Wheelin' & Dealin'

Happy Valentines to You!
I am sorry that it has been so long since my last entry but something has been a brewing for the last 2 weeks and I have been all consumed with the possible outcomes. It all stems around my ever changing job & co-workers. My old boss, who I am not really fond of but of course this is just one-sided, is working for a different company that is promoting positions of growth & opportunity within his company. At first, upon hearing that he was even interested in hiring me, I was turned off. “Never again, will I work with that man again.” But as all things, time has changed my mind. Well, change and the fact that I got word last week that my current position with my company was being re-located to a city 23 miles away, but a 1 hour & 15 mins drive. There goes my nice corner office and 20 min drive time. So I did what any person faced with a total of 11 ½ hours of week of commuting would do….I started to call in the favors. I sent out resumes and blew-up my cell phone making calls to people to see if anyone knew of jobs closer to home for me. So now my tune of “Never again” started to change to “Well, if the opportunity is right”. The co-worker that I have been at this company with the longest has just decided to make a move and is going with the “old boss”. Even as I write this another former co-worker has called to “check-in“ with me to see how & what I am up to. I went today to have my first job interview in 3 years. My “old boss” greeted me at the door, fully aware of my interview w/ the company. (I didn’t call him for the interview, I called the woman who is to be my manager, in my mind it left him out of the equation all-together.) But there he was smiling & greeting me warmly and after a brief second of pleasantries he told me to call him after my appointment “‘cause if you want the job it is yours”. What a weird experience that is. I certainly didn’t let him see any of my cards, like the big move (even though he alluded to a change), but let the interviewer know that I was interested. There have been 2 instances in my life where I got a job without a recommendation from a friend or family member that was not already working for the company. Interestingly enough, I really liked those jobs. Maybe I put more of an effort into them, wanted to prove myself…not really sure. It is a completely different feeling walking into an interviewer’s office just after someone has told you that all you have to do is say the word and the job is yours. (It is also strange to not bring a reference list with your resume, because by next week there will be a total of 5 of my co-workers working in that office. I basically joked with the interviewer after the second one came in to say “Hi”, that I could just point my references out to her if she liked.) There is a lot of opportunity it appears for me to grow at this new company, I think my final decision will come after there is an offer letter with a $ amount attached to it. I will keep you posted…
See you tomorrow blog,
Anita

The Frostie

It has been cold, not just outside but inside, everywhere I go. SoCal has been hit with our version of “down right C-O-L-D”. We had 2 nights of below freezing and a lot of nights in the 30’s. (I know, I know that all of you that are just now thawing from actual “cold” weather don’t care, but just go with me on this one.) This time last year we put down tile flooring in our house. It looks Great, so nice for keeping clean, perfect for the summer, but you need your socks this time of year. And it kinda makes the house chilly too, or that could be James’ fiddling with the thermostat This, I am sure, is one of life’s great mysteries. In the office men sit next to the thermostat, I assure you that this is never a good idea. (See above. LOL.) The guys even wear their sweaters to work, because it is the 3 months of year that they can wear them. To try to stay warm at my desk I have gloves & socks in one of my drawers if they are needed, which has been 2 this week so far. I sometimes daydream of a little heater blowing right on my feet, or remember back to my childhood of actually sitting on the floor vent when the heater was running. You would think that with the sun shinning in it would naturally be warm, but then you would be wrong. Now don’t get me wrong, when I go out to my car of an evening the car is still nice & toasty, and sadly some days a real highlight to my day. Today at lunch it was very warm in my car, I even had to roll the windows down in under a mile because it was too warm. And then I did something unthinkable for someone who has spent so much time this month being COLD. I went to Wendy’s and got a FROSTIE. I had not planned on heading there, the idea just popped into my head. I won’t lie, it was good too!! Just so you know they are now selling a Vanilla Frostie. (Not sure if this is a nationwide item or not. Please see you local store for details.) Has the world gone mad? Frosties are chocolate and this is from a person who doesn’t like chocolate ice cream anything. I just learned growing up that if you wanted a treat from Wendy’s, like your sister was getting, you better say “Yes, I would like one too please.” And hush up about the flavor. So today, I am glad to see that other chocolate ice cream haters such as myself have an option at Wendy’s, but I am too old now to fufill those dreams for myself. I am my mother’s daughter, “1 chocolate Frostie please”.

Recipe Exchange

I received a type of chain letter via e-mail the other day for recipes from a friend in Okalahoma. I have never done a recipe chain letter before; I have done a kitchen towel one before. The kitchen towel one required a lot of effort though, this one, not so much since it is all via e-mail. So I decided to post my recipe that I sent out on todays blog. Hope you like it!

Chicken Sausage & Peppers Pizza

Servings- 4 Lunch/ 2 Dinner
Prep Time- 10 min
Cook Time- 14 min

2 links Chicken Sausage - Pesto or other Italian flavor, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 small red onion, cut into thin slivers
1 small green pepper, cut into 1/4 inch-thick slices
1 small yellow pepper, cut into 1/4 inch-thick slices
1/2 cup pizza sauce or tomato sauce
1tsp dried oregano
3/4 cup part skim mozzarella cheese shredded
4 medium whole wheat tortillas

Instructions:
1. Preheat medium sized skillet with med-high heat. Place sausage, onion and peppers in skillet; cook flipping once, until sausage is golden and vegetables start to brown, about 4-6 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use.
2. To prepare pizzas, place 2 tablespoons of sauce on each tortilla. Sprinkle each with ¼ teaspoon of dried oregano and then top each with ¼ of sausage-vegetable mixture; top each with 3 tablespoons of cheese.
3. Place pizzas on griddle (or as many as will fit on grill pan at one time) and cook until edges begin to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Continue cooking until cheese is bubbly, about 2 to 4 minutes more.

Notes- For a dinner meal I split the ingredients to make 2 pizzas instead of 4.

Free Day Off

How is it Thursday already? That is what I love about 4 day work weeks! Time just flies into the weekend again. On our Monday off James & I did something that we rarely do together….NOTHING!! (Okay, James got up to let the plumber in, we had a leaky pipe that needed to be replaced, but James sat on the couch & just answered questions for them.) I stayed in bed & watched TV until the plumber left at 10, ‘cause I was making sure the guard dog didn’t get the plumber. But after that I moved onto the couch where James and I took turns cleaning out the DVR- Sidebar- I LOVE the DVR, like Tivo thing. It really helps out here on the west coast where your last hour of primetime TV comes at 10:00 pm. I can just set the DVR and then watch it when I get home from work the following day or on Saturday. But, I have noticed that now James has taken a liking to the DVR as well. So when I go & check what we have recorded in the last couple of days I have noticed A LOT of things from the Military channel. Yep, lots and lots of 1 hr programming on aircraft. And it is not like he will watch them when I am out of the house….he wants us to experience it together. It was pretty funny when watching one said program that half way through I pointed out “I’ve seen this one before. James, we have watched this one before.” He assured me that we had not…and then I told him what happened next. You guessed it, I was right, either he had forgotten or tricked me on purpose. CRAZY! - END SIDEBAR- I fixed lunch for the both of us and then more DVR. Snuck in a nap during James’ choice of movie “The Brothers Grimm”, & picked “The Wedding Date” as my movie and watched as James took his turn with napping. I fixed a delicious bowl of cereal for dinner & back to DVR again. Then off to bed. Yep, I did nothing, didn’t even get out of my pjs. I saw no other person than James for the whole day. The funny thing is that James, who I think gave himself food poisoning the day before, kept feeling bad for not doing anything all day and would have moments where he expressed these thoughts about how we should be doing something with this FREE day off, but they just remained thoughts. In my mind, we were doing exactly what you are supposed to do with a day off. I would like to personally thank our Government for having the foresight into creating National Holidays & Banking Institutions for granting time off to their employees to enjoy these holidays as they see fit. Now if they would only make St. Patrick’s Day a National Holiday I would be set!
See you tomorrow blog,
Anita

My Work

I have been putting off writing about my job, for good reason, it’s a complicated soap opera. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like my job as a mortgage processor, but the sales people in this industry are a little coo-coo. I love that at the end of the month there is a rush, rush, rush mentality. Some months I am pushed to what I think is my breaking point only to find out that I didn’t break. This is the kind of job that the last week of a busy month I am dreaming about the work that I need to do. In short it makes me feel needed and wanted. Oh don’t get me wrong, I have since awoken from the dream that no one can do my job as good as me, or that if I am not there it will all far apart. (But this comes with being 30, I think.) I live every night and weekend without even a notion of what I need to do tomorrow or come Monday, and I dig that! But more than anything this job is about people, and the mortgage industry is a revolving door of sales people. In the last year 16 people have come into my office and have left (I just seriously sat down and could write all their names down.). Now, if I worked in a 300+ office space, this # is miniscule, but my office only sits 15 people!! In my book that is a lot of people to invest in, only for them to turn around and leave. I am writing this all today because a friend of mine quit today. I am very sad... I have come to expect her running late in the mornings due to her Jamba Juice run and her cell phone always going off in the only ring tone it has “Hello Moto”. (I really will miss her!) I have been thinking back on the “good ole days” of us working together to realize that just when one day started to feel comfortable in the office another change occurred. We were once 3 sitting in my office with a view, (yep I have the corner office, which is what you get for being the squatter that stays the longest!) and now it is just me. But like before, change will occur and I will have a bad taste for it and then it will grow on me and I will grow to love it that week until something or someone changes all that. (I am really hoping now that this came off with some sort of lighthearted-humor quality, otherwise it is just depressing!)
See you tomorrow blog,
Anita

It is Time!!

Well, here it is my 1st blog since the Holidays! The Holidays....Friends, Family & Food. All my favorite things! Just so you know, I will list the cities that James & I traveled to this holiday season: Norman, Stillwater, Ponca City, Rush Springs, Holdenville, Tulsa, & Washingto D.C. It was GREAT to see all our family & friends, there were those that we of course missed or were not able to see, but maybe next time. But it is good to be home too!! I was gone a total of 19 days and I missed my Daytona, and our house, and my bed (for the record I slept in a total of 10 beds on this trip). That sounds bad...re-read it until it sounds good!
James and I ,again, are talking about home projects for our house. We went to the Home Depot Expo on Sunday,after church, and were totlally overwhelmed. We went with a plan of what we were looking to do. There were way too many options, examples, ideas, and helpful sales people. I think we literally came out with enough reading material to have a good fire going, if only we hadn't installed the gas fireplace a year ago. Very simply, we want to change the shower in the master bath, the kitchen cabinets & countertop, and a closet organizer for my closet. Seems very simple, or it did before we went to the Expo, wich I think is short for: If you have the funds, we can make it happen! I think that is what the superbowl MVP this year should say at the end of the game, "I 'm going to the Home Depot Expo!" I am very excited about the closet organizer, not $3,000 excited but more like $250 excited. I sat down and sketched out my idea, put some drawers in , double hanging rods, good stuff for all of my stuff. James came by and wrote at the top of it "DREAMLAND" and then proceeded to put white puffy clouds all around it. Yes, you guessed it, the land we are headed to is "Compromiseland".
See you tomorrow Blog,
Anita

Christmas Time-Crunch!

I am feeling the holiday stress. Too much to do and not enough time to do it in!! Things are piling up on me and Christmas is 11 days away. My Christmas shopping is 88% complete; all the wrapping that I can do, is done. But the 3 biggest obstacles still linger over my head: HOUSE CLEANING, PACKING, & JAMES. James and I are headed to Oklahoma & Washington D.C. for the holidays. While we are gone I have loaned our house out to my neighbor to help her accommodate some of her Christmas guests. This means that my house needs to be spick & span before James and I leave for Oklahoma. I so far have done 0 loads of laundry for my plane ride on Saturday. I have almost packed all of the gifts that I am taking with me, but still not sure how I am to get to the airport. I am leaving on the 16th to spend some quality time with my family; James is joining me on the 21st. James, who planned both my trip & his surgery, just had hernia surgery yesterday and is out of commission for the remainder of my time at home. So, he needs a little TLC and sympathy, while I run around like a mad woman packing, cleaning, preparing meals, and getting everything finished up at work (since I will be gone for 2 weeks!). Sadly, the first steps that I have taken towards cleaning was today when I un-loaded & re-loaded the dishwasher. Did I mention that because James is permanently affixed to our couch, our very good friends from down the street are coming over for dinner & Christmas to our house? So, when I leave work today I have to clean the common areas of our house & prepare dinner. (I must be out of my mind, this is like a .375 hour window!!) I know that everything will fall into place and I know that if it even begins to look like I won’t complete everything I will dig down and get it all taken care of, but right now, I am a little overwhelmed. I am hoping that James will do okay without me so shortly after his surgery and that I can relax a little in Oklahoma. Otherwise, I will need to recover from my pre-vacation & vacation!
See you tomorrow Blog,
Anita