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.