Photographic Memory: Three's a Crowd

Ghosts of pets past...



Duey, Howie, and Pigster.

We watched Marley and Me the other day and I'm still kind of weepy...

Week in Review

Monday:
By commenting on how Nancy seemed to be in such a good mood lately at dinner on Sunday night I must have jinxed things. She was, well, crabby. Little patience, picked on certain people. It was a rough practice, especially after two people mentioned they'd miss practice next week. Oy!

Tuesday:
Second IMA meeting of the year. First attempt at an electronic registration system and I must say it was great. I didn't have to respond to every single RSVP. I could export and print the check-in sheet. It was so much easier. People seemed ok with it so I'm going to keep on with it going forward. We had a pretty good crowd and aside from some issues with the venue (I think they were being a little passive-agressive, but I could be wrong) things went well. A loooooooooooong board meeting full of "discussions" (read: arguments) ended the night on a kind of sour note though.

Wednesday:
First week in a long time that Adam didn't golf. Probably a good thing since it was cold and rainy outside. We went to Solea for dinner for the first time in quite a while and drank a pitcher of margaritas. What can I say, it was a long day. We've got auditors again, we had a two-hour long meeting in the afternoon that went terribly, and I seemed to accomplish nothing all day.

Thursday:
More questions from the auditors. Actually, I have to admit it hasn't been so bad this time around (yet - they're here next week too.) They haven't bothered me a lot. Spent some time out in the plant again with the inventory control ladies. I got steel toe shoes on Tuesday that I'll be trying out this coming week. Sketchers - who knew they made safety shoes?

Friday:
I had vacation, but you'd never know seeing how exhausted I was by the end of the day. I had a car appointment to have some computer thing swapped since my car fell under some Toyota recall. After that I went down to Oshkosh to get my tetanus shot. I'd been putting it off for, uh, way more than ten years, so I figured I should just bite the bullet and git 'er done. It wasn't bad. Didn't really even feel it. Until I tried to sleep on that side. It's much more uncomfortable now - a few days post-injection. My arm is sore, and the site is kind of lumpy and bruised. Hopefully it will go away. After my shot I went back home, had some lunch, and then headed back out. I went to Walgreens, picked up some Tupperware packets for Monday from one of my fellow IMA members (some of the ladies in the bell group want to get our member who lost everything in the fire some new stuff) and also went to Sam's Club. I got home right about the time Adam finished up at work for the day so we headed out to do our regular shopping. Kind of. We went to Menards and Fleet Farm, grocery shopping. Then, since I'd planned a recipe that had more prep than others thinking since I'd be on vacation I'd have time to make it, we went out for dinner. After all of that I was in bed by about 8:30.

Saturday:
Adam had to work the morning since it's quarter-end for him so I did our Walmart shopping by myself. I also stopped by Copps to pick up some shrimp for dinner since I didn't want to mess with the shrimp truck in the rain and construction. After Adam was done for the day we did some more shopping - looking for chair glides for the dining room chairs. We picked a day for our Christmas party. Watched Marley and Me.

Sunday:
I slept in today. Until 8. By accident. Then I got up, made breakfast, drank too much coffee, watched SNL. Broke the vacuum cleaner (ripped the cord right out of the base.) So we went shopping. Again. Fleet Farm, Walmart, JC Penney, Bed, Bath, & Beyond (where we ran into Rich & Julia), Target. We ended up getting a Bissel from Target. Adam likes it so far. Right now Adam's watching football and I'm catching up on my blogs.

Cat-urday Photo

Peek-a-boo, Connor, I see you!

Martha's Top Ten: TV Chef Edition

10)Bobby Flay

Iron Chef, Throwdown! champ, but still airs episodes of Boy Meets Grill from back in 2002 in which he's not so perfect. He's got a great sense of humor, is very successful, and just happens to be married to my favorite L&O ADA, Stephanie March.

And they're so cute together!


9) Guy Fieri

Half creative genius, half insane nutsoid. His energy is contagious, his hair is blinding, and he's got the most adorable family.



8) Giada De Laurentiis

One look at her and you're convinced she's a stuck-up food snob who can't possibly eat the stuff she makes. Watch just one episode of any of her shows and you'll know you're so wrong. She's fun to watch, makes really good stuff, and has helped the image of chefs 'round the world. Can't hurt that her wardrobe department is partial to really low-cut tops...


7) Ellie Krieger

Eating well can suck, but Ellie tries to make it as painless as possible. As a chef/nutritionist, she gives tips for logical swaps to make traditionally taboo favorites ok for those of us who are looking to lighten things up. It's a lot easier to cook healthfully when you see someone doing it and liking it so much.


6) Nigella Lawson

On the other end of the spectrum... Nigella likes her fats, her naughty foods, and isn't ashamed to flaunt it. Not so much a butter fiend as Paula Deen, Nigella still cooks real food, unapologetically. And every single episode of Nigella Feasts ends with her sneaking into the fridge for a midnight snack. My kind of gal!


5) Jamie Oliver

His first US cooking show was The Naked Chef. Who wouldn't watch that? Of course he wasn't naked (stupid false advertising) but he was still adorable. Now he's gone on a crusade to make school lunches healthier.


4) Sandra Lee

She's kind of a whack job when it comes to the color-coordinated kitchen stuff and tablescapes, but her recipes aren't bad. She came under a lot of attack because she uses so much pre-packaged food that people say are full of sodium and preservatives. Dude - her show is called SEMI HOMEMADE. It's going to use prefab stuff. You want totally home-cooked, organic stuff? Watch something else. This is the niche she's chosen to inhabit and she does a great job.


3) Rachael Ray

Another chef who has taken quite a beating from her critics. But I still have many of her cookbooks on my shelves and I use them all the time. She's not a culinary genius, but she took advantage of her ability to know what people are looking for - time-saving tips, easy recipes. She's ridiculously successful and it can't be too tough to be one of Oprah's BFFs.


2) Ina Garten

While Ina strikes me somewhat as a food snob, she creates such wonderful recipes it's easy to forgive the pretentious vibes she gives off. I love that she films in her own home, involves so many of her friends, and has her husband pop up all the time. They've been married for a long time and it's obvious he adores her. It's so cute.



1) Alton Brown

I *heart* Alton Brown. He's a dork. He's got a great sense of humor. He's a food nerd and knows all kinds of random food facts. His Spinach Artichoke dip is a staple at our parties. Good Eats is one of the best food shows on television and his commentary on Iron Chef America is witty and entertaining.

Photographic Memory: Double Digits

This photo is from my 10th birthday party



Which would make it 1992, for those of you keeping score at home.

A couple questions come to mind:

Why am I wearing pink? Redheads never look good in pink.

How is it that I don't look the stupidest? I ALWAYS look the stupidest in pictures. Thanks Amanda and Renee! :^)

2010 Final Oscar Recap

Best Actor:
Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney in "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth in "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman in "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"

My comments: I wasn't crazy (no pun intended) about any of these guys. I don't really know who else I would have like to have seen nominated, but I guess Jeff Bridges was a good winner considering his competition.


Best Supporting Actor:
Matt Damon in "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"

My comments: I had never seen a Quentin Tarantino film before Inglorious Basterds and I have to admit it was kind of cool. I don't think Christoph Waltz had any real competition in the other guys.


Best Actress:
Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren in "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan in "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia"

My comments: How did Gabourey or Meryl even get nominated as Best Actress? The other three I can see. I would have been rooting for Carey Mulligan if it hadn't been completely obvious that this was to be Sandra's award.


Best Supporting Actress:
Penélope Cruz in "Nine"
Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

My comments: I can't stand Penelope Cruz or Maggie Gyllenhaal in anything so I'm glad neither of them won. Monique was the right choice here.


Best animated Film:
"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Up"

My comments: I still have no idea what The Secret of Kells is supposed to be about. I might have to Wikipedia it... I hated Fantasic Mr. Fox and thought The Princess and the Frog was kind of stupid. Up was my winner easily and by a wide margin.


Costume design:
"Bright Star"
"Coco before Chanel"
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
"Nine"
"The Young Victoria"

My comments: Period pieces always win the costume category. The winner even said as much in her acceptance speech. That said, I think it must have been fun to work on the costumes in Coco Before Chanel and Nine.


Original Score:
"Avatar"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Sherlock Holmes"
"Up"

My Comments: The music in both Sherlock Holmes and Fantastic Mr Fox was annoying. I don't even remember the music in The Hurt Locker. Up had a definite musical theme.

Original Song:
"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog"
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog"
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36"
"Take It All" from "Nine"
"The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart"

My Comments: Once again, the Disney songs were really disappointing. I've compared Crazy Heart to Walk the Line more than once, and this song made the comparison that much easier.


Visual Effects:
"Avatar"
"District 9"

"Star Trek"

My Comments: Kind of unfair, seeing as how James Cameron had, what, 10 years to do Avatar? I was more impressed with District 9 because it wasn't so obviously CGI.

Adapted Screenplay:
"District 9"
"An Education"
"In the Loop"
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
"Up in the Air"

My Comments: I haven't read any of the originals so I can't speak to the movie vs source material thing. Overall, An Education was my favorite of these five though.

Original screenplay:
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"The Messenger"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"

My Comments: I was bored during The Hurt Locker, but I'm sure if you're into the whole war thing it was right up your alley. Overall, Up was my favorite of these five.

Best Picture:
"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"

"District 9"

"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"

"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

"A Serious Man"

"Up"

"Up in the Air"

My Comments: It was hard, adding five additional titles this year. This is how I rank them:

10. A Serious Man
9. Up in the Air
8. The Hurt Locker
7. District 9
6. Avatar
5. Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
4. The Blind Side
3. Inglourious Basterds
2. An Education
1. Up

But unfortunately(?) I'm not a member of the Academy.

Week in Review

This week was so boring it doesn't really merit a whole organized entry. Nothing out of the ordinary really happened. Work, bells, another dinner with Karen, shopping. The end. Tonight Adam made ribs in the roaster and invited his grandma and parents over for dinner. That was fun.

It's "Cat"urday

Yes, that's Carly.

Yes, she's on the cat tree.

It's a miracle!

Want to guess how long she stayed up there after we let the other cats out after dinner?

Martha's Top Ten: U2 Version

I love U2. (Although, what the hell was Discotheque?) It was really hard to choose my ten favorite songs. So hard in fact that I've listed some "just missed it"s at the end.

10) New Year's Day



Political, yes, but not obnoxiously so. And Bono's hair in the video? Classic.

9) Stuck in a Moment That You Can't Get Out Of



Great lyrics.

8) Pride



Great lyrics with a timeless message. Good guitar playing too! (And Bono's hair is just out of control in this video!)

7) When Love Comes to Town



This song is so catchy and sing-a-long-able. Not your typical U2 sound, but it totally works.

6) Dancing Barefoot



Aah, how I love the movie Threesome. (Although you may notice it was not on my top ten last week - just barely got beaten out on that list.) This song was in that movie and I instantly loved it.

5) Elevation



Classic U2 sound with some oddly catchy rhyming.

4) Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me



Aside from the awesome music video and the fact that this was the last decent Batman movie until the whole franchise was revamped by Christopher Nolan... I just love this song. Great chorus, great overall sound. I had this song on a cassette single that I'm pretty sure was my first U2 purchase!

3) Mysterious Ways



This song sounded totally awesome in the Celica with the big bass speakers in the back. Video's kind of trippy, but the song itself is pretty good.

2) With or Without You



The Joshua Tree has been my favorite album for a long time. This song epitomizes the U2 sound.

1) Electrical Storm



The original, not the remix which is what all the videos seem to be. Love the beginning, love the bridge and all the key changes. All around my favorite U2 song. To date. :-)

And now, the "Missed it by a nose" entries:

Photographic Memory: Class Picture 1988

This is my first grade class picture. See me there, second from the right in the top row?

Guess how many of these people I have kept in touch with.

Big Fat Zero.

Although I'm Facebook friends once removed with two of them. Does that count?

Ah, memories.

An October Trip to Door County

Since the weather was supposed to be gorgeous and we hadn't managed to make it up at all this summer, we decided to take a day trip up to Door County yesterday. Apparently we weren't the only ones with this idea - it was packed!

Anyway, after our breakfast we hit the highway and made pretty good time. We stopped at our friendly Sturgeon Bay neighborhood Walgreens for a pit stop as we usually do. We picked up the cutest cat bed while we were there:



Carly hates it (as in she hisses at it when we show it to her. We guess she thinks it's another cat...) but the other guys have shown decent interest (after they figured out how to lay in it - they all had issues getting their whole body inside of it...):







Our next stop was the Hands On Art Studio in Fish Creek where they were having a fund raiser for the DC Humane Society.

We met Hazel, the cutest pot-bellied pig ever. She seriously made me consider replacing all the cats with pigs. Hey, pigs don't shed!



We fed her some cheerios and she snorted with glee. So adorable!

They had a petting/feeding zoo area that was by far my favorite part.

This alpaca had a serious attitude problem. It wouldn't come by the fence even when you had food in your hand.



The llama was a little friendlier.



And the goats, of course, were all over this feeding thing.



There were quite a few roosters, crowing and generally making a cacophony



I got slobbered on by a horse



And a goat



And Adam spooked the alpaca



Hmm, maybe this is why it avoided us...

Anyway, after checking the place out we decided we'd definitely try to come back next year sometime. There are all kind of neat projects but most of them required overnight processing and we weren't going to be coming back.

We made stops at the Door County Confectionery and Charlie's Smokehouse - two staples of any trip to Door County. We did not go to Washington Island this time and we avoided Egg Harbor altogether since both towns were having festivals of some kind that we wanted to stay clear of. We had lunch at the DC deli (very good!), stopped by Lautenbach's for some wine sampling and purchasing, got some apples and very cute gourds at a country farm market. Other than that we just spent some time enjoying the beautiful day and fall colors:

Yum!

Chocolate Chip Tiramisu Cheesecake

Made with Neufchatel cheese so I'd feel slightly less guilty about it.

Week in Review

Monday:
This week started off much better than last week did. No barfing!

Month-end at work was going well. I still can't even tell you how much easier it is for me!

We were back at it with bell practice. We learned that one of the ladies had her house burn down over the weekend. Horrible. She was there, but in bad shape. Luckily she has insurance and seems to be surviving. It was decided that we'd cancel the ringing for the weekend because so many people were iffy on their availability.

Tuesday:
More month-end. Seems we got behind at some point so I was on a holding pattern. This did free me up to start on quarterly reports and some corporate stuff. And close New London in three days. Awesome.

I seem to recall we did something on Tuesday night, but I can't remember what it was. Huh. I do know we watched Glee...

Wednesday:
Wednesday was a day full of technologically-induced frustration. The system was running really slowly and since the allocation cycles and other calculations I'm responsible are massive in the first place this meant it took even longer than it should. Finally around 4:30 Tina told me to stop my current transaction, take my computer home and run it there since the ETA for report completion was three hours. So that's what I did. The report actually completed in a little over two hours in which time I had made dinner, done laundry, collected garbage, and watched two DVR shows. Go me.

Thursday:
Finished up MON's month-end checklist and got pulled into a Lancaster meeting. Sometimes I think they forget that I'm a MON employee. Eh. Apparently their plans are to make me the expert on all things inventory so I'm spending most of this month with Dana, our resident (kind of literally - she's been here almost non-stop since the end of July) Focus CO person, in the hopes that I'll absorb all of her knowledge. Fun stuff. First stop - cycle counting! I haven't done enough of that you know... But I guess anything to get management comfortable with our numbers.

I had a dinner "date" with three of the ladies from bells - the one I mentioned earlier whose house burned down and the other two who share the same table at practice. We thought it would be a good idea to get her out and away from the disaster her life had potentially become. We met at Perkins and had a good time. Adam can't believe it took two + hours to have dinner, but you know how ladies are - we talk, talk, talk. It was fun and we all agreed we needed to bring some more social aspects into our bell choir. And some more challenging pieces.

Friday:
Some more Lancaster analysis. Meetings on cycle counting. Boss left at 1 - but I still somehow ended up there until after 3:30. Stupid dedication to my job...

We did our weekly shopping since we planned to head to Door County on Saturday.

Saturday:
We stopped for breakfast at the 41 Diner. I had the most enormous omelet ever and ended up taking over half of it with us since we had a cooler along. We headed up to Door County and spent the better part of the day enjoying the beautiful weather and lovely colors. Separate post on that to come.

We got back home pretty close to kitty feeding time. Then Adam roped me into leaf collection before dinner.

Sunday:
This morning I made a chocolate chip tiramisu cheesecake. I'll let you know how it is when I try it - it has to chill for a few hours before I can finish it up.

We made a trip to Lowe's for a wine fridge - we figured it was worth it since we kept accumulating all different kinds of wine and our refrigerator wasn't getting any bigger. It looks pretty slick next to the bar.

Now Adam's watching the game, I'm in here with a huge backlog of posting to catch up on. Not much else on the to-do list. I've got The Secret of Kells on the end table to watch and then I can do my end of list Oscar recap.

Martha's Top Ten: Movie Edition

It's hard to narrow the massive field of film down to ten and these choices change constantly, but this is what I'm feeling like today...

10) A Simple Twist of Fate
Year: 1994
Starring: Steve Martin, Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Stephen Baldwin
Why I Love It: This is one of the few movies featuring Steve Martin that I can stand him in. He's a lot like Adam Sandler. Most of the time I find both of these men completely obnoxious. But every once in a while they make a film that's wonderful. This movie is one of them for Steve Martin. Great plot, right balance of humor and heartbreak. Good music too.

9) William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet
Year: 1996
Starring: Clare Danes, Leonardo DiCaprio
Why I Love It: Unlike his most recent release, this is one of Baz Luhrman's movies I like. (Australia, *shudder*...) Great semi-modernization of the classic story with some interesting music choices and camera work.

8) Benny & Joon
Year: 1993
Starring: Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aiden Quinn
Why I Love It: Well, aside from the obvious Johnny Depp thing... His character in this movie is such a great one. From the Charlie Chaplin moves to his interaction with both Joon and Benny. Great music again. Seems to be a theme...

7) How to Make an American Quilt and The Joy Luck Club
Year: 1995/1993
Starring: Winona Ryder/Ming-Na
Why I Love It: I'm counting these two films as one choice here because the similarity between them is so strong. They're both about young women facing an important choice and how women from the older generation impart the knowledge they've gained through their life experiences to help them with their decision. Both are wonderfully made, and while I don't really like Winona Ryder much, the other actresses in her film are so strong (it's really an impressive cast) it makes up for her inability to be anyone other than herself.

6) Clueless
Year: 1995
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd
Why I Love It: This is a movie I could watch over and over again and never get tired of it. It's a silly movie, full of cliches and catch phrases (as if!) but it makes me smile.

5) To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
Year: 1995
Starring: Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, Wesley Snipes
Why I Love It: Three very masculine guys in drag - what's not to like? They're all very convincing as ladies and the underlying message of acceptance is uplifting. Bit parts for Robin Williams and RuPaul are great too.

4) A Beautiful Mind
Year: 2001
Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly
Why I Love It: It took me awhile to watch this movie, but once I did I loved it. Interesting plot, good acting, great score. And while it's not exactly true to life (as in, lots of creative liberties were taken in the character of John Nash since the real man is apparently quite a piece of work) it's still one of my favorites.

3) Thelma & Louise
Year: 1991
Starring: Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon
Why I Love It: Girl Power! I always identified with Geena Davis' character. It would have been fun to have a best friend to run away and drive off a cliff with. Of course, this is a movie, so real life isn't that...glamorous? In any case, a wonderful journey through a friendship with some hot, young, Brad Pitt thrown in for fun.

2) Sliding Doors
Year: 1998
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah
Why I Love It: Bad English accents aside, this is an all-around winner. What a great plot - who wouldn't want to be able to see what might have happened if one thing in your life had changed? And I do love John Hannah and his cute (and REAL, ahem) accent.

1) When Harry Met Sally...
Year: 1989
Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan
Why I Love It: This movie has consistently been at the top of my list for years now. There's nothing I can find to not like. The actors are great, it's fun, it's serious, it's so true. It's a perfectly made romantic comedy with great supporting cast members and many quotable lines. My favorite?

"Had my dream again where I'm making love, and the Olympic judges are watching. I'd nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount. "

Photographic Memory: MarineLand Animals

Back in September of 2005 we made our first road trip together out to New York to visit my mom. Along the way we ended up in Canada and saw MarineLand. We stopped and spent a good portion of the day there. We tried to go back on our next trip in 2009, but it didn't happen - they were way too busy to even attempt it. We'll go back some day though!














(all photos taken by Adam - he has a knack for capturing great animal moments...)

Week in Review

Monday:
Monday sucked. A lot. The day was going fine except that I had a headache. Then, around 11, it got a lot worse and I started getting nauseous. I left for lunch a little early so I could lie down for a little while in the hopes that I'd feel better. I almost didn't make it home. I spent the rest of the afternoon and late into the evening alternating bathroom time and lying down. Thank goodness we didn't have bell practice because I wouldn't have made it anyway. I finally stopped throwing up around 11 and managed to keep a small can of peaches in my stomach overnight.

Tuesday:
Still felt like crap, but went to work anyway. Month-end approacheth and all you know. Honestly, I don't remember specifics for the earlier part of this week. I was concentrating on not barfing at work. (I'm happy to say I was successful!)

Anyway.

After work Adam had decided he needed new pants so we made a combined Olive Garden/Fleet Farm trip, finally using some of the gift cards we had after two failed attempts. I still wasn't at 100% so I stuck with some soup and a few breadsticks. They were still on with their endless pasta bowls so I got some penne with meat sauce to bring home. I don't understand endless anything. Who can eat more than one bowl? You already get a huge bowl of soup and all the breadsticks you want. Who even needs an entree? But you have to order one to get the soup and breadsticks...so there you go. I always end up taking most, if not all of my entree home in a box.

Wednesday:
Wednesday I was almost feeling better. I still had to force myself to eat breakfast knowing I'd feel worse if I didn't even though I wasn't feeling hungry. Another unmemorable day at work apparently. We did have the annual employee cookout and I made the same mistake I made last year in choosing the chicken that they must marinate in Italian dressing. Gross. This years' salad also had red onions in it so that also made it pretty easy to not over-eat. Well, that and still feeling ooky.

I do remember not getting home until about 5:15. Not sure what happened there, but something must have come up that hindered my escape. Adam was out golfing like usual so it wasn't a big deal. The only reason I remember that is because it threw my whole nightly routine off. Wednesday is a finely coordinated effort because I have a lot to get done. Laundry, garbage, menu planning for the next week, dishes, catch-up on the plethora of shows that record on Tuesday. Luckily I fit everything into one load of laundry so I was done at a reasonable hour despite my tardy start.

Thursday:
Ah, the wonders of our new month-end process. I didn't have to get up early! I didn't have to get donuts! I didn't have to try and figure out what the hell people were talking about on their cycle count sheets! Really, I didn't have to do much of anything since the intern got New London access and closed all my jobs for me in a day and a half. (Have I mentioned how much I like this intern? She knew what a vlookup was without me telling her! Heaven!)

Wow, that's a lot of exclamation points in one paragraph. But really, it's so different and makes me happy. Most of the time.

My main mission for Thursday was to get our standard costs cleaned up so we didn't have any ridiculous inventory valuation issues like we did last month. ($26 million dollars for offsite converting anyone?) I had a couple of meetings, sent a bevy of emails, a barrage of IMs, and I think I got them taken care of. At least at first glance things look reasonable.

We had a meeting as a department to figure out who would be doing what this month since last month the Focus team kind of steamrolled us through the process. I ended up with my name next to a lot of things. But that's ok. I even get to run our really important time-sensative reports on the last day of the month at midnight GMT (currently 7pm.) Woo. So home with me came my laptop. At least they ran a lot faster this month than they did last month...

Friday:
I continue to sing the praises of month-end on SAP. Only half-sarcastically right now. I just can't believe how much easier it is for me. Day one for me consists mostly of reserve calculations. And with the crap reports they have, it takes pretty much all day. I did get them all done (minus some adjustments for costing changes done post-midnight) and even managed to get all of New London's day one items done as well. I rock. I did not manage to leave early like I'd hoped. Oh well, can't have it all...

Since Adam planned to do some yard work with his dad on Saturday morning we did our grocery shopping on Friday night. That kind of sucked. Walmart and the grocery store are so much more busy on Friday night than Saturday morning.

We contemplated going out but decided to stay home and be lazy. Plus, we had both Project Runway and The Apprentice to watch. (Boo, James. Now I have to find someone else to root for!)

Saturday:
I started my day by making a big pot of chili and throwing it in the slow cooker all day. I've put it all the freezer for later consumption. Appropriately, the weather has turned all cold and dreary. Since we didn't have our shopping to do, I spent the morning reading while Adam and his dad cut down and hauled away one of the trees in the backyard. Don't ask me which one - I wasn't paying attention and don't notice one missing. Landscaping is not my thing.

After that was done we made a trip to Simon's for cheese and Manderfields to check out their new location (oh, and have a donut since, you know, we were there...) We got a dog cookie at Simon's that we then took to Adam's parents' house since they're currently dog-sitting Lulu (our canine niece) while Katie and Chris are on their anniversary cruise. She devoured the biscuit in about ten seconds. It was kind of scary. We then made a stop at the Bulk Food store and then came home.

We ate lunch while watching Hot Tub Time Machine, which is easily the stupidest movie I've seen in quite some time. I think John Cusack agreed to be in it because the soundtrack would be cool. I've notice that a lot of his movies have kickass soundtracks and I'm thinking there might be a connection there... The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some more reading, and some updating on my cooking blog. I made the very labor intensive French Onion Soup Mac & Cheese for dinner and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Sunday:
Today has consisted of cleaning litter boxes, rearranging the living room, making a big batch of spaghetti sauce which will then be canned, some reading, a lot of blog work, some IMA prep for October, a mini-nap. Who knows what tonight will hold? Hopefully a better night's sleep than these last couple. Carly is not appreciating her diet and she's making it crystal clear.

2010 Kitty Olympics

Connor and Ted are competing in the synchronized sleeping event:



Carly's the frontrunner in the righteous indignation & glaring categories:



And JC's got the superclose television-viewing gold medal in the bag:



Theyr're all winners in my book!

Week in Review

Monday:
Calm before the storm, so to speak. I had meetings for most of the afternoon which made it difficult to respond to all the last minute IMA requests. But it all worked out. We had a full crew at bells and ended up shifting the tables down to make more room for the ladies manning the big bells. This put me around the corner from where I have been so I have a new view on things. I also end up shaking my bell right in Jane's ear for about 10 measures at the end of Sine Nomine, but so be it. :-)

Tuesday:
OMG. Tuesday was the beginning of the next wave of cycle counts. We had divided WIP into three sections we thought would be manageable to count and reconcile in one day. Boy, were we wrong. We got through the first section on Tuesday and called it a day since we were already almost an hour and a half over our alloted time. I spent my afternoon out in the receiving office moving materials in the system. Then I hightailed it out of there to get over to Robbins for IMA. For the massive crowd we had coming, we were all pretty organized so things went surprisingly well. No one showed up without a reservation. We did have a few no-shows, but that's fine as most of them had prepaid. The panel was interesting, things kept moving at a good pace, and even with a board meeting I managed to get home at a reasonable hour - albeit still almost 15 hours after I had left in the morning. But whatever. Who's counting?

Wednesday:
Day two of the cycle count. Not quite as bad as day one, but still, not the greatest. Once again, we majorly overestimated the amount of area that four counters can cover in four hours. Add to that a mini uprising among the material handlers and it was a teensy bit stressful. Not to mention the tension that continued to build in the receiving office. I know the accounting department has been perpetually ticked off at everyone for the past two months, but I think the receiving department might have us beat. Whew.

I got home a little after 5, fed some hungry kitties, and set about cleaning up the house a bit. Also caught up on some DVR shows. Weeks with IMA always tend to get behind.

Thursday:
Last day of cycle counting! This day went so well compared to Tuesday and Wednesday. We had an extra team of counters and they breezed through the main part of the warehouse. This even left us with time to circle back to a section that had been scrapped on Tuesday. Reconciliation is still somewhat of a problem, but I think we will be able to get it all done before next week's deadline.

While the counting went well, there was almost an all out drop 'em fight in the receiving office. It's not good. The inventory control group recently got incorporated into the accounting department instead of the logistics department and with no guidance thus far, everyone's kind of treading water. And some people are apparently close to drowning. Hopefully we get a chance to meet as a big group this coming week before they start to draw blood.

After work it was more catch-up. Thank goodness The Apprentice is back to a manageable hour-long format.

Friday:
Vacation! Woo!

I spent my day off taking Carly to the vet and bumming around. This is the first time I've taken Carly as Adam usually takes the morning off and brings her in. I determined that she hates car rides, but will tolerate them better if there's music on. But not all music. Miss Kitty has a discerning ear. She appears to like Mozart, but not Dvorak. Hmm. Anyway, she yowled the whole trip there. Continued to yowl as we sat in the waiting room. When we got into the exam room she hopped out of the carrier and wandered around. She loves the attention the nurses and vet give her, of course. She didn't seem to mind anything they did to her except for the major q-tips in the ears. Even the shots didn't faze her. But then it was back in the carrier. She yowled a lot less on the way back home - I credit The Magic Flute for that.

Overall, she's in good health. But she managed to pack on almost 1 1/2 pounds in the last year. Whoops. So, the plan of attack is to limit her dry food (hello carbs) and increase her wet. Also, we are supposed to try to get her to move around more. This entails shutting the other cats up for a few hours each day so she'll get her butt off the refrigerator more. So far she hates me for her limited food, but she did spend a good chunk of time by the patio door and other areas in the living room Saturday night.

After Adam was done with work we did our weekly shopping and stopped at Erbert and Gerbert's for dinner.

Saturday:
Since we did our shopping Friday evening, we spent Saturday morning watching Invictus. My reaction? Too much rugby. Adam pointed out that it's a movie about rugby. True, but so boring! Just one movie left on the list - The Secret of Kells, which looks to come out on 10/5. After getting ready to face the day, we headed up to Green Bay. Adam wanted a throwback jersey so we made a stop at the Packer Pro Shop. (It's a Monday night away game so that wasn't as crazy an endeavor as it might have been.) Then we went to lunch. We had planned to go to Olive Garden since we had a gift card but it was mucho busy so we went to Golden Corral instead. I don't know why. I admit it was my idea, but I don't know what possessed me. Buffets scare me, but I've been craving Golden Corral for awhile now so I just indulged myself. It was not good. Live and learn. I'll stick to Chinese buffets again.

After lunch we stopped at Adam's grandma's for a while. A quick stop at Seroogy's, Breadsmith, and then back home. We opted to skip dinner and just snack since we'd had kind of a late lunch and then too much chocolate at Seroogy's.

Sunday:
Adam's gone all day at a golf tournament. We watched Project Runway this morning as it had failed to record on Thursday so I had to catch the first re-run which was 10pm last night. DVRs are wonderful, but only when the information on the TV is right so it records! Grrr. Anywho, now I'm working through my to-do list: some cleaning, some baking, and some work. Boo for work. But this week is going to be nuts and I've got to get New London under control!

So far this morning I've got a load going in the dishwasher, laundry is started, and the cat room is cleaned up. Left to do? Cleaning my bathroom, washing our sheets, making the weekly dessert - Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies, purging the file cabinet in the office (one of the metal bars fell off because there's so much crap in the drawer!), making the dinner from last night (have to use up the turkey since it's defrosted), a few more blog posts in the works, and work stuff. Boo for work (again.) What I wouldn't do for a boring week...

Photographic Memory: Nerd Alert!

In an Austin Power voice, of course...

Who else but a nerd would be caught dead in these pants?


Or wearing this outfit?


Posing for a "student of the month" photo in 7th grade?


And not once...


But TWICE in 1998?


And, really, who else but a major nerd would go to school with her hair in pigtails during March of her senior year?


What a nerd.

Martha's Top Ten: Kitty Edition

Having four cats makes you aware of all the crap out there for pets. Here are my top ten kitty-related things:

10) Infinity Vacuum with pet care system:



Four cats means a ton of cat hair. Everywhere. This vacuum has good suction and comes with a bunch of tools to clean hair off of various surfaces. I'd guess. I don't vacuum any more than I have to, but Adam seems to like this one.

9) Feather teaser wand:



This toy is good for getting kitties out from under the bed. Also hilarious when Adam attached it to a fishing pole and flung it across the living room. You should have seen JC fly!

8) Dead Mouse Pillow from IKEA (I don't see it on their website):



The cats love this pillow. They sleep on it, they lounge on it. It's also good for propping open the patio door:



7) Sachets of catnip from my mom:



The cats go nuts for these little pouches of catnip.



The rub their heads all over it and get them good and slobbery. And then leave them in the hallway so I step on them in the middle of the night and freak out.

6) Lysol Neutra Air Freshmatic:



Cats are stinky. We used to use Glade plug-ins in the cat room, but they were no match for four cats worth of stink. This Lysol automatic air freshener sprays occasionally and helps keep the smell under control.

5) Petco Litter Deoderizer:



There are so many of this kind of product out there but the one I like the best is the PetCo brand. The Arm & Hammer brand creates all kinds of dust and the PetSmart brand smells disgusting. The PetCo brand smells less terrible and spreads out evenly with little fuss or mess.

4) Nature's Miracle Stain Remover:



Unfortunately sometimes there are accidents. Or on purposeses in Carly's case. This cleaner is pretty good at getting the stain and smell out of the carpet. It doesn't have harsh fumes itself. We have two or three spray bottles of it in various rooms of the house.

3) Cat Tree:



We were lucky enough to get this from one of Adam' co-workers. The cats love it. They sleep on the top level, play in the teepee, scratch on the base, and chase each other up and down on it.

2) Le Bistro waterer:



Four cats require a lot of food and a lot of water. This thing holds a gallon of water at a time and refills the bowl as they drink. It can go about a week before it has to be refilled, which is a process that JC enjoys a little too much:



Of course it can get messy if they tip it over, but that's only happened a few times.

1) Litter Locker:



It's a diaper genie for cats. It holds the scoopings from the litter boxes in a relatively stink-free container. I get a week out it with four cats' poo and each bag cartridge lasts about a month. It's very convenient, and while the refills can get expensive, we order in bulk from Petguys.com and it's pretty reasonable.

Of course, the cats generally find happiness in un-pet-specific things.

Like laundry baskets



or ice melting



or a comfy chair



or an empty lunchbox