A (Not So) Quick One

There's a been a change of plan..just a little...for this Saturday.

I have to open up at work and be there until around noon today. Waaa...

This week has been so stressful at work with all kinds of aggravations. One being a scary, woman-hating yelling customer(who is affiliated with a university women's basketball team, which is pretty chilling). Co-workers, with their little quirks are annoying me more than usual(as am am sure I am annoying them with my own little quirks). We have had nothing but huge framing jobs, either in quantity(it is so monotonous to put together the same thing x 10) or size(and dealing with giant heavy plates of picture glass is not my cup of tea). I want this week to be over, but I can't celebrate that until I get out of there and go to the hair salon.

In fact, I want a vacation. But that isn't going to happen any time soon.

So, I'll have to think of my pampering high-lighting session as my own mini-vacation.

My breakfast this morning?

Blueberries in my oatmeal.

Also, a bowl of Indian Pudding(I made another batch to bring in to work this week) with ice cream! Hey, it's Saturday, and I have to work, so I think I deserve it.

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about breaking the coffee machine's carafe? Well, yesterday, we discovered that now the whole coffee maker doesn't work anymore. It was a "cheapie Proctor Silex made-in-China" one, so I guess all we could have expected was five good years out of it?

So, before I went over to my friend's house for the book club wine gulping sessi----er, "meeting", I popped in to Benny's to buy a new coffeemaker, so we wouldn't have to start off the weekend with no coffee. The woman who rang me up remembered me and my story of the broken carafe when I bought the replacement one!! We both had to laugh about that. And...she told me that two days after I came in with my story about breaking the coffee carafe, she went and bumped her's and it broke! I didn't mean to jinx her.

Book night was lovely, with EVERYONE showing up for once. We got to sit in front of a lit fireplace(while the snowflakes swirled outside), we toasted each other with ice cold aquavit(and it was a Danish bottle, incidentally, Zuzana, if you are reading this), we all liked the book we read(Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo") and all agreed upon a Saul Bellow book for next month's selection(I know--some heavy reading, this time). We are also planning a "Julia Child Cook-Off Weekend" at a member's beach cottage this June, where we'll all make a dish from "The Art Of French Cooking" there and sit down to eat it all.

Then, when I got home, I had a slight headache(thankfully I don't have one this morning) and stomach ache(I think the combination of sushi, salmon and dill and stuffed mushrooms and wine...and schnapps churning in my belly might have had something to do with that), so took two aspirin and three Tums and fell into bed.

I have decided that I am sick of the Olympics(doesn't it end this weekend?)--I heard the sound of those damn cowbells that get rung at events from the TV on in the other room last night and they were driving me nuts. Enough!

And crap! That is horrible news about the huge earthquake in Chile. That was the first thing I saw when I logged onto the Internet this morning. Damn. There are way too many bad things happening and people suffering. It puts having to work on a weekend into perspective and makes me remember that my life(at this moment)is pretty darn good.

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This didn't turn out to be as short a post as I thought it would be. But, I called this a "quick" one because this is all random, off the top of my head stuff, fueled by caffeine.

The Ten On Tuesday List

I thought this would be a good thing to do as a way of diving into blogging after a little holiday hiatus-- a Ten On Tuesday list. (go here if you want to participate, as well)Appropriately enough, this week's theme is:

10 New Year's Resolutions

I hadn't really given much thought to any resolutions for 2010, since any I usually make, I don't stick with for more than a month. And ten ??!

But, I can always try and who knows? This *might* be the year I'll get it right and stick with at least one resolution.

1. Do a little more exercise than my daily walks with the dog. (Which can count as speed-walking most of the time since I walk fast and Jewel walks faster--when she isn't stopping to sniff something). I bought a roll-up yoga pad with a gift card at Marshall's yesterday so I can attempt to do at least some sit-ups when I am watching TV (on our huge new flat screen, did I mention how shallow I am and how happy I am now that we have this thing in our living room?) . I did all of five (!) sit-up's today...ouch!

But I am going to try to make it an every other day nightly thing.

2. Be kinder and more loving and not such a shrew sometimes at home. Let things slide a little when certain people do those annoying things over and over. I must do my own annoying things, right? I'll try to be a kinder, even gentler me this coming year.

3. Get the hallway painted! I said I was going to do this last summer. Never happened. So, it's on the list for the new year.

4. Cut out even more sugar from my diet. I definitely cut out a lot last year and it's been a good influence on how we all eat in this house, but I can do much better.

5. Bring back library books before they are overdue. It would be nice not to incur any over-due fines this year.

6. Use cash more and leave the credit card inside my wallet.

7. Write more letters. 2009 has been a bad year for me keeping up with my snail mail correspondence.

8. Sign up for a painting class. I always look over the local flyers and wish I could join one, but never actually do anything about it.

9. Host a dinner party.

I have not had friends over for a dinner(other than when I host book club night or having family members for dinner) in a l-o-n-g time. I worry the house is too small, the kitchen too small and the cook/host too nervous and goofy, so hesitate to have people over for a small party.

10. Fold the clothes on the same day they come off the line or out of the dryer (instead of leaving them to wrinkle in the basket and forgetting about them..)

*** Next week: 10 Things You're Looking Forward to in 2010

Cozy Evening In ~ Cold Night Out

Since it was so, so cold out last night (well below 20*F), it was a perfect night to spend indoors in front of the fire (even nicer with a Cosmopolitan or two) with friends and hearty Thanksgiving food.

I only remembered at the last minute to get a photo of my green beans, but by the end of the night, I completely forgot to take a picture of my beautiful (if I may say so myself) Indian Pudding. There was nothing left and I brought home an empty bowl. I am definitely making it again, though.

Friends, good food.......

....and husband drinking beer.