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So we got back last night. I knew that the posting would stop once we left -- sorry but there is just too much going on when I am back at home.

We had a wonderful time in Cleveland and though we didn't get to see much of Erin's family or my grandparents I felt that it was a great time.

Interestingly, though, I took no pictures this trip. It was weird... we had our camera, but just no need to snap pics.

Anyway this will be a long week, that will end in more travel. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

I love the muppets

Always have always will, so when I can across this today I just had to link to it....

Yay christmas lights

Saturday we got most for the Christmas lights hung, but because of poor planning we ended up with too many lights on one side of the house and not enough on the other, so we had to go out and get another set on Sunday and finish things off.
Sounds easy right? But apparently the only light in the color and style that home depot sold were the ones in the 250 bulb set that we had purchased. so we went to a different home depot to see if maybe ours was just out. nope so then we drove a bit further (now about 20 min away from our house and found a similar style by a different brand at lowes.
We got the lights hung yesterday afternoon and saw them last night. they look good and they are now unplugged until after thanksgiving.

We saw Brian my brother yesterday. He just got back from Ghana. He had a good time it seems. We celebrated my GMAT completion with some tex-mex food at Uncle Julio's.

This week is a super short week -- just Monday and Tuesday. Then we have the rest of the week off to celebrate thanksgiving.

Blogging at the art institute

Hi every one. I am hanging out at the art institute waiting for my ride. I took me GMAT today and did better than I had hoped. Thanks for all you good thoughts I think it totally helped.

Up next is convincing bill to hang the Christmas lights and starting to pack for Thanksgiving. Tonight lily and I are dragging bill to go see new moon. Just the sort of mindless entertainment I need after the test this morning.

Thnksgivign Dinner!!!

No I didn't just visit the future and come back, we had a full thanksgiving dinner here at work today. and I am just as stuffed and tired as I will be next week.

This is so awesome since I love thanksgiving (I may have mentioned that once or twice). So I am wondering what is your favorite holiday. take the poll above.

Thank you all!

I am feeling better. I should note that popping a rib out of place is not something new or unusual for me. and once back in place i start to feel better right away (though yesterday took longer that I thought it would). most of my ongoing back problems are due to either my poor posture or the damage that I have incurred due to walking around with a rib out of place (hoping that it would fix itself).

Anyway, since I started seeing Dr. Matt for my back and neck problems I have been able to stand up straighter and sit/ stand for longer periods of time without adjusting for pain. And because I am seeing him on a regular basis my rib never stays out for too long. I just wish I could get to the point where I wasn't dependent of re-alignment and instead had a back that was stabilized.

Because of the back issues, I was not able to sit for a full test last night and am now worried that I am too far behind to get a good score on my GMAT. I haven't decided what would be my cut off to retake the exam, but I seriously hope that I can just get a respectable score.

I am awesome!

that should be read with the sarcasm font that I totally need. I got up today all happy and proud: last night after talking to family members and doing practice test-y things I did the dishes folded 3 laundry baskets work of laundry stripped the bed and re-made it with the now dry cleaned winter down blanket and down comforter. Oh and i vacuumed straightened up the room and swiffered under the bed. Basically all those domestic goddess things I avoid. So this morning, I woke up happy -- my room was in order my bed was supper fluffy and warm and my back was still doing great (did I mention that yesterday was the first Tuesday in a very long while that I had not gone to the chiro-cracker.)

I should have know it would be down hill from there. It's cold and rainy, so I grabbed my rain boots (more sarcasm font) oh yeah I don't have rain boots. I roll my pant legs up (which made me thing of french cuffing my jeans ages ago) and put on my high heeled leather boots. I need to continue practicing GMAT stuff so I ditch the book I completed and pack up the computer. Now to be fair the book was large and heavy and the computer is smallish, but I will still blame the computer. I walk to the train (in the rain thank you very much) and get settled in for the trip down town.
Somewhere near Hyde Park my back started spasming. It started in my lower back (oh its just the heavy book bag) and then spread (hmm maybe it will go away). I treat myself to a cab and get into work (sign it seems to still be painful). By 10am I couldn't breath with out pain, and following my doctors advice from last week ("if you are in pain don't wait just call me") I made an appointment.
Apparently, I am awesome. I managed to not just put the normal rib out of place but genius that I am I put a rib on the other side of my back out of place as well. yay me!
And yes at the age of 28 I shouldn't have these types of problems.

ewe's not fat ewes fluff

back at our house on Hillstone (age 1-7) our kitchen had kitschy country things hanging on the walls. I remember one was the wood plaque with a fuzzy sheep on it and that phrase.... i didn't "get it" until years later, but I still get a mental image of my kitchen on Hillstone when I think of it.

anyway the point is i read an article today in the tribune about Hugo Chavez, no not the rain maker one, and obesity. you can read the article here or a non Chicago version here, but this is my favorite part:

"I'm not saying fat women, because they never get fat," he added. "Women sometimes fill out."

And that, my friends, is one way to win votes.

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on a side note talking about Hillstone... the other day I had a dream about doorbells. dad do you remember that crazy doorbell at Hillstone. it was like 3 long organ pipes that would clang together.

soup for the soul?

The soup turned out pretty good, though we didn't really have any last night because I knew with the beans it wouldn't be done in time for dinner.

I have down loaded the GMAT study software from mba.com and either the kaplan stuff was much harder, or I am finally improving on these questions.

ok well have a good day people I have to go toast this bagel, which smells even better than it did yesterday. (Maybe I am just hungrier?)

Yin yang and cannellini beans

Yum thank you dad for the fun yin yang beans
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These beans are going into my very altered version of the olive garden soup that Bill likes. Altered because: I use mild sausage, it isn't cream based, I have 2 types of beans and 2 types of potatoes, and mostly because the broth currently tastes like a wonton soup.

If it turns out well, maybe I'll post my off the cuff recipe.

this bagel smells so good

So i was trying to think up a title for today's blog, but I have a cinnamon raisin bagel sitting next to me waiting to be toasted and all I can think is this smells soooooo good.

So Saturday night, after enjoying the beautiful day and studying a bit I rescued my husband from his jail, i mean office, and we went to dinner at one of our favorite places. Unfortunately, we picked this place for its family style food with all our favorites, only to find out that Saturday night they had decided to try a whole new menu. It was good and all, but when you are expecting veal meat balls and you get pumpkin soup, no matter how good the soup is, it isn't a veal meatball.

Yesterday we ran some errands in the mid morning and then went out to Lily's in the afternoon. by the time we got home it was late and we were tired and we still had dinner to make and laundry to do. somehow laundry keeps getting done but not folded and we now have two weeks worth of clean clothing sitting in baskets waiting to be folded. Did I mention that folding laundry is one of my least favorite tasks right up there with ironing women's blouses.

Today i have more studying to do and maybe i can turn that kale and sausage and beans into a yummy soup.

Last leaves ... We hope

Winnie and I raked the last leaves of fall on this beautiful day

time to get serious.

thinks to do things to study and all that jazz are piling up. it's time for me to get serious and take some gmat practice exams. I also need to start working again on my essays and my resume.

then there is laundry and vacuuming and all sorts of domestic-y things that need to be addressed. Oh and I should be getting my stalla level 2 study stuff today. yay. no really let me see if i can pump some more sarcasm into those three letters yay... nope that cup overfloweth.

I need to find a hobby other than studying or reading for the winter months. something that gives me the pride and peace that gardening does. (and I have tried knitting I am embarrassingly slow at it).

link to article

I found this article very interesting and it has really made me think about both sides of the situation.

In other news due to the number of bloggers who either are private or not posting I have changed around my side bars again. hopefully it won't cause problems for the 4 of you who read this.

Holiday

Most people still have to work on this holiday today, but I wanted to take a brief moment to say thank you. Thank you to all of the men and women who are serving or have served our country. While I might not always agree with the politics, I will always be grateful for the sacrifice and service you and your families give to our country.

Thank you.

I didn't know Brussels sprouts were so dangerous

That would be my thumb all bandaged up after repetedly slicing it halving the brussels sprouts. apparently recently sharpened knives and tiny cabbages require cutting boards not my thumb.

sigh

way over due

yeah I was really slow about posting these, though it's not entirely my fault. I had Bill load these on his account as mine is getting very full. I didn't realize that I couldn't link to the album. So last night I had Bill email me the link, and hopefully this works.

oh well

It's just really hard to sit down and blog on the weekends. But I have been regular with the weekday postings at least.

Bill's case had a big meeting which wrapped up a bunch of the work he had been doing last week, so we were able to spend a nice weekend together.

Saturday we go outside a little with the dog, but no bike ride like I was hoping. Lily came over in the evening and hung out. We taught her how to play some of the games on the wii resort game, and then we got pizza at aurelios.

Yesterday, we celebrated Avi's birthday by brunching at the Publican. It was very fun (and yummy) and the food kept us going at we worked in the yard until the sun set. Bill caught up on some of the tv shows we like that he had missed last week and we hung out for the evening hours.

This week is already shaping up to be a busy one. we'll see what happens.

part II

sigh... sometimes i wish that the news would stop. I wonder why a person would go back and kill people he had worked with because he lost his job. I couldn't imagine doing that to people I see 40 hours or more a week. I see the people I work with more than family and friends combined what causes that break (or snap as they call it) in morals and humanity.

Sometimes things just don't make sense

I really didn't want to post about Ft Hood, but I didn't want to ignore such a horrible tragedy. Sometimes things in life just don't make sense. I know that statement provides no comfort to those effected by the shooting, but honestly how do you explain how a doctor goes on a rampage shooting those he was sworn to protect. Or, for that matter, how a man could live with 11 bodies rotting in his home.
It seems that too often we are confronted with horrible crimes that can't be reasoned. I don't know what any one person can do about it, but maybe if everyone tried to be a bit more flexible and a bit more understanding, maybe if we could all reach out to our neighbors and know more about our neighborhood, maybe some senseless act could be prevented. Or maybe I am just living in the clouds.

Have you seen him...

Missing: William Young aka Bill
Missing since: this past weekend
Last know whereabouts: work

Bill has been working extremely long hours to the point where i see him through squinting eyes late at night when he gets home and early in the morning as he kisses me good bye. Poor thing is going to end up sick if he works many more days like this.


Last night I turned off the world series after Matsui brought the score to 4 to 1 and watched the Changeling on HBO. I never saw that movie and had wanted to. It was very interesting and disturbing. I like that the focus wasn't solely on the woman looking for her son, but more a statement on how women were treated and ignored back then.

a public service announcement

today's post is a reminder about the new area code in Chicago. if you have any phones programed to just dial the 7 digits you have to re program them by Saturday.

This is slightly annoying at work, but since my cell is 630 and my home is 708 it won't be a problem like it is for some of my co workers.

____

An update on Winnie-poo she has a skin infection and will be on antibiotics for 2 weeks. it is some type of Staph bacterium that is on their skin usually but can cause problems sometimes. Hopefully within a week the scabs will be gone and in two weeks she have nice healthy skin.

and more pasta

pasta!

pass the pasta

Last night I tried making homemade paste with my Christmas present from dad.

Making the pasta was fairly easy, though I used the semolina, which is rather expensive and not easily found so I may have to try it with bread flour next. I tried making both the "fettucini" and "spaghetti" (they have other names but essentially that is what they are). I tried some of it just quickly boiled with olive oil and cheese. I feel like I should have rolled it thinner, but we'll try some of the spaghetti this week and see how it is.

In other news something is wrong with miss winnie and I will be taking her to the vet this evening. Lets hope its nothing too bad.

sigh

So I missed the first day for blogging everyday this month. Oh well. I guess I just can't believe that November is already here, and yesterday was my silent protest.

Halloween was nice -- cold and windy, but dry and sunny at least. We had a fair number of little visitors, many who were more interested in petting and seeing winnie than getting candy.

I did carve our pumpkin about 45 min before trick-or-treating began, and around 6pm roasted the seeds, which turned out very yummy.

Otherwise, we enjoyed a quite weekend, mostly at home.

I hope you had a great weekend and welcome to November!