Mornin’ all.
Happy Firday!! Even though this morning feels like it should be Saturday.
Soapy, I have serious deck envy… your backyard looks so wonderfully peaceful and lush and green. My own backyard, complete with rotting deck and dead cedar bushes, is cringing in shame.
{{Pie}} On the bright side, everyone needs to eat, no matter how crappy the economy is… I’m sure things will work out.
Nava, she’s so adorable! I could gobble her up, chubby cheeks and all.
Dotty, I’m so used to neighbourhoods being green lawns and big trees… but I guess when you live in the desert, that’s not really an option. I love the light pastelly colours on your buildings, though - we don’t use those colours here at all, so they always make me think of hot climates.
gt, your neighbourhood looks a lot more like what I’m used to. Poor trees, it looks like they took quite a walloping, though. 
Glad your containers survived, though.
And on that note… time to get some work done, I suppose. Ew.
I am really lovin everybody’s pics!
swampy, you’re sending Joe Dawg home with yet more Death Chicken? His daddy is going to keel you! 
doggio, really close to the bachelor meal, innit?
Today is last day till vacation and I have zero, zip, zed motivation to do any work. It’s going to be a long day! 
Tupug
Ahhh! I love babies! So cute.
Oooh, ooh! I know what that is! It’s JoeDawg’s dinner, right? 
Your neighborhood looks great. I’d love to have a Panera within walking distance! Well, I’d love it until I gained 10 pounds from eating too much of their bread.
Soapy, your yard is beautiful. And the tapestry is beautiful and lots of brownie points to TimeKiller for going back and buying it!
**NavaNeice **is adorable! It must be the week for babies. One of my teammates has a new grandbaby. And a different coworker also has a new baby.
Sorry for the loss of customers, Pie. Hope something new comes up soon.
I’m really glad it’s Firday. I think I want to spend the weekend vegging out and maybe knitting a bit. That’s it. I’m tahred.
Nava, what a cutie-patootie!
It’s kind of foggy and dreary looking out. I haven’t looked at today’s weather report to see if things are going to improve.
Good grief! I cannot stop yawning. The coffee is not doing it’s job. However, I am at home since it’s my RDO, and am happy about that.
Soapy, your yard looks very peaceful.
Pie, I’m sorry about the business news. Hopefully, things will pick up.
Yes, indeed, JoeDawg is goin’ home with death chicken bacon and rice. There’s enough left for two more dindins. It won’t be my fault if daddy has to make batches of death chicken from now on. 
MMMM… burgers on the grill… I did those last Firday but Ima want me some now. Maybe that’ll be supper tonight.
The workpile is dwindlin’ fast. YAY!!!
Ok, back at it.
Later Y’all!
OK, I keep seeing people refer to RDOs, and I have no idea what it means. I’ve made up my own translation of “Random Day Off” but I’m guessing that’s not quite right since it always seems to happen on Fridays.
I’m having a shoe dilemma. I want casual shoes to wear on the weekend when we go to the zoo or arboretum or a museum or whatever. So I want them to go with jeans, but I’d like something a little nicer than sneakers (which is what I’ve been wearing). I like these but wonder if they’re too dressy for going to the zoo or the park or whatever. And I wonder if they’ll be comfortable for lots of walking. I also like these but then I think they may be too casual and/or too much like sneakers. Anyone have any suggestions? Advice? Anything?
**taxi, **RDO means “regular day off”. I work what they call an alternate or flex schedule. What that means is that in my case, I work four eight nine hour days, and one eight hour day, with every other Friday off. My pay period is an 80 hours. So the first week of the pay period, I work four nine hour days, and then one eight hour day. The second week, I work four nine hour days, then have Friday off.
Some people choose to have their RDOs on Monday, some choose the middle of the week, some choose to have both their short day and RDO in the same week. I chose my schedule so I have something to look forward to every Friday.
I don’t think the shoes in the first link are too dressy for the zoo or park. After all, it’s not like they have heels. The good thing about the first pair is they can be both casual and somewhat dressy if you pair them with slacks. The second pair, in my mind, are just as casual as tennis shoes. Just my opinion.
Regular Day Off. Usually refers to the day off for people who work standard 9 or 10 hour day so they can have an extra day off, generally Friday. Around my office, Mondays are also popular RDOs.
I, on the other hand, am a contractor, and I’m stuck with a 5 day, 8 hour work week. :mad:
Ah, thanks for the explanation of RDO. We seem to have a couple people around here who work on that schedule (Papa Tigs, maybe?) so it comes up regularly and I’m always curious.
I think I’m leaning the way you’re suggesting, Taters, but it does help to hear it from someone else.
Glad to help, taxi. It was just my opinion, not everyone would agree with it.
We’re performing a ten percent water change on the fish tank right now. We also changed out the filters. The filters are supposed to last a month, but the first set got pretty gross because we didn’t have the bubbler and undergravel filter system in place the first week. Even the though the pump is supposed to be big enough for our tank, it just wasn’t moving the water around enough. Everything looks good now, though.
Well, hubby wants to play WoW. Back later.
I work a 9-80 schedule too, so today is my RDO. It’s great to be able to do errands, or doctor’s appt’s, without taking time off from work.
Back from the park. It was nice, and we’re having fabulous weather for a change! Not too many people/dogs there, but I threw the ball a lot for Lucy, and she’s pooped.
I came home and Dad had gone out and gotten Subway sammiches, so yay! I scarfed mine down, and now I’m going to give the filthy pups a bath.
And I just made a haircut appt for an hour from now! Better get a move on…
I’m horrendously jealous of the Mumpers with RDOs. We don’t have flex scheduling here (not on this project, anyways)… hell, we’d probably just be happy with summer hours at this stage, but that ain’t happening either.
taxi, the other thing that really works well to dress up jeans is a Mary Jane type shoe like this one (I can’t vouch for the comfort level of this specific pair, but Teva tends to make comfy shoes IME). Not to add extra confusion, or anything. 
The first pair are also very nice, and I agree that the second pair are just too close to running shoes to pass as “dressy”.
I’m all for the mary janes, maybe because I just bought these not too long ago.
Evenin’ all. Ricotta fritters were a huge success - hubby alone scoffed about 15 of them! Here’s the recipe:
Warm Ricotta Fritters
480g ricotta
4 eggs
1 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
Zest of a lemon
Pinch salt
Pure icing sugar and ground cardamom, for dusting
Honey, for drizzling
Vegetable oil, for frying
Whisk the ricotta and eggs together. Sift the flour baking powder and salt together then fold into the ricotta/egg mix. Add the zest.
Heat oil to 170C. Using teaspoons, dollop balls of mixture into hot oil. Cook until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper then dust with icing sugar mixed with a little cardamom. Serve warm, drizzled with honey, or on their own.
They are sooooo yummy!!!
Okay, off to watch the first episode of Survivor:Gabon! Ciao for now!
:Drops to floor, drooling:
Those look soooo good.
The shoes are cute, too. I’ve been thinking about getting a pair of super-comfy mary janes, but a) I hate shoe shopping, b) I have weird-shaped feet, and c) I hate to spend money on shoes. These all make it difficult. This is why I almost exclusively wear Docs. Of course, with thirty looming only a few days away, I begin to think I should get some grownup shoes. Sigh.
I’m currently wearing bright red Crocs. Muppet will probably faint. 
LiLi, you are dead to me.
Though I suppose I have to give you an exemption on the I-Hate-Croc-Wearers rule because you live in the Beaches and I think there’s a rule about having to own Crocs if you’re Beacher.
PS. HA HA. You’re gonna be OOOOOOOOOOOLD.
Dotty, those fritters sound super-yummy. I may have to overcome my dread of deep frying just so I can try making those (unless LiLi wants to atone for her footwear sins by making them for me? flutters eyelashes)
Hi! :waves:
Oh my, those fritters sound sinful! Now I’m all hungry…
This is what we had for dinner last night, and I have to say I LOVED these NOT! I used red and yukon gold NOT, used fresh rosemary and oregano from the garden along dill and paprika for the herbs, then sprinkled the cooked NOT with sharp white cheddar and chipotle cheddar then topped them with dollops of light sour cream, chopped green onions and bacon bits. drools There were no survivors!
I’m trying VERY HARD to ignore these. Minimal success so far.
Nava, that bebeh looks like a little peach! So darling…
Swampy, Old Roy dog food is shite and it’s no wonder JoeDawg prefers Death Chicken, poor thing… Since he’s such a small doggie it would be very easy to make batches of good chicken/brown rice/veggies food for him and freeze most of it. It would be much better for him in the long run and probably cheaper as well.
Why yes I am, **Bobbio, **on both counts! 
I’m glad you know what you’re getting into, Taters, 'cuz I’ve seen people get all kinds of shellshocked at how incredibly predatory Oscars can be… They’re rather implacable sometimes.
Soapy, I have backyard envy! Them’s some purty pixtures…
Dotty, it looks very warm at your place–I have envy of that as well…
I gotta go to Trader Joe’s today and the WallyMart and the veggie stand. I need more little NOT for to make those yummy crunchy things again. Next time it’s asiago cheese on top.
Food is good…