Exceedingly Mundane

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Archive for February, 2007

Feb
28
Posted by Stace

Since You’ve Been Gone…

There I go again, using a song title, like my sister Gail does at her blog, called “More than a Song”. Sorry Gail, I just couldn’t resist! I always loved that Kelly Clarkson song πŸ˜€

Let’s see, there’s been a few things going on around here, but the computers and our website being down was obviously the big story. Here’s a few other tidbits:

  • I couldn’t post to my Project365 blog either, with everything down. I just got that updated and my photos loaded. Swing on over and check out today’s photo, and then be all ooey-gooey with me about how wonderful my husband is πŸ™‚
  • I haven’t been able to stick to my menu that I posted on Monday 100%. We had what we were scheduled to have on Monday, and it was really good! We had “grilled chicken wraps”, but they tasted a lot better than that description sounds! I bought some sundried tomato flavored wraps, and we grilled some chicken with fajita seasoning on it, and also grilled some onions and fresh mushrooms. I sliced up some avocados and made up a dressing of salsa and low fat ranch dressing, and we put it all together on a big wrap. It was sooo good! Tim even commented several times, these are really good! I did some oven fries with Tony’s seasoning on them, and they were good. I made myself a big bowl of fruit salad, which of course, Tim wouldn’t touch. He doesn’t like fruit. But, it was good too. I used a banana, a Fuji apple, some grapes, some pineapple, and some jarred cherries and mixed them together. Throw in a couple of tablespoons of strawberry-banana flavored yogurt and it was really good. πŸ™‚
  • Tuesday’s nights meal, the one where I was going to try a new recipe, for Gail’s Savory Chicken Breasts, didn’t get made. We had to go out and find hardware for our website and ended up eating out. A post will follow soon about our restaurant experience. I hope to try Gail’s recipe soon. And, to stay on track the rest of the week with the menu.
  • Beau went to the vet on Tuesday for some shots and a checkup. A regularly scheduled thing, so nothing is wrong. When we got him in October, we took him in and he had apparently gotten every shot but a rabies shot at the shelter earlier in the year (Feb), when he had been rescued. I took him in and was hoping for a really good report, which we basically got. He’s healthy, but still really underweight. I was hoping he had gained 3 or 4 or maybe even 5 pounds in the four months we’ve had him. But, sigh, that’s not the case. The dog doesn’t want to eat and goes through phases where he hardly eats at all. He is just never hungry. They weighed him and the vet said he weighs…. 1.2 pounds more than in October. That’s it, just a pound more. I was SO disappointed. I’ve been working so hard to try to get him to eat and to give him snacks and just generally fatten him up. Apparently, I’m not a very good doggie mommy and have not succeeded. πŸ˜₯
  • The good news about the computers all being down was that I got a ton of stuff done around the house! Most everything is clean, vacuumed, mopped, dusted, scrubbed and put away. Laundry is all done. I went through a pile of newspapers and mail that had stacked up. I read a bunch and watched a lot more TV (since I had the big TV in the den ALL to myself, and didn’t have to share the remote at all! Tim was in the office working on the computers and I got everything all to myself for once, hehehe!). I rather enjoyed my short break from the computer πŸ™‚
  • The bad news about the computers all being down is that I haven’t been able to access my email, our website, my blog or visit most everyone else’s blogs. I feel so very behind! I will try to catch up over the next couple of days. There’s a chance that some of my email was lost, so if you emailed me and don’t hear back in a day or so, email me again πŸ™‚
  • Tags:
    Feb
    28
    Posted by Stace

    Doing the Happy Dance!

    Doing the Happy Dance!Yep, that’s me, doing the happy dance! I think everything is all fixed now, thanks to Tim’s hard work and staying up until the wee hours of the morning. He’s really put in a ton of extra hours to get the new hard drives installed on our server and get everything loaded back, installed, configured and the data restored. I’m so grateful to him, and so happy that he was able to do it so quickly. I truly thought it was going to take several days. I’m so glad that it all appears to be back and working in good order. Here’s to hoping this new hard drive lasts a lot longer than the old one. Otherwise, in another year or so, we’ll be doing this again!

    UPDATE: Tim wanted me to be sure and note that if anyone has any trouble accessing anything here or on our main website (hambones.org), to be sure to let us know. If you get an error or can’t access a page now, we would love to know. We think everything is fixed though, so hopefully that won’t happen πŸ™‚

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    Feb
    27
    Posted by Stace

    The Little Engine That Could

    “I think I can…” “I think I can…” “I think I can…”

    That’s what Tim says when I ask him if he can fix everything. I’m not sure how many of you noticed, but this blog, my Project365 blog, my sisters blogs, our main website (hambones.org) and everything associated with it, has been down most of the day. We’ve had a big meltdown here with some very important hard drives.

    We’re sort of back up and running, but it’s only temporary. We have a patch in place, but it’s just a short-term fix. We’ve purchased one hard drive and may need another one. We might have to order some updated software. I’m not really sure what all is going to be required. The main thing is that to get things back to the way they were before the meltdown will require quite a bit of work on my hubby’s part. This, in addition to his regular, full-time computer geek job he does. We’ll have some more down time, but I can’t say when, as we don’t know right now. Oh, and most of my email is down too, so if you’ve emailed me and haven’t gotten a reply, that would be why. Sorry, but I can’t get my mail right now either πŸ™

    So, the moral of the story is, if you try to visit here, one of the other blogs, or our main site and can’t get to it, that’s the reason why. I’m not taking a bloggy break on purpose, but I won’t have much choice when things are down or being worked on! πŸ™‚

    Hope everyone else is having a good week. When I can get access to a computer for any length of time, I’ll try to stop by and visit some of your blogs soon πŸ˜€

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    Feb
    26
    Posted by Stace

    Menu Plan Monday

    Menu Planning Monday

    It’s that time of the week again! Time to get things ordered for the week, and also time to hop on over to Laura‘s and check out all of the yummy menus that everyone is sharing.

    Here’s the basic plan for our week…. lots and lots of chicken!

    Sunday– We had Crispy Ginger Ale Waffles for breakfast. Tim said these are the best waffles he’s ever had! Dinner – leftover spaghetti

    Monday – Grilled chicken wraps with avocado, Parmesan oven fries, veggie or salad

    Tuesday – Gail’s Savory Chicken Breasts, smashed potatoes, sauteed zucchini

    Wednesday – Grilled Chicken Salad (or tomato soup)

    ThursdayGolden Potato Soup, homemade sourdough bread

    FridaySloppy Joes (didn’t get to this last week) or Date Night

    Saturday – Pizza or Date Night

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    Feb
    25
    Posted by Stace

    Scattergories Meme, 2nd Edition

    Saw this over at Marianne‘s blog a while back. There’s a new version of this out there, fun fun stuff!

    Ò€¦ scatterday does not necessarily fall on the same day of the week. It seems to occur more or less whenever I can get my act togetherÒ€¦ lol

    Hey all, know what day it is???? It is Scatterday! Today is the second edition of Scatterday Scategories Meme, come join the fun.

    Rules: Using the THIRD letter of your MIDDLE name, provide a word that describes each phrase.

    My letter: E

    Names used in the bible: Esther
    Junk food: Elephant Ears
    Things that grow: Evergreen trees
    Companies: Enron, Ergon
    Articles of clothing: Ear muffs
    Desserts: Egg Custard Pie, Eclairs
    Car Parts: Engine
    Things Found on a Map: East pointer
    Athletes: Emmitt Smith, Jahri Evans (Saints player), one of each πŸ™‚
    4-letter words: Even, Ever, Echo
    Items in a refrigerator: Eggs
    Farm Animals: Emu
    Street Names: Eastpark Drive, Evans Avenue
    Things at the beach: egret ?
    Colors: Ecru, Eggshell
    Tools: Eyelet setter
    Heroes: Elektra
    Gifts/presents: Earrings
    Terms of endearment: ??
    Kinds of dances: Electric Slide

    This was harder than I thought it was going to be. I could have picked the third letter of my given name before I got married, but choose to use the third letter of my maiden name, since it’s technically my middle name now. E was kind of tough, and I really struggled on a couple of these. πŸ™‚

    If you play along at your blog, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know, so I can come over and check it out!

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    Feb
    24
    Posted by Stace

    Blog Talkers

    Blog TalkersKaren, over at Blog Talkers, is on a mission to help us come up with topics to talk about at our own blogs. She posts a new question every Sunday, and we have all week to talk about it. Go check it out if you ever want an idea about something to blog about. And, if you play along this week, leave me a comment and let me know, so I can be sure to come check it out. New questions are up on Sundays, so I’m really late this week!

    This week’s question is – What is your most annoying habit? The thing that drives someone else crazyÒ€¦..

    I didn’t have to think on this very hard, since I think there are a lot of things that I do that probably annoy other people. But, to be fair, I thought I would solicit Tim’s opinion. I think he could have come up with a lot of things, but the one he blurted out first was one I knew bothered him. Tim’s answer is “you come behind me and pick up and move things and then I can’t find where I put them.” I do do this, and I can remember being younger and my mom doing this, and I always hated it. I always swore up and down I would never be like that, but here I am, all grown up and I do it all of the time! I guess we truly are destined to turn out like our moms in a lot of ways! πŸ™„ Here’s the reason I do what he’s talking about – I think everything has a place. I’m very ordered and I like things in their places. When he comes in and tosses his keys on the kitchen counter when I’m trying to cook supper, I hang them up on the key rack (where they’re supposed to be). When he comes in from the back yard and tosses his baseball cap on the couch, I pick it up and put it back in our closet with his other caps. About 4 o’clock in the afternoon when the coffee pot has long been washed and put up, I pick up his coffee cup from the living room and go put it in the dishwasher. Things like that. But see, from his point of view, when he comes back a half hour later and wants his cap, he can’t find it because I’ve put it where it belongs, not left it where he drops it. I’m sure if I gave him half a chance, he’d probably come up with a really long list!

    My answer to this question would be that I apologize all the time. It’s a self-esteem thing, but I’m always saying “I’m sorry” or “Sorry about that” or “Excuse me” when someone else runs into me in the store or whatever. I do catch myself doing it a lot and have tried to not say it so much, but it is one of those things that is ingrained in me since childhood. I apologize for everything πŸ™‚

    What about you? What’s your most annoying habit? πŸ™‚

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    Feb
    23
    Posted by Stace

    Friday Feast Meme

    Friday Feast Meme

    Friday, February 23, 2007
    Feast One Hundred & Thirty Two

    OK, I realize I am excruciatingly late with this. πŸ™„ Sorry about that! My sister Gail and I have been out shopping all day and I haven’t had a chance to get anywhere near the computer. You can also check out my photo for today over on my Project365 blog. I just got it posted too.

    Appetizer
    Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?
    I have a tiny scar on my forehead that I got when I was very small, maybe 3 or 4. A brick fell on my head! πŸ™‚ Yes, that’s what is wrong with me now πŸ˜€

    Soup
    What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?
    That I finally found Tim πŸ™‚

    Salad
    Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.
    First one that pops into my head is Kelly Ripa. I used to like her when she was on All My Children but now she grates on my last nerve. I absolutely cannot stand her.

    Main Course
    What was a funny word you said as a child (such as “pasketti” for “spaghetti”)?
    I have absolutely, positively, no idea!

    Dessert
    Fill in the blank: I have always thought ______ was ______.
    I have always thought chocolate was a necessity in life!

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    Feb
    22
    Posted by Stace

    Question of the Day – Soft Drinks

    Cherry Coke ZeroI’m going to piggyback off of my Project365 photo from the other day, since it’s gotten a lot of comments. Of course, many of you may have already commented and sort of answered this question over there. πŸ™„

    I blogged about the new Cherry Coke Zero that I found at our Kroger the other day, and bought. I’ve since found it at our Super Walmart and also our Target, by the way. Anyway, we’ve tried it and we really love it. Actually, the whole “Coke Zero” thing is new for us. I was buying Diet Coke and didn’t even think to try Coke Zero. Then, I read on someones blog about it and gave it a try, and now, of course, we’re hooked.

    So that’s today’s Question of the Day: Do you drink soft drinks? If so, are you loyal to a certain brand and flavor, and just drink a certain one? Which one? If not, why do you not drink soft drinks, because of the caffeine, carbonation, calories or what? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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    Feb
    22
    Posted by Stace

    Booking Through Thursday

    Booking Through Thursday Meme

    Writing in Books, Part Two

    A couple weeks ago, we asked about how you take care of your books, with one of the questions asking whether you write in your books. Well, what about books that are meant to be written in? Like, say, a journal or diary? Do you keep one? Obviously, if you’re answering this, you have a blog–do you just let your blog be your journal? Or do you also keep one for private stuff also?

    OK, another great question! I had previously answered that I don’t mark in my books in any way. I don’t turn down the corner of a page, I don’t underline or write in the margins. The most I *might* do is write my name in the front or write something in it such as “Happy Anniversary Tim, Love, Stacy”. And those are only in special books, that we want to keep and not loan out and lose.

    Now, for today’s question: No, I don’t keep a diary or journal. Just my blog. And I don’t blog too much of a personal nature or things that I don’t want the world to know. When I first started, I was writing some private posts that were not published, but I don’t do that much anymore. I’ve actually been really surprised that I’ve been able to keep this blog going for over two years. Growing up, I got several diaries or journals over the years, and I was horrible at keeping them. I’d have a few entries written in January and maybe into February, but by March or so, it was pretty much empty. I still have most of those diaries, so I have the proof! I could just never keep them up. I tried year after year, but never could. So, as I said, this blog has been a real change of pace for me. πŸ™‚

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    Feb
    21
    Posted by Stace

    TV Chatter

    Even though I’m a huge TV addict and watch a lot of TV, I don’t normally blog a whole lot about it. But, they just announced the new contestants for Dancing with the Stars, and we watched Idol last night, so I feel the need to blabber a little bit about TV. Bullet-style:

  • ABC announced the new dancers for “Dancing with the Stars” today. They are: Heather Mills (former wife of Paul McCartney), Olympic athlete Apolo Anton Ohno, female boxer Laila Ali, former basketball star Clyde Drexler, actor Vincent Pastore (“Sopranos”), actor/singer Billy Ray Cyrus, former ‘N Sync member Joey Fatone, Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey, former “Entertainment Tonight” host Leeza Gibbons, model Paulina Porizkova and former “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Ian Ziering.
  • Dancing starts on March 19 and will air on Mondays and Tuesdays, so they don’t have to compete as much with Idol. However, we watch 24 and Prison Break on Mondays, so there’s a conflict for us, plus Tuesdays are busy for us as well (NCIS, The Unit, American Idol). What’s a TV-aholic to do? πŸ˜€
  • They finally got down to the real singing last night on Idol. I think a lot of the guys had a lot of nerves. Some of them sounded really bad. Of the 12 guys that sang, my favorites were Chris Sligh (big curly haired dude) and Phil Stacey (baldie). I hope they make it through, and no, I didn’t vote. We had to tape it and watch it late because we watched NCIS and the Unit. Can’t miss Mark Harmon and Dennis Haysbert, former President David Palmer to those of you who watch 24 πŸ™‚
  • Speaking of 24, Monday was an ok night. Boy, that Bauer family is certainly dysfunctional. Papa Bauer thinks nothing of shooting his kids and grandson. Of course, it appears Jack is the favorite since he didn’t kill him, like Graem, and he just ran off and let Jack live. The twist with former President-Prissy-Pants, aka Charles Logan, was a good one to throw in at the end.
  • Lost. Ah, Lost. A show we started watching with the very first episode and have truly loved over the years. Lost is starting to annoy and discourage me. It’s too convoluted, too much going on, too many backstories, too many new characters, too much new plot thrown in without enough being answered or solved or even broached again. What of the polar bear, the smoke monster. Where are they going with this show? The previews “promise” that we’ll get answers this week. We shall see. I read online somewhere that last week’s episode had the lowest ratings ever for this show. I’m starting to think thousands or millions of other people like me are getting really disillusioned with this show. I’m going to give it until May and then seriously consider if we’re going to continue with it.
  • Survivor and Amazing Race, as good as always. We love both of these shows and they are consistently good, not great. You always find someone to love and to hate, someone to root for and someone to cheer against. On Amazing Race All-Stars, so far I’m pulling for Rob and Amber and wanting Mirna and Charla to leave. They bug me. Bad. On Survivor, I haven’t found a clear-cut person to root for yet. They need to weed a couple more out, I guess. I really hate it when it’s so one-sided and one tribe decimates the other. It’s so disheartening to see one tribe lose over and over.
  • I could go on and on (I didn’t even broach Battlestar, my most favorite of shows) … we watch a lot of shows and tape even more. I love TV, I always have. On a related note, we forgot to tape the last Nora Roberts movie on Lifetime this past Monday. I wonder if they will reshow it this Sunday night, like the others. I’ve really enjoyed those πŸ™‚
  • Tags:
    Feb
    21
    Posted by Stace

    Critters

    Just a couple of random pictures… I think the folks that peruse my Project365 blog are probably already getting tired of seeing pictures of birds and of my boy Beau πŸ˜€

    We might have had robins here before, but I honestly don’t remember seeing them. I think they must be here some over the winter, or on their way home. I just noticed them a few weeks ago, since late January, and now I’m seeing them everywhere. I really don’t remember seeing them all over the place last winter or the winter before. They’re really pretty though, their orange breast is very colorful!

    Robin on the fence
    Robin on the fence

    One of Beau, resting. He’s really supposed to stay in the kitchen and breakfast room, on the tile floor. He’s not supposed to come “over” in the living room, where the carpet is. But, he cheats whenever he can and inches across (he has his blanket in the doorway, since he cheats a lot!). He wanted over so bad the other day that he was willing to put his head onto my metal magazine rack and rest. Ouch, I bet that hurt! He looks pretty comfy though πŸ˜€

    Beau, resting on the magazine rack

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    Feb
    20
    Posted by Stace

    Ten on Tuesday

    Ten on Tuesday Meme

    I haven’t done this one in a while, but today’s topic is pretty easy. Click here to go check it out! If you decide to play along at your blog, leave me a comment and let me know πŸ™‚

    10 Foods You Hate:

    1) BEETS!
    2) Bell Peppers
    3) Oysters
    4) English Peas
    5) Liver
    6) Cilantro
    7) Duck, goose, venison, any dark meat wild game
    8) Celery
    9) Sardines
    10) Greens – turnip, mustard, collard greens

    Bonus: Tomato slices or wedges. I’ll eat tomato products like spaghetti sauce and pureed tomato soup, and even most salsa, but I won’t eat a burger with a tomato slice on it, or tomatoes in my salad. Weird, I know!

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    Feb
    20
    Posted by Stace

    Security Alert

    BR-549…

    Please let me know if you have any problems with this blog or our main website. Back later with a “real” post!

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    Feb
    19
    Posted by Stace

    Menu Plan Monday

    Menu Planning Monday

    Fairly straightforward menu this week. I seem to just be pulling up recipes that I have made before, and I know we really like. I keep wanting to try some new recipes, but I can’t seem to get either motivated or organized or inspired enough (or something!) to get them added to the menu. So, here’s the general plan:

    Sunday– rumien

    MondayHoney Mustard Chicken sandwiches, coleslaw, parmesan potato wedges

    TuesdayMini Meatloaves, garlic smashed potatoes, sauteed cabbage

    Wednesday – Light night before Tim weighs in – eggs, oatmeal, toast

    ThursdayCheeseburger Soup, homemade bread

    FridaySloppy Joes, oven fries

    Saturday – Date Night or Spaghetti

    Be sure to hop on over to Laura’s site and check out the rest of the menus. There are tons of links to some really good-sounding menus, a lot of them with recipes or links to recipes. Go check it out, and play along if you would like! πŸ™‚

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    Feb
    18
    Posted by Stace

    Baby, You Can Drive My Car

    CarToday’s Question of the Day is a short one – can you drive a stick shift? I can only drive an automatic, as I have never learned to drive a manual transmission. It’s something that I know I should know how to do, and I realize I should have learned, but I never did. When Tim and I got married, he had a truck with a stick shift and I never could drive it anywhere. Even in an emergency, which always worried Tim. So when he got a new truck, he made sure to get an automatic so that I could drive it. Now, I often take his rather than mine, because it’s easier and bigger and it drives great!

    So, that’s today’s Question of the Day – can you drive a stick shift? As a bonus, do you have a standard or automatic transmission in the vehicle you drive most often? Could you drive one if you had to? And, any other interesting tidbits you might like to provide!

    P.S. My sister Gail‘s blog is called “More Than A Song” and she almost always titles her blog posts with either lyrics from a song or a song title. This might possibly be the first time I’ve done that – do you know who sings this old song “Baby, you can drive my car…. Yes, I’m gonna be a star…” πŸ™‚

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