Martha's Top Ten: In the Kitchen

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Not as much as I should lately, but still a good portion of my life has been spent cooking. Here are my top ten things in my current kitchen:

10) IKEA 365+ Dinnerware - especially the side plate:

Just deep enough for all kinds of things. It's perfect for a salad, soup, or pasta. We have the whole set though - dinner plate, salad plate, soup bowl. They're durable and match everything since they're white.

9) Le Gourmet Chef 12 qt stainless steel pot with pasta and steamer inserts:

Good for sealing jars when Adam makes applesauce or pickles, steaming crab legs, cooking pasta or mass amounts of sweet corn.

8) Presto Electric Griddle:

Good for pancakes, bacon, grilled cheese...

7) Cuisinart Toaster Oven Broiler:

Good for garlic bread, quick sandwiches, cinnamon toast in the morning.

6) Cuisinart Panini and Sandwich Press:

We use this a lot for easy paninis. It's quick and pretty much foolproof.

5) George Foreman Grill:

I had one of these in college (but don't tell anyone because those kind of things were banned in the dorms.) It can cook a frozen solid chicken breast in about 10 minutes. It's a wonderful appliance to have around and our go-to housewarming gift.

4) KitchenAid 5-qt stand mixer:

This mixer is amazing and I can't imagine making cookies or cakes without it. It can beat eggs like nobody's business and it works great on doughs as well.

3) This one's a two-fer: Rival 5-qt SmartPot Slow Cooker:

and
Cuisinart 4-qt Programmable Slow Cooker:

With just two of us I found the 5-qt was too big sometimes (I still use it for big pots of chili or spaghetti sauce and at our parties) so Adam got me the smaller 4-qt which is just perfect sized for us. Both have high/low settings, a timer, and an auto-warm function which is absolutely necessary on CrockPot Monday's since I start it before I go to work and it's usually done before I get home.

2) Tramontina Professional Series Santoku Knife :

This knife can cut anything. It's seriously awesome.

1) Analon Ovation 12" Covered Skillet:

Of course, it looks like they no longer make this item. Go figure. Every time I find something I absolutely love, the manufacturer discontinues it. Boo.

Anyway. This pan is fabulous. Deep enough for sauces, good for searing and cooking chicken breasts, oven-safe, non-stick, heats evenly. My favorite pan for sure.

A Closer Look: Martha's DVR

According to our DVR, these are the shows I currently have set up to record. Make your own judgements about what they say about me:

19 Kids and Counting (TLC): I always enjoyed the specials about the Duggars so when they got a regular show I was excited. It's gotten a bit stale this last season with their struggles with a preemie, but it's still fascinating to see how their family works.

Bethenney Getting Married (Bravo): Bethenney was always my favorite housewife on the Real Housewives: NYC so it was fun to see her get her own show chronicling her pregnancy and wedding. Not sure where it's going to go from here, but I'd watch it if they continued filming. She's hilarious.

Community (NBC): I admit it - I have a crush on Joel McHale. But the whole cast of this show is great together. Abed is a great character and his scenes with Troy are the best. Now if only Britta and Pierce were less annoying it would be perfect!

Four Weddings (TLC): This is kind of a self-indulgent series. Four brides attend each others weddings and judge each other. The one judged "the best" gets a fantastic honeymoon. It's fun to watch what other people think of someone else's wedding. We won't go into me judging weddings because we all know how that can turn ugly. (eh, AFM?)

Glee (FOX): I'm a little worried about Season Two for this show. I think they might have gotten a big head with all the awards and great reception it got for the first season. Hopefully they can keep going strong. At least I know there'll be some new songs to download to the iPod!

Hannah Montana (Disney): Laugh if you want, but I like this show. It's winding down and the last episode should be out soon. It reminds me a lot of Lizzie McGuire, and I liked that show too. Helps me feel young...

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List (Bravo): Yes, she makes dick jokes and is generally offensive, but this past season she really showed she has a desire to make a difference - cervical cancer, gays in the military - she knows how to get people to pay attention. Plus she's hilarious. She's one person I might consider trying to see live if she were to come to the area.

Kendra (E!): When Holly, Bridget, and Kendra left The Girls Next Door I kind of stopped watching that show so I was glad to see that Kendra got a different show. I watched Bridget's beach show on the Travel Channel for a bit, but didn't really get into it or Holly's new show either. But Kendra I can watch. She's become such a different person from who she was on GND. Indulging my voyeuristic side I guess.

Law & Order: SVU (NBC): Still my favorite iteration of the franchise. I'm a little worried though with Benson guesting on the new LA version. Please don't get rid of SVU!!

NCIS (CBS): I still can't believe it took 5 seasons for me to discover this show. I didn't dig the LA version and stopped watching after two or three episodes. Give me Gibbs, Ziva, Tony, Abby, and McGee any day.

Project Runway (Lifetime): I miss the Models of the Runway this year, but so far, so good. Was a little disappointed with some of the "auf-ing"s so far, but my vote lies with pretty much anyone but Gretchen. Ha. Ok, let's go with Mondo. He's a little strange, but I still like him.

Rizzoli & Isles (TNT): It's like L&O meets NCIS. There was even an episode where it was like an former NCIS cast mate reunion. Anyway, overall, it's a good show - just way too predictable. I've been able to call the murderer almost every week about halfway through the show.

Run My Renovation (DIY): Showing my support for cousin Joanie. It's an interesting show and I was totally jealous of the bathroom on this week's episode. Major bathroom envy, seeing how mine is the size of a (small) closet.

RuPaul's Drag U (Logo): A spin-off of Drag Race, this show has real women being "dragulated" by some previous Drag Race contestants to increase self-esteem or solve some other problem in their lives. Intervention through drag! It's a real feel-good show and there's nothing like seeing Pandora Boxx or Shannel get all dragged up.

SNL (NBC): Oh Lord, anything has to be better than last season. Worst episode ever, eh January Jones? I'll stick around until they have Jon Hamm host again. Can't stand him.

Teen Mom (MTV): Another guilty pleasure. Living vicariously through others, I guess, since there's no way this would have ever been me. I'm kind of disturbed by all of these girls' relationships, but I suppose having everything recorded, edited, and played back might blow things out of proportion.

The Apprentice (NBC): As much as I enjoyed the Celebrity version of this show, I'm glad to see it get back to its original roots. You're fired!

The Good Wife (CBS): This show is so well written it's a joy to watch each week. I especially enjoy the enigma that is Kalinda. Oh, and Josh Charles. Heh.

Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo): This last season was tough. I liked the addition of Sonja, but I'll have to see who sticks around for the next season and decide if I want to keep watching it. Cannot stand Kelly. Got tired of "The Countess."

The Whole Truth (ABC): This is a brand new series, starting Sept 22. We'll see what it's like. From it's promo description it sounds kind of like what L&O: Trial by Jury was supposed to be (you know, before it got cancelled.)

So there you go - all the shows I have recorded for me by our DVR. Judge away.

Arts Appreciation

We have our first PAC show of the year this coming week. For the second year in a row, we couldn't find enough shows in their Arts Alive! program for season tickets. But for the first time, we did see the value in getting season tickets for their Broadway Across America program. Shows this year are:

* South Pacific
* A Chorus Line (we're not actually going to this one - it's when we'll be in the the Carolinas, so we gave the tickets to Adam's parents.)
* Wicked (woo! Viewing #2! On my birthday!)
* Beauty and the Beast
* Jersey Boys (we won't be going to this one either - Cheryl had mentioned she wanted to see this one so we'll be giving them our tickets.)

It worked out well with the shows I wanted to see and the shows others were interested in.

I'm keeping my eyes out for other local theater performances. We went to the Attic Theatre's performance of Carousel last month. I think I might have gotten a little spoiled with the great performances put on by the SATC (or whatever it's called now.) The Attic Theatre's show was by no means terrible. It was quite good and the theater itself is pretty new and well set up. I just tend to notice when things go wrong, having grown up surrounded by music and theater. I'm sure no one else notices all the things I notice. It can be kind of distracting. The same thing happens for Adam since he's got such a background in set construction and lighting.

But, all the same, I'd still like to try and support local theater more. Every year I intend to go to UWO's Opera Theatre performance but I always forget and remember about a week after it happened.

One thing I'm not appreciating so much? The clarinet one of the neighbor kids just got. Duck being murdered, anyone? Ugh.

Faaaaaaaaaaaall----ing

So, holy crap it's September.

I absolutely feel I got robbed of my summer. Oh well, what can you do? Part of being a responsibly employed adult I guess.

In any case, things will be getting back to "normal" pretty soon around here. Bell practices start next Monday (and along with it, crockpot Mondays! Woo!) No new members on the list that I can see so I think we'll still be one short. I'm also not holding my breath that there will be any shake-ups in positions either. I am ever hopeful that Nancy will pull out some new music though. I know I'm not alone in this sentiment but I remain convinced that it's not my place to rock the boat.

The first IMA meeting of the program year is the 21st. It's a special collaborative effort that's been organized by a sub-committee of our chapter. It's a panel discussion about how accountants from different industries and subsets of the profession really ought to get together and talk about things every once in a while. It should be an interesting evening, but it's getting to be a logistical nightmare for my "Director of Meetings" hat to handle. RSVP deadline communication problems, newsletter mishaps. It has the potential to be a great opportunity, but right now it looks like it might also have the potential to be a ginormous disaster. Luckily the rest of the meetings should be back to business as usual.

Our refrigerator is full of appointment notices. I've got my annual poke and prod the week after next. It's already been rescheduled twice so I'm hoping they really mean it this time. Kersch biometric testing is the following day and Adam has agreed to come along this time in the off chance that we want to consolidate to my insurance plan. Carly has a vet appointment on the 24th. But shh, don't tell her.



Uh oh, I think she heard me. This time I'm taking her so it should be a fun time for all involved.

Dentist is a little further down the road. I'm in the process of trying to figure out my flex spending for next year and between the contacts and wisdom teeth surgery, it's getting kind of ridiculous.

I've got a few random days off and some extended holiday time off to burn my vacation for the year. Kind of helped that half the year was blacked out. We've also got a few days down in NC/SC in mid-November. We'll get to check out Evan and Jodi's new digs and hopefully get to interact with Caroline. She'll be past her "I hate everyone" phase, right? Nothing much else in the works.

And as a random conclusion to this post, I give you Ted, in various strange positions:

Conked out in the sun. He actually does sleep like this on a regular basis. In fact, so does JC.



Squished up on the side of the chair next to the mouse. I'm not sure why he did this - it's not like he doesn't lay on the mouse all the time anyway.

What I did on my Summer Vacation...

1) Celebrated Three
Years, that is:



It just so happened that our anniversay fell smack dab in the middle of SAP GoLive so we couldn't really go anywhere or whoop it up. We went out to dinner, swapped cards (and golf balls, and jewelry.) We met up with my dad and Cheryl a week or so later and that's about the extent of our celebration.

2) Worked. A lot.
I had some crazy hours these past few months. Most notably one 2pm to 2am and one 5pm to 7:15am. Those sucked big time. Everything else was pretty ok. Some later nights, some skipped lunches. Ok, a lot of skipped lunches. The end of July and beginning of August were awful. Then it calmed down a little. The last week of August and right up to yesterday were also awful. This past Thursday was especially hellish. Things probably won't get better until the end of this coming week. Or ever. But I'm keeping the faith.

I understand that the implementation of a new ERP system is not supposed to be fun. But after four tries, you'd think they'd have worked some of the bugs out. I'm not going to go into it or complain here since it doesn't do anyone any good. Let's just say it could have gone better.

I traded in my desktop for a laptop about a month ago and they gave me VPN access so I can work from home. Of course, this is both a positive and a negative, me being the workaholic I am. I mean, I'm already thinking about work all the time. A vast majority of my dreams for the past two months have been about SAP. It can't be healthy, but I do what I can to avoid checking my email at night or on weekends. I've only brought the computer home three or four times so far. It was really nice this past Monday to have the option of working from home though.

3) Lost too many people.
Granted, even one death is too many. Unfortunately Adam's family lost two members this summer. His grandmother passed away in May and then, more recently, his cousin, Brett. I didn't write anything about it because I was tired and busy, but it also didn't seem to be my place to discuss it. I'm still going to leave it mostly alone. It's a delicate situation and I think the best thing is to let time heal.

4) Spent too much time at the hospital
Once again, any time at the hospital is too much, in my opinion. I don't know that I wrote about this at all on this blog, but it was a rough summer. Adam's mother spent quite a bit of time in the hospital when they discovered a tumor in her brain. She's doing great now, but it was really scary for a while. Once again, I didn't think it was my place to put it all out there at the time. I'm incredibly grateful that everything seems to have worked out.

5) Discovered some fabulous new restaurants
One side benefit of coming home completely exhausted every day was that we went out to eat a lot more than we usually do. We found out that the Old 41 Diner here in Neenah is an excellent place for breakfast. It's small, classic diner-looking, and the food is fabulous. We also went out to Oink's for breakfast once. Not as good as Old 41, but just the decor won me over. The entire place is full of pig figurines and kitchsy pig stuff. Kind of embarassing to admit, but I saw more than a few things that I used to have in my apartment. What can I say, I'm a fan of pigs and cows... Our most recently discovery was a bar and grill in downtown Neenah called 5 Generations. Great food, good drink specials, nice people. We'll definitely be going back there again.

6) Did absolutely nothing educationally redeeming
Time not spent at work or thinking about work was mostly spent vegging out in front of the TV or with my nose in a book. I've made some headway on my Oscar list - almost done at this point. Made it out to the Drive-In once this season. Haven't been to the movie theater in ages. TV-wise, I enjoyed Bethanny Getting Married and am currently wrapped up in the current season of Project Runway. I'm also four episodes into Season One of Pushing Daisies thanks to Netflix. I'd found a new series of mysteries that I'm working through - currently on the third book. I'm also knocking off the Den of Antiquity series and am almost through all the Pennsylvania Dutch series from Tamar Myers.

7) Went to two baseball games. No really.
I still maintain that baseball is a totally boring game.

We went to a Timber Rattlers game with the IMA back in July and Adam took me to my first Brewers game last Sunday. From the perspective of a non-baseball fan, the Timber Rattlers were much more entertaining. They have all kinds of stuff going on between innings. Too much blantant advertising for my liking though. The Brewer game was ok, but it was HOTT. Yes, so hot it needed two "t"s. It was 94 degrees out and even though we were in the shade, it was brutal. I don't know that I'd go back to a Brewers game, but I wouldn't be averse to going to another Timber Rattlers one. The main thing I don't get is that Adam always leaves before the game is over to beat traffic. I mean, ok, so the score is 8-4 and there's an inning left. They'll probably win. But it's like going to see Hamlet and leaving after Act 4, because, hey, everyone's going to die anyway. But whatever.

Next up - looking forward to fall. But first, this excellently bad action shot of JC and Ted:

Kitties of the Damned

JC:



Connor:


Connor again:


Yep, more Connor. I'm sensing a trend.


Aaaaaaah! Brick wall!

Current Obsessions

This Lady Gaga song:




These ice cream cones:



This book:



This TV show:



These kitties:

My Lame Excuses

I'm not going to lie: this is going to be one heck of a week. And the fact that I can't keep this thing going during the best of times doesn't bode well for timely updates during most of this next month. Stupid SAP.. *shaking fist in Germany's general direction*

Anyway, my calculations show me putting in at least 65 hours in this next week with nary a day of rest. This includes two overnights, which I can already tell you I'm going to dislike immensely. But that's how it is, so that's how it goes. Poor Adam will have to put up with my crabby ass. Send him lots of patience and understanding...

For now, some kitty pictures to tide you over until my job magically becomes 100 times easier because our ERP system is shiny and new and will solve all our problems. And clean our houses. And give us winning lottery numbers.

Sorry, got distracted for a minute in dream-land there... Optimism, Martha. Optimism.

*sigh*

Ok. Back to the kitties.

Ooh, a sink. Oh wait, there's a kitty in it already... (with Batman ears!)



Connor, all curled up on the love seat



Ted tussling with my shirt



Ted and Connor in cuddle mode on the mouse



See you on the other side of the SAP GoLive experience. If I survive. If I'm not back by September, send a search party.

Deep Thoughts...

On Movies:
Lost momentum a little on the Oscar list. Recent viewings include Everybody's Fine (not as good as I expected given the cast list), The Last Station (James McAvoy is a cutie, but good lord, was Helen Mirren's character an annoying whiner!), and It's Complicated (Alec Baldwin is a schmuck, not enough Steve Martin, Meryl Streep was a little grating...) I'm 9 away from completing the list for this year. We haven't seen any recent releases in a long time, but we plan to try and get to the drive-in this coming weekend. Currently showing Despicable Me and Grownups.

On Brilliant Decisions:
I don't know what made me think getting contacts was a good idea right before final ramp up for our August 1 SAP Go-Live date. This past week was one of long days staring at a computer screen or projected images in end-user training. Did wonders for my eyes. So far I seem to be having success with the contact thing. They get dry, but not too bad and not to any severe level that I feel I need to abandon them. Now if I could just figure out a naked forehead fix...

On Technology:
I went to the library on Saturday to return one batch of books and pick out another. Then I went home and looked how much it would cost me to get a Kindle (or some such gadget.) Almost $200 for the gizmo itself plus another $5-$10 for most book titles. I think I'll drive downtown every four weeks and wait to read new releases for a while. Yikes. If only you could "check out" eBooks...

On Career Choices:
Come August 1 my job will drastically change. Well, everyone's will, really. The point of SAP is to have most repetitive, mindless processes automated so we accountants can direct our brain functions to more analytical tasks. I'm trying to keep an open (and optimistic) mind. That said, every once in a while I dream of quitting and getting a job in a deli department, making the pasta salads and other prepared foods in the back. *sigh*

On Sports:
I went to my very first Timber Rattlers game last Friday. We got there ridiculously early since Adam was worried we'd have a problem getting a good parking spot. We grilled out dinner, I got a little sunburned in the parking lot, and we talked with the two other IMA members who decided to join in this chapter activity. The game itself was alright. I think baseball is boring, but man, do they try and make it interesting. Stupid games in between each half of each inning, incessant advertisements disguised as entertainment. It was Fang (the mascot)'s birthday, so we had a whole parade of his "friends" (other mascots) in attendance. There was a pre-game kickball match. They sang happy birthday. They danced. It was cute, but also kind of nuts. Adam decided we were leaving after the 7th inning stretch. Fine by me. Those bleacher seats are very uncomfortable. I don't know that I'd be against going again, but it's not something I'd necessarily seek out.

On Technology (II):
I got a new computer yet again when Adam got tired of my laptop shutting itself down when it overheated while he was streaming music. This new one is a desktop again, can apparently handle Windows 7 better or something. Also came with an insanely huge HD screen. But I had to move everything over and re-do all my settings. Again. But he reformatted my laptop so now I can use it for IMA if we need it.

Things that are growing on me

1. Adam Lambert:



I haven't watched "American Idol" since Carrie Underwood's season and didn't really buy into the "he's gay!" hype. But man, the last couple songs this guy has released have been majorly catchy!

2. Russell Brand:



When he hosted the MTV awards a few years back I was like "who?" He was a complete unknown on this side of the pond. Then he was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I could not stand him. I know, I know, that's a character he was playing, but he was totally obnoxious. Then recently he co-hosted E News or the Daily 10 or something (don't judge - I don't usually watch those shows) and you know what? He's hilarious. And witty. And smart. Reconsidering my jump to hatred.

Photographic Memory: Coupe du Monde

With all the hullabaloo about the World Cup lately, I thought I'd take a moment to remember my own brush with the event back in 1998.



I was in France for the month of June, when the Coupe du Monde began. We were actually on the airplane from Amsterdam with part of the Scottish team, and they quickly became my favorite. They were eliminated pretty much right away, but that didn't stop them from living it up, Paris-style.

The first day we were there we ran into them at Notre Dame, having a "street brawl" with the Brazilians:







A few days later, we got mooned by one while on the Bateaux Mouches on the Seine and serenaded by another in the metro (who was double-fisting the beer, I might add. These dudes were always trashed. But very fun to be around.)





I liked them so much I bought a Scotland t-shirt at the official store.



We were lucky to not be around the major riots in places like Marseilles. It got pretty out of hand. I must say the French and English teams were the least friendly people I saw. The Scots and Brazilians were always out and about, having a good time. You rarely saw the French or English players. Kind of reflective of their cultural differences, isn't it?

Anyway, the presence of all kinds of players and fans really added to my first French experience.

Happy (Belated) House-iversary!

Like the forgetful person I am, I once again neglected to commemorate the anniversary of the closing on the house. Here we are, almost a month past the 31st. Bad Martha.

This year was not as expensive as last year was - a furnace and water heater add up really quickly – but we did continue our slow and steady renovation pace. We replaced our gutters and downspouts earlier this spring with seamless versions to try and outsmart the ash tree out front that is bound and determined to clog things up. Not cheap, but hopefully they eliminate some of the maintenance issues. We also had a tree removed in the backyard last fall. It was dead and a potential playground for the ash bore that was all the rage. We had to replace our grill when someone stole it off our deck. We had the carpets cleaned throughout the house. (Not that you’d even notice now. Cats are dirty, dirty creatures.)

Those were the big hitters. We also replaced the fluorescent light fixture in the kitchen (it died), the range hood (it died), and the vent in Adam’s bathroom (yep, it died too. Seems to be a trend around here.) We also bought a Keurig coffee maker for no good reason at all except that we thought it was cool. We got a new entertainment center/TV mount system when Adam won a flat screen TV from work. We had to get carbon monoxide alarms because of some new law that went into effect. We replaced the utility sink downstairs and swapped out the faucet so it was easier to clean out litter boxes during the winter. We replaced our front door deadbolt with a version that locks on both sides for extra security after some “this neighborhood isn’t as safe as it looks” incidents (see grill-stealing comment above.)

Things are already in full swing with home improvement projects for year number four. Adam has put in a half bath down in the basement and is currently in the process of getting the drywall up. I’m not sure that anything else is planned, per se, but things always seem to crop up. Our major siding/deck project will probably have to wait another year or two.

Feline Shenanigans

You are getting sleepy...



Very sleepy...



The foot just kills me...



Bookends:



So typical...



JC literally watching ice melt:



And, in the interest of equality, here's Carly, plotting the demise of the remote:

Having a Blue Chip Attitude

Back in April I attended the Leadership Training Session (LTS) hosted by the regional IMA council (MAC = Mid-America Council). One of the speakers was James Schneider, a motivational speaker whose presentation revolves around a "Blue Chip Attitude."



He's a very energetic speaker. In addition to the bright red jacket he also wears a large white hat. His presentation involves jumping off chairs, throwing things, and a lot of manic yelling.

The first thing out of his mouth is that he finds the fact that he's labeled a "motivation speaker" to be laughable. No one can motivate anyone to do anything. The only person who can motivate you is you. All he can do is project a positive aura that might rub off on the people he comes in contact with.

The blue chip is a tangible object that is to be used to remind you of the steps toward the "Blue Chip Attitude."



The steps include:

Smile
Talk "Positive"
Use Music
Surround Yourself With Winners
Get a Hero
Dare to Win
Have Fun

His presentation was one of the best of the day and had a lot of food for thought.

Within the "talk 'positive'" step was the use of a Victory List. So often we beat ourselves up over our failures. All we see are the negative things in our lives. We neglect to give ourselves credit for all the things we've accomplished. The point of a Victory List is to take a time out from the negative, "my life sucks" thoughts, and consciously make a list of the things you've done that you're proud of: accomplishments, awards, times you helped others out or were appreciated. Everyone's got something they are proud of.

This was the one part of his entire presentation when he became very serious - almost to the point of tears. He said that too many people these days were losing perspective of the positive. He shared that too many young people he knew had just given up. The point of the Victory List is to pull you out of the "poor me" funk and back into a place where you can better contribute to your own life and the lives of others.

A powerful message. It's definitely hard to have a perpetually "positive" attitude. I know I've failed pretty miserably with this in the last few months. I guess every once in a while you've just got to take a step back to gain new perspective.

Oscar Update

Few more under my belt recently:

Sherlock Holmes: I was bored. They talked too fast. I was unimpressed by the special effects. And what the heck - there was no ending. I hate movies like that. (I'm looking at you, Woody Allen...)

The Lovely Bones: It was also hard to get into this one. I'd read the book a few years ago and was looking forward to this adaptation. But really, Peter Jackson should stick with hobbits. I get the "heaven" effect he was going for, but it was overblown and too drawn out. Stanley Tucci was wonderfully creepy though!

Avatar: I gave this one a B+. It could have been an A if it wasn't 2 1/2 hours long. 2:35 according to our DVD player. That's ridiculous. That said, it went by pretty quickly. I was distracted by the superfluous legs on all the animals (which reminded me of the creepy huge bugs in King Kong. *shudder*), the weird Pocahontas and Ferngully flashbacks I was having, and the complete unoriginality of it all. Yes, it was ground-breaking technology of some sort, but as good as the end result was, I don't know that it was all that everyone seemed to make it out to be. But still not terrible.

Brotherly Love

While You Were Out, or, Ramifications of a Week-Long Vacation

Here's what I was met with when I got to the office this morning:

Voicemails: surprisingly, none. Then again, this is the first time I actually remembered to change my voicemail greeting to tell people I was out of the office...

Emails: 152. Not too bad, all things considered (although I do admit I was semi-working on Monday and Tuesday while I was monitoring my email for IMA so there were a few more that I had already taken care of and deleted.) Unfortunately there weren't many that I could delete without addressing. Boo.

Inbox: Overflowing. All three of them. And two stacks on my desk. Paperless society be damned. I saw that and the three post-its on my computer screen and said I was going back home. Ha.

Other notable decisions that were made during my absence:

** The entire accounting department is relocating. Upstairs. In two weeks. Nice...

** Legacy Alcan employees are integrating with Milprint Corporate (hence the move) and with SAP complications it was decided that I'd take back some New London stuff temporarily (my previous position prior to jumping to Milprint North back in 2006.) Unfortunately it appears that the person I'll be taking this back from was not informed about the whole thing as she seemed quite surprised when I asked her about it. Aah, communication!

** A summer intern was hired and apparently I'll be responsible for keeping her busy (again - let's hope this one is more detail-oriented than the one last year!) She started this morning. (Suprise!) But the IT guy is so swamped with SAP and Alcan that he won't be able to get her set up with computer access until later this week. Really, what can one do in an accounting department without a computer these days? Shred and file, that's what. Hello, learning experience!

Oh, and Citrix crashed for four hours this morning, leaving the entire company without access to any financial, reporting, or production systems. Yay! Welcome back!

I'd say I'm about 1/3 of the way caught up with things. Inventory day is Friday, with the Memorial Day holiday royally screwing up my count in both timing and manpower. At least I now have an extra person in the new intern. (Her name is Jennifer. Doesn't quite have the same ring as "Mike the Intern" from last year, but it will do.)

Having a few days off was nice, but it always takes about as long as I was gone to catch things back up to normal. Things are looking to get pretty crazy this summer with SAP training, mocks, and go-live on August 1. Final EUT is mid-July, but it looks like I might be pulled in to some of the inventory dry runs. Woo. Now if only they'd give me access to SAP...

See it LIVE!

Rest of the photos from the trip are here.

Life

Adam's paternal grandmother passed away early this morning. While it was not really unexpected, it's still not something you want to get a call about. I suppose we all consider it somewhat of a blessing that it happened this week instead of next, when both Adam and I and his parents would have been out of town.

Confessions

This last month or so has been rough. Work-induced stress. Dental discomfort. An ill-timed cold. It all can make a girl pretty crabby.



Most times I'm wiped out by the end of the day.



Just want to sit and stare into space.



Or vent.



Ok. I feel better now.

Hence, the lack of posting here. I've been trying to keep up with my cooking blog, but there were a few weeks that the cooking here was minimal so even that was pretty sad.

Things are winding up for the season in most areas. The bells played for the last time this morning. Tomorrow we'll meet to clean the bells and put everything away for the summer. And then we'll go to Culver's for some post-season ice cream.

The last IMA meeting of the season is next Tuesday. I'll be in New York for Catherine's graduation so I've gotten a Martha substitute. I'll still be taking care of reservations and venue set-up so I'm hoping NYC has good wi-fi. :) I haven't heard anything about summer board meetings yet, but I'm sure that will come up sooner than I expect.

North's SAP go-live is still on for August 1. It's a mixed bag and I've still kind of got a mixed reaction to it. Hopefully it goes well.

So many other topics I might have written about have come and gone, lost with the passage of time. Who cares what I thought about the Project Runway finale since that was weeks ago? I don't know that I've even mentioned The Celebrity Apprentice at all this season. I've been reading through three different series of books but I haven't had time (or motivation) to talk about them here much.

It's difficult. Most days I don't want to come and sit here in front of a computer after I get home from work. Weekends are full of the things I can't get done during the week or shopping or spending time with Adam or taking a nap. It's times like these that I can't even imagine how people who have actual lives deal with it. I mean, I hardly do anything and I still find myself worn out at the end of the day.

That said, props to all the moms out there today, (and, of course especially my own mother).




I don't know how they do it.

Great "Time"-ing...

Well, this is awesome:

Police found a suspected car bomb in a parked sport utility vehicle Saturday evening in New York City’s Times Square, then evacuated buildings and cleared streets of thousands of tourists in the landmark known as the “Crossroads of the World.”

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to our NYC trip in two weeks! Request to terrorists: please take the days of May 17-19th off, ok? Thanks.