the great ice storm of 2009 and how I spent the day

So, today was awesome. Yes we were pretty much Iced into the house despite one short trip to the Gym, but it was so much fun to be home with the Husband and the dog.

Let's begin with the beginning shall we? I got up at 530 a.m. to check the email, found that campus was closed and broke the news to the hubster that we were going to be off all day. I then went back to sleep until 930!! SO AWESOME. We got up, I ate nutella on toast as a special treat for the day, drank a coffee and hung out for a bit. We then went to the gym, it was EMPTY except for a couple die hard lifters. Post workout, I showered and began my favorite tradition of the snow days. I cooked. I cooked alllll day. I made Southwest cornbread from a mix (you just add beer). Then, I made homeade Chicken Black Bean Chili
Clearly I'm not showing all the steps...but here are my chicken chunks and shallots and onions and garlic sauteed and simmering in chili powder.

Here's the secret ingredient.


And here is the DELICIOUS end result.



I made a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting too...I wont post pictures of that, it's too fattening and gross :-)

Whilst I was cooking my little heart out, my super wonderful P chipped off the driveway. Yes, I do mean chipped off...not shoveled. He said it was like 3 inches of snow, 2 inches of ice and then another 3 inches of snow all packed down under a crust of ice.



After cooking, we ate, and now P is waiting impatiently for me to take the dog on a walk. Tomorrow, I plan on posting some pictures of the house. I always get intimidated when I do this because while I absolutely adore and am really proud of our first house...there are SOOOO many more people out there in blogland who are amazingly talented and coordinated!!!

Here are just a couple more pics of the ice storm til tomorrow!

num num num num

mmmmmmmmm potroast.

So it's a beautiful long weekend in Columbus. We have had a lot of fun actually being social for a change. We went out with P's friend from high school and his wife. I'll call them The Hasselhoffs. G. Hasselhoff and H. Hasselhoff just bought a house so we met them at a restaurant up near their home and then went over to see the new digs. Ladies, H.Hasselhoff has in her bedroom a walk in closet that is probably the size of most people's guest bedrooms. It's not a huge house...but they have this amazing walk in closet of which I am completely envious.
The restaurant we went to was allright...it was kind of chilly and it was a microbrewery which although I know they are trendy, I just can't get into. I don't really like microbrewery beers. I prefer my generic Killians, Bass and Guiness and Coors Light. Micro brew beers always taste sour to me. I dont know why...might just be in my head.

Saturday we slept in and then went to the gym. I rode the bike for an hour and felt quite happy with myself. We also drove out to Millersport where Buckeye Lake is to see the high school. P has decided that he's going to volunteer coach with the football team out there because it's "kind of" on the way home from work and they have so few people that they were really excited to have some free help. I have mixed feelings about this endeavor. I will be sad to have him occupied in the evenings after work and have to devote 10 of my friday nights to football...BUT, he is SOOOO excited and I really do like football and it will be really fun to see my cute husband coaching highschoolers and being a mentor. I just wonder how many people I can sucker into going and watching with me. We did a little grocery shopping and stopped at the bread company and got a loaf of Cinnamon Chip and a loaf of Honey Wheat. MMMM freshbaked bread!
After all that we came home and sat around for a little bit, but then we kind of decided that it was high time that we get some of our pictures into frames and hang them. I mean, we've lived here for a year and haven't hung anything other than stuff we've gotten as gifts. No personal pics, except our wedding collage. We decided to go to Hobby Lobby to see if they had any good deals on frames. OH MY GOSH DID THEY EVER!!!! I am now in love with the Hobby Lobby. We got two great frames that go with our bedroom decor for two pictures that we bought when we were living in Athens. They were taken by a local artist of a couple of the places that we used to go. We got a set of coasters that go with our living room. We got a little side table to go by our accent chair. We got 2 jersey frames for P's autographed Jerseys. We got ALL OF THAT for $250!!!!!! I know that seems like a TON but if you think that to get the 2 jerseys professionally framed would have cost me nearly that amount by themselves, that is awesome! When we got home I cooked up some dinner, potatoes and tuna steak with steamed veggies and then we framed the two Athens pictures, put the jersies in frames and then P watched some UFO documentary (he's obsessed) and I dug out some of my grandmother's old hand written recipes and framed them in some matching black frames that I got for Christmas from my mom and dad.
Post decorating, I chopped up veggies and threw them in the crock pot with a roast on top to cook overnight for tonight's dinner with the Mojos. Please don't judge me....but I'm going to confess something terrible right now. The recipe said to cut the fat off the meat. So I did...and the dog was eyeing me the whole time, licking his chops. So I asked P, what would it hurt to give him some of the fat with the meat on it?? We decided it wouldn't hurt anything at all....and gave him a few chunks. BIG. BIG. BIG MISTAKE!!! The dog woke us up whining 2xs last night and has had the squirts all day. I DIDN'T KNOWW!!!!!!! I HAD NO IDEA!!!! I feel like a terrible dog mother. His poor little arse has to be raw. And it's so cold outside!!! :-( I feel so bad!!!

Today we went to the gym again and lifted, P made me do the bench press which is a testament to how much I love him because really, there isn't anyone else in the world that I would trust not to let a metal bar fall on my face when my muscles give out. After the gym we came home and cleaned up. I dusted a little and P swept the floors, we watched the Cardinals beat the Eagles and then the Mojos came over for dinner. P and Mojodad watched more football while Mojomom and I played with Mojokid. I mashed the taters and then we had Potroast, taters, honey wheat bread and cookies and cream ice cream for dessert. MMMM. YUM. I feel fat and lethargic now, but mmmm was it delicious. The Mojos have left and P and I are curled up on the couch, my head on his lap (danger zone given the potroast and potatoes have made him gassy) and are watching the Steelers/Ravens game. Tomorrow, on our day off we are going to go hike for a bit and then I have to get a cavity filled. Yuck.

We don't often go out and socialize a lot. It's not that we're antisocial or anything. It's just that all of our friends have very busy schedules and we dont seem to ever coordinate our calendars very well. So, this weekend has been nice. We've had quite a bit of alone time too which I particularly enjoy. I think that all weekends should be three day weekends.

Next time I post, I think I'm going to put up pictures of our house...I've made quite a few decorating updates since the last time I put any up.

3 things:
Hobby Lobby and its plethora of decorating goodness
Pictures that bring back memories of happy times and happy places
Good friends and good food

Holland Typology

So for my survey classes, I have to prepare an activity that will help illustrate John Holland's Career Codes.

Basically Holland's theory was that there are 6 main types and any number of combinations of those types. The types are Realistic, Investigative, Artistic,Social, Enterprising and Conventional (RIASEC). Based on how you score yourself on the assessment, you end up being Realistic/Investigative, Artistic/Social, etc. etc. The core of Holland's theory that people of like personalities or career types find themselves in similar careers. Similar to other personality tests, each "TYPE" has lists of characteristics that are common to the type and thus have suggested careers that people with those characteristics may excel in.

So...before I get to my REAL question, let me ask this....What type are you? I'm not going to make you go through the assessment...but take a look at the descriptions and see which fits you best.

REALISTIC people are characterized by competitive/assertive behavior and by interest in activities that require motor coordination, skill, and physical strength. People oriented toward this role prefer situations involving "action solutions" rather than tasks involving verbal or interpersonal skills. They like to take a concrete approach to problem-solving rather than relying on abstract theory. They tend to be interested in scientific or mechanical rather than cultural and aesthetic areas.
INVESTIGATIVE people prefer to think rather than to act, to organize and understand rather than to persuade. They are not apt to be very "people oriented."
ARTISTIC people value self-expression and relationships with others through artistic expression. They dislike structure, prefer tasks involving personal or physical skills, and are more prone to expression of emotion than others. They are similar to investigative people, but are more interested in the cultural-aesthetic than the scientific. SOCIAL people seem to satisfy their needs in teaching or helping situations. In contrast to investigative and realistic people, social types are drawn more to seek close interpersonal relationships and are less apt to engage in intellectual or extensive physical activity.
SOCIAL people have high interest in other people and are sensitive to the needs of others. They perceive themselves as liking to help others, understanding others, and having teaching abilities. Social people value social activities, social problems, and interpersonal relationships. They use their verbal and social skills to change other people’s behavior. They are generally cheerful, scholarly, and verbally oriented.
ENTERPRISING people are verbally skilled and use this skill in persuasion rather than support of others. They also value prestige and status and are more apt to pursue it than conventional people.
CONVENTIONAL people don't mind rules and regulations and emphasize self-control. They prefer structure and order to ambiguity in work and interpersonal situations. They place value on prestige or status.

I tend to be Social/Enterprising which stands to reason given the satisfaction that I've found in the helping profession of student affairs. I do think that the social and enterprising are slightly conflicting and I've found that to be true in my daily interactions with my students. For example, the social side of me wants very much to be able to help someone figure out their life...the enterprising side of me wants to convince the student that i'm right about what they should be doing. Most of the women in my office fall under the same primary category of Social with smatterings of the other 5 types as secondaries.

So here's my REAL question. My idea for an activity to illustrate these types is to use movies and tv show characters and play clips and have the student guess what type that character might be.

So far, I have Dwight Shrute from The Office as Conventional. I could use Tim the Tool Man Taylor from Home Improvement for Realistic....but I'd like to find a more modern character. So, based on the descriptions above...what characters stand out in your minds that would fit the definitions of the Holland Types??

the great great outdoors

I have returned from the wilderness!

Okay...so it wasn't really THAT WILD. There were hot showers and potties within 30 feet of my tent and there was only 1 thunderstorm. I had SO much fun with P and the beautifulness that is Lake Codorus Pennsylvania.

The weekend started out well. We had dinner with MojoMom and her husband and son on Friday. We brought the chicken breast and they made pasta salad and grilled corn. Blue's salsa was a hit as well. It was oh so tasty. We followed up the dinner with a trip to Rita's for Gelatis. I had Mango/Blueberry with vanilla. YUM.

It was a good evening and MojoKid didn't puke at all! yaaay! Perhaps he's getting over his reflux problem. Now...if he would start crawling the Mojos would be super happy! I would be too, because then I wouldn't have to keep repeating to MojoMom that "everything will be okay!!!!" I'm still struggling with telling others to have faith that things will turn out allright when I definitely am a worrier.

Saturday the P and I got up super early and loaded the car and drove to Annapolis for a wedding. It was nice to see my friend and be a part of her special day. There were some definite things that made the wedding memorable. It was tropical/nautical themed so the groomsmen al had on khakis and navy blue blazers with top siders and Stav's dad had on a seersucker suit with a pink button down. He had a giant cigar through the whole reception and looked a little like a young Hugh Hefner since all the bridesmaids flirted and danced with him the whole evening! It was funny. Stav's mom and dad danced all night and were so clearly in love 30+ years later...it was just super cute. I love Love.

One guest, I'm not sure whose side she was on, wore a dress that COULD HAVE BEEN a wedding dress. It was tea-length, white lace. I was a little surprised that whoever this girl was would have chosen a dress that nearly matched the brides gown, to wear to the wedding. It was a little uncomfortable because people were staring at her. She did have on great shoes though!

P was completely uncomfortable at the wedding. This was irritating. I understand that he knew no one and I myself hadn't seen Stav for a few years. But dear GOD MAN. You would have thought that I was asking him to give an extemporaneous speech on foreign policy and domestic trade for how uncomfortable he was. He hardly spoke through the whole evening. The next morning he apologized for being such a "stick in the mud." Still though...it drives me nuts that he can be charming and social at HIS events...even when he doesnt know anyone (like work related events) but if it's something that is "MINE" he can't figure out how to put himself at ease and talk to strangers. His rationale is that if it's for his job, he HAS to do it... so he does. My feeling is...shouldn't you make the same effort at your wife's social functions that you do at your work?? I dont know...perhaps I'm rambling. I am not asking him to be the life of the party by any means...I wouldn't want that because I love that he's an introvert like I am...but my dear sweet baby jesus lyin in a manger...it gets a LITTLE aggravating when I am like "oh and this is my husband P....." and then I worry that they think he's mute or socially backward.

I think it's something that will get better as he 'matures.' I remember when I was younger, I had a really hard time in certain social settings...still do...but at least now I've learned to make an effort to fake being at ease! I just wish he wouldn't make excuses for it... like "I'm just shy. It's hard for me." SO???IT'S HARD FOR ME TOO!!! SUCK IT UP AND WALK IT OFF! patience...patience...patience.

What's really frustrating me about teh whole thing is that P is SUCH a great guy...i want my friends to be able to see how intelligent and sweet and amazing he is. How're they supposed to do that if he won't freakin interact????

gah. men.

I keep having to remind myself that he's never really HAD to put himself in awkard situations like weddings or public-schmoozefests before so this is all new to him. I do wonder how one can be 28 years old and have been able to completley avoid all settings like that for the better part of your life.

Anyway, things got much better when we went camping on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day and we hiked for over 5 miles, then grilled hot dogs and s'mores over the campfire. Monday morning we grilled bacon and toast and then it poured down rain and thundered for an hour. Post-thunder, we rented a pontoon boat and went fishing. After 4 hours, I had caught NOTHING and neither had P but we had a blast and in the last hour we each caught 3 sunfish. Mine were bigger ;-) I also think I snagged the Loch Ness Monster or a relative....I caught something so huge that I couldn't reel it in and my line snapped and went away, hook, sinker and float!

Monday night was a TERRIBLE night for sleeping...it was windy and tree branches were falling all over and whatever was blown in the wind started me off on a gigantic allergic sneezing fit. Claritin didnt even phase it. I was a swollen snotty mess. Ahhhh nature, how I love thee.

Tuesday morning we drove home and then I went to pick the dog up...P was supposed to go to a meeting at work at 5:15...but I kind of drove of with his keys. Luckily his boss was forgiving!!!!

All in all, it was a really good time. It was really nice to be alone with P with no real responsibilities for a couple of days. I miss living in Athens where he and I could easily go hike in the evening out at Hocking Hills and the surrounding area. Downside of moving back to a big city...nature activities take planning.

Well, my least favorite student is about to come in...so I best go prep.

Hope you're all well :-)

Don't POKE the TOMATOES!!!!

Rule Number 1: When shopping for fruit and vegetables in the grocery, please do not POKE the tomatoes to see if they are ripe. The same rule can apply to all soft fleshy fruitages. If you POKE THEM they will A) Bruise and B) you will leave creepy fingernail indentations all over the fruit, making them look like they are covered in a pox of parentheses. You may GENTLY squeeze (if you feel the fruit collapsing in between your vise grip, STOP applying pressure immediately) a tomato to see if it's ripe if you really can't tell by looking at it and/or smelling it...but please, I beg of you, DO NOT POKE MY TOMATOES!



Today is a slow day at work. Summer is so quiet here. I can look out my window and count the number of people walking by in an hour and not hit double digits. It's kind of funny when you think that this place is a city in itself. I mean, it has it's own zip code for crying out loud. I had two students this morning, but for the rest of the afternoon my schedule reads as a giant free space. What to do with myself!? Even my friendly squirrels who pillage the tree outside my office window seem to be in hiding today. I think they may have officially eaten all the nuts growing on it and have moved on to more nourishing branches. I'm relieved and sad about this. Sad because I really did enjoy watching them and listening to them as they ran through the boughs, but relieved because one particular bough is very close to my open window and Fred kept getting closer and closer. I do not need to share my office with any 4 legged critters!

I adore my office. I think that the people I work with are wonderful. I am the new girl (only been here 2 months) so I get a little bit nervous about whether I fit in. But I really do admire and respect these women (and 2 men!) and think that they are incredibly talented. It's strange being the only new person and trying to 'break into' the circle of friends. I know it takes time and that they do probably like me. I always feel a little bit awkward in these situations though! I can't wait until they fill the other empty position so that I'm no longer the "newest-newbie."

I have recruited my friend J-Pa to join me in my blogging about positive things endeavor. She used to blog and then quit when she realized her blog was a rant. So I asked her to join my force of goodness and be my blogger-friend! She put up her first post yesterday and it made me laugh. She's such a kind person, I enjoy her.

My poor friend Llama is having some difficulties and I wish that I could just make all her problems go away because she is such an amazing person and wonderful friend, she doesn't deserve the hurt and frustration that is happening. It seems that for myself and my friends, life happens all at once. We don't do anything in halves. If we're going to make changes, we do it all in the span of a couple months. If bad things happen to us...it's one right after another. I think it's really someone's way of trying to get us to learn to trust that everything "will be okay." I just want to reassure her that it will be...but when she asks "how do you know?" I can't answer because I don't know! I worry all the time! I NEVER trust that it'll be okay! pot! this is kettle calling!

P and I went to the gym yesterday and I listened to this nutritionist that worked with the Biggest Loser for a couple seasons. Basically it boiled down to "eat less. move more." Duh. I definitely need to move more. I've been reading this blog http://doctormama.blogspot.com/ and she gives really good advice on how to start to learn to love to run. My sister the Pig is a runner and she SO enjoys it. I want to learn, but I think I'm going to try Doctor Mamma's strategy rather than what I've been doing because my way is not working. First step, stop finding excuses why you don't want to go to the gym!! Need to learn to tell myself to stop whingeing about being tired and get up and go because I know that when I do, I am less tired and feel better about myself! Move more! P is good motivation. He's h-o-t hot ;-)

Random trivia...did you know that the first winner from Biggest Loser is now back to his original weight? All that emotion...for naught.

Things I'm grateful for today:

1: heirloom tomatoes, they're fun and different and oh so tasty with a little balsamic dressing
2: when P and I get home from work, we always lay on the bed for about 10 minutes before changing clothes and catch up on our days. It's a great de-tox.
3: I've been priveleged to meet and know people like J-Pa who have taught me lessons in compassion and kindness...through them, I think I'm becoming a better person.