Getting Older

(No, not me. Although, I guess I am too).

When we first adopted Zoey, without fail she would sleep in to 6:30 at the latest. Sometimes she would go back to bed, but most of the time she was ready to be up. Although I am a morning person, there were many weekend mornings that I was not happy to be getting up. The funny thing was that if it were just Ben and Zoey at home, she would let him sleep in. Anyway, lately, I have noticed that she is pretty content to sleep in too. Don't get me wrong, in the mornings when my alarm goes off, she still is super-hyper waiting for me to get ready for our walk. But on the weekends she will just sleep. I love it, but it also makes me sad that she is getting older. I have always known that I will outlive Zoey, but it makes me sad to see that day creeping up.

Every Christmas for 10 years at least, my Grandma and I have gotten together to make Krumkake. It all started one year when I was invited to a cookie exchange (thanks Amy!!) and I thought it would be fun to bring krumkake. (Not a great cookie to bring to an exchange - they are putsy to make and very delicate, but anyway). Ever since then we get together to make some. Granted, we usually only make a few dozen instead of the dozens of dozens I did the first year. :) I really enjoy the time with my Grandma. It is the most concentrated one-on-one time I get with her throughout the year. The one "bad" thing about having this time with my Grandma is that from year to year I can see how she has aged. Her memory isn't as sharp as it was in years past. Her energy has diminished. It makes me so glad that we have this tradition, but also sad that she too, is getting older. She is 82, so she is getting up there. I think to some degree most people don't "believe" that their loved ones age. I want to live in a place where no one ages...

Turns out this is a rather depressing post in a season of joy. Sorry!

Startled

Saturday I walked into the fish room to turn the tank lights on. Usually I just walk into the dark room and flip the switch. That day I had taken two or so steps into the room when I heard a very distinctive splash. I quickly flipped on the room lights and went to the back of the tank. Sure enough, Mr. Wrasse had jumped out! I quickly scooped him up and put him back in the tank. He hung around the bottom acting all weird (and rightly so, I mean, he just spent 30 seconds or so on the floor after dropping a few feet). Finally he vanished underneath the sand (that's where he sleeps). I really thought that would be the last time I saw him. I watched for a few minutes and then went upstairs to tell Ben.

An hour or so later, I peeked in and there the wrasse was, swimming around as if nothing had happened! I was so happy! And so far he hasn't shown any effects from his adventure. He is still swimming and eating. Yea!!

I really think I just happened to startle him and that caused him to jump. But since he has had suicidal tendencies before, I decided to try and prevent future near misses. I installed "anti-suicide" barriers along the top of the tank (extra plastic pieces). I'm hoping this will help.

Bruce, Jake and Zoey and the Snow Man

Last weekend we found out that Bruce Campbell was in town for the premier of his latest movie, "My Name is Bruce." We checked for tickets on Saturday morning and the only showing with seats left was the midnight one. So we decided to be young and hip and we went to the movie. In Uptown. Yep, we're that hip. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Bruce did a Q&A before the movie. He was hilarious! And the crowd was great. For a movie genre that I don't really care for, I thought the movie was pretty good. For a B movie, anyway.

Last night Jake came home! My dad was going to pick him up. My mom and I tagged along to surprise him. It was so good to see my little brother again. Dad took us out for dinner for us to start catching up. Jake picked GC. I was very happy with his choice. :) We have some scheduled time to go Christmas shopping together and he also warned me that he will be over a lot to play Guitar Hero and whatnot. I'm so looking forward to it.

This morning on our walk, Zoey was a very brave dog. As we were walking past a house, she growled and let out a deep, menacing bark. At a snow man. She's such a good protector. Sometimes I wish I could be her for one day. There is this one spot on our walk that fascinates her. I can't even drag her away until she is ready to leave. She sticks her snout in the snow and just sniffs for a few minutes. And everyday she goes straight to the spot. What's there that is so interesting? This morning she took so long sniffing that I think her paws were getting cold - she started lifting up on leg at a time off the ground. Silly girl.

This weekend is going to be busy. I am hoping to only work a half day today so I can run some errands. Then tonight I have a girl's night. Tomorrow night we have an Ugly Sweater party. Then finally on Sunday I have a bridal shower to go to.

Escape

I think I mentioned a while back that we had moved Zoey to the mud room for while we were gone from home. That turned out to not be the brightest idea we ever had. She went to work on shredding her blankets (this was expected). Then one day she shredded my sweater. Granted it was my fault to leave it where she could get it, but she has NEVER destroyed something that wasn't hers before. Also, she would jump up against the door and started to scratch the paint on the door and the walls. But the breaking point for Ben was last week.

I got home one day after Ben. He came out the front door and told me to use that door instead of the garage door. Turns out that Zoey wanted a Mountain Dew. She tore open the box and managed to puncture a can. Turns out she didn't care for MD and there was pop everywhere on the floor. The next day she was back in her kennel.

Rick is staying with us this weekend and I told him of the new Zoey arrangement. He was so surprised when he came home yesterday to find her out of her kennel. (Luckily I had closed the mud room door). He looked at the kennel and saw that the door was still locked. She somehow managed to turn her kennel so the hole was facing out, and climb through the hole that she had made months ago. I guess we will be buying a new kennel soon.

Yesterday it finally snowed enough and is cold enough that we have a slight covering on the ground. Zoey eats the snow every chance that she gets. I just hope she doesn't lick the door frame and get her tongue stuck. :)

Thankful

When I first heard about the tragedy that was unfolding in Mumbai last week my first thought was of my new friends there. Due to the time of the attacks everyone was either already home, or at work. And the attacks happened "far" away from where they typically are. I was so relieved and thankful when I found out that everyone was safe. I won't lie that my second thought was how glad I was that I was safe and sound at home. I would have been "far" away from it too, but too close for comfort, especially for my family here.

It was a really eerie and surreal feeling to watch images of the Taj Hotel in flames show up on the news. I had visited there on my first day there. The hotel was beautiful. And now, it was a place of sorrow.

It saddens me how cruel people can be. It has been repeated again and again across the pages of history. It just happens to be the Muslims this time. But not that long ago it was the crusaders. And even more recently it was the Nazis. Countless examples of how sinful we are.

All Night Long

My last day in India was great. Neetha met me at the hotel and then Baba took us around. The first stop was a church. It is said that when you enter you should make three wishes and then climb the stairs on your knees and your wishes will come true. The church was beautiful. Across the street was a statue of Mary overlooking the ocean. The statue was amazing. It was hand carved out of marble with so many tiny details. From there we drove down the street where a lot of actors and cricket players live. Certainly not Hollywood! The buildings didn't look all that spectacular. And they all live in flats - no mansions here! Then we had a traditional lunch. Yum! Then we went to some area with a lot of street vendors. I bought a pair of beaded shoes. Vaishali met up with us there and we looked around some more. Being white I was the target for everyone that was trying to sell something and for all the begging children. Neetha and Vaishali did a great job of protecting me. We stopped at an ice cream place to cool off.

From there Neetha left us (still helping a friend with her wedding sari) and Vaishali and I headed to the beach! The beach was... interesting. The beach itself was dirty with broken glass in the sand. I hear the water is dirty too, but didn't get close enough to actually see that. But the breeze was nice and we wandered around looking at the vendors. We even saw a few boys walking around with monkeys.

Our next stop was a Hare Krishna temple. It didn't open until 4, so we sat on the marble steps waiting for it to open (after being yelled at to take our shoes off). The outside was beautiful! Again, hand carved marble everywhere. When it opened everyone followed a rope path around the perimeter of the temple. There were shadow boxes of various gods and their stories on the walls. I was a little confused when everyone sat down. When in Rome... so I sat too. I'm still not clear as to if it was a service (it only lasted like 10 minutes) or if it was just an informational talk that I was a part of. But it was interesting.

After leaving that area, we went to Powai to find some tea. With that done, we walked to a park and watched the sun set. When we got back in the car Vaishali had a good talk with Baba about driving. It was amusing! Since we didn't have much remaining time, I offered to talk Vaishali home. She said yes, that she wanted to show me her place and make me some tea. So that's what we did. She makes her tea with milk and a little water, so it was quite different than what I am used to. But it was good. And then it was time to say good-bye. :(

I was so touched... When Baba dropped me off at the hotel, he gave me a gift. It is a cute little elephant with mirrors and beads covering it. It was a very sweet gesture.

The trip home was uneventful. When I got home Ben and I went to see the new Bond movie (figured that would help keep me awake). Finally around 8:30 I couldn't stay awake any longer. I woke up at 3:30 and could not get back to sleep! But then last night, I slept all night long. Ahhh!

Last Days

Thursday I slept in as long as I could, which was about 10. I put on my suit (swim that is) and headed to the pool. Linda was already there. We had a very relaxing couple of hours out there. It is very warm here so every 20 minutes or so I took a swim to cool off. And I cheated... for lunch I had a grilled pita sandwich and fries. This was my first non-Indian meal here. Felt a little guilty, but the fries were so good!

And then it was off to work! It was another busy day. I had a meeting with my team. Followed by a meeting with the leadership team. Followed up by a meeting with the manager there. Then we headed to dinner.

Dinner was fabulous! We went to the same place as Monday (still can't remember the name). I was at the non-veg table and they kept ordering dish after dish, drink (non-alcoholic) after drink. I was so stuffed! I literally was having trouble swallowing I was so full. The team was very animated and we had a wonderful time. But it took us forever, so we didn't get to take team pictures before we had to head back so everyone could work.

Linda and I packed up our stuff and headed over to the GMI offices. There we met some of the people that used to work for Intelenet and now work for us (after time passed as we have a non-compete). They were excited to see us and to show us around. It was one of the guy's birthdays so Linda had brought a card for him and said that I didn't know what birthday bumps were, so he should show us. Boy, was that interesting! One guy picked up his arms, another his legs to suspend him above the ground. Then the rest of the guys kicked his behind! Did not look fun at all! Finally close to 3 am we finally headed back to the hotel.

After what seemed like a short night (wonder why) we were on the way back to the office. There we spent some time with the team answering any final questions or in my case, talking with my new friends. Then we did an award ceremony where everyone got a bag of Dove chocolates (yes, Linda carried 50 pounds of chocolate from the US for this occasion). They love our chocolates and it was a special treat for them. After the ceremony, most people immediately took their bags and locked them up so no one would steal them. Hasina didn't. When she stepped away from her desk Nikunj took them and put them in an empty drawer of a different desk. When she got back she asked who took her chocolates. Everyone was giggling. It took only seconds for Sangita to point the blame on Nikunj. I told him he best be careful... he is the only guy in that area. Everyone had a good laugh.

In between shifts, Sunita (my team lead) and Darshana took me shopping at the mall. I wanted to buy a few traditional Indian outfits. This might come as a complete shock to everyone, but I guess I am a different size and shape than Indian women! I did find some that fit. Everything was so pretty that it was hard to decide what to buy. So I bought too much. Oh, well. It was pretty cheap. Oh, and one dress was a little loose around the middle so it was altered at the store in less than 20 minutes!

Then it was back to work. But really it was just another award ceremony. Once again everyone was pleased with the chocolates.

Since we didn't have a chance to take pictures the night before, we wanted to take them before we left. Intelenet is very strict about cameras. They are not allowed in the building (my camera was with Baba, the driver). We thought we could just take them outside the building, but were quickly told by security that we couldn't do that either. After trying to get approval (and failing) we finally decided to just walk to the parking lot of the mall to take them. That worked well and we took a bunch of pictures.

Then it was time to say good-bye. It was very sad as now having met the team I feel even closer to them than I did before. They also gave us presents. I got a beautiful fresh water pearl set (earrings, necklace and bracelet). And some postcards of old Bombay. Shilpa also had given me a very nice silver bracelet.

When I got to the hotel I started to pack. And amazingly, everything fit!

And now I am going off with Neetha and Vaishali again to see some sights and do some shopping. I probably won't buy much more... :)

Pool Side

Wednesday I slept in since I was going to be working until 1 am with the night shift (so glad I don't have to do that on a regular basis!). I got up and ready because we were going to go visit a school (the old manager of our team, his wife is a teacher and invited us to visit). I got to the lobby in plenty of time, but didn't see Linda or Baba, our driver. So I waited for a bit before deciding that they had left without me. So I wandered to the pool where I found Heather. She is OK. As well as can be imagined, I guess. She is in work mode where she has pushed her emotions aside so she can focus on getting home without falling apart. She left last night and should be back to Minneapolis by 10 am Thursday (CST).

I changed into my suit and hung out with her until it was time to shower and get ready for work. It was nice to be out in the hot sun. I think a few freckles appeared. :)

Last night was my first night with the IRA team (Issue Resolution Analyst). They are the team that I work with mostly. And they work at night to be able to work similar hours to the people in the states. Once again everyone was super friendly.

Around 8 pm we left during break to visit with Darshana's family. Darshana is one of our team leads and she really wanted us to come to her place. Her family is considered middle-class here. I could not believe how small the apartment is! It is a three room apartment. When you walk in there is a room that is the living and dining room. Off of the short hallway there was a very small bathroom and a kitchen. The final room was the bedroom where Darshana and her parents sleep (she has a trundle bed). This type of living arrangement is very common. But they were some of the happiest people that I have met! Her mother insisted on serving us a "snack." But there was so much that it was more like a meal. Again, can't remember what I ate, but I liked everything. Her mother made sure to keep everything mild so we would enjoy it. I asked Darshana to send the recipes to me.

Then it was back to work. I swear, the time here is just flying by! At one point Linda came up and asked me if it was ok if we stayed 10 more minutes. I looked at my watch and realized that it was already 1 am!

There was very little traffic, so we were back to the hotel in no time.

Horn OK Please

Yesterday (Monday) I worked the day shift. I quickly found out that my guesses on how to pronounce names were off... not too much, but enough that I had to look at the printed name to figure out exactly who I was talking to. (I guess the accent probably didn't help me either). The morning passed very quickly answering questions, observing my team work and getting to know them. We took the team out for lunch. I had butter chicken. It was so good! We had some other stuff that was good too, but don't ask me what it was. We took team pictures then headed back to work. I felt bad because we left shortly after but the teams stayed and worked late to get the rest of their work in.



Shortly after I got to work, I found out that our system was down for a portion of my process. We weren't able to use our laptops (darn secure firewalls wouldn't let us through) so when we got back to the hotel, I jumped into the pool for a quick swim then logged on and fired off some frantic emails to IS to try and find and fix the problem. When my laptop battery was just about dead (I had left the power converter at work) I called it good. I cuddled into bed and tried to watch cricket (the sport). I was so confused! So I switched channels and watched an episode of "The Nanny" instead. Stupid snooze guy is still roomed next to me. But this morning the alarm first went off at 7, so at least it was better than 5:45!



Today was my team's busy day. The weekend mail volume is very heavy, so the team in Minneapolis is busy on Mondays so when my team comes in on Tuesday they have a lot of work to do. Add that to the issues that we had on Monday (fixed!) they had ~1500 items today! Yikes! But my team is so awesome - by the end of the day they were helping out other teams with their work load.



Again the day went by very fast. Yesterday I had mentioned to Hasina that I am almost always hungry. This afternoon around 4:30 she asked me if I was hungry. I was. She asked if I wanted to go to the cafeteria. I have been warned to stay away, so I declined the offer. Later I was in the hallway and she walked by with Swati on their way for a coffee break. She invited me to come, so I decided it was a safe option. We had a small cup of coffee and some cookies in the stairwell it was nice to be able to chat with them.

Traffic was bad on the way back to the hotel. Our driver taught us some Hindi. I told him I noticed that many vehicles had "Horn OK Please" on their back bumper. He said it is required for all trucks and large vehicles to have this. We laughed about that.

When we got back to the hotel the driver went to go get his family to meet us. In the meantime, I was hungry (surprise) so I ordered room service - tandoori chicken pizza. It was so good! We had a nice visit with his family. His wife is gorgeous! And his two kids are adorable. I'm sure we are the whitest people they have seen in person.

When they left to go home, I came back up to my room to finish my pizza and this post. Linda and Heather stayed in the restaurant for a late dinner. I no sooner got back to my computer when I got several IM's from my team in Minneapolis. They needed to get a hold of Heather. I went down to tell her to call her parents. Linda and I went to her room after Linda finished her meal to see what was going on and if she was ok... She found out that her brother committed suicide. She is currently making arrangements to leave India early. But she is not sure if she is emotionally ok to make the 24 hour journey alone. Please pray for her and her parents as they deal with this sadness.

Are you Serious?!

Last night I slept pretty well. I woke up a few times to check the time because I wasn't entirely sure if I set the alarm correctly. Then at 5:45ish my neighbor's alarm went off. I guess they haven't really felt like waking up because the alarm has been going off every 10 minutes or so! URGH!!!

That's a New One

This morning I decided to roll myself out of bed around 10. I didn't want to sleep away too much of my one of two days to travel. I showered and got ready. Neetha came to the hotel at noon. She was so sweet - she was a few minutes late because she was trying to find a flower shop to buy some flowers to welcome me to India!



We rode in an interesting type of taxi... it didn't have doors and it was kind of a cross between a motorcycle and a golf cart. I didn't get a picture, but I will before we leave. We took this to a shopping area that was just done the street from where the General Mills offices are. We ate lunch at Noko, which is known for their sizzlers. I had a fish satellite. It was very tasty! It had a bunch of veggies and some fish smothered in a tasty sauce. I also had a lime soda. I was so stuffed! Then we walked around while we waited for Vaishali to join us (she was running late). We ended up at a store that sells milk candy... It was interesting. When Vaishali found us, Neetha left to go help a friend find a sari for her wedding. Vaishali's roommate was with so the three of us headed out.



First thing to do was negotiate with a taxi driver to be our driver for the day. That took a lot of Hindi words. :) Then we were off to the British part of town. We started off at the markets where Vaishali helped barter for some stuff. I got some bracelets, some shawls and a shirt. I also got some stuff painted on my hands. After that we went to the Gateway of India. It was pretty cool. It would have been cooler if it had been less crowded and not under construction. Then we went to the Queen's Necklace. It felt wonderful to have a breeze! We sat there for some time enjoying it. Then we went to a restaurant for dinner. It was a veg place. We split two dishes. I have already forgotten what they were, but I liked them both. It amazed me how little of the food it took to fill me up. Although, I suppose I may have been still full from lunch. From there we were going to go to a church, but it closed at 7 and it was nearing that time. Instead we went to a bay of some sort where people just hang out in the evening. We sat there for a while then decided to head back to my hotel. So here I am. I'm about ready to hop in the shower then snuggle into bed. Oh, on one of the times walking back to our car, we a barber shop that was set up like a street vendor. There was a guy getting a shave (with a razor like you see in old time movies) and another guy was just getting ready to have his beard trimmed. Interesting.

It's no Brotchen

Today I flew to India. I left Minneapolis at 3:20 pm. The flight to Amsterdam was pretty uneventful. I had a nice meal and some wine. I sat next to a nice guy from New Castle, England who is returning from Omaha on business. We had some nice chats. I took a nap too. Boy, are business class seats nice! Plenty of room to get comfy.

We landed in Amsterdam around 6 am their time. We went to the first class lounge to chill. I kind of have forgotten that a) it was breakfast time and b) I was in Europe. I was excited to have a chance to eat a European Breakfast. The selection wasn't that great, and the bread was not nearly as good as some good German Brotchen, but it did hit the spot. I wandered around the airport for a bit. Then it was off for the final leg.

This leg was also uneventful. I took a nap mid-way through the flight. I just couldn't stay awake! When I woke up I decided to watch a movie. I picked Wall-E. I was about 1/2 hour into it when they shut down the system because I guess we were getting close to landing. I was pretty bummed. It was just getting good! I'm hoping that the same movie selections will be available on the way home.

Upon landing, we got our bags and went through immigration. Again, uneventful (not that I am complaining!). We met our hotel driver that was taking us to the hotel. It took longer for us to get out of the parking lot then to get to the hotel. That is how close we are and how crazy busy the parking lot was.

Now I'm in my room. I showered off the travel grim and am getting ready to hop into bed. I'm so excited for tomorrow (actually just later today, technically). Neetha and Vaishali (two of Ben's teammates) are showing me some sights. Yippee!

Zoey's Happy Day

For those of you who have met Zoey, you may know that she prefers to greet people with a toy in her mouth. Don't ask me why. She tends to get a little panicky if she doesn't have a toy. For that reason I try to make sure she has a few toys in the mud room with her when we leave for work.

The other day I get home from work and there is something in her mouth. But it's not a toy. It's a milk bone! I look around the floor and there are bits of bone all over! She is really crying, so I figure I best get her outside (but not before she quickly eats the bone that was in her mouth). When we get back inside I notice that her water bowl is empty. I fill it and she immediately starts to drink as fast as she can.

While cleaning up the mess of crumbs (that Zoey was happy to help out with) I found two more whole bones in the closet behind the unopened door. She was probably saving those for later, but I put them back in the bin. I have no idea how many she ate, but it was probably at least a couple.

We have a habit of leaving the closet door open. I had been wondering how long until Zoey tried to get into the treat bin. Now we know. We now make sure the door is closed before leaving her in there.

Catch a Falling Star

At our old house we had nice, mature trees everywhere. I really liked the shade that they provided as well as the shelter from the wind on my morning walks. At our new house, the trees are young and short. As much as I miss the old trees, one great benefit of the young trees is that I have a full view of the sky. In the last few weeks I have seen 4 shooting stars on my morning walks (yes, it is dark enough at 5 am to see stars). I wake up hopeful that it is a clear morning and I can gaze at the stars as Zoey and I walk. I love it!

This Friday I leave for India. I am super excited to meet my team and get to experience the culture first hand. Neetha and Vaishali (Ben's teammates that were here this summer) have graciously offered to show me some sights. It is going to be a whirlwind of a trip! I hope I can keep up.

As I have been getting myself ready for the trip, I have also started to get Ben ready for my absence. Yesterday I taught him how to use the washing machine. Last night I made a batch of chili and am planning on freezing it for him. Today I threw some chicken in the crock pot before I left for work for shredded chicken for quesadillas. I probably won't do too much more since I'm sure he will be going out too.

I just realized that I should probably expand on the whole washing machine thing... our washer is a side loader and yesterday Ben saw me put the detergent in the little compartment thingy. He commented that he wouldn't have thought to put it in there.

Fish Drama

Last night I went to the fish room to feed the fish. I didn't see our wrasse. Strange. He's usually the hungry one. Out of habit I checked the floor behind the tank (we have been known to have some suicidal fish in the past). Not there either. While that is a good thing, I was very puzzled. Then I checked out the overflow box to see if the air bubble needed to be removed (hard to explain, but there is a U-tube that goes from the inside of the tank to a box outside that brings water out of the tank to go to the other tank to circulate the water to maximize oxygen flow. Sometimes air bubbles form in the U and cause the syphon to break. So, every once in a while I remove the air bubble with a hose... anyway, probably getting too technical). The U-tube looked fine, but guess who was in the small box?! The wrasse! He must have tried to jump but landed in the box (thankfully) instead! So Ben came down to help me fish (hee hee) him out of there.

So why do fish jump from tanks? The most common reason is because the water is not to their liking (too warm, too salty, not salty enough, etc.) the other common reason is out of fright from a predator. After checking salinity and temperature, we think it was too warm for our little fish. With the weather going back and forth between cold and warm, we don't have the air on any more and yesterday it was warm outside causing the house to be warmer and causing the tank to be warmer.

Hawt Deal

Ben frequents fatwallet.com to find deals. Here's one that he found for me!

Victoria's Secret has new promotions going on.
1. Add Two of VS Cotton Bra, 2 for $40
2. Add One Cotton panties for $7.50
3. Add anything $2.50 or more: Items under $5
4. Check out. Make sure to check the box that you have promo codes
5. Enter and apply 3 coupon codes:
* FA814857 for free messenger bag on $50+
* FA813789 for $10 off any bra
* 25PTY for $25 off any two full priced bras and free cotton panty
6. Your price is around $20 shipped, depending on the items you select in step 3

Tips: The cotton panty has to be a solid color. I didn't want the messenger bag, so I didn't add another item (or that promotion code).

So I got two bras, a panty for $15 with shipping. How hot is that?!

www.victoriassecret.com

Girl's Night

Last night I took advantage of Ben being away and planned a girl's night. It was so fun! Really should do those more often.

We started off meeting at Noodles for dinner. It was Dawn, Andrea, Heather, Cassie and me. After I stuffed myself with pasta for the sixth time this week, we (excluding Dawn because she had to get her hair done - lame!) headed over to the AMC theater to see "The Secret Life of Bees." I am for sure going to AMC during the week more often! Only $5 as compared to the $10 on the weekends, or other places. After the movie, we walked (thanks to Andrea's brilliant idea) to Houlihan's for dessert. So yummy!

Back to the movie. I read the book probably 3 years ago. So, it wasn't exactly fresh in my mind. But from what I remember, it is pretty close to the book. It was funny because I had little bits in my head from the book but when the movie started I was like, oh yeah - I remember what happens next. I thought it was a very good movie. If you haven't seen it yet I would recommend Kleenex.

Heart Ache

This past weekend we had my parents, sister and husband and grandma over for dinner. It has been a long time since there was a family gathering. To celebrate Ben and I tried pasta again. It was yummy for the second time in a row! :) This time we made fettuccine, which was WAY easier than cutting and shaping bow ties.

Leading up to the big dinner I thought on several occasions that this would be the first family thing without Jake. Then on Friday on my way home from work, it really hit me that he wasn't going to be there. My heart ached with the loneliness I felt. Literally. I almost started to cry. I was tempted to call my little brother, but then thought maybe it would be better if he didn't know how much I miss him. After all, I still have everyone else right here, and he is the one that is alone. Well, not really. When you have 400+ friends on facebook are you really alone?

Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting Christmas break so we can hang. We even have a shopping date planned (for Christmas). So excited!

Coincidence?

Last night I was reading my latest Rachael Ray magazine. I got to this one article about having a pasta making party with friends! Coincidence? When Ben got home I asked him if he had been reading my magazine and that's how he got the idea to make pasta last weekend. He just rolled his eyes at me.

The last few days have been pretty chilly on the morning walks (this morning it was about 30 degrees). I am currently wearing shoes, socks, pants, short sleeve and long sleeve shirts, polar fleece jacket with hood and gloves. I hate to break out the winter coat; wearing long-johns seems too winter-y too. I think tomorrow I will add a hat and sweatshirt and see how that goes.

Pasta Experiment

On Saturday we decided to have some friends over for dinner. Ben decided that it would be a fun group activity to make pasta. And I do mean from scratch. So, while he was out playing a round of golf, I bought a pasta maker. Our friends came over and the fun began!

Colleen was nice enough to take a stab at making the dough. The rest of us were a little scared. But, we added too much flour, so we had to make a second batch of dough. This time Ben tried it. Second batch looked perfect! Ben and Philip went to work rolling the dough through the pasta maker. Colleen and I worked on making the dough into bow-ties. (Yeah, Ben thought bow-ties would work better with the meal so we hand made the bow-ties).

Finally at 10 pm dinner was ready! It was very tasty. We made pasta with green vegetables. The sauce was cream based and very light. All in all it was a fun night, but a lot of work! Next time we are just going to make spaghetti or fettuccine since the pasta maker will cut dough into those shapes. I took a couple of pictures that I will have to post another time.

On the Map

I just found out yesterday that you can know use Google maps to find us! The satellite picture is still of a field, but the streets are out there. How cool!

Using Gmaps Pedometer, I have verified that our morning walk is indeed a mile. I also checked our current running route. That is about 1.6 miles. So on both accounts, my calculations were not that far off.

On the Range

This morning, my mom and dad and Ben and I went out to the shooting range. My dad has a membership at a place about 1/2 hour away. My dad brought his pistol and two rifles. It was a little chilly, but we had a fun time. I definitely need to go more often - I'm no Annie Oakley! But I did get a few shots on the bulls-eye! Ben's fun was hampered a bit by an injury he sustained while cocking the pistol. Not sure what he caught himself on, but he got a huge slice on his finger. Blood everywhere! (OK, not really but it was bleeding pretty good). Next time we go out I am going to bring the first aid kit. :)

Big Girl

When we adopted Zoey, she was kennel trained. So we bought her a kennel. She has lived in a kennel while we have been at work or away every day since then. We have talked off and on about giving her the run of the house, but we have heard and read that dogs are used to routines and if you mess with it, they have the tendency to wreck havoc. So, she has remained in the kennel. I used to feel guilty, but on days when we are home you can often find her in the kennel, so obviously she doesn't mind. Until last Thursday.

I was the first one home and went downstairs to let her out. I heard the usual thump-thump of her tail against the plastic sides. When I rounded the corner, I stopped. She had somehow managed to rotate the kennel so I was looking at the back, not the side. And here, in the back she had chewed a gigantic hole! In one day! When Ben got home we discussed our options. We decided to let her have a little freedom to see how she does.

We moved her kennel and one of her beds along with some toys into our mud room. We put away all of our shoes and any other "temptations." When we left for work we locked her in there. When I got home from work, she was happy to see me (as always) and everything looked fine (we were concerned that she would scratch up the doors). So for now, she has her own little room for while we are away.

Changing subjects... Yesterday I was looking for a good-for-you soup that would use ingredients that I had on hand. I came up with this one: Jacob's Middle Eastern Lentil Soup. I doubled the recipe, added 1 pound of cooked ground beef and omitted the lemon juice. It was pretty tasty! Although, we both had to sprinkle some salt on top.

Sighting

This morning I was sitting at a stop light. I saw a huge bird flying towards me (well, in my direction at least). I watched it approach because I was curious to see what kind it was. When it got closer it looked like it had a white head. I think it was an eagle! How cool is that?

(Unrelated) The other night I decided to use up some of the extra shrimp from Monday night. I decided to doctor up a recipe that a friend gave me. It is very simple and I think it's tasty. The original recipe is:

1 pound whole grain pasta
1 package edamame (shelled)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
some water to thin out the sauce

I added the shrimp to the sauce and soybeans. It was very tasty! The funny thing was that when I asked Ben what he thought, he asked why I put the edamame in it.

Seven Years

On Monday, Ben and I celebrated seven years of marital bliss. We went out to lunch with David and Heather (who were celebrating their one year). We went to Bahn Thai. Yum! When I got home there was a huge bouquet of roses waiting for me. We decided to stick with our commitment to eat at home, so we went to Costco and Byerly's to pick up some food. I don't think we saved much money, but we had fun and I'm sure it was better for us. Here was our menu:

1st Course: Fancy pants cheese, raisins and wine
2nd Course: Crab Cakes
3rd Course: Peel and eat shrimp, bread and some more wine (same bottle)
4th Course: Freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and milk

We also watched "Sweet Home Alabama." Ben didn't really like it, but he was a good sport.

YIPEE!!!

The crew on the freighter made it!!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/13/ike.rescue/index.html

Worst Feeling

I've been kind of watching the news about Hurricane Ike. Today I read a bit about a freighter that is stuck in the path of the storm. It was trying to get to shore but the engines failed. I just walked by the TV and the rescue attempt has been called off for safety reasons. It must be the worst feeling to know that you are stuck and a storm is coming. Please pray for the 22 on board on their families...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/12/hurricane.ike.texas/index.html

Peaches!

Every year a lady at work sells Colorado Peaches as a fundraiser for her community. Last year I split a crate with a friend. They were so good that I decided to buy a whole crate this year. Boy, that's a lot of peaches! Ben is convinced that we won't be able to eat them all. He may be right. So we decided on some peach experiments in the kitchen...

First thing we tried was a peach smoothie. It was pretty tasty. We didn't have the vanilla soy milk, so we used regular milk and a splash of vanilla. The only problem with this experiment was our equipment... we realized that our blender doesn't work. So I made it using a food processor. It worked ok, but there were still ice chunks and there was a little too much smoothie and it started to ooze out the side.

Then we tried peach salsa. It turned to be a longer project than we had thought. Turns out it takes a long time to chop everything! We used only three cups of peaches and two pounds of tomatoes. It's not very tomatoey, so next time we may add even more tomatoes. It's got a little kick (at least I think so) but it's pretty darn good. Since we were running low on time (Chuck, Michelle, Liam and Grant were over for dinner) we didn't can the salsa. And I'm not sure if we will. Due to using less peaches, we don't have the volume we expected, so I think we will just eat it. :)

Our last peach experiment is slated for this afternoon - Peach Lemonade. I'm looking forward to it!

Upcoming Event

In about a month, my family will once again be participating in a 5k walk to support the American Diabetes Association. Last year we walked and had a lot of fun. General Mills is once again hosting the event.

As many of you know, my sister (the beautiful blushing bride) was diagnosed with diabetes about a month before she went off to college. She has been fortunate to have a minor case (pancreas is still creating some insulin), but still has to check her blood sugar several times a day and give herself shots of insulin.

If you would like to sponsor our team here is a link!

Food for Last Week

Inspired by my friend Amy, last week I made a menu plan for the week. I may have mentioned this in another post that Ben and I are trying to eat at home more often (take advantage of our awesome kitchen AND try to eat healthier). So here is what we did...

Sunday: Chicken
Monday: Left over soup
Tuesday: Spaghetti
Wednesday: Cheese and jalapeno quesadillas
Thursday: Eat out (happy hour with friends)
Friday: Home made pizza (home made dough and everything!)
Saturday: Eat out (using gift cards)

On another note, somehow my facebook account got spammed/hacked/virus'ed... I think it's due to an "video" that I got "from" one of my friends on facebook. I have emailed them to try and get my account back. In the meantime, don't worry, I'm still friends with you and don't try to watch any videos from "me."

Fun with Fish

Every morning before I leave for work, I check on the fish tanks. Why? I'm not sure. I don't expect to find anything. This morning was a different story...

I walked in the room and quickly realized (due to lack of "white" noise) that nothing was on. No pumps, no heaters, no anything. What?! My brain was kind of working this morning, so I realized that the circuit had been tripped (not sure if that's the right term - the whole room is on one of those outlets that when too much current is drawn it shuts it down and you have to push the "reset" button on the outlet). So, I reset it. And it turned off again. We haven't changed anything since the big move, so I was very confused. I tried again (if at first you don't succeed...). Still didn't work. Hmmmm.... So I thought of some things that weren't "necessary" for the short term and unplugged those items. After unplugging and resetting a few times, I finally got everything to stay on. So I raced off to work (cuz now I'm running late).

On the way to work I text Ben so that he knows what is going on. Just as I returned to my desk after my 8 am meeting, he calls to find out what circuit I'm talking about. So I tell him and tell him what I unplugged. Turns out the one thing (pH probe) I took out, also turns on the heaters. Oops! So I decide that between all of my meetings today, I would run home and turn the heater back on.

I got home and was talking to my mom (van broke down in Iowa last night on the way home from Virginia) and noticed right away that something didn't sound right. I let Zoey out (she was going crazy) and went to see what was making the noise. I nearly slipped on the floor because it was wet!! (Enter frantic/panic mode). I unplugged the pump that was making all the noise (because it was out of the water). Panicked for a little bit then called Ben. He was able to cancel some of his meetings and come home. In the meantime, I cleaned up all the water, started to replug things back in, make salt water, scratch Zoey behind the ears, etc.

By the time Ben got home, everything was up and running except the part that circulates the water between the tank and the sump (big thingy that holds extra water and rocks to help keep the tank perimeters steady). We got that working again. And everything is happy once more.

So what happened?
1. The heater in the sump died. For some reason when heaters die they draw more current, thus tripping the circuit. (The heater is now replaced).
2. The syphon that pulls water out of the tank broke (we have no idea how). That caused water to stop flowing out but water still flowed in until the pump was out of the water. The tank overflowed resulting in water on the floor.

The "funny" thing was that these two events are completely unrelated! They just "happened" to occur on the same day. And the pump that ran itself dry just "happens" to be close to the top of the water, so really we only lost about four gallons of water (all on easy-to-clean linoleum).

I'm just so thankful that I checked this morning because otherwise our little fishies probably would have been very unhappy (aka dead).

Kitchen Experiments

One thing that we noticed as we were packing... we have a lot of food that we never eat. Some of this is due to free GM samples that just don't appeal to us. But mostly it's because we forget what's in the cupboards. So, we are changing our ways and trying to eat what we have.

Friday night we were planning on having soup. It was a dried mix of split peas, barley, Lima beans and seasoning. It was supposed to take 2 hours. But after 4, the beans were still not soft. We were hungry so we gave up and got Chinese take-out. (I think we cooked it at too low of a temp in case you were wondering). Yesterday for lunch we decided to put it back on the stove. We added some salt, pepper and chicken bouillon because when we were tasting it on Friday night it was a little blah. Turned out pretty good. Next time instead of buying the mix, we are just going to make it ourselves.

Yesterday morning we were hungry (unusual for Ben, not me). We didn't have milk, so we decided on oatmeal. We didn't have a lot of add-ins, but we did have brown sugar and chocolate chips. Turns out that this is a tasty combo (a little weird on the texture front, but tasty all the same).

Our final cooking adventure for the weekend was last night. We had some frozen chicken breasts that I had seasoned with "Santa Maria" seasoning before freezing it. I put the frozen chicken in a covered baking dish, added about 2 tbsp of butter and water and a bouillon cube and put it in the oven. In the past when I have done this, the chicken has turned out slightly dry. Not last night! It was great! Even Ben was impressed. He asked what I did so we could duplicate it again. Not sure what the trick was - it could have been the oven (we now have convection, so I put it on "Convection Roast"), or it could have been the things I added. Not sure, but we will cook it that way again. (Note: It was in the oven for almost 2 hours since it was frozen).

Last night we also had sweet corn. Yum! It is the best I have had in a long time.

The Sad Good-bye

Last night we took my parents and brother out to dinner. Today they are leaving to road trip out to Virginia and leaving my brother there for college. I am so sad. I know that he's not gone forever and I will see him again at Christmas time, but I will really miss being able to see him whenever and to spoil him.

He's pretty excited about college (as it should be). And Ben thinks it will be good for him to be so far away. I asked Jake last night if he knew how to do laundry. He said, "Yeah and I have two rolls of quarters!"

So happy for him. Good luck Jake!

Burrito Challange

As I mentioned in the previous post, we got some food at Wal-Mart. Since our kitchen was in boxes yet, we went the easy route and got some burritos for $1 each. Not that you can expect anything too great out of $1 burrito, but they were bad! Neither one of us finished.

A couple of days later (maybe - or maybe the next day? Time is a blur during the move) we were at Costco and picked up two packages of burritos - one that is refrigerated and cost $2.50 per burrito and another that was frozen for $0.50 per burrito.

We have concluded our taste test comparison... The winner is... the expensive ones! Second place goes to the frozen ones. So, I guess sometimes you get what you pay for.

We are slowly working through the boxes that clutter our new house. I thought unpacking would be the easy part, but turns out it's not... It's tough to try and decide where you want things. Sure, we can rearrange stuff, but we would at least like most things to be where we actually want them.

Last night was National Night Out. We went to our "old" neighborhood for a potluck BBQ. It was fun to see everyone "one last time" (but I know we will be around and some neighbors (Robin) we will still keep in touch with). When we left to go home, it was the first time that I felt sadness about our move. I had moments of sadness before, but this time I could feel it. They really are a nice group of neighbors. And I will miss them.

The Move: Day 2 - Movers and Rain

Yesterday we woke up bright and early (and yes, without proper shades it was bright!). We ate a wholesome breakfast of Graham crackers and water on the way to the old place. We met the movers there and they loaded up the furniture. I told Ben that was just about the best money spent.

While they were loading up everything, it started to rain. Great. They did use floor mats and runners, but we still had some tracks on the old floor. Ben told them nicely that the new place was NEW and to try to be as careful as possible. By the time we got to the new place it had pretty much stopped raining. Zoey was going nuts, so we went on a nice long walk while Ben directed the movers.

After the movers left, Ben stayed at the new place waiting for the cable guy and TV delivery guy to come. Zoey and I went back to the old place to clean a little (boy does under furniture collect the dust, hair and crap!) and pack some more boxes.

We ended our day with a trip to Wal-Mart for some dinner and breakfast.

The Move: Day 1

Yesterday was closing! It went fine. I few odd things came up, like our second mortgage (which we need until we get "rid" of the old place) was set up through a local bank. The bank requires direct withdrawal from one of their accounts for the loan... so we have a new bank account. Weird. But other than that, all the paperwork was signed and faxed in.

Prior to close we had our final walk through of the house. Then we loaded up my parent's van between walk through and close. After close we unloaded the van into our new place! It was then that the excitement really hit.

After that load, we came back to the house. My mom came over to help with the remaining kitchen packing while another friend came over and helped take apart our bed. We loaded up the van and an SUV and headed back to the new place.

My dad came by and helped with the bed while my mom unpacked the kitchen. And while this was going on, Ben and I came back to the old place to make sure that the stuff the movers are moving was easily accessible.

It was a long day! I was so happy that when we got to the new place the bed was all set up and ready to be slept on!

Test Four and More

Today's test started off easy. It is divided into 5 parts. The first part I feel awesome about. But then the next two segments were tough. Word on the street is that the first part is a sort of pre-test to see what you know. If you do well "they" give you hard questions... Not sure if that's true but today it felt like it. The final two segments were ok. I think I did well on them. Hard to know for sure. Guess we will find out in September!

So, tonight I'm taking a break and then I will start studying again. Oh joy. To add to the fun of studying, I will be also filling my "spare" time with packing... Yep. Ben, Zoey and I are moving! (And our fish too). More on that another time. Need to fill up the garbage and recycle bins because tomorrow is garbage day!

Long Nails and Bites

For some reason (I blame Hollywood) guys with long pinkie nails just freak me out. I'm not talking about "I just need to trim them" nails, I'm talking about the ones that are longer than most girl's and obviously well taken care of. So if you're not in some Chinese gang, why the long nails? Freaky.

Yesterday I was up at a lake for Ben's team's outing. It was a lot of fun! But within the first 5 minutes I got two bites from horse flies. Within inches of each other on my left calf. And they hurt. Seriously. I'm fine when I'm sitting, but if I straighten it out to stand or walk it is incredibly painful. After I study tonight I will take some Benadryl to see if that helps (if I do it now, I'll just fall asleep). I was going to go for a run this afternoon, but I think I'll just sit around with my leg bent instead.

Holding Steady at 25

Last weekend I got my test results. Not good. But not terrible either. I got a 71 and a 72 (75 is passing). So I was oh-so-close! It really stinks to be that close because it means just probably 2 more correct answers and I would have passed. So, instead of ending this study filled life the middle of July, I will still be at it for a while. :(

The current plan is to try and take both sections in August. September is the closed month (no testing available) so I will have my results by the end of that month. The reason being is that my grandfather period expires on Jan 1, Dec is a closed month so if I don't pass again (please no!!!) I will need to take whatever sections by November 30.

Well, off to study for my July 15 test.

Indian fun and the Tooth Fairy

Neetha and Vaishali at El Loro.

About a week after taking Neetha and Vaishali to El Loro so they could try Mexican food, we took them to Vescio's for Italian. That was also an amusing experience! Trying to get spaghetti onto our plates had all four of us laughing really hard! I think the rest of the people there that night probably thought we were crazy! We also had a bit of "lost in translation" when we were explaining the desserts. We told them they should try tiramisu. When I said that it had lady fingers in it, they looked very confused. I asked if they new what lady fingers were and they said yes, so we continued with the description. They were still very confused... turns out that in India lady fingers are some sort of meat thing, not the cake type things that are in the dessert!

Trying to get fettuccine.

Yesterday the plan was for us to go sailing, have a BBQ and then go to the Twins baseball game. Vaishali wasn't feeling well, so it was just Neetha that came with us. It was a beautiful day on the lake. Dave (captain) asked us what else we had planned for the day. We told him, so about 1 1/2 hours out, we turned around and headed back. And it's a good thing we did! We got the boat docked and everything put away minutes before we had a down pour!

Neetha on the boat.

It continued to rain as we headed to Grant's house for the BBQ. Good thing his grill is under an overhang! Dinner was great... well, for everyone except me (more on that later). We had hamburgers and s'mores. Neetha enjoyed everything. S'mores were really fun, because she had never had a marshmallow before!

Then off to the Twins game. We were a little late (got there in the 3rd inning). I am not a huge baseball fan, but this was a very fun game to be at. They played the Milwaukee Brewers. We were surrounded by a bunch of Brewer fans. It was fun to be able to boo the people next to us. The game ended up to be very close, but we won by one run. It was a very exciting game.

Grant, Ben and Neetha at the game.

On Thursday, I had my wisdom teeth pulled. They had come in years ago and weren't really causing any problems, but my dentist was a little concerned that they would in the future (they were waaayyyy in the back, so it was hard to keep them clean). Since they were in and the roots were straight, I just went to my normal dentist for the "extractions." It really wasn't too bad. They gave me Novocaine and then 1/2 later I was on my way home. They gave me my teeth, so on the way home Ben and I were joking about putting them under my pillow to see if the tooth fairy would come. So, when I went to bed, I put them under my pillow. The next morning I was getting ready for work (I really did feel fine so I decided not to "waste" a vacation day), when I decided to check my pillow. I figured that Ben would have either forgotten, or put a $5 under my pillow. I was wrong... I found a box from the Shane Company! Ben (I mean, the tooth fairy) gave me the ring that I was admiring at the store a couple of weeks ago! I almost feel guilty that I'm not in so much pain. Almost.

My tooth fairy present

I do feel pretty good. It hurts to open my mouth too much, so I have been taking it easy eating ice cream, yogurt and spaghetti o's (so while everyone else was enjoying grilled cheeseburgers, I was eating spaghetti o's). I feel hungry almost all the time. And everything sounds so good! Can't wait to eat "real" food again!!!

How do I eat this?!

Last night we took two members of Ben's India team to El Loro. They hadn't had Mexican food before (crazy!). The one lady was super excited to try a taco because she had heard they were really good. We ordered a bunch of different stuff... tacos, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas... When the food came I offered the plate of tacos to the lady. She said, "This I eat with my hands, right?" When we responded in the affirmative, she took one off the plate. Then she held it, looked at it, and with a questioning look in her eyes asked, "How do I eat this?" We all laughed! It had never occurred to me that eating a taco would be an odd thing, but upon thinking about it, it is the only food that you eat with your head turned sideways. It was neat to watch people experience something so different than what they are used to. Oh, and she loved the taco. :)

Pay it Forward

This morning I took my mother-in-law to the airport. Since I wanted to sleep in as much as possible, I had decided to grab some McDonald's for breakfast on my way into work. I go through the drive-thru, place my order and drive ahead to window 1 to pay. The worker said, "The guy in front of you paid so you don't have to." I was so shocked and confused and still half asleep (Zoey kept me awake most of the night) that I just smiled and said thanks. It was after I got my food that I realized that I should have kept paying forward... So I have decided that the next time I am in a drive-thru that I will pay for the person behind me. It's a small thing to do, yet it totally made my morning! I encourage you to do the same.

Thank you random person in front of me!

A Bride, A Prince and A Test

I know, I know. I haven't updated in forever...

Last weekend was my sister's wedding. It was a beautiful day, and she makes a beautiful bride. Everything worked out pretty well. Pictures were delayed a little bit, but in the end all the pictures were taken. The reception was beautiful too. I am still incredibly happy for my sister. Right now she and Pranob are probably on their honeymoon. (They had a reception in India today with Pranob's family and left sometime today for their honeymoon). I really hope that they have a nice and relaxing time. It can't be easy to essentially plan two weddings, one on the other side of the world.

After the wedding we went to see Prince Caspian with some of our friends (for those who don't know, the wedding was in the morning, so we were home and done by 5 pm). The movie was great. I really liked it. But it did make me realize that I really don't remember the books. I will be reading those this summer.

Last Wednesday was test three for the CPA. I think it went pretty well. Still haven't heard on my second test. I'm guessing that both results will be here towards the end of June. Keeping my fingers crossed for good news on both of them.

Fairies Take All

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day for the Run of the Mills 5k. It started off chilly, and it was a bit windy, but the sun was out and the rain/snow stayed away.

Again Team Tortoise was the crowd favorite. We got interviewed for a Fortune 500 movie GMI is putting together, the photographer took a ton of pictures of us, and - the best part - little girls came up and asked to get their pictures with us. It was so sweet.

We finished ahead of our target time of 32 by coming in around 30 minutes exactly.

At the award ceremony we ended up winning the women's team division for time (?!)... And we won best costume! We were so excited. Especially because of the "upset" last year. It was kind of funny... a couple of people recognized our team from last year and let us know they still thought we should have won last year for costumes.

We are taking ideas for next year's costumes. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Spoiled!

This was a fun weekend. It started off by going to Chino Latino's. A coworker of mine had her birthday party there. I wasn't going to go because Ben was busy and I didn't really know anyone else that was going to be there (the birthday girl just started in my group a month or so ago). I ended up deciding to go since Ben was busy and I had nothing else to do on a Friday night. I dragged Dawn with me (thanks Dawn!) and we had a great time. It was our first time there and we both enjoyed it.

Saturday I went to the tea with my mom. It was very nice. Several ladies brought in their hat collections, so we all wore hats during the tea. Patsy, a missionary in Africa, shared what she is currently doing over there. It was very interesting. After the tea my mom and I went shopping! We started off at Ridgedale. And we didn't find a single thing! So we drove down to Von Maur in Eden Prairie. We found lots of dresses there! We finally decided on one and bought it. We were both super excited.

When I got home I discovered that Ben had done laundry! It was so nice to not have to worry about that. And then yesterday I was running errands and Ben made dinner (steak, mashed potatoes, rolls, veggies and wine). It was so good! I felt like a very spoiled girl.

Caught Up

Well, the weekend finally caught up with me. Last night I was planning on taking a short nap... I woke up three hours later! Very unproductive night. Oh, well. This weekend I should be able to catch up with the errands, work and studying I didn't get done.

Tomorrow I am going to a ladies tea with my mom. Afterwards we are (finally) going shopping for her dress for the wedding. I'm so excited. It should be fun.

Last Sunday Team Tortoise got together and started working on our costumes. We are going to look awesome! I'm so excited to run. I will be posting pictures after the race.

That's about it... Have a great weekend everyone!

Accepted

Friday afternoon I officially accepted one of the jobs offered to me. (Drum roll please...) I have accepted the original job that I applied for. Unfortunately, it is the one that isn't on the main campus, so my carpool days are numbered. As I told my boss when I let him know I wasn't taking the job he offered me, it was a hard decision. In a lot of ways I wanted to stay at the main campus. But in the end these things tipped the scale:

1. The job I took really did sound more interesting to me.
2. My new boss doesn't expect me to stay long term (she figures 1 1/2 years at most, Tom wanted me to stay for a minimum of two). Based on my experience and that I'm (hopefully!) half way done with my CPA tests, I am still overqualified for either position. Having a boss that has a shorter time frame means that I can move up again sooner.
3. My new boss wasn't a college recruit; she took a low level job to get her foot in the door. For some reason they view their college recruits as more special than others (maybe because of the expense to actually recruit them?). As a result, those of us that aren't recruited aren't automatically put on the "fast track." We have to work a little harder to "prove" ourselves. (At least that's what it seems like in finance). Anyway, since she has gone through the proving thing herself, I figured she would be a great ally to have.

Yesterday I hosted my sister's "personal" shower. There was a total of twelve of us. We had a bunch of yummy food and drinks (if I do say so myself). She got a bunch of cute stuff. The funny thing is that those of us who are already married are like, yeah, you'll wear it once. :) After everyone left, our friends Chuck and Michelle came to visit. We had fun catching up and playing Wii. We are getting together today again so we can see Liam (our godson ~ 9 months old).

Well, I think Zoey and I might go for a run. I haven't told her yet, so she's calmly licking her paws. I know as soon as I start getting my running pants out she'll go crazy, so I'm enjoying the calm before the storm.

Double your Pleasure, Double your Fun

This morning I was trying to study, but Zoey kept pestering me. Finally I gave in, and we went for a run. Boy, she was on a mission! We beat our normal time by one and a half minutes! And for a mile and a half run, that's a great decrease. She's completely exhausted now. She's sleeping and I'm back to studying before we go look at some open houses.

In other news, Friday morning my boss gave me an impromptu interview for the open job in our group. Friday night he called me to let me know he was offering me the job! He also let me know that Heather (the hiring manager for the other job I applied and interviewed for) was setting up some time on Monday to offer me the job in her group. While I am super excited that I got two job offers, I have no idea which one to take. There are + and - for both. I'm trying to figure out what + and - mean more to me.

Also, our friend Dan's little guy is scheduled for heart surgery on Tuesday, but currently he is fighting a fever. Please keep their family in your prayers.

Day Light Savings

This morning I wake up, look at the clock and decide I can sleep for a while longer as it's just after 7 (keep in mind that I'm a morning person, so 7 is a decent time to wake up). As I'm trying to get back to sleep, I keep thinking of everything I have to do this morning (think up a marriage "speech" for my sister's shower today, make a grocery list, study, get ready for church...) so at almost 8 I decide to get out of bed. Only to discover that my clock was wrong! Mine automatically adjusts for day light savings, but since they have changed when that happens, my clock is messed up. And since I'm a morning person, it is very hard for me to get back to sleep once I'm up. The funny thing is, Zoey must have "known" it was the wrong time... she just looked at me like, "why are we getting up already?"

Vitamin D

Today on the way home I had the windows down and the sun roof open. It was a glorious day! So perfect, in fact, that I decided to go for a run. Zoey must have known what I was thinking because she was going nuts from the time I got home until we started our run. I took ibuprofen before we set out as a "just in case" for my foot. We had a nice run. Our time was pretty close to what we were running at the end of last year, so I was happy (and a little surprised).

And now I have procrastinated long enough... back to studying.

Brown!

Ever since my foot started bothering me, I have been wearing flat shoes to work. I have a black pair and a red pair. As a result, I haven't been able to wear a good portion of my work clothes. Last night I had dinner with Cassie and then we did a little shopping. I found a really cute pair of Clark's at Marshall's. They are super comfy, and brown! So excited to wear them today!

Oh, and my foot is doing a lot better but I just don't want to try heels for a while yet. I want to keep my foot healthy so I can run in the upcoming Run of the Mills 5k at work. I can't wait to figure out costumes this year. We have an idea, but haven't fleshed it out yet. Last year we were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. http://www.xanga.com/sroy325?nextdate=5%2f2%2f2007+23%3a59%3a59.999&direction=p

So Sweet

This morning when Ben and I were getting ready for work he paused and said, "I love waking up with you." Isn't that sweet?

Another thing that is sweet is I got my test results back today. Yep, that's right - I passed! I am so relieved! (Only three more to go!). Ben and I are going to El Loro to celebrate!

29 For the First Time

Everyone says that women always claim to be 29 (as to not cross the 30 mark), but let me assure you, I am 29.

Yesterday started off like any other day (except Ben wished me a happy birthday right away). After the morning walk I checked my work email... turns out the file that I had created had issues. So I left as soon as I was dressed to try and fix everything. Turned out to be a calculation error and a quick fix. The rest of the day was fine.

Throughout the morning I got emails and IM's from friends and family. When I got back from lunch I had a cute card from Karin waiting for me. Later on Dawn and Andrea came by with a sign for my cube and a present. My whole group was watching me open it (including my boss). It was a tiara and wand that lit up! Everyone thought it was pretty funny. Andrea and Dawn insisted that I wear it. Tom (my boss) got a picture of it.

Ben and I left work early (3). Turns out to be a good thing... Zoey has an upset stomach again. She hadn't made a mess in her kennel yet, but she did make quite a few messes outside. Poor girl. Then we went to dinner at the Alaska Eatery. It was pretty good and very filling. So much so that I couldn't eat dessert! Then we rented Atonement and watched that. It was a good movie, but not very uplifting or happy.

7 for Dec! Dec at 7!

Yesterday I went on a field trip with work to the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. It was a lot of fun. We first watched a couple short videos about the history of the Exchange. Then we got to watch the close of the day (opens at 9:30 and closes at 1:15 - and I thought "Bankers Hours" were good!). It was kind of a slow day, so not much was happening in the pit. Until the last minute or so. Then everyone was yelling and trying to get in before close. After close we went down on the floor and got to do a few rounds of mock buying and selling. It was so much fun!

When I got back to work I ended up having to work late on a project (thought it was due next week, found out yesterday it was due yesterday). Ben picked me up and brought me to volleyball... except he forgot my shoes! Luckily because of my foot I have been wearing flats, and the shoes I was wearing yesterday were Mary Jane style so they didn't come off while playing. I'm sure it was due to the "magic" shoes that I was wearing that we won 2 games.

Too Short

**WARNING: Drug content**

This weekend a close family to my family lost their son/stepson. I didn't know Shawn all that well as an adult (as kids we played together). I would see him at school functions (his stepsisters go to my brother's school) and other events that were with our families. Since I didn't know him all that well, I had no clue that he got mixed up in drugs. He spent four weeks at rehab and just got out late last week. My mom saw him on Friday and he seemed happy that he was clean and ready to restart his life. On Saturday night, I guess he decided to have one more hit. And it was too much for his heart. He went into cardiac arrest.

According to another family friend who is a coroner, this is very common. He sees a lot of cases where in the 24-48 hours after treatment people go back to drugs and OD. He said it is a result of being clean... while on drugs your body builds up an immunity to it. While going through treatment your body gets cleaned out. If you take a dose that is what you used to take, it is too much for the body to handle.

Please!! If you have a friend that is going through treatment watch out for them. I had no idea the dangers of a relapse.

http://www.legacy.com/StarTribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=105906859

Can't think of a catchy title

I hadn't realized how long it has been since I posted last until I logged on this afternoon. But I'm sure no one was worried since I have probably seen or emailed or IM'ed everyone that reads this at least once in the past week.

This past week the Texas Crew came up for a visit (brother-in-law and his wife and my adorable nephew). They stayed with us from Tuesday afternoon through Friday afternoon. It was a fun visit. Unfortunately, I still had to work some of the time, but still got to visit and play. The first night with us we went to El Loro for dinner. I rode with Sara and Malachi. We got into the car and Malachi looks at me and asks for goldfish. He must remember that the last time we were in the car together I gave him some goldfish from my purse. What a smart little boy!

While they were here, I had my foot doctor appointment. The doctor was really nice and confirmed that I had/have a neuroma. He said with time, ibuprofen and ice they usually go away on their own. To help things out he offered a cortisone shot. Since I still want to be able to run in the GM 5k coming up, I took the shot. That afternoon I was regretting that decision... my foot killed! But now it's almost better. It still is stiff feeling at the sight on the injection (it's still bruised and swollen, so that makes sense), but the pain is almost all gone! Yippee!

Also while they were here I didn't study... So I'm a couple of chapters behind. I did one today (just finished) and hopefully will finish reviewing it and making flashcards. Tomorrow we have a couple of things on the agenda, but I'm hoping to do another chapter. We'll see how that goes.

The Sick, The Lame and The Spoiled

Ben appears to be getting better, although, it could be the cold medicine he has been taking. He did say that overall he feels ok, just congested. And a little more on the tired side. This weekend he took it easy.

For those that don't know, almost two weeks ago I woke up with a sore foot. It just kept getting worse so I went to the dr. at GM and stopped going on my morning walks. The Dr. said if it still hurts in a few days to come in again for x-rays. Today it actually feels a lot better, but I think that's a combination of taking Advil and not walking so much on it. Even though I wasn't going for a walk in the mornings, during the course of a normal day at work I walk about 1.5 miles, so my foot was still being used a bunch.

Over a week ago, Zoey started having some tummy issues (due to an ear infection). We usually just don't feed her for 24 hours, but this time she was still having issues. I felt bad "starving" her, so I put her on a rice diet. Then I felt bad that she was only having rice, so I gave her some cooked chicken to go with it. She would get so excited when I started making up a plate for her. Then she would eat the chicken, then the rice that touched the chicken and then finally the rice. This morning we didn't have any chicken for her, so I just gave her rice. I put the plate down, she sniffed it and then looked at me with an accusing glare as if to say, "Ah, didn't you forget something here?" She wouldn't even eat it! What a spoiled little girl!

The Other Boleyn Girl

Last night was a preview showing of the new movie, The Other Boleyn Girl. If you remember British history at all, you would know right off the bat that it is not a "feel good" movie (Henry VIII). The movie was based on a book of the same title by Philippa Gregory. I haven't read the book yet, but probably will after all my tests are done. I have read another of her books and liked it a lot (The Constant Princess).

Anyway, despite the lack of feel goodness, I thought it was a pretty good movie. It's always hard with historical fiction to know what to believe, but most of the big stuff is accurate (per Wikipedia). And since one of my favorite genres is HF, the movie was right up my alley.

It was snowing yesterday. When I got out of the movie, it was still snowing and everyone was warming up their cars and scrapping off the ice. I'm not sure why, but it amused me.

Ben is feeling under the weather. I'm hoping that it's just a cold he will get over quickly. The flu has been going around, so hoping that's not what it is.

Prayer Request

Some of you already know about this situation, for those of you who don't, Mark Ostlie works at GMI. His daughter has a heart condition and is in need of a new heart. Here's her blog...

I really can't imagine what it would be like to be in a situation like this.

Please pray and pass along.

Global Warming Song

Stole this link for someone else's blog... Enjoy!

Minnesotans for Global Warming.

Sehr Gut

Last night we went to Gasthof's to celebrate Rob's, Ed's and Paul's birthdays. Almost 30 of us were there. It was a lot of fun! Our table was the "cool" table - we went through 2 boots while the other table didn't order a single one. Ben got bratwurst and I got jagerschnitzel. Yummy! The accordion guy came to our table (after being bribed with some $) and played some songs for us.

After dinner a few of went downstairs to the bar. There was a live band that played mostly polka. Ben and I polka'd and did a few slow dances too. And boy! does doing the polka wear a person out! When the polka band packed up dance music started. We stayed for a little while, but our party had dwindled down to five (Smeeta, Dave, Katie and us) and we were all getting tired, so we packed it up.

Today I think I'm going to work out. Then go to EB (former employer) to help Ben's uncle serve lunch. If I'm lucky there will be leftovers for me to bring home. (Every year his aunt makes her homemade hot beef sandwiches for the tax people. It is so good!). Then I think Ben and I might look at some houses. This weekend I am not studying, so it will be nice to just relax and get stuff done.

Off to the exercise bike!

Blast from the Past

We have a long time friend that is getting ready to move to N. Carolina. Last night Ben met her for dinner while I went to a Stampin' Up party. I met them afterwards for a quick beer.

I get there and Ben tells me this funny story... he says that the bartender asks for ID's, looks at his and asks, "Do you know Sarah Obert?" (my maiden name for those who don't know), all the while looking between Ben and Debby with an accusing glare. Turns out that she went to my high school and church (and maybe even our wedding since her mom is friends with my mom). After hearing the story (and laughing VERY loudly) I made sure to find Amber and let her know everything was cool.

24

In a little over 24 hours from now I will be sitting down in a not-quite-comfy chair in front of a computer. I will be in that chair for about 3 hours. And if everything goes as planned, I will only have to sit in that chair 3 more times.

Tomorrow is test one (Regulation - tax and business law) for my CPA license. I'm a bit nervous. I feel great about the tax stuff but still a little shaky on some of the bus law.

In other news, yesterday my boss came over and told me about a job posting. He really encouraged me to apply for it. Funny thing is, I saw the posting last week and talked to someone in that group that I know. Today I am going to submit my name for it.

V Day

I had a very sweet Valentine's day... It started off with some yummy dessert that Krista brought in to work. She said she would give me the recipe. :) My mom came into work to drop off some cookies and Ramona (front desk) gave me a kiss (Hershey's toffee). Then after lunch someone from my group brought in a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

Ben and I were about to start making dinner when we decided to go look at a few Parade of Homes. We were able to make it to three before they closed for the night. Two of the builders we liked a lot. One we got some information on, but the other one there wasn't anyone at the house, so we'll have to contact them for more information.

When we got home we made chicken tacos and margaritas. Very Tasty. Zoey got canned dog food. It smelled kind of like bacon. She gobbled it down very quickly. By the time we finished with dinner it was too late (for me at least) to start a movie. So we decided to skip that part.

It's a Small 'Park' After All

Last night Ben and I went to the Linkin Park Concert at the Xcel Center. We got to sit in the GM suite! It was very cool. One of the managers in my group has a couple of sons that are huge LP fans, so he talked to the VP of finance to get the suite for us. It was a perfect spot to enjoy the concert.

The first band I did not like at all. One of those screaming into the microphone and jumping around like you're hot stuff bands. The second band was Coheed and Cambria. I had actually heard of those guys. They were good. The lead singer had some crazy, big hair. And finally, Linkin Park. They did a great show. It was fun watching the mosh pits.

During intermission, who should walk into the suite but a former co-worker of mine! He was in the Pepsi suite and he noticed me walking back from the bathrooms. What a crazy coincidence! We were able to catch up a bit.

Also during intermission, Ben and his boss and a co-worker went to the Microsoft suite to see if anyone they knew was there. Nope. But they did see some suites with a lot of food and not too many people (our suite did not have food). So my manager and the the IS group and I went on a hunt for free food. It was hilarious! Both managers would just walk into a suite and if someone gave them a weird look they would just say, "Oh, sorry. We're looking for John." and then walk out. For a while a security guard was following us around.

A new thing we found out last night... if you park in the ramp by Alary's bar (off of 7th Street) you can get parking validated if you get a drink, and they provide free shuttles back and forth to the Xcel Center. Way cool!

It's no Ruth's

The plan was that after Grant and Ben looked at houses, Ben and I would go to GC and get some sticky fingers (our favorite special). Well, Grant, his dad and step-mom were heading over to Pittsburgh Blue and invited us to go along. So we did. I have to say, I wasn't overly impressed. I had the filet mignon. It just wasn't all that flavorful, in my opinion. The mac and cheese was pretty good. The highlight of the meal for me was the key lime pie. It was wonderful! (So what does that say about a steakhouse - that I like the dessert better than the steak - probably not so good!).

Anyway, given a choice, I would much rather a) get sticky fingers at GC or b) go to Ruth's Chris for a real steak.

A Bunch of Dresses and Houses

On Friday night Kelly and I went to see 27 Dresses. Although it was your typical chick flick, I really liked it. Probably due in part to Katherine Heigl being in it (one of my favorite actresses). And probably in part because it's about weddings. Anyway, I would recommend it.

Yesterday Ben and I looked at some houses on the Parade of Homes. We saw some pretty nice ones. Now we just need to figure out if we're really that serious. I think we are. Which means a lot of house projects in the near future.

Today's plans are laundry, grocery shopping, and studying. Ben is going with Grant to look at houses this afternoon.

Obsessed

(Warning - if you don't like mice and you come to our house at all, don't read this post).

Every fall as the weather turns cold, we get a few house guests from the great outdoors. Usually a few traps with some PB does the trick. This fall it was a different story... I think the whole mouse community moved in. We caught a bunch with traps and then didn't see them for a while so we thought we were done for the season. Around Christmas time we started seeing them again. So more traps were set. With no results! I seriously think these mice are PB resistant.

In the past, Zoey has been unaware of our guests. She'll be curious when we're emptying a trap, but that was about it. Again, this year it's a different story. She stalks her prey. And she does rounds all the time to see if she can find one. In the past, she always sleeps with Ben while I shower and get ready. This past week she leaves the bedroom with me and inspects the house. At night instead of pestering me to come to bed, she goes up and down the hallways, in the kitchen and dining room and sniffs around every couch. Then repeats. Crazy.

Anyway, we bought some poison for the garage and bought a bunch more traps. So far we have caught one.

If there are mouse lovers out there, let me assure you that we tried to deal with these cute mice in a humane way... but they didn't like the live traps either. So the death traps that we have are insta-death ones so at least they die quickly.

Super Tuesday

Yesterday was Super Tuesday. I was planning on going to the caucus last night. In the past, I have had tax season to worry about, so I haven't ever gone. But last night when I got home from work I was beat. So I stayed home and studied.

This morning Robin told me he went to the Democratic Caucus. Being ever curious, I asked who he voted for. He began answering by saying that it wasn't so much a vote for, as a vote against the other person. (He voted for Clinton, in case you wanted to know, because he thinks Obama is too inexperienced). That got me thinking... I wonder what kind of information we could find out if on the ballets you could vote for someone or against them. I think it could be valuable to know how many people actually wanted Canidate A or how many people just didn't want Canidate B.

Anyway, sorry that this wasn't a very interesting post. :)

... You can dodge a ball

Friday morning when I woke up I felt terrible! I had a fever and was very tired. I thought about not going to work, but then thought that my dodge ball team would think it was very convenient that I was sick. So, I drugged up and went to work.

Dodge ball was a lot of fun! We got completely slaughtered, but I think we all had fun. We did end up winning the last two games, so that left us with a good feeling. The other team was all male. While the two of us girls on my team are freakin' awesome (evidenced by the fact that most games it was one of us in the final two on our team), I do think that the other team had an unfair advantage. One of our coworkers that refrained from playing was watching and she said the other team was playing "dirty." She said that there were several times that they didn't go out when they should have, etc. She said she tried very hard to keep her "basketball mom" rage locked up. I think it's funny and sad that they "cheated." 1. It was just for fun. 2. We did suck, so it's not like they would have lost. 3. It was just for fun.

After the game I went home to take a nap. Much better! Then we had David and Heather over for dinner (bribe for getting David to play on my team after I told him I wouldn't play on his). We had a great time. We played Scrabble with them. It was a very close game. Ben ended up winning because he used up all his tiles.

Anyway, my fever is gone and I am just left with a cold. Yesterday I slept and relaxed (but yes, still studied). Today I plan to do more of the same with a trip to the store worked in to buy some Super Bowl munchies.