A Productive Day Off

Well, I go from neglecting the blogs for weeks to posting twice in one day!

In spite of a slow start, I actually managed to do up the sheets and towels, sort the rest of the laundry for tomorrow morning, change the sheets on the bed, clean the bathroom, do a load of dishes in the dishwasher (including UNLOADING them and putting them away), reload the dishwasher, wash a sink of dishes that don't fit into the dishwasher (damn apartment dishwasher anyhow!), and cook. I made pickled shrimp, meat sauce for spaghetti, and a beanie-weenie casserole from my leftover baked beans by combining them with cut up hot dogs and putting a Jiffy corn muffin mix (with a little cheddar cheese stirred in) over it all. I want to see how the shrimp turn out. I had cooked shrimp that I'd thawed out and needed to do something with them. I'd seen the pickled shrimp on Paula Deen's show, and read a few recipes on the web and cobbled together my own recipe based on what I'd read and what was on hand in my cupboards and fridge. If it turns out tasty (and I am thinking that it might be something to do for gifts around the holidays, when cooked cocktail shrimp get to be relatively inexpensive), I'll put the recipe on my cooking blog. We'll see how it turns out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If nothing else, they LOOK pretty in the jar! Oh, and I ordered a cookbook that I've been wanting with the Barnes & Noble gift certificate that my boss gave me for my birthday. I found a nice used copy of "Gordon Ramsay Makes It Simple". So I am, as my friend Julia would say, "Happy, happy."

And even with all of the above, I still managed to update my blogs and play plenty on the computer. And watch lots of Food TV shows. Yes. You noticed the absence of vaccuming from my list of chores. Well, I have until 8:30 or so to accomplish the vaccuming. I think it is rude to vacuum later than that, just in case there are tots that need their rest.

I am having a nice iced coffee now. Yes, I'll sleep like a baby. I am one of those people who can drink coffee in the early evening and still get a perfectly good night's sleep.

Birthdays, beagles and catching up

Okay, where does the time go???? I've neglected my blogs shamefully, and today I am remedying that. I updated my cooking blog a bit, with some of my tried and true fish cooking techniques. I've pretty much decided that "elaborate" and "fish" do not go together, unless there is a sushi chef in there somewhere, and I am NOT talking about that guy behind the counter at my local Kroger. Which I only trust for the occasional California roll, being from the midwest and inheirently suspicious of large grocery chain "sushi". If I am eating raw tuna, I want to know it hasn't been sitting fully prepped in a case for several hours.

I had a birthday a couple weeks ago, which mostly passed quietly. I'd taken the day off from work since my birthday fell on a Wednesday and Tuesday is my day off. I headed northward to visit with Dad and Dogzilla. Dad took me to dinner at the Green Diamond Pub in Barberton. It's not too pricey and it passes for finer dining in Barberton, so it was very nice. I had a Sam Adams draft and a nice chicken marsala. Dogzilla's "gift" to me was to sleep in until about 5:30 on Wednesday morning. The weather was on the cooler side, so we walked a bit further than usual. I guess the old boy was feeling a little bit frisky and his arthritis pill was working so that his bad back leg wasn't hurting too much. Of course, he forgot himself once or twice when running into Dad's air-conditioned bedroom and leapt on the bed all by himself. It just confirms that I spoil him by lifting him into bed. Oh well, 40 lb. beagle deadlifts are not all that bad.

Work has been busy, which is good. We seem to be hiring more people and, more importantly, SCHEDULING them. It makes a difference. Cashiers have been divided into teams that mean something, unlike in the past where there was no feeling of "owning" your team. I came up with a very simple chart (it's actually a simple table in Word) to track my team's progress on a couple of things, so that I can address people who need to improve performance a bit and reward those who are making real progress and contributing to my team's successes. Anyhow, my boss was terribly impressed and so was our store manager. My fellow cashier supervisors have even adopted the format. This is all good, especially coming on the heels of a very successful weekend up front. I opened this weekend, and it seemed like we were on a good roll heading into the evening for the closer on the credit front when I was leaving. We made our credit goals both days, which looks good for the two of us! Again, this is a good thing.

As usual, I have been neglecting housework in favor of reading, cooking and playing computer games! Must do some laundry today, though. Even as a single person, you need to do up sheets and towels! Have to get in a few supplies and do up dishes, too. And vaccum. At least I have that Orek that Dad gave me. He got a new vaccum, so I got his old Orek. It still amazes me that I have TWO vaccums and a couple sizes of hand vaccums when I don't actually like vaccuming at all. Seriously, if I ever hit the lottery, I am getting someone to come vaccum regularly.

That about sums up my life of late.