The $200 dinner we had on Sunday

which we made ourselves in our own kitchen.

Because we bought a rotisserie! And it was everything I thought it could be. I used a locally raised, pastured chicken. Brined it in salt water for 4 hours, mushed butter under its skin. Sprinkled on some salt, pepper and thyme. Rotisseried for an hour and a half. It was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

"Why the expense?" you may ask. Because I would've had to run my oven for two hours to get an equivalent roasted chicken, which would've heated up my kitchen, which would've made my AC run even more. The rotisserie gave off amazingly little heat. It's also smaller and takes less energy to heat.

Next up will be a Chinese 5-spice chicken and possibly some brie-stuffed fillets of beef. I'll try to get pictures.

Weekend in review

The wedding was wonderful. I got all teary-eyed. We got some good pictures of Husband and me. We had a lot of fun. We even danced some. I did not drink too much and was the dd. I did not engage in too much of the R-rated humor. I did some, but not as much as I normally would have. This is all part of trying to live my life in a God-pleasing manner. It's not easy. I'm usually a crowd-pleaser.

Sunday did not result in a trip to church. Please do not talk to me about the inconsistency between the previous paragraph and that last sentence.

Sunday did result in some much needed pants shopping for Husband, housecleaning, laundry, mowing, watering, cooking and more cleaning. We also played two games of Agricola. Very fun game, btw.

I don't know if it was the dancing on Saturday, the wedding magic, the shopping fun, the good feelings that come from cleaning the house or the good feelings that come from trying to be a God-pleasing wife. Maybe it was a combination of all of them; or maybe all of them stem from that last one. I don't know. But Husband and I were very close this weekend. It's the warm, mushy, happy, glowing kind of close. The kind that makes single people want to gag themselves with a spoon and then kill you with it. It was wonderful.

Working from home

I'm working from home today because we are changing offices. This would've been great but then it wasn't. I don't know why. I usually get a lot done at home. Not today. I really need my two big monitors to efficiently do what I'm doing right now. People kept coming to my door. Husband stayed home which made it feel like a Saturday. I'm now keeping an online presence simply to have the appearance of actually working. Even though I'm not.

We have a wedding this weekend. Husband is in the groom's party. We have the rehearsal tonight. I love weddings. They get me all mushy. So far, of Husband's friends (all of which were single when we got married), the one that has gotten married and the one that is about to have both chosen women who I really like. Thank goodness!

I think I'm going to end this charade and start getting myself ready for the rehearsal and party.

TTC: Taking a break, mostly because we aren't fertile

What can I say? I'm tired of trying. I don't want to feel nervous about planning vacations or spending money because of the big what if. So I'm not going to think about it anymore

I'm still going to track my cycles to see that I'm ovulating, but I'm not going to worry about whether or not we time things right. I'm still going to try to be healthy. But now I'm doing these things mostly for me and not for some hypothetical baby.

I'm almost to the end of the current cycle and noticed that I hadn't peed on any sticks. I haven't even wanted to.

It's time to move on.

Another message from the datacenter

It's late. I'm tired, cold and hungry. I'm in an oppressively dry, loud and frigid environment. There are warm pockets of air. It's like swimming in a lake and finding a warm spot of water. I feel like I'm in a very low-grade tornado due to the air movement. My hair looks awesome. Think 80's music video.

I want to go home.

It's lonely here.

and loud.

More error alerts in my email. They number in the hundreds.

*sigh*

Mr. Boss and Mr. Boss' Boss work diligently.

I sit in the datacenter and wait.

I wait to push a button. But it's a ridiculously stupid button that I have to use a pen to push. My purse pen because the guys can't manage to leave a freaking pen in the datacenter. Where is it cold. and loud.

Or, perhaps, I don't push a button.

I wait.

I may be recalled to the office where I will take orders, hover, watch, learn, absorb, try to be useful, fail at that, etc.

I may be sent home.

Where I will drink some milk then go to sleep.

The world seems so far away from within the walls of the datacenter. It's at least beyond three secured doors.

Dr. Bone-cracker

This week has thoroughly worn me out. It's due to combination of three chiropratic appointments (more on this later), working late, going out with work people, drinking beer + not eating, general busy-ness. The checklist was ignored. I'll use the same checklist for next week. Starting tomorrow.

I have been experiencing pain in my right shoulder-neck-back for many many months. This pain was getting progressively worse. It was making swiveling my head very difficult. I was checking my blind spots by turning from my waist. Try that some time. It's not fun. I finally decided to go see a chiropractor at the recommendation from a coworker.

I don't generally like to see health care providers in general and male health care providers in particular. However, the pain was very bad so I made an appointment with my coworker's chiropractor, to whom I will refer as Dr. Bone-cracker. Many of you may remember the posts I wrote about Dr. Physician and how much I just *loved* seeing him. That was sarcasm. Sense the tone!

I got x-rays. I got my mobility tested. I got asked a lot of questions. I got shown a diagram of the parts of your body that are effected by the nerves from the different vertebrae of your spine. Very interesting that was. Very interesting indeed. Turns out the thyroid is communicated to by the whole area of my neck/back that was in pain. I instantly remembered Dr. Physician saying that my ovaries don't get the message to go ahead and release an egg from my brain. Well, maybe this is why. Perhaps my brain can't tell my thyroid to release the right hormones b/c my spine is screwed up. It's just a theory.

Anyway, Dr. Bone-cracker cracked away at my neck, lower and mid back. I instantly felt better. I was able to turn my head with almost no pain.

Turns out my neck is straight. It's supposed to have a curve to it. Which means I walk with my head more forward than up. I now have chiropractic followed by physical therapy three times a week. I also have a set of exercises that I do in the morning and a set for the evening. These are mostly back strengthening and ab work. All good stuff.

TTC: Update

Just to keep y'all in the loop, here is an update on what my woman parts are doing, or not doing, as the case may be.

Cycle day: 22
Days past ovulation: 7

I ovulated the day before the full moon. Crazy. Or, dare I say, lunacy?

to be titled later

I know you are all dying to know how my weekend went, so I'll tell you. It was nice. There, now you can all relax. Saturday was not as productive as I would've liked. I did get some groceries bought, had my touch-up done, cooked an omelet for Husband and myself. And then I took the nap. The nap was the black death for productivity. Not much got done after that. I just couldn't really wake up. I'm going to try *not* napping next Saturday.

Sunday, we made it to church! Despite the fact that I was in a fowl, evil mood. Church helped some.

I also read a lot of back posts and realized that I say I'll update y'all on something and then never do. I've also noticed all the things I've wanted to do or tried to do and never did/finished. Wow. I'm a loser. I'm going to try not being a loser. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

Here's my updated list:

• cook two meals - complete!
  
• get my lunch packed at least twice - complete!
  
• shine my sink - I don't want to talk about it :(
  
• read my Bible - complete!
  
• 3 15-minute declutter sessions (these are *wonderful*) - I did two. Still good!
  
• start incorporating the 2 minute hotspot (mail table) rescue to my evening routine - not at all! didn't even think about it!
  

Building on this list from last week, here is the list for this week:

• cook two meals
• get my lunch packed at least three times
• clean the kitchen at least once
• shine my sink
• read my Bible
• 3 15-minute declutter sessions
• start incorporating the 2 minute hotspot
• swish and swipe the little bathroom at least twice
  

Some of these may look familiar. I *did* get my downstairs toilet quite clean. I hate doing toilets. I now have a toilet brush that sits in water with lavendar soap. I'll use that to do the swish and swipe.

Weekly progress

Husband is out-of-town at a conference. I'm home alone. Well, it's me and two large, ferocious dogs. Usually I totally shut down when Husband is not home. Yesterday, despite the fact that I was home sick with allergies, I didn't *completely* shut down. I also didn't get any housework done. I did get some work work done.

So, some of you may remember my post earlier about what I wanted to accomplish this week. Here's my progress so far:

• cook two meals - one down, one to go
  
• get my lunch packed at least twice - one down, one to go
  
• shine my sink - um, not happening, will have to make it happen tonight
  
• read my Bible - every morning for 15 minutes, check!
  
• 3 15-minute declutter sessions (these are *wonderful*) - not yet, tonight I hope to get 2 done
  
• start incorporating the 2 minute hotspot (mail table) rescue to my evening routine - well, I did throw a lot of the mail on the floor while I looked for car keys. does that count?

I did five minutes of ab workout this morning. I know that's not on my list but I thought I'd throw that out there.

No follow through

At lunch yesterday, a friend of mine told me a friend of his is a perfectionist just like me, except with follow through. His friend was able to organize travel pictures, put them on dvd's in slideshow format with music and commentary. That's the sort of thing I would want to do, but would never actually do. I know my friend was not trying to hurt my feelings. He's a guy and therefore clueless, after all. But, still. That hurt. Mostly because it's true.

Which got me to thinking. Why don't I follow through? Then I realized, the friend, who is also a "perfectionist," probably isn't the same type of perfectionist I am. The things I want to do, I want to do them sooooo perfectly that they are not possible. I'm guessing that friend has learned to accept good enough. He is a testament to what a perfectionist can accomplish if we are willing to do that one little thing.

What holiday?

Seriously, so that was my three-day weekend. I feel like I need another day or two to recover. I know we had a national holiday in there somewhere, but I missed it. Between getting caught up with in-town friends and then getting caught up with some very special out-of-state friends and a baby shower and an allergy attack, I don't feel like I've had a "holiday".

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the time I got to spend with my friends for time to myself. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like a little time to myself now. Most especially, I'd like to sleep. My allergies have kept me from sleeping well and I'm exhausted.

Seeing my childhood friend, who still looks like a sophisticated teenager (I would hate her if I didn't love her so much), pregnant was wonderful. I can't wait for that baby to get here!

Goals for this week:

• cook two meals
• get my lunch packed at least twice
• shine my sink
• read my Bible
• 3 15-minute declutter sessions (these are *wonderful*)
• start incorporating the 2 minute hotspot (mail table) rescue to my evening routine

That's it! I don't want to pile on too much.

I hope everyone had a great fourth!