My boss gave me a high-exposure project to do at work, which is great because it will help me get promoted, but on the other hand now I'm stressing about it. It's funny because it's not really a big deal, and if he had just said, "Hey Jessica, can you do X for me?" I would have done it without stressing. But since it was phrased as "if you do a good job on this it will help you get promoted, and if you screw it up it will look really bad," I'm stressing.

Megan, glad you have less job stress! Have fun in New Orleans. I would totally adopt the dog if I was you, but then again, I am a major dog lover. Have you tried listing them on petfinder.com?

Dagmar, veganism is so extreme that I feel like vegans have no right to complain about what they are served. Actually I feel like anyone on a really strict diet should not complain about what someone else is serving them. They chose to go on that vacation, and they chose to eat at those places, knowing that their diet is unusual and strict. They didn't have to go. DH has an aunt and uncle who keep strictly Kosher, but they are so polite about it it's not a big deal at all. They just bring their own food to family get-togethers or if everyone is going to a restaurant they will eat beforehand or just not come.

Being a regular vegetarian (dairy and eggs ok) is a minimal enough change that I think it's not a big deal to try to accommodate it, at least in the US. But in another country, you aren't playing by your own rules anymore and you have to just take what you can get.

Allison, I'm glad DD seems to not really be mad at you!

Hi guys! I dropped out the last few days because things got crazy for me... DH's car got hit in the parking lot at Wal Mart Tuesday night, DSS started kindergarten yesterday, had to give some depositions to lawyers on a work related case on Wednesday. Hectic... Weight hanging okay, got my exercise in and got my grass cut. DH's car is in the shop now, so hopefully getting repaired soon.

Jessica - congrats on the project, don't be stressed about it!

Allison - my first thought was depression with DD as well. Glad she isn't as upset with you as you first thought!

Dagmar - going frome carnivore to vegetarian suddenly is hard - did it for a little while with DH and it was a struggle. Good luck.

Megan - enjoy your holiday! Glad that the oil isn't reaching you.

Michele - funny about the bat. Some people just can't say thanks for anything! :)

Amy - DH is a night owl also. He can doze off earlier in the say, or early in the evening, but then is wide awake most of the night.

Bill - better the Maintaining Kale thread than last week's Maintaining Ice Cream thread!

Sheila - weight training really makes a difference to me on the size, too. Good luck on your challenge this week!

Good day eveyone!

Good day except for the continuing rain. Got a manicure and hair cut this morning, then out to lunch with a friend. We go to the same salon so we've taken to booking appts at the same time (2 stylists, natch) and then having lunch! Now got to wrap a wedding present for tomorrow before I meet my friends to go square dancing in Anchorage.

:wave: to everyone.

Pat~it like when DD comes home and we go for pedicures together. It's a nice way to spend time together and we get something done that we both want and need.

The kitty is home!!!! We picked him/her up this evening. My friend was a bit miffed at her daughter who was to make the appointment for all the kitties to get their first shots and she blew it off and went out of town, so he mom (my friend) said it'd be okay to pick up Ringo (we're probably sticking with the name). He/she disliked the ride home immensely, but has acclimated to DS's room just fine and is having fun playing with the toys and such. DS is in heaven! The dogs know something is different, but aren't quite sure what. I let Chico, our younger dog into DS's room while the kitty was under the futon and Chico sniffed around but didn't seem to understand there was another life in there! We'll formally introduce tomorrow.

Off Plan adventure date night
 

Good Morning!

DH and I went on a little off plan side trip last night. We haven't really been out together for awhile and this sounded like fun.

There's an "asian" supermarket that stocks the most fun "food" at the waterfront near DH's band practice space. They were having their first ever "Waterfront Night Market" and we went down to check it out.

Lots of action in the parking lot. There's something about the smell of BBQ done over charcoal - mmmm! :drool:. I had some Kashmiri Q that was amazing! We also tried "potato tornados", Thai sweet chestnuts, and tamales!

Then we went into the store. I usually buy preserved plums and black sticky sesame seed snacks as snack items, instead of the much heftier :sumo: cal chips that the regular supermarket has.

The asian packaging is so cute! I almost bought a "Big Head Doll" (yes, that's what it's called on the package) just because it was sooo cute. DH is good about stopping the impulse :devil: purchases for me.

But then he bought a package of what turned out to be wasabe covered chips just because there was this weird kinda evil smiley face on it. And he bought something else because there was a little symbol of a pregnant woman with the red circle/slash through it. DH thought that was hilarious :shrug:!

We sampled most of our snackies after getting home. A lot cuter in the package than in our mouths, which was what we expected.

Even though we threw most of them out we both still had MSG reactions and DH has a big stomach ache this morning. I am retaining water like crazy (one particular snack tasted like it was made of sodium) so will flush all the cute junk out of my system today.

Great Saturday all!

Dagmar :goodvibes:

Allison, congrats on finally getting Ringo home! Will look forward to hearing how the introductions went. We were at a friend's house the other day, and her dog and kitten (now maybe 6 months old) are best friends and play together a lot. Hopefully it will be the same with yours or at least the dogs will tolerate Ringo. Great score on the tickets! Plus the fact that your DD surprised you with them.

Dagmar, the trip to the store sounds fun--the resulting stomach ache and water retention do not.

Pat, sounds like a "girls" day. Hope you had fun square dancing. I saw big rain clouds over Alaska on the weather map yesterday--hopefully they're gone.

Shannon, sounds like a stressful week for you. Kindergarten has started already? That seems really early. Do they get done with school in early May? You'll have fun going to all the programs they put on. I still remember my DD's first play--Achoo is Blue. She played Achoo so maybe that's why it's so memorable for me.

My DH is at a church board members retreat this morning until 2:00 pm. I'm getting tired of these rushed weekends with no time for us. Not even going to think about going to church tomorrow. I'd like to say we'll sleep in, but I find the older I get, I just can't sleep in anymore. Anyone else have that problem?

Today I'm going to mow the lawn before it gets too hot, although it's cooled down to 92 degrees. :lol: As a Pacific Northwesterner by birth and at heart, I always find that amusing. Also thinking about taking the kittens in to get weighed so maybe they can get spayed/neutered and get into permanent homes. My cat would be thrilled with that, and let me say that having three kittens is fun, but can be trying. I can't open a kitchen cabinet without one or all three trying to get in. I wasn't paying attention the other day, and one got stuck in the pantry. At least he meowed enough so I could tell where he was. They also try to get into the refrigerator when I open the door. Hhhmm, maybe that's a good thing because I definitely don't stand in front of the fridge looking inside anymore.

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

Allison - glad you got Ringo home! Hope they all settle in and get along! :)

Dagmar - those snacks are always cuter in the package than in reality. I have heard that the Asian BBQ is fantastic, though.

Sheila - nope, they still get out at the end of May. They do get two extra weeks off during the school year though, for a total of 6 weeks off during the year. Our county is calling it a 'balanced calendar'. Of course, in the first week we already had a bus have to pull over because a junior high girl almost had a heat stroke on the way home Friday. Packed buses, no AC, 99 degrees w/ heat index of 112. Not a good combo. The original schedule started 2.5 weeks later - we were the first county to start last Thursday and several others around us start on Monday.

good night everyone!

Really weird snax
 

DH and I apparently got a really weird :eek: box of snacks from our asian market outing.

They were in the frozen treats/ice cream section. Last night after I came back from a musical DH asked me to try one. It had what appeared to be a frozen layer of jelly (dusted with coffee powder) over some sort of frozen centre.

I managed to bite off a bit of the jelly but could not make a dent in the centre, not even with a knife! DH described the "treats" as drywall compound encased in silicon :p.

He was not far off. I left them in the sink overnight. This morning they were still fully intact in their little paper cups. I threw them away into the compost and then thought - what if they don't decompose?

Truly a "weird food" experience.

Dagmar :shrug:

The kitty is getting accustomed to things around here. We have an appointment at the vet Tuesday when we'll find out for sure it's sex. It cries when Nicky leaves the room and it is definitely attached to the boy! It sits on his shoulder or between the chair and his shoulder when he is on the computer and sleeps on the nightstand or next to his pillow. The dogs are curious but a little afraid of it, but then it's afraid of them, too. Last night we watched a movie and it sat on Nicky's shoulder most of the movie. Weird thing about it, it doesn't seem to like the canned food I got it. It'll eat the dry food, though.

Morning - thanks for the thought Sheila, but the rain clouds are still here. We haven't had a full dry day for nearly 3 weeks. The sun is out right now, but it rained all night, and it'll take all day for the grass to dry so I can mow it. Plus, it's only in the high 50's. It's a good day if we make it into the 60's. :)

Allison - sounds like the kitty is settling it. It may just be used to eating dry food, which in my opinion is much nicer to deal with. I have one cat who will eat almost anything - and especially loves salmon - while the other only likes dry cat food.

Dagmar - we often look at some of those foods in the Asian grocery, but not many of them make it home. Sounds like I needn't bother with them. :) The BBQ sounded good though.

I went to an outdoor wedding yesterday afternoon. The groom's mother and grandmother are friends of mine. Fortunately, it had stopped raining in the morning, and the grass was pretty dry. I didn't stay too long as I didn't know anyone else. THe reception was in the yard as well, and the grill held lots of things (I had a small piece of chicken) while the side dishes all involved pasta and/or mayo in one form or another. :lol:

Leaving on a girls' trip tomorrow, so am spending today getting packed and cleaning house (DH comes back from his trip on Tues). 4 of us are going to the Kenai Peninsula - visiting quilt stores :D, taking two trips to water-access only locations, and just having fun. We'll finish Friday night at an upscale hotel in Anchorage, and a trip to the farmer's market (with tons of other stuff, as well) on Sat morning. I have no idea how much internet access we'll have, but I'm taking my iPad and can turn on the 3G service if I find I want to....

Allison-- glad you got Ringo home.
Definitely stick with dry food. It is much better for their teeth, less messy, etc.

I'm now in Rhode Island at my uncle's house. We leave for home tomorrow. Very challenging foodwise here. Last night we had a 7 course meal at an Italian restaurant and tonight we're going out for Italian again. I'll just have to repair the damage when I return. Sigh.... My uncle is 80 and not doing well so I'm not about to try to dissuade him from where he wants to bring us/what he wants to feed us, etc. My parents are deceased so he is the closest I have to a father left.