I Did It! I Really Did It!

Art's parents couldn't come up for Thanksgiving this year, because they are working. Stupid places that make people work on Thanksgiving. Anyway. His parents brought the turkey last year. This year? It was up to me.

And I was scared out of my tree.

I was always of the opinion that cooking a turkey was only something you did at the height of your cooking career. I thought I should have perfected many many many meals before tackling a giant bird.

So I just went slowly. I followed the directions exactly. I thawed it, washed it, basted it, put it in a pan, poured some chicken stock all over, and stuck it in the oven for 5 hours. And it was beautiful. And moist. And delicious. (And I started a tiny fire in the oven around hour three, but it was over in a flash. I just spilled some drippings. I'll buy some heavy duty oven cleaner soon.)

And then I made stuffing, and candied yams, and corn, and Mari made gravy and mashed potatoes, and we had dinner rolls..... It was THE perfect Thanksgiving dinner. And we made it all ourselves.

Oh, and the house is clean.

I know today is supposed to be a day of thankfulness, not bragging. But I'm just gotta say it: I rock!

Don't worry, I'm also thankful. For family. And food. And no fires or injuries. And help with dinner. And the turkey that gave its life so I could realize my full cooking potential. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Change Is In the Air

Things sure have changed since Art started his new job. And they aren't bad changes. But I'm still definitely getting used to them.

He and I get up at the same time every morning, which I love. It's easier getting ready for work when I'm not tip-toeing around, dressing in the dark because I don't want to wake him by turning on lights.

And just the fact that he has a regular, predictable schedule. 7-4, Monday through Friday. (Also, the extra money certainly doesn't hurt either.) :D

Now that he's working during the day (as opposed to being home during the day), I suddenly feel compelled to cook, because I know that he isn't going to eat a small meal around 3:30 like he used to. So he's really hungry when he gets home.

It's good for me, because I want to become a better cook, and there's no other way to do that then to cook. It does make my evenings shorter though. I get home from work at 5:00, tidy up a bit, start dinner at 5:15, Art gets home around 5:45, we're eating by 6:00, I start the dishes around 7:00, done by 7:30, and any other cleaning that needs to be done, I try to get it done before 8:00. Art and I have an agreement that I won't do chores past 8:00 (because sometimes I start something late, and I get caught up, and I'm still going strong at 10:30, when I should be in bed.

So I'm done chores by 8:00, and from then on it's relax and unwind time. I'm trying to get through a book that Art really wants me to read (because it's due back at the library next week). It's called "Financial Peace Revisited" by Dave Ramsey. It's REALLY good stuff, and we definitely need it. It's helping us figure out how to be smarter with our money so that we can save quickly and pay off our debt quickly. But I'm not getting through it as quickly as I'd like, because (getting back to my daily schedule) bedtime is 9:30. So I read from 8:00 till 8:30, and then I shower, and then dry my hair, and then get ready for bed.

Yeah. Half an hour a day for reading won't get me very far very quickly. And, (as you've perhaps noticed) it leaves me no time for blogging (or pretty much anything else having to do with the computer). And I realize that feeding my husband, taking care of the house, and organizing our finances are more important than blogging or Facebook, but I do miss it a little. I guess that's what the weekend is for.

What I'm trying to say is, this is going to be the new trend for quite some time. I enjoy blogging, and I enjoy reading all your blogs, but I just don't have as much time for it. So there it is. There is going to be less Jenene on the internet from now on. I'll try to blog once a week, because the main purpose of this blog always will be for my family back home to keep up with my life. If I don't post for a while, I promise you're not missing anything. Unless you're REALLY interested in knowing how many dishes I wash each and every day. In that case, you're probably a stalker, and I don't blog for stalkers. I should make that into a bumper sticker.

I really will try to blog each weekend, because my weekends are always enjoyable. Friday night, Art I went out on a date. He insisted that we go somewhere new, so we tried a Thai restaurant that we had never been to. We shared an appetizer of chicken skewers dipped in peanut sauce and our main dish? Duck. Art is absolutely in love with duck, and know I know why. I don't love it as much as I love sushi (I could eat sushi every day for the rest of my life). But duck is so delicious. You gotta try it at least once.

We went to Dairy Queen for dessert, because we're really classy like that. And it was cheaper than dessert at the restaurant. I remember when I used to think that couples who went out for a fast food date had no concept of romance. But now I realize that just intentionally setting aside time to spend with Art fosters romance. It doesn't matter where we go. Or even if we go out at all. Romance is not a fancy restaurant, or expensive new jewelry. Romance is making sure that, in all the busyness of life, we don't forget about our marriage and each other.

I'm glad I figured that one out. Otherwise, I would be feeling pretty unloved by now. Because we cannot afford fancy anything right now.

So. The rest of my weekend. Saturday I slept in. And then I got up and lounged around in comfy clothes all day. I love Saturdays. Then our friends came over and brought DDR. And we played that almost all evening. My calves are a just a little sore. And there was UFC, and I made delicious Beef and Broccoli... (Speaking of cooking, I have a new recipe to share with you.)

And then today, we went to church and put together Thanksgiving food baskets for various families in the area who struggle to buy even the most basic things, like groceries. The rest of today has been spent relaxing, talking to my mom, making Christmas gift lists. I also did a little baking, and I went for a walk to buy groceries. And tonight, I might learn how to crochet. I heard it's quicker and so much easier! I'm kind of excited.

Well, my friends are here, so I should get off the computer now. Have a great week!

I Am a Walking Garfield Comic Strip

You know how Garfield hates Mondays? Because not only is it not the weekend, but Mondays also seem to do cruel things to people? Well, today is Monday, in every sense of the word/idea.

Yesterday, as Art and I were about to get in the car to go see some friends, I tripped over something in the dark, and thankfully, landed on my hands and knees (as opposed to landing on my face). My hands and knees were skinned and bruised last night, and this morning, they are skinned, bruised, and also swollen. It's a good thing my hands and knees aren't that important. It only hurts when I do anything.

We are also having some pleasant, hurricane-like weather right now. You know. Rain, and winds up to 60 miles per hour. I do believe that's standard highway speed, in case anyone needs a reference. I did an official survey, and found that this type of weather is enjoyed by approximately zero people. So you can imagine my unhappiness that we are experiencing this, especially on a Monday.

And I'm sure you can imagine my even greater unhappiness when I tell that these "sweet summer breezes" kept me up ALL NIGHT. If you are my friend on Facebook, then you already know this, because I updated my status at around 4:30 am. It was bad. I expected our roof to blow off every other half-hour. It sounded like mailboxes and garbage cans were just being flung about, willy nilly. Which they probably were. This does not make for a good night's sleep.

So I'm already injured and sore and slow-moving, and now I'm sleepy and groggy, and I can barely concentrate, never mind actually get anything done. I feel sort of like a cat who was made to dress up against its will.

This guy is not impressed. He's wondering why the world hates him so. Also? Stuffonmycat.com is a pretty random and funny website. I may just spend the rest of the day looking at pictures of annoyed cats to make myself feel better.

And tonight I'm going to stuff my face with ice cream and settle in for another long, blustery night. Because apparently we're going to be blessed with this windy fury for a couple of days. Yay us!

Speaking of Blogging...

So I have a new nephew. I know that news is 6 days old, but I'm pretty sure I've done nothing in the past 6 days except stare at pictures of him, because I'm so in love and I can't wait to meet him! I don't think I have ever been so anxious for Christmas in my whole life.

Speaking of Christmas, I submitted a wish list to my mom, because apparently her flying us out for Christmas isn't enough. She wanted stocking stuffer ideas as well. So I gave her a list. That wasn't long enough. Seriously? So I suggested a few more items, but I'm warning everybody: I have officially run out of items for my wish list. So if you insist on pressing me for gift ideas, I will crumble and ask for the thing I shouldn't be asking for. I will beg you to buy me an iPod.

I want one almost as much as I want to meet my nephew, but nobody should be spending $150 on me, unless it's a plane ticket to see you, which is the gift that trumps all gifts. So don't make me go there.

We're doing a Secret Santa gift exchange with our family and friends here in Washington, so when my friend asked me yesterday what I wanted, all I could come up with is chocolate. Our maximum to spend is $25. "Jenene!", she exclaimed, "You can get a lot of chocolate for $25!" "I know", I replied. "That's the point."

As you can see, "Gifts" is not my love language. I'm too practical to ask for things I don't need. And as for the things I want, they can't be wrapped in pretty paper and bows.

I wanted to go home for Christmas. I wanted my sister to have a healthy baby boy (though I would have been just as happy with a girl). I wanted Art to get a second job. I wanted to keep my job permanently (it still isn't official yet, but I'm pretty darn sure I would be gone by now if I wasn't going to be kept on permanently). I also wanted to start saving money and figuring out a budget. All these things happened. I already have what I want.

Art has been reading those Dave Ramsey books concerning money, and budgeting, and getting out of debt, and saving, and all that good stuff. He is starting to change the way he's handling our finances, and he's so excited about it, which makes me excited about it. Watching him develop plans for budgeting and getting out of debt and becoming more financially stable speaks volumes of love to me. I couldn't ask for better Christmas gift. Or anytime gift.

My husband is blessing my socks off these days, and I'm so happy and content.

Speaking of cooking, I tried a new broccoli recipe last week. It included bacon, and you know how bacon only improves everything. I thought for sure that this dish would be a winner. I'm thinking that maybe I didn't cook it right, because it ended up being a soggy mess. It was completely unappetizing, and most of it is still sitting in the fridge. I should just throw it out; I don't know what I'm waiting for. But I'm not going to share that particular recipe with you. If you find a way to improve broccoli with bacon, you let me know.

I did make stir fry two nights ago. I had never done it before, and I know it's pretty much the easiest thing ever, but I had never done it! I didn't know how long to cook anything (I'm pretty afraid of excessive moisture these days), and I didn't know which spices to add, or how much. But it was delicious! I used to hate stir fry, but now, I'm pretty sure I could eat it ever day.

Since I made up the recipe on the spot, I don't know how much of anything I put it. But I can share with you the ingredients. I used chicken, mixed veggies, olive oil, soy sauce, pepper, curry powder, and garlic powder. I probably could have left out the garlic powder, because I didn't taste it at all.

Speaking of work, we are six business days away from the day the new database is introduced. It seems that every day, we have more and more questions, and I'm starting to get scared. How can we operate in a database when there are so many unknowns? I keep hearing that so many of our questions will be answered when we "Go Live", so I'm just crossing my fingers.

We have a test database that we are practicing in, but it's not complete, so there are some things that we can't really practice. Which means we basically won't get anything done that first week with the new database, because we will still be training. Not good. BUT: my manager is doing a stellar job making sure that we take time to discuss the questions we have, every day, and gathering as much information as she can so we can practice as effectively as we can, even with an incomplete test database. I'm not confident about all these changes, but I'm confident in her.

Speaking of Blake, here is another picture of my favorite little man!

He's Here!!!!

**Updated** There's a close-up picture of the little guy down at the bottom.

My older sister gave birth to her baby this morning, and it's a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blake Ryan was born at 1:13am, weighing in at 7lbs 15oz, and is 21 inches long. My sister's mother-in-law already put up a few pictures on her Facebook that she took at the hospital, so I'm going to put it up here until there are more closeup photos taken.



That's him! I knew it was a boy, but now it kind of seems unreal that they have a son. I so can't wait to meet him. I'm a weepy mess right now, because I'm so happy for them, but I want to be there to see them NOW, not in 6 weeks. I just hope there will be lots of pictures every week, so it will feel like I'm there. :)

I've been listening to the hymn Praise To The Lord, The Almighty over and over again, because that's exactly how I feel.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath
Come now with praises before Him!
Let the 'amen' sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him

The Common Cold

Normally, at this time, I would be waiting to board the second bus that would take me from the bus station to home. But today, I'm already at home. I never left.

I got myself a cold, I did. Well, Art gave it to me, because he's so sweet and generous. He was sick over the weekend, and I knew it was only a matter of time. He's already feeling almost 100%, so I hope I have what he has, and I'll be back to my old self in no time.

At least I'm not feeling as bad as I did yesterday. My bones hurt. I don't know if I've ever felt that before. I've had general fever aches, but yesterday, I seriously felt like I had arthritis. My friends came over yesterday and made vats of tea, and forced me to guzzle mug after mug. Art made me soup, and asked me about every 20 minutes if there was anything he could do for me. I have some amazing people in my life.

I wasn't too achy today, except my head has been pounding for about 48 hours straight. I finally gave in and took a painkiller. I didn't want to take any medicine, because though it masks the symptoms, it also suppresses the immune system, making recovery take a lot longer. I had a cold for three weeks last year, and I took medicine every day. So I'm trying to treat myself naturally this time.

But enough about being sick. I'm afraid of infecting you guys just by talking about it. :) There's not much new around here. We didn't hand out candy on Halloween, we went out on a double date! One of Art's friends just got engaged, and we hadn't even met his lady-friend yet, so we went out for dinner, and then saw Where The Wild Things Are. That was Art's favorite book as a kid, and the movie is quite excellent. I recommend it.

These days I'm waiting on pins and needles to hear that my sister has had her baby. )Though I'm sure she's a little bit more impatient than I am.) Yesterday was her due date, as you can see by the baby counter up there. So we're all praying that she goes into labor pretty soon. She wasn't even this late with Kiera, so we're all a bit surprised. But God knows the date, and the baby will be born when the baby will be born.

I'm quite sad that I won't get to be there, but considering how sick I am, it's probably a good thing! I don't like the idea of anyone getting sick from me, but especially not my sister and her family right now.

Okay, I'm going to sign off, I'm super distracted right now. :) I hope you all have a good night and stay healthy!