To stay fresh, I try to do one out-of-the-norm thing a week. This week was fun with PixelBlocks. Since it was my first stop motion video, I wanted to do something simple. I hope you enjoy it, because it was fun making it. Click here!
Today’s dinner was Chicken Stir-Fry with Mushrooms & Bok Choy. I apologize, I forgot to take pictures of the dish, but this I can say, the hubby couldn’t stop eating it. Fairly easy to make, mostly in the preparation of cleaning and cutting the vegetables. Total meal cost was $9.83*. Wowsers! Pretty good for 6 servings, enough for the hubby to take to work tomorrow. This is a dish worth keeping in the recipe books. (*Note: this does not include the cost of the Sesame oil and teriyaki sauce since I can use this for other dishes as well. Also, most of the ingredients I have already, so the price may be higher if you’re buying things from scratch.)
It’s been a little over a year since I started treatment with Remicade and I can honestly say I feel a whole lot better. At first, I was very hesitant in starting any new treatment but I could tell, the therapy I was on was not working it’s magic. After weighing the pros and cons and getting a first hand recommendation from a co-worker of my hubby’s, we decided that it may be the best option for me now. Compared to last year, I feel 100% better, more like myself. I don’t mind the long appointment because I look forward to the two hour nap. As I am entering 30, I realize my body doesn’t bounce back as it used to. That means more stretching and exercising, even when I don’t feel like it.
I took a little break from cooking since I’ve been busy with work. But I’m happy to say I’ll be back to the stovetop this week. I usually find my meals for the week using Martha Stewart’s Everyday food magazine, but it looks like I’ve made all the meals from the magazines I received. So, I recently subscribed to Family Circle and this month’s food section features Healthy options, each meal being 350 calories or less.
Day 1
Chicken Stir-Fry with Mushrooms & Bok Choy
Day 2
Grilled Shrimp & Cold Rice Salad
Day 3
Slow Cooker Corn & Crab Chowder (instead of the slow cooker, it’ll be in my dutch oven)
Day 4
Penne with Sausage & Peas
Day 5
Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
I’ll keep you posted with pictures and reviews of the recipes.
It’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned my Sadie and how much we adore her. Just recently, I finished reading 10 Secrets My Dog Taught Me: Life Lessons from a Man’s Best Friend. Never in a million years would I have thought to pick up a book about a dog, but the cover photo looked so much like Sadie to me that I was intrigued. It’s a short read about a man and his dog and how his dog taught him about the simple things in life. If you are a dog lover, then I highly recommend this book to you. His stories reminded me a lot of how we were with Sadie when we first brought her home. Just experiences you wouldn’t have unless you had a dog. SPOILER ALERT: If you do read this, have a tissue handy. I was crying like a baby at the end.
Here are a few pictures of my Sadie. I love her for all her adorableness and love that she offers me. My life would be completely different without her.
For our date night this week, we were able to watch Wicked for the first time. It was magnificent. I’ve loved Wizard of Oz since I first remembered watching it as a kid. Though the hubby is scared of the flying monkeys, I think it was a great movie at the time. I never thought about the other side of the story but now it seems complete. If you’re a fan or even semi-interested, don’t miss out in the opportunity in watching it. I truly enjoyed it.
I was recently asked by my hubby, “when was the last time you did art for fun?” Honestly, I can’t remember when I even had time to devote to creating art. Granted, I’m being creative everyday, but it’s not free-flowing without boundaries.
This weekend, I was moved. I wanted to create a painting to evoked a sense of calm. My brother has been in the hospital for over a week now with what seems to be similar to what my mom went through. It’s sad to see anyone in the hospital, let alone a family member. Though, we’ve grown apart as we grew up, we are still family and it hurts all the same. I wanted him to know I was there for him and to see something that would give him peace in his days in the hospital.
Here a picture of the painting.
This year’s walk took place on May 22nd in the Westchase District. In total, teams and individuals raised over $73,000. That’s amazing. Our team, The Bee’s Knees raised $825 and recruited 14 members and 3 doggies. I am so proud to be a part of this fantastic group, raising awareness and money to help get closer to finding a cure. Unfortunately, on the day of the walk, I stumbled on my feet and sprained my right ankle. I was not too thrilled because it seems before each walk, I tend to hurt myself and not on purpose. Hopefully, next year, I can walk with all the supporters out there. Here are a few pictures from the walk. View more on flickr.
It seems that I’ve been dealing with a string of service people lately, just to get our house in tip-top shape. It’s been three years, going on four, since we’ve been living here and it’s time to do a bit of sprucing up. I’d like to start by saying, I will not name name’s to spare the company shame.
First up, a reputable lawn company. I’ve been using their services for a year now and have it set up where they call to let me know when they come so I can unlock the gate. I received the call and the lady let me know that they were coming to provide the service on the specified day. I agreed, led to believe it was part of my package I’ve paid for. When the service person shows up and hands me an invoice for $130, I was in shock. I quickly called them to let them know I had no idea I had to pay extra for this service since the representative on the phone did not specify it was something outside of my standard package. The operator patched me through the person I originally spoke to and told me, “it’s your job to find out if it costs extra.” I was led to believe that this was part of my package, never was it said it was an additional cost or extra service that was provided. Had I known, I would not have agreed to it. I promptly asked to speak with her manager, where he apologized for the miscommunication and gave me the service for half the cost.
Second issue, a large carpet cleaning company. I scheduled for the appointment to be on Friday and was told the window would be between 12 pm and 5 pm. That’s a huge window. Even Comcast gives a shorter window than that. As the day goes on and gets closer to 5 o’clock, I anxiously await the call to let me know that they’re on the way. Finally, at around 4:30 pm, I receive the call to let me know he’s in route and will be at the house in about 45 minutes. I set it up with my neighbor to have Sadie wait there while the cleaning is going on. Forty-five minutes has passed and still no one has showed up. It’s now way pass 5 o’clock and I give them a call to ask the whereabouts of the technician. I’m told he’ll be another twenty minutes and it will take approximately 2 hours to clean the three areas. What?! I had a family dinner scheduled for 7:30 pm so I had no time to wait for him to show up and clean. Therefore I reschedule for the following day, not too happy. Lucky for me, I’m the first in line for the technician and he cleans extra rooms for me, so all is made up and the carpet looks great.
Third and final issue, a bee removal company that rates an “A” with the BBB. Most recently, I’ve noticed a swarm of bees between the first and second story of the house. I mean a huge swarm where I can hear the buzzing from the sidewalk. I start doing my research to find a way to get rid of them because I don’t want a huge hive in the house. After days of researching, I come across one that is fairly priced and rated highly with the BBB, so I schedule an appointment with him for 1 pm. It is now 2 o’clock and I still have yet to see him or hear from him, so I can give him a buzz to see what his ETA is. He tells me he’s in Sugar Land and it’s pouring rain and was going to come after it finished raining, saying he thought I lived in Sugar Land. I inform him, in fact, that it is NOT raining and he could come now. However, a few minutes after I hang up, it starts coming down so I call him back to let him know to wait. After the rain passes, I call him back to let him know he can come and that he should’ve called me at 1 to ask if it was indeed raining on my side. The truth comes out, he tells me he actually forgot that I was scheduled for 1 o’clock and he’ll be heading over soon, this is about 2:30 pm. It is now 4:10 pm and he has yet to show up or call. I am peeved and call another bee remover to try to schedule an appointment. I did not want to waste another minute of my time with the first person if he didn’t have the guts to call me to let me know he was running late. Then suddenly, I hear a ring at the door and it’s the bee remover guy, 3.5 hours late! I step out and state, “You’re a little late.” He gives me an excuse saying he was caught up in something and I tell him, “All you had to do is give me a call and let me know.” He apologizes and gets to work.
How hard or difficult is it for a person to tell the truth or pick up the phone? If your livelihood depends on dealing with people, wouldn’t you want to make sure they are happy so you get referrals and repeat business? It blows my mind how difficult it is for some people to understand this concept.
Just had a great evening with my nephew. He’ll be turning three in August, but he’s a blast to be around. He always makes me laugh and talks a mile a minute. While my hubby and my brother-in-law had to help the in-laws with some house repairs, I had the opportunity to help my sister-in-law with her boys. I took my nephew to their neighborhood pool and took him to play in the kiddie pool and held him in the adult pool. I think he had a blast because he didn’t want me to leave when I took him home. Once home, we ate dinner together and I helped him during bath time. He’s just a hoot with the things he says and his imagination is amazing. After bath time, he was able to talk on the phone with my hubby for a short while before heading off to bed. We read three books, of his choosing and sang three songs. Though he wanted to sing one more, since his favorite number is 4, but I just couldn’t find the song to satisfy his need for a last song. Finally, his dad stepped in said I had to go, for I had learned he was stalling because he didn’t want me to leave. It’s just so hard to say bye to the little tyke.
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