That's what Bill said to me when we woke up this morning. I was still half asleep to ask him what he meant. I haven't been anywhere. He just got back home. But then I realized he must have meant my trip last week with Sami to see Heather.
This is not my favorite time of the morning. I like 4am just fine when it passes me by in my sleep. But I don't enjoy seeing it on the clock and not being able to roll over and go back to sleep. Especially when I was awake at 2am because my body insisted I had slept through my alarm. Stupid internal alarm clock.
Here I am, ready to go. We're headed for Nashville. I'm going to go get coffee.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
101 things to blog about
Okay, it's probably not 101 things, but there are many.
First, let me start with the best news of the day. I paid off my student loan!!! Woo Hoo!!! What a relief. I actually paid it off five months early. It wasn't a huge loan. I was fortunate enough to have a generous Grandma who paid for almost my entire schooling. When my dad lost his job at the end of my junior year, we went and took out the student loan for my senior year (yes, I'm one of those people who finished college in four years) to help pay for books and tuition (the one privilege of being a R.A. was the paid-for room and meal plan). So the amount owed was never outrageous. I did defer it my first year out of college because I didn't have a job. Finally, ten years after that, and a minute amount paid off each month, we had enough to pay the rest off. Yay! Cheers!!
Second, it's time to make maple syrup. I know this for two reasons. 1) the Cool Cats went to Blandford Nature Center and tapped the Maple trees on Wednesday. They actually make maple syrup as a class!! 2) My car is covered in "tree pee" from the Maple tree that hovers over our driveway. My glove was sticky after I opened the car door this morning.
Third, technology does not like me. Bill calls me technology poison. I must be. Twice I have sent emails to Cate and she has not received them. They are in my sent folder with a time stamp. Which I can only assume means they were sent. How can I second guess my sent folder? But she never got them. I resend them and she gets them. How many other emails am I sending that aren't going through?? Then yesterday, when I got home from my Board meeting, I checked my cell phone for messages. Bill had sent me a couple of texts, as I was texting back one came through that I swear said something about check your fb Zoe needs you to send a message to Chandra. It was from Bill. When I asked him about it, he had no idea what I was talking about. When I look through my text messages, this message is not there. Did I imagine it? Is Matt Damon's new movie reality? Then, at 10:30p my phone beeped. It was a voicemail. My phone didn't ring. I listened to it. It was one of the Board Members telling me that she wasn't going to make it to the meeting. She called and left it at 3:57p. I checked my call history and there are no missed calls. I never heard my phone ring. And why did the voicemail come through at 10:30p? It's all so weird.
Fourth, I have worn my pedometer all week. I thought it was time for a pedometer update. Since Monday I have walked 27,018 steps. That's 11.5 miles. Whoa. I mall-walked Monday with Bill and went Wednesday and today by myself. I really hope we can get outside soon.
The last thing (see it was only four, although it may feel like 101) is that I'll be on the College Spring Break trip (I'm a chaperon) tomorrow through Thursday. We're headed to Nashville, yee haw! I am taking my laptop so that I can do yoga. I do not know if there will be access to the internet. If there is, I will post every day. If there is not, I will at least write up a post for each day. Then when I get back to the 21st century I will post all of them. Hopefully there will be pictures to add. Until next time, whenever that will be.
First, let me start with the best news of the day. I paid off my student loan!!! Woo Hoo!!! What a relief. I actually paid it off five months early. It wasn't a huge loan. I was fortunate enough to have a generous Grandma who paid for almost my entire schooling. When my dad lost his job at the end of my junior year, we went and took out the student loan for my senior year (yes, I'm one of those people who finished college in four years) to help pay for books and tuition (the one privilege of being a R.A. was the paid-for room and meal plan). So the amount owed was never outrageous. I did defer it my first year out of college because I didn't have a job. Finally, ten years after that, and a minute amount paid off each month, we had enough to pay the rest off. Yay! Cheers!!
Second, it's time to make maple syrup. I know this for two reasons. 1) the Cool Cats went to Blandford Nature Center and tapped the Maple trees on Wednesday. They actually make maple syrup as a class!! 2) My car is covered in "tree pee" from the Maple tree that hovers over our driveway. My glove was sticky after I opened the car door this morning.
Third, technology does not like me. Bill calls me technology poison. I must be. Twice I have sent emails to Cate and she has not received them. They are in my sent folder with a time stamp. Which I can only assume means they were sent. How can I second guess my sent folder? But she never got them. I resend them and she gets them. How many other emails am I sending that aren't going through?? Then yesterday, when I got home from my Board meeting, I checked my cell phone for messages. Bill had sent me a couple of texts, as I was texting back one came through that I swear said something about check your fb Zoe needs you to send a message to Chandra. It was from Bill. When I asked him about it, he had no idea what I was talking about. When I look through my text messages, this message is not there. Did I imagine it? Is Matt Damon's new movie reality? Then, at 10:30p my phone beeped. It was a voicemail. My phone didn't ring. I listened to it. It was one of the Board Members telling me that she wasn't going to make it to the meeting. She called and left it at 3:57p. I checked my call history and there are no missed calls. I never heard my phone ring. And why did the voicemail come through at 10:30p? It's all so weird.
Fourth, I have worn my pedometer all week. I thought it was time for a pedometer update. Since Monday I have walked 27,018 steps. That's 11.5 miles. Whoa. I mall-walked Monday with Bill and went Wednesday and today by myself. I really hope we can get outside soon.
The last thing (see it was only four, although it may feel like 101) is that I'll be on the College Spring Break trip (I'm a chaperon) tomorrow through Thursday. We're headed to Nashville, yee haw! I am taking my laptop so that I can do yoga. I do not know if there will be access to the internet. If there is, I will post every day. If there is not, I will at least write up a post for each day. Then when I get back to the 21st century I will post all of them. Hopefully there will be pictures to add. Until next time, whenever that will be.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Saving the food world, one kitchen at a time.
I have a meeting tonight and I decided to make a few snacks to take with me. I baked cookies last night and this morning I made walnut & cheese grapes. I know that sounds interesting and it is. It's blue cheese and cream cheese blended with heavy cream. Then you take red seedless grapes and coat them with this cheese mixture. Then you roll them in a walnut/sugar/parsley mixture. It was a sticky mess, but I tried one and they taste really good. They're chilling in the fridge like happy little grapes until my meeting. I think once they're chilled they'll be even better.
What happened when I went to use my brand new food processor was the problem. I dumped the ingredients in, put the lid on, plugged it in (I keep forgetting that part all the times I've used it before and when it doesn't work, I've panicked! Then I realize I haven't plugged it in, this is very important for the next part of my story) and pushed the button.
Nothing happened. I looked at the plug in the outlet to make sure I plugged it in, and there it was. Plugged in. I had used the hand-mixer earlier, so I knew the outlet hadn't tripped. I tried everything. I took the lid off, took the blade out, put the blade back in, put the lid back on. Still nothing. I even unplugged it and moved it to another outlet just to be sure. Nope, nothing.
By this point I'm not very happy. I have to make these stupid grapes for my meeting tonight. With hormonal tears in my eyes; *sigh* I washed the beaters and pulled the hand-mixer back out. I blended it that way. It mostly worked, the blue cheese didn't soften the way it was supposed to so that didn't blend in so much. But I sort of smashed it together and assembled the grapes. As I mentioned I tried one, and it seems to have worked.
Now back to the food processor. There's a 1-800 number on the bottom, so I called it. Sherry (or Sherrie, or Cheri) was very nice. She got the model number and then said let's walk through some troubleshooting. At this point I'm willing to try anything. She tells me to take it all apart. Then she tells me to push this little black button. It works. She tells me to put it all back together. It doesn't work. Start over. Take everything off. Put the base on. Push the part that pushed the little black button. It works. Put the lid on, but take out the plunger part of the lid. I do that and then push the little plunger thingy back in (I can't find the manual to look up what it's actually called, so it's the plunger thingy) and I hear a click. And it works. Ah Ha! I say. My husband washed it last, so I'll blame him!
Now, to any normal person this might sound like I'm saying he is a moron. I am not. I am pointing out that my husband does things like wash the dishes. And he puts them away. And he was kind enough to have washed this the last time I used it. When I told him this, he said, "Good. You'll have to show me how to do it, so I get it right." See, we learn from each other.
At any rate the food processor works. I'll give a big shout out to Cuisinart and their kind, helpful Hotline assistants who know what they're talking about and didn't make me feel like an idiot. They're saving men and women all over the world one kitchen at a time.
What happened when I went to use my brand new food processor was the problem. I dumped the ingredients in, put the lid on, plugged it in (I keep forgetting that part all the times I've used it before and when it doesn't work, I've panicked! Then I realize I haven't plugged it in, this is very important for the next part of my story) and pushed the button.
Nothing happened. I looked at the plug in the outlet to make sure I plugged it in, and there it was. Plugged in. I had used the hand-mixer earlier, so I knew the outlet hadn't tripped. I tried everything. I took the lid off, took the blade out, put the blade back in, put the lid back on. Still nothing. I even unplugged it and moved it to another outlet just to be sure. Nope, nothing.
By this point I'm not very happy. I have to make these stupid grapes for my meeting tonight. With hormonal tears in my eyes; *sigh* I washed the beaters and pulled the hand-mixer back out. I blended it that way. It mostly worked, the blue cheese didn't soften the way it was supposed to so that didn't blend in so much. But I sort of smashed it together and assembled the grapes. As I mentioned I tried one, and it seems to have worked.
Now back to the food processor. There's a 1-800 number on the bottom, so I called it. Sherry (or Sherrie, or Cheri) was very nice. She got the model number and then said let's walk through some troubleshooting. At this point I'm willing to try anything. She tells me to take it all apart. Then she tells me to push this little black button. It works. She tells me to put it all back together. It doesn't work. Start over. Take everything off. Put the base on. Push the part that pushed the little black button. It works. Put the lid on, but take out the plunger part of the lid. I do that and then push the little plunger thingy back in (I can't find the manual to look up what it's actually called, so it's the plunger thingy) and I hear a click. And it works. Ah Ha! I say. My husband washed it last, so I'll blame him!
Now, to any normal person this might sound like I'm saying he is a moron. I am not. I am pointing out that my husband does things like wash the dishes. And he puts them away. And he was kind enough to have washed this the last time I used it. When I told him this, he said, "Good. You'll have to show me how to do it, so I get it right." See, we learn from each other.
At any rate the food processor works. I'll give a big shout out to Cuisinart and their kind, helpful Hotline assistants who know what they're talking about and didn't make me feel like an idiot. They're saving men and women all over the world one kitchen at a time.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
blah, blah, blog
Are you bored yet? Have I asked you that already?
I realized I missed my "bloggiversary". It turned four on February 5th. I went back and read my very first post. It is not worthy of linking back to it. If you are curious, you can go read it, but it's pretty simple. Basic. I've grown a lot since then. At least in my blogging and my writing. It helps when one reads more. I've started to find my own voice. Not that I didn't have one before; (oh my goodness, do you know me?) I just started out with a different purpose.
I have a lot of thoughts floating around, I just haven't had time to really sit down and write them out. Or when I do sit down, I forget all the good ideas. See? This is why I need post-its. I just need the cat to stop eating them.
I'm glad you keep coming back and reading my blog. It helps motivate me, knowing I have an actual audience. And don't worry, there are only nine more months left of my blogging every day goal.
ps: the title is actually something Bill came up with. He thinks we should start a blog together and call it "Blah, Blah, Blog". I like the idea. It would be fun. But now that he started his new job, we have to see how his schedule goes. Maybe it will happen at some point. For now I'm stealing it for the title of this post.
I realized I missed my "bloggiversary". It turned four on February 5th. I went back and read my very first post. It is not worthy of linking back to it. If you are curious, you can go read it, but it's pretty simple. Basic. I've grown a lot since then. At least in my blogging and my writing. It helps when one reads more. I've started to find my own voice. Not that I didn't have one before; (oh my goodness, do you know me?) I just started out with a different purpose.
I have a lot of thoughts floating around, I just haven't had time to really sit down and write them out. Or when I do sit down, I forget all the good ideas. See? This is why I need post-its. I just need the cat to stop eating them.
I'm glad you keep coming back and reading my blog. It helps motivate me, knowing I have an actual audience. And don't worry, there are only nine more months left of my blogging every day goal.
ps: the title is actually something Bill came up with. He thinks we should start a blog together and call it "Blah, Blah, Blog". I like the idea. It would be fun. But now that he started his new job, we have to see how his schedule goes. Maybe it will happen at some point. For now I'm stealing it for the title of this post.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
the first of March
Yay! It's March 1st. This means spring is officially twenty days away, the days are getting longer and soon signs of life in the flower beds will start to peek up. Actually, it's sunny enough that when I get the mail, I bet I'll see some buds already.More importantly it is the day Jersey Junction opens for the season. Even though I want to go there every year for my birthday, we haven't ever done that. They close for January and February, which means today is their first day of being open in 2011. I am excited.
I stopped on my way home from the store this morning. I tried a new flavor: Chocolate Volcano. It was chocolate ice cream with ribbons of chocolate ganache and chunks of chocolate cake. It was good! I liked it.
My favorite flavor that they have had (made and named especially for them by Hudsonville ice cream) is Jersey Express. It's chocolate ice cream with peppermint and chunks of fudge. Oh it's delicious and my favorite.
Here are some fun facts about Jersey Junction (if you want more, come and visit and we can go there, you can read all of them on their menu):
Jersey Junction is named for the Jersey cow which supposedly gives the best milk for ice cream.
The original owners were Chris Van Allsburg's parents (he's the author of Polar Express). They have a train inside that was signed by him. It's been under new ownership for the past couple of years and they have done a good job keeping things similar.
The sad news is that prices went up. Bill (or Skylar) and I could go there for under $3. Now it's $2.03/single scoop with tax that brings it to $2.15. As Bill pointed out we can still go there for under $5. It's not the end of the world. I guess not. And it's still cheaper then the medium Shamrock Shake.
Everybody join me, "I SCREAM! YOU SCREAM! WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!!!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)