First week done

Well my first week manning the phones by myself is complete! I think I am going ok, haven't got called into the office to discuss anything I did wrong, so I am taking that as a good sign. So glad the weekend is here, as its a long holiday one at that! I have a list of things I want/need to get done, and hope to most if not all of it done! And yep, there will be laboring here at our house on Labor day!

Will I be ready?

Will I be ready to go solo on Monday? That is the question? After only 2 days on the phones (with my trainer on the second headset) I am not sure. There is still I think I need to know. I have no clue how to do the Rx refills, as we never got a call for her to show me how to do that. Pete seems to think I will do just fine. We shall see! For now I am ready to decompress and do nothing but veg this weekend! I have lots of orders to finish, and then get back to making things for my etsy shop. I need to see what else Shannon needs made, and see where we are in our barter exchange, and then get Trent's senior pictures ordered.

Thinking already

I am starting to think of Christmas gift ideas. I got to get back in the habit of being on top of things and having it done ahead of time, and not being this last minute shopper, which I so hate! I came across a site where I saw "find custom jerseys here". I want to get one made for Trent with his school info on it, as this is his Senior year and I want him to have an original keepsake.

I am also thinking of making gifts again this year, and hoping that the inlaws don't think its tacky that I went this route again, but I think getting something that's homemade is so much more enjoyable that a store bought gift. But that's just me.

As for the oldest, well, he's going to be my problem... he's so picky and into material things, that I am probably just going to give him cash again, as that is the easy route to take with him.

So I have a busy rest of the year with gifts to make, and other orders to fill for my etsy shop (which is almost ready to go live!); stay tuned!

Saturday 9

I'm So Excited

Welcome to Saturday: 9.
What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions
every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times
the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random
questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants
posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your
choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: I'm So Excited

1. What was the last event or situation that got you really excited? Larissa's wedding

2. How old were you when you started working and what was your first job? 16 ~ McDonald's

3. Tell us about your grandparents. maternal side ~ grandfather was a farmer, a very quiet guy, who has passed away, and my grandmother could make the world's best apple pie; paternal side ~ they weren't around much so not to many memories of them

4. Do you procrastinate or are you usually on top of situations? I try to stay ontop of things

5. What would others say about you? that I am a caring person

6. Do you believe in life on other planets? not really

7. When was the last time that you were called too thin? a few years back

8. Do you work out? Have you ever joined a gym and quit almost immediately? its been a while since I have worked out. I have joined a gym, but didn't quit immediately; I have stopped going, due to a busy work schedule, but am hoping to start back up soon a few nights a week

9. Do you feel that you utilize all your intelligence in every situation? I do

Orange Burgundy Chicken

I think this recipe will be tried out this week on the family, it sounds good!



Ingredients:

2 1/2 to 3 pounds frying chicken, cut up
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 Tablespoons brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Remove skin from chicken. Rinse and place in slow cooker.

2. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Pour sauce over chicken.

3. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. Serve with mashed sweet potatoes sprinkled with cinnamon.

Hmmm

Have you ever heard of this: donate a house to charity? One of my coworkers was reading an article about this the other day and it surprised me. Now I have heard of habitat for humanity, but never a program where someone donates a house for charity. I think its a great thing, as there are so many who have lost their homes, at no fault of their own, and would love to think that they would appreciate a program like this, but in all reality, I think that it won't survive as people will abuse it. Just like every other great charities that go amuck.

In the works

Well John is getting one step closer to making his own chorus style amp, as he just ordered the schematic to one this past week. He has been studying it all week, and has most of the parts he needs to build it.

He is still a little leary, as he doesn't want to invest all his time, and a little more money for it to now all work out. So he is still holding off on starting it. I told him he has to finish the guitar he is building for his nephew first, then we can discuss the building of the amp. (Not to mention I have a few other things I need for him to get done around the house!)

Busy, busy

I have been busy these last few weeks. With starting a new job, and working on all of the orders I have for knit/crochet items, I haven't had time to breathe properly! LOL If only I had an extra 24 hours in a week! This working full time has so cut into my craft time! I have a long list of items to make, and oh so limited time to create! I need to find a part time job, as this is just not working for me! Off to crochet and possibly job hunt!

New job

Wow! There's lots of paper work to fill out with starting a new job. I am forgoing the insurance again, as it will just mess things up for hubby's work, and if I decide that I don't want to continue on, then we will be screwed, so we are just going to stay with what we have. I am looking into other things, so we don't get stuck with the highest annuity rates, like we got screwed with our home owners insurance. We found out the hard way as to what our deductible is as we had to submit a claim after our break in. So lots of internet surfing, (but in between time I am home and not when J is on the computer).

Dessert Pizza

I think I am going to make this to bring to work, for a going away party for one of my new co-workers that I am replacing. She has been an awesome trainer this week, and on this short time of getting to know her, I am going to miss her.

I have most of the things on hand to make this, so it will not be a costly item to make.

Ingredients

1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1/2 cup sliced banana
1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup seedless grapes, halved

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Press cookie dough evenly into a 12 inch pizza pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.
Spread whipped topping over cooled crust. Arrange fruit in a decorative pattern. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Menu Plan Monday

It's Monday again. Time to get your menus planned. Stop on over at Laura's and see if you can some tasty new ideas for dinner.

Sunday ~ ham, baked potato, corn and rolls

Monday ~ chicken, stuffing and corn

Tuesday ~ fish, baked potato and fruit

Wednesday ~ leftovers ~ Trent and I are going to Michigan's Adventure

Thursday ~ pizza

Friday ~ ??

Weekend fun

I have a busy but fun weekend in store! Today after work I am off to have dinner with my friends, then some shopping! Saturday, is Larissa's wedding!! And Sunday is going to be a day of rest and relaxation! I will have one week done and under my belt for the new job, that so far I am liking, and really, really enjoy my new boss! He is such a breeze to work for, and that makes for a fun work atmosphere!

Menu Plan Monday

It's Monday again. Time to get your menus planned. Stop on over at Laura's and see if you can some tasty new ideas for dinner.

Monday ~ spaghetti/meatballs & garlic bread

Tuesday ~ hamburgs, potato salad, and mixed fruit

Wednesday ~ steak, cheesy potatoes, fruit

Thursday ~ pizza

Friday ~ leftovers, and me out with the girls!

Fun times

I am so ready for next weekend! It will be the first time after the shake up at work that I will be back together with my almost former coworkers at Larissa's wedding. She has told us that the one requirement for us to attend her wedding is that we have to do karaoke. Oh joy! I so don't like singing out in public. Now if only we could get our hands on the dj controllers, we could have a little more fun! Not sure we will, but its worth a shot.

I also have a mom's night out planned for the night before, so I think I should spoil my hubby a little bit this weekend. I do think he has some plans to go to the drag races with Trent, so I just might a the night to myself on Saturday. I will have to get him to do something with my me on Sunday.

Ham and Cheese potatoes

I need something yummy to bring to our work potluck this week, and I am thinking these would be good.


Ingredients

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 cups milk
3 cubes chicken bouillon
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3 cups julienned potatoes
1 cup cubed cooked ham

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
In a saucepan over medium heat, toast flour until golden. Stir in cornstarch, lemon pepper and onion powder. Gradually whisk in milk, then chicken bouillon. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in Cheddar cheese until smooth.
Layer potatoes and ham in prepared baking dish. Pour sauce evenly over potatoes and ham.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

I think I can transfer them to the crock pot to keep them warm at work.

Etsy

I have it in the works! I just need to get my pics uploaded and the descriptions written up and prices/shipping rates figured out. I also need to get some business cards made.

I have so many fun ideas for neat items to list, but just don't have enough time in my days to get everything made! Why oh why do I have to work full time!?!?!?! Six months, please let it go by as fast as this past 6 months has gone, and another part time, short day shift comes up in Spectrum!!

Wednesday thoughts

Its been one of those mornings already. Woke up to that oh so lovely "skunk smell"; this is the only thing I hate about leaving the windows open over night! So with this getting me up early, I decided to get a head start on some cleaning. The dishes are done, kitchen floor is swept and mopped; the rugs are in the wash, I want to vacuum, but the boys are still sleeping, so I guess I will get busy with the crocheting until they get up.

I also need to look for some american flag t shirts, as John wants a few more. So wish we would have bought a few more when we were on vacation! Still unsure as to why he wants them, as he is not really into t-shirts with writing or pictures on them!

Once I get home from work tonight, I need to get my list of crock pot recipes together and plan out next weeks meals. My crock is going to get a workout next week! Oh the joy of going back to work full time..... sigh....

Tackle It Tuesday

Find out more about Tackle It Tuesday's over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

My Tackle it Tuesday projects are, baking for a friends Fundrasing yard sale/bake sale. She is trying to raise the funds for her and her family to head to Washington D.C. so she can speak at a Hydrocephalus event. Their youngest daughter was born with this and has multiple surgeries over the last year.

Once I am done with my baking its back to crocheting, I have a wedding gift that I need to get finished and then onto to tackling my long list of items a friend has requested for her photo business, as well as all the items I want to get made for upcoming craft shows and to fill/start my etsy shop!

Its going to be a busy Tuesday for me before I head off to work!

Cleaning house, so to speak

I have been trying to get both computers (this one and the laptop) cleaned up lately. The laptop is very, very slow,and is in a major need of an overhaul. I need to get things saved and transferred from there to the desktop. In my clean fest, while browsing the net I found what I thought a was a spam cleaner, but after looking more closely it said free span buildings. Me thinks, trying to do things late at night when I am overly tired is not a good thing! LOL So I will stick to searching for things when I am much more awake!

Today is the day for the transfer/reboot, as all of my pictures are backed up to discs and saved on the desktop. Wish me luck!

Menu Plan Monday

It's Monday again. Time to get your menus planned. Stop on over at Laura's and see if you can some tasty new ideas for dinner.

Sunday ~ ham, baked potato, corn and rolls

Monday ~ spaghetti/meatballs & garlic bread

Tuesday ~ hamburgs, potato salad, and mixed fruit

Wednesday ~ pork chops, baked potato and corn

Thursday ~ pizza

Friday ~ ??

Back in the day

Can you remember the best kids games from back in the day? While standing in line at Michael's yesterday I overheard a mom say to her kids, "No, no video games this month!" I had to laugh and say, "and the month has just begun!" This led to a conversation between us with how when we were kids we didn't have all the techno gadgets that they have now. How we rode our bikes for hours, got a game of kick ball going with the neighborhood kids, or "tag your it", red rover, the Freeze game. Of course her kids just rolled their eyes at us like we were crazy! But hey, we had fun as kids without all the "toys"! Now my kids would probably be rolling their eyes right along with them, but they are older now and have jobs to keep them busy and out of trouble, for the most part.

Third Sentence Thursday

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme that has made one new year’s resolution: to make sure to be here every week! ;-)

1. Take the book you are currently reading and post the third sentence of the third chapter. Feel free to share one or two of the following sentences, if you’d like.
2. Share your thoughts on the sentence.
3. Post a link to your blog post in the link list below. Don’t forget to link back here, too! If you don’t have a blog, just leave it in the comments here.
4. Visit one or two of the other blogs to check out their third sentence.

The Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand

"I have no evil intentions in buying the hotel; I am only trying to right the wrongs I've done in my life."

I am curious as to who the mysterious potential buyer may be. I am half way into the book, and still have no idea. This was just a spur of the moment book buy, and I am still unsure if I like the author, but I will finish the book.

Remodel and cleaning the basement

We have just about finished the bathroom remodel. Just a few last minute finishing touches and it will be done. I am so happy with the end result! In the middle of this remodel, John decided he needed to replace the basement window, so that led to cleaning the basement. In the midst of cleaning he found a box that had some of my lemax christmas village stuff, that I couldn't find last year. I am hoping that he will now build the extra shelfing unit so I can put all of my holiday stuff in one area, so things don't get misplace again!

Now with the bathroom done and the window in place, we now have to finish up the patch job in the hall way after we put in a new outlet for the window air unit. Once that is all sanded, the painting can begin! Which will lead to painting the living room. We are going to go with a lighter shade of milk chocolate brown (the color we have in our dining room). I am so ready to have the blue walls gone in there!!! Then will be the project of putting in hardwood flooring in the dining room and I think our projects will be complete for this year...... unless I can talk him into the counter top and cabinet reface in the kitchen!

Its a never ending work in progress status at our house!