Archive for December, 2009
A Work Vent
Dec 31st
I have a New Year’s Meme (copied from Sundry, among others), but I’m too annoyed to do it right now. It is 6:25 AM. I’ve been here (at the office) since 6:10, which I was actually excited about. I have a bunch of work to get done that has to be finished by noon today, and I like working early when no one else is here. But do you think my computer will cooperate? NO! Grr. It keeps giving me an error that it can’t access some file it needs in order to log me in to our customer management system. Without logging into the system I can’t actually do ANYTHING. Seriously. Nothing. I can’t attach any of the emails I have waiting that go with customer accounts, I can’t send any policies or applications out to insureds because I can’t access the form letters I need to do it, and I can’t scan in and attach any of the paper piled on my desk because I need to access customer accounts for that too.
I’m so annoyed (if you can’t tell). I will do some filing and that kind of stuff, but this is kind of ridiculous. And it’s cold outside and by the time I got home I would just have to turn around and come back, so there’s no use doing that.
I feel a trip to Starbucks coming on soon (I can get there through the skywalks, so no need to go outside). Something to get out of the office once I’m done filing, because otherwise I might drop-kick my computer, and that wouldn’t be helpful to anyone.
I hope the last day of 2009 is going better for everyone else!
Christmas Meme
Dec 20th
I got this from Swistle, and it looked fun. Also, I am too lazy to write a real entry tonight. I’m playing the pregnancy card.
Eggnog or hot chocolate? I prefer hot chocolate, although I do like to try a glass of eggnog once a year.
Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? Santa hasn’t visited Ryan and I at our apartment, since we always are at one of our respective parents’ house for Christmas. At my parents’ house Santa doesn’t wrap gifts – he leaves them under the tree with our names marked on them or in our stockings. At Ryan’s parents’ house he wraps them – even the ones in the stockings. I’m not sure what will happen if he ever visits us here…maybe some of each?
Colored lights on a tree or white? We have some of each, and I like it that way.
Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.
When do you put your decorations up? Since we are usually out of town for Thanksgiving we don’t usually put them up until during that next week or the following weekend. Whenever we get our tree from Pappy’s Trees (this cute old guy that sells trees out of his yard).
What is your favorite holiday dish? Lefse. Mmm…real lefse with butter and sugar (probably made by Lutherans in the church basement – that’s the best kind, you know).
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My family opens our gifts on Christmas eve, after a light dinner (usually just hors d’oeuvres) before Midnight Mass. Ryan’s family opens gifts on Christmas eve too. Christmas day is for Santa/church/relaxing.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Usually I string lights right up next to the trunk and then come out from there, so there are a lot of lights all through the tree. Our ornaments are mostly things that we’ve gotten as gifts. Last year it was pretty sparse, but Ryan’s sister got us a few boxes of pretty ornaments to add to our collection, so this year it’s much better.
Snow: love it or hate it? I love it as long as I don’t have to deal with it. Especially now that we have a 4-wheel drive vehicle. It’s the cold I can’t stand.
Can you ice skate? HA. I grew up in a town where the high school hockey games were THE events to be at. We went skating for gym class in the winter, and until I was in 7th grade we lived next to a river and would make our own rink on the frozen river every year. I’m not very good though, for all that learning.
What is your favorite holiday dessert? Pie. I love pie. Although the candies my mom makes are a close second.
What is your favorite holiday tradition? Eating a light meal on Christmas eve for dinner before opening gifts. Cheeseball and crackers and meat and candy. Yum.
Candy canes: yum or yuck? Traditional ones are ok. I really like the Starburst ones, but I don’t buy candy canes because the stickiness drives me crazy. There’s no good way to eat them without getting completely sticky.
Favorite Christmas show? How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Always the cartoon version. Although A Christmas Story is a close second. “You’ll shoot your eye out!” HAHAHA. My sister and I got bb guns for Christmas one year. I don’t think anyone told us that though. And we were (are) good shots.
Phone people
Dec 15th
I am not a phone person. I think you all know what I mean. There are some people that love to talk on the phone. They can visit for hours at a time, always thinking of something new to talk about, and they are usually good at multitasking while they do it. My sister comes to mind (only one of them). She calls me once or twice a week, usually, and its a good thing, because I don’t call anyone, ever. She updates me on the funny things her kids are up to (her kids are awesome), and asks me questions about my life, and talks about her school work and their dairy farm and the neighbors and the people she knows from her job at the nursing home. You will notice that her life is considerably busy – she has 2 kids that live with them full-time and 2 other kids that come and go, along with a dairy farm that she and her husband run, a part-time job at the nursing home, and she’s currently taking 18 credits at a local college to get her degree in social work. The woman is seriously motivated. Anyway, even with all of this going on, she calls me. And she calls my mom and my other sisters. She is a phone person (and it’s a good thing, because I get most of my family news through her).
I, on the other hand, am not a phone person. It’s not that I’m too busy – we don’t have any kids (yet), I only have my one full-time job, and it’s a strictly 8-4:30 gig M-F. I was volunteering at the library twice a week, but I quit doing that when all the bending over was making me dizzy (sometime around 15 weeks pregnant or so). I just don’t enjoy talking on the phone much, I guess. I view it as a very utilitarian thing. I call someone if I need to talk to them about something – where are you, what time are we meeting, how do I make this, etc. Or if I need to share news, and usually I try to call if it’s a special occasion (birthdays, for example), but I’m not great at that either.
It’s not that I don’t like talking to the people I know. I love visiting with people in person, and I’m great at email…I just don’t like the phone. I’m not very good at making small talk. I ask a lot of stupid questions like “So, what’s up?” over and over if I get the sense that the other person expects me to stay on the phone, or if they call me and the conversation lags. I’m just not good with down-time on the phone. Usually I call, ask the obligatory question about how things are going, and get right to my reason for calling. And then I hang up.
Are you a phone person? Do you know someone who is different than you are, and does it bother you, or fascinate you (or some of each)?
We aren’t dead or anything; I promise.
Dec 14th
Things have been busy around our place, between getting all the Christmas shopping done (we weren’t able to do it all online) and catching up on stuff that should have gotten done the week after Thanksgiving but got put off because we were in class most of the week. We are finally mostly caught up, but over the weekend we had Ryan’s company Christmas party, and I didn’t get nearly as much done yesterday as I wanted to. I had big plans to be making candy and stuff all day, and then I just didn’t want to. I did get the caramel made for chocolate covered caramels (it has to refrigerate overnight before I can dip it), but that’s about it. Although I made a real dinner, so that should count. My mom’s beef stroganoff recipe is AWESOME, and I really wanted some yesterday, so I ran to the store and grabbed enough stuff to make it twice. One recipe is enough for Ryan and I to eat our fill and still have a few lunches out of it, so that’s exciting.
I can tell that I’ve become more comfortable in my cooking because I remember when she first gave me this recipe I was like “What do you MEAN you don’t know the exact measurement of flour/ketchup/whatever ingredient!?” I’ve always been a big recipe follower (which is why I like to bake so much). And in the past I’ve stressed over the stroganoff because I wanted it to turn out, but I was so afraid that it wouldn’t because I would use 2 tablespoons of ketchup instead of 3, or I would put too much flour in the beef broth or whatever. This time I didn’t worry about it. I didn’t even measure those things really. And it turned out great. Just goes to show that I should just chill out. That is the story of my life.
My work Christmas party is this Friday. We leave the office at noon to head over to a local restaurant and eat and drink all afternoon while exchanging gifts and generally just hanging out. Afterward, those of us that drink go out to the bar where the spouses join us. While I’m obviously not drinking this year, I still plan on going out afterward because it’s part of the tradition and I would feel lame just going home. Of course, true to tradition it is also supposed to snow on Friday. Lucky for Ryan he doesn’t have to pick my drunk butt up anywhere. He can actually just come drink with my coworkers if he wants to.
I have a lot of stuff to get done this week; Christmas cards need to be mailed, candy needs to be made, packages need to be shipped, and I drew a coworker’s birthday (we exchange names) that happens to fall on Saturday, so I have to come up with a treat that needs to be either made or purchased and brought in to work at some point. Thankfully I already have her gift ready to go. A few of us from work are also volunteering one night at Bentleyville (a huge light display down by the lake done by a guy in town and free to attend – it’s pretty awesome). I think it might be Wednesday, but we don’t know for sure yet, so that will take one night out of consideration. All of this stuff will make the week go by quickly, that’s for sure. Which is awesome, because then it’s a really short week and then it’s Christmas!
A quickie
Dec 2nd
Thanksgiving was awesome. We came home with a truck full of baby stuff, thanks in part to my sisters passing things down and in part to the 2 (TWO!) surprise showers over the weekend (some of the family couldn’t make it all the way to my hometown for the one, so they threw their own). We also ate lots of yummy food, as is required. The potato dumplings were fabulous, and we have leftovers in the fridge, ready to fry up when we get a chance. And of course there was pumpkin pie, which is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner.
Ryan and I are attending the Labor & Delivery class from the hospital. It runs 6-9:30pm Tuesday through Thursday this week. Since Ryan doesn’t get off work until 5 it means a few meals eaten out and on the go this week, and straight to bed when we get home. But, so far the class has been helpful and pretty cool. We got to tour the birthing center last night, and it set my mind at ease about a lot of things (wireless monitoring of baby’s heartbeat and my contractions, so I’m free to move around and even shower if I want to; all the rooms are singles, so no chance of a roommate you don’t know or don’t like; wireless internet available (I have my priorities in order, obviously)).
Hopefully I’ll get to a more extensive post soon. Maybe even with pictures that I will steal from facebook since we forgot our camera.
