the way I sounded. She asked if I had everything I needed, I said I needed food and was going to go grocery shopping later. She absolutely forbid it and made me promise to email her a grocery list. I did. She informed my supervisor of my mono/pneumonia and he said to stay home and get plenty of rest (okie dokie!). True to her word, Abbie showed up after work with food. I don't think I could ever thank her enough for that - but I tried by giving her some of my home-made jam - mono free!
I still have no idea how many sick days I have, but I think they don't want me there until I am at least not hacking and coughing everywhere. I spent most of the day in bed, standing up for too long just makes me feel woozy. I managed to take Eliza for two walks - one to get the mail, and one to pay rent. She thinks I am really boring:
When I finally decided maybe I could watch TV, my cable wouldn't turn on. I call the cable company and they give me the great news that my cable box is broken AND they won't have any new boxes until at least next week. Of all the times for it to break! I plugged the cable into the TV and I can get channels under 100, but I have no TV remote, so I have to stand there to change channels. Basically I didn't watch much TV. Especially since you can't pause, rewind or fast-forward it - where's the fun in that? I decided napping was more fun.
I also tried to make grits for the first time today. They were a bit watery, but tasted pretty good.
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Happy New Years!!!
Monday, January 1, 2007
While some people may be having good times with parties that have the cutest little finger foods, I am partying with my new "friends"
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