Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Lowered Expectations

Ok just a quick vent post because I am tired of business not living up to a standard. Tonight Brad and I decided that we would treat ourselves to a sundae at Ben and Jerry's. We had been seeing the posters everytime we walked by for a caramel turtle sundae and tonight we were going to have it. They were out of turtles. SO I asked for the other special the peanut butter brownie sundae, they were out of brownies, so we left and went to the waffle place. I ordered a crepe, no problem, Brad ordered a waffle, did I mention that it was a waffle place, they were out of waffle batter. Brad was irrated but he ordered a crepe. We asked for two glasses for tap water. The girl told us she couldn't find the cups for water we could buy a bottle. We asked if we could use one of the coffee cups, she said no they were saving them, what the F! Come on people have your product and let people have water. I wish I could say that this was just a freak night but it is happening more and more. We will no longer order from Pizza Hut because every time we order they are out of pepperoni, or pan crust, or medium pizzas or something and they never just tell you they are out of it, no they let you wait for the pizza to arrive and when it is wrong and you call or ask they tell you that oh yeah we were out of whatever so we sent you the pizza on a cracker instead. I tell you what these places had better step it up cause I do not want to have to make every meal at home.

Ok that is all for now come back tomorrow for a much lighter happier blog post.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Pictures with new camera


First up is Juan Pablo Montoya, Monty for short, the killer race turtle. He is asking, You looking at me? as he suns himself with his uv lightbulb. This is a rare treat he is usually too self involved for a picture. Next picture is of our little Pixel, she was worried she wouldn't look good in the picture so she had to take a moment to clean a spot. Third picture is of Zacchy, as she has seen many cameras come and go in her lifetime she was less than impressed and chose to sleep through the photo session. Lastly is a picture of what Brad gave me for Valentines day. I had to wait for it to grow before I could take a picture. If you click on it you will see what I think of you all. Of course I have no idea what it is that I am really growing so I hope it isn't illegal since I keep it in the window and all. ANyway I was just taking a quick break to see what the pictures look like before going and taking more. Expect lots of picture posts in the near future.

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Saturday, March 25, 2006

Random picture Saturday


I have decided to start a new feature that will be random picture Saturday. I will post pictures of random things with no explanation. You can choose to think of them as you wish or even make up stories in the comments. The only rule I will make is that they will all be pictures I have taken. So here is your first installment, have fun.

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Thursday, March 23, 2006

Why Soozieq Rocks


So today I glanced out at my patio and saw a box out there. It was addressed to me so I opened it. Zacchy was very excited to have a new box to play in, because that is her favorite toy. So as soon as I emptied the box in went Zacchy. You may not be able to tell from the picture but she is saying thank you Soozieqhttp://sharpturnahead.blogspot.com . So I opened the other box that was inside the box and found that Soozieq had sent a gift for Brad and I. So needless to say I was very excited. You see she had sent me a new thermometer and crab crackers. I needed these because as you see from the bottom picture I melted my old thermometer by placing it on top of the smoker, a mistake I will not make again. I needed the crab crackers because the last time I made crab I didn't have the crackers and I was doing it by hand and cut myself on the shell. That was not to fun for me so I will say I am glad Soozieq has saved me from further injury. I then tried to take a picture of the box with the card in it but Pixel began to feel left out and so she jumped into the box right as I was taking the picture. My camera then ran out of batteries because I haven't charged them due to the new camera coming. Thank you Soozieq so much, I really can not say how much it means to me that you are so thoughtful. Also this thoughtful gift produced your address which I was going to email you today for anyway. So from myself, Brad, Pixel, and Zacchy we say thank you. Monty couldn't be bothered to offer thanks though he was too afraid I might stick him in the box or use the thermometer on him.

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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Invitations

So I haven't been around to actually update my own blog because I have been non stop on operation mail out invitations since Friday. Yesterday I sent out 143 invitations. Today about 30 more went out. I also filed for my passport yesterday and that should arrive by May 2nd. So I am covered in ink from doing all the calligraphy on the inside envelopes. No I didn't lick the invites I used a sponge thingy to seal all of them. On Friday I went to the post office to buy all the stamps for the invites. I know they have special wedding stamps that you can buy so I was thinking they would be a heart or something. I handed the mail man a invite and asked what the postage would be for that and the return card. The mail man got all excited. He started dancing around and crossing his fingers as he waited for the scale. Once he saw that the invites would be able to go out at the 63 cent prize he jumped up a little in glee. Apparently the stamps come together on a card for weddings so you get the 39 cent stamp on one side and the 63 cent stamp on the other. It is a new thing and this man had never gotten to sell one of them before so he was quite excited about it. He comes back with the stamps and I glance down and find to my horror that the stamp has a bird on it. I hate birds and I certainly didn't want one to be the symbol on all of our invites, on the other hand I wasn't about to tell this man that I didn't want the special sheet he was so happy to be selling. So yep all the invites have a bird stamp on them.

Saturday night we took a break from invitations and went to the dinner and a movie thing. In concept a great idea, in reality poorly executed. There was a Hollywood nightclub that shared a lobby with the theater and so before the movie even ended the music from the club was so loud that our table and drinks were shaking a lot. It was hard to see the movie at times because the serving staff all walked around on the same level as everyone watching the movie. The worst thing was though that the food while it tasted fine was not what we expected. Most of the things on the menu were between 10-20 dollars. I ordered the special which I thought might be a few dollars more than the most expensive thing on the menu. I ordered the filet and it was about 6 oz and they charged $40 I nearly had a heart attack. Yeah lesson learned don't order the special unless you want to be specially shocked. Brad's food came out cold and he had to send it back and get it reheated. So all in all it was not an experience we care to do again. We did have a good time though because it was nice to get away from the wedding planning and it was even nicer to get to go out with friends. It is also nice because the couple we went out with is getting married this summer so they are going through the same things we did or are.

Sunday night I ordered a new digital camera and it should arrive here by Friday. I bought the Nikon Coolpix s5. It is just a little thicker than a credit card and it is 6 mega pixels and it takes TV resolution video. I am told that it is really good. I really like the size of it and that is what I wanted for when we are in Italy. A small camera that is easy to always have ready that takes a high res picture. I can't wait for it to come, however Brad is almost as excited for my camera as I am and I am not sure if he will even let me play with my own camera because he is going to take it over. I suppose that is what happens when you marry a gadget freak.

So the wedding is exactly 2 months from today and I am starting to really feel like this is going to really happen. You know we must really love each other if we didn'y kill one another getting these invites out.

Yesterday my new Tassimo beverage system (coffee maker) It is so cool you put a disk in and hit the button and it makes you the perfect cup of coffee, tea, or hot coco, depending on what kind of disk you out in. It also makes cappucinos and all of the fancy drinks too. I bought it for catering but we will see if I will ever be ok letting someone else touch it. I love new toys.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Poconos?

So it is now almost two months until the wedding and I can finally say that we do indeed have a honeymoon booked. On Monday May 22nd we will be on our way to Italy! Yep Angel Girl I will be in your neck of the world. We are going to spend two weeks in Italy eating and drinking our way through the country and then we will fly back. First though we fly into Paris and have a lay over until the next morning so oh darn we will see one night of Paris as well. Breakfast with real croissants, yummy! I am so excited to get to leave this continent for the first time in my life. It seems as though Mrs. Brad will have more exciting adventures than Miss Karin did.

Yesterday they poured new concrete for the walkway to our building. All day long the concrete called to me saying it needed engraving. Try as I might I could not calm the voice of the walkway and so I carved K + B '06 very small in a corner of the wet concrete. Yeah I am bad, but Brad told me to do it and the first thing he did when he got home was to run out and see what I carved. Yes this is why I am marrying him, everyone needs a partner in crime. Besides who else wouldn't complain about putting drink syrup on their waffles.

Tommorrow night we are going with friends to a dinner place that shows a movie while you eat. We will be seeing Good Noght and Good Luck. Maybe we will see what all the Oscar buzz was about. I think it is a cool idea though to combine the whole dinner and a movie thing so I will have to post how the food was. That is about all I can think to talk about right now. I will post tommorrow and say more if there is more to say.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Sometimes I am not as bright as I think I am

So last night I didn't feel much like dinner and or making dinner. I finally decided to make breakfast for dinner and so we had waffles and bacon. I made the waffles and some how timed everything perfectly to when Brad walked through the door. All was going well and he even seemed excited to have waffles for dinner. I then went to the cabinet to get the syrup. There was no syrup there. What the F how could we possibly not have syrup? Ok well I knew the last time we went to Ikea we bought a bottle of Lingonberry syrup so all was again fine with dinner. I served the waffles and the Ikea syrup and was surprised at how liquidy it was. No problem it tasted fine and Brad didn't complain so I ate my waffles and kept quiet. As we finished and Brad was clearing the table I mentioned that I was surprised at how liquidy the syrup was, Brad said he was too and then he turned the bottle and read it. To make beverage mix with water. It wasn't pancake syrup it was koolaide mix. Yeah and I am a chef. Oh well we all make mistakes.

This week I am a little preoccupied because we have to get all the wedding invitations out by the 21st. We spent all of last night finalizing a list of invites and now it is on to the assembly and addressing of envelopes. Aren't you all glad you are not in the middle of planning your own wedding. I can not believe in a little over 2 months I am going to be a Mrs.

As for the quiz, Walmart is not a department store. I think at best it is called a super store or a drug store. There is only one place that I have made a whole post on hating. I will give you that Walmart is not one of my favorite businesses but honestly there is not one around here so I don't really give it much thought. Don't feel too bad at missing that one though because no one including Brad got that one right, though he should have known better. I am guessing that a lot of you are Walmart haters and were projecting that to me.

I have been to a lot of blogs lately that have lost someone and it is really sad. I don't know if it is the season for it or something but really I am getting so sad I don't think I can deal with much more death. SO if you are a reader of my blog I forbid anyone you know to pass away until after June. I think I can handle it better by then.

It is Purim, which is a very fun loving Jewish Holiday. The rules are, for adults, to drink until you don't know the difference between blessed be Mortichi and cursed be Hamen. While I can't spell it I am still too sober to not know the difference. So pardon this post I am rather buzzed but I am still not to drunk to follow Jewish Law.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

I am a joiner

so since I have seen lots of you guys making quizzes and I can not be left out ever I made one of my own to see how you all would do. First let me see if I can post a link cause I have never tried before. Take my quiz.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Big bear pictures


The first picture is of Cassie my brother's girlfriend's daughter, she is wearing her mom's gloves because she didn't have snow mittens yet. The second picture is of snowy Brad. I think he is in shock over how cold it is. The last picture is of my Bro, yep he does have a very red nose. Yep it was snowing at the time. All these pictures were taken while we waited for the chains to be put on the car. We weren't really dressed to be in the snow and we were ourside waiting for over an hour. We had fun though and Cassie loved the snow. Thanks Susan for telling me how to post multiple pictures, now you guys are all in for trouble.

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Catering

So this week I am catering but not doing data entry for the same company I usually work with. It has been so nice to bring the food and leave and not have to stay there all day and feel weird about how the food is or was. Of course I am not making as much money without doing the data entry but I am still making enough to make it worth my time and I am enjoying it so that is all that really matters.

Today as I was coming home I saw a true fashion victim riding a bmx bike. She was wearing camouflaged pants in green, hot pink sparkly high heeled pumps, a jacket with a fur hood and a big gold sparkly purse. It looked hysterical and was only made funnier by the fact that she was an adult riding a 2nd graders bike. I think all of her items may be highly fashionable on their own but all together it looked dumb. Of course I am sitting here in an oversized t-shirt with food on it and jeans that have chicken grease all over the knee, but in my defense I did just get back from catering and I haven't changed yet.

Today I get to go back to the dentist to see how everything is heeling and hopefully I will get permission to eat with and brush that side of my mouth. I am hoping that all the dental stuff is coming to an end soon. Yesterday I got my Seasonale prescription refilled for the first time with our new insurance and it was only 25 bucks instead of the 115 I had to pay with the old insurance. That was a really nice surprise because when we started with them Brad asked if they would cover that and they said no so I was expecting to have to pay more than with the old insurance. I love stuff like that it is like finding money in your pocket. Anyway that is about it for now if I think of more I will come back.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

The Triumphant Return

So my trip to Napa was very successful yet expensive. My mom and I went shopping and we got her a dress for the wedding despite her hatred of shopping. I got dresses for all the pre and post wedding activities so I will be stylin. I found a hair dresser and I have that all set up. I loved my mock up do so I feel good about the stylist. It rained and poured while I was there and I even got some Hail. I also got to go into San Francisco and shop at Union Square. We left Macys at Union Square at 4:09 and we ran the whole way back to the Ferry Building and were on the Ferry by 4:30. I am not sure the actual distance between the two places but let me tell you that a fat girl and her 63 year old mother should not be able to make it that far in 20 minutes. We were the only people in all of San Francisco sweating.

This weekend Brad and I have been shopping non stop. We went and got all the supplies for our Temple to put on the Purim carnival next weekend, plus all the food for me to cater all week. By the time we were down we had a startling revelation that it was time for a new freezer as the little dorm sized freezer I had and the freezer on the fridge just weren't big enough to accommodate all the meat we now need to have on hand at any given time. We found a great chest freezer at Costco that wasn't as long as a lot of the other chest freezers and would fit perfectly into the space in the garage the old dorm freezer was in. The trick was could we get it into the car. It was 7 cubic feet of storage all together and we were pretty sure it had just enough clearance to go into the back of the MINI. So we bought it and a new monitor for Brad and asked the workers to help us load it into the car. They told Brad to move the car around and they would help to load. When Brad started to pull around the guys started to point and laugh saying at least we don't have to fit it into that. I said um yes that is exactly what you are fitting that into. They told me no way would it fit. I said yes it will and they again said no way. I again assured them it would fit we measured and they still didn't believe me. Brad says I should have bet them. We loaded it into the back of the MINI and then had enough room to put the new flat screen monitor behind it and close the boot completely. A perfect fit. Of course our chairs were mere inches from the dash and so Brad had a little difficulty using the clutch. I was carrying a large package of napkins so Brad couldn't see his mirror so I had to be the mirror on that side. The rear view mirror was useless so Brad drove very cautously straight home. But if you are ever wondering if you can fit a freezer in the back of a MINI the answer is yes.

Today was a bit of an interesting day, we had invited friends over to watch the awards but only one ended up able to make it so we have a lot of food in the house. Right before the awards we got a call from Brad's family that B's sisters really good friend, R, that we have met and will be coming and helping at the wedding lost his little 16 year old sister this morning in a car crash. The teens were going over 80 miles an hour and drove into a tree. The 2 passengers, one of which is R's sister died instantly. The driver was in serious condition and has since past away. Brad spent a lot of time on the phone with his sister helping her to find her way to R's families house so that she and friends could be with him right now. This just goes to show how important it is to say that you love someone and to make the most out of the time you spend together. When R last saw his sister it was Christmas break, he returned to school an hour and a half from home not knowing that he had just seen his sister for the last time. What would he have done differently during that break and the time between that break and now had he known how short her life would be. I think it is important to make the people in your life know how important they are to you and to not leave things unsaid. You never know if the last thing you say to someone is the last thing you are ever going to say to them. Let your words and deeds show your love. For all you parents out there please have a talk to your children about making good choices. Not to drive recklessly or to stay in a car with someone that does. If someone is drinking let your teen know they can call you to pick them up and you will not punish them for it. It is much better for you do drive them home on a night that they have made a few bad choices than for them to feel that your judgment of them would be worse than getting in the car with a drunk driver. Things like this scare me, when I think that someday I will have a teen and how I have raised them will effect all their decision making ability. How can I know the right things to teach my kids so that they will make better decisions. In any case hug someone today and tell them that you love them, don't leave things wishing you had changed them.