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Three (3!) Things Thursday

Jan 19th, 2012
by gazelle.
3 comments

1. Yesterday morning, the architect & I woke up to a very loud noise at about 2 am. We rushed to the window to see what was the matter. Turns out, it wasn’t jolly st. nick & 8 tiny reindeer. It was one of our walnut trees uprooting and falling onto the architect’s pickup. We also were powerless (well, without electricity, anyways) all night, so it was a chilly, dark, and snowy morning! I made it to work about 9:30, and the architect waited at home for PGE to come cut down the tree, since it was leaning on some lines. He waited. And waited. And after the power went on, he plugged in my kick-ass chainsaw and with the help of a couple of neighbors, cut down the biggest parts on his truck. Finally, at about 8 pm or so last night, PGE came and cut down the rest of the tree. Apparently they were a bit busy yesterday!

 

2. I am four weeks away from finishing school! I would be super excited if I wasn’t so stressed out about finishing school! And work! (ha! just kidding, mom – I am not stressed at all. In fact, I am currently floating on a zen cloud made of unicorns.)

Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

 

3. I am writing this on Wednesday night (as is my custom), and it’s 11 pm. I haven’t been asleep for almost 21 hours. I hate these periodic insomnia episodes! If I weren’t floating on unicorn clouds, I’m sure it would be stress related. The job is a bit…much right now. Good news – after Friday, the job will go back to normal stress levels, and I’m hoping to sleep for 48 hours straight this weekend. Or at least 10 hours in 2-hour increments.(This is, however, nothing to worry about if you are, by chance, my mother & are just here to see a pic of the architect’s truck. Really – I tell lies on the internet to make myself seem more interesting. I actually sleep like a baby.)

 

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Working on my weekend

Jan 6th, 2012
by gazelle.
5 comments

Today is my day off (I have every Friday off; it’s my favorite part about my job). However, after taking all of last week off PLUS having Monday as a holiday, today is more of a working day off. I am still at home, but did an hour or so of work this morning & will do another hour of work this afternoon.

It was, fortunately, broken up by PANCAKES! with my neighbor Alisha. (YAY! Pancakes!)

I know that I left you all hanging in regards to my glucose tolerance test yesterday, but no need to wait with bated breath anymore! I passed! WOO! No gestational diabetes for me! (Also, everything else looks good. Everything is just exactly as it should be! YAY Alvie!)

However, now that I am firmly in the very beginning of my third trimester, I’ve noticed a few…odd…things.

I have an overwhelming urge to organize things. Like the office. And the kitchen. And the pantry. THINGS NEED TO BE ORGANIZED! Unfortunately, I am currently operating under a restriction of how much activity I can currently do and how much I am allowed to lift. I tend to err on the side of too much, and am trying to NOT get too ambitious and completely destroy my pelvic joint (which I have apparently unwittingly damaged).

So – I am making lists, instead, and resisting giving them to the architect.

I have a list for all the stuff we need to own by March 1.

I have a list for all the stuff that needs to be packed in my hospital bag (also by March 1)

I have a list of all the things that need to be done around the house (again – March 1!), including the pantry, kitchen, office, goodwill trips, etc.

I am starting a list of all the foodstuffs I want in the freezer by April 1 so that I don’t have to worry about dinner prep for a month (any suggestions of good, healthy food that freezes well WELCOME).

I also have work related lists.

Fortunately, I will not have to worry about school! YAY! 6 weeks left of grad school! In fact, I just filled out my application for an advanced degree. My commencement ceremony will be ~August 11 (not set in stone! Don’t book your tickets just yet!) of 2012, and I’m thinking of having a little celebratory reception at my home the next day, so that I can eat graduation cake, and drink graduation punch, and walk around in my robe feeling masterful. You are all invited.  It will be beautiful, so we’ll have it on the deck, and then maybe a fire in the firepit that evening.

 

Yeah – a lot of crazy here….

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Dec 15th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

1. Today is the last day of my 8-week Leadership Foundations course I’ve been doing through work. It has been a pretty fantastic experience, actually, and I’m pleased that I had the opportunity to attend these all-day Thursday courses. I am a little sad that starting next week, I’ll have to get up at the normal time on Thursdays again instead of sleeping an extra 30 minutes! Boo!  (I am excited, though, that I’ll be able to get actual work done on Thursdays and will no longer have to check in on Fridays to see what I’ve missed.)  Since it’s the last day, our entire cohort has been broken into groups & we each have to give a presentation to all of our managers this afternoon. In honor of that, I thought maybe I would dress a little more nicely today. (Also, I am wearing awesome shoes. Yay!)

 

2. I handed in the final assignment (really just a capstone checkpoint, as I won’t actually finish until mid-February) last night. That means nothing new due until next year! I plan on spending the next couple of days lolling about indolently (and exercising, and hanging out with friends) before spending the rest of my break deep reading and finding at least 10  more valid references. LEISURE TIME! (Relatively speaking, of course.)

3. Tonight, I am having Brussels sprouts for dinner. I am very excited about this. My question, however, is what do I serve with said Brussels sprouts. When planning this week’s menus, I was having a vegetable craving, so my menu looks like: (a) roasted carrots, (b) salad, (c) something with butternut squash, (d) Brussels sprouts…..and no main dishes. So far, we’ve been able to come up with stuff fairly well: (a) quinoa with carmelized onions & roasted tomatoes, (b) pizza, (c) pasta with sage & brown butter sauce….but I’m stuck on tonight.  Ideas?

 

Pictures 2 & 3 were located in a Flickr Search and have a Creative Commons license.

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Dec 8th, 2011
by gazelle.
3 comments

1. I am one week away from finishing the first half of my Capstone course. This does not necessarily mean I am one week away from being halfway done with my project….just that the time is ticking down. Overall, though, I feel that it’s in good shape, and since we have two weeks off for the holidays, I am planning on doing a LOT of reading and revising. Overall, though, I am 8 (official) weeks away from finishing my Master’s. EEP!

(this is not MY regalia)

 

2. Last night, it was discovered that there was only enough coffee left for one person to have coffee this morning. I am sitting here, typing out my three things, and drinking coffee.  How wonderful is the architect? (Answer: pretty damn wonderful.) Apparently a cranky pregnant wife is not something he wants to deal with…

 

3. The other night I was on the bike trainer, and due to the sheer uncomfortableness that is my growing belly, I can only stay on for about 15 minutes at a time. So I ride for 15 minutes, get off and do some upper body strength training, rinse, repeat. I had just gotten off the bike for my second set of weights and had picked up a 10 lb weight. I heard a weird noise from the kitchen, and as I looked over, I saw the xmas decoration box go flying in one direction, and before I knew what had happened, felt impact in my wrist, then the bike pedals started spinning, and then a blur ran up the stairs. It was our youngest, Lola. She’d been sitting on the box, something startled her, and she took off like a bat cat out of hell. She hit her head on my dumbbell, and since I was holding it very loosely, it spun around and hit me in the wrist (and I have the swelling & bruising to prove it), then ran into the bike on the trainer (specifically the pedals) before getting out of the obstacle course that is the living room and heading upstairs. If it hadn’t been so painful, it would’ve been hilarious. (We checked Lola out, too, and she seemed normal the same as usual.) Crazy cats!

She looks so calm in this photo

 

Happy almost weekend!

 

The first two photos were found on Flickr by searching for pics available under the Creative Commons license.

So long, long weekend….

Nov 27th, 2011
by gazelle.
2 comments

Even though I only worked a half day on Wednesday, I felt like there wasn’t too much of a break this weekend. Wednesday afternoon was spent yoga-ing, and having pancakes, and oohing & aahing over my neighbors’ new baby. Wednesday evening was some preparatory dinner prep and the 5th annual Thanksgiving Eve dinner at the local McMenamin’s. (On our first annual Thanksgiving Eve McMenamin’s dinner, there was an older [read: 60s] woman who’d been celebrating the season a bit too much. There was also an adjacent parking lot with lots of signs saying “do not park here for McMenamins.” And signs at McMenamin’s saying the same thing. And a couple of announcements to that effect. SO – when the McMenamin’s staff announced that cars were being towed from the lot, you’d think that wouldn’t effect anyone in the bar. But, alas! The lady’s car was towed, and fortunately she was not the actual driver off the car. Her husband rushed off to try to save the car, and she started yelling at the bartender. She threatened to sue him, his family, and everyone who ever was associated with McMenamin’s. When he (very politely) asked her to leave, she told him he couldn’t make her leave and she was going to call the cops. He seemed okay with this. Unfortunately, before the police could be called, her husband showed up, greatly embarrassed, and hauled her away. Ever since then, we’ve gone back every year hoping for a repeat performance.)

Longest parenthetical ever? Yes.

ANYWAYS – Wednesday = busy. Thursday = busy. Friday = busy (school work, all day). Saturday = nothing planned! So, naturally, we worked on the bathroom all afternoon. We are so very close to being done. All that’s left is to build/install the built-ins, seal the grout, and add the wainscot trim. SO CLOSE!

And it is looking so good. And now, the long weekend is winding to a close, and I’m wishing that I didn’t have to go make money to pay for the mortgage (and food! I love food!), and could stay home baking, and painting, and rearranging the nursery, and exercising….

 

I hope you had a great weekend, too! More tomorrow (including a recipe for cookies that may actually turn into crack when dipped in coffee! YAY!

Gratitude Journal

November 27, 2011: I am grateful that I have access to a bike trainer which allows me to get my 45 minutes of cardio in this afternoon without having to go outside in the rain.

November 26, 2011: I am grateful that we’re almost (so close!) done with our bathroom remodel. I am really looking forward to showering upstairs again.

November 25, 2011: I am grateful that I had so many delicious leftovers. I looooooooooove open faced turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy.

November 24, 2011:I am grateful that I was able to have a family Thanksgiving this year! It may have just been me, the architect, my cousin & her father, but it was a fun family gathering. And I’m pretty sure no one went home hungry.

November 23, 2011: I am grateful for the architect (I know he’s been mentioned a couple of times already, but I am really grateful for him). He is so patient with me when I’m being ridiculous and emotional; and he will fetch the ice cream out of the basement freezer so I don’t have to go down the stairs. Really, a wonderful man.

November 22, 2011: I am grateful that I have such excellent furry foot warmers who like to curl up by me when I sleeping and steal the covers. Well, maybe not that last part, but I do love my cats!

November 21, 2011: I am grateful for my excellent co-workers that make my days much less crappy (and more productive).

November 20, 2011: I am grateful for my beer theater. It is close to my house, has $4 first-run movies before 6 pm, serves decent pizza, and has beer and wine. Also, it has bottle water, which is what I had today.

November 19, 2011: I am grateful for random port-o-potties on my running route.

November 18, 2011: I am grateful that I have a connection to bits of my cultural heritage; I can’t imagine a world without lefse, and am so pleased that I have learned how to do it and have a skill I can pass on to Alvie Bean.

November 17, 2011: I am grateful for coffee. I know it seems like I mentioned it yesterday, but yesterday I only said I was grateful for the coffee maker (in a list of other things). But I really wanted to draw attention to coffee as deserving of its own special day. Coffee is the best beverage ever invented. I don’t understand how I got through so many years never drinking it and thinking it really wasn’t that great. Mmmmmm……coffee.

November 16, 2011: I am grateful for all the little luxuries I have that I often take for granted…my car, my phone, the coffee maker (so very grateful for my coffee maker). It’s so easy to caught up in the things I don’t have that I occasionally forget how very lucky I am. My life is so freaking awesome.

November 15, 2011: I am grateful that I have the kind of job/life/etc. that allows me to afford pretty shoes, and the level-headedness that keeps me from buying (very many) shoes that wouldn’t be practical.

November 14, 2011: I am grateful that I work in a place with lots of little food nooks. It’s always an easy walk to grab more food. Which I do more often than ever, lately.

November 13, 2011: I am grateful for streaming Netflix (and Hulu Plus!). Also, I am grateful for John Barrowman. And my new found love of Torchwood.

November 12, 2011: I am grateful for my awesome friends! I got so much good quality friend-time this weekend! Walks & cocoa & thrifting with her! Ornament painting and dinner and movies with Alisa, Jen, Lisa & Sarah! Cocoa and a chat with her! (I should maybe also mention that I’m grateful for hot cocoa.)

November 11, 2011: I am grateful for laid back evenings at home with the architect.

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn.

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011:I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy.

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