Tie for most postiest month

#34, again. Time for another cake......

March Madness 2010

Today we stand on the brink of entry into March 2010. Just as in years past, this will be an eventful month. So far, here are the major milestones I'm tracking...

March 1 - BIL's birthday, forgot to get card in mail
March 2 - Texas Independence Day - whoop!
March 3 - JennAnn's birthday... card will be in mail tomorrow ;)
March 10 - Big XII bball tournament begins
March 12 - ABBA closes on her HOUSE + capstone project due for school + school weekend)
March 14 - Selection Sunday!!!!! (go, Aggies!)
March 15 - first date anniversary
March 16 - date night (thanks, Mystery Guest) + March Madness play-in game (aka Tourney STARTS)
March 19 - 5 year wedding anniversary (awwwwwwwwww)
March 21 - baby shower for Isabelle + Day of Dinner at Vincent's(?) + bff's 1st wedding anniversary
March 22 - my big birthday (blech)
March 25 - capstone project presentation
March 26 - mom's birthday + 3 exams due + school weekend

Hmmmm.... did I mention also working and taking care of the King???

Flashback Friday (18)

Summer 1992 - Maidenhead, Berkshire, England

This first picture is of my brother and me picking flowers in the backyard while our family lived in England for 6 months. LOVED our backyard there....

The second picture is of us + my dad + the kids from the neighborhood playing in the meadow. We used to play baseball and football (AMERICAN football, that is) out there.

Queen Cooking

When I was sitting with the King last Tuesday night, he was concerned that he would not be able to cook anymore. This was a specific piece of that conversation....

King: I won't be able to cook for you anymore....
Me: It's ok. I will cook for you!
King: um........ I'll figure something out

But over the past week, providing food has been on my list of responsibilities. I haven't exactly "cooked" yet, other than breakfast. One thing that has become a recurring theme to my "cooking" is that the food is almost always warm but not hot. This is the list of things that I have failed to get to an optimal temperature to-date over the past week....

• Hot tea
• Soup
• Lasagna (re-heated)
• Coffee
• Eggs (got cold while waiting on forever-long-cooking-sausage)
• Toast (same issue as eggs)

Now, when I bring him his tray of food, I ask, "is it warm.....enough?" Seriously, how can I consistently fail to get things hot?!

Chef Ramsay

This is the first thing I'm showing to the King this morning

Chef Ramsay Slices Finger (and on YouTube)

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is nursing an injured finger after slicing off his nail during an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' U.S. talk show .

The Brit, who fronts his reality cookery show Hell's Kitchen in the U.S. and U.K., was showing the comedienne-turned-tv presenter how to slice vegetables for a stir fry when his knife slipped, leaving him with blood dripping from the deep cut on his finger.

Laughing off the mishap, Ramsay said, "I wasn't concentrating. I haven't cut myself this big in 10 years! (I cut my finger) under the nail. I took the nail off."

The Goal

spent all morning at the hospital.... that's all I'm saying. Looking to the future:

Grocery Savings

This list of "28 tasty tips to save at grocery stores" has a couple of things on it that I think I'm going to try:

• Growing my own garlic.... I was already planning to start an apple tree (you know how much success I have at tree growing...). I got the King a garlic press for his birthday that he LOVES, so I figure having an abundance of garlic will be a good thing.
• Repackaging to smaller containers... we're terrible about having huge tupperware containers with very little inside, taking up refrigerator space and apparently causing quicker spoilage.

Enough with the boring, these were my 2 favorite funny things:

• Shop alone. Kids, and spouses who act like kids, will often whine, cajole, or otherwise try to influence you into impulse buys. Leave ‘em at home. (I have a spouse who definitely acts like a kid!)
  
• Keep lettuce longer. Wash your lettuce thoroughly, then go outside and swing it around in a pillowcase to get rid of the excess water (and to amuse your neighbors). When you’re done, put it in an airtight container and it will last at least two weeks in your refrigerator. (we have a salad spinner... I don't see this happening)
  

Precaution

When I want to blog but don't have anything readily available in my head to post about, I usually go scrolling through the photos in Mrs. Pearl. I need to do some reorganizing because the other night we took a bunch of pics of the King with Mrs. Pearl. It is not the kind of photo album you want to accidentally stumble upon!

This is the most recent pic taken, however. I took it while the King was reclining in bed, awaiting a sundae. Thanks to ABBA for providing the supplies :) I bbmed him the pic with the caption "got my mise en place...."

In the far left corner, you can see the tip of the schedule I put together for when he needs to take which pill.... of course there's a spreadsheet!

Flashback Friday (17)

I took this pic on June 11, 2008 when Sam, ABBA, the King, and I did a Sonoma wine tasting tour. Good times. I like to link pinkies with the King, and I guess I'd grabbed his hand in the car. Seemed like a good flashback for this week...

It Just Seems Wrong

Surely we can make our own toast......

24 hour pharmacy customer attire

(Slippers optional)

ensuing conversation as the King and I were waiting/watching...

King: someone is wearing the wrong colors (referring to her texas longhorn attire.... hisssssss)

Queen: nah, it perfectly matches her slippers (and provides me endless internal laughter + discrete *cough* *click* photo op)

No Real Update Today....

... and yet you're still reading ;) Worked WAY too long today but got to cap off the evening by playing with Faith and her dollhouse. She is a hoot. Uncle Chris was busy in the kitchen, cooking us all a delicious, nutritious, delicious dinner. We were over there for about 3 hours and I didn't really hear baby Isabelle cry once. Another all-star baby for the family :)

V-Day Dinner

5 courses.... 3 full tummies......

1st Course (sweet): chocolate covered strawberries

2nd Course (creamy): bacon-wrapped scallops with sautéed radicchio and a dijon beurre blanc sauce

3rd Course (salad): delicious salad served in parmesan bowls with a pomegranate-blood orange dressing

4th Course (savory): osso bucco with marscopone polenta

5th Course (YUM): creme brulee with fresh berries, homemade whipped cream, heart cookie :)

whew........... plenty of leftovers.... door is unlocked ;) I'm officially in a food coma and will not talk about food any more this week.....

V-Day Preview

In my genius tradition of shunning Valentine's Day gifts and instead making pleading requests for the King to pull some new, complicated, crazy, delicious dish from his arsenal, tomorrow should be a good day. Bless his heart, he has been working on this meal almost non-stop for the past 2 days.

First course: bacon-wrapped scallops and shrimp w/ granny dijon beurre blanc accompanied by a spring mix salad of braised radicchio in aged balsamic, roasted baby broccoli, mandarin oranges, and cucumbers served in Parmesan cups with blood orange-pomegranate dressing.   (what is a Parmesan cup? we will find out tomorrow... pics to come...)

Main course: osso bucco served with marscapone cheese polenta

Dessert: creme brulee with fresh raspberries, blueberries, and homemade whipped cream accompanied by chocolate-dipped strawberries and a heart-shaped cookie

Happy Valentine's Day to all! Hope you have a fantastic day :)

Flashback Friday (16)

In honor of the record snow day (update: it was 12.5 inches total)... a flashback to a "lighter" snow day. Not even really a snow day, just a day when the temperature was so cold that our sprinklers burst. I put on my black patent dress shoes, so I could skate around on it.

Interesting things about this pic...

• The shoes
• This jacket makes its 2nd flashback appearance
• I know Joanne will think my parents did something wrong with the sprinkler
• The mailboxes crack me up because they're so old school

It Was a Record

Nearly 10 inches of snow fell in Dallas yesterday... and I got to drive through it. Snow (apparently) started falling around 3:30am and did not stop until after 8pm last night. Previous record of snowfall in one day was 7.8 inches, which occurred in 1917 and 1964.

I got to drive through it on my way to Houston for class. The "nice" thing about the snowfall was that the temperature was about freezing for most of the day, so the roads were not covered in ice. I felt this made it necessary for me to make the trek south, but I did leave earlier than usual. I had no issues driving through Dallas, but once I got out of downtown, it was a nightmare. There was about a 30 minute stretch where I felt sure that I had made a bonehead decision. At that point there was not much I could do, since it was just going to get worse. Eventually, though, the snow turned to rain, and I am now a pro at driving in rain. That is one of the many things I have learned these last 2 years in school ;)

I have a funny flashback photo I want to post, but it's in Dallas. I'll get it scanned/posted this weekend :) Happy Friday, all!

It's Snowing - Part IV?

Ok, this is getting ridiculous... I think I am going to need to add a Snow label! God bless the weather guys because they had sure been saying it would snow today. I just was expecting it to be this afternoon/tonight. When I opened the door (bleary-eyed) at 7 to let the dogs out, we were all surprised (insert surprised snow face here) to see the ground covered in wet, white stuff.

One dog is fearless and will jump into any situation... including snow that comes up to her elbows ;)

One dog has to be picked up, thrown into the yard, scoot back to someplace that has some grass peaking out, and then be ok to do her bizness (while her mom is giving her words of encouragement/threats/guilt trips).




PS: I tried to take another snow-face picture, but the flash went off and my eyes rolled back into my head like a demon... not sharing that one ;)


PS2: can't wait to drive to Houston....

What Are Your V-Day Plans?

I ♥ Whataburger. However, I think they are trying to cause break-ups! Maybe they know that broken-hearted people eat more cheeseburgers?

Key items to note:

• Required to dine-in... drive-thru would just be classless
• Love smells like melted cheese and grilled onions (I tend not to think of love = onions)
• Two people must be present - this is not an occasion to show yourself extra love with 2 patty melts
• I will be VERY happy to have the King making me one of his special V-day dinners
• Special thanks to my li'l bro for pointing this out to me

Not That I'm Counting....

...Google does that for me...

Noise & Food Smell

I love being on an International DL ;)

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Noise & Food smell

Dear All,

Please remember that we work in an enclosed space, in relative close proximity. Common sense and good manners are key.

Smelly food is distracting! Again, use common sense. Remember that not all appreciate the smell of the kim-chee, camembert cheese and sardines combo platter you may be eating today in your cube. Eat at the kitchen, or indulge at the plaza.

Last week there was food so smelly in the 8th floor that I smelled it from thousands of miles away :)

Today is the Day - Part Deux

Isabelle Grace
2/7/10 12:30AM
9lb 4oz / 20.5"

After much anticipation, we got the call around 11pm that they were headed to the hospital. I made the decision to just head up there, not knowing how long it might take but certainly not wanting to miss anything! I had bags of snacks, water, school books, fun books, laptop... none of which got cracked open. We arrived at the hospital around 11:45, and Isabelle arrived at 12:30. Christine was a champ (again)... 2 hours of labor, 1 good push, no pain meds.

Fun fact... both nieces were born on fun Sundays... Faith on Father's Day, Isabelle on Super Bowl Sunday :) And, my brother was the big baby pool winner, picking SB Sunday and a girl. He deserved it, after getting pulled over on the way to the hospital. Luckily, the cop quickly let them go....

After much convincing, Faith was finally onboard with the idea of getting a baby brother, but she seemed happy to have baby sister Isabelle outside of mommy's tummy. Can't wait to see her play big sister.

Lisa Gardner ♥s 22

I've never read Lisa Gardner before, but she was strategically sitting on the Half Price Books-shelf near Linda Fairstein and had a book titled "The Perfect Husband"... seemed like a good book to leave laying around the house ;)

She first made reference to Task Force 22 and now I've just come across a reference to the $2.22 breakfast special. This is a girl I get!

OK! News Alert

I received an email from OK! Magazine last night titled "Breaking News..." I quickly opened it to see what big event had occurred in the world of celebrity.

from OK! Magazine
to Queen B
date Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 5:32 PM
subject The OK! Magazine Bulletin: Brad Still Loves Jen!

whew!

Flashback Friday (15)

In the spirit of last week's school photo, I will post another. This pic is notable because it is like my mom's all-time favorite picture of me (I seem to recall). Not sure why. I mean, I'm rocking the pigtails and plastic barrettes, which is great. I also look like I'm holding back either laughter or tears. Good times....

Twitter is Lame, research says

According to a new study (posted by USA Today here), "the young prefer Facebook to Twitter and blogging." Some facts from the research:

• Blogging has fallen from 28% to 14% since 2006, credited to the fact that fewer people use Myspace (and thus their blogging section)
• Twitter hasn't gained much ground with teens — only 8% of 12- to 17-year-olds who go online say they ever use it. That's unusual, because teenagers have a history of being early adopters of nearly every online activity, Lenhart says. Most teens had no idea what Twitter even was, except that narcissistic celebrities do it.
  
• "To quote my 15 year-old-son, 'Twitter is lame,'" says Lee Aase, manager of social media at Mayo Clinic.
  

In summary....

• I blog more now than I did in 2006
• I have repeatedly tried to get into Twitter and yet agree with Lee's son
• Kim really needs to find a career as manager of social media...

Will You Be My Facebook Friend?

In my last conversation with DirecTV, I asked if they were working on developing their own offering of recording on one DVR and having the show available from any other TV in the house (such as U-verse offers). They gave me a negative response. I then asked if they were developing a solution that would allow you to record up to 4 shows at once (such as U-verse offers). The response was again negative. I then told them that I would only be sticking with them until U-verse was available in my area.


Last night I got an email from DirecTV that they want to be my facebook friends. DirecTV: she's just not that into you......

from: DIRECTV
to: Queen B
date: Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 9:15 PM
subject: Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and more!

Reason #22 Not to Carry a Purse...

...especially if you're a dude

As reported by TMZ:

Chris Jericho's jail buddy and fellow WWE star Greg "Hurricane" Helms had a single muscle relaxer -- as in one pill -- on him when he was arrested last week for public intoxication ... this according to the police report.

According to the report, "a search of Helm's purse revealed one white round pill" which cops say was a Soma -- the generic version of the muscle relaxer Carisoprodol and a "schedule four narcotic."

His purse?! Really?!

Mommy & Daddy Are Getting Divorced

All credit to ABBA on this one.. we were driving home today, and she noticed the sticker family on the back of the car in front of us. The conversation went something like this...

ABBA: um, looks like someone got kicked out of the family
Me: RO! Oops
ABBA: looks like mommy isn't included anymore
Me: (grabbing Pearl for photo) Poor mommy!
ABBA: Oh, but her eyes are still there
Me: mama is always watching you

ABBA Assessment

One fun (for me) aspect of ABBA's new job is that she has to get cleared by the government. This apparently involves getting character references from upstanding citizens. Somehow, I was chosen to participate. I was just completing it and stumbled on a few of the options....

• My association with this person is as a: coworker, neighbor, friend, instructor, other (tenant? why are there no "all of the above" options??)
• I last associated with this person: 0-3 months ago, 3-12 months ago... etc (why is there no 0-3 minutes ago option? ;)
• Do you have adverse information regarding this person's abuse of alcohol and/or drugs (hmmmmm... ah, no, she's the responsible designated driver)
• I wish to discuss adverse information I have about....
• Additional information which you feel may have a bearing on this person's suitability for government employment or a security clearance. This space may be used for derogatory... information.

Luckily, ABBA gets a glowing recommendation ;) No derogatory or adverse information is known about her!

The Lettuce Knife

I was in Wal*Mart the other day and came across a knife that appeared PERFECT for me... a lettuce knife aka a knife made entirely of plastic. I bbmed the pic to ABBA, and she replied, "you probably wouldn't be allowed to use that one, either." sigh...

I was perusing the web to try to find a better picture of one of these contraptions and came across one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I feel the need to test their statement: "Lettuce won't brown after being cut with this knife. Knife has serrated blade to slice effortlessly, an easy-to-hold wide handle and can be used with your right or left hand. Also can be used for baked goods and breads, and it's safe for use on non-stick bakeware."

I wonder if (1) there is a time period constraint on "lettuce not browning" and (2) why it can't be used on stick-bakeware...

Task Force 22

I would so volunteer!

(from Lisa Gardner)