Bummer

I've decided not to go to my highschool reunion.  Not really worth two $340 plane tickets + hotel + rental car + kennel fees for the animals.  I think I'd rather go to Jamaica, Costa Rica, Belize, etc.  Wyoming doesn't exactly say kick-ass vacation.

On a positive note, my husband & I made this wonderful side dish for my husband's office's Memorial Day cookout tomorrow (WCU folks have to work...we get an extra day off at Christmas in exchange).

Black Bean, Rice, and Sweet Corn Salad

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1/3 cup)

Ingredients

• 1  cup  water
• 1  teaspoon  salt, divided
• 1/2  cup  long-grain rice
• 6  tablespoons  fresh lime juice (about 2 large limes)
• 2  tablespoons  extravirgin olive oil
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 1  cup  rinsed and drained canned black beans
• 1  cup  fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Combine 1 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large, heavy saucepan; bring to a boil. Add rice to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork.
Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, juice, oil, pepper, and garlic in a large bowl. Add rice and beans; toss to coat. Let stand 15 minutes or until completely cool. Stir in corn and cilantro.

Nutritional Information

Calories:  111 (30% from fat)

Fat:  3.7g (sat 0.5g,mono 2.6g,poly 0.5g)

Protein:  2.8g

Carbohydrate:  18.5g

Fiber:  2.2g

Cholesterol:  0.0mg

Iron:  1.1mg

Sodium:  387mg

Calcium:  16mg

Joanne Weir, Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2007

Salsa anyone?

Check out my homemade topsy turveys!  The shepherd's hook with the sun on it (furthest from the camera) is one I already had.  I was hoping to use the one with two hooks for both pots, but they were just too heavy--I kinda saw that coming.  Not sure if I'm going to return it & get two of the smaller hooks or keep it & still get two smaller hooks...the only problem with that is that the plants might grow so large they touch the ground.  The best option would be to have my husband build me something sturdy to hang them on. 

All in all I like how they turned out.  I have a tomato plant, pickling cucumber, & serrano pepper.  My coworker made pickles a while back, so I want to try that out.  The idea behind doing this (topsy turveys) is that 1. they're off the ground so less likely to become diseased or infested & 2. they're closer to the house, so I'm more likely to attend to them.  :o)

And speaking of my coworker...it's the same lady who gave me the plants in this post.  I have some bad news about the plants.  I had my husband spray the front slope & apparently it was windy because my newly planted beebalm & mountain mint got hit.  :o(  The beebalm has pulled through and I think the mountain mint might pull through too.  It looks like there's still some green leaves at the top of the plant.  I know, boring, but I was pretty upset. 

Happy gardening!

Feelin' guilty

I try to go above and beyond whenever something is requested of me, but today, I did quite the opposite.  I received a phone call this afternoon from a recent graduate requesting I fax her our health questionnaire for personal training.  This normally would have been a small task for me to complete, however, all of the circumstances surrounding this task led me to fax it right before I left work. 

1.  I know the back story...she's way over her head in the position she was hired into because her dad is a YMCA big-wig.  At least, that's what I've been told.  She calls every couple of days with questions.  Questions such as: What brands of equipment do you use?  (She should know this--I knew this just as a patron)  Could I get some interview questions from you?  Come on, at least try to look like you know what you're doing--Google it for goodness sake!

2.  When she called today she asked for "Bubbles" which is the nickname of my office assistant.  That just annoyed me because I hate that name.  ;o) 

3.  She then asks me if I know how to work the fax machine.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

4.  Why yes, I believe I do.  What number should I fax this to?  Her answer:  UM, THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION.  I THINK IT'S ***-***-****.  My brain:  Hm.  You call for someone to fax you something but you don'tevenknowwhatthefaxnumberis?!?!

5.  At this point I decide:  ya know what?  I'm not going to drop everything to fax this girl something she should already know or have prepared when she's not even putting in the effort to sound intelligent or act intelligent.  So I receive a phone call 1(?) hour later...did you fax that yet??  No, I haven't, we're closed this week, we've been crazy busy with cleaning and I just haven't gotten around to it.  Her: oh, well, we're opening our new facility tomorrow & I really need that form.  Me:  Okay, I'll be sure to fax it soon.

6.  4:50 pm, 10 minutes before heading home time, Nicole faxes the form.  And guess what...someone answers the call when I put it through the fax machine.  SHE GAVE ME THE WRONG DAMN NUMBER.  I threw my hands up in the air, walked out of the workroom, looked at my coworker and said, "You're my witness.  I tried to fax this to her."

You work with me, I'll work with you.  You're not working with me when you act like you know more or are better than me.  Part of me thinks maybe she thought she was talking to one of the student workers (not really an excuse) but then I remember that's how she always acted with me.

I had another "altercation" of sorts with the owner of a certain karate place in town.  Look buddy, it's not my fault you sent a quote titled 'invoice'.  It's also not my fault that I didn't receive the second document which you appropriately call the invoice.  Thirdly, it's not my fault you don't have access to a fax machine.  And finally, you may claim this is 'how it's always been done', but 1. I am new & I do things differently & 2. by differently I mean CORRECTLY.  Give & take, give & take.

That's my rant for the day.  Sorry about the numbered bullets...not exactly sure why I did that & now too tired to change it.  :o)

Hang on 30, here I come!

I'm exhausted, my knee is killing me, and I got in a fight with poison ivy.  Poison ivy 1, Nicole 0.  I somehow spread it to my face so I'm trying to leave it alone and not create scabs all over my face from scratching it.  Easier said than done.  I actually woke up last night from the itchiness.  And apparently, I'm not that allergic because I was pulling the "weeds" with my bare hands.  I think people go on steroids to get rid of it, but I'm going to try to wait it out & see what happens--if there's any reason we should get treatment right away, please let me know.  I haven't even gone to get anti-itch medicine yet.  Maybe tomorrow since we're driving to work *note knee*. 

My husband & I started riding our bikes to work again.  We've only ridden twice this week but I have managed to acquire a sore knee & much anger at my bag that keeps getting caught in the spokes. 

I think most of my exhaustion stems from the deep cleaning we've been doing at the rec center because we're already closed from the gym floor being refinished.  All you people who are complaining we're closed:  be thankful we have to breath those fumes & not you.  :oP

*New topic*
Weekend projects: home-made topsy turvey planter & rain barrel.  Youtube has some great simple how-to videos on both of these projects utilizing items we already own, so I'm pretty excited.  Perhaps there's hope for a veggie garden afterall.

*New topic*
Submitted Intro version 2 to my advisor last night.  Proud of that accomplishment since I can't seem to get going on Methods or Results.  Wish I could start each new topic in my thesis with *New Topic*. 

How about that Biggest Loser??

How about that Lost??  Next up: Directv cancellation to save $600/year.

I'll leave on a positive note:  Bro's back from Iraq, last time I heard my uncle's recovering well from heart surgery, my 'rents had a great time in Alaska *jealous!*, & my favorite nephew turned 8!!  Sigh, I remember those days with fondness.  Actually, come to think of it, I didn't really start remembering things until fourth grade.  That sounds weird.  Because, obviously, I remembered my abc's etc.  What I mean is, I couldn't tell you who was in my 3rd grade class or even who the teacher was.  Not until fourth grade did I remember those things.  Okay, I'm obviously tired, so I will retire with my ice packs in tow. 

It takes new eyes

C & I decided to forego the house selling & buying and refinance instead.  Interest rate from 6.75% down to 4.75%, 30 year down to 20 year, and some extra cash to do with as we please.  We've already decided on a new refrigerator.  White, french door bottom freezer with water & ice dispenser.  *sigh*  Now, if we could only keep the price down.

Turns out we had to get the house appraised first so the lady came over this evening to do that.  I'm glad she did because I realized I tend to focus on the negatives about the property & not the positives.  She'd make comments and I'd think, "Oh yeah, that is kinda pretty."  Or, "Hm.  Hadn't thought of that.  I suppose you're right."

I'm really interested to see what it appraises for.  I hope it's not less than what I paid and I hope it's not WAY more than I paid (then I'd want to sell again & I just got over that).  We shall see.

Never fails

This makes me laugh every time.  Genius!  It makes me wonder what kind of round table discussions they had..."& then...& then we could have it turn into diamonds!".  C & I watched a behind the scenes video of sorts yesterday and the only cgi involved was the diamonds.  Pretty interesting!

National Bike to Work Day!

Just a reminder to all you cyclists that this Friday (the 21st) is Bike to Work Day.  I plan on suiting up starting Monday and hope to continue riding through the summer and into the fall. 

We started getting the laundry room together.  I decided not to waste money, time, & energy on repainting...it's already a bright & airy yellow appropriate for a laundry room, so there's no point in redoing it.  I had a great idea regarding one particular corner of the room that shall remain a secret until "After" pictures are posted. 

I transplanted the sunflower seedlings I started & they're not doing so well...in fact, they might be dead.  But when I transplanted them I planted some more seeds in the bed & they're coming up, so I may have sunflowers yet. 

Many things left to do...hope you all had a great weekend!

ANOTHER re-do!

Once we decided we were going to stay in our house for a while, I declared I was going to at least make the house more bearable (for me at least--my husband doesn't care). 

First was the kitchen, then the office, then the bathroom.  What's next?  The laundry room.  I went from Craigslist where someone quoted me $600 for used oak cabinets to Lowe's who quoted me $722 with tax for new unfinished ones--and neither one of those included the countertops we'd need to purchase.  We went back to Lowe's today to get the cabinets but first decided to check out the ready-made utility type cabinets.  What'd we go home with?  The ready-made utility cabinets--Estate Storage Systems, to be precise:

Not only were they cheaper, but we also won't have to refinish them, buy hardware, or buy a counter top.  The only things I'm now prepared to buy are wall paint & contact paper to go over the tops of base cabinets.  I'm so excited!

I just have to decide on color.  I'm thinking a light green or light orange might be fun.  C said no to blue because of the other rooms.  Something like this?  (but lighter)

Or this?

Happy Mother's Day!

I saw the coolest & cutest thing today.  Mama Bird teaching Baby Bird how to fly.  Quite the experience.

Christmas in May

I received the most wonderful gifts from my coworker this morning:

beebalm - great for the hummingbirds!

mountain mint - smells yummy!

wild white indigo - this one is still tiny so I hope I don't kill it  :o/

I can't wait to plant them and see how well they do.  They're pretty hardy plants, so I feel confident.  I was telling my husband that as soon as I get my garden just how I want it, it'll be time to move. 

My sunflowers aren't doing as well as I expected them to be at this point--oddly enough there was an article about sunflowers in the Southern Magazine I picked up to read during my work out today--sounds like I should have transplanted the seedlings into my garden a while ago.  Oops.  I'll do that this weekend when I transplant the gifts I received today.  *happy*

*Images from novascotiagardening.com, wildcrafting.com, & northcreeknurseries.com*

Song of the week