Heading Home

After 3 long days in Evansville, IN I’m heading home after we finish debugging a machine today…..hopefully. I truly dislike traveling for work. I long for my bed, my bathroom, my fiancé, my dog, and my normal life every moment I’m gone. Not that seedy hotels and watching coworker drink their weight isn’t a good time, but let’s save it for the Christmas party. Ok enough complaining….well for now.

The past weekend we finished most of our Christmas shopping and even wrapped presents. I’ve included a picture of Gus the wonder dog helping us!

We also had the future in-laws down on Sunday for brunch. It was really great to see everyone plus the house was clean for once, so I like to show it off. I have a really great recipe for individual egg cups with spinach and sausage that are easy and healthy if anyone is interested. I also found a great one for cream cheese Danishes that are easy but not healthy.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Christmas baking spectacular! There will be gingerbread, bourbon balls, cookies, brownies, truffles, fudge, cakes, and pies. I can’t wait and neither can the treadmill.

SLACKER

That would be me. Though no excuse would redeem me from utterly abandoning this blog, I simply just don’t have one. I look at a computer for 40 hours a week at gas factory and then for the past 3 weeks I have been editing photos for a Christmas project. Which means after running, cooking/eating dinner (usually just eating, the fiancé is an excellent cook), packing lunches for the next day at work, and finishing my workout I get to comb through 3 years worth of photos of “the fishing trip” and edit the one’s the make the cut for the project. It has been a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. The project came to be, after the fiancé’s “uncle” who started the fishing trip passed away this fall. So it was nice for us to be able to look back at the past trips, and give others a nice way to as well. With the Christmas deadline rapidly approaching, I have been feverishly working to finish it in the evening in my spare time. Which has left little time for anything else; you should see the pile of laundry on the couch. It’s clean, but I’m not sure it will make it to the 2^nd floor anytime soon. Well the future in-laws are stopping by on Saturday, so at least by then…..maybe. Anyway, the project if finished and order so I’m back.

A couple of weeks ago the surgeon gave me the go ahead to resume running and removed the 8# weight restriction. Not surprisingly, taking 6 weeks off of running and lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk has greatly affected my athletic abilities. As it stands I have exactly 91 days to get ready for the ½ marathon. It shouldn’t be a problem as long as injuries and illnesses are scarce.

This week the surgeon gave me the all clear to resume life as normal including flying which was a complete relief. The first thing I did was book a vacation. So after the ½ marathon instead of hoping on a plane that night, the fiancé and I will be extending our stay at the happiest place on earth for a week. They are currently running a buy 4 nights get 3 free promotion complete with tickets and the dining plan which made it impossible to resist.

Wedding planning is just about done. At this point all I need is a dress and a cake, so I feel like over the next 11 months or so I’ll be able to get that done as well.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, with the exception of the colds we both had over the entire long weekend. All families attended a single dinner that I did not have to cook. So I couldn’t really ask for too much more.

Other than that, we plan to finish up our Christmas shopping this weekend. Seeing on how we both work 4-10 hour days- my weekend starts in a few hours. A fact that I had to keep repeating at 4AM this morning (my 10 hour day starts a 6AM). We’ll be able to shop in peace at the mall while others are at work. It’s a beautiful thing!

Have a great weekend. I’ll try to be more diligent about posting.

Benefits of Ocular Surgery

After entering into St. Joseph East Hospital for what I like to think of as a nice shot and an eye patch (what happened in between I try not to think about) last Tuesday I have been recovering nicely at home. The Fiancé has taken such good care of me. I have not wanted for anything. Now it hasn’t been all fun and games. The first four days that I had to spend face down wasn’t unbearable thanks to the narcotic painkillers prescribed for “my comfort”. I mainly drooled and slept for the entire time. Then I had to spend a few days on my left side and then FINALLY I was able to get up a move around. I’m not allowed to lift anything over 8 lbs. or workout or drive or do anything other than watch tv and surf the internet. But I’m at least not stuck in bed all day.

Being laid up at the house all day hasn’t been all bad though. I have been able to get a jump start on the wedding planning. I have been able to book our wedding and reception at our absolute favorite Bourbon Distillery. I am really excited about that. It should be a really great time. I have also set up meetings with the photographer, caterer, and the dj. So I pretty much have most of the main elements of the wedding planned. Not too shabby for sick leave.

Brought To You By The Letter R

Last Monday I went to the eye specialist because I had been having problems with my eye for some time and my normal doctor was unable to resolve the problem. It turns out that my retina detached approximately 3 months ago causing my vision problems. I will be having surgery to try to repair the retina on Tuesday. I may need more than 1 surgery to fix the problem and due to the scare tissue on the retina I will never fully regain my vision. I will be off from work for at least a week maybe two. I also will not be able to travel for several months which meant that the previously planned trip to Hawaii had to be cancelled.

This was quite a bit of information to process last week. I am very fortunate to be physically healthy which should limit the number of complications. Thanks to insurance it certainly is less financially painful that it could be. The boyfriend fiancé will be home to take care of me, and hopefully not make fun of me too much while I have the eye patch on ;). I’ll have to take several weeks off from running and biking which I am less than excited about, but in the long run it is a good trade off. However, until Tuesday I’m taking every opportunity to enjoy things in stereo.

Crazy Past Few Days…..

The past weekend was very eventful. The boyfriend and I celebrated my birthday in style. We introduced sushi/Japanese food to both sets of parents (on separate occasions) which was just fun. It was a busy yet absolutely amazing few days.

Friday we took the puppy (I know he’s 5 and 80 lbs. but he’s still my puppy) to the boyfriend’s parents so that they could dog sit for us while we went out of town for a few days. There was an accident on the way up which resulted in purchasing 2 new dog beds and cleaning the upholstery of the boyfriend’s truck. Not the best start to the day. After that was all squared away we went on a bike ride. Having already ran that morning and cleaned up an unfortunate and untimely accident I was in the best of moods. We rode our usual 17+ mile hilly route for that area and ended up back at the boyfriend’s parent’s house. We were a few hours behind schedule to leave town so I of course was in a hurry. The Bourbon Festival waits for no one. The bikes were loaded and I was rushing to get ready to depart for our house and that’s when the boyfriend proposed. I was coved in bike grease, sweat, snot (it’s just that time of year), and now tears. I of course said yes. It was completely unexpected, but completely us. Flowers and a fancy restaurant has never been our thing. I absolutely couldn’t be happier!

But like I said the Bourbon Festival waits for no one, engaged or not. After some celebrating and showers we head to Bardstown for our annual trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. It is an amazing event that displays one of the state’s best creations. It’s amazing to see how many different products Bourbon can be incorporated into. I never thought I would enjoy Bourbon jelly, but it’s really delicious.

But this weekend wasn’t all about Bourbon. I also meet up a very close friend and we ran a 5k together on Saturday morning. I can’t even begin to explain how proud I am of her. It was her very first 5k ever. She was sick, and she still kicked butt. We also participated in Paddlepolooza in the state’s capitol. We met up with another group of friends and kayaked the KY River. I have to admit that I prefer paddling the creek, but the flat water paddling was a great experience. The boyfriend and I are still very new to yaking and it is great to see other people enjoying the sport. Oh and it’s a sport, my arms are killing me.

Well, I have spend entirely too much time on the computer, I’m going to go hang out with my new fiancé.

Dominos By Candlelight

This upcoming week promises to be crazy at best. The boyfriend has class tonight. Then various evening obligations will keep us busy most “school” nights and a weekend that makes the week look restful. So in an attempt to get ahead to make the week less stressful I set out on Sunday morning in a whirlwind of domestic/athletic fury. By kickoff the house was clean. The laundry was almost finished. Two pies were cooling on the stove top. I had made enough meatballs to feed us a few nights this week and to freeze for a later date. Visions of cupcakes and chili danced in my head. I was even able to get my long run out of the way for this week so I wouldn’t be stressed trying to find time to get it done.

At 1 o’clock we sat down to watch what would surely be the Bengals second defeat and the wind started to kick up. Then the power flickered on and off a few times. Then, before the 1^st quarter was even over the power was out. This time it did not come back on. So we broke out the radio and listened to the game while reading an assortment of books, magazines, and catalogs. Surely the power would be on for the 2^nd game. No dice. We call the boyfriends parents, no power either. So now we were faced with no air conditioning, no football, no internet, and worst of all no food. That’s right no chili with cornbread or caramel cupcakes with a dark chocolate ganache (you would be amazed at how much more helpful a production line is willing to be with the promise of regular sweets). We try to distract ourselves with Sorry and dominos by candlelight (see I knew all those new candles would be useful).

Low blood sugar cranky butt syndrome was starting to set in. So we fired up the trusty grill. After quickly scavenging the freezer for vittles we settled on a menu for the evening and began cooking. Thankfully the sausages got done before the propane ran out, but the side dishes were left to finish cooking on residual heat. At least the noodles weren’t crunchy after 10 minutes.

The power finally came back on at quarter after 8, which gave of 45 minutes of football viewing pleasure before bedtime (we have to get up at 4 AM, but we only work 4 days a week so it isn’t too bad).

This morning our commute to work stretched from 25 miles in 45 minutes to 60 miles in 90 minutes with all the detours. The roof of a school near us was still in the road this morning which further complicated our trek into work.

We were lucky. Several homes in our area are still without power and will be for a couple of days. The boyfriend’s brother, parents, and grandparent all had significant damage to their homes and properties. Several people at work lost roofs and siding. All in all dominos by candlelight doesn’t seem too bad after all. I will still have to make those cupcakes……

What people will put in thier mouths......

Yesterday I encountered something that was completely foreign to me that I simply could not keep to myself. A co-worker has talked about eating lamb “fries” for pretty much the duration of my employment at “The Gas Factory”. Now for those of you north of the Mason Dixon Line, and well for most of you south, “fries” are the testicles of the lamb. Gross I know. Well after 3 LONG years of talking about the “fries” and how good they are and how they taste just like tenderloin (I truly doubt that) this co-worker brings in a mess of “fries” to share along will all the assorted fixin’s that go along with eating balls. Now, I’m sure the first question that is running through your mind is what on Earth would make someone look at balls and go …….mmm I bet that would taste good. That is an excellent question that I could not begin to answer. The second question has to be “What are the assorted fixin’s that accompany testicles?” I do have an answer for the latter: white gravy (they were very specific on the gravy color, not brown gravy but WHITE) and buns. I’ll give you a moment to process……..ok. This only leaves me with how is this delectably phallic sandwich assembled? So do you but the balls between the buns and then cover it in white gravy or are all the balls covered in white gravy then placed between the buns? I’ll let you decide.