Weblog

Friday, 15 May 2009

  • being nice

    i'm ecstatic it's friday!!!  after the last hellish week and a half, it feels great to make it to the weekend.
     
    i notice ever since I gave the admin a Thank You card, she seems to be going out of her way to do things for me, which I mean, she was already doing a good job, but now it's like, she is doing a super great job to help out.  the power of one little card... niceness goes a long way :)
     
    i went to the eye doctor for a checkup and it so happened it got irritated and was a little red which isn't unusual when my allergies act up but man, they were freaking out and scolding me a little for continuing to wear my contacts, and then they prescribed antibiotic eye drops to put in 4 times a day for 10 days.  i guess they must see some pretty crazy things, and i suppose it doesn't hurt to be cautious, but it was a bit overboard.
     
    i forgot to report what we did on Mother's Day which was to ride the ferry from Oakland to San Francisco.  Just in case, I wore my seabands because I get motion sickness so easily, but the ride was beautiful and sunny and pleasant.  The Ferry Building farmer's market was craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy crowded, and sadly, a bit overpriced even though the selection was fantastic.  We did end up buying some chimichurri dips, and chocolate covered cherries (YUM YUM!).  It was hard to buy knowing that we still had 10 hours ahead to lug things around, including a ferry ride back to oakland.  We had lunch, then hiked over to the Wharf for some clam chowder!! I had been craving chowder for the last month.  After the ferry ride back to Oakland, we shopped a little at Jack London Square, and then a 9 course dinner @ Silver Dragon.  It was a great Mother's Day.

Thursday, 14 May 2009

  • you know, i'm a real sucker for infomercials (anyone remember the thighmaster??).  i bought this the other week, miracle fiber cleaning system and I love it!!  The different mop pads actually work really well on our laminate and tile flooring, and I especially like the duster that allows you to reach in high/difficult places. 
     
    mir_fiber_thumb
     
    Today has been the first day of work in over a week where I finally don't feel so overstressed.  The issues over the past week had been overwhelming and a dark cloud over my life.  Plus it was incredibly busy with performance reviews due as well, which only added more work and stress to an already overloaded schedule.  i'm so glad it's done.  Today I actually was able to attack the huge amount of email overloading my inbox and it's a great feeling to check these things off.  I can't believe it's friday tomorrow, this week just flew by.
     
    i really need to get off my butt this weekend and start painting the house!!
     
     

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

  • impressions

    I had a dream about chachi last night, boy did i have a crush on him back in the 80s.  seeing him on that show about him turning 45 and being single, he still looked good, he aged well, but he just seemed like such a jerk to his girlfriend (now wife), that it definitely crushed any innocent vaulted memories i had of him.  i know i know, chachi was a fake person, but in the 80s, like any teenager, I was impressionable and the image of him stuck. 
    joanieandchacchi
     
    speaking of impressions...
     
    Since going out with Ken, many of his friends, both childhood and college friends, have told me on separate occasions, in jest, like roasting him, but also being serious, how much of a tool Ken was growing up and in college. He was very cocky, very competitive, and would be very insulting without him realizing it. If I had known Ken growing up and in his young 20s, I would have been so turned off by him and never given him a 2nd thought, my image and impression of him would just have remained.  But the 30s Ken I met and know, is a more mature, mellower version of what he used to be.  I mean, I can see how he could have been, because I see glimmers of his cockiness but it comes off as confidence because he's not so arrogant about it.  He's much more conscientious of the things he says and how he says it, and he can still be competitive but he doesn't come aff as a tool about it. 
     
    Last week I had a hell of week at work, I was so stressed out about an issue that came up that wasn't our fault, but because I felt like we had to deliver the message, it was difficult how it would be worded and come across, and furthermore, some ppl might be trying to fingerpoint and throw it back on us that it was our fault.  I was overwhelmed, that was the feeling, of how we could handle this properly, and part of me just wanted to sweep it under the carpet, bury my head and not deal with it.  I had a call with my senior manager/boss to discuss what we would do.  And I'm so incredibly grateful to have a boss that just has my back, and supports me in every way possible.  She literally had to calm me down, walk me throught a few contingencies we could take, and that we'd set up an internal meeting with our team to figure out the best next steps.  She then took all the next steps of setting up meetings with various parties to cover all our bases, and finally today we had a meeting to deliver the "bad news".  And it went surprisingly well, it's still bad news, that team has to figure out how they're going to deal with it and the costs, but there was no fingerpointing, and so it was overall positive.  -sigh- of relief...
     

Saturday, 09 May 2009

  • what fire extinguisher?

    Last night I made a batch of oatmeal cookies for the ladies in today's mother's day outing--one with choco chips, and one with raisins.  the house smelled heavenly last night.
     
    IMG_4201a
     
    the other night I started a grease fire over the stove top.  i was cooking some bacon, and took it out of the pan when done, turned off the stove and went to the bedroom to fetch something.  a minute later when i came back, when i lifted the splatter guard up, this cylinder of fire came shooting up and i panicked!!!!!!!!!!!  i didn't know what to do in my panicked state of mind and yelped for ken to help, screaming "WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO??/!!!".  mr chemist  quietly sauntered over, assessed the situation in a second and said, "get me baking soda".  i found the baking soda but it took a little while for me to focus to get it, and he casually just dumped a handful in the pan, and... fire gone. 
     
    He asked me what I would have done if he wasn't there, and I knew putting water on it wasn't the answer ok so give me some credit (haha), and then I said in my panicked state of mind, I would have grabbed a blanket and tried to snuff it out, and he looked at me crazy.  of course the fire extinguisher that's sitting right IN the kitchen would have done the job.  so lesson learned for a grease fire, which I've committed to reviewing in my head every so often, is having a plan of action--stay calm is #1, get the fire extinguisher or dry substances like baking soda.  i never really thought about it before, I mean I always knew the fire extinguisher was there, but I never went through the steps of what I would do in case of a fire and physically act out the action steps that I would take. 

Friday, 08 May 2009

  • mom's day

    Work issues are still dragging me, hopefully there's resolution to this next week, we have a team meeting on Monday to discuss how to tackle which gives me relief that we're doing this together and brainstorming what our next steps will be.  Ken has been a huge huge champion to me this week, giving me a big shoulder to lean on and just being there, listening to what I'm going through.
     
    In happier thoughts, mother's day is coming up and I focused on trying to get a card done for her.  The woman is nuts about tennis so I thought what better way to try to incorporate it in somehow. I thought about making a tennis court and stuff, but i wasn't crazy about the green tennis court color.  I must say i think i'm getting better from concept to inception to completion, as they're not taking as long to make.
     
    IMG_4199a
     
    IMG_4197a
    Paper: whisper white cardstock, bashful blue, barely banana from stampin' up!
    Ink: stampin' up! baja breeze
    Tools: walmart polka dot ribbon, stampin' up 1 1/2" punch, stampin' up schoolbook sjerif albaphet stamp, cuttlebug swiss dots and with love embossing folder
    The plan is to celebrate mother's day tomorrow, take a ferry and hang out in San Francisco, and if we're having the weather like today, it should be a great day, i'm so excited, i haven't been out to the city in ages!  I think there's a loose plan of things we're doing but for the most part, we'll be making it up as we go along.

spamandrice

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About Me

  • Got married in Oct 2007, the wedding was fun but being married is even more fun. We found a house, working on improving it, while finding time experimenting with card making, cooking, home decoration.