Five on Friday #226

EINS - Random Shit

Real talk, if you are a vlogger, LOOK AT THE FUCKING CAMERA.  Do NOT look at yourself for your entire video (if you are using your cell phone or some media showing device to record yourself).  Jesus Christ, why isn't this obvious?  Talk to ME, your viewer, not to yourself.  I know, it's hard not to watch yourself, but you can do it.  I swear.  If you need to check yourself every so often, that's cool, but watching yourself for a 10 minute video?  I will rip off your arms and beat you with them.

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I might have admitted this before, but it's worth posting again.

It always takes me 3 holes to hang something on the wall that has 2 hangers (a hook on each side).  Every.fucking.time.
Please also note that I hang stuff by the "eh, that's fine" method 95% of the time, which means eyeballing it to see if something is straight or not.

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A few of my bras have a sparkly edging on the cups.  Monday, the dress I wore kinda showed the sparkly area of my bra through the fabric of the dress.  I deemed myself, "Sparkle Tits."

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Does eating frozen yogurt count as taking probiotics?  Asking for a friend.

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Sometimes, I creep on what my Spotify friends are listening to and listen to their playlists that are made for them.  I have learned (and am not surprised by) the fact that Teh Sister and I have very similar music tastes.  Thanks, Sis!

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There are few things worse than the smell of Lowcountry being trapped in your car.  If you cannot relate to this, imagine that you fart your worst smelling fart then open your door and get out of your car and do your thing.  When you get back in your car hours later, it still smells like the fart.  Except worse because now it's warm.  It's a fetid fart.  #HateHateHate

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It's been a hot minute since I posted a Shit Teh German Said (STGS) post.. and I wanted to discuss that for a second.  First off, I will say that there is a STGS post scheduled for this month.  But I often struggle with documenting the hilarious shit he says because... I want to enjoy it.  I don't want to have to stop cackling to text myself the conversation.  It really takes away from my enjoyment of the moment.  So I'm torn.  I know everyone loves those posts, because they are, obviously, hilarious.  But it takes effort for me to laugh, then recall the conversation with perfect clarity and text it to myself.  Effort that I don't always want to put in.

So just know, I'm debating on whether or not to make more of an effort again for STGS posts.  I can't guarentee anything will change, but it's on my mind.

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PITA Professor straight up called me out on doing less good this semester than I did last semester.  HELLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Senioritis!

"Your performance thus far has been below your normal excellent performance, you can do better!

Also, this is specifically on his daily quizzes and often I mix up 2 definitions, which means that I don't just miss 1 question, but 2 and when a quiz has less than 10 questions, that's a pretty significant portion.  Maybe looking at the material would help, but mostly, IDGAF.  /shrug. And also.. if my average quiz grade is my lowest grade of 3 tests and the final exam, it will get dropped anyways.  #DoNotCurr.

I'm always really affected by disappointment, so while this comment makes me laugh on the outside, it is really getting under my skin.  I know that logically, of course, I am doing poorly because we've had 10 quizzes and I missed 2 of them when I was out sick (and we're not allowed to make them up), so those are probably also dragging my average down.  Like, I understand the LOGIC of why he'd write that comment, but I can literally do NOTHING to improve other than study better for quizzes, which I don't really care to stress myself out over.  I'm not sure why I'm still wrestling with this.

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Dear Spotify,
I haven't listened to Christmas music since December.  You can update my "Recently Played" playlists now... /facepalm

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Teh German is pretty bad about just going on Amazon and buying something, rather than doing any price comparing at other places we shop at (i.e. Sam's Club).  I'm hoping he learned his lesson recently when he paid double for an item on Amazon that he would have paid if he would have purchased it at Sam's.

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Dear Chase,
Thanks for free Doordash delivery for a year.  Now I might actually be tempted to use Doordash.

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First, there was just fat week.
Then, there was fat week and skinny week.
Then, there was fat week, motivated week, then skinny week.
Then.. there was fat week, motivated week, exhausted week, then skinny week.

This is all because having a uterus is a punishment.

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Forgetting to turn on the crockpot in the morning is why someone invented the instant (it's not fucking instant) pot.  But for us, it just means a valid excuse to ride the bikes to dinner... which is exactly what happened on Tuesday, despite Teh German getting home later than usually AND me having a test on Wednesday (which meant I need to study the night prior).

I was stressed out about being out late and then Suzi wouldn't start so he had to ride the Bobber (what a rough life having 2 motorcycles to choose from!).. And guess what, it was all fine.  We ended up riding to the Workshop for dinner and I had zero regrets.  We made it home by 8:15 and I was still able to go through the remainder of the test review

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I loved The Ranch.. until this last season.  I'm super disappointed to admit that.  This season, all the jokes felt trope-y, tired, and forced.  I did still have some LOL moments, but mostly, I wasn't sorry to play games on my phone while The Ranch was on the big screen.

Next up: Vikings.
Also, I was informed that I would really like Dark.  My German class loved the show, so I'm curious.

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I almost sent Teh German a cheesy valentine's day beer gift basket to his office on principle to be like, SEEE this is what people that like each other do...
But I didn't because... I'm a petty asshole.
Ya know, in case you were worried about me not being a petty asshole.  I still am.
Additionally, I already purchased a couples massage for us, so I can use my gift certificate that he got me for Christmas/being a good cheerleader during the job change drama and I already paid for his massage.  Soooooo yeah.  Not keeping score.  And also, I don't want to fuel my own bitterness.  Because that's probably what it would do.

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Someone brought in 2 Edward's frozen pies for Thanksgiving and they are still in the freezer since we had wayyy too much food for work Thanksgiving.  Fast forward to February and I've been helping myself to freezer pie since it's fat week.  I'm NOT FUCKING SORRY about it either.

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My Stats professor is the least "Citadel-y" professor I've ever had and I'm not even sad about it.  He straight up told us how to work out one problem during the test and he answered my question, even if it didn't really help me get the answer because something was missing.  I pulled a "when it doubt, c it out" and called it done.

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What it's like to work with me:

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Does anyone else feel like this week took a millionty days to finally get to Friday?  Because I'm confident that's exactly how many days it's been since last week.

ZWEI - Money Shit

-Groceries
-Power bill.  $100 in the winter makes me stabby since that means our AC has been running... IN THE WINTER TIME.
-Denver hotel
-Denver rental car

DREI - From My Phone Shit

New sign after I removed the millionth k-cup before I was able to brew my own coffee:
After brewing, please remove your mold developing k-cup from the machine.
Queen of Passive-Aggressiva strikes again!

Ring selfies.
Not sorry
88 days when I took this.

My new Company hoodie came in.  Small is WAY better than the medium.
Too bad it's too fucking hot here to wear a hoodie.  :|

Saw an APV just rollin' down the street with a non-uniformed person chillin' from the manhole.
Filed under: Really fucking bizarre shit.

When you're almost to the office and realize it's a school day.
Thankfully, work is halfway to school, even if a little out of the way, so I still managed to make it to school in time to get decent parking and in time for my test.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

As much as you have given thought to the way things were before,
you can give mindful grace filled thoughts to the present all the more.
MHN

Who you are right now matters more than you know.
MHN

you do not have to be fearless to be confident.
MHN

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. Learning a new, EASIER, way to do work things.  Thanks to a coworker for taking the 10 minutes out of his busy day to help me and make me more productive and less of a burden on him.  #TeachAManToFish
2. The Chiro.  
3. Freezer pie.
4. Patience.  Even if it's only minimal.
5. Accurate #BarometerHead readings.
6. Looking forward to a massage all week long.
7. Not succumbing to my own pressure to go out for breakfast/lunch.
8. Riding to dinner with Teh German on Wednesday.
9. Baloo being paid off.
10. Chatting with Teh Bestie during our drives, even if our phones sometimes cut out and we call each other back so quickly that we get each other's voicemail. 

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Sausage, Potato, and Corn Chowder

Eckrich* sausage is a staple in this house.  It initially started with their kielbasa, but at this point, whenever it's on sale, I grab multiples of all the varieties and throw them in the freezer until I want to use them.  I live with a German, sausage is NEVER a bad idea, based on my experience.

Anyways, I ordered some in our Walmart* Grocery order, which meant that later, when I search for "sausage recipes", ads for Eckrich came up and I saw something about a sausage corn chowder recipe and I took the bait.  I'm not sorry.

Ingredients:

-Sausage.  Obviously, I prefer Eckrich because it doesn't have a tough casing on the outside and it tastes delicious.  You can probably also use crumbly sausage, but it would need to be cooked first and I hate having to cook shit before I put it in the crockpot.

-Potatoes

-1 can of corn

-1 can of creamed corn

(you could also use 2 cans of creamed corn or 2 cans of plain corn, I'm all about flexibility)

-(optional) 1 can of beans (I used Navy beans because they were on hand)

-1ish cup of heavy cream/1 can of evaporated milk

-Broth (your flavor of choice)/substitute

-Corn starch

Side ingredients:
-1 box of Jiffy* corn muffin mix + required ingredients.

Directions:

-Dice sausage.  I usually halve along the length of the entire sausage, then cut along the sausage to make half moon shapes.
-Clean and peel potatoes.  I don't actually fully peel my potatoes.  I kinda cut off at least half of the peel, then just dice the potatoes with some peel on, because we like it that way.
-Add sausage, potatoes, and cans (with the liquid) into the crockpot.
-Mix together broth/substitute with heavy cream and corn starch.  Once well combined, add to crockpot.
-Stir items in crockpot to mix well, then cover and cook on low for 8 hours (truthfully, this is the only setting I ever use to cook anything in my crockpot.  When I've tried to do anything on high for less time, it never worked out, so it's always low for 8 hours.  The most important item to be cooked in this recipe is the potatoes, so when you can stick a fork through the potatoes, the soup is ready to eat).

Cover and cook!

When you're about 30 minutes from eating time, make corn muffins via the instructions on the box.  I used almond milk because that's all we had on hand and all the tops broke off.  I mean, Starbucks sells just muffin tops, so I considered myself a winner that I had done this unintentionally.  So it's better to use fatty milk.. I probably could have used the heavy cream, but didn't know how it would work and wasn't feeling up for the challenge, so almond milk it was.

After the muffins are done cooking, serve soup with muffins!  I broke up my corn muffins and added them directly to my soup.  I was NOT disappointed.

Final product!

*I don't receive any compensation from these companies, but if they were interested, I totally am also.

Fancy Beef Roast

I'm not really sure why, but Teh German LOVES one-bowl meals.  I'm not sure if it's because he does the dishes and that means less dishes, or maybe it's because he just likes mixing all his food together?  I have no idea, but any meal I can make that can be served in a bowl mixed together just makes his day.... sooo that's how I served this pot roast.  See, I do nice things for Husband.

Anyways.. on to the recipe because I hate when I have to read someone's entire fucking life story to get to the recipe.

Ingredients:

-Beef chuck roast, big enough to feed your people.
-Pot roast seasoning packet, because I'm lazy AF and that shit is delicious.
-1-2 cups of beef broth/substitute.  I use Better Than Bouillon and add the necessary water.
-Mushrooms.  I bought the biggest container of sliced mushrooms I could find, but I really like mushrooms.
-Red wine.  The only wine in our house is stuff that has been brought in by others.. I found a Chianti in the cabinet and that's what I used.
-Egg noodles
-Corn starch for sauce thickening, if you're interested in that type of thing.

Directions:

-Add beef to crockpot.
-Pour packet of seasoning over roast and on the sides.
-Add beef broth/substitute, making sure you don't wash the seasoning off the beef.  If you feel like it, you can stir the broth with the seasoning on the side, but it's probably not necessary.  Broth should almost reach the top of the roast.  Not too much, not too little.
-Set crockpot to cook on low for 8 hours.
-Go to work/school/play/do whatever it is you do to pass the day.  Ok, back to crockpot duty.
-Wash mushrooms (they sometimes grow those bad boys in more than just dirt... ok? Just wash them), then add to crockpot.
-Add at least 1 cup of your acquired wine to the crockpot.  I used "enough" wine.
-Put the lid back on.  Here's where the directions get wonky.  Depending on how much time you have before you eat will depend on how long and what temperature you use to cook the mushrooms.  We had more than an hour.  I didn't even bother to change the heat setting since the crockpot was on warm and I knew the mushrooms would cook down in that time.  If I was trying to eat quick like, I'd probably just cook the mushrooms in a pan with some of the wine, then add to crockpot.  If you're somewhere in between, you can set the temp to high and cook until the mushrooms are done, which probably won't take more than 30 mins or so.
-When the mushrooms are almost done cooking, start boiling the water for the egg noodles and use a measuring cup or something to obtain some/enough liquid from the crockpot and put it into a pan (this will be your gravy).
-Create a slurry of corn starch with water and add to the pan with pot roast juices or just add corn starch directly to the pot roast juices and whisk thoroughly to break up the clumps (this is risky business, but it's what I did because I like to live dangerously).  Simmer/boil (depending on time/your thickness preferences) sauce until you'e tired of waiting/your egg noodles are done cooking/your sauce/gravy is thick enough.

Serve beef and mushrooms over noodles and cover with sauce/gravy.

This was definitely a hit and I'll certainly be making it again... I mean.. I need to use the rest of this Chianti since no one in this house is going to drink it!

Weekend Review {6/11}

FRIDAY

Friday I worked until 2:15.  Only that long because it was pouring buckets outside and I didn't want to trudge through the rain to get to my car to go home.  Once I got home, I took a nap and then headed to my massage appointment at 3:40.  My massage was excellent.  I opted for #TreatYoSelf dinner since Teh German had went out of town for his dude's cigar weekend earlier in the day.  I splurged with some KFC for dinner, which was awesome.. until I opened the box and they had put mashed potatoes instead of coleslaw in my order.  BOOOOOOO.

I started meandering around the house aimlessly and finally decided to go to Walmart and take care of the grocery list.  It was a poor life choice since our Walmart is in the middle of some type of renovation and nothing is where it should be and aisles are missing and there were a millionty useless employees loitering around and so many items I needed weren't in stock.  #FirstWorldProblems.

Since I was unsupervised, I decided to wander down the home decorations/clocks aisle and discovered a pretty cool blue map of the world that would be perfect for First Child Room.  I added it to the buggy and continued my shopping experience.  Eventually, I checked out and headed home.  I put the groceries away and headed upstairs to deliver the map to it's final destination.  Since it wasn't complicated, I went ahead and hung it on the wall.  I also put away the wrapping stuff I'd left out pre-Honeymoon.  As I was sitting in the big chair, petting Meri, I noticed the bookshelf that no longer fit in the room needed to be relocated.  I decided to bring it downstairs.  Rather than deal with it then, I left it against the wall and moved on to another project...

Laundry.. then purging.  I had 2 bags of stuff to donate already out, but after bringing them downstairs to put into Yurtle, I made a pit stop in the office and started going through the drawers of crap I hoard.  I found a router from 2008.  Guess what I'll never use again?  That router.  Goodbye.  So many power cords that haven't been used in years.  Books I'm not interested in keeping.  Just stuff that was unnecessary to hang on to.  Bye, Felicia.  After getting all the donate stuff into Yurtle, I moved on to the next thing...

Cleaning picture frames.  This is Teh Running Bestie's fault.  Once I saw how much of a difference it made to clean the glass on picture frames before you hang them, I became a convert.  Now I have to clean every picture frame I buy and if you haven't seen our "shrine" wall, we have a LOT of picture frames.  I sat up a cleaning station in the floor with glass cleaner, paper towels, empty frames, photos to go in some frames, a notepad (to make a list of photos I needed for specific frames), my water cup, and my phone (which was playing my audiobook).

Teh German texted me around 0030, while I was cleaning frames, that it was his bedtime.  I responded and continued cleaning.  After the frames were done, I wasn't tired yet, so I cut up the ripe cantaloupe that was diffusing throughout the downstairs.  After that was done, I headed upstairs to put away the dried laundry and then finally went to bed after 0100.

SATURDAY

Saturday, Teh PT Wife, PT Kid, and Teh Dental Hygienist went to brunch the Wild Dunes resort.  Since it was far, far away, took almost an hour to get there.  After brunch, we went to Belk's, I spent money, of course.  Then to Sam's, then back home.  After getting back home, more motivation struck me.  I took photos of the bookshelf to sell on FB, then decided to see if it would fit in the dining room (nope) or the office (yep).  Since it would fit in the office, I decided to rearrange the furniture to make it work better.  I sent Teh German a picture of my in progress work, and then he came home to something completely different.

Final positions

I had to show Meri that she could still look out her window.

While furniture was being moved, laundry was going.  After the rearranging was complete, I sat on the couch and worked on Honeymoon photo edits.  Eventually, Teh PT Wife said it was time for dinner and we headed towards Outback since she had a few gift certificates.  Since I had called ahead and we were told there would be a 30 minute wait, we made a pit stop by Michael's so I could pick up some frames.  All wall frames were 50% off, I also found a laundry room sign that I loved, and I picked up flag shadowboxes for my I Love Me wall, which I've been planning since 2014.

Dinner was silly and delicious and afterwards, we went by Ross to peruse.  I ended up buying more picture frames (never enough picture frames!!!).  When we got home, Teh PT Wife helped me carry all my shit in the house.  I immediately started being productive.  The super awesome laundry room sign had the hooks in the wrong direction, so I had to completely relocate the hooks.  This required drilling new holes.  Which I did, #LikeAFuckingBoss.  Then I went and hung my sign over the door. 

After, I cleaned all the new picture frames I'd picked up and then it was "early" (at 11ish) bedtime.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning, we went to brunch at Iron Dog.  We being Teh PT Wife and Kid, Teh Dental Hygienist and Teh AF Maintainer, and I.  I took the opportunity to deliver Australia souvenirs.  After brunch, Teh PT Wife and Kid ran some errands with me since they had ridden with me to brunch.  Car wash, Walmart (ugh), Lidl, then a drop off at Goodwill and then home. 

By the time we got home, Teh German and Teh PT Husband were back from their trip.  Thankfully, this year's review didn't include any tales of almost being crashed into.  I had started taco soup in the crockpot before brunch, so dinner was already ready whenever we got hungry.  We started watching Arrested Development (we're not sure yet, but we're still in season 1) and I set up the Apple TV to use my photos as the screensaver and around 6 Teh PT Wife asked me if I wanted to go for a workout walk, to which I said yes.  After a 3 mile walk, I came home and showered and then it was dinner and Arrested Development time.

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And then the weekend was over.

This should be a quiet week, since the schedule is empty.
Tomorrow is primary elections for SC and I'm excited to get a NEW "I voted" sticker.
Friday night is Incredibles II.

My goal this week is to finish editing photos and start working on honeymoon blog posts.  I also have a shutterfly credit for an 8x8 book that would be awesome to use for honeymoon photos, but we'll see.

Crockpot Taco Soup

If you haven't gathered, I'm lazy.  I take after my greyhound and try to conserve as much energy as possible.  Unlike my greyhound, it is frowned upon for me to nap for 20+ hours a day, so I have to do adult things to look responsible.

One of those responsibilities is cooking.

Now I would never go so far and say that I love to cook, because I do not.  I do not love standing in the kitchen for an eternity.  But, I do love good food.  So there has to be a trade off somewhere, and that trade-off is my crock-pot.

I'm a huge fan of dump recipes and this taco soup is exactly that.  This is a dynamic recipe so you can adjust whatever you'd like to make it more to your tastes, which is yet another reason that I love it so much.

And yes, I know that soup in the summer is weird.  Do not curr.  I also eat ice cream in the winter because I'm a rebel!

Crock-pot Taco Soup

Ingredients:

-3ish chicken breasts (I used breasts because I felt like thighs might be too fatty.  Already cooked hamburger meat/sausage would probably also fare well, probably about 1-1.5 pounds.  Already cooked so the fat can be drained, but that is not in the spirit of energy conservation.)
-1 can of enchilada sauce (I use the mild green enchilada sauce)
-1 can of diced tomatoes (the Rotel cans are great)
-1 can of corn
-2-3 cans of beans (I used kidney beans, black beans, and chickpeas this time)
-Taco seasoning packet (you can make your own, but in the effort of energy conservation, I used prepackaged taco seasoning)

Toppings:

-Cheese
-Sour cream
-Cilantro (alllll the cilantro)
-Tortilla chips (you can make your own, but in the spirit of conserving energy, I did not)
-Hot sauce (for others, because I do not need my food to set my mouth on fire to enjoy it)
-Avocado
-Whatever else you like on your Mexican dishes

Directions:

(I'm going to break this down Megan-style.)

-Get out crock-pot.  Do not bang it into cabinets.  Do not drop it.
-Plug in crock-pot.
-Place chicken in the crock-pot.  Frozen chicken is fine.  The crock-pot does not care.
-Open a mabillionty cans by hand and consider buying an electric can opener because you live in the first world and you had one growing up and why don't we have a stupid electric can opener?
-Dump all the cans on top of the chicken.  Do NOT drain.  Just dump it all in the crock-pot, yes really.
-Sprinkle the seasoning packet on top of the mix and stir (as best you can with frozen chicken hindering progress).
-Put the lid on the crock-pot.
-TURN ON THE CROCK-POT.  Set it to 8 hours on low.  This step is imperative!
-Ignore crock-pot until it starts beeping incessantly, then ignore it for longer until your people decide they are finally hungry.
-Pop the top!  Ok, maybe this is just my crock-pot since I have the lid clamps, but whatever.
-Fish out the chicken breasts and shred the chicken (I used Bets, my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the paddle with the Y in it, for optimum energy conservation).
-Dump shredded chicken back into crock-pot carefully so you don't splatter soup all over yourself.
-Stir!
-Slice and dice an avocado and some (1/2 a bunch if you're me) cilantro.
-Add cilantro to the crock-pot and stir.
-Chop up a wee bit more cilantro for my own personal use (note: I love me some cilantro).
-Have your kitchen minion/assistant get out the sour cream, cheese, chips, and hot sauce/whatever else you want on your soup.
-Use a ladle to spoon soup into bowls.  Enough is a good measurement.  Calories don't count in delicious, easy to make food.
-Top with ALL THE THINGS!  I personally crush a few handfuls of chips between my palms and let them fall into the soup.  A dab of sour cream, "enough" cheese, that extra cilantro, and 1/4 of an avocado and I'm set.
-Stir and enjoy!

I'm pretty sure that this recipe could feed 6-8 people and you might still have some leftovers (depending on portion size).  Teh German and I can eat this for several meals, which is perfect for my lazy ass.

Also, if you don't like avocado, don't use it.  If you luuurve hot sauce, add it when you add all the ingredients and let it cook with everything else.  If you don't love kidney beans, use something else.  This is a perfect recipe for using whatever you have on hand.  I happened to have kidney beans on hand because I intended to make chili at some point and failed.  You can use all black beans.  You don't have to use chickpeas.  If you want a thicker soup, drain the beans before you put them into the crock-pot.  It's a completely versatile recipe so you can make it your own!  Dare you!

PS.  This soup makes for some BOMB leftovers.  

I love when food is even better the 2nd time around!

Five on Friday #104

EINS

Things from this week:

• That guy who always responds "Thanks" to my daily email?  I created a rule that automatically sends his emails to the trash #aintnobodygottimefordat
• How to fall down the rabbit hole: Friend posts on FB they would like to see funny stuff, go to Pinterest for funnies, send cute pic of derp Phil, continue looking at Pinterest, share link to funnies Pinterest board, continue on Pinterest, click on a link that takes you to an imgur link of Tumblr screenshots, discover Russell Howard, watch Howard's videos on YouTube, watch video coworker sent on Larry the Cable Guy's normal accent, watch a "Greatest of Who's Line Is It Anyways?" video, start watching the 43 minute blooper video from Who's Line, remember you actually got tasked an hour before and redirect back to work.  #oops
• I stumbled upon this "cleaning schedule" thing and it essentially suggested how often you should wash thing like your clothes, curtains, comforters, etc.  Apparently you should wash your curtains every 2 months?  I'm still fucking cackling at that shit.
• I hate "If you have a big strong man" comments.  Hate, hate, hate.  1- There are jobs that men don't like doing and that's why people get paid to do them.  2- I'm a big strong WOman and yes there are times when I'd like a man to help, but I can do it on my just fine.. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
• I started going through the SUYB linker uppers.  I've not been a woman of many words recently... but Teh German wouldn't agree with that if you ask him since I've had plenty of words to say as soon as the lights go out when we get in bed.  I still can't figure out how his brain just shuts off when the lights turn off.  My brain is just a create of random associations that keep me up forever.  See, this bullet alone is an example of everything I just said/typed.
• Roux and Marcie and Max and Phil and Meri have been going on pack walks in the afternoons.  It's been pleasant to have an excuse to hang out with neighbors and get Meri and Phil out of the house.
• I get so much shit done when I close out the FB tab on my computer.  ALL THE THINGS!!!!!

ZWEI

Weekend plans:
-MRI this afternoon (fucking finallyyyyy)
-Pack walks?
-Sleeping in
-Teh SC Teacher's bachelorette party
-Birthday cookout for one of the Biker "Gang" members.

I'm on dog duty this weekend, which means getting up in the AM.
Maybe I'll also work on our invites?  HA.
I also should do some work on the DJ's website but I haven't been motivated.
I might also go on a run.  The Bridge Run is coming.
Might also do some pre-company cleaning.  I meant to move Roomy upstairs this morning but failed.  Oh well.  There's always tomorrow.

DREI

From the phone:

I realllllyyy wanted some Mexican food.
I sent this selfie to Teh PT Wife to show her how much I was enjoying it.

I did this on Thursday night #likeaboss.  Teh German was making foodgasm noises.  #win
Crockpot ribs w/ roasted rosemary potatoes and veggies (squash and carrots)

Bed sharing is rare, so documentation must be captured.
Could they be more awkward or more cute?
Probably yes to both.  Let's not challenge them.

VIER

From the internet:

After many years of self-reflection and self-observation, I've noticed I'm a creature of habit and that many things that are "wrong" with me are often wrong with me.  It took almost 30 years for me to realize that 24-48 hours before it rained, I would get a headache.  YEARS.  I dealt with migraines and often I'd just call a headache a migraine because I didn't realize what was happening.  Truthfully, I didn't know how to treat it.  Now I know.  Now I am able to treat my actual symptoms instead of the pain.  It makes all the difference.  That said, the same applies to "girl time" aka menstruation time.  Being aware that I have a fat week, skinny week, normal week, and period week was eye opening.  This article describes an experiment from over 30 years ago that shows the self-awareness that comes from tracking nature's cycles.

Alyssa wrote about things that are definite and the ones about self-labels and adjustment time spoke to me.

I like the sound of free.99 when it comes to learning, especially after knowing the cost of tuition.

I took The Skimm's US Citizen test and I got a 78%.  A few of the questions I misread and I also rushed through the quiz, excuses I know.  I was still mildly embarrassed.  I can't imagine how scary it would be to try and take this test as someone who speaks/reads English as a 2nd language.

This workplace experiment when a man signed his emails as his female coworker for a week opened his eyes to why women "under-perform"...

The next one is long but worth it.

 

Me and my toe/hip/all things...

This never gets old.

FÜNF

10 things that made me happy this week:

1. A ballin' dinner last night.  I would commit to posting the recipe, but commitment is hard and I'm just being real, I'll probably forget.
2. It finally being MRI day.  Hopefully-the imagery assessment will be quick.  I did have a crisis when I realized that I can't remove my daith/rook piercings on my own, but hopefully they will put me in feet first so my head doesn't have to be in that loud ass machine the whole time.
3. App State resending my transcripts for free since neither CSU nor The Citadel can find them.
4. Phil's $134 repeat blood work being greyhound normal, although I still can't figure out the whole drinking all the water thing he's got going on.  Maybe on a less expensive week (that doesn't include a $1000 MRI), Phil will go to the doc to get a sonogram of his abdomen.
5. Suzi being back home.  I'm confident we will ride this weekend.
6. I bought a couple's massage through Groupon.  I can haz now?
7. Teh Running Bestie will be arriving in 5 days.  
8. Miles.  13 miles to be exact since I hit the pavement Wednesday the 15.  It's going to be hard to stop if it comes to hip surgery....
9. Modern Family giggles.  I'm pretty sure my personality is a weird combination of Mitch, Cam, Claire, and Phil.
10. Almost no hip pain all last weekend.  Not so true this week, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.

Linking up with these ladies since it's FFFFRRRRRRIIIIIIDDDDAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!

http://meetatthebarre.blogspot.ca/ | http://farmerbell.blogspot.com | http://theflynnigans.com/

Weekend Review {12/26}

FRIDAY

I worked from home on Friday and it was splendid.  I called in for my meeting and checked in a few times throughout the day to make sure that nothing was being requested from me, but otherwise I was able to enjoy some time with our company.  Sadly, Aunt P was down and out with a stomach bug, but our other guest and Teh German decided to run my errands with me.

I needed to go to Michael's to pick up my frame, the dry cleaner, Goodwill, and the grocery store.  Lesson: Do not take people with you on your errands if you want to stay on task.  After Michael's, it was suggested that we swing by the mall (reminder: it's Christmas Eve Eve) to look for a South Carolina flag at Palmetto Moon (a local "classy, Southern" themed store that sells everything Yeti you could possibly want, as well as USC, Clemson, and various other southern themed gear).  Times of the year I do NOT go to the mall: Black Friday, anything within 1 week of Christmas.  To say I was not pleased is an understatement, but I was trying to be nice, so I just restrained my aggravation and kept my comments to myself.  There were so many people that I was going out of my mind and then there was a deliberation over of the flag being too big and I was just ready to go and I didn't care that the flag in question was $25 (I wish I was kidding) and did I mention there were approximately 1 million people in the store?  Ugh.

Items were bought and we finally left the mall, to my relief.  My head had started to hurt before we'd left Michael's and it was getting worse and worse as the day went on.  We swung by Goodwill and dropped off 2 bags of clothes (ya know, to make space for all the stuff I've been buying that I said I wouldn't) and some picture frames I'd purged.  After Goodwill, I dropped off my peacoat and MOH that needed to be dry cleaned.  Finally, we finished up the adventure with a Publix trip.

When we went home, I did a bit of work, then headed to Roux's house for a doggy play date.  After about an hour, I couldn't handle the headache anymore.  I headed home and went straight upstairs and took a nap.  Originally, we had planned on going to Willie Jewell's for dinner, then to the Stingrays game.  Between my headache and Aunt P's sickness, adventures were not to be had.  Teh German woke me around 5:30 to ask if I wanted to go to dinner/the game and I said I'd prefer not.

We did still order Willie Jewell's, which Teh German went and picked up for us.  Aunt P didn't eat, but the rest of us did.  Teh German bought the streaming ticket and after some difficulties, we got the game streaming on my laptop.  I did puzzles and listened to the game while Teh German and our other German guest watched the game.  We lost, horribly, so I was kinda glad we didn't waste the money on the tickets.

The pillow king!

After the game was over, we headed to bed since Saturday was Panther's game day!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning, Teh German and I woke up at 0645 to get up and get ready and be out of the house by 0730.  We were meeting Teh Running Bestie in Charlotte for the Panthers vs Falcons game.  The drive wasn't difficult and we met Teh Running Bestie at the I-485 train station so we didn't have to worry about parking and post-game traffic.

Once she arrived, she gave us our Christmas gift (a personalized ornament for our tree with our family photo in front of the house), and we gathered up all our layers and jumped on the train.  We rode to UPtown (as Charlotte calls their downtown area, ugh) and started the search for food.  Having never been to a Panthers game, I wasn't aware that 1145 was too late to arrive uptown to find noms.  Every place we went to (per Yelp suggestions) was completely packed.  We finally ended up at Mellow Mushroom, where I placed a take-away order for Teh German and I to share.  Teh Running Bestie had eaten a big breakfast with Teh MD-Teenage Roomie, so she wasn't hungry.  The wait was about 30 minutes.  While we waited, Teh German ordered a beer for himself and a sweet tea for me, because he loves me.  Teh German noticed that the tables inside were clearing out, so he asked the hostess if we could steal an inside table while we ate our food, which came up right as the hostess sat us at our table.

After we scarfed down a calzone, we ran walked (at Teh German's speed) to the stadium, which was a few blocks away.  We were able to find our seats and Teh German got a beer prior to kickoff, despite being pretty close on time.  The game was horrible.  Teh German actually turned to me at one point and said, "If I never hear the word 'incomplete' again, I won't mind."  After a pathetic loss, we headed back to the train station.  We did at least wait until the actual end of the game to leave, unlike 75% of the stadium who left early because the Panthers were losing so badly.  Le sigh.

YAY!  Carolina Panthers!  Live!

It was a gorgeous day

Disgruntled faces for such a crappy game.

It was a sad time when we got to the end of the line and we had to part ways with Teh Running Bestie.  After about an hour on the road, we realized that we need to find food before 1- we ran out of options, 2- everything closed.  It was already around 7:30, so most places were already closed.  We got "lucky" and found an open Ruby Tuesday.  I say "lucky" because while the food looked appealing, the food didn't taste as good as it looked and it was super disappointing.

After we finished, we got back on the road to finish the trip home.  Our German guests had made dinner for themselves, so it was ok that we didn't get home until 9:30.  When we got home, I let Phil and Meri have their presents from their other Momma/Teh Running Bestie.  Phil got way more joy from the gifts than Meri did, oddly enough.  He played for several minutes, which is plural minutes longer than he usually squeaks toys.

"Santa" had some presents to wrap for Teh German and I.  While "Santa" was wrapping, Aunt P kept her company.  There were only about 5 things that needed to be wrapped, so it didn't take long.  After presents were wrapped, it was downtime.  While the Germans enjoyed their iPads, I finished up the final Traveling Pants book, which caused me to bawl my eyes out and send anguished texts to Teh Sister.  After Teh German came to bed, it was time to sleep while we waited on Santa to arrive.

SUNDAY

At some point during the middle of the night, I woke up and Phil was standing at the bedroom door.  I used my phone to illuminate the room and noticed a pile of probable vomit in front of the dresser.  I flopped back onto my pillow and told myself that I'd get up at doggy breakfast time and feed the beasts and then clean up the pile.  I was giving myself a pass since it was Christmas.

0600 didn't take long to arrive and both Meri and Phil were ready for breakfast asap.  I released the hounds and we all went downstairs to have breakfast.  While Phil and Meri ate breakfast, I prepared myself to clean up vomit and grabbed a cloth.  After Phil and Meri came back inside, we all headed back upstairs to the bedroom where a Christmas miracle happened.  What I thought was a pile of vomit was actually a new toy I hadn't recognized.

Relieved, I crawled back into bed and snuggled with Teh German until I couldn't handle it anymore and woke him up since it was Christmas!  We eventually got up and started making breakfast with the German company.  It was a very German-American breakfast.  Bread, cheese, sliced meat, eggs, and sausage.  Breakfast was actually cooked by Teh German while I prepped dinner.

Our company had requested pulled pork for Christmas dinner, which was perfect since I had a frozen pork butt on standby.  I found a pulled pork rub recipe from the Googly where I had all the called for ingredients on hand, which was most important since nothing was open.  As I finished getting it all into the crockpot, breakfast was finished.

It's sooooo prettayyyy

frühstück = breakfast

After breakfast, I headed back into the kitchen to make a chocolate pie, which the Germans had requested for dessert.  I knew that it would take a while for the mix to cook, so I was glad to have started it early since we had a Skype date with Teh German's family in Germany at 11.  The pie was ready to be poured into the crust at 1058, right in time.  Of course, after I'd poured the mix into the crust and bowls, I realized I had forgotten the vanilla extract.  Ugh.  After stirring it in, I made it to the Skype date, a few minutes late.  We chatted with family in Germany, Teh German showed Opa Baloo, and we made a big announcement.  30 minutes later, our Skype date was over and we opened our few presents that I Santa had put under the tree.

I had scheduled a Skype date with Teh Family for noon:30, but no one ever showed up.  I had planned to share the big announcement with my family.  To say my feelings were hurt is probably an understatement.  I was completely crushed.  Teh German actually messaged Teh Dad to ask if he was getting on Skype and he informed Teh German that they had just left church and it would be another 20 minutes.  Neither Teh Sister, nor Teh Mom, were responding to my text messages.

Eventually, Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom met us on Skype.  We waited for about 30 minutes for Teh Sister to call in and Teh Dad had texted her and she said they were opening presents.  Having run out of small talk, we finally made our announcement to just Teh Dad and Teh Stepmom.  We got off Skype a few minutes later and I was exhausted and disappointed.  I decided to lay down for a nap to hopefully negate the bad feelings (spoiler alert: didn't work).

Over an hour later, I woke up to my Kindle making a racket.  When I came to, I had missed a Skype call from Teh Sister and all the feelings came back and I was disappointed all over again.  Not long after, Teh German came up to ask me if it was time to start getting dinner ready.  We had plans to go over to Roux's house at 5:30 and apparently dinner before dessert was Teh German's plan.  Oops.

I got up at 4 and started prepping sweet potatoes and green beans for dinner.  While the veggies were cooking, I started pulling the pork apart.  Uhhh, that seems like it should be an easy job, but it is not.  I broke a sweat pulling pork apart with 2 forks.  Aunt P mashed the sweet potatoes while I took a break to add the butter and cinnamon and sugar.  Then it was back to pulling pork.  Finally, I was done and it was time to eat!

I think I decided that pulled pork is our new Christmas dinner tradition.  I like it way more than turkey or ham and it makes for excellent leftovers.  After dinner received cheers from everyone at the table, we finished eating.  After cleaning up the kitchen for the most part, we headed to Roux's house for dessert and Christmas socializing.  We left Phil and Meri at home because there were too many people to add 2 more dogs to the mix.  We socialized with the neighbors for a few hours.

Eventually, we headed home to check on the beasts since we had left Meri out of her crate and who knew what she'd get into.  We got home to a untarnished house (another Christmas miracle)!  We settled down for the night.  While Aunt P watched her shows in her room, Teh German and our other guest were downstairs enjoying their iPads.  I was upstairs in the bed, reading and doing puzzles.  I called Teh Running Bestie to lament about the day and my hurt feelings.  Then I texted Teh WJL about our announcement.

MONDAY

Today was the observed holiday for Christmas so I didn't work.  Instead, we slept in (for as long as Meri would let me, and then I woke Teh German up because I was bored) and played tourist.  I got up and had Willie Jewell's leftovers for breakfast (a decision I would come to regret).  While the Germans had their coffee and breakfast, I caught up on social media and printed out some coupons.

Aunt P's goal while she was in Charleston was to buy some Oofos flip flops like mine (she had tried mine on while we were in Germany) since they are the best flippy floppies ever.  After breakfast, we got ready to face the public and headed to town.  We went to Fleet Feet in Mount Pleasant and grabbed their only pair that fit her.  We put another pair on hold at their other store in the area.  After flip flops, we headed to Metto for coffee treats, then to Angel Oak since the Germans hadn't seen it yet.  Sadly, it was raining and we were unprepared, so we didn't really get to enjoy the tree, but they got to see it, so I'm calling it a success.  After Angel Oak, we headed to the Fleet Feet in Summerville to pick up the other pair of flip flops.

Presents for me from Aunt P!

Angel Oak selfie!

Since I won the Fleet Feet gift certificate at the run Teh German and I attended in December, I picked up a few new pairs of socks that were on sale and a new Under Armor "Run CHS" hoodie that was on sale for $35!  Scoooooore.  I also chatted with the cashier about the Sweet Tea half marathon and getting back on the running train.  After we had left the tree, we had decided to spend the rest of the evening relaxing.  After Fleet Feet, we made a quick pit stop at the grocery store for some bbq sauce, then we headed home.

After some technical difficulties and ineffective tech troubleshooting, we were able to watch Zootopia (or Zoomania) in German with English subtitles.  This is part of my quest to learn German and I was actually catching differences in what they were saying in German vs what the English subtitles said.  Woot!

After the movie, I started working on this post while the Germans watch Dumb and Dumber 2.  When I noticed that someone on our neighborhood page was selling an 8 set of dishes, I jumped on the opportunity since we have 2 different sets of 4, which I'm not a huge fan of.  I took a few breaks during the writing of this post to pick up our new set of dining ware and to eat dinner, which Teh German very kindly heated up.

After dinner, I helped Aunt P set up a new blog (my specialty) for her volunteer efforts in Sri Lanka.  Post blog setup, I finally finished this post and hit publish.  AND it was still Monday review day!  HA!  #christmasmiracle

______________________________________

Some of you may guess what the announcement is/was that we happened to tell both our families on Christmas day.  I'd be happy to confirm/deny your guesses via email.  I promise to make Teh official announcement and reveal the secret as soon as ALL the parents have been notified.  It's not even FB official yet!  One parent is on holiday and we won't get to speak to them until later this week (ugghhh).  In the meantime, I promise to provide a Disney review (now that the photos have been gathered), the final 2016 review, and maybe even some confessions on Wednesday!  I know, these hopes are high, but 2016 is coming to a close and I can't fuck it up in the same way the real world has.