All smiles

I happened to come across this adorable pic of Maggie smiling. It makes me laugh every time.

This was the first full weekend I've had off in a long time and it has been great. The weather has been pretty mild so we decided to play outside and burn some leaves. I even had the opportunity to catch up on some pics. Here are the kids: Spike, Christian, and Maggie.



Here are two of them getting ready for bed after a long day of playing outside.

Mag and Spike

Mag and Spike have been transitioning well. They have their moments still when Maggie tries to attack him, but for the most part they are friends. It's fun to just sit back and watch them. They are almost like cats because of their cuddly personalities. They both love to snuggle under warm blankets until they overheat. You would think that the blankets were alive with all the breathing and panting underneath. I have never seen a dog so cuddly let alone two of them. When I got home from work today they were jumping super high with excitement. They darted to the bedroom, jumped on the bed and started moving around like moles under the covers. I'll have to get it on video. I couldn't ask for better dogs, these two definitely keep me entertained.

On my own

Today was my first day on my own at the new job. It was a little nerve racking since I still don't entirely understand what I'm doing. On the brighter side, everyone seems really nice and they are all willing to help. However, I am starting to have a little separation anxiety with the old job. I realize now how easy I had it. I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder, but we have some pretty strict deadlines that we have to meet. I am slowly filling my desk with my supplies that I took from my old desk. I was joking with someone; I told them that I felt like the girlfriend that is slowly leaving personal items behind to mark my new territory and hopefully move in someday.

New Job

So far so good on the new job. I have always hated the training process since I'm the one in the passenger seat. I just want to know everything now! There is a ton of stuff to learn. I was hoping to create graphics, but unfortunately it appears that I will be more of a data processor/checker. My official title is an Illustration Processor. I have to make sure that all of the graphics that have been created are up to date and accurate when compared to the previous year. Yawn. I'm sure I'll fit in fine since I'm one to pay close attention to detail.

Yummy Recipe

Last night I made an awesome dinner. I was craving artichokes and chicken so I decided to put them together in a noodle dish.

 

Ingredients:

• Three large chicken breasts
• 1 can medium artichokes, drained (reserve liquid)
• 5-10 small Portobella mushrooms (sliced)
• 2 cups whole wheat elbow macaroni 
• 2 tbs capers
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning (divided)
• 1 tsp basil (divided)
• 1 tsp oregano (divided)
• 1 tsp garlic powder (divided)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat 2 tbs olive oil on med/high in large frying pan. Once the oil is hot, add chicken and 1/2 tsp of each of the spices and salt & pepper. Start the noodles. When the center of the chicken is only slightly pink, add the chicken stock. Cover the chicken and cook for another 10 min (or until completely cooked). When chicken is done, remove from pan and cut into bite size pieces then set aside. Add the mushrooms and artichokes to the remaining liquid in the frying pan (add reserved artichoke liquid if necessary). Cook the mushroom/artichoke mixture until the mushrooms become tender (about 5 min). The noodles should be done by this point. Combine the chicken, noodles, mush/artichoke, and capers to a large pot. Add remaining seasonings, olive oil, salt & pepper, and about 1/4 cup of reserved artichoke liquid. Cook on med heat for about 20 min, stirring occasionally.

 

enjoy.

 

 

Depressing Day

The last few days here at work are becoming more depressing as time goes on. Almost every body's desk has been completely stripped and cleaned out, they have even taken out the computers. It almost feels like everyone has died. Friday is my last day at this job site. I feel weird having to clean out my desk. It's stupid for us to be here since no one has any motivation to do anything. I haven't had any work to do all week because I wouldn't able to finish anything up before the week was over. My only job has been to train my supervisor, and she has only been in twice this week. That became the most ridiculous task I have ever been asked to do. She has been so concerned on learning how to use the programs that she has completely bypassed learning how to read the main data sheets. She is going to find out the hard way that she has been asking all of the wrong questions. Monday a coworker and I will be starting at the other location. That should be interesting since they currently don't have a trainer on staff. We'll see how it goes...