Saturday, August 29, 2015

Lazy Saturday

I slept in past 8AM this morning and here it is approaching noon and I feel like I could easily sleep another 9 hours.  I'm not at work yet (and I should be) so now I'm rationalizing how I could still go in a bit today and then work in the morning tomorrow.  We have a birthday party with friends tonight - otherwise, I'd just be planning to work into the evening.

I am so social-commitment phobic...a rare invite for an evening out, meeting new people and hanging out with adults - but I'm wishing we weren't going.  I know it will be fun...but so would a quiet evening at home.

It will be fine.  We will go, have fun....

B. just made one of his famous breakfast burritos and (ingenious and frugal!) he used leftover scalloped potatoes in them - delicious!!  He 'crisps' up the burrito and it's so yummy!

Mailing off the check for Cancun this morning - all that's left to pay for is the cash we take with us and the (hopefully minimal) credit card bills when we get home.  We do tend to just use cash and our eating out one meal a day usually keeps us pretty on track.  I can't wait for being beach lazy - heading to the chaise lounge around 10AM, lunch on the beach noonish and then back to our condo in time to shower and change for dinner.  Day after day after day...nine nights total!!

Alright - I am showering and heading out.  H. needs to shop for school supplies sometime this weekend - he needs to find a binder that will fit in his backpack and also get a couple spiral notebooks, a new scientific calculator, and a bouquet of sharpened pencils.  (Guess the movie!)  I love shopping for school supplies so would sure like to wedge in taking him - tomorrow evening is a Jackson event so I will be heading up around 2:30ish tomorrow until late in the evening.  Fingers crossed it's another fun night.

Busy weekend makes me even more grateful for a quiet, lazy Saturday morning with my peeps.  And Chloe.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Not Looking

You know we're in for a wild ride when your financial planner sends an email (unprompted by any questions from us directly) reminding us that our portfolios are balanced to withstand this kind of market craziness.

I can't help noticing 'cuz I downloaded our Quicken file as I do every couple of days and yowza! the change to our bottom line is hard not to notice.

I trudge off to work dutifully...and just a little grateful that I am still working 'just in case'.

Meetings today and tomorrow that are keeping me from year-end stuff so I feel untethered and stressed.  I know it will get done - it has to get done - but I'm leaving for work shortly (1/2 hour later than I planned but oh well) and it's just 6:30AM here.  10+ hour days are getting old and so are weekends full of work...but soon, I'll be back to normal.  I hope.

I look forward to coming home to a clean house!!  B. did a fish fry again last night (for just him, apparently, 'cuz our menu for the evening was leftovers) and the kitchen was such a wreck...and now smells like fish.

Adios, amigos.  Vamos a trabajo.  (Practicing for Cancun!).

Sunday, August 23, 2015

7th? Really?

I just said to my sweet husband 'have you looked at the living room lately?' and he replied 'you mean our 7th bedroom?'.  I would be laughing hysterically if it weren't so true - Typhoon B. has claimed that room as his own and it's a cross between a bedroom and a landing zone.  Stuff scattered everywhere - including old textbooks that we think he removed from a backpack he decided to use for something.  Plus camp chairs, etc. from either fishing or the tailgate party at the Oakland A's game yesterday.  Or both.  It's looking pretty shabby and I notice it most when I get up to go to the bathroom in the night and see all these 'unidentifiable' things (in the dark).  Typhoon B. is everywhere.

I worked most of the day yesterday and accomplished a lot - back to do more today.  Hoping for a final wrap up on the nuts and bolts of the report and then will spend some time trying to make sense of it all.  The amount of funds that 'fall out' of our budget annually is always a challenge and this year is exceptionally amazing - the new initiatives we've planned haven't always happened the way we'd hoped so...it's going to require some careful explaining.  I booked time with my boss tomorrow - and that action - the actual booking a meeting with him to talk through where we ended up - requires prep as well.  I could leave it to chance - we do see each other all the time off and on throughout the day - but there are some things that need to be decided about some of the mechanics of closing out the year and I can't make those calls in a vacuum.  Well, I could - but I won't.  Team approach is always best.

Tonight, we are feasting on prime rib and lobster tails - a celebratory evening since we know B. won't be home for Christmas.  I splurged on lobster tails from Maine - I know - you're thinking 'geez, they have way too much money if they can afford to fly in lobster tails'..but I just happened to see an email about a sale and procured the lobster for 55% off.  It wasn't inexpensive - more than Costco lobster - but these tails are HUGE and fresh frozen off the boat - so the celebration was reason enough to splurge.  We don't eat this way very often.  We'll be back to sloppy joes and orange chicken after the feast.

Have I ever mentioned that my Dad worked as a food broker?  He worked for a very large frozen food company that supplied high-end restaurants with food.  This was in the days when 'frozen food' was in it's infancy.  We frequently had steak.  Always had luxury desserts (I can still taste the raspberry 'ice' (sorbet) that he would bring home).  I didn't know the other kids in the neighborhood didn't eat steak very often.  So I guess I acquired my love of food from him.

J. recently requested 'more latitude' about what to cook for dinners which I'm fine with.  He does most of the shopping - however, I still wake up daily and have to ask 'what are we having for dinner tonight' and the answer is silence.  So I nudged (as only a wife can) about 'doesn't do any good to shop for food if you aren't making a plan of what we're going to eat.  You said you wanted to 'decide' so do it'.  So he made an inventory of what we have on hand and will hopefully be able to stick to a menu plan for a week or two.

Our budget is like most family budgets - I get paid once a month and J.'s checks come in mid-month (Social Security) and the first of the month (his pensions) and towards the end of the month, we are low on cash for groceries.  There's plenty of money - but we don't want to dip into savings to buy bread, you know?  'Cuz savings is there for longer term than milk and eggs.  Having B. home adds 'stress' to the food budget - not to mention feeding H. .  I dream of it just being 'us' someday so we can watch our food budget shrink drastically.

For now, I work ...and will continue to work for the foreseeable future - and I'm slowly wrapping my head around the number 7.  Seven more years.  Sounds like forever.  But I hope I can do it.

The stock market dropped like a rock this past week - and I'm relieved to say we're only down around 3-4% - but those drops sure are scary.  J. didn't want to look - but I said 'we have to'.  It could have been worse.  :-)

OK - off to the Sunday races.  Which are a lot like the M-F races.  Just a lot quieter.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Something's Fishy

B. went deep sea fishing with friends the past couple days - off Monterey.  They spent the night in a hotel last night and the day (today) on a boat fishing.  He just put at least 15 pounds of cod fillets in the sink - they are filleted and ready to fry and have been well iced.  J. is getting them ready to freeze (some) and we'll do a fish fry tomorrow.  Reminds me of summers in Mexico where fish fry events were a regular thing.  Most of my birthdays were celebrated with a fish fry.

There has been a serious wildfire near us - today is better but last night around this time, the wind shifted suddenly and our skies were an orangey haze.  It was a little scary - how quickly we were socked in with smoke.  It's 25% contained and is at least 2500 acres (as of this morning).  It's in the hills and canyons between Tracy and Livermore and those canyons are deep and full of brush and very dry grass.  Praying for the safety of the fire fighters.

I am psyching myself up to work this weekend - I didn't work at all last weekend so it's time to pay the piper.  I'm doing OK on the year-end stuff and hope to get even more nailed down by end of day tomorrow - and then I'll have to spend the weekend figuring out what it all means.  :-)

Made a trip to the toe doctor today and the nails are growing out well.  There still a little sore and one of them is still in need of soakings - but they are healing well.

It's Saturday!  Good morning!  The fish fry was excellent - some of the best fish I've ever had. Delicious!  B. is really into Gordon Ramsay so he looked up fish recipes and watched You Tube videos.  It was a multi-step dredging process with flour and breadcrumb coatings AND he added our own 'spin' - we marinated the fish in beer prior to dredging.  It was pretty delicious!!  Except bones. Most of the pieces were fine but a few bones were there and that just wrecks it for me - I'm immediately terrified to swallow and am not sure what to do to extract the bones.  So...I just get it all out of my mouth.  I know - it is gross.  But I just can't risk swallowing a bone.  Luckily, most of the pieces were de-boned well so it wasn't an issue.

B. is going to an A's game today - not sure what H. is up to.  J. will hold down the homestead while I head in to work for most of the day.  It must be done.

The wildfire is 75% contained now and thankfully, the smoke is blowing elsewhere.  No injuries reported and I don't think any structures were lost.  The fire was in deep canyons and it sounds like they monitored and let it burn vs. trying to stop it - it's empty ranch land so didn't make sense to spend a lot of water resources to try to put it out.

We upped our lawn watering a bit - still sticking to the odd/even schedule (we are an odd  :-) ) but water both morning and night.  Giving the grass and earth time to have the watering absorb and then doing it again on the same day.  Our grass is greening a bit - and I feel a little guilty about that but know that we are cutting back quite a bit.  The water bill shows the reduction and it's pretty seriously reduced.  Our shower buckets also help -

OK - time to get showered and head in.  The sooner I get there and get stuff done, the sooner I can come home.  More of the same tomorrow.  If I start the work week off with the 'guts' of my report done, I should be able to finish up easily by next weekend - though I do have a lot of meetings on my calendar next week, so we'll see.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Home Is

B. arrived home!  The hug is always stellar but it's starting to be surpassed by the immediate JOY! Chloe exhibits.  I spent Saturday morning piddling around and kept saying to her 'B. is coming home!'.  She went completely bonkers when he arrived - with a smile so wide!  Doggy smiles are the best thing ever - well...next to the hug.  The hug was stellar.

Sadly, he confirmed pretty early in his stay that he won't be home for Christmas this year.  His unit is going out on maneuvers in January so there is no leave or closure days for Christmas.  Hopefully, he'll get some leave time in November.  Sure hope so.

So we're going to have a really nice Sunday dinner this weekend - surf & turf!  I splurged (only because there was a 55% off sale) and ordered six fresh Maine lobster tails to go with prime rib! We'll celebrate him being home!

He announced (also pretty quickly into his visit) that the new couch is not good.  He said 'this is my dislike face' with a huge frown.  But he's adapting 'cuz he was actually horizontal on it when I got home this evening post board meeting.

There were fires in Lake County that blew smoke into our area.  I ordered a refill of my inhaler on Saturday - mainly 'cuz I was tidying up and found the box and said 'hey, there's a refill'...so I ordered it.  The recording said I could pick it up after noon the next day.  I hung up the phone and within a minute, it rang again and it was the pharmacy saying the prescription was filled and ready to be picked up.  I guess the poor air quality has everyone on high alert.

I thought I was doing OK post Saturday's sore throat and headache - but I walked into the freshly mopped bathroom at work today and couldn't breathe.  I could not inhale without coughing - something about the cleaner on the damp floors was really triggering my throat reaction.  I didn't have the inhaler with me and had a slight moment of panic - but put toilet paper over my nose and mouth and was fine as soon as I stepped out into the fresh air.  Whew!  Scary.

H. is officially attending college (again) and he (so far) is loving it!!  It's still early but he seems excited - so that's neat to watch.  Hoping he retains that motivation and love of learning....fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is the last day I have this week with no meetings - Thursday and Friday are booked and include traveling to meetings.  I will work this weekend for sure!

It's after 9 and I really need to get to bed.  I can barely get up in the mornings and I am trying to go in early.  Trying.  Always trying.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Things I Should Be Doing Yet....

I'd rather spend time enjoying the butterflies, hummingbirds and assorted birds fluttering around the backyard.  So fun to watch the creatures our new plants and feeders are attracting and I'd love to just sit here all day.  I just might.

I awoke with a major headache - the kind where eating feels like a scary thought.  J. keeps gently nudging 'take something'...but it's been a long time since I've had a headache of this magnitude and I have no idea where the 'stuff' I need to take is.  Better get to finding it though or it's going to be a day of me ending up curled up in bed or sitting near the toilet.  I don't get migraines often these days which is lovely....and one of the reasons I think I don't get them is 'cuz I nip any possible headache in the bud with Tylenol.  This one is not going to respond to Tylenol.  I can tell.

B. arrives home this afternoon!!  It feels a little like preparing for a typhoon to be upon us any minute.  All his boundless energy and the joy he has at looking forward to three full weeks of no work and time with family and friends.  I'm excited too - love having him home - but my energy is a little less amped up since I will be trudging through work days that are long...and getting longer.

H. is officially enrolled and starts classes at Los Medanos College on Monday.  He is shopping for a new laptop tomorrow - Costco has good deals and we've had really good luck with the HP's and Dell's we've purchased from there over the years.

J. and I are sketching out calendars for the upcoming month - we have a ton of 'stuff' happening in late August and September that have weekends committed - sort of feels strange to have a 'social life'. Birthday party for a friend, family wedding in Sacramento, trip to Phoenix wedged in as well.  Busy month ahead and then we can look forward to the great unwinding in Cancun in October!

I sort of regret booking that trip 'cuz I'm in the mood to head to Paris again and would have rather gone there in October (sort of).  But how lucky are we to have options like that?  And I will adore the time at the beach....absolutely my ultimate wind-down, restful vacation without a doubt.

OK - just took some generic Excedrin that I scrounged out of the cabinet - so hope that helps the headache abate.  Time to get dressed - I've got a couple errands to run and may go ahead and stop into work for a bit.

Monday, August 10, 2015

First Days

It's officially the 2015-16 school year.  Tomorrow, kids will be back on the buses and in their classrooms.  Our district is buzzing with activities.  This morning, we hold our official welcome back breakfast for staff and then they head out to their sites to do final prep for tomorrow.  Most have been in their classes quite a bit already and there's excitement and anticipation in the air.  Lots of changes this year - 2/3 of our site leadership are all new to their positions so it will be a busy year of first year learnings and mistakes.

It's going to be a great year - we've had so many positive admin activities in the past couple months and the changes that are being started this year are exciting...and scary.  I LOVE the energy and commitment that's been happening - it feels so great to feel like we're moving in an aligned direction...but the dis-ease it creates is hard for me.  Anything new takes time and energy and patience.  Just have to keep reminding myself of that - over and over and over.

I've been having freaky, bizarre dreams nightly that have me glad to be awake.  Up today at 4AM which is a good hour ahead of when I needed to be - and here it is 5:30 and it's time to get moving. So much to do this week for year-end.  And board prep.  Yikes - just remembered there's a board meeting next week -

I did work a little bit on Saturday and rewarded myself with a trip to Jackson yesterday - lost so it wasn't as fun as my last trip...but oh well.  You don't always win...that's why it's called gambling.

H. is enrolling in Los Medanos College in Pittsburg - about an hour commute.  He is going to work on a certificate and/or degree in Process Technology which would qualify him for work in a variety of industries including food, energy and oil.  He seems excited about the prospect and is gearing up because he starts school next week.  He may eventually look for a room to rent closer to campus but for now, he will commute.  It's always cheaper to live at home.

I'm excited that he's starting the program and a bit nervous for him - and us.  The classes are a lot of physics and chemistry and while I passed both in my academic career, physics was close to impossible for me.  It's just too conceptual and I'm a black and white in the box kind of person.  But H. loves Science so I'm hoping this will really spark him.  He needs a spark.

I'd better get going....still have toe tending to do and need to add some eye makeup to my routine since it's a big event.  :-)

Have a great Monday!

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

Morning Goo

I decided to bake something for the first Cabinet meeting of the new school year.  The pastry rose well in the proofing box; however, getting it out of the box and onto the baking sheet was a gooey mess.  I goofed last night and left the frozen version on the cardboard 'tray' to rise - and getting it off the cardboard tray to bake required flipping it over - and then flipping it back again.  It's a 'ring' so the zing is in the presentation - I think it lost a little in the process but it will still taste good.  I'm up quasi early to head to the bagel cafe across town to also get some bagels.  String cheese, yogurt, fruit, pastry, bagels and nuts will get us through our five hour agenda.  Yikes!  Long meeting but it will be productive.

Two thirds of our site admins are brand new this year and that's going to be an interesting process.  I remind myself daily that the time being spent on assisting and training will pay itself back over the course of the years these new folks are with us - and just hope I'm doing an OK job at it.  It's hard to present complex things in a succinct, abbreviated manner 'cuz they only need the basics - but the basics are complex in themselves.

Our district is way 'ahead' on year-end (a county office person mentioned that to me last week - that she'd noticed we were trucking along on the long list of things that need doing for year-end) - but I'm not letting that acknowledgement slow me down much 'cuz there's still an absolute ton of stuff to do and they are all very time consuming.

Tomorrow, we head to the oncologist for the latest scan results.  Since the scans were requested to confirm H.'s status before he moves to Houston - and he's not moving to Houston anymore - it feels awkward but we will go.  I feel less compelled to accompany the guys given the lessened urgency of my need to 'be sure' - but will go 'cuz I've already arranged my schedule around not being there tomorrow afternoon.

J. is trying to get H. to attend an information meeting at a community college in Pittsburg for a pipeline technology program.  It's hard to create motivation and interest when there is none and the jump start that we hoped Houston would be needs to be created here and now, somehow.

My assistant is winging her way to Ohio today for her dad's induction into the NFL Hall of Fame - we are taping the events on Saturday and hope to glimpse her and her family - and see her Dad.  Exciting thing to be a part of the event even vicariously.  She was a nervous wreck yesterday with a long list of things to do - her son starts school on Monday (different district) and as of yesterday, she had no info on the school year from that district.  So she took an unplanned afternoon off to take care of getting his school year nailed down before they leave on the trip.

Better go check the pastry.  And get a second cup of coffee.  And get dressed and going so I can get the day started in my office.  Being 'around' (in a meeting in a building down the way) is not the same as being in my office and every break will be a mad dash back to my building to see what's left on my chair that needs immediate attention.  Keeping things moving so my team can keep things moving is a key skill to have on busy days like our current weeks have been -

Saturday, August 01, 2015

Sanctuary

Morning is always my favorite time of day - and more so these days as I watch the blue jays enjoy the peanuts in the feeder and the hummingbirds feasting on the nectar in their feeder.  The jays scold each other as they vie for getting to the tray of peanuts.  I think I need to look for another peanut feeder that has a sturdier, larger 'landing zone' - though it doesn't stop them, the current 'tray' is pretty small for them and it swings madly.  It's fun to watch them.  They've also been hopping along the fence by our office window and we stare at each other through the window briefly.  I love having the family of jays 'living' here...and am happy to help ensure they are well fed and happy.

A bunch of our new plants are already blooming, too - so we have butterflies and hummingbirds enjoying the flowers, too...it's a neat sight to see.

I had a really fun evening in Jackson on Thursday - started out boring and sort of 'why do I do this' but then I won $300 in free play and things greatly improved from there.  Turned $100 of the freeplay into $1000 and came home well ahead.  Yes, it's a lot more fun if/when you win.

I will be working a bit this weekend - not enough to count as 'days' but enough to get control over my desk; sketch out a lot of 'what's next' in the year-end process and get caught up on a lot of reading.  J. is going to head down to Tulare and spend the night at his brother's house and they will play golf down there on Monday.

H. is not moving to Houston, we think - it's just not going to work out.  His friend is about to move out on his own so H. doesn't feel 'ok' about moving in with the dad - he is mainly admitting that he wants to spend time with his friend vs. any strong feelings of 'Houston is where it's at'.  (Good thing 'cuz Houston is the hottest, most humid place on the planet - well, not really but it's hot and sticky a lot there).

So we nudge him to try to get him to commit to a certificate program of some kind - a training program to provide skills that make him hire-able in industries that hire full time with benefits vs. the jobs he's had.  He's on week three with no hours from the supermarket restocking job - and I (personally) think he's essentially been 'fired' but they just don't tell him that.  They allude to future hours and then those don't happen.  Over and over.

I've got a shopping list that will require a semi-fast quick to Target.  Maybe groceries too...really want to get back to planning meals and buying what we need weekly.  (Lately, I make lists and J. shops - but then I forget what we have so I never remember what to suggest for dinners).

Time for the weekend to commence.  Bills paid. Breakfast consumed (thanks to hubby for fixing it). Shower, get dressed and get out and going.

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...