Birthday

I just spent the last week in Utah for my birthday.  It was fabulous weather; I don't think I've ever had a really warm birthday (in the low 60s/high 50s).  Anyways...

We meant to fly out on Wednesday evening, but flying standby can be awful.  We had to fly out Thursday morning.  I flew threw Atlanta and Jared flew through Detroit.  We both barely got on the flights to Salt Lake City by the skin on our teeth.  I'm just glad we were able to make it out.  Some funny things while at the airport: I had to take Gizmo potty outside in Atlanta.  Going back through security took forever and almost caused me to miss my flight.  Fact number two: a big snow storm fell over Wisconsin and Michigan (mainly Michigan).  Jared said he couldn't see the runway from the windows in the airport.  They had to de-ice the plane making his flight late (and I arrived in SLC an hour before him).

Wasatch Range in Salt Lake City.

Anyways, we spent most of our time in Utah visiting family.  We saw all of the new nephews.  And then we visited with some friends and saw their babies.  So many new babies, yeesh.  For those wondering when our babies are going to make an appearance: don't hold your breath.  It'll be another five years (I'm having too much fun spoiling myself).

Cortnie and I in an Outhouse at the Playhouse.

My mom did a girls' night at the Desert Playhouse.  We watched a Phantom of the Opera spoof.  For being a family-friendly non-alcoholic event, it was pretty fun to watch.  While I definitely enjoy the Comedy Club in Madison (with the alcohol), I could see this Playhouse being the Utah-version (clean-cut and modestly funny).

Our hotel room had a foosball table and a mini-golf green.  It was awesome!

We spent my actual birthday up in Logan.  We decided to stay at Anniversary Inn and took a tour of the rooms to pick the one we wanted.  We thought we'd try a hike in Logan Canyon, but the trails were too muddy.  We stooped at the university, ate some ice cream, bought some Aggie-wear, and wandered around campus.  For the most part, Logan hasn't really changed.  And I'm still glad I didn't stay there.

Mountain range in Logan.  I really miss my mountains.

It was kind of bittersweet going home.  I really enjoy not working, being lazy, and seeing family.  I definitely miss that while living in Madison.  And I've worked this weekend trying to pick up overtime (to fund the vacation we just finished).  I'm also really annoyed with the weather out here.  After being catered with warm weather, I can't stand the harsh winter that's still here (it's in the single digits still).

Just staying alive doing the usual.  And praying for warm weather...

Finger Surgery

Over two weeks ago, I had surgery on my middle left finger.  As you are all aware, I have amniotic band syndrome.  If you want to read some things I've written, check here and here.  There's lots of internet resources to explain the syndrome if you don't quite understand it (or ask me in person, I have an awesomely rehearsed spiel that I can give because I've told numerous people before).

Anyways, this post is going to be about my experience with the surgery since the only other surgery I have had as an adult is oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth (and to put it bluntly, it was hell - the teeth surgery).

Thursday morning, Jared and I showed up at the outpatient surgery place.  The nurse checking me in let me know it'd be a day of luxury and people waiting on me (to which I immediately rolled my eyes).  I hadn't eaten anything in over twelve hours, so I was kind of hungry.  After changing into the infamous hospital gown (sorry no pictures), I met with the anesthesiologist resident who explained the nerve block they were going to use on me.  I also found out that I was going to be awake during the procedure (how comforting).

The resident returned with a doctor-in-training to put the iv in.  If you don't know me, I have the worst veins possible.  When I donate blood, I usually have to have the most experienced needle-poker-inserter possible because my veins are hard to find, they roll when a needle comes near, and they just plain don't like needles.  Anyways, the residents (or whatever) worked on trying to find a good vein to stick the iv in.  Since they had to put it in my right hand, I had to sit up on the bed while they did this.  The newbie put an anesthetic on my skin and proceeded to guide a needle into my vein.  After feeling the first tug of pain from the needle, my vision began to go black around the edges and all I could see was Jared.  Apparently, the color must have drained from my face and the resident realized I was about to blackout.  So they had to pull the needle out and let me lie down and attempt to calm down.

At this point, it wasn't just my vision that was blacking out.  My hearing had gone as well.  Yes, my body in extreme distress just decides to pretend nothing's happening by shutting down.  Did I mention I was also hungry?  That wasn't helping my situation.  After the second attempt by the newbie to get my iv in, the resident had to take over and select a different vein that turned out to be more successful.  Hardest part of the surgery was now over.

Did I mention that having fluids from an iv enter your body is the weirdest thing?  It's also super cold because the fluid is at room temperature while the body's like 25 degrees warmer.  As soon as fluids started entering my body, my shaking hands stopped shaking, and my vision/hearing returned to normal.

Anyways, on to the surgery.  I was wheeled to a small-closet-like room where they inserted the nerve block.  They mentioned that I would get that good feeling where I'd have no care in the world.  I'd also probably suffer a little bit of amnesia.  Whatever, I didn't care at this point.  I just remember they kept poking my arm asking me if I could feel that.  I kept saying yes (but I must have eventually said no, right?).

Away from the closet we went and into the operating room.  All I remember was it being super bright, white and country music (at least I think it was country, the amnesia could have kicked in by then).  They pulled my arm away from me and covered me with a blue cloth (I'm assuming this was to keep me away from the action).  The last thing I remember feeling in my arm is them wiping it down (probably with iodine or some other heavy cleaning agent) and taping something to it.  The people monitoring the anesthetic sat with me the whole time.  Every few minutes they'd ask if I was okay.

I think the first time they asked if I was okay, I answered in the calmest, deadest voice, "I hear saws."  Apparently that wasn't a good response because they jumped into action with "Raise the dosage" and must have raised my anesthetic or whatever it was.  I didn't care.  My eyes immediately closed and I was thinking about swimming in blue skies (did I mention the cloth covering me was blue?).

The doctors working on my finger did a lot of talking along with the surgery-stuff.  But the only thing I remember hearing coherently was "Oh, she'll like that" towards the end.  I can only assume that was in regards to the color of wrap they used to cover my splint; it was green.

I was wheeled back into my recovery cubicle where Jared was waiting.  I felt great; this surgery was nothing.  They gave me graham crackers.  Those were the best tasting graham crackers I've ever had.  And they got me up and walking, and asked if I was ready to go home.

Before releasing me, they went through a lot of stuff, like when the nerve block should wear off, keeping my arm elevated, etc.  Truthfully, I was thinking about going home more than I was paying attention.  Which is probably why they were looking at Jared while going over everything.  I was given oxycodone for the pain and sent home.

Did you know that an arm is kind of heavy?  With the nerve block, I had no control over my arm.  I remember sitting on the couch and adjusting my position only to watch my arm flop over on its side.  My fingers were slightly bent in a resting position, but they felt super stiff.  And no matter how hard I tried, I could not move my fingers.

The rest of that Thursday went by pretty normally all things considered.  And then I took a pill and went to bed thinking this surgery was easy and awesome.  Fast-forward to one in the morning and I'm awake.  My fingers are twitching.  My thumb and fore-finger are moving.  But for some reason, I can't move my pinky which is throwing alarm bells (my pinky is what keeps me functioning).  But never mind that, I'm in pain.  The worst pain ever.

I grab my arm, get out of bed, and proceed to look for Jared.  He unfortunately shut the door on me, and it's very hard to open a door when your functioning hand is holding the non-functioning one.  Through my sleepy-pain-filled mind, my functioning hand let go of the other one to open the door.  Good thing that my elbow had gained enough sensation to hold itself up (while my wrist immediately plopped towards the floor).

I don't think I've ever cried that much over pain.  Jared had me take two pills and waited until I fell back asleep.  Did I mention your only supposed to take oxycodone every six hours?  I woke up at five in the morning and took more pills.  I believe I was taking on to two pills every four hours for the first day.

Then I was up at 6:30 and awake.  So I figured I'd get up, take my pills, and try to watch something while ignoring the pain.  That first walk from the room to the couch was hard.  Dizziness and nausea assaulted me.  I kind of flopped into the couch and kind of hoped Jared would wake up soon to carry me to the bathroom (because I had to pee).

Oxycodone sucks.  I don't know why people would want to take this recreationally.  It's like having the world's worst hangover ever and still having excruciating pain.  In my opinion, it doesn't work like it should.  I called one of the nurses and told them the medicine wasn't working.  They informed me that I was on the heaviest medication possible, the side effects sucked but the pain would be much worse if I quit taking the pills.  They also told me all I had to do was get through the first 48 hours, and my pain would begin to subside.

On this day, I began to question my sanity as to why I'd agree to get surgery in the first place.  I had no recollection of how much pain you'd experience after finger surgeries (and I've been through many over twenty years ago).  The only memory I have is me crying at night, and my mom giving me codeine or something (and using weirdly bent hangers in an attempt to scratch my arm under the cast).

Fast forward a week, and I got to see my finger for the first time with the splint and gauze off.  My first reaction was, "I look like Frankenstein."  It was in reference to the stitches.  I couldn't look at my finger.  However, my ring finger and pointer finger could feel that my middle finger was now straight.  My ring finger now had a whole lot of range of motion without bumping into the middle one.  And my fore finger felt a little crowded now.

The doctor checked my finger, someone removed the stitches (which was another painful moment - I still have the bruises from removing the stitches), and then I had a couple of splints custom-made for me.

When I got home, I truly looked at my finger.  It's so different.  And once I noticed where the incision marks were, I had to quit looking at it and put it back in its splint.

Was the surgery worth it?  I sure hope so, but I think only time will tell.  Yes, my middle finger is now straight and doesn't move when bumped on its own.  It will never again mistakenly scratch my pinky and give it painful open-sores.  However, there are two wires in my finger that I swear I can still feel.  And if I put pressure on my finger, I swear I can feel the wires move.  I'm hoping my finger's still in the process of healing, and those wires will be set more in place once my finger's fully-healed.

But now I have to relearned everything.  I work in a lab where I use my hands all of the time.  I'll have to relearn to how to type with my middle finger (since it's now a key set over, it'll have to cover a new set of keys while my pinky becomes responsible for more keys).  I'll have to relearn how to play the piano.  I'll have to relearn how to play the violin.  How to hold a bowling ball when I go bowling.  Just so much it's overwhelming.  And time's not going any quicker to help the healing process, but I guess I'll just have to have patience and trust that I can relearn everything.

Some pictures:

My hands before the surgery.  Focus on the left middle finger.  I'll have to try to find some better before pictures...

The middle finger's straight!  It's also a little fatter due the wires (I'm guessing).  And those black lines?  Why yes, that is the incision mark (gross, I know).

Look: bunny ears!  And one of the ears isn't floppy (or bent).  And the shirt's my new favorite shirt, compliments of the Lucky Fin Project.

Our House

I realized I never posted a picture of our little house.  So here are some pictures.  We bought a smaller, older home, but it was something we could comfortably afford.

Looking at these pictures, everything is so green.  It isn't right now.  It's freezing cold and everything's covered in snow and ice.

Some facts about our mortgage (they make me laugh):

20% principal

34% interest
46% taxes/insurance (but it's mainly taxes)

Yeah, Wisconsin has some really high property taxes.  I believe we paid about $3600 in taxes last year. It's nuts...  And as of the beginning of this year, we own 0.5% of our home.  That's comforting, right?

Oh and you'll note the car on the right, my car.  I don't have it anymore.  It died on the way home from Utah right before Christmas.  Long story short, it couldn't be fixed without spending more money than what it was worth.  So we had to sell it to Carmax in Omaha, Nebraska.  We bought a new used car to replace it, but we're still attempting to pay the car repairs and travel expenses (of attempting to pick up a 'fixed' car, realizing it wasn't fixed, sell it and rent a car to get home) for the car that never made it home.  Anyways moral of the story is don't ever go to Nebraska.  It's a horrible state, hahaha.

My past happenings in a nut shell.

Thanksgiving Feast

I know I haven't posted in a super long time...  But I thought I'd post about everything I cooked yesterday for Thanksgiving.  So here is what we had at our dinner table yesterday:

Deviled Eggs

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

(Yes, bacon makes everything taste better.)

Sweet Potato Casserole

I halved this recipe and realized that it's difficult to use half an egg.  Anyways, it turned out to be quite tasty.  Much better than what I had originally expected.  We let Jared be the guinea pig and take the first bite with this dish.

Baked Mac and Cheese

(My comfort food.)

Fried Corn Fritters

Probably my favorite surprise dish this year.

Rolls

I mixed the old rolls with the new; you can hardly tell the difference (okay so you really can tell the difference).

Dressing.  Stuffing.  Whatever...

Turkey

Yes, I buy the breast that's ready to go in the oven.  No messy turkey cooking for me.

It was Jared, Jared's cousin, and me at the dinner table.  As expected, we have a lot of leftovers.  Although I'm pretty sure all of the mac and cheese is gone now.  Oh, and our cousin supplied the pumpkin pie.  Yes, I also ate a third of the pie tonight.  And it's all gone as well...

Until next year...

House

The whole home buying process has been extremely painful.  There's been a lot of ups and downs.  Initially, the first home we placed a bid on was accepted.  They took our offer, and we turned in our grace money.  But they backed out of the offer.  And I guess it's completely legal because they claim no documents were signed.  So whatever...  We were bummed.

And then we found another house.  The inspection was on Friday.  We're working on some minor kinks, and our mortgage loan is currently being processed.  So I'm 95% sure we're getting a house now.

We'll be moving in the middle to the end of August.  Isn't this exciting?  I'll show pictures when I'm 99.9% sure we're moving.

And by the way, Wisconsin has reached some record temperatures this past week.  My thermometer has been reading over 100 every day last week.  On Thursday, we officially set a record at 103 (although my thermometer said 105).  So I'm really sick of the heat right now...

Busy

This past week, I've gone from work to looking at houses.  And let me tell you, it was a very tiring week. Not to mention, I don't even think I read a hundred pages in the whole week (I usually read that much in a day).  I'm so glad it's over.

We've gone to a couple of banks to get mortgage preapproval letters.  And we found out very quickly that not all banks are created equally.  Some are very prejudiced against first time homebuyers.  From what I've learned this week, my advice would be to stick with the banks you bank with and local banks.  The chain banks were the ones that gave us problems.  In a nutshell, they basically told us we needed a 20% downpayment and should never have gone to college if we were planning to buy a house so early.  They also recommended we keep renting and save like crazy.  While I can see some good in that advice, I can't understand why anyone who has 'owning a home' in their life plan would want to keep renting when rent prices are the same price as owning a house right now...

I have been cooking up a storm lately.  Which also gives me more opportunity to damage my hands.  Last Sunday, I didn't open the oven door enough and my knuckle hit the inside.  A big, ugly blister resulted from that.  And then yesterday, my infamous fingers without feelings did another stupid thing.  I had the hot pad in my hands while pulling the food out of the oven.  But I didn't realize that the hot pad was not centered, and my finger was very much not protected.  Needless to say, I had the pan halfway out of the oven before I realized my finger was touching the pan.  A nice dull tingle resulted.  And it's turned into a lovely blister as well.  Good news is I only feel it every once in a while.  Bad news is I'm not used to feeling anything in my finger.  Ugh, the issues I face while cooking.

Did I mention my car broke down last week?  We had just barely begun our search for a new home and had spent a couple of hours looking around our area for other apartments.  At that point, moving to another apartment was an option for us.  We decided to end our search, grab something to eat from Hardees and go home to relax for the night.  While in the drive-thru, my car started smoking.  We thought the radiator fluid had leaked out.  But that wasn't the problem.  We had to tow it to our mechanic and wait for the news.  Turns out, our water pump failed.  Wasn't cheap to fix...

So why the big interest in moving?  Or buying a house?  Well, our lease goes up in a couple of months, and the complex wants 60 day notice as to whether you'll stay or go.  Problem is, they don't have to give you any notice that your rent's going up.  We only had two weeks notice before we have to give them our decision.  While we love where we live, we've watched the rent go up every year.  And it just doesn't make sense to us to stay if there are other options out there.  Especially with our plan of buying a house and the fact that we have a down payment ready and we now have stable jobs.  So, our living situation is kind of up in the air right now.

Update

So, I meant to post something regarding how my birthday went.  But that never happened.  And then a month turned into two months.  Wow, I've really neglected this blog.  Granted, I don't think there's a lot of people out there reading about my every day life.

So...  Here's an update on everything:

• Jared is a permanent employee at an internet and phone service company doing tech support.
• I will be a permanent employee at a laboratory playing with chemicals and testing foods.
• We have decided to wait another year before continuing our search for a house.  The reasoning behind this, is we want to live in a good neighborhood and therefore probably need a higher down payment.  For the price range we want, we have a little over 5% of our down payment in savings.  And considering we spent a year saving up, I'm fairly certain we can get it to 10 by this time next year.  Besides, we're happy with where we're currently living.
• We are almost done paying off our credit card debt.  You know, the debt we took on while in college over two years ago?  Yeah, it amounted to $6000 if I remember correctly.  And no, I've never revealed that amount until now.  We are currently under a grand (and no, I won't tell you how much we have left).  With our current financial plans, we will probably have it paid off in the next two months.  And then we're just left with our student loans (amazing how money can make you go crazy).
• My obsession with books has grown to a tipping point.  With my book blog, I thought I'd be encouraged to read the books sitting on my shelves.  Instead, that amount doubled.  But I've met some pretty awesome people through blogging: authors and fellow bloggers.
• Gizmo is still the same-old-same-old dog.  He's super clingy with me.  Hopefully, he'll adjust better when my work schedule changes to 4-10s.
• I bought an awesome looking dress yesterday.  Sorry, no pictures.  Maybe when I'm feeling like a less lazy person...

And that's about it in a nutshell.  We are planning a trip to Utah in October for my brother's wedding.  Other than that, I'm not sure what our plans are for the rest of the year.  I know I'll still be reading!  (And hopefully still giddy with life!)

Eight-Layer Dip

Since I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, and the Superbowl was a long time ago, I thought I'd post my eight-layer dip recipe.  I meant to post it the weekend of the superbowl when I made it, but time ran away from me.  Also, this blog has kind of landed on the back burner after my reading and book blogging.  But life is still good.  The food's great!  Anyways, here's the recipe now.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups shredded lettuce (I typically just grab one bag of shredded lettuce from the store)
• 1 9-oz can bean dip (in the chip aisle)
• 1/4 cup picante or taco sauce (I get this ingredient in a weird and obscure way explained later)
• 1 6-oz avocado dip (or if you're me, fresh guacamole from the store works)
• 1 8-oz sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar or taco cheese (just pick your favorite cheese and use it)
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 2 tbsp sliced pitted ripe olives (or a whole small can if you like olives - I do!)
• 2/3 cup chopped, seeded tomato (basically a medium tomato because the more the merrier, right?)
• chips (well duh!)

Preparation:

1. Arrange lettuce on a serving platter.  My serving platter looks like a 2.2 qt pyrex dish (because I'm hip like that).  If you'd rather use a 3 qt dish, double the recipe.  
2. Combine bean dip and picante sauce.  Now personally, I don't use picante sauce (because Jared dislikes picante sauce).  So how do I come up with a 1/4 cup of taco sauce when I've never seen taco sauce at stores?  I buy the tack seasoning packets and mix in the amount of water on the package directions.  Then I use 1/4 cup of that mixture for my taco sauce.  And guess what?  It works!  (Note: if you use too much water in your weird taco sauce mixture, the bottom of your serving platter can get a little moist.)  Now back to the preparation spread bean dip/picante sauce over lettuce.
3. Layer the avocado dip on top of the bean/picante dip.
4. Layer the sour cream on top of the avocado dip.
5. Top with cheese, green onions, and olives.  If you're me, then the sour cream is hidden after all the cheese, onions, and olives that get dumped on the dip.
6. Cover and chill for 4-24 hours.  Why?  Because I said so.
7. Before serving, chop the tomato and sprinkle it on top of the dip (now everything's hidden by tomatoes - if you prepare this dip like me).
8. Eat with chips.  Try to eat more than your husband who maybe likes the dip a little more than you'd like (because it's gone before you know it).

Ready

I think I'm ready for life to happen now.  I hate thinking about the major milestones in life, and how I'm still waiting for mine to come.  One day I'll have a house.  And one day I'll have kids.  Et cetera.

But I want a house now...  We went and talked to a mortgage broker on Friday.  Pretty much we have everything in order other than the fact that our employment is still listed as contract positions.  We have the down payment ready, but we have to wait until our employment status goes to permanent.  And thanks to the economy, that could take anywhere from six months to two years.  Ugh, I'm sick of waiting.

Anyways, other than that disappointment in my life, things have been good.  I cut about three to seven inches off two weeks ago (I got it re-layered - because it used to be layered at one point).  I dyed my hair a week ago.  Jared is growing his hair out because I told him to.  We're considering getting another Yorkie.  And my birthday's coming up.  Oh boy, I'm getting old.  I still hold to the fact that you stop aging after 21.  You always think, "I can't wait until I'm 21."  And then it happens, and you just don't care for the fact that your age continues along afterwards...  Oh well.  I'm still excited because it will be the first day in a very long time that Jared and I will have off together.  That's right, I will see Jared's lovely face for about 16 hours give or take a few.

So here's to life happening (and hopefully faster than anticipated because I'm impatient)...

Before dye job.  Hair is a lighter brown.

After dye job.  My hair has a redder tint and is a little darker.  (You really can't tell it's been dyed from the pictures because I tend to pick similar colors.)  Can you also tell that I have no makeup on in this one?

And one of Jared (because I can).  Yes, he might kill me for posting it.  But it's proof that his hair is longer than usual...

Life

So I really have nothing exciting going on right now.  A week and a half ago, I came down with a cold/flu.  I had everything but the fever.  I don't think I've ever ached so much in my life.  It was painful to the point where I couldn't move.  If Gizmo, the four pound dog, tried to walk on me, I'd cry out in pain.  I had to use a heating pad on my back to lessen my back pain, so I could sleep.  I never want to be in that much pain again.

Anyways, moving on.  I've just been working and doing a lot of reading.  I decided on two resolutions for the year:  read the bible every day and floss my teeth more regularly.  The bible reading resolution came from the fact that I was reading the bible on average 2-3 times a week.  I'm trying to become more regular with my reading and switching it to every day.  So far, I'm doing awesome (better than I thought I would).  I know it's only two weeks in, so shh...  And the flossing?  I have two cavities that are slowly coming along, and my dentist told me I could prevent them if I flossed more often.  And considering the fact that my dental insurance stinks and the lack of funds, flossing sounds like the easiest option.  And no more resolutions other than those two.  My goal is to stick with these and not just make some obscure resolutions that are forgotten after a week.

It decided to finally snow this week.  We haven't had snow all winter yet (minus the two days it snowed for a couple of hours however no snow stayed on the ground).  It's the middle of January, and we were having fifty degree weather two weeks ago.  Unheard of for Wisconsin.  But the snow finally came, and I have a feeling it's just going to get colder.

End

2011's almost over...  It's crazy.  My trip to Georgia last week went well.  The drive on Wednesday/Thursday wasn't too bad.  No snow, but there was a major rainstorm in Tennessee.  I've also come to the conclusion that Tennessee gas stations use their toilets as grotesque ornaments.  We stopped at two different gas stations and both had clogged toilets for the women's room.  You could tell it was holiday-travel time.

I enjoyed visiting my family over the weekend.  Georgia had some nice 60 degree weather (excluding Christmas day).  It was nice to see them.  And then Christmas came and left.  I got a Nook for Christmas. I've already bought about 6 dollar books.  I'm excited.  I've also signed up for Netgalley which is a site that allows you to request books from the publishers for review (sometimes prior to publication).  I've already got two books that I need to read...  I love reading, but I don't have enough time to read as much as I want to.  So many books, so little time.

And then we drove back to Wisconsin on Monday.  A smooth, 14 hour drive.  The roads were not bad at all.  The only crowds we saw were at the gas stations waiting to stock up on gas.

Now I'm back to work.  Since Monday was a holiday and I don't get holiday pay, I'm working four tens this week.  And let me tell you, I hate ten hour shifts...  I can't wait to be back to eight hour shifts in a little over a week.

I hope you all enjoy New Year's!!  And now I'll leave you with a picture of the ornaments we got for Christmas (because they're awesome).

Sick Puppy

If today has been any glance into the future to help me understand what it's like to have kids, then I think I can wait on the having kids part....  My day began with Gizmo waking me up with his dry heaves.  I then had to rush him into the bathroom, so he could puke on the linoleum (it's easier to clean up than carpet and fabric).

And that's pretty much how my day's been all day.  Gizmo coughing, puking, and dry heaving.  He's puked on me, two blankets, the couch cover, his bed, and various parts of the floor.  And as frustrated as this makes me, I have to try to hide it.  Because Gizmo tries to hide after puking if my voice reeks of frustration.

DId I mention I've been a little sick today?  I came down with a light cold on Friday.  It's been a lot of congestion, and my husband bought me some Sudafed today which has helped.  I also got my tetanus shot on Friday.  So anything touching my arm or putting any kind of pressure on my arm is painful.

We'll be driving down to Georgia on Wednesday.  I'm so excited to be with family this Christmas!!!  I'm not looking forward to the drive, but it'll be worth it.  I'm also planning on working between 10 and 12 hour shifts at work the beginning of this week.  That way I can get as close to my 40 hours this week as possible.

So, throw your happy thoughts my way to help me survive the hard parts of this week.  Because in the end, it'll all be worth it.  (I'm excited to see family!)

Musings

So, I have learned quite a few things from driving in Wisconsin this past year.  And I thought I'd share some of those musings...

- Madison has two main lakes in the city (there's more than that but no one cares).  The capitol sits between those two lakes.  We live on the west side of the lakes.

- The freeway is on the east side of the lakes.  We never see the freeway unless we're driving far.  There's a belt line that goes around the southern portion of Madison (think of two lop-sided lakes as the eyes and the smiley face as the belt line - that's Madison in a happy way).

- I've never had to really drive in rush hour traffic.  Since there are multiple business areas, rush hour traffic mainly affects the southern side of Madison (the belt line).  I drive north and then east to work.  In essence, I go around the lake in the direction that most everyone else doesn't take.

- I get to drive to work when the sun rises.  I leave at about 6:50 every day.  That is the time the sun decides to come up.  By the time I get to work, there's plenty of sunshine.  I also get to drive home to the sunset, and I leave work at 4.  The closer December 22 is, the more likely the sun sets before I get home at 4:30.  This is my biggest regret with the Wisconsin move: it doesn't seem like there's enough sun in the winter time...

- Speed limits are only meant to be followed if it's snowing.  Everyone drives twenty over the speed limit no matter where you are at.  People only go the speed limit when it's snowing...

- Minnesotan drivers are the equivalent of Idahoan drivers in Utah.  Only instead of going ten under the limit like Idahoans do, Minnesotans go the speed limit.  And it drives Wisconsinites crazy...

- The drive home work isn't about the drive; it's about all the planning you can do via cell phone.  Fifty percent of drivers are on their phones in the afternoon drive.  I am completely for making it illegal to drive and talk on the phone at the same time (I'm sure I'm in the minority with this view).

Yeah, that's all I have.  My random thoughts while driving this week.

Update

Work is going well.  I especially like the idea of getting off of work at four.  The only bummer is I have to wake up early in order to be there by seven thirty.  But oh well.  I'm enjoying it.  And the people are great.

Since going back to work, my reading rate has plummeted.  I was pretty much reading a book a day.  Now it's taking me two to three days to read a book.  Oh, and I won a book off of Goodreads.  I'm excited.

I will be doing some online Christmas shopping this weekend.  I decided I don't want to do actual retail shopping because the stores are too busy.  And the feel of the computer underneath my hands is more appealing.

Gizmo really needs a haircut.  His hair's getting long.

Lots of randomness.  Sorry I don't have anything awesome or exciting to say.  Life is good!

Thanksgiving

Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone.  I hope you're enjoying the holiday weekend as much as I am.  I got the Christmas trees up, and the lights on the balcony.  Our cousin joined us for the turkey dinner yesterday.  Knowing that I will never cook as well as my grandparents, I still think I did okay for the dinner.  And he brought the pumpkin pie (which was super delicious).  I had no idea how much I love pumpkin pie until I tasted this pie.  Thankfully, he gave us the leftover pie.

And now I leave you with Gizmo's annual stuff-in-a-stocking-and-snap-a-photo picture...

Woah

So the last two days have been super busy for me...  Tuesday afternoon, I received a call about a potential job opening up.  Long story short, I met with the recruiter, had a phone interview the next day, received a job offer an hour after the interview, and will be starting the job on Monday.  Granted, it is a contract job (meaning it is planned to end in March of next year), but there's an opportunity for me to get my foot in the door and prove my worth.

Now here's the funny thing, I was looking for a laboratory/research job with a biotechnology/pharmaceutical company.  I will now be working with a biotechnology/pharmaceutical company but I will not be working in a lab.  I'll be doing technical support or something relatively similar.  It makes me laugh that both of my backgrounds (biotechnology and computer software) will be beneficial for this position.  I'm kind of excited for this.

I've also been helping with my church's nursery in the mornings these last two days.  Watching the little kids has been a lot of fun.  However two things stand out for me.  The first is being called teacher by a four-year-old (even though I wouldn't consider myself qualified for the title) is very gratifying.  The second is kids are a lot of work to watch.

I think the librarians think I'm nuts.  I've been averaging about seven books being checked out and returned in a week.  Yes, that is what I have been doing with my time - reading.  I'm predicting my reading habits are going to be greatly reduced now that I'll be busy in the daytime.  But I'm still loving this habit of mine.

Hunger Games Trailer

Can I just say I am super-looking forward to this movie coming out?  I need to make lots of friends between now and March.  That way, I have someone to go with me to see this movie.  If all else fails, I can drag my husband to it (unless he ends up dragging me which could very well happen)...

Snow

The first snowfall of the season occurred today.  I took out Gizmo this morning.  He noticed the snow right before he was about to step off of the covered porch and immediately tried to turn around.  Unfortunately, he still had to go potty.  So, in the wet snow he went to do his duty.  As soon as he was done, he could care less where I was because he wanted inside.  Kind of stinks that he was stuck on a leash that was hooked to my arm.  So what should have been a very fast run back to the door turned into a five foot run that ended with him falling over when the leash was stretched as far as it could go.  I had to pick Gizmo up and put him in my jacket since he was shivering so bad from the cold.  Yes, Gizmo hates snow.

And to make the day better, we had to go to the vet's office.  We've come to the conclusion that Jared's car (the car I happen to be driving lately) needs a new battery.  It doesn't start well at all.  Fortunately for me, there's a battery jump-start thingamajig in the car.  Kind of sucks that I didn't know how to use it before I had to figure out how to use it today.  And what's even more embarrassing than having five or six men pass me while I'm fumbling with the stupid gadget (not one of them offered to help me) is the fact that Jared's trunk doesn't stay open well.  Yes, the trunk door fell on top of my head not once, but twice (you'd think I'd have learned with the first occurrence).  But never fear, I figured it out and got the car started.  And that's just when a nice guy driving by decides to ask if I need help starting the car.  He was probably scared off with my maniacal reply of, "Nope!!!  I figured it out all on my own even if I am missing that Y chromosome!!!!!!!!!!"

Baked Potato Soup

I thought I'd let everyone know about one of my favorite soups of all time to cook.  It is baked potato soup, and it's super delicious.  The recipe I've listed below will feed two people and a little bit of left overs.  Double it if you plan on feeding a family with it.  Also, it goes well with rolls.

Ingredients:

• 6 slices bacon
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3.5 cups milk
• 2 large potatoes (The 5 lb bag of potatoes I buy usually consists of small potatoes in which case I use around 5 potatoes)
• 2 green onions (The green onions this season have been tiny, so I've been using 3 - depends on if you enjoy onions)
• 5/8 cup cheese (I'm a definite cheese person, so I tend to dump about a cup of cheese in the soup)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.2 tsp pepper

Preparation:

1. Bake the potatoes.  If you're not sure how to do that, read on.  I typically clean my potatoes and fork them (stab them with a fork a couple of times).  I place them in a 400 degree preheated oven and cook them for 45-60 minutes.  45 minutes will give you chunkier potatoes, while 60 minutes will give you mushier potatoes (your soup will resemble mashed potatoes).
2. If you have a husband who likes to cook bacon, then give him bacon duty while you prepare the soup.  Otherwise, you're going to want to cook the bacon and crumble it before you start the soup (unless you're really good at multi-tasking).
3. Once the potatoes are done, you can start the soup.  If you're not good at multi-tasking, then peel and chop the potatoes before beginning the soup.  Also, chop the green onions.  I will peel the potatoes and chop the onions as I cook the soup.  But I have an advantage:  I don't feel the potatoes burn me as I peel them (they're hot).
4. Melt margarine in a pot.  I typically set the burner to medium-low and will gradually move it up to medium while cooking.  Note:  the hotter it is, the more likely you are to burn the soup.
5. Whisk in flour until smooth.
6. Stir in milk whisking constantly until thickened.  I've noticed that the milk doesn't thicken too much. But give it a couple of minutes and verify that the milk has turned warm before moving onto the next step.
7. Stir in potatoes and onions.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently (this is where I use medium heat).  Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes.  You'll actually get to enjoy the bubbles come up and pop because they make an awesome popping noise (or maybe I'm just weird).
8. Mix in bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper.  Stir frequently until cheese melts.
9. Enjoy the soup!!

Movies

So everyone knows about the issue Netflix has been having.  First, raising their prices by about 25% (or more).  And then threatening to separate the websites for the mail-in dvds and the instant watch.  Two different websites were supposed to be in the best interests for the consumer?  Yeah whatever...

Jared and I decided to try to look into alternatives to Netflix to see if we could save money.  We have the instant and two-dvds-at-a-time plan.  Our list is typically outdated, so the movies we have we sometimes wonder why we wanted to watch them in the first place.  And they sit in our house for about two weeks before we finally get to watching them.  Yeah, not a good use of our money.

Here's what we found as an alternative:  the library.  Looking at the movies in our list, we could put holds on these movies and potentially have them in a couple of days to a week from now.  Granted, some of the newer movies have about 500 holds.  But if we want to watch them sooner, we can use Redbox.  Redbox only costs a dollar (soon to be a dollar twenty), and we can be sure to watch it (who would rent a movie if they didn't have that "I wanna watch a movie" mood?) and return it within a day.  Bottom line, using the library and Redbox will ultimately save us up to twelve bucks a month (I could get Taco Bell with that kind of money - one of my guilty-but-I-don't-know-why-I-love-it pleasures).

We're still sticking with the instant plan because we use that almost every other day.  So, it's still worth it to us.

If you don't have a library card or haven't looked into what your library offers, then you're really missing out.  I love the City of Madison's library system.  My local library is really small and hard to browse for books, but I tend to browse for books online now.  All I have to do is put a hold on what I need, and the library will have it for me within a day or two (unless there's a line of holds ahead of me).  Using your library for your media is a definite potential for saving money (even if you happen to get hit on by random people while there - a story for another time).