Hi folks! My car a few stickers on- and oval CC for Cape Cod. An oval W with an oyster behind it for Wellfleet (on the Cape). Some people mistook it for a “W” as in George W and I was properly horrified. I also have a Shetland Sheepdog sticker.
That’s it!
BooFae, that’s very very mean. sniff Especially since the rat bastards better known as The Orb just went and cancelled their July 6th show in Toronto, and have yet to announce a new date. (yes, I know… one of their good mates just died at far too young an age, but dagnabbit, it’s their first show here in donkey’s years)
I swear to Og, if Underworld up and cancel their show on August 11th, someone’s getting hurt. :mad:
In other news, I had a jam-packed day of meetings and training today, but almost all of them have now been rescheduled for later this week. Hurray! And tomorrow is a holiday, which means I won’t have any meetings or presentations or training at all. More hurray!
No bumper stickers on my car, just a “Child on Board” decal that came free with HRH’s car-seat. Boring, ain’t I? I would love to have one commissioned that reads, “How’s my driving? Call 1800-BITE-ME!”
Counting down to my [del]holiday[/del]staycation, in [counts on fingers] 7 working days. We may take a short break and go to Dubai for 3-4 days, since the new Atlantis hotel has some pretty cheap summer rates, and we will likely never get to the other Atlantis in the Bahamas or wherever the hell it is, otherwise just sleeping in, going window shopping, taking hubby out for his birthday and getting some overdue medical check-ups done.
Lunch break!!
The dining room carpet is clean, if damp, and I’m hoping it will dry quickly since the house is open and it’s not too humid out.
**FCD **had a good interview and he was impressed with the company and their projects. It’d be great if they made him an offer - even if it’s not the ice cream factory, because it’s close to home (22 mile commute vice 60+ miles.) So we shall see.
And FIL is going under the knife tomorrow. I really hope this takes care of his back pain - the poor man can’t function. For someone who’s been as active as he has been, this is especially torturous. So keep a good thought.
Well, it’s about time to get dirty again. I need to remake the cat head - I’ve been looking at Taz and I think I know what I need to do to make it look right. We shall see.
**Dotty **- I love your sticker idea!
Keeping my fingers crossed for FCD!
Well, damn. My bosses old job came out yesterday and closes on Monday. I’m in a real quandry here. I don’t think I stand a chance of getting the job, but my boss keeps encouraging me to apply for it. I think he’s only doing it because iti’s the right thing to do. Since my coworker is on vacation and doesn’t return until the job opening closes, I called her at home and told her. She doesn’t want to apply for it.
My quandry stems from the fact that it would only be a five percent pay increase. That ain’t a lot of money for the responsibility this job entails. It’s basically fifty percent less than if the job had remained under the old system versus the new system. Additionally, I’m just wondering if I’m biting off more than I could chew. Finally, I’m not thrilled about being a supervisor. The experience would be good on my resume, but bleah, I just want to come in and do my job, ya know?
Ah, I probably won’t even get the job. At least my resume will be updated, I guess.
Hi all, just came back from Barnacity and dropped by to say hi, haven’t read so please take virtual chocolate, hugs, yays and boos as appropriate.
And an important notice: “do not leave your lugagge unattended” means that if you leave your bags alone in Spain’s second-biggest train station and nobody steals them, they’ll be blown up by Security as soon as someone reports it. Morons, they come in all luggage colors!
PS: Stomp ROCKS!
Good luck deciding what to do about the opening, Taters. I do not want to manage other people so I definitely understand your hesitation there. But I also know what it’s like to feel stuck where you are with no option for promotion except management. Kind of sucky choices. Hope whatever happens works out.
Spanikopita for dinner at our house tonight. Yum!
Well, I updated my resume, and tomorrow I’ll self-nominate myself for the job. It takes about 24 hours the system to accept update my resume.:dubious:
I guess we’ll see what happens.
Meh, I have a serious case of donwannas today…
Wanna see my kitteh sculpture? The pic also shows the model I worked from. I’m going to let it sit for a couple of days, then do some details.
I also prepped several other pieces that have been sitting for over a year. I’ve now got about a dozen or so pieces for underglazing - I’ll do a little later on. I’ve also got to do a good cleaning of my studio - apparently daughter’s cat has been peeing in there. Stoopit cat.
The carpet is almost dry, and no wonder - it’s 90 degrees outside and the house was open. But we just closed up the house, since it was 80 inside.
Chicken and corn on the cob for supper - maybe with some Amish 'maters.
Day two of vacation winds down…
Howdy Y’all! I promise to go back and read everything and then post again, but I just had to post this first.
Backstory…
I got a call just after gettin’ home today. A really good friend said she wanted to come over and bring me a surprise. The surprise was a ready to be baked pan of Veggie Lasagna. 
This is really good stuff! Anywho, she brought along the recipe cause I’d been buggin’ her for it. Thus, naturally, I have to share cause I think it is a Mumper Recipe rule. Either that or I’m just naturally so dang nice I’d share anyways. So, here 'tis! No embellishments since it’s my friends recipe.
Vegetable Lasagna
1 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 cup sliced carrot
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 (26-ounce) bottle fat-free tomato basil pasta sauce
2 tablespoons commerical pesto
1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese
Cooking spray
6 hot cooked lasagna noodles (about 6 ounces uncooked), cut in half
3/4 cup (3 ounce) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 375º.
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and the next 4 ingredients (mushrooms through onion); cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add pasta sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
Combine pesto and ricotta in a small bowl. Spread 1/2 cup tomato mixture in the bottom of a 8-inch square baking dish or pan coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 noodle halves over tomato mixture. Top noodles with half of ricotta mixture and 1 cup tomato mixture. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining tomato mixture over noodles; sprinkle with mozzarella.
Cover and bake at 375º for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.
Note: To make ahead, assemble as directed; stop before baking. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature; bake as directed.
Ok, now for other comments…
The lasagna will be dindin tomorrow since I already had a meatloaf ready for today. Two nummy meals in a row! Ol’ y’all know who might start to get spoiled.
BooFae it was me who mentioned burly butcher. Then again, I have been known to get all excited over stuff I say, so who knows. You said it before me, but I was gonna say, to you, we’re slackers gettin’ up late.
MOOOOOOM appropriate/inappropriate appendages crossed for FCD and Dad. The kitteh sculpture looks promisin’. You are becomin’ a true artiste!
Taters it never hurts to apply. I hear ya on the not wantin’ to supervise thing. I’m “management” but I don’t supervise. Been there done that. I would again but to tell ya the truth, I’m likin’ not havin’ the responsibility. Yeah, 5% is not a whole lot if it increases the workload 50%, so I understand the hesitation. Either way, hope whatever you want works out for you.
Muppet and LiLi, happy Canada Day Eve!
Dotty hangin’ at a super ritzy hotel is always fun. I say y’all go for it.
Taxi may all those makin’ you rant suffer painful paper cuts.
-swampbear (abuser of the smiley)
swampus, that sounds Teh Yum. I loves me some lasagna. I don’t turn the oven on all that often during the summer, but I’ll definitely try that out when fall rolls around.
Mooooooooom, hoping FCD gets that position. Working for an ice cream company sounds like my dream job… so there’s a selfish element there in the possibility of living vicariously through him. 
Sending lots of healing thoughts to your FIL, also.
Good luck on your application too, Taters. I can see why you’re ambivalent… still, moving upwards is rarely a bad thing, and even if you don’t get the job, it still sends all the right signals to the higher-ups in terms of your ambitions (companies are always leery of employees who just want to do the same job for the rest of their lives).
And on that note, I’m getting the heck outta Dodge. I’ve got the day off tomorrow, and I plan on getting the beer-drinking started nice and early. Wheeeeeeeee.
**Muppet **- he didn’t interview at the ice cream company - this was with a company that does gov’t contracting as well as some other things. They want to build a mechanical engineering group, and I think they’re considering my sweetie to head that effort. We shall see…
House is cooling down. I’m going to bake the chickie in the toaster oven, and I think I may nuke the corn rather than steaming it, just to keep from adding heat to the house.
The banana bread muffins are almost all gone. They are very yum. I have some blueberries - maybe I need to make them into muffins…
Hee! I like the image of the whole other team suddenly going “OW” as they all get paper cuts. At the same time of course. 
I like the kitty, FCM!
Almost time to go! Woo! And we’re having company over for dinner tonight. Should be fun.
Dinner: shrimp boil, corn on the cob and steamed baby potatoes. Nummy.
Well, I bit the bullet and self-nominated for the position. I thought I’d have to wait until at least tomorrow, but the resume update went in quickly, I guess.
Mahna, I work for the feds, worse, Dept of the Army, so I don’t think they’ll be impressed that I’m trying to move up. There’s always someone wanting to move up, and those in uniform seem to have a real grudge against us civilians. I don’t know why; it doesn’t need to be that way.
At any rate, assuming the personnel office finds me qualified, I’m still not real sure I even want the job. In fact, more and more, I’m leaning the other way.
I’m not going to sweat anything until after the sixth. I may not even be considered, which is fine. At least my resume is updated and in the system.
Swampy dearest, I need friends like yours who bring ME dinner.
Bah! I want to go home. I have even LESS motivation than I did awhile ago.
Oooh, very pretty kitty, FCM. I like yours better than the original.
Lasagna sounds yummy, swampy. I’ve added it to the blog.
It’s always a good idea to apply for a job opportunity. Even if you don’t want it, it gives you practice interviewing so that you’re not starting from scratch when something you really want comes along.
There was more, but I want to go over to this week’s concert…
Back after a bit.
GT
My dinner: chicken cacciatore (without the chicken) and champagne, in celebration of having passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam on the first try. (There was way too much electrical material – I really thought I had failed.) The letter even came with certificate declaring me to be an Engineering Intern; I plan to frame it and hang it on the wall in my office area alongside my diploma.
May I just say that I ***LOVE ***my carpet cleaning machine!! All the hork spots are gone. My dining room looks good again. I just finished putting the furniture back. One down, more to go. Since **FCD **will be off on Friday, we’re going to empty this room and I’ll clean it. Besides being the most used space, there’s a big filthy spot where Bernie likes to crash. It’ll be nice to get it clean. Plus I sucked up a mess of fleas - with luck, I got eggs, too.
Supper was yum - backed chickie tits, nuked Amish corn and sliced Amish 'maters. I am stuffed. Wish I had some ice cream, tho. That would taste good about now.
**Taters **- when I was assigned to my first team here, I had a meet-and-greet with the Naval officer who was in charge of the branch. He asked if I wanted to pursue management or stay technical. I told him I preferred to remain technical. He proceeded to tell me why I was wrong. :rolleyes: Thankfully, my branch head now accepts and supports my choice. He’s a good guy. Anyway, you need to decide what’s important to you and your career. And your life. Seems to me, there’s no advantage to doing what you hate. Hope it all works out for the best for you.
Y’all remember da cave was to be pressure washed outside today? It didn’t happen. I came home to find nuttin’ done. This caused a mix of :mad: and 
waylaid a bit by the surprise lasagna. The man who does the pressure washin’ is a friend. So is his wife. Guess that sorta goes without sayin’ huh. Anywho, I did know that her sister had some pretty serious surgery last week, so the :mad: turned to wonderin’ if anything happened. Turns out, the sis has taken a little turn for the worse and that’s where he was. No biggie then. See, they are friends so they cut me a deal on the pressure washin’. He called to let me know what was goin’ on. He was really apologetic. Of course, I said he was where he needed to be and it’d get done when he could, I got no prob with that. He said he do his damndest to get it done by Friday which is nice considerin’ I have a porch full of furniture sittin’ outside (not that any of it would ruin if it rained since it’s all outdoor stuff) so that’d be nice just to get it all back in place but, I’d rather he do what he needs to do on the home front. I knew there had to be a reason.
Then, my next door neighbor told me her brother, who has been dying for the past six months, passed away early this afternoon. She was down there last week to see him and really thought then he’d be gone while she was there. She came back home Sunday to go back to work, just knowing the worst was about to happen. 
Anywho, ol’ y’all know who and I decided that, instead of finding out arrangements and sending flowers, we’d just get her a card (which I happened to have on hand, what? doesn’t everybody have a stash of cards for any occasion? is that just a southern thing?) and give her some money to help with getting back to Pensacola or whatever, so that’s what we did and just took it to her. She was overwhelmed. If y’all recall, her husband is the one I’ve mentioned who has Alzheimer’s and is now in a VA home because he got to the point she could not care for him at home. There’s no charge for the VA but as y’all can imagine, it’s put a strain on her budget to go there (a 200 mile roundtrip) once a week on top of trips home due to the brother’s illness. The money to help with the gas for that trip to Pensacola is no doubt welcomed.
I think, given the situation, that was the best thing we could have done for her.
On a happier note, I do make a dang good meatloaf. Dindin was teh num. Also, y’all are right, that veggie lasagna is also teh num! Ol’ y’all know who is not real big on vegetarian stuff but he’ll snarf that down.
-swampbear (poster of rambly posts)
