Work has slowed down a little. And I got a raise! I guess all our hard work in bindery the last few months got their attention.

Yesterday I took my family to see the new building. I had planned on it being me, DH, my parents and my brother. But then Dad said Grandpa wanted to see it and then my uncle and aunt came along too. It was quite the group! Mark the area manager was there and he was trying to cut some business cards. As soon as he recognized me (I was wearing makeup and nice clothes) he said, "Oh, good! Can you help me cut these?" So Dad and my uncle and grandpa and brother made their own tour while Mom and my aunt and DH watched me work. Mark said I am an artist on the cutter! That made me feel good that he was willing to give me such a high compliment in front of my family. After I finished the cards I took everyone around the new shop and then we ate at Cracker Barrel for lunch. We spent over 2 hours in there talking. I like having family that enjoys being around each other!

After that I dropped DH off and I went to Lowes and bought a celebratory Hoya for getting the raise. It was a good excuse. The beginning of March also would have been a good reason to buy a Hoya. I came home with H. lacunosa "Royal Flush" in the large black Exotic Angel pot. It is really pretty!


Then I took Tuvok to the dog park. He had sooo much fun and wore himself completely out. The evening was spent watching Olympics.

Today I was going to get up earlyish and we were going to go to church. But when I tried to wake up DH he was EXTREMELY grumpy and said he didn't feel good. I didn't feel like pressuring him so I laid there for a few more minutes... then all of a sudden it was 11:00! Hmph.

So I watched lots of olympics again until after lunch and then I got up and watered plants and planted some flower seeds and potted up my tree ivy that I got last week. Then I went to Wal Mart and then I made a new potting mix for when I repot stuff.

Potting Mix
1 part fine pine bark from Green Country Soil
1 part decomposed granite
1 part pearlite
1 part potting soil

I only put in the potting soil to guarantee nutrients for the plants until I find an appropriate fertilizer to use. That's one of my next research topics. I mixed that all in a big rubbermaid tub.

After that I was tired. I did a little research on my future sulcata tortoise aaaand that's about it! DH wanted me to bake something but I'm out of energy for the day. He'll have to wait. He was sick to his stomach all day so he doesn't need any sweets anyway.

I have noticed a huge difference in my energy levels when I take my B vitamins versus when I forget. It's so hard to remember to take them at 10:00 in the morning. Perhaps I should set an alarm on my phone or something.

This week DH has a haircut and we have a counseling appointment. Oh! And on Friday we get to go to the Philharmonic!! The inlaws have season tickets to the symphony but they can't go to this one. They're doing all John Williams stuff!!! It is going to be AWESOME!!!!!!

Stew for a rainy day

This morning I made stew in the crock pot. I was at Sam's and I found top round roast for a little over $5. My mom always told me to buy the cheapest cut of meat I could find for stew but not to use pre cut stew meat because there's too much fat on it. So this morning I cubed the meat and browned it in safflower oil with some salt and pepper. Then I added some flour and cooked that for a minute. I dumped that in the pot and carmelized an onion in the pan to get some of the flavor goo off the bottom. I'm not very good at that part; I always end up burning the sludge. But this time I did better I think. I added most of a package of baby carrots (lazy) and some sweet potatoes, gold potatoes and russet potatoes. Then I added salt, pepper, thyme, and 3 bay leaves and the crock pot will cook all day and it should be yummy!!!! Maybe this afternoon I'll make a loaf of bread to go with it.

Today I need to clean the bunny and Tuvok's box. I need to fill up my pill container for the month and clean the air filter. I need to go to petsmart to get dog food and bunny hay. I need to make some cookies for work and I'd like to bake some bread. And I need to plant some seeds. But first we're finally going to church!! DH is still freaked out about people asking why we've been gone so long but I promised I'd ward them off for him. Hopefully he'll get through this and it'll get easier.

Yesterday I wanted to get up early... and I did. But then I went back to bed and didn't get up until 11. I was sandwiched between DH and Tuvok and I was warm and comfortable!! Perhaps I can make up for it today!

DH is in Norman with his buddies so it's just me and the babies. Everyone's napping. Lilly's on my lap, which is the main reason I'm blogging and not up doing something else.

I got the Christmas decorations down but they're not back in the attic yet. I was beginning to worry that my baby tortoise was going to come before I had room for it! I'm putting a table up in the spot where the tree was. The tortoise is scheduled to hatch sometime next month or the month after.

I've been on a houseplant buying spree. Just this month I've gotten two ivys and a philodendron. They've all been less than $5 but still, I must be ready for Spring or something! I need to plant some cool season veggies this weekend. I was about to do that when the cat climbed onto my lap. She knows...

Work this week was better. We're getting settled in and we didn't have that many jobs come through. I'm getting used to the increased traveling distance between machines. The biggest issue right now is the intercom system isn't working very well. It sounds like the adults on Peanuts. Usually I'm the only one who can interpret it and I have to yell at whoever it is to answer the phone.

I'm going to see if the cat will watch some olypmics with me.

New family member

I got to get off early today because the garage door was messed up and I had to be home for the repairman.

This week an old coworker of mine showed up with a little gecko she found and of course I took it. I went to our specialty pet shop and the guy immediately recognized it as a Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus). I had a leopard gecko before so I already had most of the setup at home. These guys like a different substrate so I got that and some 1/8" crickets. Last night I set up the terrarium and the gecko seems happy. It looks feminine to me and when there's movement she gets kind of spooked. I decided she needed to be named after someone high strung, tenaceous, and cute. DH suggested Ezri, from Star Trek: DS9. So Ezri is living on my bar, right in front of where I eat breakfast and right next to the computer. Hopefully she'll get used to things moving around her tank. I accidentally let her get too cold today so I have the heat lamp on and she's basking. Pretty cute little lizard!



If you look closely at the right side of the branch you can see her.


This weekend we may finally get the Christmas decorations down. I also want to bake a little and plant some cool season seeds. It's supposed to be icky outside all weekend. I'm ready for Spring!!

Snowing again

I want some tea, but the cat is sitting on my lap. If you know cats, especially MY cat, you understand why I can't get up yet. Even though my feet are going to sleep.

It is snowing again. Yesterday was warm so hopefully it'll melt quickly once it stops. Snow is pretty but I'm ready for spring now. The wind seems to have died down a little and the snow has lightened significantly. Maybe it's done? I'll have to look at the radar.

oh! Speaking of radar, we were watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics last night (DVR'ed) and they were talking about the weather causing problems for the skiiers. They showed the "radar" image of the storm. HA! It was like an 8-bit image of color blobs on top of a huge area! I don't often realize how advanced our weather is here in OK. On OK radar, you can see exactly when what level of storm is hitting your house. You can watch the radar and the sky and they sync up exactly. We have such high resolution weather imaging here. I'm spoiled I guess. Sometimes I forget that it isn't necessary in other parts of the world and when I see their weather forcasting it seems... pathetic. I don't mean to offend but wow. I've got it good. I suppose if Vancouver had tornadoes hit it all the time they'd have fancy weather imaging too.

I need tea. The cat's just going to have to move.

....

So I got up and put the water on and my left leg is totally asleep. Hip to toe! Ah, but it was worth it. Lilly was hugging me. :-)

Here in a few minutes I need to get DH up and see if he's ready to go back to church yet. He's been having panic attacks on Sunday mornings. I guess the thought of so many people he doesn't know and feel comfortable with is making him go all crazy. Our therapist says it a part of the grieving process. He lost his mentor unexpectedly back in November and it hit him really hard. I miss church. Sometimes I go without him but sometimes I feel that he needs me here. He's getting closer to going back. He wants to but is scared. I'm not sure how hard to push him.

Lillibutt's back on my lap but this time my feet are resting on the chair beside me. Hopefully that'll be more comfortable for longer. My cat is so spoiled!

I have a follower!! Yay!! Somebody likes me!!

Some of you may not like this... but I've decided it's time for me to no longer fear alcohol. I have tried a few different things and so far the one thing I don't like about all of them is the alcohol flavor. Go figure. I can't drink more than maybe a third of any glass of wine because it's too ...nyeh. That's the closest word(ish) that describes the sensation of the alcohol going into your nose and stuff. Nyeh. I don't like nyeh. And beer is just disgusting. I've tried a few of the ones DH and Froggi get but they all have that nasty beer flavor that reminds me of Friday mornings in college as you walk by the party houses. Ick. But! Tonight I tried 2 beers (yes, beers) that I liked. They were ales as opposed to laguers. I have no clue what that means. But they didn't have nyeh and they tasted more like pop with a chocolatey/coffee note to them. Also DH got a coffee dessert drink that was yummy. I tried a chocolatini but it tasted like rubbing alcohol. Blech. And by try, I mean I had about 3 sips of each one. I am still nervous about drinking too much. I have no idea what is okay and what is not or how I'm supposed to feel when I'm reaching the point that I need to stop. So I err on the side of a few sips of things. However, Froggi knows what those beers were that I liked and sometime I may actually drink an entire one at home when I don't have to drive. I don't like being scared of the stuff but I'm scared to figure out what I need to know. At least I know I'm not an instant alcoholic and that was my biggest fear. Now I just need to know my range of appropriate intake, just in case I come across something I would like to drink more that a few sips of! It would be nice to be able to have a glass of wine with a nice dinner and not worry about what might happen. So, I'm sorry for those of you who are dissapointed in me or upset by this but I have contemplated it for many years. I have no intention of ever abusing or overusing it in any way and if I realize that I have, that would just confirm my fear. So I don't think that'll happen. Besides, Nyeh is just not a good flavor!

I decided to take an inventory of my houseplants. I took their pictures and am going to make little pages on them with the sizes and what not. Sometimes the scientist in me just needs to make a spreadsheet about something. Everyone has quirks.

Here are some of my favorites:

This is the new Philodendron hederaceum 'Brazil' that I got last week. I recently discovered that it isn't the Philodendrons I don't like, but the Pothos. That was nice to know.


Here's a Ficus elastica that I got this summer with a batch of plants from a friend of a friend.


This is my Monstera deliciosa. It is pretty awesome. It seems to like me too. See the new growth?


Here's my grandmother's Hoya carnosa. It is very special to me. This Hoya is the reason I started collecting Hoyas.

Life was nuts there for a few days...

This week my family stayed until Thursday night. Their power came back on Thursday and they were happy to sleep in their own beds and only have a 2 minute drive to school. For our part, we were very glad to have them here but we were ready to go back to our normal quiet routine. More snow comes tonight and tomorrow. Maybe we'll have to stay with them this time!! Ha!

Work is moving to the new building. This week we worked late most evenings and then had to go in Saturday until 2. I get a 1 day weekend! Yay! I started it by sleeping until 1:00. Hopefully since our part is done we won't have to stay late anymore.

Today I want to make bread, plant a few seeds, and make a chocolate cake for Gary's birtday. Right now I'm eating some arborio rice with honey. It's pretty good.