It's official! Am about to ceremoniously move my work keys from my purse and into the desk drawer where they will sit until the night before I go back to work. They are heavy and I'm not schlepping them to Mexico.
Today was my first full day off and I have to admit I've been pretty darn lazy. I did finally get moving and headed to Target to pick up some last minute stuff. And I also got my swim suit on and swam for awhile - and scrubbed the pool and spa. Even put on my diving mask (we had them out to get things ready for the trip) and attempted to scrub the bottom of the pool. Not sure how successful I was. Who knew fat was so buoyant? No weight belt so I had a hard time staying on the bottom. Did somehow manage to scrape my knuckles across the bottom, though - so that's proof I did eventually manage a few passes with the brush. The scraped knuckle is a great addition to the burn that's finally looking better - a burn that happened on Father's Day when I made cupcakes for dessert and promptly turned into the worst thing ever. In a horribly bad place on my right (dominant) hand and it refused to heal. It's finally improving.
It is hot here - but I have to be careful about saying that 'cuz it's approaching 120 degrees in Phoenix which is where my family lives...so Holy Cow - makes our 102 seem 'mild' in comparison. We are running both AC's AND even splurged and heated the pool a couple degrees. We can't use the cover 'cuz the algae is continuing to perplex us - so it was a tad cooler than I like it. Heater worked like a charm!
Tomorrow, we will pack and organize stuff around here. Also take Chloe to the puppy spa - enlisting H.'s help in transporting her. The kennel moved from a little bit down the street to a couple cities away and a drive on the freeway with a crazy dog isn't something that's safe to do alone. H. is available -
I am a little nervous about leaving H. alone for close to two weeks. I agreed I would 'front' him some of the money he will earn for being the person responsible for the care and maintenance of the house - but I fear as soon as he has it, he will spend it. Two weeks is a long time for a kid who spends every dime he gets the minute he gets it. I'm tempted to 'hide' money in envelopes strategically hidden around the house - like a Christmas scavenger hunt in July - and reveal them every few days.
I also gave him a Winco gift card for food - thinking he and his roommate had shopped there a lot when they had the apartment. Turns out, he's never been to Winco. Hopefully, he'll go. If not, we'll have the card available for groceries when we get home.
I had a couple good interactions with our new sup which helped ease my worry considerably. Something happened in my department that I thought he should have a heads up about - and the conversation and subsequent emails about the status of the situation assured me that things will probably go better than I thought...so that helped a lot. I was so glad he responded back so quickly - 'cuz it was the type of issue that I would have stewed about for the two weeks I am supposed to be doing everything humanly possible to NOT think about work. Isn't actually possible - but I will disconnect as much as I can.
Time to get going on more stuff around here....I haven't gotten to my crazy 'cleaning the baseboards' or 'dusting the Cow Parade collection in the dining room' which are the two most likely things I do when there are trillions of other things I should be doing. Darn baseboards. Darn cows.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Chicken Chiboken
Kudos to J. who most certainly is eligible for Father of the Year! Getting H.'s apartment cleaned up and everything moved out has required Herculean efforts on the part of my beloved. He handed me a kitchen floor mat in a plastic garbage bag and said 'we just need to try to hose it off!'. Yuck! Boys apparently weren't the best housekeepers.
We had no idea just how much food H. had in the place - 20 pounds of various chicken parts (breasts, thighs, legs) made their way home. I cooked wings (which I had thawed from our freezer not realizing that I would soon have more chicken in the house than I could possibly imagine) and legs last night. Still have 10 thawed legs to cook later this week. Tonight, we're having pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil (from our garden) along with the leg meat cleaned off the bone.
He also had a 'utility closet' that he forgot about and it was loaded with laundry soap, paper towels, etc. so we are well stocked on that stuff for awhile, too.
Today will be final touches on the cleaning; a final vacuuming and then turning in the keys. We will immediately start praying it gets rented - though we will leave H. a check for the rent before we leave for the beach in case it doesn't. Ouch! $1055 out the door - for an empty apartment -
We'll get back whatever we can when they rent it - here's hoping. H. has some of the money available to help offset the rent....but still. Yowza!
The house was appraised again by our new (actually is our current) lender and it appraised for $15K over the appraisal of just a month ago!! Yeah us! It's looking like this refi is actually going to happen!!
I am working 4 hour days this week so I slept in until 7! No alarm setting this week! Get there when I get there and work 4 hours and then head home. 'Tis a beautiful thing and I could get used to working part time. Not that it will ever happen on a regular basis - but shorter days are a nice change. So is coming home and getting busy around the homestead.
It's rainy here which is odd. It's not really cold - just wet. The solar isn't generating much power but it's OK 'cuz we aren't needing the AC much either so it's a wash.
I might send J. to get corn tortillas and some green chilies - found a recipe for a Mexican chicken casserole that looks good!
We had no idea just how much food H. had in the place - 20 pounds of various chicken parts (breasts, thighs, legs) made their way home. I cooked wings (which I had thawed from our freezer not realizing that I would soon have more chicken in the house than I could possibly imagine) and legs last night. Still have 10 thawed legs to cook later this week. Tonight, we're having pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil (from our garden) along with the leg meat cleaned off the bone.
He also had a 'utility closet' that he forgot about and it was loaded with laundry soap, paper towels, etc. so we are well stocked on that stuff for awhile, too.
Today will be final touches on the cleaning; a final vacuuming and then turning in the keys. We will immediately start praying it gets rented - though we will leave H. a check for the rent before we leave for the beach in case it doesn't. Ouch! $1055 out the door - for an empty apartment -
We'll get back whatever we can when they rent it - here's hoping. H. has some of the money available to help offset the rent....but still. Yowza!
The house was appraised again by our new (actually is our current) lender and it appraised for $15K over the appraisal of just a month ago!! Yeah us! It's looking like this refi is actually going to happen!!
I am working 4 hour days this week so I slept in until 7! No alarm setting this week! Get there when I get there and work 4 hours and then head home. 'Tis a beautiful thing and I could get used to working part time. Not that it will ever happen on a regular basis - but shorter days are a nice change. So is coming home and getting busy around the homestead.
It's rainy here which is odd. It's not really cold - just wet. The solar isn't generating much power but it's OK 'cuz we aren't needing the AC much either so it's a wash.
I might send J. to get corn tortillas and some green chilies - found a recipe for a Mexican chicken casserole that looks good!
Monday, June 24, 2013
Battery
B. called yesterday. 'Hi Mom. Can I talk to Dad, please?'.
Uh oh.
He needed his Triple A card number 'cuz his battery was dead.
He has a new battery now and $160 less in his checking account.
Welcome to the joys of vehicle ownership!
I'm awake earlier than I need to be but just couldn't sleep any more. Working 1/2 days this week as I slide into two weeks off.
Happy Monday!
Uh oh.
He needed his Triple A card number 'cuz his battery was dead.
He has a new battery now and $160 less in his checking account.
Welcome to the joys of vehicle ownership!
I'm awake earlier than I need to be but just couldn't sleep any more. Working 1/2 days this week as I slide into two weeks off.
Happy Monday!
Sunday, June 23, 2013
SuperMoon
Finally catching up on sleep and actually able to stay up late enough last night to see the Space Station glide overhead. Both J. and I get email alerts on the time and location - 9:32PM last night from NW. Sure enough, there it was! A couple minutes early. What surprised me is how 'close' it looked and how fast it moves. Can't wait for the next alert!
We also marveled at the Super Moon - full moon at the closest it will be to Earth for another year. It was huge and bright - like a search light shining in the window of the bedroom at 2AM this morning.
J. asked 'what's on your agenda today?' and I replied 'nothing'. 'Cuz while there should be a lot on my agenda, I don't want to do much.
J. got the new suitcases ready and upstairs - time to start packing. And making lists. And cleaning baseboards.
Playa, here we come!! Just one more week to go.....
We also marveled at the Super Moon - full moon at the closest it will be to Earth for another year. It was huge and bright - like a search light shining in the window of the bedroom at 2AM this morning.
J. asked 'what's on your agenda today?' and I replied 'nothing'. 'Cuz while there should be a lot on my agenda, I don't want to do much.
J. got the new suitcases ready and upstairs - time to start packing. And making lists. And cleaning baseboards.
Playa, here we come!! Just one more week to go.....
Saturday, June 22, 2013
There Are Blueberries Everywhere
The farm/ranch next to the blueberry farm was for sale. I had convinced H. that 'we could buy a property and you could live there. You would 'work the farm' all week and Dad and I would be here on weekends. We could raise chickens, grow berries for 'u-pick' business, maybe alpacas and a cow or two'. He seemed mildly interested -
H. wants a 'fresh start' somewhere. His friend (who moved to Texas) seems pretty set on enlisting and H. doesn't want to. He wants something 'new'....and I am sort of feeling that way myself. I try to help him see that life is always full of possibilities and opportunities. It's such a gift to have so many options - I try to get him to focus on the options. He's having a hard time - unemployed again and moving back home. It will all work out -
Last night, I decided to attempt blueberry jam. I went to the store to get pectin...and went when I was hungry and came home with (also) potato chips, Cracker Jacks, a chocolate croissant (there were two but I ate one last night); G2 Gatorade (grape!) - it's my new 'favorite' drink; and one box of pectin.
I watched You Tube videos to learn how to do it and wanted to do the 'simple' version - refrigerator/freezer jam.
First, I had to clean the blueberries. J. used the 'pick each one off the bush carefully one at a time' method. He wasn't all that fast about filling his bucket - but it got the job done. H. and I used the 'find a branch with a lot of berries and just run your fingers down the bunch and pull all the berries off'. Works great for speed. Not so great on the other side - cleaning the berries.
We have no strainer with holes large enough to allow the stems and leaf pieces to go through - so I settled for filling a huge bowl with water and stirring the berries round and round. Most of the stems and 'dirty pieces' float to the top - then I'd use a strainer to 'scoop' out the pieces. This took FOREVER and even then, I still had to remove the berries in small batches, double check for pieces....it was a long evening.
I followed the directions on the box of pectin and ended up with three plastic containers full of jam. When I went to bed last night, I was pretty convinced they weren't going to set correctly (something that has happened before in my attempts to make jam) - but this morning, the jam is set pretty nicely and I feel accomplished!
As we finished picking berries yesterday, I commented 'you know, if we really were growing our own food and being self sustaining, we'd be a lot skinnier - 'cuz it's a huge workout to harvest the food'...and last night, it was a huge amount of work to clean and cook the food. And I still have two huge bags of berries to clean today! I think I will clean and dry them, then bag them and freeze for future use.
Let's just say owning a farm and growing our own food doesn't seem nearly as attractive this morning as it did same time yesterday morning! Not that it wouldn't be fun - I remind myself 'well, it would be different if this was all you had to do all day, everyday. If farming were my life, I would fill my days taking care of animals and gardens and making jam would be a part of my 'job' - not something I attempt to wedge in among the other things that fill my days'.
Still, it might be an annual event - a 'u-pick' extravaganza once a year. A berry-palooza once a year.
The berries are cleaned and drying this morning - J. is vacuum sealing them for the freezer. I might save enough for pancakes tomorrow morning and maybe a coffee cake for breakfast at work on Monday. Maybe.
H. wants a 'fresh start' somewhere. His friend (who moved to Texas) seems pretty set on enlisting and H. doesn't want to. He wants something 'new'....and I am sort of feeling that way myself. I try to help him see that life is always full of possibilities and opportunities. It's such a gift to have so many options - I try to get him to focus on the options. He's having a hard time - unemployed again and moving back home. It will all work out -
Last night, I decided to attempt blueberry jam. I went to the store to get pectin...and went when I was hungry and came home with (also) potato chips, Cracker Jacks, a chocolate croissant (there were two but I ate one last night); G2 Gatorade (grape!) - it's my new 'favorite' drink; and one box of pectin.
I watched You Tube videos to learn how to do it and wanted to do the 'simple' version - refrigerator/freezer jam.
First, I had to clean the blueberries. J. used the 'pick each one off the bush carefully one at a time' method. He wasn't all that fast about filling his bucket - but it got the job done. H. and I used the 'find a branch with a lot of berries and just run your fingers down the bunch and pull all the berries off'. Works great for speed. Not so great on the other side - cleaning the berries.
We have no strainer with holes large enough to allow the stems and leaf pieces to go through - so I settled for filling a huge bowl with water and stirring the berries round and round. Most of the stems and 'dirty pieces' float to the top - then I'd use a strainer to 'scoop' out the pieces. This took FOREVER and even then, I still had to remove the berries in small batches, double check for pieces....it was a long evening.
I followed the directions on the box of pectin and ended up with three plastic containers full of jam. When I went to bed last night, I was pretty convinced they weren't going to set correctly (something that has happened before in my attempts to make jam) - but this morning, the jam is set pretty nicely and I feel accomplished!
As we finished picking berries yesterday, I commented 'you know, if we really were growing our own food and being self sustaining, we'd be a lot skinnier - 'cuz it's a huge workout to harvest the food'...and last night, it was a huge amount of work to clean and cook the food. And I still have two huge bags of berries to clean today! I think I will clean and dry them, then bag them and freeze for future use.
Let's just say owning a farm and growing our own food doesn't seem nearly as attractive this morning as it did same time yesterday morning! Not that it wouldn't be fun - I remind myself 'well, it would be different if this was all you had to do all day, everyday. If farming were my life, I would fill my days taking care of animals and gardens and making jam would be a part of my 'job' - not something I attempt to wedge in among the other things that fill my days'.
Still, it might be an annual event - a 'u-pick' extravaganza once a year. A berry-palooza once a year.
The berries are cleaned and drying this morning - J. is vacuum sealing them for the freezer. I might save enough for pancakes tomorrow morning and maybe a coffee cake for breakfast at work on Monday. Maybe.
Friday, June 21, 2013
It's All Downhill.....
Finally....past the annual budget crunch mode. Sliding into two weeks off on a beach. Survived my first week of working four 10-hour days in exchange for having Friday off. Enjoyed first Friday off immensely and we were productive. We headed to Modesto this morning and picked 12 pounds of fresh blueberries! Even dragged son #2 with us. It was hard work! but nice to have a reason to get moving and DO something. Thanks Groupon!
The long days went by pretty quickly, actually - and I did get a lot done. Next week, I'm only working 16 hours - so probably four hour days. We have other 'year end' stuff happening that requires my signature and it's OK to work shorter days which will go by incredibly fast. I know I will for sure stick to that many (or few...for me, few would be the better word) hours 'cuz my boss signed my year-end time sheet (confirming my carryover days) with me only being there a couple days next week - so it's done. I will stick to it no matter how great the temptation might be to stay longer.
I do need to work on lists of things to keep my team busy while I'm off - but thankfully, the first week I'm gone is a very short week and most folks are taking time off to stretch out the 4th of July holiday as much as possible...so I should be able to come up with stuff for folks to work on while I'm away.
H. officially FOR SURE moves home tomorrow - truck rented and one of his friends enlisted to assist. Thankfully, J. will take care of most of it. There's not too much to move, really -
J. is at a concert in San Francisco this evening with a friend so it's a nice, quiet evening at home alone!
I tried to take a nap but wasn't really all that tired - that compares to yesterday when I was home by 3 and dead asleep by 3:30 for an hour and a half...so dead on my feet that I think I was asleep within seconds of getting into bed. Felt so good to give in to exhaustion knowing there was a three day weekend on the other side of my nap.
I said goodbye to my boss with sadness....carried over the candy jar on my desk with two last jelly beans (his favorite) in it and said 'I'm heading home so I brought you these - to say goodbye'. He gave me a hug and said 'there are two - should it be like communion and we both have one?'. :-) He's funny. He promised we would get together for lunch; gave me all his contact info; assured me we will see each other soon - that will be true 'cuz he still has his district cell phone and will get it back to me in July at some point - but we all know how it goes with former co-workers. You don't keep in touch as much as you'd like - or you do, but it fades with time - or YOU do but others rarely do until one day you wake up and realize that the only one trying to stay in touch is you - and you give up. (And then you hear from someone that a 'friend' commented that 'we said we'd keep in touch but we don't'. And the 'we' they mean in that sentence is me and them. And you feel sad - and then pissed off 'cuz you can't recall them EVER calling you to check-in - while I spent the first six months of my current job running all over the place trying to keep in touch with folks from the college - who never reciprocated).
I needed to get that off my chest and I feel SO MUCH BETTER.
I think the odds are I will be in touch with my (now) former boss 'cuz we will both try to keep in touch. BOTH is the important word in that sentence - with both trying, it will happen. And I love driving out to Brentwood where he lives 'cuz it has a Trader Joe's and it's a really pretty country drive from here to there.
My new boss starts officially on July 8th (I won't be there that week). He is a current principal in our district and this is a big move for him. It will be exciting as we start a new year.
OK - I'm going to go make something with blueberries in it. Probably a blueberry cobbler. It's not too hot out so I will heat up the oven and bake. Also possibly a blueberry coffee cake for morning.
I want to try to make refrigerator jam too - but I need to get some pectin tomorrow.
The long days went by pretty quickly, actually - and I did get a lot done. Next week, I'm only working 16 hours - so probably four hour days. We have other 'year end' stuff happening that requires my signature and it's OK to work shorter days which will go by incredibly fast. I know I will for sure stick to that many (or few...for me, few would be the better word) hours 'cuz my boss signed my year-end time sheet (confirming my carryover days) with me only being there a couple days next week - so it's done. I will stick to it no matter how great the temptation might be to stay longer.
I do need to work on lists of things to keep my team busy while I'm off - but thankfully, the first week I'm gone is a very short week and most folks are taking time off to stretch out the 4th of July holiday as much as possible...so I should be able to come up with stuff for folks to work on while I'm away.
H. officially FOR SURE moves home tomorrow - truck rented and one of his friends enlisted to assist. Thankfully, J. will take care of most of it. There's not too much to move, really -
J. is at a concert in San Francisco this evening with a friend so it's a nice, quiet evening at home alone!
I tried to take a nap but wasn't really all that tired - that compares to yesterday when I was home by 3 and dead asleep by 3:30 for an hour and a half...so dead on my feet that I think I was asleep within seconds of getting into bed. Felt so good to give in to exhaustion knowing there was a three day weekend on the other side of my nap.
I said goodbye to my boss with sadness....carried over the candy jar on my desk with two last jelly beans (his favorite) in it and said 'I'm heading home so I brought you these - to say goodbye'. He gave me a hug and said 'there are two - should it be like communion and we both have one?'. :-) He's funny. He promised we would get together for lunch; gave me all his contact info; assured me we will see each other soon - that will be true 'cuz he still has his district cell phone and will get it back to me in July at some point - but we all know how it goes with former co-workers. You don't keep in touch as much as you'd like - or you do, but it fades with time - or YOU do but others rarely do until one day you wake up and realize that the only one trying to stay in touch is you - and you give up. (And then you hear from someone that a 'friend' commented that 'we said we'd keep in touch but we don't'. And the 'we' they mean in that sentence is me and them. And you feel sad - and then pissed off 'cuz you can't recall them EVER calling you to check-in - while I spent the first six months of my current job running all over the place trying to keep in touch with folks from the college - who never reciprocated).
I needed to get that off my chest and I feel SO MUCH BETTER.
I think the odds are I will be in touch with my (now) former boss 'cuz we will both try to keep in touch. BOTH is the important word in that sentence - with both trying, it will happen. And I love driving out to Brentwood where he lives 'cuz it has a Trader Joe's and it's a really pretty country drive from here to there.
My new boss starts officially on July 8th (I won't be there that week). He is a current principal in our district and this is a big move for him. It will be exciting as we start a new year.
OK - I'm going to go make something with blueberries in it. Probably a blueberry cobbler. It's not too hot out so I will heat up the oven and bake. Also possibly a blueberry coffee cake for morning.
I want to try to make refrigerator jam too - but I need to get some pectin tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Klinker
Thanks to the miracle of Costco roasted chicken and with some very careful, deliberate cajoling, Klink finally came out from under the bed 13 hours after the incident. I had tried canned food - no interest. Water - no interest. Shredded some chicken on a plate and he perked up a bit. He started to move towards the plate so I kept moving back - and finally, he was out from under the bed! Gave him a quick look - no puncture wounds. Tufts of fur out. He seemed OK. Gobbled down the chicken and stayed out from under the bed while I ran downstairs to shred some more.
He walked to his box in the bathroom and was definitely walking very slowly and carefully. Favoring his front left paw a bit.
At this point, we're pretty sure he tangled with a barbecue grate that was leaning up against the fence. He probably walked between it and the fence - and bumped it enough that it ended up on him somehow? And from there, he panicked (it was pitch black out and he must have felt 'attacked') and ran - possibly with the grate on his leg or something? Who knows. I don't see any scratches or blood.
He's better now....still out and doing OK. He followed me around upstairs this morning and did come down with me for a bit but didn't go out. Maybe he's learned his lesson? He's definitely subdued but then again, he's had a traumatic experience.
I am working extra super duper hard to attempt to be off most of Friday. Here's hoping. I'd love a three day weekend - the first off in a really long time. Maybe we will try to spend some time at the county fair.
Pig races and bad food - great way to ring in a weekend!
He walked to his box in the bathroom and was definitely walking very slowly and carefully. Favoring his front left paw a bit.
At this point, we're pretty sure he tangled with a barbecue grate that was leaning up against the fence. He probably walked between it and the fence - and bumped it enough that it ended up on him somehow? And from there, he panicked (it was pitch black out and he must have felt 'attacked') and ran - possibly with the grate on his leg or something? Who knows. I don't see any scratches or blood.
He's better now....still out and doing OK. He followed me around upstairs this morning and did come down with me for a bit but didn't go out. Maybe he's learned his lesson? He's definitely subdued but then again, he's had a traumatic experience.
I am working extra super duper hard to attempt to be off most of Friday. Here's hoping. I'd love a three day weekend - the first off in a really long time. Maybe we will try to spend some time at the county fair.
Pig races and bad food - great way to ring in a weekend!
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Tales of Helpers
Our cleaning lady D. is here today - she wears earbuds and chats on the phone while she works. She is the third cleaning 'person(s)...
