Category: Uncategorized (Page 179 of 212)

Created by OnePlusYou

So sad 🙁 Obviously I need to watch more sci-fi action thrillers from the 80s and 90s.

My cat did NOT want to leave. She was so so happy to be in a huge house all to herself. I don’t think I’ve every seen her so content. So when I drove home she was extra annoying. She meowed constantly, used the litterbox 4 times before we got to Parachute, barfed her breakfast down between the seats, and wandered into the back window, panting in terror at the 360-degree view of cars and wide open spaces. She completely freaked out and was too scared to come down. After ten minutes of coaxing I pulled off the road and she got down.

But I’m pleased to report that all the cuddling she exhibited at the house in the country is lingering still. She actually jumped in my lap while I was transcribing today – and she just wanted scratching! No food requests! I let her purr away until my legs fell asleep.

Whenever I leave my parents house they pack up some groceries from their pantry. It’s a good deal: I get some nifty food items and they get to clean out their overflowing cabinets. This time my dad packed up three bags and a cooler while I was packing my suitcase. What a strange array Ben and I found when I unpacked them four hours later. Let me give you an idea of the vastness and variety included in these bags:

• canned lychees
• lingonberry bread mix
• tuna in foil packets
• roasted pepper bruschetta spread
• Power Rangers kinder eggs
• water chestnuts
• two dozen eggs
• Swedish sour jelly stars
• fresh herbs from Mom’s garden
• roasted cashews
• japanese rice cracker snack mix
• dehydrated mushrooms
• dried mango strips
• coconut milk
• tabouli and gumbo boxed mixes
• creamed honey
• 3 pounds of short pasta
• a bottle of sauvignon
• fritos
• 4 boxes of pocky
• marinara sauce
• cat food treats
• marinated artichokes
• various canned beans
• and the strangest of all – rye bread mix in a milk-carton like jug.

I love it. It was pretty hilarious sorting through all of it 🙂 So now I have a well stocked and diverse pantry. Ben was especially happy to see the tuna, since I don’t eat any seafood whatsoever. (Really. Nothing from the sea. Period.)

I get two questions asked almost every day since Febuary (which is quite an accomplishment since I don’t get out much).

1) When does school start? (May 5th May 5th May 5th)
2) What do you do all day?

What DO I do all day? Well, for starters, it’s very hard to wake up when you have no schedule. I set my alarm for 7:30 and fully intend to obey it when I go to sleep each night. But then I sleep until 8, that becomes 8:30, that becomes 9. On good days I get up then and on bad days I stretch it to 10.

I try to do my Denise Austin aerobics video for 30 minutes each morning, but my hit rate is about 50%. I have some cheerios and read a magazine or book. I shower and dress. By then it could be anywhere from 10:00 to 11:30, so my day is almost half over!

I do medical transcription for a couple hours, taking a break for lunch and to walk the dog. I work slowly, usually chatting with friends and checking my rss feeds between letters.

By 2 things are pretty slow. I may tackle a to-do item, like today I cleaned out my basement storage room. Tomorrow I might deep clean my carpet. Then I’ll usually watch TV or a movie while working on a craft project. Around 4:30 I start thinking about making dinner and we eat around 6 pm.

At night I hang out near Ben, usually reading or crafting. I might play games with friends or go out on shopping errands (like tonight we got groceries). We go to bed between 10:30 and 11:30.

Wow. That’s pretty boring. I don’t know why I bothered writing all of that out. I guess because when people ask me I say “oh, I’m working from home and I do this and that.” But that answer doesn’t make sense to me because I know I only work for a couple hours. So maybe I needed to see for myself how I pass each day. Somehow something usually comes up that I can spend time on, whether for school or my parents’ work or household chores. On the days when nothing comes up I get a bit depressed. It’s hard to enjoy free time when there’s a lot of it. People say to enjoy it because I’ll be so busy once school starts that I’ll miss it. But you always want what you can’t have.

Four weeks left.

After working on art projects at my parents’ office, we ran some errands. I settled on a Blackberry Curve for the requisite nursing software. It seemed like a better value for the money, compared to Palm PDAs. T-Mobile says I can use the browser in preexisting WiFi spots without paying for their monthly internet. I think I correctly hooked up to the home internet and checked my gmail. I’m still a little unsure how to block it from switching to the paid internet, that would cost 1.99 per minute. Yuck! I need to decide whether to hook it to my desktop pc, or download intermediary software to hook it to this mac. Hmmm. Then I can explore all the functions it offers.

Then a jaunt into target led to sundries like eyeglass cleaning kits, infomercial wall hanging products, girl scout cookie ice cream, and a ipod nano. 😀 Yea! I know, I’m totally spoiled. Thank you thank you thank you Mom and Dad. After it finished syncing all my music, I’m going to swipe some Spanish lesson’s from Dad’s ipod using Senuti and add it to mine.

But the funnest was yet to come! We went back into the office and Dad taught me how to put in an IV, use a vacutainer, and put in a butterfly line. It was great, he’s so encouraging and consoling. I wasn’t nervous at all about sticking him. It definitely boosted my confidence for doing it in school.

And we did all of that AFTER dinner 🙂

Some knitted organs. I love her choice of a fine mohair.

This is a hard one! I got 20 out of 24 right.

I’m free! Yesterday was my official last day of work for the psychiatrist. I turned in my keys and said my goodbyes. Quitting can feel so good 🙂 I think a year’s notice was adequate, don’t you?

Yesterday was also another rousing night of Movie Club. This time Justin and Julia picked the Canadian comedy Strange Brew. Funnier than the terrible jokes was hearing Ben crack up at them.

Today is a beautiful rainy morning! I indulged in a little sleeping in, then did some school prep work and my aerobics. Later today I have the delight of peeing in a cup for the drug test. I look forward to seeing Amanda tonight, who is visiting Denver through the weekend. Yea!

Ahh, the sense of accomplishment. With no dictation or office work today, I decided it was finally time to do some deep cleaning. I emptied the kitchen onto the patio and mopped the whole floor. I scrubbed the baseboards. I wiped the greasy dust off the top of the fridge. I mopped the bathrooms by hand with rag. I even cleaned my oven, something I had vowed to do for my own enjoyment, instead of only when I move out of my apartment. I only got one chemical burn on my elbow. Pretty good.

And now I can kick back with a cold diet coke and rest. Sure, I need to clean the carpeted areas of the house, but that can wait another day.

I had a craving for peanut butter and chocolate. Mom made these delicious bar cookies a lot when we were younger. I called her for the recipe and in less than an hour I had my own pan.

2/3 cup shortening
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder

Combine the wet and dry like you would for a standard cookie recipe. Poor batter into a jelly roll pan (I used a large rimmed baking sheet. Is that the same thing?).

Bake at 350 for 15-25 minutes. Generously sprinkle chocolate chips on top and let melt. If you need to dash to the store to buy more (like me) then just pop the sheet pan back in the cooled oven for a minute. When they are nice a melty spread the chocolate over the top. Let cool completely then cut into bars.