Saturday, January 28, 2012

Dating

Since returning from Winter Break, my calendar shows that I am off every Friday. Those Fridays off are pretty much noted from now through the end of the school year. My weekend and 'extra' days means I am working more than my contract requires - so I'm doing everything humanly possible to lower my work days by attempting to take days off. This would be a beautiful thing if only my new assistant - who also started working for me after the winter break - didn't only work on Thursdays and Fridays. So since I want/need time with her, I've been actually going in on my days off and spending at least 1/2 day with her. I just don't count it as a work day. And I give myself the luxury of sleeping in a bit later, wearing jeans and hoodies and sneakers to work and then leave before it's lunch time. It's been fun. And I feel 'productive' about it - we are accomplishing a lot of things that need taking care of and I still feel like I have time off. Friday afternoons off are awesome! True, it would be more awesome to sleep in completely and to lounge around in my PJs for awhile before starting the day (ala the weekends) but oh well. I'll take whatever down time I can get at the moment.

Yesterday, J. and I took my car in for service - it is three and half years old, has 36,000 miles on it and needed an oil change, air filter change and tires rotated. They said an hour and a half. We prepaid for maintenance for four years - it was stupid of us to do that - especially with a hybrid - because the car truly requires very little service. Far less service than a regular car engine does. Add to that my low, low mileage (around 8K a year) and we paid for service we will probably never need during the service period. Oh well. I'll be taking the car in for every little thing in the next six months in a vain attempt to 'get our money's worth'. Note to self: don't buy a car from a friend who owns the dealership. That whole 'friendship' dynamic makes you do things you would never normally do. Like pay for pre-paid maintenance.

We spent a really fun time at the Starbucks near the mall - happily ensconced with our Kindles, a light caramel frapp and a Trenta iced tea and spent just under three hours reading away. Enjoyed nice conversation with various SB customers as they passed. It was delightful....and I could see our retirement ahead with many lazy afternoons passing the time at SB reading and enjoying people watching and conversation.

I started to get a little antsy about how long the car was taking - didn't they say 1.5 hours and we're now over 2.0. And J. was all 'we're having a great time, honey. Relax and keep reading'. I replied 'I hate it when you go all "glass half full" on me'. Said with a grin and a shoulder shrug for added emphasis. But he was right. It was a great time and I'm close to half way through the 2nd book of the Hunger Games series (a post coming up on that shortly). And I finished my iced tea while we were there and my gold card gets me free refills!! So I got a 2nd Trenta iced tea for FREE!

Cheap Chinese for dinner (which is what we call the Chinese food place in the food court at the mall - we've always called it that).

B.'s birthday was great fun. He ordered a '7 and 7' for his first drink (which is something his grandpa would have ordered) and then followed that with a blended strawberry margarita. We went to Texas Roadhouse where they make you sit on a sawhorse with a saddle while they sing Happy Birthday to you.

For his birthday, we gave him the wireless headphones that go with the running gadget he got for Christmas. And we paid for 50% of this semesters tuition. And then last night, we threw in a full tank of gas - he is off to party with friends this weekend and spent last night in Roseville and will be partying in Sonoma tonight. I think he was most excited about the tank of gas.....

Today will be full of yard work. I think I'm firing our gardener shortly. H. has been doing some work out front and H. pulled a lot of the ground cover out from one of the beds near our fence. It wasn't what I wanted - there was a lot of 'culling' and thinning to do but he pulled out everything - and I was OK with that. The gardener 'helped' during one visit and basically weed whacked the bed. OK. I was OK with that. But then the next time the gardener came, he weed whacked the ENTIRE BED in front of our living room window - took out every bit of ground cover - which is not what I intended at all. The guy does very little for his $60 a month - especially in winter when the grass is barely growing - but he shows up and weed whacks my front flower bed without asking.

I think we're going to put bark in those beds and just be done with it. It's probably the best thing to do - so we will work on that today. Probably making a trip (or two) to OSH to get more bark. Sure, we could have the local nursery deliver bark and dump it in the driveway - but then we'd have to take care of it immediately (lest our neighbors help themselves to the bark or Mother Nature blow it all down the street).....so bags of bark (though more expensive) give us flexibility in when we put them down.

I am the mother of a 21 year old. Holy Crap!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Niners

I am a fair weather fan and I am very excited about the Niners being in the playoffs....five minutes left and it's tied. I can't handle the stress....I just want to know how it all turns out and I want to know NOW.

Made a lot of food today - a big batch of chili which is the best chili I've ever made. I take no credit - The Pioneer Woman's recipes are awesome and I love trying them. I also made her homemade corn dogs and they were delicious, too! Those were for lunch. Chili is for dinner. When dinner is done, I will put the leftover chili in freezer zip locks with the zipper top and freeze it for another meal later in the month. It was easy, quick and is really great - added a dollop of sour cream and a little bit of shredded cheese. Fantastic on a cold, rainy day!

I grocery shopped at WinCo today - me and 100's of other people apparently preparing food for game day. It was mobbed but managed to get all our supplies and get home. Why do I always do big grocery shops in the rain? I have no idea....I just do.

Tomorrow, we celebrate B.'s 21st birthday - he wanted to go to a local Japanese place - like BeniHana where they cook at the table. But I reminded him that their alcoholic beverages are very limited and isn't one of the 'big' things about turning 21 ordering a drink on the day it's legal to do so? So I think he's leaning towards Texas Roadhouse. We're keeping it low key - no 'surprise' party - though if he asked to invite friends, I would be OK with that. Hopefully he won't. He's sort of burned some bridges with me the past few weeks and it's all I can do to attempt to get even a little excited for his big milestone birthday. It's a hard place to be in these days. Do I love him? Yes, totally. But I don't like him at all and he is really acting in ways that make me dread being with him. I know this is 'normal'. I know. But it sucks. He makes issue of every little thing - yesterday's 'crises' were us providing apple juice instead of grape and that the battery cover to the remote control for the TV was missing - and he wanted to be sure we knew that he 'didn't do it'. Which translates to 'H. did and so you need to do something about it pronto'. Yeah, right. Our highest priority is to find the back of the remote and/or get after H. about it. He (B.) is frequently over the top in virtually every situation - big or small. It's exhausting. And sort of heart breaking. Maybe it's just a way to make it easier for me to prepare for him truly being out of the house. We have no idea when that will be, mind you. No idea whatsoever.

His latest report card was a joke - clearly, school is not his thing. He enrolled again and it's really like throwing $800+ down the toilet since he attends classes but does so poorly in them, we wonder why he keeps going. He felt 'confident' about his grades this time. Really? It's so not 'confident' in terms of the grades that I won't even write them down publicly. The only 'good' thing about it is: it's his money. We long ago stopped paying for his 'pretend' college courses and he's been paying for years now. Barely passing most classes. Frequently not passing others.

A minute left....still tied. The suspense is killing me....

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Secret Menu

H. asked me for my Starbucks Gold Card so he could go get a 'Captain Crunch' frappucino. I had no idea what he was talking about - so I Googled it!

And he's right! A strawberries and cream frap with hazelnut and toffeenut syrups! It tastes just like Captain Crunch with Crunchberries - it's DELICIOUS!!!

It's Wednesday - so 1/2 way through.....

I am having a lot of trouble getting up - I didn't get to work until 8 this morning and consequently felt 'late' and 'off' all day -

Meetings most of the day tomorrow - still planning to be off on Friday but likely in the office a bit in the morning. My new assistant only works for me on Thursdays and Fridays and so I don't want to miss too much time with her. She's helping me massively cull out stuff which is great!

If there were moisture in the air, it would be snow. It has been in the low to mid 20's at times this week - and freezing most mornings. We've had to turn off the sprinklers to avoid killing ourselves slipping on the ice that results when the water gets on the driveway and sidewalks.

The boys got their grades today - suffice it to say that neither of them seem all that 'great' at book learning. How did they end up our kids? Seriously? J. and I are practically carbon copies of honor roll, motivated, etc. students throughout highschool and most (parts, anyway) of college. Our progeny? Not so much...

B. decided to try to get some classes this semester - so he dressed in a dress shirt, khakis AND A TIE and went to the first day of classes yesterday to add three psychology classes and a math class. He got at least one class and the math class is likely but it's first session isn't until Monday - B.'s 21st birthday, coincidentally. After seeing his grades for last semester, I feel like telling him that enrolling in classes that he apparently doesn't intend to work hard at is basically taking $700 and flushing it down the toilet. It's not our money - it's his. But it's still a complete waste to take classes and do so poorly.

He will be 21 - hard to believe. Partly just that I still vividly recall his little loaf of bread self staring up at me with those huge blue eyes at 3 in the morning when he was brand new and that seems like just a few weeks ago....and partly because he's so not 21. 21 is responsible and motivated and moving forward. His 21 isn't. Convincing him to not enlist and keep going to school seems futile - I haven't tried but I've thought about it.

I'm going to go read The Hunger Games - which I've been reading since last Friday. 3/4 through and can hardly put it down. Perhaps why I am having trouble getting up -like my 13 year old self, I'm reading way late into the night....

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Codes

Another productive yet relaxing Saturday in process.

Started the morning with a 2 mile walk with a friend - she lives about 10 minutes away and her home is surrounded by fields and orchards. We walked 2 full miles in beautiful weather - cold but clear as a bell with no moisture (so no muddy shoes to deal with). It was a nice way to start the weekend - and I'm proud of myself not only for walking but for not using sleeping in as an excuse not to walk. She invited me last evening and I let her know that I planned to get up early and get my errands done and if I did that, I would call her and we would walk. But I slept in until approaching 9AM - and instead of deciding to run my errands and not walk, I called her and suggested I'd be there at 10:15 - and so we walked! Yeah us!

I ran a couple errands including getting gas for my car since before the winter break. Love my hybrid and love my commute. Treated myself to a light caramel frapp and got it for free thanks to my Gold Card reward coupon!!

B. is off work already so we're going to treat ourselves to dinner out around 5....

J. and the boys are heading over the hill tomorrow to visit with family that's flying up from So. Cal for the day. I will work around the homestead.

The house had a couple projects completed this week - the fence is repaired and looks great. And we finally got the dryer vent cleaned out - identifying yet another code violation (the house is full of them). A dryer vent isn't supposed to be too long - ours spans the entire width of the three car garage and to compensate for that length, they used a much wider width tube. I can't believe the stuff the guy pulled out of the vent - it was incredible. He also (frighteningly) confirmed that at one point, the lint did ignite - thankfully, it didn't spread to all the lint surrounding the 'lighting element' and the lint just burned out on it's own. But holy crap - that's scary!

The dryer is drying things at least 60% faster now so we are sure we will save tons of $$ on our electric and gas bill. We will definitely have that service done annually from now on - never, ever want to risk a fire and now that we see the huge difference in drying time, it's not something we will not keep up with ever again.

Next repair project is the front door - the lock needs to be redone...and that means technically every lock should be redone so we keep the same keys. We also need a new back sliding door and I think that will be the next 'big thing' we do - hopefully sometime this spring or summer. The house is 11 years old and it's showing it's age a bit...nice to get things done.

Three day weekend too!!

Saturday, January 07, 2012

I Heart Saturday

Love this day of the week...the wind down from busy-ness. I know it's spelled business - but then it appears I'm winding down from 'biz-ness' - and I'm not. I woke up at 7 and thought briefly about getting up - and then the next thing I knew, it was 9! That two hours between passed with vivid dreams that were strange but story filled. Me in a home with a little baby girl - a home that felt like my own but wasn't. Maybe a future grand baby? Time will tell. She was beautiful and sweet and I was very happy to be spending time with her. I love when I can remember dreams.

J. and I made a quick Costco run which wasn't that quick 'cuz he needed to fill up his car and the lines are unbelievably long on the weekends. We managed. Tonight we are planning to enjoy dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant that Santa brought gift cards for this year - Casa Oroszco in Livermore. It's a rare thing to all be available and excited about dinner together - usually we're all here and there and rarely all able to plan a dinner...so that's nice and we're all looking forward to it.

I love Facebook because you see things that you would never see without it. My aunt just posted a video of an absolutely beautiful version of the song Hallelujah - four Norwegian artists performing the song. They articulate the lyrics so well that for the first time ever, I can understand the words...and their voices are just amazing. And then I love how the Internet makes it possible to immediately locate information on the artists and find the song on iTunes for the bargain price of 99 cents! Sold! It just amazes me how much richer my life is for being exposed to such amazing things and then being able to easily learn more about whatever I want to explore...I've been thinking about that a lot lately - how amazing it is that we are created to experience things so individually and so deeply. How music can take me to a place where I am so enraptured with the feelings and the melody and the lyrics. What an amazing thing our minds and hearts and souls combine to provide us with such joy - and in so many forms. Written, spoken, sung....we have so much capacity for such an amazing experience....if we just allow ourselves to be swept away in any given moment. Also on Facebook last week was a post of new songs from Snow Patrol - the album comes out this Tuesday and again, a couple songs struck a chord in me right away - so I've pre-ordered the album.

I can't imagine what our grand kids will have at their fingertips someday.

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Return to Early

Up before 4:30 today - able to cruise the internet and tend my Facebook games without rushing. Heading in to make a 2nd latte then up to shower. I am off tomorrow - which may end up being secret code for 'working at home part of the day and calling it a day off' but that's OK. Have a haircut appointment tomorrow afternoon and I need it - it's been six weeks which is way too long for short hair.

Day two post break went swimmingly AND I managed to wedge in a briskly paced 1/4 mile walk as a 'break'. No, it wasn't that far - but since my goal is simply to move more as often as I can, I am glad to have done something. Intended to get on the Bow Flex when I got home - but the kids were home and things became complicated. I needed wine but I suck at opening wine - so I skipped it and chatted with my sweet cousin instead. She's a good listener and I love chatting with her....

The other thing about the day yesterday is I ate very carefully and very healthfully - including drinking a V-8, eating Cuties as snacks, sunflower seeds (shelled) and yogurt and oatmeal for breakfast. If I can do that more often than not, I will start seeing some 'results' from my moving more.....here's hoping.

We have no weekend plans other than house stuff and a trip to Costco for the annual purchase of Turbo Tax. Might as well start torturing myself now - we are going to owe a massive amount this year and I'd like to start wrapping my head around that number as soon as possible. I keep reminding myself that we must be OK because at least this year, we aren't also paying for a trip to Mexico....no vacation planned this year - there's no budget for it and no time in my work calendar. The new finance system conversion will make the summer seem non-existent in terms of any time off...another reason why I am attempting to be off when possible 'cuz soon, it won't be possible at all.

I have a couple meetings today so we'll see how much I get done - better get to it. Sooner I get there, the sooner I can head home - I am also doing pretty well this week at leaving on time. That's a nice change, too....we'll see how long that lasts.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

12 Hours

I made it! First day back and I survived! Alarm went off at 4:50 and in my confused state, I hit the 'sleep' button instead of the 'snooze' buttong - which makes the radio continue to play for an hour.....and the only way to shut it off is to 'run down' the timer. I managed to do that successfully without going back to 59 minutes even once (I usually end up having to try a couple times to get it to stop at zero) - and then I was so awake, I just got up. At my desk by 7 as planned -

It was a good day - busy and productive and 'fun' (relatively speaking).

I left at 4 (ON TIME!! and very early for me) and then went to the neighborhood near us built around a man-made lake and walked/jogged for about 20 minutes. Barely. My legs were spaghetti like pretty quickly into the circuit and then my feet started cramping up - I limped back to my car. I need new shoes with wider toes so I don't cramp up so much. I didn't go as long as I'd hoped - but then I remind myself 'hey, you DID go and you DID walk/jog - and that's better than you've done in a long, long time so lighten up. You will do more the next time. And more still the time after that'. That's the goal. Any movement is better than no movement - and I do what I can. Somedays, I might walk more. Eventually, my goal is to 'run'. I want to be a runner. It's effective, easy to do anywhere and I have had runners high a couple times in my life - in my very early years - and I like running. So I want to try again.

It's just after 7 and I can barely stay awake - so I'm not going to. I'm heading up to bed. I need to get back into sleeping earlier so getting up early isn't so hard. And I also need to listen to my weariness and go to bed when I feel tired - even if that's really early.

Monday, January 02, 2012

ER Update

B. was home shortly after I posted this morning - kidney stone as expected. He was picked up by a friend and spent the day lounging around with friends. Called his work to let them know he has a note for a few days - the stone will pass in 2-3 days. J. picked up his pain meds. It will be a long week - he is a total wanny when it comes to any kind of pain. I know kidney stones hurt like the dickens...

I didn't work today. Oh well. My calendar is blissfully clear for the next couple days so I will hunker down and plow through. I did work a little at home yesterday so that will help.

The fence guy was great and we hired him. The estimate was less than 1/2 what we were expecting AND he's going to also repair the gate which has had issues since the pool install also. He will start work a week from today and finish in a day and half.

The sun is setting. It's been a great 17 days off. Hard to return tomorrow - but return, I must. J. is going to work at home tomorrow - so that will be nice. And we have a long weekend in two weeks - off two weeks from today for MLK day. Add to that Fridays off as often as possible the next few months....trying to use up days. My contract was changed effective January 1 (long story and I won't be sharing much - it was a good change) so I need to be sure I use up some of the 'extra' days I've worked so far this year. So I'm going to try to take off long weekends as often as I can.

Meatball subs are on the menu for tonight - using up leftover spaghetti sauce.

ER

What is it about the New Year that results in medical emergencies? Two years ago, it was me. This morning, it is B. Awakened before 6 with commotion outside the bedroom door. B. in huge pain.....he's in the ER with J. and it's likely a kidney stone. And the poor kid is freaking out about the army. Will this prevent them from taking him? Might. That's a discussion for another day.

So I'm up way, WAY earlier than I have been for the preceding 16 days and noticed that it is pitch black outside at 7AM (which is when I'm usually at my desk - actually, usually earlier - 7AM is my latest). So that will be interesting in the morning -

Reading emails including one from a dear friend that had me laughing out loud and risking snorting coffee out my nose. She cracks me up - and I will be having dinner with her soon and can hardly wait to see her. She's recently retired and now that she doesn't work for the place we both used to work, I can't wait to converse about things - get caught up on the happenings. Retirement will be hard for her - and not. Easier than she thought it would be, I think. What's not to love about having nowhere to be and nothing that 'must be done' at any particular time? Sounds like heaven to me....

There is a constant 'buzzing' above my head - H.'s phone? I will go upstairs and check momentarily 'cuz I need to get showered and dressed. Not that I want to - but it's very cold in just my nightgown and I need to get bundled up in layers.

We have a fence repair guy coming to give us an estimate at 11AM. The side yard fence has never been 'right' since the pool company removed a section to get the little backhoe in to dig the pool - and it's losing boards right and left. So we're getting estimates on getting that repaired. Have a list of 'home projects' that we've pended for some time but we're getting to where I can wedge them into our budget every few months. Will feel 'better' about the fence if I just bite the bullet and get it done. J. thinks the neighbors should pitch in - but I know we are responsible for the issues - no other fencing is having issues of remaining standing and it was us who dug a cement pond in our backyard - not our neighbors. Hopefully won't be hugely expensive - the boards are still good - just need to be secured in place.

I am also planning a couple hours at my desk at work. Ugh. But better to attempt to refresh my memory when there are no people present than to spend tomorrow gasping and fretting when my team can witness my distress. My memory isn't what it used to be and a fair amount of time will be spent just recalling where I left off on various things. I will feel 'better' having taken some time to sort through, prioritize and cull what I can....

My feet are numb with cold....so I need a hot shower. 2012 is looking exciting already!!

March

I'm starting to think maybe I will just do a monthly post and call it what it is - whatever month we're in.  Here we are winding dow...