3.23.2009

In Short...

This will just be a quick blog, as I am super busy watching "30 Minute Meals." :)

Last week went by pretty quickly, which was nice for a change. Hopefully this week flies, as well.

Last Tuesday when I walked into work, Diane handed me a menu and told me they were ordering out for lunch and wanted to know if I wanted anything. I completely recognized the menu, looked at it as if it were something that I saw everyday, and said, "No thanks. I brought my own." Then, it hit me. "Holy crap! That was a Culver's menu!!" Yay! The one down the road finally opened. You can't even begin to understand the excitement that I was feeling.

Jeff took me there on Wednesday night. It was packed, but so worth it. It tasted just like I remember it, except the cheese curds weren't as crispy. Hopefully that was just a one-time thing. I got my usual - chicken tenders kids meal. Then, I followed it with my free scoop of vanilla custard. So good! Jeff got a bacon deluxe cheeseburger with cheese curds, and a Butterfinger concrete mixer for dessert.

Jeff found out on Tuesday that his brother was in San Diego with his wife, son, and in-laws. Plus, he's been trying to get to California to see his cousin before he deploys to Iraq.

Jeff wanted me to get off of work on Thursday and Friday to go there with him, but I didn't even want to ask because I knew what the answer would be. He was bummed, so he looked at one-way flights to San Diego for Friday night and wanted me to ride back with him Saturday. The flights were cheap, but not worth it for 12-hours in California. I told him to go, and that we'd go together another time.

He left Thursday morning. I did my usual - worked, went to gym, watched Food Network, and ran errands while he was gone. It actually wasn't too bad, but I was super happy to see him Saturday night!

On Sunday, we woke up early, so that we could leave for the air show by 7:30. We looked at all the jets, then ran home to get lawn chairs because we didn't think to grab them before leaving.

I don't think that either of us was expecting to be there ALL day, so we didn't bring sunscreen. It was VERY windy and sunny out, so by the time we left at 4, we were both burned to a crisp. Ouch! Aside from that, I had a really good time.

I tried all of the foods that Jeff got, but I did not overindulge. I was proud of myself.

We went home and showered, then left for Rod's house. He is leaving in April, so he asked if we could get together. He made some really delicious brisket. It was really nice to see him again. It's too bad that he is leaving! I'll miss him. He is a really great guy.

Tonight Jeff and I went out for Chinese. Our favorite Chinese place just became a German restaurant. What the heck?! Who craves GERMAN FOOD? Not I! So, we found a new one. :)

On Wednesday, I have to be at work at 6:30 for an all-staff breakfast. It is the mandatory quarterly meeting. I am thrillled. Not.

Anyway, I am going to give Rachael Ray my undivided attention now.

Ciao!

3.15.2009

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

I haven’t had much time to blog lately, hence my brief hiatus. However, I did attempt to blog last week, but the computer froze up on me, and I lost my entry. It was long-winded, and I was too lazy to retype it. So, I will now give you a condensed version of the past couple weeks.

Work has been so-so lately. I love the participants, but feel like my co-workers all hate me. I never see Rosa anymore since she is only on-call and they don’t need her. I miss her a lot. She saw that I would bust my ass while the others more-or-less sat back and relaxed.

Since she has been gone, I’ve begun to feel more and more like everyone at work thinks that I am worthless and/or stupid. They talk to me like I’m an idiot, which pisses me off. Maybe I am 30 to 40 years younger than them, but that means absolutely nothing. I watch them all day at work and can’t believe how dumb some of them really are. You throw a wrench into their routine and you’d think the world was coming to an end. I can see the most logical solution to most of their problems, but whenever I have offered my advice, they act like I’m insane for suggesting something or they simply don’t understand what I’m saying. So, I’ve given up. I just sit back and enjoy the show when they run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

For a bit there, I was really worried that I was going to get fired. My supervisor was never around to see the wonderful things that I was doing. Instead, she always showed up when I wasn’t doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I was always the one to get yelled at - even when I wasn’t acting alone. Most of the time it wasn’t my fault - I was just following the lead of my lovely co-workers or doing what they told me to do.

However, about a week and a half ago, I was serving food and I overheard our activity lead, Gertie*, yelling at Frita* for something. Frita said, “I quit. You’ve been yelling at me all day.” The ladies came into the room where I was serving food and starting bickering. At first I thought that they were joking around, but it started to get a little heated and I heard Frita say, “It’s not fair for you to compare me to Ashley because I’m not her!”Gertie told Frita that she should be more like me because when I’m on the floor she never has to worry – she knows that things are being done. She said that she was going to tell Viola* the same thing. I was so embarrassed that I left the room. Later on, Gina came and apologized to me and told me that she thinks that I go above and beyond and all this other nice stuff. I was flattered, but worried that my co-worker would be even ruder to me than she was before. I also worried that she would tell the others and that they would be out to get me.

So far nothing has changed, but I feel more confident at work. I was very relieved to find out that Gertie thinks so highly of me because I like her the most at work. She’s really good with the participants, and she is always giving me new ideas. I love when she works the floor with me.

Jeff and I picked my mom up at the airport on Saturday night. We came home and sat at the table for awhile talking before we went to bed.

On Sunday, we went out for breakfast at Denny’s before Jeff had to go in for work. My mom and I went shopping while he was gone. She bought a ton of groceries. She made spaghetti, macaroni salad, and tuna melts for us throughout the week. I was in heaven!

On Monday, we stayed home most of the day, but went to Whataburger for dinner. For the rest of the night, we just watched TV and looked at stuff on EBay. Jeff’s best friend, Joe, was in town on TDY. Jeff decided to have a cookout on Tuesday. So, Mom made the macaroni salad since we planned on being gone on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, we went out for lunch at Red Robin. I’d never been there before, but thought that it was pretty good. We went to Wickenburg to Vulture Gold Mine and took a tour. It was really neat. Jeff grilled brats to go along with the macaroni salad. It was so good! Mom and I watched American Idol.

On Wednesday, I had to go back to work, which was no fun at all. Such is life, though. We went to In-N-Out Burger for supper. Mom loved it. It’s too bad that they aren’t in Wisconsin! After dinner, we watched the American Idol results show. I was very disappointed to see that Adam guy stay. I can’t stand him.

Thursday night, Mom made tuna melts. Delicious! It has been so long since I’ve had them. I got her hooked on Food Network this week. :]

On Friday night, we took her to Olive Garden. Then, we watched the movie “Australia” before calling it a night.

We woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning and got ready to leave for the airport. It was sad to see her go. The week flew by! I had a great time with her. There is so much more that I could write, but it's 11:00 PM and I'm so tired that I can hardly think straight.

Jeff, Joe, and I went hiking after that. I wasn’t expecting a difficult hike, so I didn’t wear hiking boots. It wasn’t until we were walking to the Camelback Mountains that Joe told us how difficult of a hike it was going to be. It wasn’t as bad as Angel’s Landing, but it was hard. We didn’t eat breakfast or bring any kind of snacks. We were unprepared. There were parts where there was no trail and we were just climbing rocks. It got really steep in some spots. We made it though! I will post pictures on Facebook soon. I was pretty sore today!

Last night, Jeff had some friends over. He grilled carne asada. I went to sleep early. I was wiped out. I actually fell asleep talking to Allie on the phone. Oops.
Today Jeff and I went out for lunch at Pizza Hut, and then we went to Cabella’s. Jeff still had a gift card from Christmas time, so he bought a TomTom with it. I’m so jealous! :]

We went to see the movie “Taken”. It was so good! If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it!

Anyway, that is about all that I know for now. I will try not to let it go so long between blogs next time.


*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the magnificent people that I work with.