Sorry, I know it's been a while since I've posted. I'll try to catch up on everything that's been going on.
This weekend, we went down to Florida to celebrate Marcus's grandfather's 97th(!) birthday. We flew down late Friday night. Marcus's dad picked us up from the airport and dropped us off at Marcus's mom's house. We stayed up talking for a little bit, but soon retired to bed. Saturday we slept in a little bit, then went to brunch with Marcus's mom and her wife at the restaurant where his sister is working as a hostess. Then we came back to the house and hung out for a few hours before it was time to go to the party. Marcus's sister was nice enough to drive all of us to the party (me, Marcus, and his little brother). The party itself was interesting. It was nice to see all of his dad's family (we hadn't seen any of them since the wedding), and there were some nice speeches made and cute songs and such. The food was amazing. It was also good to see my parents, who came down for the party too. After the party, we pretty much went back to his mom's house and went right to bed. Sunday we got up early (for us). Marcus and his siblings headed to his grandfather's brunch, while my parents came and picked me up to take me to lunch with them and my great-aunt and great-uncle (who my parents were staying with). We had a nice lunch, then went back to my great-aunt's house and hung out and looked at pictures for a while. Then my parents took me back to Marcus's mom's house and stopped in to visit for a little while before they left for the airport. The rest of us hung out for a little longer, and then Marcus's mom took us to the airport.
Our flight was at 6:25 pm, and we were at the airport and through security by a little before 5. I decided to get Chili's To-Go for dinner, since we had some time. I ordered, and about 15 minutes later, my food finally came out. I went back to the gate to sit and eat, opened it up, and noticed that my black bean burger had cheese on it (which it wasn't supposed to). I took it back, and the manager lady told them to fix it. I waited for ANOTHER 15-20 minutes before it FINALLY came out. They offered me a free drink, but I had already bought a bottled water the first time, and I don't drink soda anyway, so I turned it down. I ran back to the gate and frantically tried to eat before we had to board the plane. I didn't make it. Marcus convinced me to box the food back up and bring it on the plane, so I did. I did NOT appreciate how rushed they made me feel by taking forever with my food! It seriously would have been faster to go eat in their sit-down restaurant area :-P But anyway, we made it home fine, and David picked us up from the airport, and we went right back out grocery shopping before Cliff came in around 11. He had an interview in Atlanta on Monday, so he stayed with us for a couple of nights.
On to Monday. I had my first training session for the tutoring job on Monday (I had decided to at least try it before making a decision about whether to take the job). I ate an early lunch (around 11:15) before heading out around noon to get to the center I was training at by 1. They had told me in the email that the training would be from 1-8 pm, but it turned out that it was actually from 1-9. This pissed me off, because I had been planning to go to the gym when I got home, since it was supposed to be a gym night, but I didn't get home until after 10 pm, and I was too tired to go to the gym. I also didn't eat dinner until after I got home, because I completely missed the half-hour break I was supposed to get around 4 pm. Fail. Anyway, the tutoring itself looked very different from what I had imagined. First of all, it was mostly high school kids, who I don't do well with. Second, when they originally told me that you tutor one-on-one a max of 3 kids at a time, I thought they meant that you have one-on-one sessions with up to 3 different students, one at a time. Well, apparently what they really meant was that you have 3 students at a time (so 3 sessions of 3 students per night, for a total of 9 different students per night) and they still call it "one-on-one" because you're supposed to focus your attention on each one individually while the other two are doing work. I felt really uncomfortable with the setup, and when I got home, I debated for a long time over whether to continue with the training.
Tuesday morning, I had to make a decision. I was supposed to report for training at 1 pm again, so I had to decide by 11 (so I could eat lunch if I did decide to go). I went back and forth. Wrote an email declining the position, but couldn't hit send. Had a long talk with Cliff about it, and another with Marcus when he called to tell me about something else entirely. Finally, I sent the email, so I will not be taking the tutoring job. It was a really tough decision, since I could really use the money, but ultimately, I would have been miserable working there. So now, I need to go to the unemployment office today and make sure that turning down the job won't affect my eligibility to continue collecting unemployment. Fingers crossed!
So I ended up hanging out with Cliff all day yesterday. We went to Menchie's and got frozen yogurt for lunch, then came back and just hung out. We talked a little, and I watched one of my home videos. When Marcus got home, he and Cliff went to the gym (he hadn't gone on Monday either, so he wanted to make it up. I'm planning to go on Friday to make it up while Marcus is at his D&D game), and then we all went out to dinner at Copeland's. Marcus had a $25 gift certificate to Copeland's from restaurant.com, but it required a minimum purchase of $50, which we'd never be able to get to just the two of us. So Cliff came too, and we had a nice dinner and then walked around Atlantic Station for a while. I love Atlantic Station! When we got home, Cliff headed out to drive back to Athens, and Marcus and I watched the end of the Braves game and looked at houses online. We tried to go to bed early, but it just didn't happen.
So, on the docket for today: I need to go to the bank and deposit a check for Marcus, go to the unemployment office, figure out what to write in my cover letter for this job I want to apply to - and then apply. When Marcus gets home, we need to go to the gym, come back and eat dinner, and watch Survivor (and probably the end of the Braves game, too). Then we need to shower and go to SLEEP!
I'm already exhausted...I need a real weekend!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Oy...
Today was a very long and stressful day. I slept in a little bit, got up around 8:30 instead of 8. Once Marcus left for work a little after 10, I headed out to the bank to deposit my checks, then came home and ate an early lunch around 11:15. Got changed into nicer clothes and headed out to Duluth for my interview with the tutoring company.
It ended up being a video conference (skype) interview, since the hiring lady was out of town at one of the company's offices in another state. It went well, I got the impression that the interview was just a formality, and apparently my friend who hooked me up with the company gave me a great recommendation. So, they want to hire me, but I have some reservations. I don't want to get into it on this public forum, but I wrote a livejournal entry about it, and I've talked to Marcus and a few friends about it. Everyone has pretty much given me the same advice, which is to at least try it out for a while, and if I don't like it, I can always leave. My problem with that is, once I say I'm doing it, I'm not going to leave. That's how I got stuck at the law firm for 3 years, lol, it's just how I am. Plus, it wouldn't be fair to the students for me to leave after a short time, it's not good for them for the teachers to be constantly changing. So we'll see. I'm planning at this point to at least go to the training next week and see how that goes, but I want to make a decision before I actually get in the classroom.
So anyway, after the interview, I came home and was stressing out about it until Marcus got home. I talked to him about it for a while, and then we went to the gym, which was great because it took my mind off the job stuff temporarily. After the gym, we came back and ate dinner, and then I watched the new episode of Millionaire Matchmaker. Now we are watching yesterday's Survivor premiere again (Marcus hasn't seen it yet), and then it will be time to shower and go to sleep!
Tomorrow I'm hoping will be somewhat more relaxing than today, but since we're traveling tomorrow night, I doubt it :-P I do get to go watch Eli for a little bit tomorrow morning though, so hopefully that'll help me feel a little better. I need to find some down time between now and tomorrow night, though, because with my stress levels already so high from this job stuff, I might be headed for some kind of meltdown over the weekend if I can't cool them down. And being so stressed about the job thing, it's a really bad time for me to be put in a situation where a lot of people (whose approval is important to me, I might add) will be grilling me about jobs...it's just not good timing. So hopefully I'll be able to relax at least a little bit tomorrow.
I'm not sure that I'll get a chance to post before we leave tomorrow night, so I may just be gone until Sunday night or Monday.
It ended up being a video conference (skype) interview, since the hiring lady was out of town at one of the company's offices in another state. It went well, I got the impression that the interview was just a formality, and apparently my friend who hooked me up with the company gave me a great recommendation. So, they want to hire me, but I have some reservations. I don't want to get into it on this public forum, but I wrote a livejournal entry about it, and I've talked to Marcus and a few friends about it. Everyone has pretty much given me the same advice, which is to at least try it out for a while, and if I don't like it, I can always leave. My problem with that is, once I say I'm doing it, I'm not going to leave. That's how I got stuck at the law firm for 3 years, lol, it's just how I am. Plus, it wouldn't be fair to the students for me to leave after a short time, it's not good for them for the teachers to be constantly changing. So we'll see. I'm planning at this point to at least go to the training next week and see how that goes, but I want to make a decision before I actually get in the classroom.
So anyway, after the interview, I came home and was stressing out about it until Marcus got home. I talked to him about it for a while, and then we went to the gym, which was great because it took my mind off the job stuff temporarily. After the gym, we came back and ate dinner, and then I watched the new episode of Millionaire Matchmaker. Now we are watching yesterday's Survivor premiere again (Marcus hasn't seen it yet), and then it will be time to shower and go to sleep!
Tomorrow I'm hoping will be somewhat more relaxing than today, but since we're traveling tomorrow night, I doubt it :-P I do get to go watch Eli for a little bit tomorrow morning though, so hopefully that'll help me feel a little better. I need to find some down time between now and tomorrow night, though, because with my stress levels already so high from this job stuff, I might be headed for some kind of meltdown over the weekend if I can't cool them down. And being so stressed about the job thing, it's a really bad time for me to be put in a situation where a lot of people (whose approval is important to me, I might add) will be grilling me about jobs...it's just not good timing. So hopefully I'll be able to relax at least a little bit tomorrow.
I'm not sure that I'll get a chance to post before we leave tomorrow night, so I may just be gone until Sunday night or Monday.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Happy Birthday, Daddy!
Today is my Daddy's birthday! Happy Birthday, Daddy!
This morning I got up normal time and headed over to Joel and Shosh's to babysit. Shosh tried to put Talia down for a nap before she left, but she only slept for about 15 minutes, so she ended up taking a 3-hour nap a little later, which was perfect! Eli and I played out on the deck with beans, bubbles, and basketball for most of the day. He says the funniest things...
We were playing with the beans (Talia was inside sleeping in her swing at this point), and Eli randomly says, "Baby Talia!" I thought maybe she had woken up and he heard her making noise that I couldn't hear or something, so I said, "Baby Talia? What is she doing?" Eli said, "swing!" At this point I relaxed, and said, "yes, that's right, she's sleeping in her swing." Eli responded, "she's a lucky girl!" I laughed out loud...he gave me a funny look as if to say "why are you laughing at me?!?", but it was so funny! I guess he must have heard Joel and Shosh saying it at some point and was just repeating, but to hear a two-year-old say that was just priceless.
Anyway, Joel got home a little early, so I ended up getting home around 3:30. There had been a possibility that I would have to pick Marsha up from either the airport or MARTA, but she texted me earlier saying that she had found someone else to do it, so I just went straight home. Marcus had a board meeting after work tonight, so I was on my own for dinner (leftover pasta, yum!). I watched the season premiere of Survivor...don't worry, I won't post any spoilers! I'm kind of "eh" on this season so far...there aren't any new players who have really caught my attention yet, good or bad. I did like the immunity challenge they did tonight - I LOVE multi-step challenges! Beyond that, it wasn't all that interesting. Then again, it's usually three or four episodes before I really start to get into it and know who I like and dislike, so we'll see.
After the show was over, I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday, and we talked for a little bit (I talked to my mom, too). Then Marcus got home, and now we are just hanging out on the couch staring at our respective computers. Marcus gets to go into work late tomorrow (around 10:30), which is nice, but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sleep in with him or just get up normal time. I have my interview with the tutoring company at 1 pm tomorrow, and I need to go to the bank before that to deposit a couple of checks.
Speaking of the interview, I'm kind of in a holding phase right now. I found a couple of jobs I want to apply to, but I'm waiting to see how this interview goes first. I really don't know much about the tutoring job - full time, part time, how the hours work, etc., so I want to find out more about it before I apply to anything else.
For some reason, I am REALLY tired, so I think I am going to actually try to go to bed early tonight. Tomorrow should be a slightly less hectic day, but still active. And then Friday is going to be a long, busy, and stressful day (traveling always has that effect on me). At least we (hopefully) get to sleep in on Saturday!
This morning I got up normal time and headed over to Joel and Shosh's to babysit. Shosh tried to put Talia down for a nap before she left, but she only slept for about 15 minutes, so she ended up taking a 3-hour nap a little later, which was perfect! Eli and I played out on the deck with beans, bubbles, and basketball for most of the day. He says the funniest things...
We were playing with the beans (Talia was inside sleeping in her swing at this point), and Eli randomly says, "Baby Talia!" I thought maybe she had woken up and he heard her making noise that I couldn't hear or something, so I said, "Baby Talia? What is she doing?" Eli said, "swing!" At this point I relaxed, and said, "yes, that's right, she's sleeping in her swing." Eli responded, "she's a lucky girl!" I laughed out loud...he gave me a funny look as if to say "why are you laughing at me?!?", but it was so funny! I guess he must have heard Joel and Shosh saying it at some point and was just repeating, but to hear a two-year-old say that was just priceless.
Anyway, Joel got home a little early, so I ended up getting home around 3:30. There had been a possibility that I would have to pick Marsha up from either the airport or MARTA, but she texted me earlier saying that she had found someone else to do it, so I just went straight home. Marcus had a board meeting after work tonight, so I was on my own for dinner (leftover pasta, yum!). I watched the season premiere of Survivor...don't worry, I won't post any spoilers! I'm kind of "eh" on this season so far...there aren't any new players who have really caught my attention yet, good or bad. I did like the immunity challenge they did tonight - I LOVE multi-step challenges! Beyond that, it wasn't all that interesting. Then again, it's usually three or four episodes before I really start to get into it and know who I like and dislike, so we'll see.
After the show was over, I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday, and we talked for a little bit (I talked to my mom, too). Then Marcus got home, and now we are just hanging out on the couch staring at our respective computers. Marcus gets to go into work late tomorrow (around 10:30), which is nice, but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sleep in with him or just get up normal time. I have my interview with the tutoring company at 1 pm tomorrow, and I need to go to the bank before that to deposit a couple of checks.
Speaking of the interview, I'm kind of in a holding phase right now. I found a couple of jobs I want to apply to, but I'm waiting to see how this interview goes first. I really don't know much about the tutoring job - full time, part time, how the hours work, etc., so I want to find out more about it before I apply to anything else.
For some reason, I am REALLY tired, so I think I am going to actually try to go to bed early tonight. Tomorrow should be a slightly less hectic day, but still active. And then Friday is going to be a long, busy, and stressful day (traveling always has that effect on me). At least we (hopefully) get to sleep in on Saturday!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Thinking of blogging less frequently...
I know I completely forgot to write a post yesterday. Luckily, there wasn't much to miss, since I didn't really do anything yesterday :-P
Today, on the other hand, has been busier. I got up normal time and headed over to Joel and Shosh's. Shosh wasn't working today, but she had a doctor appointment this morning, so she asked me to babysit. I had a great time playing with Eli with his beans, basketball, bubbles, and playdough. He parrots back pretty much everything you say to him now, which is SO cute! When Shosh got home, I stayed and hung out with them all for a few hours. Cutest moment of the day - Talia rolled over and bumped her head on the floor, and Eli came running over and said, "I kiss it, Baby Talia!" and then kissed her on the head! What a good big brother! He is so sweet <3
I finally left around 4 pm so I wouldn't hit too much traffic on my way home. Marcus had to stay a little late at work today, so I just hung around until he got home. Then we went to the gym, and because I got so much exercise today (between the gym and babysitting), I had enough calories left to eat that we were able to go to Chipotle for dinner! We hadn't been in a few weeks (a LONG time for us), so that was a nice treat. We had some really nice conversation over dinner, too, so that was really good for us.
We got home a few minutes ago, and now we're just watching the Braves game and then we'll probably head to bed early (assuming they don't go into extra innings again like last night :-P), since we both have busy days tomorrow.
So, I've been thinking about possibly cutting back on blogging a little bit. Some days I have a lot going on, but there are a lot of days when I don't really have anything interesting to write about. So I'm thinking about not blogging every day anymore, and just blogging when I have something interesting to mention. The reason I started off blogging every day was to get myself in the habit of it so I wouldn't neglect it for long periods of time. I think I've been doing it long enough now that I'll still remember to post when stuff happens. So we'll try it. I'll probably still be posting every day for the rest of this week anyway, since it's a busy week. And we'll be out of town this weekend, so I'll probably just write a weekend recap on Sunday night or Monday. After that...we'll see!
Today, on the other hand, has been busier. I got up normal time and headed over to Joel and Shosh's. Shosh wasn't working today, but she had a doctor appointment this morning, so she asked me to babysit. I had a great time playing with Eli with his beans, basketball, bubbles, and playdough. He parrots back pretty much everything you say to him now, which is SO cute! When Shosh got home, I stayed and hung out with them all for a few hours. Cutest moment of the day - Talia rolled over and bumped her head on the floor, and Eli came running over and said, "I kiss it, Baby Talia!" and then kissed her on the head! What a good big brother! He is so sweet <3
I finally left around 4 pm so I wouldn't hit too much traffic on my way home. Marcus had to stay a little late at work today, so I just hung around until he got home. Then we went to the gym, and because I got so much exercise today (between the gym and babysitting), I had enough calories left to eat that we were able to go to Chipotle for dinner! We hadn't been in a few weeks (a LONG time for us), so that was a nice treat. We had some really nice conversation over dinner, too, so that was really good for us.
We got home a few minutes ago, and now we're just watching the Braves game and then we'll probably head to bed early (assuming they don't go into extra innings again like last night :-P), since we both have busy days tomorrow.
So, I've been thinking about possibly cutting back on blogging a little bit. Some days I have a lot going on, but there are a lot of days when I don't really have anything interesting to write about. So I'm thinking about not blogging every day anymore, and just blogging when I have something interesting to mention. The reason I started off blogging every day was to get myself in the habit of it so I wouldn't neglect it for long periods of time. I think I've been doing it long enough now that I'll still remember to post when stuff happens. So we'll try it. I'll probably still be posting every day for the rest of this week anyway, since it's a busy week. And we'll be out of town this weekend, so I'll probably just write a weekend recap on Sunday night or Monday. After that...we'll see!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday Recap
Sorry I didn't post last night (for anyone who actually reads this). It got late, and I was tired, and I decided I'd just wait and post this morning.
So yesterday, we got up around 9 and headed over to Jerrilyn's office. She drove us out to Marietta to look at a few townhouses. One of them I had actually found online and sent to her. That was the first one we went to. We found out that it was actually a foreclosure, which is why the price was so low (although it hadn't mentioned anything about that on the listing, Jerrilyn just found out by talking to the selling agent. I kind of felt like that wasn't right, they should be required to include that information in the listing!), but we really liked it. Very cute house, and there are only a couple of minor, inexpensive repairs that it needs. We then went to look at another townhouse in the same subdivision. This was the first house we went to where the owner was actually there. He was an older man who has lived in the house for 15 years. He had SO. MANY. TCHOTCHKES. It was hard to get a good idea of what the house would look like without all the random stuff! It also had a slightly different floorplan from anything else we had seen. We weren't super impressed. Then we headed over to a different part of Marietta to look at another townhouse, which actually ended up being in the same little area as one of the Gables apartment complexes we had looked in a couple of months ago! This was a newer townhouse, it was very nice and well-maintained, but felt very tall and skinny. Even though it had some really nice amenities (new kitchen appliances, refrigerator included, etc.), we ultimately decided that we still liked the first one we had seen (the foreclosure) the best. After we got home, I sent Jerrilyn a list of the single family houses I had found in the Marietta area, so that will probably be the next thing we go look at.
When we got home, I did my laundry while we watched the Braves game. Then we went grocery shopping, came home and ate dinner. We decided to watch a movie on Netflix, and ended up watching a movie called Strictly Sexual, which had been in our instant queue for a while. It was a decent movie, but it made me really upset afterwards. Marcus and I had a long talk about why I was upset, where we both concluded that somewhere along the way, I lost my "mojo" (for lack of a better word). I should add here that "mojo" in this case is not sexual necessarily (I am not Austin Powers!), but more just a general like...passion, and driving force in my life. I'm frustrated, because I remember what it felt like to feel the way the characters did in the movie, and I want that back, but it's like I don't remember how. Talking to Marcus helped a little, I guess, at least to ease some of the frustration, but I still need to figure out how to get my mojo back!
We ended up showering and going to bed right around midnight, so I could watch the new episode of Food Truck Race, since I missed the original airing at 9 (while we were watching the movie).
This is looking to be a really busy week, with the exception of today. I'm just hoping that I somehow have SOME store of energy left at the end of it, because next weekend is going to be crazy.
So yesterday, we got up around 9 and headed over to Jerrilyn's office. She drove us out to Marietta to look at a few townhouses. One of them I had actually found online and sent to her. That was the first one we went to. We found out that it was actually a foreclosure, which is why the price was so low (although it hadn't mentioned anything about that on the listing, Jerrilyn just found out by talking to the selling agent. I kind of felt like that wasn't right, they should be required to include that information in the listing!), but we really liked it. Very cute house, and there are only a couple of minor, inexpensive repairs that it needs. We then went to look at another townhouse in the same subdivision. This was the first house we went to where the owner was actually there. He was an older man who has lived in the house for 15 years. He had SO. MANY. TCHOTCHKES. It was hard to get a good idea of what the house would look like without all the random stuff! It also had a slightly different floorplan from anything else we had seen. We weren't super impressed. Then we headed over to a different part of Marietta to look at another townhouse, which actually ended up being in the same little area as one of the Gables apartment complexes we had looked in a couple of months ago! This was a newer townhouse, it was very nice and well-maintained, but felt very tall and skinny. Even though it had some really nice amenities (new kitchen appliances, refrigerator included, etc.), we ultimately decided that we still liked the first one we had seen (the foreclosure) the best. After we got home, I sent Jerrilyn a list of the single family houses I had found in the Marietta area, so that will probably be the next thing we go look at.
When we got home, I did my laundry while we watched the Braves game. Then we went grocery shopping, came home and ate dinner. We decided to watch a movie on Netflix, and ended up watching a movie called Strictly Sexual, which had been in our instant queue for a while. It was a decent movie, but it made me really upset afterwards. Marcus and I had a long talk about why I was upset, where we both concluded that somewhere along the way, I lost my "mojo" (for lack of a better word). I should add here that "mojo" in this case is not sexual necessarily (I am not Austin Powers!), but more just a general like...passion, and driving force in my life. I'm frustrated, because I remember what it felt like to feel the way the characters did in the movie, and I want that back, but it's like I don't remember how. Talking to Marcus helped a little, I guess, at least to ease some of the frustration, but I still need to figure out how to get my mojo back!
We ended up showering and going to bed right around midnight, so I could watch the new episode of Food Truck Race, since I missed the original airing at 9 (while we were watching the movie).
This is looking to be a really busy week, with the exception of today. I'm just hoping that I somehow have SOME store of energy left at the end of it, because next weekend is going to be crazy.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
A Busy Saturday
Today was a very busy Saturday, but productive and also fun! We got up on the early side (for a Saturday), around 9:30, and headed over to meet Jerrilyn at her office. She drove us out to look at some houses. We had a little adventure getting there - due to the construction on 285, we ended up taking an alternate route, STILL getting caught in the construction zone, but eventually making it to the first house with plenty of time to spare (she had told them we were coming between 11 and 12, and we made it there around 11:30). We looked at SIX houses today! The first two were built in the late 1960s, and we weren't thrilled with either of them. The third one was built in the late 1970s, and we liked it a little better, but still not great. The last three were all in the same two subdivisions. Ironically, they were the same subdivisions that Marcus and I had driven through a few weeks ago, and were a little concerned by the fact that across the main road was a not-so-good looking area. However, Jerrilyn assured us that this wasn't something we needed to worry about, especially since the houses we looked at were pretty deep into the subdivisions.
All of these houses were built in 1999-2000, and we liked them MUCH better than the other ones we had seen. They were very compact, but really cute, and very nice and bright and open. One of them I really liked because it had a HUGE kitchen, with lots of cabinet space and TWO pantries! Marcus really liked another house which had basically an entire apartment in the basement (a bedroom, dining room, full bath, and a kitchen with stove and other appliances, and an entrance to the backyard). We concluded from the day's outing that we definitely prefer newer houses over older ones, but that we haven't really seen anything in the middle (built in the 1980s and 1990s). Tomorrow we are going out to look at some more houses, this time out in Marietta! Today's houses were all in Dunwoody.
We got back to Jerrilyn's office around 1:45, and headed straight over to Panera for the APO Metro Atlanta Alumni Association gathering at 2 pm. It ended up being the same 5-6 people as usual, but it was still fun. Paulabeth brought her baby (3 months old), who we hadn't gotten to meet yet, so that was exciting! He's a real cutie, and he was very well-behaved for the most part.
We finally made it home around 4:30. We kind of just hung out for a little while, and then Marcus left to go chaperone his cousin's AZA youth group event (he sort of got roped into doing it, haha). I made myself some pasta for dinner (an old standby recipe - Marcus doesn't like it that much, so I really only make it when we're not eating together), and watched the Braves game until he got home. At some point before he got home, my mom called, so I spent a good 45 minutes or so talking to her and my dad about our house-hunting today, family trees/reunions, and other fun stuff.
So that was our crazy busy Saturday. Tomorrow is suddenly looking much busier than I was anticipating too, now that we're going out house-hunting again. I also need to do laundry, and we need to go grocery shopping, so the day is filling up very quickly! And we have to get up even earlier than today for the house-hunting, because we're meeting Jerrilyn at 10 instead of 10:30 :-P
In case anyone's interested, here is the pasta recipe that I made for dinner tonight! I found it on the ajc.com's recipe pages several years back.
Summer Penne Pasta
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
8 ounces mini penne pasta
1 (14.5 oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, mostly drained
1 (12 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, cut in bite-size pieces and mostly drained
1 (2.5 oz) can sliced black olives, drained, or 1/2 cup sliced pitted kalamata or other olives
1/4 cup freshly shaved Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Prepare pasta according to package directions.
In a bowl, combine tomatoes, artichoke hearts and black olives. Add pasta and toss to combine. Add additional oil from the artichoke hearts, if necessary.
Grate Parmesan (or use a veggie peeler) on top. (If you wish to add a sixth ingredient, this dish can be served over a bed of baby spinach.)
Notes:
This dish tastes equally good warm or chilled.
To reduce the sodium further, here are a few options: Substitute frozen or water-packed canned artichoke hearts and add olive oil to moisten the salad or cut down slightly on the olives and/or cheese.
Nutrition (per serving):
350 calories (percent of calories from fat, 21), 3 grams protein, 56 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 8 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 448 milligrams sodium.
My additional notes:
You can use any shape of pasta, I usually use penne or something similar.
The cheese is optional - I make it without since I don't like Parmesan and don't need the cheese anyway.
I use artichoke hearts that have already been quartered, and I don't cut them down smaller.
I prefer to eat this dish warm (I don't like cold pasta), but I've tried it cold and it's actually not bad.
All of these houses were built in 1999-2000, and we liked them MUCH better than the other ones we had seen. They were very compact, but really cute, and very nice and bright and open. One of them I really liked because it had a HUGE kitchen, with lots of cabinet space and TWO pantries! Marcus really liked another house which had basically an entire apartment in the basement (a bedroom, dining room, full bath, and a kitchen with stove and other appliances, and an entrance to the backyard). We concluded from the day's outing that we definitely prefer newer houses over older ones, but that we haven't really seen anything in the middle (built in the 1980s and 1990s). Tomorrow we are going out to look at some more houses, this time out in Marietta! Today's houses were all in Dunwoody.
We got back to Jerrilyn's office around 1:45, and headed straight over to Panera for the APO Metro Atlanta Alumni Association gathering at 2 pm. It ended up being the same 5-6 people as usual, but it was still fun. Paulabeth brought her baby (3 months old), who we hadn't gotten to meet yet, so that was exciting! He's a real cutie, and he was very well-behaved for the most part.
We finally made it home around 4:30. We kind of just hung out for a little while, and then Marcus left to go chaperone his cousin's AZA youth group event (he sort of got roped into doing it, haha). I made myself some pasta for dinner (an old standby recipe - Marcus doesn't like it that much, so I really only make it when we're not eating together), and watched the Braves game until he got home. At some point before he got home, my mom called, so I spent a good 45 minutes or so talking to her and my dad about our house-hunting today, family trees/reunions, and other fun stuff.
So that was our crazy busy Saturday. Tomorrow is suddenly looking much busier than I was anticipating too, now that we're going out house-hunting again. I also need to do laundry, and we need to go grocery shopping, so the day is filling up very quickly! And we have to get up even earlier than today for the house-hunting, because we're meeting Jerrilyn at 10 instead of 10:30 :-P
In case anyone's interested, here is the pasta recipe that I made for dinner tonight! I found it on the ajc.com's recipe pages several years back.
Summer Penne Pasta
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
8 ounces mini penne pasta
1 (14.5 oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, mostly drained
1 (12 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, cut in bite-size pieces and mostly drained
1 (2.5 oz) can sliced black olives, drained, or 1/2 cup sliced pitted kalamata or other olives
1/4 cup freshly shaved Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Prepare pasta according to package directions.
In a bowl, combine tomatoes, artichoke hearts and black olives. Add pasta and toss to combine. Add additional oil from the artichoke hearts, if necessary.
Grate Parmesan (or use a veggie peeler) on top. (If you wish to add a sixth ingredient, this dish can be served over a bed of baby spinach.)
Notes:
This dish tastes equally good warm or chilled.
To reduce the sodium further, here are a few options: Substitute frozen or water-packed canned artichoke hearts and add olive oil to moisten the salad or cut down slightly on the olives and/or cheese.
Nutrition (per serving):
350 calories (percent of calories from fat, 21), 3 grams protein, 56 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 8 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 448 milligrams sodium.
My additional notes:
You can use any shape of pasta, I usually use penne or something similar.
The cheese is optional - I make it without since I don't like Parmesan and don't need the cheese anyway.
I use artichoke hearts that have already been quartered, and I don't cut them down smaller.
I prefer to eat this dish warm (I don't like cold pasta), but I've tried it cold and it's actually not bad.
TGIF!
I did end up letting myself sleep in today. I didn't actually get up until around 11:15 or so. This resulted in me rushing to get ready and pay my bills so I could get them out in today's mail. I had to go to the bank anyway to deposit a check, so I stopped at the mailbox on my way out. I also called back the guy from the tutoring company, but apparently he wasn't working today, so I left a message for him. Stupid phone tag!
When I got back, I didn't really do much for the rest of the day. I cleaned the bathroom this afternoon, but that's about it. When Marcus got home, we had an argument about our upcoming trip to Florida. We figured things out before he left for his RPG, but it left me kind of grumpy, and we didn't get to eat dinner together. I ate about an hour after he left (I had eaten a late lunch because of how late I slept, so I wasn't hungry earlier).
I was watching Jeopardy when my phone rang. It was Laura! I hadn't talked to her in a while, so it was a really nice surprise, and we talked for about half an hour just catching up. She actually told me she reads my blog, so I figured I'd give her a shout-out (hi, Laura!).
By the time we got off the phone, the Braves game was starting. I was conflicted, because I also really felt like watching our wedding video again, so I ended up putting that on in the bedroom and going back and forth between the two tvs. It's never fun to watch your team lose a game they looked like they were going to win, and that's all I really have to say about tonight's game.
Marcus came home from his RPG earlier than usual (around 11:30), which is kind of nice. And now I need to go shower and go to bed...we have a busy day tomorrow!
When I got back, I didn't really do much for the rest of the day. I cleaned the bathroom this afternoon, but that's about it. When Marcus got home, we had an argument about our upcoming trip to Florida. We figured things out before he left for his RPG, but it left me kind of grumpy, and we didn't get to eat dinner together. I ate about an hour after he left (I had eaten a late lunch because of how late I slept, so I wasn't hungry earlier).
I was watching Jeopardy when my phone rang. It was Laura! I hadn't talked to her in a while, so it was a really nice surprise, and we talked for about half an hour just catching up. She actually told me she reads my blog, so I figured I'd give her a shout-out (hi, Laura!).
By the time we got off the phone, the Braves game was starting. I was conflicted, because I also really felt like watching our wedding video again, so I ended up putting that on in the bedroom and going back and forth between the two tvs. It's never fun to watch your team lose a game they looked like they were going to win, and that's all I really have to say about tonight's game.
Marcus came home from his RPG earlier than usual (around 11:30), which is kind of nice. And now I need to go shower and go to bed...we have a busy day tomorrow!
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