Uff Da

July is national ice cream month! What's your favorite flavor?
Submitted by LittleWiseOne.

Mint Chocolate Chip (when we were kids, it was called peppermint bon bon... or maybe that's its MN name?) is the flavor that I will pick every time from an ice cream store. My fave Ben and Jerry's is New York Super Fudge Chunk because I can make a pint last a month.

Well, a photo diary of a few things today.

I put some of our haliconias in a vase, they're two of the only ones in our yard just yet but we should have over 100 going soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as long as I'm in the living room, I don't think Erika has seen a picture of my new Pottery Barn Studio Shelves that I love soooo much. Hmm, the picture is much darker than it should be. The room is really bright right now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two are my fave shelves. There are three pics of Randy as a kid and then three of me as a kid. The gardenia flower was so scented but it really turned brown since yesterday. I usually put a hibiscus in each vase but they're all too wet today. And on the bottom shelves are my new IKEA plant things that I put succulants in. Love them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roxy is being lazy today, which is ok because it's been really rainy and stormy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've since put this Amish White Bread in the oven. The dough was so sticky that I hardly kneaded it at all. Not sure how that will affect it yet but thankfully Randy eats anything so it doesn't matter too much! Mmmm, it smells so wonderful in here, hope it's tasty too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went outside once it stopped raining and had a look around. Here is the tomato plant I had been talking about. You can't see the stems really but it should totally have branched out more by now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are my two basil plants. The big one that I thought was going to be dead, and the little one that I thought would be much bigger (it's in a big pot with hopes it could turn into a bush). Um, I thought I could rotate the photo once it was in here, but it won't let me. Well, turn your head I guess :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's my day so far! I was going to read but decided to bake instead. I may also make some pumpkin bread. We'd like to have Trip, Jane, Eric, and Audra over for brunch tomorrow but we haven't heard back from them yet. I don't want to bake the sweet bread if we're not going to have a bunch of people over to eat it. I was looking up some breakfast casserole recipes but they all call for sausage and that just sounds like too much work!!

The bread is ready to come out of the oven. It smells so good, but looks really funny! Lumpy. Definitely lumpy. I made a pot roast for dinner last night. Just threw in two pounds of meat (whatever cut had the "Perfect for Pot Roast!" sticker on it), a can of cream of mushroom soup, a packet of dry onion soup mix, and some water. YUM! We both loved it. Tender and tasty. We also had some cresent rolls, which Randy had wanted to make, he rolled them up backwards! I was going to make this corn dish, but hadn't read that it needed to be baked so I didn't bother. I didn't have much time because at the last minute Randy called and we ended up taking Roxy up to the Irish pub for a drink. It was 8 by the time we got home so I was so happy to have a meal all ready! I'm going to be crock potting it a lot more often. I think I've said that every time I use it, but still.

I'm happy to say that after dinner Randy put the dishes in the dish washer and washed the rest. I was very impressed. It makes me worry he's been able to see my posts! He made himself grilled cheese for lunch today and washed the frying pan right away. We'll see if this keeps up but I like it!

Looks like the sun has come out to stay for a little while. It was pouring so hard that we thought it was hail hitting the house. The street was flooded, there was so much lightening and thunder, and we thought it would never stop! Randy called a friend about 10 miles south and they hadn't gotten a drop of it. Crazy. Anyway, I think I'll try to wake Roxy up a bit with a walk. She didn't chew anything yesterday but I think it's because she was still so tired after going to doggy day care on Thursday. She loves that place, and we love that it exhausts her!

Yay, I just tasted the bread and it's good!! Whew.

I just have to share this. Tonight not long after Randy came home from work, I agreed to run to Target with Jane. I didn't need anything but hadn't talked to her in awhile. Randy and I had talked about dinner and he said he'd rather just have pizza instead having to wait for me to get back and make the pasta dish that I was going to. Ok, fine, I like pizza too. I get back from Target about an hour and a half later (7:30), right about when we normally eat, and I can smell pizza. It's all gone. He ate the entire thing. He didn't save so much as a single slice for me. I come in and I'm all "oh, did you put mine in the fridge already?" and he got that funny look of "oh crap". He ate the whole damn thing. And then 15 minutes later he went back to the bedroom and fell asleep. I made myself a plate of spaghetti but I'm really disappointed that he wouldn't think about me enough to at least call and see if I was expecting some of it (and OF COURSE I WAS!).

There. I had to say it to someone before I go back and wake him up to complain.

It's like she can't resist them. I'd forgotten to move it, Maria always leaves it in the bathroom that she can get to instead of in the back one. Otherwise we're ok so far - but it's only Monday. Oh and she peed on the rug by the back door. Normally that's where Dulan would pee but this was SUCH a big puddle that there was no question who did it.

So, the Ritz. Sweetness. Bliss. Relaxation. Pampering. Ahhhhh, I wish that we could live like that all of the time!!!

Something has gone wrong with my computer. I'm being overwhelmed by pop-ups and can't close them. Can hardly get the computer to work. Darn it!!

Erika, the intent of this is not to make you jealous. It's to bring some sunshine into your snowy day!

 

 

Get this... Bonnie's having TWINS!! Both implants took. Wow.

What celebrity do you most often get told you resemble? 
Submitted by Leets.  

Way to go Leets!!!

I've been told that I look a bit like Helen Hunt (I'll take that as a compliment), as well as Leelee Sobieski (whose real name is actually Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta Sobieski).

I am so very excited about my new Mr. Bento which arrived from Erika on Friday!!! Here is the first lunch that I've packed for tomorrow.

I don't really recall too much about my first day of work. I do know that no one really helped me settle in, no one really sat me down and trained me. I was just directed to my office and was told to start working. Maybe that wasn't all bad, but I've always thought that new people needed more of a start on the right foot.

Alia started off by being 15 minutes late. I guess she just didn't know when to show up, but she's staying in the dorms so it's not like she would've had to have walked far to find out. I walked her back to her new office and we were talking in there for maybe 3 minutes before she said that there's another position listed at FAU that has a salary range of 40-43. She said that her position didn't have a range and she wanted to know if she in fact should've been able to negotiate a higher pay. I didn't mince words when I told her that she was getting paid a heck of a lot for a new librarian around here, that now that she'd started she had no chance to change things, and that she should just appreciate that she has a job at all. She didn't let it go though, she seems convinced that she should ask for more. Um, hello, you signed the contract already. I told her to just enjoy all of the benefits and that I'm sure she'd survive on such a "low" salaray. Seriously, she makes just under what Leslie and Diane together make in a year. Anyway, considering that I don't make that much more than her (right now), I'd like it if she'd let it go.

Other than that things were ok. I'm sure she's overwhelmed with all that I showed her. We took a really in depth tour of the whole library, went to get her a key, took another tour of campus, I told her a bit about all the projects she'll be working on, she sat at the desk with me and I trained her on circ, and now she's settling into her office. She's leaving a bit early today so she can go check out an apartment that's downtown. Tomorrow I'll delve into how she should be doing collection development and I'll let her work on that for most of the day (or I'll have no voice left at all!!). I think she'll catch on to things pretty fast.

I did make it clear to Alia that we really have to be doing work things all day, only using the internet for our own purposes on our breaks. I said not to do any personal e-mail or blogging because it really wasn't the right thing to do. And of course I meant it :) Wonder how long it will take her to be bored......

Light night I made a simple dinner of fish and mashed potatoes. Randy was exhausted so by 9 he was sleeping. I went to bed and just read for an hour. I'm about to finish Last Train to Paradise which is really interesting. I'll definitely be taking a closer and more appreciative look at the train rails around here and down in the Keys. After that I'll actually start in on Wages of Sin, now that I know that it's interesting!!

Tonight I'm going to be making chicken and mushrooms in a garlic white wine sauce, which Randy and I both just love. If I get as much as I hope to out of doubling it, I'm going to take a portion over to Audra. I've been meaning to make a meal for her and Eric since they've had the baby, but it just hasn't happened. I'm almost afraid to call - what if the baby just fell asleep? what if Audra finally had things under control until the phone rings?? I just don't want to interrupt. Actually, I guess I need to see if she's even interested in a meal, I forget how long her mom was going to be in town for.

Anyway, that's it from Cathyland!!