Thursday, October 16, 2008

EEEEEEEEEEK!

WARNING: Shameless gloating and celebration ahead!!!

If you hadn't checked my profile, you may not have noticed or known that I am an Avon Representative. I intend to keep, for the most part, business out of my blog, but it will creep in now and again. This is one of those times.

Today we had a sales meeting. Recognition is the first 5 minutes or so of the meeting. I learned that, out of 775 Reps in my district, I am #9 in sales. NINE. As in "cracked the Top Ten". As in, there are 766 people on the list UNDER me for once, instead of above and far ahead. As in "I probably contribute to more of that total than I should admit, and most of it is eyeshadows and lipgloss"

I am entirely too excited for words (or not, as there are less wordy ways to exclaim this. . .) But that's why its midnight and I'm not sleeping :)


Hooray!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

how to get absolutely nothing done

a short lesson in productivity:

wake up feeling less than great, but not horrible.
volunteer for a study (last week) about cold medicine, get bottle in the mail today, follow instructions to take cold medicine per survey. Feel glad that it came today since we have no cold medicine in the house.

spend rest of afternoon staring off into space and/or napping.


zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

blech.

I'm not feeling all that great today. I haven't really been feeling sick, just. . .off. Sorta run down, I guess. Which is stupid, because its not like I've been any busier than my normal "not busy at all"



The weather here in Scottsdale has been INCREDIBLE lately. The normal highs for this time of year are usually around 90 still, but it was in the low 70's all weekend. Its sunny and breezy and just beautiful. This bums me out a bit, because the weather is perfect today to take a walk, but I just don't feel up to it. Booooo.




M and I received an invite to a Halloween party at the end of the month, and I'm looking forward to it. Believe it or not, this will be my first Halloween party since. . .oh, probably elementary school. Costumes are required, so we spent the weekend trying to figure out what to do. M's parents are sending him a bunch of cowboy stuff (the real deal - spurs and all!). My original idea was to wear this to go along with him, but it appears that EVERYONE had the same idea, as that costume is sold out at every online retailer - EVERYWHERE. Booo.




So I'm probably going back to my black pants (vinyl if I can find them), black top, boots and wig. My "standard" costume since 1999, seen here:


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

as I feared . . .

I'm running out of things to say :( How many times can I post "sat at home alone tonight. M left all the lights on again. . .". I think my blog is boring. What would spice it up?

Actually, tonight he only left on two before he went to class, and I didn't eat alone. We got home from work and I started in on dinner pretty quickly (recipe to follow!) we ate, watched a little news and then M was off to class. I was lucky to find "Chicago" running on E! - lucky because I've had the soundtrack in the car all week, singing unabashedly at the top of my lungs, wishing I hadn't quit Show Choir after 8th grade (Annie, if you're reading this, I'm totally jealous that you stuck with it and are STILL with it!) M called halfway through his film editing class. They're broken up into groups right now, assigned different 3 minute or so short films written by a classmate. One of M's group members had the script and promised to email it to the rest of the group. Just before class, M finds it in his inbox, but doesn't have time to open it. The call halfway through class was to ask me to save it as a word doc; the writer had sent it out in the one format everyone said NOT to send it in - I was the only one who could open it on M's laptop (which of course, was here at home, not with M.) I saved the day by emailing it back out in the proper format. . .

only to learn myself that what was sent was NOT the script, but the outline that they all had already. The guy's email said "oops, sorry, I went out of town and forgot to send this" but "this" was the wrong "this" after all that (and of course, he wasn't in class OR answering his phone), Now they start filming next week with no script. Fabulous. Needless to say, the rest of the group was less than pleased. And M wonders why I'm not thrilled with the idea of going back to school.

Anyway, as promised (not that anyone asked, but hey, its something to write, right?), here's tonight's dinner. This recipe came from an issue of Glamour, probably 3+ years ago, but we love it. Its simple, fast, tasty and pretty darn healthy too.

Quick Thyme Chicken (for 2!)

1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme (dried is fine - but if you must, get it from Penzeys!)
1 egg, beaten
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded thin (I find that one is plenty for us to share, really)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Preheat the broiler, placing the oven rack directly under in. In a large bowl, combine the cheese, bread crumbs and thyme. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dip chicken into egg, then into bread crumb mixture to coat. Place the chicken on a nonstick cookie sheet and cook directly under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown and cooked through. (if your breading starts to burn before the chicken is done, just move the cookie sheet down to the next lower rack until it is cooked through. I did this today for an extra 2 minutes per side, because I hadn't pounded the chicken thin enough, as I smashed my fingers with the mallet instead of the chicken. . .)

We typically serve this with mashed potatoes and - because I'm lazy - a packet or jar of chicken gravy. Besides, where am I going to get pan drippings to make gravy?

Nutritional Score (because I have a wicked software on my PC that does it for me! - though I think this is for a whole breast, not half)

285 calories
8g fat (4g saturated, 1g polyunsaturated)
141mg cholesterol
499mg sodium
382mg potassium
14g carbohydrates
1g dietary fiber
37g protein


Enjoy!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Camping

M and I went camping this weekend. In our living room :)

We pulled the futon mattress off of its frame, threw down a ton of pillows, hung out and cuddled on the floor all weekend. We caught up on our DVR (tell me you're watching Fringe!), watched a few movies, and just locked ourselves away from it all. It was really nice. We turned off the A/C and opened all the windows for some fresh air. Saturday we made BLTA sandwiches (the "A" is avocado!) with a zesty, spicy mayo that I "made". Sunday morning, we made the most amazing Belgian waffles, with fresh whipped cream (with a dash of my homemade vanilla!) and macerated strawberries. It was divine.

There's just one problem with our weekend in. It dawned on me sometime late yesterday afternoon that we'd spent the entire weekend (with GORGEOUS weather, no less) inside the house. Now its Monday again. . . and I'll spend most of my week inside the house. I'm sure by Thursday I'll have nearly gone stir crazy. Oh well. We do have a lot to do coming up. M and I both have to work this weekend. Next weekend we'll be going to see Weezer at the AZ State Fair. On the 29th, we're going to see Cowboy Mouth in Old Town Scottsdale, and on November 10th, Local H will be back in town. How lucky are we since we've lived here, that almost all of our favorite bands have been to town! Now if only Eddie Izzard hadn't been here TWICE, when I couldn't attend either show :(

I'm off to make lunch. Thanks for reading!

Friday, October 3, 2008

A cooking lesson.

How Not To Make Homemade Bread Crumbs

Step one: slice rolls in half, place on cookie sheet

Step two: turn on broiler to toast rolls, put cookie sheet in oven

Step three: start washing dishes and forget you put the rolls in the oven.

Step four: wonder why your sink smells like burnt toast. . .

Step five: remember that you put the rolls in the hot oven, pull them out smoking and black.

Step six: throw in the garbage, put "bread crumbs" on grocery list.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

One last time, to drive the point home.

We have been home for less than ten minutes.

The foyer light is on.
the hall light is on.
the laundry room light is on.
the bedroom light is on.
the bathroom light is on.
the closet light is on.

I give up.