Friday Friday Friday

Yes it is Friday (could you tell from my title)? It is also payday (woohoo) and the weather is going to be beautiful. So time for to try out a new bloghop and post an old one.

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Friday Fragments

I now know why health care is so dang expensive. Whitney is having severe allergies at college and trying to find a doctor for her is a needle in a haystack. You would think with two major hospitals within five miles there would be some kind of doctor that you could get in to see. But no, we are looking at 1-3 weeks for an initial appointment because she is a new patient. And they say go to minor emergency to get checked out because she can't wait that long. This is why it costs so much, because people who just need a doctor can't get in to see one and clog up the ER rooms. Blech.

My baby turns 19 tomorrow. First time I won't see her on her birthday. She already got her present (iphone plus a data plan). It is also her sorority's victory dance so she had plans that night. Costume party with the theme famous couples. Luckily one of her co-scholarship recipients agreed to be her date and doesn't mind dressing up. They are going as Harry Potter and Hermoine thanks to the robe she bought last year for Halloween and a friend had the same one.

Last night Project Runway eliminated the wrong person. Good grief can anyone be a bigger drama queen than Josh. No one in their right mind would want to wear tight plaid pants that make your butt look three sizes larger than it is.

Oklahoma City is offering $100 a week for one lucky person who recycles. Norman needs to do that and pick the person who recycles the most. I know we would win on that one. We generate more plastic bottles and soda cans than you would think a family of two could do.

Tried organic wine for the first time last night. I'm sure it was a low end variety based on the price but it sucked. I guess I need me some chemicals.

The dog needs a bath desperately. Hopefully we'll remember to give it to her this weekend. Because she STINKS!

Hope the weather is good wherever you are. I think it will be here!

Curse these Feet

I hate my feet. (Note that no pictures of said feet will appear in this blog to protect your innocent eyes). They have to be some of the hardest to fit feet in the world. Shoe shopping is a nightmare. I would love to be able to walk into a store and go up to a cute pair of shoes that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and put them on and have them fit perfectly. HAHA. I was cursed blessed with narrow heels. Every pair of slip on loafer, sandal, boot made out there seems to be made for medium heels. Not a single pair fits me. I have tried narrow shoes (when I can find them) and they don't fit. For years I had one pair of shoes I wore to work every day and when it wore out I bought another pair just like it. It was a tie shoe and I could cinch up the laces super tight and the shoe would stay on. Alas, that shoe wore out and there is none to be found. In the winter I can get away with boots because I wear really thick socks and the slipping isn't too bad. In the summer sandals are ok but I don't like ones with the toe strap so that really makes it hard to find.

But now I actually need to buy a pair of dress shoes. I wear jeans to work all winter but I needed a pair of slacks so I can wear them to a national meeting and look professional. I mean I am professional I just don't dress that way. So I went to six stores over the weekend and nothing fit. I even tried the expensive store but I just can't pay over $100 for a pair of shoes that I'm hardly going to wear. So I thought fine, I'll just get another pair of boots and make them work with the slacks. Now I can't find any boots. They are either the really low ones or knee high ones that won't fit over my fat toned calf. So what do I do? I guess I'm going to have to go online and order a bunch from a website that offers free shipping both ways and hope that something will work. Because I still have to get the slacks altered for my short body. My meeting is in two weeks. Yikes.

Weekend Visit

On Sunday we went to visit Whitney at college. (OK, that sounds strange). She needed a costume for a party next weekend and so we took it to her along with a few other things. And of course like good parents we took her out to lunch and bought her food for her room. We were able to see all the neat things her sorority big sis did for her this past week.

These were outside the door but Whitney has moved them to her closet door so her roommate doesn't have to walk through them all the time.

You can't have enough Greek letters

Her big sis painted a stepstool for her with her name and their symbol. Perfect for her to reach her top shelf in the closet.

Love notes from her family

Not being a greek member myself, I had no idea of everything involved. It seems this family thing is really big with her sorority. They have even named the big branches and then the smaller branches. Quite entertaining to hear about.

Week One TV Reviews

Last week I brought you a list of shows I was going to watch this fall. I did watch all of them (well except the Iron Chef one because it doesn't start until next month). So here's my review.

1. Person of Interest
I almost was going to miss it because I was taping two things but I quickly decided to ditch night two of the X Factor to watch it. I sure am glad I didn't miss it. It was very interesting and creative. It had enough believability that you think it could happen but you know it can't. I highly recommend this one if you like crime solving shows. This is definitely one that I want Dan to watch with me.

2. Revenge
I can see where this is going to run out of steam at some point. Because really how many people can she get revenge against for what happened to her father. But I enjoyed the show. I would call it chick tv.

3. The X Factor
I watched the first night but will wait until after they get past this audition stage to watch it again. I really don't like watching bad singers. All they are doing is encouraging crap. I just want talent people. So I'll hold off for a couple of weeks.

4. Prime Suspect
I forgot to mention this one and in fact I missed the first half of the show. I like Maria Bello. It seemed fast paced and I could get into it. So I'll be watching this one again. And Dan might watch it with me because he likes her too. Check out The Cooler if you want to see her in a good movie.

5. The Amazing Race
I wish they would cast this show differently. I'm tired of the newly dated good looking couple, the blondes, the dumb girls with big boobs teams. Please, can we have normal everyday people. The dumb girls lost their passports before they even made it to the airport. How lucky for them that someone at the gas station realized they were on the show and posted on twitter they found them and were told to take them to the airport. Otherwise they wouldn't have even made it out of the country. Can't wait to get them off the show fast. I withhold judgement on the rest of the teams until another week of so goes by. And the tasks better get harder.

6. Glee
We saw our first Glee Project runner up on this show in a role just like the creator described. Overall I thought it was a good first show. Although the Sue craziness running for congress is way too much. And thank you for having Blaine join the school. Next week's preview however had the best line to come out of the show for quite awhile thanks to our resident dumb blonde Brittney. It was so funny that Whitney and I started texting each other immediately with it and I think it is our new catch phrase. They've been using it in the commercials and it still cracks me up. "What's the capital of Ohio?" "O"  LOL

Project Runway is wearing on me. There doesn't seem to be much talent this year. There is an all-star version coming up and I'm more hopeful for them. FoodTruck Road Race ended last night. Think I'm done watching anything like that again.

Basil Pesto Recipe

I've talked about our pesto recipe many times in the blog so I thought I would post it now in case anyone has leftover basil this season. This is the second recipe we've tried and we enjoy it more than our first one by Lydia Bastianich. It comes from Food Network.

Basil Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlie
1/4 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Combine basil, garlic and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

At this point freeze it.

If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

That's it. Add it to your favorite pasta. How easy is that. We have six batches in the freezer so we'll be able to satisfy our cravings for a few months. Hopefully until the new season of basil.

Summer is Over - Top 10 Reasons

So today officially marks the first day of fall. We all know that just because the calendar says it is fall, the weather doesn't agree. Today is supposed to be 86 and sunny while yesterday was 70 and rainy. But there are signs that summer is over. Here is the top 10 reasons summer is over.
1. We had to make three batches of pesto last night because the basil was not happy with cooler night temperatures. Now we have 7 batches in the freezer so we can have pesto year round. Yummy.
2. We have been able to sleep with the windows open most nights for the last couple of weeks. This is a huge relief, although we still have to run the air conditioning during the late afternoon/evening.
3. We have been able to bake things in the oven without feeling like the house was going to become a sauna. I love to bake so this is a good sign.
4. The record high temperatures for the last week have not been 100 degrees or more. This is a big sign that we are past the horrible record summer temperatures.
5. I've been wearing jeans to work. A sure sign that it is cooler since I spent the summer in capris and skorts.
6. I don't feel funny about having fall decorations out. In fact it is quite lovely to have pumpkins and mums around.
7. My tastebuds are dreaming of gumbo, chili and lasagna. All cool weather foods.
8. TV has had its week of season premiers. I've even watched a new show.
9. The state fair is wrapping up this weekend. It brought rain like it does every year. 
10. We brought the dog house out last night. And it was cool enough that the dog went in it last night. Some things she doesn't forget.
Linking up today with Follow Friday for 40 and Older.

Creamy Burrito Casserole

So this week's new recipe was to help fix our Mexican food need. Most of these ingredients are easily found in my house. I just needed to make sure and get some sour cream while at the store. We found the recipe at food.com. It definitely lived up to its name of creamy. We made it in a 2 quart rectangle casserole dish. It filled it to the top. It will probably feed us 3-4 times. I'll keep this recipe because it is enough different some others that we already have. And very easy to make.


Creamy Burrito Casserole

1 lb ground beef or ground turkey

1/2 medium onion chopped

1 package of taco seasoning

6 large flour tortillas

1 can refried beans

2-3 cups shredded cheese (cheddar or taco mix)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

4 ounces sour cream

jarred hot sauce if you want spicy

1. Brown ground meat and onion, drain if necessary

2. Add taco seasoning and mix in refried beans

3. Mix sour cream and soup in separate bowl

4. Spread 1/2 of soup mixture in casserole dish

5. Tear up 3 tortillas and spread over soup mixture

6. Put 1/2 of meat mixture over tortillas

7. Add a layer of cheese

8. You can add hot sauce now

9. Repeat layers

10. Sprinkle cheese over top and bake uncovered 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees

Definitely make sure you have enough meat for the top layer otherwise your tortillas will get a lot of heat and be extra crunchy. We used 3 cups of cheese because we like things cheesy. We also made the casserole the night before and refrigerated it before cooking it before we ate. I think that worked well but it needed the full 30 minutes to warm up (even after we had let it sit out awhile to try to get to room temperature). 

Served with extra sour cream and salsa but necessary

Wednesday Hodgepodge - Fall Can't Come Fast Enough

1. Do you like chili? Red or white? Beans or no beans? Spice or no spice? Toppings?

I love chili. It is the first type of comfort food I make for cooler temperatures. We have an awesome recipe that uses a bunch of cayenne and regular chili powder. So definitely spicy. It has chili beans but we've used a combo with kidney beans too. Usually we put crushed crackers in the bottom of the bowl and then add shredded cheese on top. And if I have sour cream at home, I'll add a little of that. At work we used to have a chili cook-off and the first year I made this I won for tastiest chili.

We also have a milder version of a turkey chili that Whitney likes because she doesn't really like spicy. So two good recipes. Wow, now I'm really hungry for it. Of course it is 90 degrees so I doubt I'll be making it this week.

2. Red~Orange~Gold...your favorite fall color?

Well I love red normally so I guess that would be it. But the combination of red and gold always makes me get in a fall mood. I really need to pull out some fall decorations and get fall started.

3. Who did you idolize when you were growing up?

I didn't idolize anyone. I wasn't raised that way and I don't think anyone should idolize anyone now. That's what causes a lot of problems in this world. Picking the wrong person to idolize.

4. When was the last time you did something 'arts and craftsy'? Share please.

Well this is easy. I blogged about it earlier when we dyed a white dress red. It turned out great and the dress has gotten more use out of it in three months than it did in the year she had it previously.

5. What's a place that makes you really nervous?

Driving over super high on/off ramps. I'm so glad we don't have any of those in the OKC area. I hate driving through Dallas because they have some doozies.

6. Horse back riding...yay or nay (neigh?)

I've ridden a horse a couple of times. Nothing that I'm dying to do again. Whitney took lessons for a couple of years and really did like it. Of course she was allergic to the hay so that made it a little difficult, but she did have fun.

7. What is your favorite cliche?

It's raining cats and dogs. I just like the sound of it. Very descriptive and yet you know it can't happen.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I'm in a quandry. I signed up to do after-school tutoring for at-risk youth this fall. It was supposed to be one day a week from 4-5. I got permission to get off work. And now I just got an email saying they are changing the time to 5-6. I don't know if I can do it then. I have things I do right after work on Wednesdays. And I don't like that they changed it after one week. I know its a good program, but I don't know what to do.

Fall TV Viewing

So the fall tv schedule is out and it's time to pick what I want to watch. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Some are my old standbys but I need to try something new. So here is what I'm planning. All times are central standard since that's where I watch.

1. The Amazing Race. The best reality show there is. The last couple of seasons have been a little spotty but overall it is a great way to see the world. Please stop putting on newly dated "beautiful" couples. I want real life people who treat each other with respect. Someday I would like to see the Phil eyebrow in person. For those of you who watch the show, you know exactly what I mean. Sundays at 7pm on CBS (unless football pushes it back)

2. The X Factor. I'm going to give this a try. I stopped watching American Idol years ago but this has something fresh. As much as people complain about how mean Simon Cowell is, I think he is just being honest. And in the music business, there is no room to be nice and boost up people's hopes if they aren't talented. Wednesday/Thursday at 7pm on FOX

3. The Next Iron Chef - All Stars. I'm a sucker for cooking competition shows where they actually have talent (I never watch that one with Gordon Ramsey because I don't need to see people cursing constantly). I just a commercial for this one a couple of days ago. It has several of my favorite chefs on it (Anne Burrell, love that girl). Sundays at 8pm on Food Network starting October 30

4. Glee. Here's hoping that season three gets rid of some of the crud that they got stuck on last season. Maybe the influx of newbies from the Glee Project and the fact that some of these people are graduating will make it more cohesive. Of course if I'm looking for realism, I'm looking at the wrong show. Tuesday at 7pm on FOX

Shows I'm thinking about are Revenge on ABC and Person of Interest on CBS.

I'm still finishing up seasons of Project Runway, The Great Food Truck Race and any episode of Without a Trace that I haven't seen. I have no idea why I didn't watch that show when it was on tv for the first time.

How I Spent My Weekend

I think it was a productive weekend. Saturday was laundry/grocery shopping and of course, OU football. The game was at night and let me tell you, I don't like nailbiters. I prefer the good old butt-kicking 50-0 scores. But the Sooners did win and all is happy in Norman land.

Sunday was clean out closet day. This all started because Whitney needed a costume from her closet for a sorority party and I couldn't find part of it. I knew that I needed to straighten her closet, so I got in there and moved stuff around. I put all her shoes on the shoe rack (I know an interesting concept) and found the part of the costume that I knew was in there. But I searched her room including straightening out her drawers but no wand. I did find 8 pairs of pantyhose she had to have for pom. She kept asking for new ones and I assumed it was because they had runs. I think it was just because she didn't want to wash them. Dan cleaned out his closet and got a huge bag of clothes to donate together and another bag of clothes to throw away. I now have a pile of things to sew and repair though. So while the closets are clean, the mending pile is large.

I Work With A Great Bunch of People

Today reaffirmed that I really do work with great people. Every year we are lucky (and I do mean lucky) to participate in the United Way Day of Caring. There is usually about 25-30 people from the weather people I work with who go to a local non-profit and put in a day of work. We've painted, cleaned, cut down trees and various other activities. But today we got to go to a facility that works with disabled children and put on a carnival. It was a rainy day (the first in months) so we had to be indoors. And it didn't take too long to set up. So my co-workers decided to play the games themselves. It was rather entertaining to see grown men throwing bean bags and getting face tattoos.

Had to make sure they knew how to apply a tattoo - Scooby Doo

Throwing a ball around the room

At the end of the day, these grown men decided that they needed to go down the slide...a two story corkscrew slide. It had to be the funniest thing of the day. A couple of them tried to come down head first and would get stuck in the corkscrew. Then when they got unstuck, the went so fast they fell on the floor.

The slide before the guys went down

We even made sand art

The people I work with have kind and giving hearts. They tried to make the day extra-special for the kids.

Blog Award - My First One

Well I've been blogging for several years and I got my first award from fellow blogger Lynn Marie at Life Through Bifocals.

The Liebster Award (meaning “friend” in German) is meant to connect us even more and spotlight new bloggers who have less than 200 followers – but hopefully not for long. The rules are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the Internet – other writers.
5. And best of all – have fun and spread the karma! 


I don't have a lot of followers but I'm happy to point any of you towards a few great blogs.


1. Sarah at Sarah Has Moxie - This is probably my most favorite blog to read. She has such interesting stories living in Brussels. I found it originally because it was a Blog of Note.
2. SkippyMom at I Make Soap
3. GB at Chronicles of GB & DB
4. Laura at One Little Boy - She is my sister-in-law and they are in the process of adopting a boy from Eastern Europe. This is their story.
5. Stacie at Park Avenue

That Crazy Oklahoma Weather

This seems to be a running theme in my blogs...the weather. But once again, that old saying "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes" continues to come true here. After experiencing some lovely 80 degree days with nights in the 60's and windows opened (yeah), we hit 100 degrees yesterday. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 60 degrees for a high. Yes that is a 40 degree temperature swing. And then we'll be back in the 90's for the weekend.

As much as I appreciate and love the cooler temperatures, I sure would appreciate a slower swing. I keep feeling like I'm getting a cold and I know it is because of the weather.

New Retirement Plan at Work

We are getting a new retirement plan at work. Today was an info session. The best part is I think I'm falling in love with investments again. I used to have a stock market account and did tons of research on which stock to buy. Why I never applied that to my retirement accounts I don't know. But now the choices are endless. I have the time. I have the energy. I have the drive. I have incentive.

Now it is time to sit down and plan. YIPPEE!!!!!

Rigatoni Florentine

So in our quest to continue eating food that Whitney doesn't like, Dan bought a big thing of fresh spinach this past week. We had spinach salads earlier but I wanted something different. So I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It was really tasty. I cut the recipe in half and supposedly it makes 4 servings now. However it will make six servings in our world, so we'll eat it twice this week and freeze some.

My only changes is to maybe cut back some chicken and add more spinach. Otherwise it was really tasty.

Our finished dish - yummy

Ingredients (Serves 8)

• 1 (16 ounce) package rigatoni pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds boneless chicken, cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 26 ounces spaghetti sauce
• 10 ounces fresh spinach, washed and chopped
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and reserve.
2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until cooked through and no longer pink inside. Add garlic to skillet; saute until golden. Add cream and spaghetti sauce to skillet; cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until sauce thickens.
3. Add cooked chicken and spinach and cook until spinach reduces. Then add rigatoni; toss with cheese and serve.

My New Favorite Candle

Last weekend, Whitney and I went shopping (many times I might add). And one of those trips ended up at Bath and Body Works. She wanted some hand sanitizer; I just wanted to get out of there without overwhelming my sense of smell. But they had all their fall smells. I love pumpkin stuff so I smelled around. And then I came across this beauty: Mint Chocolate candles.

Bath & Body Works Mint Chocolate

I had never seen a candle that combined these two scents. I was instantly taken to my favorite ice cream, mint chocolate chip. And boy did it smell good. But they were expensive candles, even at the 2 for $20 sale they were having. (I'm a big $5 or less candle buyer unless it is Yankee Candles and then only if it is clearanced). But Whitney was like go ahead mom and buy it. And I did. And my bathroom has smelled good ever since. Luckily I still have another one that I can use when this one goes out. But it definitely is my new favorite candle.

White Dress Part Two

So in May 2010 we had to buy a white dress for Whitney to wear in a photo for pom. Now this is a child that doesn't look good in white, but we found a cute dress that wasn't expensive for the photo. And then it sat in her closet for months and months. This May we decided to dye it red as I described in an earlier blog. So I thought that was the end of the story.

But not so fast. Last night she found out that for her sorority initiation, she has to wear a white dress. Don't these people realize that it is September and not all girls have white dresses nor do they want a white dress. Thank goodness for the internet. We have found several dresses on clearance at Penneys that I'm going to order tonight in multiple sizes and have shipped to her dorm. And then she can return all of them except the one she wants to the closest Penneys. And I can get free shipping. I did this for her prom dress and it worked out well. So I'm crossing my fingers that one of them fits.

Mushroom and Chicken Risotto

One of the things with Whitney being gone is that we are able to cook things that we know she doesn't like and that we do. This recipe combines a couple of them...mushrooms and rice. I had bought a clearanced book at Borders with chicken recipes from Food and Wine magazine.

Courtesy of Food and Wine Magazine

Mushroom and Chicken Risotto

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, cut into thin slices
2/3 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
5 1/2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock, more if needed
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1.In a large pot, heat the butter over moderate heat. Add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Cook until the chicken is just done, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the mixture from the pan. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer.

Chicken and Mushrooms

2.In the large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir until it begins to turn opaque, about 2 minutes.

Risotto

3.Add the wine and the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt to the rice. Cook, stirring frequently, until all of the wine has been absorbed. Add about 1/2 cup of the simmering broth and cook, stirring frequently, until it has been absorbed. The rice and broth should bubble gently; adjust the heat as needed. Continue cooking the rice, adding broth 1/2 cup at a time and allowing the rice to absorb it before adding the next 1/2 cup. Cook the rice in this way until tender, 25 to 30 minutes in all. The broth that hasn't been absorbed should be thickened by the starch from the rice. You may not need to use all the liquid, or you may need more broth or some water.

4.Stir in the chicken and mushrooms, the Parmesan, and the parsley and heat through. Serve the risotto with additional Parmesan.



Our finished product



Things I would change with this recipe is to cook the chicken separately and add more seasoning. By cooking in the same pot as the mushrooms it couldn't get brown and it lacked flavor. We used four cans of chicken broth because it always seems like our risotto is too thick. And I didn't have an onion so we used dried minced onion. We also don't like parsley so we didn't add any.

 

We have a similar recipe that uses italian sausage instead of chicken. I liked that the chunked chicken made it feel more like a meal than the tiny bits of sausage. 

Ugly Uniforms

Yesterday's start of college football introduced another round of "How Ugly Can We Make Our Players?" You know the game within a game to see who can be talked about in the most unflattering terms.

Our contenders:

Oregon Ducks

This picture does not capture the true essence of the uniforms, the flourescent yellow spats, gloves and numbers. Whitney's description is it looked like they were ready for a black light rave after the game. I thought that maybe they had a secret weapon that would turn off the lights and they would be able to see each other and score touchdowns. And this does seem to be tame compared to some of the Oregon masterpieces of past years. All thanks to the huge donations of Phil Knight of Nike fame. Guess when you have a donor that big you do what he tells you to do.

Georgia Bulldogs

Once again the picture doesn't do look as bad as it did on tv. Quite the color scheme. They played the Boise State Broncos whose uniform didn't match their usual tackiness but the helmet was a mess. Of course if you play on a blue field, color schemes and sanity don't really play into uniform choice.

Poor birds try and land here because it is so blue

Oklahoma State Cowboys

I'm not afraid to add a state team to this list. I hadn't watched any of their game and only was made aware of this ugliness after a friend mentioned it. I'm not sure how to describe this except as a gray shirt with a handwarming patch. Of course it was 90+ degrees during the game so I'm not sure how much they needed to warm their hands.

Personally I think the worst was Oregon. Simply because they looked like they were ready for a black-light party and forgot to tell the others it was that kind of a night.

Who filled the sink with water?

OK. Mysterious things have been happening around my house. The culprit is yet to be identified. Last night thought we may have solved the riddle.

Over the last month, things have been happening overnight in the house. Like strange things. One night my pill bottle that I had left next to the bathroom sink was found in the morning with the lid half off and pills all over the floor. Two nights later disaster struck when said pill bottle was emptied into a full sink of water. Lucky for us the water was turned off after it was filled because we would have had a massive flood. Unfortunately I couldn't get that prescription refilled until September 5 because it was a three month one and I still had two months left.

So Dan and I figured one of us was sleep-walking. We weren't sure which one since those nights I had taken a sleeping pill so it could have been me. But he has been known to do it before. But last night the culprit was caught (at least we are going with that answer). Dan got up at 1:30am and went to the bathroom. No big deal. But then he turned on the light (not usual) and I could hear him rustling around. Turned off the light, went out to the kitchen. Then I heard the ice trays being emptied into the cooler. I yelled at him what he was doing. He was getting ready for work. That he didn't have to leave for until 6:15. Yes, he was sleepwalking. And doing a darn fine job of getting ready for work. Except he took his night medicine instead of his morning medicine and then filled that pill tray with water and put it in the drawer. And leaving ice trays out so they melted. Luckily, me yelling at him woke him up enough so he realized what he was doing and came back to bed. And then went right back to sleep.

So we hope that the mystery is solved. Not sure what we can do about it, but at least I know it isn't me. And isn't that the important thing? 

September is Here

Wow eight months are gone already this year. Phew, it just keeps going and going.

Things I am looking forward to this month:

1. I hope (crossing fingers) to have temperatures that don't have triple digits. And if we could get one or two days in that I have to wear a jacket (haha) in the morning I would greatly appreciate it.

2. Football starts up this weekend. This year I won't be attending the high school games (the only reason I went was to see Whitney) but I still hope the Tigers do well. Their first game is tonight against the other high school in town. OU plays Saturday night and the one good thing about having a number one ranked team is the games are televised (except when we play Idaho State or somplace like that). It used to be that if it wasn't on tv, I wouldn't know anything because I couldn't stand the play-by-play announcer. However he finally retired and they have a new one. So I'll give him a shot on the odd game that isn't on tv.

3. A visit home from Whitney this weekend. The list is long for everything we need to cram into 2 days, but we can do it. Lots of shopping (for the rest of the "uniform" for her scholarship, nice clothes for sorority events), baking (she has requests for two types of cookies to take back), laundry (it hasn't been done since she left home 3 weeks ago), probably a bath since she doesn't have a tub, and sleeping in her own bed with the door closed and no one else to share anything with. The simple things that you miss as an only child living in a dorm.

4. Starting my middle school tutoring. My church started a program that has spun off to do tutoring/mentoring for at-risk middle school children. I wanted to do something and my boss is allowing me to leave work early one day a week to tutor. I hope that I'm prepared to do this, have patience and make a difference in these kids lives. I can't imagine what some of them have gone through at a young age. Makes you appreciate what you have hopefully.

5. United Way Day of Caring. I love doing this event. Once a year work gets a group together to go help out with the city wide event. Last year I put together a book fair for a childcare center. In previous years we've painted, cleared out weeds, cut down trees, sorted donations after Hurricane Katrina. It is definitely a sweaty day but you feel good afterwards. And it was the only day in 23 years of marriage that Dan told me I stunk so bad I had to take a shower right away.

So it will be a busy month. And I really do want cooler weather so when fall shows up on the calendar, it will mean it.