Tip to Avoid Swine Flu

CDC WARNING:

"DO NOT DO THIS"

Happy Monday

There will always be someone worse off than you, experiencing something far worse than you could probably imagine. Look on the bright side of things. It could be worse.

Count your blessings and be grateful for what YOU have.

I'm constantly reminding myself of this, it seems more and more these days. I have a wonderful husband and son, both healthy, extended family and that are fantastic, a roof over my head, and a job. I'd have to say that's pretty damn good right there. Don't ya think? But when you have a death in the family, or a family member that is very ill, well, it kind of starts to hang onto you a bit. I mean, where is there a break? Bryan's step-grandma died a little over a week ago. Grandpa Franklin preceded her in death October of 2007. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor no more than 2 months ago. Thankfully it was rather quick, and I don't believe she felt much pain from it. We finally saw our "FCA Family" last Friday night at their annual Spring Carnival, the first time since Mrs. Lorts passed away. We were in Vegas when she passed, and missed her services, so it was great to finally give hugs, but also difficult. This last week we found out that my uncle's cancer (my dad's brother) is Stage 4. He is at home, and although I don't know that he is necessarily in pain, I know that he is very uncomfortable. Including him in your prayers that he hang in there would be fantastic. It's been hard for the family, mom and dad are in Portland and have been helping him take care of some things. Exhausting nonetheless, but add to that the stress and exhaustion mom and dad have both been experiencing with dad's recovery, it's tough. Very draining.

As for us Arizona folk, well we're managing to move along at a steady pace. Cam has right about a month left of school. He's very excited. Mmmmm, yeah. Me too. :) Not a whole lot going on, the trip out the carnival was pretty much the highlight of the weekend. I hadn't been feeling well since about Thursday, so that was my only trip out. Cabin fever certainly started to kick in. But Cam had his first swim day of the season - not in our pool, but the neighbors. The temp was the same, so he could very well have been in ours. Oh .... yeah. It was 72. Yeah ..... no. Not for this mama. Bring it up to a nice comfy bath water temp and then we'll talk. My rule is about a week of 100 degree weather, and that usually warms it up enough.

With every occupation, there will always be "one of those days." Sometimes, there will always be "one of those weeks." Bryan, on the other hand, is experiencing "one of those months." Seriously. Don't you feel bad for him? It's really not THAT bad, but it kind of is: irritating, and frustrating, for all of us. Since Holsum has been bought out by Nature's Own, there have been several setbacks. Now, because Bryan is self-employed, and the owner of his business, there wasn't SUPPOSED to be too much change happening, other than the product itself. Hmmph. Whatever. He's been struggling with changes in order dates, deadlines, computer and printer issues, and of course ensuring that his customers and accounts are happy. Not easy when so many of the issues are out of his control. Okay, all of them are. (Let's see, when your customers are being charged DOUBLE what they should be, don't you think there's room for some frustration?) At any rate, he reminded me last night that he wouldn't be able to pick up Cam from school. No big deal, I usually do on Mondays because they are his busy days. But when he calls to say he "might" be home before six, well that's pretty bad. He prepared himself for this week knowing it would be bad, but a 15 hour day? He thought this week would be pretty bad, that he'll be crazy busy, and might not see him too much. Well okay.

Good think I started this blog. He can just log in and see what Cam and I have been up to. Don't forget to call honey! :)

food for thought

You better recognize

That's right ... it's Administrative Professionals Day (Week)! So, happy Admin Professionals Day! Okay, maybe not ALL of you are recognized on this day, but I'm happy to say that I was. :) While my "title" may be marketing analyst, my "role" is more administrative support for VP's at work. With that said, it was a pleasant surprise to head into work today and receive from my supervisors a very nice card, some chocolate (which didn't make it any further east than the Priest Exit on the 60 ... and not because it melted) and a giftcard for the movie theatres. I'm thinking this will be a perfect "excuse" for Bryan and I to have a date night. It's nice to be recognized! So don't forget to thank "those-people-who-do-all-that-crap-for-you-at-work" on this unofficial secular holiday. And for "those-people-who-DO-all-that-crap-for-everyone-at-work" ... thank you!

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Well it's been a while since I posted a recipe, go figure. Bryan is really the cook in the family, so most of the dinners that take more than 15 minutes to prepare, he usually takes care of it. But this one is fantastic! It's actually a recipe I found on the web, but I've done a little bit of altering to adjust to our fancy. You may find that you want to add more BBQ sauce, or not use the lemon juice, etc. This is the easiest thing in the world, and also really great for a group of people. We try to have "crockpot" dinners on Tuesday nights because that is Cam's late skate practice night and this one is perfect! It also makes for great leftovers. So, if you like pulled pork sandwiches here's a (quick AND easy) recipe that you will love!

BBQ PULLED PORK SANDWICHES

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Ingredients

*1 - 2lb-3lb pork shoulder roast
*1 - 14oz bottle of BBQ Sauce (We like the Jack Daniel's Hickory Brown Sugar (green label) and I use the bigger bottle, 19 oz?)
*1 - tablespoon fresh lemon juice
*1 - teaspoon brown sugar (I use about a TBS)
*1 - medium onion chopped (The recipe calls for onions, but Cam and I didn't like biting into them, so I don't use them in this recipe)
*Hamburger buns or kaiser rolls

Step 1 - Place Pork roast in crock pot. Cover and cook on Low 10-12 hours or on High 5-6 hours. Remove pork roast from crock pot discard cooking liquid.

Step 2 - Shred pork with 2 forks. Return to crock pot and add barbecue sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, and onion.

Step 3 - Cover and cook on Low 2 hours or on High for 1 hour. Serve Shredded Pork on hamburger buns or Kaiser roll.

The start of a beautiful week!

TODAY'S WEATHER

High: 97 / Low: 66

And the 7-day forecast ...

Tue
100 / 68

Wed

97 / 67

Thu

95 / 69

Fri

91 /66

Sat

89 / 63

Sun

85 / 61

Our week - so far!

This week (so far) seems to be full of accomplishments. Some more grandiose than others. Thought I'd take a moment while I'm on lunch to just give you a brief rundown of what's been going on! I suppose yesterday's biggest accomplishment - can you call it that? - would be mailing off our taxes (and respective checks) to the IRS. Always a joy. But they are done. No extension here. Guess that's good.

One of the BIGGEST is Cameron brought home his report card yesterday. If it seems like he's always getting one, it's because he is. The charter school he is at focuses on assessment and weekly tests to maintain an accurate "view" of each student's progress. So, they actually have 6 grading periods throughout the year, meaning 6 report cards. Quite a bit, but it really does make sense. It gives us an idea of what he needs to work on, before it's actually too late! So with that said, he made HONOR ROLL again! We are really proud of him. He brought a couple of not so great grades from his progress report up, and ended up with all A's and one B. He is POSITIVE that his final report card will be straight A's. I believe him. Needless to say, he was very excited and that was the first thing he said when we picked him up. He was ready to burst! So ... good job Cam! Obviously he's doing great in school, but more important, he is enjoying it. The switch has proven to be successful. In fact, he came home Monday and in response to the daily question of "How was school today?" His response was "It was one of the best days ever!" Wow - that must've been some ravioli at lunch, eh? He said that they got their tests back from Friday and he did awesome, they played baseball in P.E. - real baseball, like on the field, not just playing catch with each other - and he got two people out!, he got his name on the "EGG LIST" meaning he had great behavior in class, he finished his math homework in class (almost never happens) and he finished his book for his report. Sounds like one of the best days to me too. :)

Moving right along ... Bryan got rid of his truck - the rented E-Z lift can be returned because it will no longer be necessary for me use in order to to get in. Unfortunately with the amount of wear and tear he brings to his trucks, with pulling a loaded trailer and the distance, every couple of years or so we come to this point. Spend a crapload to fix the "little" things that are beyond warranty coverage and beginning to surface (ie: transmission) or spend a crapload to just get rid of it and start over with a warranty. He chose for the latter. A white Ford F-250 is the newest member of the Peterson family, and #59 on the list of vehicles owned. Not really. Although I wouldn't doubt it. It might be more. At any rate, he's a happy camper.

And some not so exciting happenings, but nonetheless, important parts of our week:

• With our 40+ mph winds yesterday, we retrieved the umbrella from our patio set from our neighbors yard. It was nice of him to babysit while we were out.


• The 40+ mph winds are gone and it is BEAUTIFUL today! Looks like we're slowly heading into the 90's. It doesn't need to be that warm yet, but I won't complain.


• Work is VERY busy, and I couldn't be happier. So thankful that I have a job, for one, and that it is secure.


• Watched the Suns win their final game. And hope they can be a bit more successful next year. Now it's Go Cleveland for Bryan and Cam, while I'll happily root for the Blazers.


• Trimmed the front bougainvillea bushes. Now the pizza guy can deliver again, and nobody loses an eye coming to the front door.


• Finally read the five magazines sitting in the magazine rack that I've been meaning to get to for a month now.


• Planted a new gardenia by the front door since Bryan forgot to water the other one when I was in Vegas.


• Found a pair of Bryan's shorts that we had been missing - for probably a week. It was tragic. He thought someone might have come in and taken them. I don't think so. It got to the point where he was offering 10 bucks for the safe return. He finally found them in the first place that I suggested - in the folded clothes pile. Hmm. Go figure. And no, he didn't feel I was deserving of the 10 bucks. Whatever. I'll just take it out of his wallet anyway.


• Learned how to play NBA 09 on the XBox. This was a HUGE accomplishment for mom. I can proudly say that I am able to beat Cameron. For some reason he just doesn't think that's very cool.


• Bought our tickets to see George Lopez in June. Very excited. Cam was bummed because he wanted to go, had to explain that it's not quite the same as what he sees on Nick at Nite.


• Finalized my lunch date tomorrow with Kerry - yay!


• Working on our summer vacation plans. Hopefully Bryan will be able to take a long weekend - preferably to San Diego. It's been a few years since we've been able to head somewhere for at least a weekend. Otherwise Cam and I will be making the trek to Vegas - our last trip didn't quite provide the visiting time that we had hoped for, and another potential trip to Oregon. :)

Well that's about as detailed as I can get. Not real exciting, but if we were chatting on the phone, some of this would come up, right? So just think of it as nice chit-chat. :)

Math Logic

*This was an emal I received. It comes from 2 math teachers with a combined total of 70 yrs. experience. I think it's indisputable mathematical logic. This is a strictly mathematical viewpoint ... it goes like this:

What Makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then: H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98% and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But , A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And, B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T

2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G

1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top.

WildEarth.TV - Bald Eagles

This is an incredible website! WildEarth shows live broadcasts of various animal habitats. For example, there are webcams positioned near bald eagles' nests. One particular nest is located at Saanich, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada and had been recording a mom and dad and three eggs that were laid! The eggs hatched, the first eaglet was born April 8th, and the last of the three was born this morning. You can see various recorded segments of the eaglets, or watch them live. It's pretty amazing. This is the link to watch the nest/eagles/eaglets live ...

Here is the link to the first sighting of the eaglet that was born April 8th.

About 30 seconds or so into the seekpoint, you can see all three little bobbleheads briefly

This link is from a video on Monday that shows both Mom and the Dad. Mom is sitting on the eaglets and Dad arrives on the nest. You can see how different they are. Mom is bigger and Dad's head is smaller. Dad has some white feathers on his back that Mom doesn't.

This picture was posted on the website ... It was taken today around 2:35 pm. Mom is feeding fresh prey (fish?) to 1 & 2, and #3 is apparently living on yolk.

Just thought I'd pass this info along. I thought it was interesting and Cam was pretty excited to see the little eaglet when he got home from school. :)

The straight poop on your health

"Poop should swoosh into the water like a diver, not go in like belly floppers."

Redbook Magazine, April 2009 issue

Just so you know, I didn't research this. I hadn't been thinking about it and then decided "Ooh, maybe I should really look into this?!" It just happened to be an article in the April issue of Redbook, so I thought I'd share some facts.

What to watch for: Listen as you sit on the toilet. (I'm not making this up ... I swear it's part of the article.) Poop should swoosh into the water like a professional diver, not go in like staggered belly floppers. Then peek into the bowl (again, it really says this, and there's even a side note that it is gross, but important). You should see large, firm, S-shaped pieces. Dry gumball-size pellets mean constipation. "To keep stools plump, boost fiber intake by eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and drinking more fluids," says Susan Lucak, M.., a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Medical Center. By contrast, diarrhea is usually a reaction to food poisoning, dairy (if you're intolerant), caffeine, antibiotics, or stress. Persistent diarrhea could also indicate celiac disease, colitis, or another serious condition, so see your doctor if your divers don't reappear after two weeks.

If this left you hanging and you are dying for more info about what's going on in your body, I know you are, well maybe you should pick up the issue. Page 98 also gives you the scoop on pee, earwax, and boogers.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day, ours couldn't have been better! Cam started off the day by hunting down his Easter basket ... finally found it in the office under the desk - silly rabbit! Breakfast and mimosas followed, of course, and then a bit of yard work. The weather was gorgeous! We headed over to Mike and Denise's for dinner and had a great time! The food was fantastic, the dessert was even better (we had quite the selection of cheesecake, and each one was delicious!) and Mike and I polished off the wine with no problems. :) Cam had some Easter eggs to find in Grandma and Papa's backyard, not the most observant little fella, that's for sure. It took a while. Then Bryan had an itch to fish, so he dug out the fishing pole and hat and went to work. He and Cam had fun fishing, and skipping rocks across the lake. Cam needs some practice, as he so eloquently admitted, "I suck." All in all it was a great day!

The Basket

Mommy's Easter breakfast

Looking for those hidden eggs ...




I thought you guys said I was close to one?

Glad the eggs have all been found!

Certainly not the most flattering picture of mom, but ... Cam took it of us, so I thought I'd include it.

Bryan and Cam shootin' the breeze




Daddy/son bonding moment



Shucks Honey! I'm fishin'! Can ya git me anotha' beer?




FINALLY!
Cam was laughing because the fish's tail kept batting around and he was just waiting for it to smack Bryan in the face. Bryan's smiling because he FINALLY caught a fish. It was a carp, and Bryan thought it to be about 6 lbs. Mike's laughing because it was more like 2 lbs and he's just thankful we weren't waiting for him to catch our Easter dinner.

The 5 year anniversary ....

of my 30th birthday occurred today. Or 14 year anniversary of my 21st ... but that sounds REALLY bad! Yep. 35. That seems so old, but then again, everyone else is 1 year older too, so whatever. Our neighbor (he's 32 or something) asked if it bothered me that I was already 35, even though I don't "LOOK like I'm 35" ... gee, thanks. But it doesn't. I've experienced and accomplished a crapload in those 35 years, and I'm thinking things are just starting to get good. :) I had a GREAT day! Cards, emails, phone calls, and gifts from my fan club members ... it was fantastic. So Thank You! Cameron made me a card and gave it to me this morning when he woke up. And he had a half day, but regrettably informed me that "if it weren't his student teacher's last day, and if he didn't have tests, that he'd just stay home with me. But I have to go; I can't get zeros on my tests." He seemed saddened by the fact that I had 3.5 hours to spend by myself, but there really was nothing he could do what with his prior engagements and busy schedule and all. :) I told him that was okay, and that when I picked him up at noon, we would go to lunch. Asked him if he'd be my lunch date ... he wanted to know where we were driving through. Nope - not that kinda lunch. We went to Uncle Bears Bar and Grill, had a fantastic lunch on the patio, celebrated with a corona or two, okay, I did, Cam had a Coke. Did a little shopping. Bryan brought me home a gorgeous bouquet of flowers ... see above, and the makings for my requested birthday dinner: BBQ'd rib-eyes, sauteed mushrooms, asparagus, and of course a cocktail or two. :) We had ice-cream sundaes for dessert. Kailee and Alex called me on my cell before popping over to bring me roses, and sang happy birthday - luckily I didn't catch it in time - because I was able to save the message. :) So adorable! All in all it was a great day! Cam has tomorrow off - Good Friday, and my day should be over about 11:00, so I think we're going to do a little shopping. To use some gift cards. :) Having a birthday really isn't that bad, at whatever age, when you consider the perks!

Good friends ...

send you cards like this. :)

I hope YOUR fairy godmothers kick the crap outta anything or anyone that tries to get in the way of your happiness. Happy Tuesday!

Great advice from Dr. Joyce Brothers

Movie Night

Not much to report for the week, at least nothing too exciting! Cameron had been fighting something off most of the week. Hoarse, dry cough, headache, not much of an appetite, that sort of thing. He'd been waking up in the middle of the night asking for a hot shower because it made him feel better. So not much sleep for mama! He's had AIMS testing this week at school, but still had the normal amount of homework each night, and a book report due, so he was pretty burned out. Needless to say, there was no skate this week. Kept him home on Thursday, took him to the doctor and found out his left lung was a bit "crackly" ... on his way to bronchitis, but not quite there. So we got him in just in time. With the help of his antibiotics and some breathing treatments, he is MUCH better today, appetite is back, and most importantly, so is his pep.  :)  And to top it off, Bryan has been feeling crappy off and on all week. Think he had some sort of a 24 hour flu bug at the beginning of the week, chills, then sweats, and he slept ALL week. Honestly think I saw him for about 20 minutes or so each day. Always something around here! With all of the sleeping going on, I had plenty of free time to catch up on some shows and reading. Finished the Twilight series - FINALLY! The hardest part was the time in between finishing #3, and waiting to start #4. I was dying to find out what happened, and it didn't help knowing I was nearing the end. So I can scratch THAT off my to-do list! As much as I avoided reading them in the beginning, I'm glad I broke down. They were great books, easy reads, but very interesting. Definitely kept me hanging. I was never into fantasy or sci-fi type books, which I think is what I assumed these would be. But they weren't. Of course the vampire/werewolf stuff comes up, but in an intriguing and addicting way!

Now that everyone is much better, think we might even head out tonight for some fun... dinner and a movie. Fast and the Furious is out, and we are all over it! 

Reasons to like beer

... by 7 year olds.

A handful of 7 year old children were asked 'what they thought of beer'. Some interesting responses, but the last one is especially good ... :)

Tim- 'I think beer must be good. My dad says the more beer he drinks the prettier my mom gets.'

Mellanie - 'Beer makes my dad sleepy and we get to watch what we want on television when he is asleep, so beer is nice.'

Grady - 'My Mom and Dad both like beer. My Mom gets funny when she drinks it and takes her top off at parties, but Dad doesn't think this is very funny.'

Toby - 'My Mom and Dad talk funny when they drink beer and the more they drink the more they give kisses to each other, which is a good thing.'

Sarah - 'My Dad gets funny on beer. He is funny. He also wets his pants sometimes, so he shouldn't have too much.'

Lilly - 'My Dad loves beer. The more he drinks, the better he dances. One time he danced right into the pool.'

Ethan - 'I don't like beer very much. Every time Dad drinks it, he burns the sausages on the barbeque and they taste disgusting.'

Shirley - 'I give Dad's beer to the dog and he goes to sleep.'

Jack - 'My Mom drinks beer and she says silly things and picks on my father. Whenever she drinks beer she yells at Dad and tells him to go bury his bone down the street again, but that doesn't make any sense.'