Friday 5...

Alright, so heres a quick 5 photos for Friday to recap what has been happening in my life....


1. Chicken strips! Home Made... amazingness and fairly quick...

1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 pounds skinless chicken breast (pounded to even thicknesses, cut into strips
2 cups bread crumbs (they suggest using whole wheat but I used what I had)
Olive oil for drizzling (I sprayed them)

Mix the first 4 ingredients above.
Dip Chicken strips in that sauce, then roll in bread crumbs
Then place on a wire rack on top of a cookie sheet (line with aluminum foil for easy clean up)
Drizzle olive oil (I spray using the Misto)
Cook at 400 Degrees for about 16 minutes - until golden and cooked through (I flipped them half way through, and end up cooking them a litle bit longer to get a bit crisper too)

Bam, chicken strips done easy - you can freeze them too (if they make it to the freezer - This is round 2, I made some yesterday and by the time I got home from work they had disappeared! )

2. Look at that face!!!

3. The Great Pumpkin as promised!

4. Broken rear window.... wah wah.... fixed now though... and insurance adjusted so the 'next time' this 'doesn't happen' it only will cost me $50 instead of $200 to fix

5. The prize for the 1/2 marathon... Tiffanies

And ok, a bonus #6 b/c its important to include someone's face other than the dogs on here...

6. The girls that all ran the Nike Womens 1/2 Marathon and received above pictured Tiffany's

Enjoy your weekend!

A great morning.

Its 9:45 AM...

I have:

- Been to the gym, busted out 3 miles on the treadmill rocking out and thinking I am way cooler than I am....

- Taken a shower

- Sat down and had 2 cups of coffee (really underrated sometimes I think)

-Called and found out my student loan consolidation is being processed and I don't have to start all over again.

- Called to make sure everything is going to go smoothly in transitioning from full time to on call... left a message.

- Breathed a sigh of relief b/c pay stubs posted today and they did in-fact use my sick time for my week in SF. (thank goodness)

- Realized I am working a whole heck of a lot on November, and although that means very little in the free time category... It gives me a sense of calm too b/c frankly a lot (aka the majority) of the stress and anxiety I have had in the last week and a half has been related to money   (student loans may be consolidated, may not, trip to SF, trip for Christmas, etc) And working a whole heck of a lot will help ease that.

- My job is ridiculous... and its even more ridiculous b/c I get paid roughly $1 less an hour then I did when I was working Overtime at the other job.... seriously something wrong with that.

    - I will be getting a concession phone, which is just kinda cool but again totally unnecessary.
    - Apparently, via co-worker, part time bennies are a load of crock and she says I shouldn't waste my
      money there until I move to full time its like 14X the amount per paycheck for a PT employee vs
      FT.... hmmmm

- Its time to be running, and working out, and moving... I mean, I feel better all around when I do it. Its  calms my mind and makes me realize how blessed I am, I am healthy, in a loving relationship, Wonderful friends all over. I have a wonderfully unbelievable place to live and rest my head, I have a full time job with health and dental insurance, and now a 2nd job... in a state that unemployment is nearing double digits....

And now I get to go get ready for work....

Such an odd concept for me... wearing dangling earrings... skirts.... makeup.... bobby pins...
I think I got a little institutionalized this past year... lol


Oh and the pumpkin pie... dud... : (
Tell you about it and will try again later today I suppose...

Happy Halloween!! (and I will post a picture of " The Great Pumpkin" sitting on our front porch!)

Day One

Alright... Sorry for not writting more... been busy..
Will update you slowly about all the happenings, including moving,  Nike Womens Marathon (half), Bed Frame drama, thoughts on the future, etc.

For now... today I start at Verizon... who knows what they will have me do this first week in the store... but I start in an hour and 24 minutes...

A little flustered b/c they told me halloween... and thats tomorrow, so I arranged to work at the old job today... well there goes the remainder of my sick time...

Now to get use to blowing out my hair again... lets see if I even remember how to do that :P
Just kidding...

But I think I will be wearing my Kate Spades... yes sir... these beauties where purchased in SF, Kate Spade and Tiffanies in one trip... suppose my half and full marathons are getting better prizes... self awarded or not... their mine : ) (just don't tell Kristopher... he doesn't know about these ones)

Apologizes for the grainy picture.... 

I decided a post with no or a single bad picture was better then none.. and those are the exact Kate Spades (damn straight I am wearing triangles/deltas to work the first day) 

I will let you know how it goes at the new job... such a different thing then what I have been mastering the last year.... 

I have this single doubt that I am not going to be able to tolerate the meaningless consumerism associated with the job, going from trying to get children to handle their every day life to working with people unable to get their phone to operate correctly... this could be interesting... 

I better use my "skills"

Moving weekend!

It is here... and I am still so unmotivated to pack in boxes... honestly I know it will make everything easier... but we are moving 10 minutes away... I really feel like just throwing it all in the car and making a million trips...

Don't get me wrong, things really are mostly packed... I am working on all the last random things that didn't fit elsewhere, or were needed til the last moment.

We sign papers in 5 hours... and I think we are moving the tv tonight... then the garage tomorrow, and everything else with help on Saturday.

I am excited... pictures soon I promise... I will try and snap some of the process as we go (probably getting yelled at for being annoying and not helping in the process, but eh)

And I can not wait til my bed and the 'new to me' bed frame is put together... its just going to make me smile... I will just have to find a bedspread that is masculine enough for KC to be alright with it... I really want some vintage-ie floral pattern, but I don't think that is going to fly.

The next few weekends are already filled with trips, friends, and fun, so I will hopefully keep up with this blog more (isn't that always the case) and take lots of pictures to document and share... moving this weekend (and going to get my hair trimmed here for the first time in almost a year, I know I am terrible) and then camping next, then Bend for a night the next, then up to an ex-co-workers cabin to hang out and celebrate the weekend after that... then its oct... then I have 2 weekends and go to sf for a half marathon.... so much excitement... can't wait!

Moving week....

begins today... well, we sign for the place officially and do the walk through in 1 week (we already sent them money and signed our life away though). But there are boxes everywhere. BF wants to pack, like yesterday, and I just would rather pack it all up the night before, b/c frankly,  I am still living here... so we are slowly packing things up... and it will probably go a lot smoother b/c we are packing ahead of time, but still. I don't like to live out of boxes, or be forced to eat out b/c we already packed stuff away a week early... ehh, whichever.

We have scored on finding some bar stools that are beautiful for $40 for 2, which if you have looked for barstools, is a steal for anything that stands up and you can sit on, let alone, actually like. Going to go pick those up later today.

Still think I paid too much for the bed frame, considering another one I emailed contacted me again saying they would drop to $60 if  I was still interested. But its boring. And the one I got makes me smile, so its worth it right?? Even if I paid a bit to much? oh well its done, and we have it, so that means when we go and get the mattress and box spring its set to go... which is relieving to me.

And I have finally gotten semi-back on the running game... I better, I have 6 weeks before I am running a 1/2 marathon... man time flies. But honestly even without the race dead line, it feels good to get out and run again. I feel better, I eat better, I think better, I sleep better... I pretty much am better when I run....

minus the 2 cavities I had drilled and filled yesterday (they sucked, and I now remember how much they sucked 10 years ago when I got the last ones). But it only cost me $10 out of pocket. Love my insurance....

ughh....

We are moving... not by choice mind you. We actually had decided to just stay where we were until KC II was done with school, b/c then it would not matter as much where we were at. But the manager hates the dog (really.... who could hate this face)

And so they are not going to re-new/roll over the lease to month to  month. Thus the hunt begins. We waited to long to view one place, and the second one we went to is just to far away and a little too much for being so far away.

And we have been scowering  the ad's....well KC II has some picky needs... 1. A garage (for his wives aka the bikes) 2. pets (since this one didn't work out so well for the little miss) 3. a bit more space would be nice (for everyone involved) 4. He doesn't want anyone above us....

Oh and did I mention he refuses to consider living on the East side ( I don't know if I would like it, but I would at least look since it is cheaper and more houses) and he needs to be on route to get to school or be close enough to walk... but doesn't want to live in the same neighborhood we are in now. : )

Simple right... I think I am dating a high-maintenance man....

and we haven't even started to pack...

and he's freaking out and can't think of anything else because its upsetting him enough thats all he can think about and he wants it done now.... wonderful!

Move numero 3 in a year coming up : ) stay tuned, I am sure it will be entertaining... in other news TGIT... my weekend has begun

And time rolls on by...

The last few weeks have been a blur... Kristopher is back, and was here for less then 48 hours, then off to summer school ecology class on Mt. Hood... which I drove up to 3 times in 2 weeks (a 2 hour drive, beautiful, but 2 hours) We hiked to Tie-In Rock, which is the highest  point on the North/East side of the mountain you can get to... it took an hour of moving to get down back to the camp site... a few hours up obviously... but amazing and a great workout.

Work has been good, lots of shifting of people around, but I love my team, and am reminded of it as we all take one for the whole unit team here and there. Still working towards another job at the same time, but trying to excel at what it is I am doing now.

Other then that, this week has been a blur of getting unpacked, laundry done, booking tickets for Christmas to So Cal (So excited we are both going this year, and for a week and a half. Scored major on the price and had to buy them).

Now I am doing the birthday rally, trying to get the whole fam's b-day presents together to send off (august 22nd, sep 1, 3 and 4th are the days, no joke) and enjoying the remainder of my weekend. 1 birthday present down, 3 to go... hmmm, time to get movin'  Any ideas for a dad that doesn't need/want anything b/c he goes out and gets what he wants???