Happy 2009!

I hope that your New Years Eve is way more exciting than mine. I am working and DH is sick but still able to play video games.

May you all have a wonderful 2009!

2008

1. Read 5 non fiction books not related to infertility (Eat, Pray, Love Lost Boy Why I'm Still Married)

2. Read 3 classic books ( Harriet the Spy)

3. See 1 play (Doubt this will be done due to money issues now)

4. Eat Indian Food

5. N/A I guess I didn't log in soon enough and that blog is gone, along with my list. I lost the original copy when my laptop crashed before the fatal injury of late.

6. Read Intuitive Eating

7. See 12 movies in the theatre - 4 down

8. Go to the Planetarium

9. Go to the Burpee Museum

10. See Blue Man Group (Doubt this will be done due to money issues)

11. Redo backyard landscaping (Not going to get done this year)

12. Volunteer at 2 events (Didn't get to two, but did start a reoccurring volunteer assignment that started in December)

13. Finish the kitchen-- The outlets are done, now just need to fix the wall, paint again, and install the microvent.

14. Install doors on the laundry (Not Going to get done this year)

15. Make the 3rd bedroom liveable space of some sort (Ha Ha Ha)

16. Read 3 Biographies not related to Infertility (Lost Boy , Stealing Buddhas Dinner,

17. Go to at least one agency introduction meeting Done, Journeys of the Heart, Nov 16th

18. Attend 6 consecutive Sundays at the Church in town we have wanted to try

19. Refinish deck or decide to build new one and actually do it --(Not going to get done this year)

20. Go to Oklahoma for Memorial Day

Things not on the list that I consider an improvement. Went to Cubs convention on the fly with no plans when tickets were available on opening day. Went to a Cubs game and met my new hero Holly when tickets fell into our hands for free. Didn't freak out too badly when the garage door that was just replaced in the last 3 years broke due to DH leaving something in the way. Tried many new recipes throughout the year and went to a Vietnamese restaurant for the first time. Not a stellar year but I guess not a wasted one either.

Motivation to keep holiday eating in check

My weight is the same but my clothes don't fit. I don't get it but guess I will be paying attention to my cookie intake.

Hellooo...

It's been crazy. No real time to post but some bullets:

* I have 4 appointments tomorrow and 8 reports due before Christmas Eve

* Family drama at the annual Christmas event and it is wrecking havoc on my brain.

* I don't know why I let the family drama effect me so much except that I am part of the problem in a way since it is related to Step Family issues and well, I'm the step that tagged along.

* It is freaking cold and I really, really, wish we had moved South even if they have to deal with ice.

* Chili over potatoes is DH's new favorite dinner. That's whats for dinner tonight.

* We can't seem to make ourselves watch the last two episodes of My Own Worst Enemy since we know it has been cancelled. I think the last episode was last week.

* 2 Years ago this amount of work would have taken me half the time. This market sucks.

* I just realized my SIL gave us meatballs to take home from the party. Goodee! Dinner tomorrow is Spaghetti and Meatballs honey.

* I believe we are done with shopping as long as DH stops and gets a gift card tonight. I need to stop and get a box or two of wax for my dad to give to my mom. for her hands... I know, I never had a wax bath either.

* I better go work or I will never sleep tonight.

Adoption Info

I realized today that I had stepped away from talking about the seminar and never went back to it for various reasons. We came out of the seminar learning what we needed to know, we are not able to adopt right now through an agency such as the one that we went to. They have one really unique international program that intrigues me but even that program is out of our budget. We don't qualify for one of their programs based on my weight and our joint medical histories. One of the programs I was interested in, turns out that we only qualify for special needs kids due to their requirements that nonspecial needs children are placed with only families of the same "nationality" as the country. I have to lose about 10lbs to qualify for their China program but they aren't really encouraging about that program due to the long wait times that hasn't cleared up since the Olympics like originally thought. I'm guessing it might have to do with Hague also.

Their domestic infant program wasn't any less expensive than the international programs and for some reason that really surprised me. Though if we end up going with an agency not in our state for some reason, I would definitely consider this agency for our homestudy. I liked the social worker and the agency's "not going to sugarcoat information" policy. Their domestic infant program would be an interesting choice simply based on where their birth mothers primarily reside, but we have pretty much decided that unless a newborn comes to us by way of someone we know, some other way of "falling in to our lap" so to speak, or out of a miracle pregnancy, we would rather skip that stage. Sounds selfish I know but if we have to pay for the privilege to be parents...shouldn't we get a choice in the matter? There are others out there that only want a newborn and won't settle for anything less. So isn't it the same? I doubt we will be pursuing any domestic infant programs.

We were going to go to another agency meeting at the beginning of December but with work and my apprehension about hearing fees that we just can't pay right now, I didn't preregister. It is for an agency that I know has been around for a long time. We might go in January but most likely February. This agency also deals with foster adopt but they don't seem to have a seminar on it. I need to do some more research after the beginning of the year on the process for our county.

I wish there was a way to pull 30K out of a hat but there just isn't for us right now.

I made it 10 days

I made it a whole 10 days before I crashed and burned. I should be working but I haven't been able to put a coherent thought to the keyboard in hours. So instead I have been shopping online and took time to eat dinner with DH in front of the tv. Yes, our bad habit is back simply as a time saving measure.

I will go to bed in a few minutes, just waiting for the next kitchen and dining deal to pop up on Amazon to see if it is worth getting and then I will place the order of the day and go snuggle with the cat. The alarm will go off again at 3am tomorrow and luckily I only have 1 appointment. I didn't even want that one but Friday wouldn't work so I had no choice. I must write up a bunch of stuff otherwise I will just keep falling behind. More orders came in today so the end doesn't appear that close in sight. I doubt I will be able to crank out enough reports to make up for the money not made in November but I can try. Darn rate drop... did it have to come during the Holidays?

Diet--eh not so hot. Hormones? They seem to be raging and I didn't take Provera this month because I didn't want to deal with a wicked AF while baking cookies with my mother. As it is I still may end up with AF here then but I can only hope that she starts tomorrow so the worst is over.

Okay... the new deal isn't that great. One of the Keurig (sp) single K-Cup coffee makers for $60.00. No thanks, we'll stick with our 12 cupper. Though I did pick up

Band of Brothers for $25.99. Now just to figure out who is going to get that.

Happy Hump Day

BlaGO

Please GO. Quietly and not fight this. We don't need to spend the money to impeach you. I'm still astounded you got reelected. So while we know you are now at the Federal Building, when you get home figure out your plan but BlaGO GO. Your real persona has been evident since the initial investigations came to light.

Updated: Originally posted from my blueberry so I edited the qwerty mistakes I made. It will be an interesting few days/weeks in Illinois, especially since the legislature is not in session currently.

Super easy and tasty chicken

I found a recipe online awhile back and now I can't find the link to it so here is my version:

* 3-4 qt crockpot
* some chicken pieces, I had 3 frozen chicken breasts
* 1 small jar of apricot preserves
* 1 12oz or small jar of salsa of your choice, I used peach pineapple because I thought it might go well with the apricot instead of the other flavors I had available in the house.
* 1 pk of taco seasoning
* 1 can of beans
* Cooked rice


Take the chicken and dump in the crockpot. Mix the salsa, preserves, and taco seasoning together and pour over the chicken. Cook for 2-3 hours. Add the can of beans and cook until needed. I had added a 1/4 package of frozen bell pepper strips at the same time as the beans and then cooked for about another 2 hours or so. Total cooking time ended up being 5.5 hours on low. This is the first time that chicken breasts actually came out looking the way that they should have and without that wierd brown crust that we have seen recently when I have made whole chicken breasts in the crockpot. My 4 qt crockpot is not a major name brand and it cooks too fast. I started it about 1pm and then added the beans and peppers at around 430pm. We ate about 630 so I think I added right. You could probably add the beans in the beginning I just didn't think about it and thought I had black beans on hand but I had to use light red kidney beans instead. They were hard but it was probably the brand that I have, canned beans really aren't supposed to be hard so it was annoying.

I was told to make this again. It didn't come out too sweet as I was worried about and it was just spicey enough for me and was a good level for DH to not have to add any hotsauce. Next time I will add an onion but I was being nice and not adding onion since DH thinks I cook with too many onions. I think the sauce would be good with pork too.

Just moving along

Trying to keep my head above water this month. Work has exploded and in no way shape or form can I complain about it except to berate myself on not using the many days of free time last month to clean the house and get ready for the holidays. It will be fine. I know that. I would love to have such a crazy month that I actually make up for all the money I didn't make last month. But that would be scarey because DH is currently driving me nuts. I am not sure if I am PMS'ing or if his pills are making him looney. But whichever it is, he sure is stinking annoying as all get out. I told him this so I am not worried about putting it out there but does Prozac make people wierd sometimes?

Have a wonderful week!

BBBT-Harriet the Spy Edition!

I don't think I ever read Harriet the Spy as a kid. I enjoyed the book and even read one of the followup books to it. My library doesn't have all of them so I will have to read Sport later but I did read The Long Secret after I finished the first book. I can see why it has been considered a classic and why it was considered groundbreaking for the genre.

If you haven't read it... I recommend picking it up. If you have but it has been awhile... what are you waiting for?

Questions:

Would Harriet have been a blog writer or just a blog reader? Do you think she would have ever commented on other people's blogs? If she did write her own blog, do you think she would have written about her own life or do you think she would have replicated her spy notebooks and only written about other people?

I think Harriet would have a gossip blog. She would most likely comment on others blogs but she would be that person that asks the difficult questions when everyone else is thinking the same thing. I doubt she would actually talk much about herself except to detail her adventures and share her thoughts of what was going on with others.

Obviously, this book brings up many questions on privacy and journaling. At one point, Harriet journals all day at school instead of doing her work. Has anyone worked on their journal/blog at work? And been caught? When do you blog/journal? Do you do it when you should be doing something else?

I work from home and don't have to worry about others monitoring my Internet access except for my husband. He only cares if I am wasting too much time instead of working when he wants to go and do something else. I tend to blog when I think of things and won't deny that sometimes I blog simply to avoid working.

In the beginning of the book, Harriet is explaining the game Town to Sport. She goes thru a list of typical town places from the 1960's. What places/professions do you think a savvy Harriet in 2008 would have in her town?

This was one of my questions... so I will take a shot. I think that there were definitely be some type of beverage drive thru place such as Lavaaza, Starbucks, or Jamba Juice. There would also be a Warehouse club store. I think she would have the computer repair person and maybe a computer repair shop because there are still some small ones around and opening up these days. Hmmm... she might even have a yoga studio.


When Ole Golly leaves after her engagement, Harriet notes that things feel the same but she seems to have a little hole in her heart. When was the first time you remember feeling a similar loss and does it still remain with you today?

For me this there have been several but the first time was when we moved across the country away from my grandparents. They moved to Florida shortly after so even if we hadn't moved it wouldn't have made a difference. I missed them greatly because we used to go over there on weekends and do little things like make applesauce and collect golf balls (they lived on the edge of a golf course). It has remained with me as we have not been close since then. I have only seen my Grandma three times since we moved and I saw my Grandfather twice before he died. I feel like I missed out on a lot because they were only penpals for so long.


How much of Harriet's behavior in the latter half of the book do you think was a direct result of Ole Golly's leaving? Would she have gotten so out of control if Ole Golly was there for her to talk to about the lost notebook?

I think that she was deeply effected by Ole Golly leaving and that much of her behavior was influenced. I think that Ole Golly would have talked with her on how to handle the lost notebook but I don't know that all of her reactions would have been different.

How do you think Harriet would have upgraded for the new tech? Would she be blackberrying instead of the notebook?

I am betting that she would have nightvision goggles, a laptop or pocket pc, and a digital camera to take photos of her adventures or a combined gadget to let her record her thoughts in text and photos.

ETA--I am sure that she would want to use nanny cameras and other similar items if she could figure out how to plant them.

Why do you think the author painted the home lives of Harriet and Sport the way that she did?

I think that the author was trying to express that not everyone has the perfect nuclear family or a family with multiple children. I think that most likely she wanted to paint a clearer picture of other possibilities for the kids reading her book. I liked the idea that Sport was the one that had to stay home and take care of the house and not one of the girls. The idea of it probably shocked many people when the book first came out.

Hop along to another stop on this blog tour by visiting the main list at Stirrup Queens (http://stirrup-queens.blogspot.com/). You can also sign up for the next book on this online book club: An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken