Making strides on the book challenge....

I went from having finished one book the entire year to now I have finished 5 and 3 of them are pretty long. But they were fairly easy reading. I am now on book 4 of the Twilight Saga. Eh, they are alright but I don't get the whole hoopla by readers who are out of highschool. I definately do not understand the swooning women my age who are declaring their neverending love for Edward. I guess I am just not that type of reader, at least not for this series. I *might* see the movie but if I do will most likely netflix and not go to the theater.

Anyhow so far my challenge reading list looks like this:

1. Aloha: Four inspiring novellas
2. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
3. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
4. Love Afloat: Four inspiring novellas
5. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

1/7th of the way to my goal.

Just rambling

Such a Friday this is...

I am behind on work again and to be honest, I shouldn't be. It isn't nutso. It is just regular steady yet for some reason I can't focus. This has been going on all week. Part of my focusing issue is related to Facebook. The angst of why don't they want to be my "friends" blah blah going back to elementary school. The other part of why Facebook has me upset is the number of people that have recently gotten divorced. The people were married before me or around the time that we were married. These are couples that seemed happily married as recently as 6 months ago yet are labeled as single. I don't know why this has upset the apple cart so to speak for it is disturbing to me right now.

Service Announcement If your not Annie Skip

Hi! Annie from Finding Onderland...

I haven't been able to comment on your blog recently. Starting with the post from Jan 29th. Not sure if you changed something but it isn't working and I can't find your email address on your site or in my email files. I know I used to have it.

Anyhow... in case you are reading I wanted to get the message out to you.

Back to the regular programming........

Lentil Sausage Soup

I posted a yummy lentil soup recipe over here.

Thanks and goal progress...

Thanks for the birthday wishes. It was a good day. DH bought me a wii fit and also tickets to see Jersey Boys. I am going to admit that when I guessed the gift of the wii fit, I gave him a hard time about making me feel old and fat. That could be why then he ordered the Jersey Boys tickets but he says he had planned that anyhow. So in a few weeks we are going to be completely out of our element and going downtown on a Friday night. Then hopefully at some point over the weekend we will be going to lunch at a new place with Kristi and her hubby :) So that will make a good weekend after my mom has surgery on Fat Tuesday. She won't be able to do much for weeks so I really hope that winter has given over to just cold days and that no more snow is in our future but I highly doubt that.... it is Chicagoland.

Anyhow....

So I set some quarterly goals and so far I haven't made much progress on anything other than trying new recipes. I need to post the ones that were successful like Lentil Sausage Soup.

1.Read one classic book (I am trying to pick one from my stash and having a difficult time since I don't know what I want to start with!)

2.Read one nonfiction book (not about infertility) (Too bad Twilight doesn't count ;) )

3.Finish the office cleaning/organizing (It is so aggravating, the room is a mess again so almost need to start over... so ticked at both of us about this)

4.Work towards following South beach Phase 2---90% of the time ( I think I am just going to start counting carbs again but not fully decided yet)

5.Try 12 new recipes (including ones I make up as I go) I think that we have tried at least 7 new recipes and if I count the fondues that I am making today we will be at 9. I am also planning on a new recipe for dinner Monday night so then 10. This is really an easy one for me because we like variety.

6.Register for another session of Tai Chi (I am disappointed because they are on Monday nights or Saturday mornings again. I was hoping the day would change... I don't really want to take a Monday night class.)

7.Try Pho at Baaran's

8.Go to the Burpee Museum (We are heading to Rockford next weekend for dinner... hopefully we will get on the ball and go early so that we can knock this one off the list---*Hint, Hint* )

Okay... I am off to do a bit of Wii Fit training, laundry, and some prepping for our family dinner today. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Update

Lots going on lately....

1. The thyroid nodule is benign. Just need to keep an eye on it and get ultrasounds at least every 18 months to make sure it hasn't gone nutso.

2. Our friends are having a girl! They have named her and she may be here as early as April 23rd! But we hope that she waits until June like she should.

3. Above mentioned friends... they completely overwhelmed us by honoring us as the baby girl's Godparents. Guess I can't grumble this pregnancy any longer. Well, actually, I have accepted it completely and I am very excited for them regardless of how everything has gone down over the past 6 months.

4. Tomorrow! It is Friday the 13th! The start of Spring Training since Pitchers and Catchers report to Arizona!!! Oh yea, and I turn thirty freaking five.

5. No, my life isn't what I thought it would be by now but in the end I can't complain because it isn't so bad.

Book Challenge

I have been slooooow to getting back on the reading train this year. So far I have only finished 1 book but I am currently have started the first twilight book and am reading another anthalogy of love stories. Nothing major but it sure does feel better to spend some time doing something other than sitting at the computer :)

Anyhow, Kristin at Dragondreamer's Lair is holding a reading challenge. Do you have a goal of how many books you want to read this year? It can be any type of book? If you do, join in!

You can always see what I have been reading in my goodreads widget in the right sidebar.

Suggestions Please

We have a family dinner on Sunday and I picked out the menu but I need some final suggestions.

One of the items that I requested was loaded mashed potatoes but since we have picky eaters we are making a tray of toppings. So far I have the typical toppings of bacon, cheddar cheese, and green onions. We will probably have sour cream too. Can you think of any other toppings for mashed potatoes?

The other items that I need suggestion for is the dessert fondue. We are making the peanut butter dip from Crockpot lady and one of her chocolate fondues but I haven't decided which one yet. If you have tried a chocolate fondue that you really like, please share. I tested the peanut butter one and know that I need to double the recipe for the group.

Dippers I have in mind are:

Strawberries, marshmellows, graham crackers, bananas, shortbread cookies, apple slices

Any other favorite dipper?

Thanks!

I can never catch a break. I finally have some down time... The first full day off since Christmas and I doubt I will get much done. My head feels like it is going to explode. UghhHhhhh. I really need new glasses.

I am eating regular food again and will actually cook for the first time since Monday tonight. On the menu, pork chops with tomatoes over rice. I don't think I will be eating seafood anytime soon. Top Chef really took any interest in it out of me this week :) I was disappointed that Jamie went home instead of Leah. I wonder if they kept her in just to see what would continue to happen with Hosea. Her behavior in the quick fire alone was enough to let her just leave.

One thought I had last week that I didn't include was that I always wondered if they sent the others home early but after all of them were in the audience for the Top Chef bowl it makes sense that they keep them sequestered until they are done.

Work has slowed down to a much more manageable pace but I still haven't had a full day off since Christmas. I am really hoping that will change this weekend. We are supposed to go to my inlaws on Sunday. Which is fine... but I really hope I can take tomorrow or Saturday off so that I don't feel like my only days off are visiting my inlaws. Also on the task list is ordering new glasses. I have been walking around missing a nose piece thanks to the cat for far too long. I just have to break down and do it.

Next up on the home remodeling project? The bathroom... it isn't our choice but it needs to get done as things are leaking and can't be repaired without being replaced. Since it seems silly to replace something that is just going to get torn out soon we just will have to start that project sooner than anticipated. Now to actually get to the stores and pick out what we want. Our biggest disagreement will hopefully be whether to go with beige tones or gray tones. We have to gut the whole darn thing so it will be a fun project. It really is a basic space so I don't think a designer could really help much and we have to keep the bathtub because it is the only on in the house. I would love to put a tubelight in but I don't think it can be done and still have a good space for the exhaust fan. I need to talk to DH about maybe putting a tubelight in the upstairs hallway. It is pretty dark up there if all the doors are shut. If not a tube light... maybe a crescent window or similar with frosted glass might be okay. Since we want to reside the house anyways...that may be the better choice since we don't need a new roof. But who knows when that will happen now with the bathroom. Ugh... I don't want to make those phone calls but we will need to sit down and find some contractors for quotes soon before the toilet falls into the dining room.

Yay!

In just a bit I get to hear about someone's pregnancy! Just what I want to be dealing with right now as my neck hurts. I am grateful that the interaction is solely on the phone and hope that I can fake it pretty well as they are very excited because today was the big Ultrasound. Hopefully the results were good and that they were able to find out the sex.

Home Again

We had to wait for an hour after the scheduled appointment time but we were home within a half hour of seeing the dr. The nurse said again that she might not do the biopsy but she looked at the original report and decided without even seeing it that it needed to be done. The nodule is 1.3 cm so pretty big. She took two needles of samples and dang it hurt.

But I am home, sore, and hoping not to worry to much over the next week. It didn't seem to have grown so that is a good sign. I am supposed to hear from this dr next monday with the results.