Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I thought I was through...

blogging for the day, but I want everyone to know what a wonderful man I married. I never acknowledge that enough, especially to him. But I know that I am truly fortunate to have found this incredible man to spend the rest of my life with. Of course I get frustrated at times because of miscommunication and misunderstanding and well because I'm a big gigantic emotional sensitive baby, but he's wonderful.

He has an incredible abundance of patience with me. More than anyone ever has and the good Lord knows I need that. He loves kids and dogs and what's even better is that he allowed me to bring so many home (dogs). He is soft spoken and that is actually what I love BEST about him. He never ever ever raises his voice. I adore that! What's funny is that when we first met I remember being incredibly surprised at how calm and level headed he was, how his voice never changes and how hard it was for me to determine his tone. I love it when people ask me if he ever gets angry because of course he does! Most just don't recognize it because he's so quiet and calm. And I actually love it when he IS pissed off (as long as it's not at me) because it's cute. Half the time you can't even hear anything he's saying, especially on the phone with customer service at whatever company screwed us over, unless you're sitting RIGHT next to him. Even then you would never never know by his tone, just by the words that come out. :-) And yet we ALWAYS get our way.

He's not incredibly romantic, but he does everything he possibly can to support me, encourage me and provide for me. He's helped me loosen up and realize that life is short and I should enjoy it. I have a hard time saying no and standing up to people and he gives me courage to say no and comes to my rescue if I can't handle a sticky situation. He patiently and calmly lets me know when I'm slacking around the house and never loses his patience or temper with me. He actually does more around the house than any man I've ever known. He does the dishes and the laundry and even though he may be frustrated because I have so much more time to do it than he does, he never makes me feel 2 inches high for not doing it. He encourages my creative ventures. He's never once complained about assuming responsibility for our finances. He pets Dolce :-) even plays with him sometimes! He LOVES his nieces and nephews.

He has the most incredible lips and eyes. He laughs at and tolerates my many many blond moments and tells me that I'm amazing. He's silly and serious and adorable and he just gets me. I have never been so free to be myself.

Oh my gosh I could continue this forever.

Sometimes I'm so incredibly overwhelmed by how much I love him. Sometimes my heart aches because I just can't get enough and the tears flow from the fullness of my heart. Sometimes I miss him even when he's sitting by me.

I never realized how blessed I would be in my marriage and how incredibly amazing one man could make me feel.

I don't think he realizes just how deeply I miss him when I'm not with him.

How did this good ole' Oklahoma girl score such an amazing guy?

Progress and My Little Help

So I started a new project and I may be jumping in a little too deep too soon, but my 2nd project is a sweater. I just hope I don't get to the sleeves and have no clue what to do next. :-) I'm posting pictures just to share the color and my very slow progress. And uh, if it turns out to be awful, I'll just pretend like there was no such project. KK? :-) Oh and not to forget the pictures of my very helpful little Dolce. Such a good little doggy!





He was just pooped after such a long day of work :)



SO, a friend pointed out the fact that it's a bit of a surprise to see me knitting. I guess it is kinda funny to realize how domesticated I've become. Who knew! Actually I should use that term sparingly considering I don't do cleaning very well. I'm not being modest, I really don't. I pretty much suck at the housekeeping part. It's just the fun stuff that I've learned to enjoy. I like to create the mess without cleaning up. My hubby loves that about me! *grin*

What's funny is that even my mom is shocked when I tell her about cooking and knitting/sewing, etc. Because in case you don't know...I never (ahem here we go): did the dishes, the laundry, ANY cooking, vacuuming, cleaning of any sort including making my own bed, paid the bills. Really. My mom said it was my job to be a student and it was her job to be the mommy. I have to admit it was kinda nice. UNTIL I got married and realized mommy's not here to pick up after me anymore. I actually had to learn how to use the washing machine. The sad part? My husband had to teach me. Oh oh! And the dishwasher? We always had a top of the line dishwasher but mom didn't believe in it, everything was washed by hand. By her. So Mike also had to teach me to use the dishwasher. And cooking?? Are you kidding me? I was not only terrified of the kitchen, I absolutely hated anything to do with it. Mike did all the cooking when we were dating and I should mention he's a pretty fabulous cook!

So how did I survive college? *grin* WELL. See, my parents lived about 6 hours away so mom would visit every couple of months and stay for a week or two. During her stay she cooked entire meals daily for my brother and me (we had an apt together) and then divided it into individual portions to freeze so that after she left we'd have plenty of yummy homemade microwaveable food to eat. Oh and she'd FILL the fridge before she left. And laundry? Well see, my aunt lived about 20 minutes away so every Thursday she would drop off my clean laundry and pick up my dirty laundry. She had a key so that just in case I wasn't home she could just drop it off. And dishes? Seriously? How many college students actually use those? Paper plates work wonders. Most of the bills my parents ended up paying for because I'm not exactly what you call financially responsible *batting eyes* I mean even now. I have 2 cars and both were paid in cash by my parents. The first year of my marriage my parents were still paying my cell phone bill, my car insurance, car registration (actually I still haven't paid insurance or registration on one of them) and who knows what else. They spent $20k on our wedding and I only paid $10k.

Needless to say, I was in for a rude awakening. Getting married was actually kinda tough for me! I mean, don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoy the perks *wink wink* but I really really do suck at housekeeping. And finances. My poor poor Michael. You guys should feel sorry for him.

You know what really sucks? I really really really want to be the perfect wife and homemaker. Because when we have kids we plan on me staying at home. This is seriously a huge burden for me. If I can't do it now without children?? Oy! It stresses me out just thinking about it. That's not the only reason I want to be great, I want to do it for my husband. He works SO much and deserves to come home to a clean, organized home. I don't know why it's SO hard for me. Honestly, I think working is much easier than being a full time homemaker. I admire those that do it and especially those that make it look easy. It's too bad I never inherited some of those squeaky clean genes from my mother.

Many people probably never knew all this about me even though they may have realized I was a little spoiled, or high maintenance, or a slob. Well now you know why. And really? I can't believe I just admitted all of that to the public since I have no clue who actually reads this. What I can't believe is how incredibly ashamed I am of my slob-ness and lack of responsibility, yet I still posted this for all to see. :-O Oh well.

I don't think Mike realized ALL that he was getting himself into. Not really.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

First Finished Project and More

So I finished my first project. I actually started out doing a scarf but was kinda bored with it. Plus I had so many dropped stitches that I didn't catch until after I'd finished the row that I just unraveled the whole thing. So I just picked this small, easy but cute purse for my first project. I haven't picked out a handle yet, but whatever.
I got the pattern here.






And I love SUMMER!! I love sunshine, I love the warmth, though I have to admit it's been kinda hot around here. Anyway, I love having all the windows open and doing everything in our house with this incredible view. I've emailed everyone a million pictures of the view from our house, but I don't think I've ever posted (or emailed) pictures of what exactly it is that I see. From inside our house through our windows. So here's a couple of pictures. I turned the flash off so you could actually see the view better. Our eliptical machine is in front of the window...so that's the big handle sticking up in case you wondered. :-)

Oh yeah, when we bought our house those two houses you see through the window weren't there.




Thursday, July 24, 2008

Continuation of First Impressions

K, so I was obviously a little hot about the whole being ignored issue. I guess you could say I'm a little sensitive towards it. Maybe not so much sensitive as in like boo hoo you hurt my feelings sensitive, but sensitive as in I pick up on it when maybe no one else would notice.

You know how there are certain women that just have that commanding presence? They walk in the room and something just tells you never to question this person? My mom has that. Everyone that knows my mom is at least a little bit afraid of her. Though if you're honest with yourself, I'd say most will find that they are a lot afraid of her. lol It's true. And well, my mother does NOT get ignored. Period.

There are just women that have it. Men too obviously, but I think it's less likely that a man would be ignored, like the scenario given yesterday, in a professional setting. I think it's safe to say that a man would be immediately respected and it would be generally assumed that a man would be filling bigger shoes. True, yes?

Now, I'm not addressing any feminist or discrimation points. Just that I don't have that presence and unless you are a woman that does or a man, your "value" is immediately questioned. Which frustrates me because it shouldn't matter. Every individual is valued and important and every role in a business plays a crucial part in its production, from secretary to CEO.

That's all. My point is that EVERYONE is valuable and should never be treated less than such.

PS) I'm pms'ing so maybe you should ignore these last two posts. But I'm leaving them now for the sake of my sanity. :-)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

First Impressions

ARE HUGE. I don't think I realized this so much before, but I hold a grudge. I admit it, I do. So don't make a bad first impression with me because I won't forget it.

I'm really sick of people underestimating my authority. Really. It's always always always been an issue for me. I may not be an authoritarian on any level, I mean hello, my dogs don't even listen to me, but at work I know what I'm talking about. So don't argue with me.

I guess I should address the fact that this really hasn't been so much an issue since I started my job here. For the most part the branches really do heed my word and are very cooperative and efficient in providing documents that I've requested. I have a really great relationship with just about every branch even though I've never met most face to face.

But in previous positions that I've held in other locations, I've been frequently underestimated. Never by co-workers or supervisors, but by patients and clients. And that may be the pattern that carries over to this job and why other employees don't question me because I don't deal with clients and patients. Which means that I don't deal with strangers. Everyone I deal now with knows me and understands my role as I do them.

It used to be that a patient would have a problem and it was my job to deal with the issue and come up with a practical solution. Or they had a question regarding our services and I would provide the answer. The problem was? They never believed me. And frankly I sincerely believe it's because I look younger and that immediately withdraws all credibility in the eyes of many. Because I was younger I couldn't possibly know what I was talking about. So I would have to get an older employee (that I was lead of) to repeat everything I just explained. 99% of the time they would say oh, okay and have a seat suddenly contented with the answer they were provided. Or there were times I would have to find somebody wearing scrubs because apparently wearing scrubs gives you a whole different level of authority. Nevermind that most of the scrub wearing people had fewer years of education than I did. (Until this job, RN's & Dr's didn't wear scrubs in our office either)

Sooooo. It really frustrates me to NO end to have a stranger walk in and assume that because I'm not showing signs of gray (which really I am!! *enormous pout*) that must mean that I have no role of any importance. And even if I didn't, that does not give ANYBODY any right to treat others so rudely.

In case you haven't figured out, I had a pretty BAD first impression with one of our newer employees. Because just like the stories I shared above, she also disregarded me completely until she was later pointed out who I was. By disregarded, I mean flat out rudely ignoring me when spoken to, making no eye contact to acknowledge that she heard me, and pushed me to the side to meet the taller, older, apparently more important looking, employee behind me. I'm not kidding, I was PUSHED ASIDE and had anyone else watched this scene would have thought I was not even present. Things like this piss me off like none other. People that are that high and mighty and look down their noses at who they assume must be "just the secretary" can kiss my tushy.

Little did she know that she would be spending some great quality one on one time with me in my office later.

Just because I'm under 5'3", under 30 and non-confrontational does not mean that you can CRAP ON ME.

GR.

So really it just hurt my pride a little. I can be humble enough to admit that. BUT HOLY COW!!

Honey Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

I just used this recipe for pork chops instead. It was pretty good and it didn't take an hour to prepare :-)

One of these days I'll post a couple of Korean recipes on here that I know well and are pretty popular.

But for today:

Honey Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Prep Time:5 min
Total Time:35 min
Makes:4 servings
1 pork tenderloin (1 lb.)
1/4 cup KRAFT CATALINA Dressing, divided
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 Tbsp. honey

PREHEAT oven to 425ºF. Brush meat with 2 Tbsp. of the dressing. Mix dry ingredients; rub onto meat. Place in baking pan. Mix remaining 2 Tbsp. dressing and honey; set aside.

BAKE 15 min.; brush with dressing mixture. Bake an additional 10 min. or until cooked through (160ºF).

REMOVE meat from oven; cover with foil. Let stand 5 min. before slicing

How to Prepare on the GrillPreheat grill to medium heat. Prepare meat as directed, rubbing with spice mixture. Place meat on grill; cover grill with lid. Grill 20 min., or turning occasionally. Brush with some of the honey mixture. Continue grilling 5 to 10 min. or until meat is cooked through (160ºF), turning and brushing frequently with honey mixture. Let stand covered with foil, 5 min. before slicing.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Chicken Parmesan with Rotini

I've really learned to enjoy cooking, especially when it turns out yummy! BUT, it's really hard to get creative and find something new to cook everyday, I think that's the most challenging part of cooking actually. So I thought I would start sharing any recipes I've tried and really enjoyed on here for anyone else that might like to try it. Maybe I'll get some in return!

I made this last night and though I didn't really get to thoroughly enjoy it (the whole wisdom tooth ordeal), Mike said it was really good. I just took a bite and it wasn't so bad! I got this from Kraft Foods and the best part is that it was EASY and I already had all the ingredients at home!

And being the silly girl that I am, saw that it said RITZ crackers but visualized Saltine Crackers and used those instead. It was still YUMMY!



Chicken Parmesan with Rotini

Prep Time:10 min
Total Time:30 min
Makes:4 servings

3 cups whole wheat rotini pasta
10 RITZ Reduced Fat Crackers, crushed (about 1/2 cup crumbs)
3 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 egg white
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
2 cups tomato-basil spaghetti sauce, divided
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese

COOK pasta in large saucepan as directed on package. Meanwhile, combine cracker crumbs, Parmesan cheese and oregano in pie plate. Lightly beat egg white in separate pie plate. Dip chicken in egg white, then roll in crumb mixture until evenly coated. Set aside.

SPRAY large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Heat on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 5 min. on each side or until cooked through (165ºF). Spoon 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce over chicken; top with mozzarella cheese. Cover skillet with lid. Reduce heat to low; simmer 3 min. or until sauce is hot and cheese is melted.

MEANWHILE, drain pasta; return to pan. Add remaining 1 cup spaghetti sauce; toss to coat. Cook on medium heat 2 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Spoon onto serving plates; top with the chicken.