Archive of Marcia's Musings December 23-29, 2002
Sunday, December 29, 2002
Positively Scary
Apparently, I've decided to scare myself in my old age: I'm baking again. Actually today was the second time in a month that I've baked something. This time, it was something totally for me and my office folks. I made FIVE loaves of banana bread. We made the mistake of buying a HUGE bunch of bananas at the warehouse store last week. Usually, that isn't a problem but when you don't go to work for nearly half of the week, they end up not getting eaten. Oh, well, from the minute that the six of them started to turn brown, I began thinking about making my mother's banana bread. The only thing is that I can't afford to make my mother's banana bread because I really enjoy eating my mother's banana bread, too.
I solved that problem by modifying the recipe from 1-1/2 cups of sugar to 1-1/2 cups of Splenda, 1 cup of shortening to 1 cup of applesauce and so on. As a result, I've got some pretty great tasting banana bread with less fat and less calories than my mother's normally. The bread doesn't taste as good as my mother's but nothing much has since she's not doing the baking.
Other than that . . .
Nothing much has been happening. I spent half of the afternoon looking through quilting magazines and waiting on the bread to be baked. The other half of the afternoon I spent sleeping and that leaves sewing for tonight.
I did make some turkey rice soup from the last of the left over turkey. Brian won't eat any of it until Thursday, I'm sure-- he's finally turkeyed out but I am enjoying it immensely. I've had my eye on a wine rack for awhile now but wanted Brian's review of it before I bought it. I finally accomplished that tonight so it'll probably arrive by UPS while I'm in California-- oh, joy!
And with that, I'm outta here-- I've got sewing I want to do before too much more time flies by tonight.
***********************************************************************************Saturday, December 28, 2002
Productive Time
After sleeping in late (9am on a Saturday is LATE for us!), I couldn't wait to run the dishwasher so I did-- that, of course, set us getting our showers later than normal but, nonetheless, when they were finished as well, I started on my biggest task of the day: taking down the Christmas tree. I know its early to do that but, frankly, because I'm leaving for California next week, I had to do it today or not have time to do it until I got back and, that would definitely not been a prettysite: a six week old Christmas tree!! YECKKK!!!!!
If nothing else, I've re-convinced Brian about artificial trees. Man, this puppy shed needles on the way out of the house!! Whew!! Between the care that was needed for it with watering adn watering and watering and the fact that I couldn't get half of the ornaments to hang right, I believe him to be convinced that we need to go artificial from now on and forever more. Or at least I hope so!
I tried to take a nap after that but failed miserably. I was too distracted by the plot since it had been a LONG time since I'd seen "About Last Night". I gave up at the end of it and tried to make a run to find a Salvation Army outlet so I could make another post-move donation. Not a lot of stuff but enough to clean three boxes out of the garage and into my truck where there are now stuck since I was late for the departure of the truck. Oh, well, there's always next week or finding another location?? That could be a novel experience!
I've decided that one of the handy-dandy bags that I make for other people needs to be made for me-- this is the one like I quilted for my mother-in-law and a few other people. I'm going to make one as a carry-on for my return from California-- I'm going to hit Chinatown while I'm there so I know that I'm going to need it. :>)
Anyway, I'm off-- no time to figure out uploading of pictures today-- maybe tomorrow or it may have to wait until I return from California. Yikes-- that's a long time away!!
Have a great evening!
***********************************************************************************Whateverday, December 27, 2002
Frifriday
What else can you call the second Friday in a week? All I know is that my mind is tired from trying to figure out what day it is!! Yesterday, all day, I kept thinking: whose turn is it to call-- me or my sister's? I swore it was Monday and the way it usually works is that whoever calls Sue on Sunday, does not call on Monday. Then, I had to tax my mind into trying to remember if I called on Sunday or if my other sister did. Then, once I remembered the screw-up of calling Sue on Monday instead of Sunday, I remembered that it was not, in actuality, Monday again but Thursday. Man, I'm exhausted!!
Page Updates
I have a bunch of page updates due and to do as far as Sally and my quilting page are concerned but, part of the headache of switching to Netscrape 7.x is that I can't figure out how to upload my pictures! When I figure that out, I'll update those pages and that'll make life a little easier for all of us, right? Its either that or I strip it off my system-- whatcha think?
I don't know if you can see it or not but we do have a font change-- I no longer have "Comic Sans" available to me so I've had to switch to Helvetica/Arial. Its okay but I don't think this shows up on all browsers just like Comic Sans didn't show up on all browsers.
So much to learn and deal with . . . <sigh>
Readers' Assistance
One of my regular reads (we'll call him "John", too) has been writing to me about my contract negotiations troubles. He's given me several clues on how to handle some situations-- great guy especially considering he's an attorney!! (Oh, come on-- that was a joke!) Anyway, "John" has been very helpful for work related situations and has also contributed several ideas for entertainment for Brian and I in the Virginia/Maryland area.
This is one of the reasons that I enjoy doing this journal: you "meet" such nice and interesting and helpful people!!
Thanks again, "John"!! Take care and be well, my friend.
Presentations
When I go to California in January, I have to make a presentation about one of our products for the "Legal Meeting". No, I'm not the only one-- we've all got to make a presentation about one of our products but, I hate to say it: I've got one of the easy ones! There's only one thing that this product can do and it does it well, if simplistically and, as a result, there's very little to say about it.
I've got a feeling that my presentation isn't long enough but, everyone else really knows the product, too, so it is hard to make stuff up about it. In other words, I can't fake it but I also may not be able to meet the "deadline" for the time that I'm allotted.
Yuck-- I hate this kinda stuff!
Pursuing Trivia
Tonight, Brian ("The Brain") and I played the new Trivial Pursuit game that I got himfor Christmas. He killed me off! Man, he's a smarty!! The new game is the 20th Anniversary edition and, it is supposed to have more current content than previous versions. It apparently does but I wasn't conscious through most of it or at least, not conscious enough to remember any of it. Don't ask me where I was! I don't know and I sure don't remember much!
***********************************************************************************Monthursday,December 26, 2002
Yes, it Was!!
It was that kinda day and it appears to be getting worse. This is one of the shortest work weeks I've had for awhile: it only has a Monday and a Friday-- there isn't even a good ol' hump day in the middle so that we can have some fun and sing silly songs!! (Like I need an excuse!) The good news is that this is the Good News. Whew!!
More Netscrape Scrapings!!
I have mentioned before that I do not like several things about Netscrape 7.x. I have found yet another thing that I do not like about Netscrape 7.x: I cannot figure out how to upload pictures! ARGH!! I hate this!!
I definitely want this program stripped from my system and replaced with 4.x if this is how it is going to behave!! The thing is, I don't know if that's possible and the local guru has been a bit busy and this weekend will be more of the same. ARGH!!!
Busy Is as Busy Does
Work is busy which isn't surprising. Thank goodness that tomorrow is Friday-- I couldn't take it if it really were only Tuesday!!
I hate to say it but, although its not the same thing that Brian had last night, I have a tummy upset tonight-- I think mine is more stress related than anything else which is why it is difficult to sit at my computer for more than two minutes at a time tonight.
ARGH-- again!!
Bear with me-- this has to get better!
Have a great night!
*****************************************************Wednesday, December 25, 2002
Merry White Christmas!!!
Yes, that's right-- we are having a WHITE Christmas!! It was really pretty, too! It started snowing yesterday afternoon around 3:30 or so and it kept up pretty steadily. It was really pretty even if it isn't a whole lot of snow, now being covered by rain and sleet.
I hope all of you are having as wonderful a Christmas as we're having today-- Have a wonderful, safe and healthy day with your friends and family, too!
*****************************************************Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Almost Tempting
Back in 1998, I was unemployed for about 8 months almost immediately after Brian and I were married-- yes, my management was generous in their wedding gift, weren't they? Anyway, I interviewed at a profitable and growing (and still growing) company and interviewed and interviewed and interviewed. I probably had four or five different rounds of interviews, ending up with the general counsel and getting [this close] to a job offer. Oh, well, I thought-- it wasn't meant to be. I went to work for the still ill Pre-IPO start-up and then for the current company that I work for, first in California and now in Maryland. Its a good solid company and, in this economy, that's difficult to come by.
Yesterday, I received an email from the growing company-- wanted to know if I was interested in a more senior position in Redwood City, California!! Oh, ARGH!!!! Yes, it was tempting for a bit but then Brian started through conditions on it: 1) buy/sell everything here for us so that we don't have to move it again; 2) buy everything new for us there so we don't have to spend the money on it; and 3) buy us a house to live in there cuz no matter how much they pay me, we'll never be able to afford one there.
So I wrote back to the company explaining that I had been transferred here and while their continued interest in me was flattering, it wasn't going to do either of us much good. Do ya think I'll hear anything back from them? ;>)
Happy Christmas Eve!!!
This afternoon, we're going to go to Judy's house. She and her husband, Jim, host a Christmas Eve Celebration every year so this year we get to attend. Should be fun and we'll be home early enough to make sure that Sally's ear drops get put in at the proper time.
Yes, indeedy-- this morning we have a trip to the vet's office. Sally's ears are both bothering her but the left more than the right. I called first thing this morning so we're in at 10:20am. What Fun and what Joy!!
Perhaps more later but, if not, have a merry and safe Christmas Eve!!
*****************************************************Monday, December 23, 2002
Its Official!!
The first of my nephews and nieces is getting married: My nephew, Joel (eldest son of my sister in Brazil) is engaged and planning an August wedding!! How cool is that!! One of my other sisters is going to meet Lynne in a week or so but I hear she's a really nice girl which is, of course, mandatory-- to marry my nephew, you'd better be a nice girl!!
My sister, Sue-- whom I did call early this morning-- relayed to me that Natali (Joel's sister) is going to be a bridesmaid, Aaron (Joel's brother) is going to be best man, his father (my brother-in-law, Bill) is going to officiate and Sue (my sister) is going to sit in the pew and cry!! I told her I'd join her, if she wanted company-- I can't believe I'm old enough to have a nephew that's getting married!!
New Format to Come
Well, it seems that, so far as I can figure, Netscrape 7.x doesn't like my formatting so I'm going to be making some changes around here for the new year. Right now, this is a lot of work and I don't know what I'm going to do to keep it going. Since there's a lot of work associated with changing over into a new year on this journal (and my sister's journal), I'm going to make some changes so that it is not so much work using the Netscape Composer as it is right now. Please feel free to offer any ideas that you may have by emailing me at your earliest opportunity. T'anks!!
Clarit-y
I went to the doctor in November to find resolution to the morning headache and obvious sinus problems. A humidified was used first but that didn't clear up all of the problems so then he gave me some samples of Allegra. On the third day of taking it, I realized that Allegra wasn't working-- not all medications work for all people so I nixed the idea of continuing to take medicine that didn't work. Brian told me that Claritin would be going over the counter and, sure enough, it is now an OTC medication. Better yet, it is working!! Yeah!!! My headaches are less intense, if existent at all in the morning and the daytime sniffles seemed to have disappeared!! Yeah!!! I like not having to take one more prescription medication!!
Well, I'm still waiting on fabric to dry-- long story about quilting fabric-- so I'm gonna go check that and maybe we'll get lucky and be able to head off to sleep soon!
Have a great evening and/or night!
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