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