Category Archives: Community

Catch-Up Tuesday!

Good evening!

I have to tell you that today has been such a very good day!! REALLY!!! The sun is shining, Chris and I have help at work now, which is DIVINE!!! Plus Julie really is VERY SWEET, so she has been a joyful addition to our team!!

I am sorry that my posts have been a little sparse the past two days! I had gotten caught up in a book – yes, I still do read, EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE!! I just finished reading  City of Fallen Angels, by Cassandra Claire, with my girlfriend, and co-worker Chris. She had finished it before me, which meant I HAD TO GET IT READ so that we could discuss!! WHEW!! So that is what I have been busy doing.

Ok, I got the last few pages read right before bed last evening! and can I tell you???

WHAT A HORRIBLE ENDING!!!

There is a movie that came out in 1982 that my mom used to watch A LOT when I was a little girl, it was called The Pirate Movie. Well, at the end of that movie, the main character, Mabel, who had been having a pirate dream for the length of the movie, realized she was getting a bad ending. She start calling out, “I want a happy ending! I want a happy ending!!” and the dream froze and, long story short – she got her happy ending!! Well,

I WANT A HAPPY ENDING!! I WANT A HAPPY ENDING!!!

For those of you who haven’t read City of Fallen Angels yet, Chris and I are both sooooo dang frustrated that we have to wait probably another year before we get to find out WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!! UGH!!!

What is a girl to do??

Hmmm… I could always start another book???

😉

As I said earlier in this post, it is so nice and sunny here today – the first real feeling day of Spring!! FINALLY! This cheery, warm weather has started me dreaming about my farm again!! I am so ready to go out and find my farm! Today would be the most DELIGHTFUL day to go out and play in the gardens, take a nice leisurely walk, and spend some time laughing with my sweetie in the great outdoors!!

My sweetie is out working on a roof for a customer, and so I am home alone for dinner. I had a pretty big lunch today, so I have decided to do a light fruit and veggie based dinner tonight – kind of like a mini cleanse!! I have had a lovely pear, a nice crisp apple, and some freshly sliced strawberries!! Later, when/if I get hungry again, I have the makings of a fresh, crisp, green salad, which should be DELICIOUS!! if I get really hungry, we have some fresh baguette in the kitchen too, that I can tear a chunk off of!! Or maybe I can add about an ounce of cheese to the mix, for some calcium-rich protein! YUM! We’ll see! (NOTE: this is my attempt to live spontaneously! WILD? I KNOW!!!!)

I have decided to start buying only organic produce. It is more expensive, but I think in the long run, it can only help us by not consuming quite as many chemicals as we have eaten in the past! So, we have been eating organic produce for a few days now, and I have to tell you, that I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of a lot of these foods. They just taste better. More flavor, richer, somehow!! It has been less than a week, and I am already hooked!! Go figure!! Thanks for the words of encouragement, Sis!!! 😉

Tonight, I am going to do a little more reading, but I think I am also going to go take a nice walk out in nature, and just soak up as much vitamin D as I possibly can!!! Doesn’t that just sound lovely???

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Note to Chunky Dunkers: I can’t wait to see all of you at our Chunky Dunker’s Club, here tomorrow night!!! It will be great to talk about our ups and downs in our efforts to getting fit and healthy!! If anyone would like to join us – I should have the night’s post published by 6:30 PM! The more the merrier! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉

A Simple Post With a Seemingly Simple Thought!

Good morning, my loverlies!!

I am having a VERY GOOD morning!!

Today is the day that my new co-worker, Julie, is starting, and she is doing a TERRIFIC job!!! Whoo! Hoo! It will be so nice to have another pleasant person on our team!!

I don’t have any GRANDIOS plans for today!! I am just going to do my best at work today, get in some fresh air and exercise, spend some time utilizing my creativity, spend some time chatting with friends and family, and have a nice quiet evening with my sweetie!! All-in-all, a dang-near PERFECT day!!! 😉

I did run across this quote this morning, and I thought I would share this with you…

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What a lovely way to view the world, and not always so easy to do, I am learning!!

This is a very short post this morning, but I will talk to you again later this afternoon!

Have a FABULOUS morning!
~Christina

Reminiscing – The Teenage Years!

Good morning!

Do you ever have people from your past contact you? With social media like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, I have people from my past contact me all of the time, and I am sure that you must too.

During my teenage years there were 6 of us friends that were pretty close. There was Dawn, Raymond, Tony, Mark, Lila, and myself. We all grew up going to the same church, and we were there nearly every day of the week. We were seemingly inseparable throughout most of our teenage years. We were just a bunch of misfit, kids who really didn’t have a lot of direction – matter of fact, in the setting that we were placed in, we pretty much had free reign to do whatever we wanted. The adults would drop us off at church, and we pretty much could do whatever we wanted, as long as we made it to the meetings!! It was a pretty free time for us. I look back now and I think,

“WHERE THE HECK WERE OUR PARENTS?????”

I am sure, that if I had children now, I would want to be knowing where they were and what they were doing – I HOPE??? Parents there were things going on in the upper balcony, that if any of the adults ever found out they would have condemned the whole building!! 

Anyway, we all had something we were trying to get away from in our normal lives, and we were all looking for a place where we all could belong, just as we are. You know, the same things all teenagers are still doing. Well, I think we found that together at this church.

Between the 6 of us, there was dating, and bffs, and gossip, and making out, and games of Truth-Dare-Double Dares, Sardines, and tag. I still remember the time that no one could find Tony or Mark, and when they finally emerged they were COVERED in dust from head to toe. They had us convinced that the had shimmeyed through the air vents. We just couldn’t believe that they were brave enough to fit through someplace so small – MAN, WERE WE GULLIBLE!! (If Tony and Mark are reading this, admit it – you are still smiling over that one!!)

There were sleepovers, I practically LIVED at Dawn’s house every other weekend, and she at mine!! I remember Dawn and I sleeping on her tiny water bed, me at one end, her at the other. Every time I would get on, Dawn would almost go flying!!! SO MUCH FUN!!! Plus all of the dressing up that we would do – MAN, I still have some of the CAR-RAY-ZAY-PICS!!!

There were parties, and secrets shared, and lots of time spent at camp.Oh, camp was when we were at our finest! Getting together with all of our friends from previous years of going to camps together!! I am sure this still happens the same way, but it always amazed me how girls would cry so hard about leaving their boyfriends to go home – you just met the dude for the first time 5 days ago!!!! Oh, the teenage girls’ hormones!! Teen girls should be tattooed with a warning label just like cigarettes!! Caution: may be dangerous to your health!! LOL! 😉

I remember a time that I was ABSOLUTELY GA-GA about this British dude, named Glen (side note: we were all musicians, so any guy who could really wail automatically had my FULL ATTENTION!! Too bad I was soooo dang shy back then!! Anyway, I digress!!). Well, my memory is kind of fuzzy, but I don’t remember Glen being too good looking, and if I remember he was shorter than me, which was always a turn off – BUT he could WAIL LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS!!! and I was hooked!!! 🙂 Well, long story short – our band master, Mark (different Mark) had me convinced that if I went up in front of the mess hall during dinner, and ask Glen out to the Candlelight dinner over the microphone that Glenn would say yes. Like a complete and TOTAL IDIOT, I did it!!! I still remember how hard my knees were shaking!! To my complete and utter amazement he said YES!!!!! OMG!! I couldn’t believe it. I WAS SOOOO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR DOING THAT!!! Well, a couple of days letter, the day of the Candlelit dinner, I soon realized that he said yes, only to be nice, because as I stood there waiting for him, all dressed up in my finest, he proceeded to walk by my girls on both arms. He called them his “harem” and he had so many girls at his table that there wasn’t even room for me. So, that was a bust. Apparently the band master thought it would be funny. Glen pretty much completely ignored me, except for this sound I once heard him make when I was walking by him, “Boom, bah-bah, Boom, bah-bah, Boom”. OOOOOH!! He was SOOOOO OFF OF MY LIST!!! Wail or not – he was OUT!!!

Getting back to my teenage posse, we had late night walks around town, places where now, as an adult, I WOULD NEVER WALK!!! One of these episodes resulted in Tony and Mark being sent home by my parents, and my parents giving Dawn and I a huge lecture on the importance of obeying the rules (Dawn and I were told that we weren’t allowed to get into Mark’s car, and my parents were sure that we had – WHICH WE REALLY DIDN’T)!! LOL!! Dawn and I still laugh about that one.

Or the time that I had such a huge crush on Raymond, and he had stopped by my house on an icy winter’s night. Every time he came around, I would panic, and my mind would go blank – I could never think of what to say, and I remember one of the church leaders telling me, honey, you need to speak up, he thinks you are too quiet. DUH!! I would become a CLAM of PANIC!! I couldn’t believe that he had stopped by, he never had before, and when I came out onto the porch to try to be brave and shamelessly flirt, I slipped down the icy stairs, and got caught up in the metal dog post in the ground. Raymond just stared in utter shock at what he was seeing, and just stood there. My mom rushed me to the emergency room, dragging Raymond along with us – I WAS MORTIFIED!!! I had sprained my ankle and my big toe on that foot was horrifically pointing right up to the sky and I couldn’t do a thing about it. I remember Raymond just saying, “Why does your toe look like that??” I was praying for the rapture to hit right then, but alas – NOTHING!!! 😉 Raymond and I never did connect, and I couldn’t help but think that it had to be in some small way because of that DAMN WONKY TOE!! Which is perfectly normal now, just so we are all clear!!

There was also something akin to sibling rivalry, and competition, and sometimes bad feelings. Things were done perfectly, and badly – you know, like all teenagers trying to find their own way in the world. Dawn and I had spent all of one Summer sharing cabins, and rooms, and we were just tooooo close, we NEEDED SPACE!! I can’t remember what we were arguing about, but I remember her yelling at me about something, and I panicked, couldn’t think of a response and responded by shouting ” You’re a BIIIIIIICTH!!!” It was almost like the world had momentarily gone in slow motion – you know what I am talking about. I NEVER cussed, NONE OF US DID! and it just came spewing out!! I felt awful, and she was pissed and didn’t talk to me for a long time after that! I am sooooo thankful that we got passed that! At the time I was SURE that I had broken our friendship!

I know I have hundreds of more stories from that time in my life, but why am I sharing all of this with you, you might ask?? Well, it is because of a text I had gotten from one of these friends, this morning – I won’t say which one of you it was from, but that text was a reminder of the past, and it made me start to think about how the whole gang was doing. That time was something like 20 years ago no – ages, eons!

It got me fantasizing about having some kind of a reunion of sorts. I know that we all went our separate ways, and some of the partings were not so sweet, so I know that any kind of reunion might not be possible, but it still got me thinking about all of you. You who for so many of our important growing up and discovering who we are years, we were family.

No matter where all of you are now, or what has come and gone in your life, I wanted to just say thank you! Thank you for making that time of my life so rich, and memorable. I wish you each all of the joy and happiness that you can handle. If the time ever comes to forget all of the pains that may have been inflicted, and move on to new beginnings!!

JUST CALL ME, AND HONEY, YOU KNOW I WILL BE THERE!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS morning!! 😉

Please note: Seeing that this was almost 20 years ago, the memories might be a little skewed because I am getting older and my memory isn’t what it used to be!!! 😉

My New Favorite Restaurant!

Good evening!

I am sorry I am posting so late! Jason and I went out with some friends tonight for dinner! I had promised that I would tell you about the new restaurant I discovered last night while I was waiting for my belly dance class to start.

This little place is called Venti’s and it is literally something like two shops down from my dance studio.

The staff there were super friendly, patient, cool, hip, artsy types, which was fun, but I am not exactly sure how to describe the food. I think this sign says it well, “Good, clean food”! I ordered a chicken teriyaki meal, which a portion of the purchase price went to help the local Boys and Girls Club, which you know I JUST LOVE!!!  I can’t remember exactly what the dish was called that I ordered, but it was just so fresh and delicious!!!

I could almost feel my body thanking me for choosing such fresh food!!

This dish had jasmine rice, chicken breast, hunks of fresh mozzarella, cabbage, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, cilantro, and ginger in it, plus a yummy sweet and sour kind of teriyaki sauce – not to mention that it was like a FREAKIN’ WORK OF ART WHEN IT WAS SERVED!!! 😉

BEAUTIFUL!!! & DELICIOUS!!!

As you might be able to see, I had a book and journal with me so I could just sit and jot some of my thoughts down! This place had the most comfortablly relaxing atmosphere. It was like my authentic self to a deep break and had finally let it all out!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! 😉

They art from various local artists displayed on the gorgeous, and historic brick walls, which Honey, you HAVE to know that I LOVE!!

There was a plethora of things to look at and keep you visually stimulated! I really LOVED these stars hanging from various parts of the ceiling.

Even the old, worn hardwood floors had me ogling them! They were rustic and yet divine all at the same time!! I could TOTALLY see these in my dream home!! You remember, my chic little farm house???) The whole place was very warm and welcoming!!

There were so many cool, and interesting characters to people watch as I sat quietly against the wall observing anything and everything going on around me. I didn’t actually take pictures of anyone, because to be honest with you, I was too chicken to ask anyone for permission, but you will have to take my word for it, the clientele there are very artsy, creative, fun, beatnik-type people. I imagined they had amassed large book collections like myself and they spend all day talking about culture, art, and interesting things they had read. Ok, so that may be going a bit too far!! but Venti’s is HANDS DOWN my new favorite place to eat in town!!! If you ever are in downtown Salem, I would highly recommend it!!! 😉

Venti’s Cafe + Basement Bar | 325 Court St NE, Salem | 503.399.8733

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

It’s Friday! Friday! Friday!!

Good morning, you FABULOUS people!!

I am in a really good place right now, and I can’t help but share some of that newly found joy with you!!! I have to confess, after my hour of morning pages, I started to get ready for work, and found myself doing some belly dancing to Rhianna!!! She has got such a GREAT beat in her music, it was fun!!

I am getting ready to head to work for the day, but I am hoping to get off a little bit early today, I do have a couple of errands that I want to run, and then I am thinking that my sweetie and I will go play in the pool for a while!!! Oh it is fun to be a kid again!!! 😉

I was telling my sis last night, that it I am just LOVING having activities in my life that I LOVE to do!! That is the key to happiness!! Oh, and having people to share those activities with!!! 😉

I am trying to decide what creative activity I would like to do this weekend. I am meeting Dawn in the morning for coffee downtown, so I am thinking that I am going to take my knitting, with extras (yarn and knitting needles) in case anyone would like to join me, and then people watch while visiting with Dawn!! Doesn’t that just sound delicious????

I am also needing to do some some serious kitchen overhauling and make a trip to the health food store to get some NEW groceries for our place. I have a restaurant that I just discovered last night that I want to tell you all about, but I don’t have time to get the pics ready before work today, so I  will post those pics and tell you all about my NEW FAVORITE RESTAURANT downtown!! In the meantime, I will tell you that the new restaurant has really inspired me to incorporate more FRESHNESS into my meals, raw vegetables are our friends!! LOL!! Hence the need to go to the Health Food store!! PRODUCE RUN!!! 😉

Anyway, I am off!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: I have not forgotten about you, my lovelies!!! Keep up the hard work, it will be SOOOO WORTH IT!!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉

My Mind-Body-Spirit Connection – Literally!!

Good evening!

Ok, so where to begin?? Well, tonight was week 2 of my belly dancing class! I am soooooo LOVING this class!! If I didn’t hurt so badly after one, I could do this EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!! I also have decided that I think it should be made a pre-requisite for any girl wanting to graduate from high school so that she is comfortable in her own skin. SERIOUSLY!!! 😉

I had a HUGE Ah-Ha moment this evening!! I have always known that I have had a mind, a body, and a spirit, but I have always treated them as separate entities! I learn to be smart, I talk to God to be spiritural, and I exercise to be physical. I realized that might just be exactly what my problem has been all along. I have literally created this disconnect between these three areas of myself and I have never made the connection that they each are effected and are dependent on each other.

Was this a lesson I missed in school??

Was I sick the day that this was taught in church??

Was this a day when I was too busy to listen to my mother??

Why haven’t I ever realized this before????

I have always been a heavy person, so I had come to the conclusion that I am never going to be a truly physical person because I have no control over my body.

The Ah-Ha moment was when I realized this was BS!

I am learning that practicing belly dancing shows you that through action, and practice you can make your body do things that you NEVER thought it could do previously!! The instant the instructor said,

“You can not think to do the move, you have to just let it happen.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense”, my mind said to my body.
“Try it anyway!”, my spirit said!!

and the next thing I know, I am doing the move, at least the reflection of myself is doing the move, so I am assuming that person dressed like me, sweating like me, panting like me, is me!!

LIGHTBULB!!! YES, I CAN DO THESE MOVES!!

YES! I CAN BE A PHYSICAL PERSON!!!

But even more than that, my mind, and body, and spirit are all connected. They are not independent of each other! and if I am willing to put into practice actions that will challenge each of these three areas, they will rise to the occasion and things that I thought would never actually could happen, will happen. Now I think I understand what the Bible means when it says that men (or women) can move mountains!!

Am I the last one to have learned this lesson??? I sure hope not! I just can’t believe that I can do these moves!!!

I will tell you more about my day, tomorrow!! I even have pictures to post!!! but this girl has got to take her tired body, mind, and spirit to bed!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 7

Good evening!

Welcome to week 7, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!! Where does all of the time seem to go??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Emotional Eating!

I am not sure about you, but I sure am guilty for eating, not because I am hungry, but because I am needing something emotionally. For example, I got home from a not so pleasant day at work not to long ago, and went right to the cupboards and ate two cookies. With nary a thought about, why I was eating those cookies. Was I hungry? What was I really needing? Were those cookies going to satisfy whatever those needs were?? Uhm…no, no, and no!!

What I am learning, as I go through this get fit journey with you, is that sometimes to have any kind of success, you first have to figure out why you do what it is that you are doing. It is all about pain and pleasure.

I believe there are two kinds of forces in this world that sway you to make a decision either one way or the other. Pain and Pleasure. What pain are you trying to avoid, and what pleasure are you trying to gain? Think about it, I ate the cookies because I was trying to avoid the pain of having to deal with my day, and to gain the pleasure of tasting some really yummy cookies.

How else do we use pain and pleasure in our get fit choices?

I am not going to get up to exercise because I want to avoid the pain of having to get out of bed early, and gain the pleasure of sleeping for an extra hour. I am convinced that this pain/pleasure principal applies to EVERY CHOICE WE MAKE!!!

HOMEWORK: Write down 5 choices you make every day, and what pain you are trying to avoid, and what pleasure you are trying to gain from each choice. Look at your answers, if you were to change you pain/pleasure that you associate with these choices would your physical life improve.

Underneath each choice, write what the reality of what you are doing here – this might be eye-opening for you.

For me, my homework would look something like:

Choice #1: I let Jason make my breakfast, snack, lunch and dinners, and whatever he makes I’ll eat
Pain I Am Avoiding: Having to take time out of my busy day to plan and do the work for this myself
Pleasure I am Gaining: It feels so good to have someone do all of this for me. I feel spoiled!! 😉
Reality: I don’t think it is wrong to have Jason help me in this way, but ultimately I have to be the one to be responsible for what I put into my mouth. I need to speak up and let him know what I want in my lunch box, so he doesn’t always have to guess, or over pack my lunch box.

Choice #2: I choose not to take time out of my work day and go exercise like most of my co-workers.
Pain I Am Avoiding: I am avoiding looking silly, sweating, or getting sore
Pleasure I am Gaining: I think that I can spend that hour a day doing more work at my desk
Reality: I think the reality is that the longer I sit at my desk, the slower my metabolism is going to get, the more weight I am going to gain and in 10 years, when I have all sorts of weight related sicknesses, I am going to look back and say, “why I didn’t I do something about my health when I could have?”.

Choice #3: Watching more than an hour of television every evening
Pain I Am Avoiding: Having to deal with chores that need to be done, or having to deal with negative emotions the might have emerged from my day
Pleasure I am Gaining: I get to zone out, and just stop thinking for myself
Reality: I spend more time watching other people “Live” than I actually do living myself. These people on television are not my friends, they don’t know who I am, they are not even real! Sheesh!

Choice #4: I choose not to get out of the house of the evening and go walking, or swimming with Jason
Pain I Am Avoiding: It feels like too much work
Pleasure I am Gaining: I make excuses for myself to not have to go out, “I have earned” being a lazy hermit somehow. So it is almost a sense of entitlement, plus I just LOVE being home.
Reality: I am really missing a great opportunity to not only increase my physical fitness, but to also spend some quality time with Jason. Realizing that makes me sad.

Choice #5: Not getting to bed early enough that I get at least 8 hours of sleep every night
Pain I Am Avoiding: I have this weird feeling that if I go to bed early then I will either “miss something”, or I will just have to wake up sooner to go back to work again
Pleasure I am Gaining: Uhmmm…getting to do one last chore, or cross off one last thing off of my to-do list
Reality: Who am I kidding?? This just makes me more tired, and irritable the next day, and it gets progressively worse until I get myself some sleep – that is not helping anyone!!!

What would your choices look like? Let me know in the comments above!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Hi, Honey! I’m Home!

Good evening!

I have just gotten home from work, and man did I have a rough day!! Nothing in particular, but there is just a lot of work coming at us, and not quite enough of us to get it all done yet. I am so excited that Julie starts on Monday, even though part-time, I can’t wait!! She will be a breathe of fresh air for our team! Aaaah!

Anyway, there are so many changes going on at work right now, I have decided to pull out my copy of the book, “Who Moved My Cheese?”. Have any of you read that book before? This is a book that I pull out occasionally when I am feeling a little unsure of what the future holds!! I am not sure if my cheese is going to be moved, but let’s just say that I am getting my running shoes on and getting prepared. I know my cheese is out there, I just have to go find it!!!

It is Tuesday, which means it is my turn to cook tonight, and I have TOTALLY FORGOTTEN!! So, I gave my husband my leftover lunch, and I think I will have a bowl of cereal! Not the dinner of champions, but there you go!! Actually I may try and get it together enough to maybe make myself a healthy breakfast burrito! Ok, that sounds good!! I hope my meager lunch fixings will tide my Sweetie over until dinner is made! 😉

I have not been sleeping well, I am not sure why. I have been getting to bed earlier and earlier, but I seem to just toss and turn all night, and last night, I sat awake in bed for about an hour and a half, which kind of negates the reason for going to bed early in the first place, don’t you think??? 😉 So, I am going to take myself to bed a little bit early tonight, and then try and get some reading done before it is actually time to go to sleep. I will see if that gets me through the night. I am also thinking about possibly taking a melatonin. I hear that is a chemical that is a normally occurring drug your brain releases, maybe that will work. Has anyone used melatonin before? I have had success taking it before, but it has been so long that I have forgotten if I stay asleep all night, or if I have any problems getting out of bed in the morning! Anyone else have those problems??

Alright, so I do seem to be rambling a bit this evening, so I am going to get on the ball, and go make us some dinner – that is unless I can sweetly talk my honey into doing it for us tonight, which would be AWESOME!!! 😉 UPDATE: my sweetie has agreed to make dinner!!! YEAH!!! He gets to claim so buck-o brownie points tonight!!! Won’t he be pleased about that???

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: Don’t forget that tomorrow night is Chunky Dunker’s Club Night!! I hope that all of you can be there! It is ALWAYS so much fun when we have a full house!! It is in’t too late to get some extra exercise in, or plan on eating a couple of healthy meals before we meet tomorrow!!! I can’t wait to see you there!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!! 😉

Week of Prepping for Changes!

Good evening!

I have just gotten home from work, and I have to tell you I have had a pretty good day! Busy, but very good!! You see, one of my very dear friends is joining my team next week, and the team is just soooo excited to have her start!!! She is just such a sweetheart, but she is also a self-starting, hard worker and she is going to be such a to our team!!!

To get ready for her arrival, my work partner and I have been putting together a task list, and cleaning up some otherwise confusing processes so that when we teach her how to use the tools that we utilize, it will be as least-confusing as possible!! So, that has take some time and attention, and I am sure I will spending more time on that for the next couple of days!! but it will be sooooo worth it!! 😉

Then that leads us to the biggest “change” for our team that may be coming up within the next couple of months, and that is that we may be relocating to a different floor of our building. There are a lot of pros and cons to the move, but I am always an advocate for change of scenery. But, I must tell you, my co-worker and I have been really spoiled by our current work spaces. We have GINORMOUS windows with the most BEAUTIFUL view! If we open our windows, we can hear the creek burbling by down below. There is a large tree, with birds and squirrels always stopping by and peering in. We also have the best view, in the entire building to the helicopter landing pad on top of the main hospital tower, so we can see every helicopter coming and going without fail!! So that will be sad. BOO! But, it will be nice to have the whole team together, however many we may end up as. So, we will see!!

Jason just stopped and told me about something that happened at the post office today. He said there was a little old lady who had walked into the post office, walked past the looong line of already waiting customers and said to the postal worker that she didn’t have time to wait in line, and handed her slip of paper to the gentleman. Apparently some other little old lady in the line took great offense at her audacity and started to wield her umbrella at the impatient customer. Jason said, he kinda got excited that there was gonna be a little old lady smack down, right in front of him. Well, thankfully, the postal worker was able to diffuse the situation, and all was well with the world. My hubby said he was kinda bummed not to see the grannies fight, but he was glad that no one was hurt. I am not sure how I feel about this story. A part of me wants to laugh, and another is just thinking “MEN!!!” What do you think???

Alright, well my sweetie almost has dinner ready so I am going to lend a helping hand!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Note to Chunky Dunkers: It is not too late to get some more beneficial exercise in before your weigh-in on Wednesday!!! Every minute counts towards your goal of fitness!! I am rooting for you, even from afar! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉

A Saturday Evening of Firsts!

Good evening!

Today has been such a SPLENDIFEROUS day!!! After getting off to a rousing start this morning, my husband was feeling froggy and decided to head out with me to do the few errands that I was wanting to get ran, and we got them all done and was back home by about noon – UNHEARD OF!!! WHOO! HOO!!

Anyway, we did quite a bit of grocery shopping, and even though Jason had woken up with his back feeling better, he had overdone it. I knew we would have to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon, which was cool because that kind of left me time to do some of the things that I had wanted to get done today anyway!!

After all of our errands, we were going to sit down and watch some tv, but I have decided that I have to wean myself off the need to “numb out” to the tele, so I asked my body what it wanted to do instead. I realized, I was really, really tired! So, I did the unthinkable and took a nap, Jason joined me and it was so sweet and peaceful. We woke up after a while feeling much better, his back and my energy level, and I knew it was time to get some cooking done!!! YEAH!!

I was very excited to start making croissants from scratch! I pulled up my croissant recipe, and realized, that it is going to 7 1/2 hour to prepare, so I had better start on them the first thing tomorrow morning – I will take pics of my progress. Change of plans!! So, for today, I decided to make a white sauce, something I had never done before! After the white sauce had thickened, I did a very Paula Deen kind of thing to it, and added about a cup of cheese to the basic recipe and, once melted stirred in some cooked whole wheat pasta – it was pretty tasty! I wanted to health up my white sauce, you know exchange some of the unhealthy ingredients with some healthier substitutions, so I used whole wheat flower, which made it a little grainy, so I will have to experiment with that. I also used skim milk – which is something my mom used to do all the time, so I was pretty pleased with the results. My sweetie didn’t seem to disapprove of it, although that is hard to decipher whether something is good or not because he is like “Mikey” and will eat just about anything!! LOL! But that is ok, I still love you, Baby!!! 😉

A friend of mine gave me a tea to try this week, more specifically a green tea. I have been looking for one that tastes halfway decent because I am hearing more and more how much it is good for me. Well, I am SOOO IN LOVE WITH THIS TEA!! I am going to pick up some more tomorrow morning – I had to find out online where it is sold, because I couldn’t find it at my grocery store this morning. This tea is called Mighty Leaf Tea, and the flavor is Marrakesh Mint Green Tea!! It is so delish!!! Which is really saying something because I don’t normally like green teas!!! I can not wait to have a stash of this in the house!! YUM!! 😉 I am going to pick up a few boxes of this, and gift one back to the friend who gave me the sample, as a thank you!! I really appreciated his generosity!! 😉

We did finally sit down to watch an episode of Bones this evening, and as soon as I am done blogging tonight, we are going to take our things and go head over to the pool to get some swimming in! I need to limber up for class this week, and I think the hot tub will do Jason’s back some good!!

Then when we get back, we may watch a movie while I do some crafting!! I am making all homemade gifts for Christmas this year, so I really had better get a move on!! I have a LOT of people on my list this year!!! 😉

It is so nice to just be, and not worry about what I “should” be doing, and just do what I WANT to be doing!!! What a novel concept!!! All-in all, I have to confess, this is a damn near perfect day!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉