It's All Good

It's been a great week.  I continue walking on my two breaks at work for my 30 minutes a day.  Because of errands this week, I didn't get in all my workouts on the elliptical this week, I did get three 30 minutes sessions and they count!  I've lost two pounds in two weeks.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but it a sign (to me) of progress.  I'm all over progress (and being a little lighter too :) !!

Spring continues in our area, so does the pollen.  I can hear those of us with allergies at work sneezing, nose blowing and coughing.  If it wasn't allergy season, I would think it was flu season at our office.  Here's some shots I took along my walk around the office complex this week.  The pink trees gorgeous!

They've put some chicken wire around the freshly planted pansies.  I don't think you can see the wire in this picture.

 

Sad to see the blooms fall from the trees, they're all over the ground.

 

Friday night, I'm watching TV in the kitchen and my patio window is to my right, I see patio and the backyard.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.  I quickly grabbed my camera.  My apologies, these shots are a little blurry, but I think you can make them out - we had a rabbit visit.  It's been a few years.  The last rabbit that was here was before the two back-to-back rough winters of 2009 and 2010 we had.  I thought they may have passed on.  Maybe rabbits hibernate, I don't know.  This may be a relative or even a new rabbit.  It doesn't matter, I'm thrilled to have a rabbit back in the yard.

 

 

 

Pretty cool, huh?  I love rabbits, but you know that - they're everywhere (fake ones) in my yard.  See the (fake) one holding a carrot poking out of the planter in the picture above?

 

Obviously, its been a great week weather wise to be out walking.  Temps have been in the mid to upper 60s during the day (we had a day or two at 70+) and upper 40s to lower 50s at night, perfect in my opinion.  When we head into the 90s during the day and 80s at night that gets a bit warm and sticky for me.

 

As you know, I keep my camera handy as often as possible (that I think of it anyway :).  While waiting at a stoplight on the way home from work, I see this father-son bicycling, waiting to cross.  Can you tell me what is wrong with this?

 

 

 

Did you notice the father had the helmet and the son didn't?  I wonder if the son refused to wear one.  Why would the father be the model of safety while the son wears no protection?  That said, back in the day, we didn't have knee pads and helmets while bike riding.  Here's me at about age 5 or 6 years old with my first bike, yup, and training wheels too.  No pads, no helmet.

 

 

Saturday, hubby and I went to Bed Bath & Beyond for a new patio umbrella.  He gave away last year's purchase because it didn't block out the sun as much as he wanted.  The new one, which we put up yesterday (sorry, forgot - pictures), seems to do the trick.

Of course, every time I go shopping, there's something I forget to get.  This time it was an item for the sink, a food catcher.  I don't know what else to call it, it lets the water go through but stops the food.  Hubby recently pulled a piece of plastic from the "broken" garbage disposal.  It wasn't (thankfully) really broken after the piece of plastic was removed.  Of course, the piece of plastic was probably from cleaning chicken or meat from the store that was wrapped in plastic!  It's always something, right?  So, I headed to Kmart Sunday afternoon in the sprinkling rain, yes The Big Red K!  Kmart is so empty (on weekends anyway) compared to the Wal-Mart also close by.  So what, I paid a quarter more (or whatever), I didn't have to fight the crowds!  For me, that alone is worth the few extra cents I pay.  Armed with a list, I got everything on my list.

I had something funny happen yesterday.  I think I'll share it in the next blog, this one is getting rather long already.  Worth the wait, believe me, it will have you, well - at least giggling.  It doesn't have an ending yet, so in the next post, hopefully I can tell you how it turns out.  Hubby thinks it's hilarious, stay tuned!

My favorite season - Spring, continues springing.  As I mentioned, it is coming into almost full bloom.  This shot is the entryway of my front porch from the driveway.  Azaleas are certainly popping!

It is overcast and in the 60s today with rain sporadic today (Sunday).  Pulling in our driveway, I noticed how green the grass is after today's showers and the flowers in bloom.  Everything looks so pretty, it's all good in my world, wishing the same for yours.

Wadda Week!

What a strange week.  It started with the Boston Marathon attack on Monday, so very sad.  The chase pursued of suspects continued through the week until Friday evening - one suspect was dead and the other suspect apprehended by Police and taken to a hospital for treatment.  I didn't realize until today that the one in the hospital was injured in the throat, which is the reason he cannot speak.  Stupid me, I thought he was unconscious, like a coma or something, duh.  I'm not going to spend anymore time on this.  I know we've all had enough because it has been all over the media this week.  Prayers for the victims and their families.

I did join Weight Watchers online last Saturday (4/13).  I had joined it a couple of years ago, no results really.  I decided to go back again because they've made some changes.  Maybe it wouldn't hurt from taking a better look at Weight Watchers and give it a chance.  I'm learning something everyday.  It is similar to the SparkPeople (free) that I was using, except the point system.  Saturdays are now my weigh-in days (use to be Fridays).  This past week I've lost 1.4 pounds, woohoo!  I was angry after awhile with the doctor's 1200 calories a day.  I was going over almost every day.  Weight watchers is working out better for me because the fruit and veggies I'm eating doesn't have any points, and I eat a lot of fruit and veggies, so that matters.  I just have to find the magic pill that kills the cravings.  I'm trying to keep going to the fruit when the cravings hit instead of the chips.  I know, I'm not suppose to have chips.  I don't - hubby does.  Right now, I'm taking it slowly, trying to stick to the points.  I love that I get "extra points" for activity.  So my walking earns extra points, which is good - if I get in trouble (go over), I have the activity points that I earned to use after I use my daily points.  I know, it's confusing...moving on.

The weather turned COLD Friday after a downpour, temps took a nose dive actually.  We had a beautiful weekend last weekend (4/13 & 4/14), it was in the 70s.  We got the back deck and patio furniture cleaned up, ready to spend some nice evenings on the back deck.  Not in the cards, not this week anyway.  Temps need to warm up a bit.

I went to the grocery store today.  Here's the temperature when I left about 12:30pm.  This is 20-30 degrees colder than we should be.  Yes, we're suppose to be upper 60s to upper 70s.  There's a frost warning tonight, hubby unhooked the hose so it wouldn't freeze.

The news in Boston had everyone in the office talking and on edge all week.  We always have events going on in the Washington, DC area, so we're prime target, not to mention center of the Government here as well.  I kept with my routine yesterday and today.  I slept late yesterday (I love my Saturday sleep ins!) and did laundry, Saturday is my easy day (unless I flip flop my chores).  Today it was grocery shopping (two stores), the gas station and liquor store.  I started out at Shoppers Food Warehouse with a list of just a few things.  Funny how that goes, it's never "just a few things" - $158 later, ugh.  As I put groceries in my cart that are not on my list I tell myself "that's a good price!"

I went onto Giant Food and bought the items that WERE ON MY LIST.  I went to a different Giant Food than I normally go to.  I don't know this other store as well as my regular store, everything is in a different place.  Needless to say, it took me three hours to go grocery shopping at two stores.  Finally arriving home, hubby helped me with the groceries into the house.  It's the unpacking that takes so long.  I also buy A LOT OF FRESH FRUIT, so it all has to be cleaned/washed and put away.  I have to let all the berries soak for about 20 minutes in vinegar water.  Putting a tablespoon of White Vinegar into a quart of water and soaking the berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries) will keep berries from spoiling so quickly.  The soaking kills the fuzzies - that fur that forms on berries after a few days.  There's a tip for today, if you didn't already know it.

Good news at the gas station - prices continue to drop!  I fill up my (16 gallon) gas tank when it's half empty, so it's not such a dent in the wallet.  Today was a nice surprise when I pulled up to the pump - $3.55/gallon (regular gas).  I topped it off to an even forty bucks.

I headed home, I still have groceries in the trunk.  Once I got everything unpacked and the berries soaking, I went back out again to the liquor store.  I give myself a treat with my dinner glass of milk.  I put a shot of French Vanilla Kahlua in my glass of FAT FREE (skim) milk for a little flavor.  I have been out of Kahlua, don't judge.

Hubby had mowed the lawn while I was grocery shopping.  Everything is popping up S-P-R-I-N-G here, it's green and getting prettier each day.

The Azeleas have started to bud, they'll pop in another week or so.  The Hostas are poking up and even the Dogwood is looking marvelous as well.

Hubby bought 40 bags of mulch and put it down last Wednesday.  It helps makes everything pop I think.

The Dogwood almost looks like it has snow on it, it has just started to bloom.

Unfortunately, the bad part to Spring, for those of us who suffer from pollen allergies, is that pollen is everywhere in the Spring.  Here's the roof of my car, I almost wrote "Wash Me" in the yellow pollen film.  We're expecting rain on Wednesday, we call it relief.

This was my smile for the day, I'm sharing.  Someone on my street must be having a birthday party.  They have a Moon Bounce in their yard, that means birthday party to me!  On the way home from the grocery store, the Moon Bounce was full of children - what a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  I wish I was a kid again - sometimes.

Trying

I'm trying to be a good blogger, posting at a minimum once a week.  It's been a busy week, I'm tired and I keep going.  I'm doing my best to multi-task to get things accomplished.  Right now, I have my first load of laundry in the dryer and my second load of laundry in the washer.  I've got breakfast started (it's 1:30pm, lol).  I'm squeezing writing this in between.  Time to flip the eggs, be right back.  Decided to stay with the eggs and eat before coming back here, sorry for the wait, lol.  There goes the buzzer on the dryer, be right back.  Everything folded and put in the basket, blouses, shirts and pants on hangers and put away.  White load is in the dryer.

In the meantime, I got an alert that an eBay item I had on my watch list expired before I was able to bid on it - it was just relisted, there's my next stop.  I also have some sunglasses on my watch list on eBay I have to check on too.

I went outside for a walk around the house to capture signs of Spring.  The temperature is 67 degrees, it is sunny and feels warmer.  It's really a beautiful day.

Monday, we decided to go out to lunch with the coworkers because it was one coworker's birthday.  Here's our crew, we process the payroll.  Birthday boy is front right, I'm last on the left (yeah, the Asian girl, lol).  We don't get much of an opportunity to all go to lunch together, so it was nice.

I try to remember to keep my camera on during my drives to and from work - you never know what you'll see (worth capturing on camera, of course)!  On my way home from work Thursday, traffic was at a dead stop.  My normal 15-20 minute route home was 45 minutes, I found out why....

Unfortunately, someone got rear-ended.  It didn't look like anyone was hurt, thankfully.  There was a police car, fire truck and a tow truck there, no ambulance (unless it was enroute).  Now you know why I keep my camera handy.

On my way to work Friday, I noticed purple (my favorite color) in front of this house - phlox are in bloom, just gorgeous, to me anyway.  Glad I had my camera handy!



We had a few hot days this week, we actually broke a record - it hit 92 degrees on Wednesday, it was very warm!  Felt like we jumped right into summer.  Thankfully, rain showed up Thursday night into Friday morning to blow away the heat, humidity and pollen.

Also Wednesday morning at work we had a fire drill.  Remember those fire drills in high school?  It just took one person to say "hey, let's leave and go get breakfast" and off we'd go in someone's car for the rest of the day...ahh, the good ol days.  It was temping to take off with the nice weather.  Alas, we all returned to work when we got the "all clear".  Being grown up isn't always fun.

 

That's about the most interesting parts of my week.  Now, for my stroll around my yard, seeing the signs of spring.  This tulip wasn't there last weekend.  The hosta next to it is starting to sprout.

 

More hostas sprouting....

Bunny guarding sprouting hostas, lol...

Daffodils!

We plan to dig out this whole area and prep it for a vegetable garden.  That's what is suppose to be on next weekend's agenda, weather permitting.  We're holding off to plant until May, just to be safe of frost.

This I took from my car in the parking lot at work.  They had just planted pansies on the walkway into the building.  Kinda put me in the spring mood, helps the attitude when going to work!  All laundry is done - folded and put away.

 

Finally for all us allergy sufferers, here's a reminder that pollen season has just started.  See below all the trees just starting to bloom?  Those trees will drizzle a nice yellow dust on the cars in the coming weeks, which will have some of us sneezing for the next month.  Remember sneezers, stock up on your allergy medicine. 

 

 

Hubby is cleaning off the back deck.  I'm going to clean off the pato table.  We've decided to have cocktails on the deck this rest of the afternoon.  First, a quick stop at eBay, have a great week!



 

Almost Spring

Finally, it is starting to warm up here.  Mother Nature is bringing Spring to us.  Admittedly, I had my doubts when the Cherry Blossoms bloom date was pushed back - three times.  The Cherry Blossoms are suppose to pop this weekend.

One daffodil has popped by the shed, the rest have little buds in them, it won't be long now - Spring, yay!  I haven't blogged this winter, didn't really have much to blog about.  I don't like winter, it is a shut in season for me.  The only events are Thanksgiving and Christmas, and as the years pass, they become less of an event.  This would probably be my blog all winter..."went to work, came home, worked out, ate dinner, watched TV and went to bed" as a daily blog.  The changes to that would be on weekends when I did household chores or during the week, being bad and skipping workouts when I was too exhausted.  Otherwise, gratefully, all has been well.  Work is doing great, hit my one year anniversary February 26th at The Small Business Administration - a great yay there! 

We've been very busy at work with Hurricane Sandy hires.  Our group works Disaster Assistance to homeowners and businesses.  Since I am in Human Resources (HR) of the Disaster Assistance group, we support the employees who go into the field.  In this case, the field being New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, and smaller areas of other states that were affected by Hurricane Sandy along the east coast.  We had over 800 temporary hires.  Temporary hires are for less than 90 days.  Hiring began the first week of November and sending folks to training (mostly on how the hardware and software systems work, along with policies and procedures).  These were all sorts of people - the unemployed, the retired, and those wanting to help who signed up for 30+ days (taking Leave of Absence/LOA from their full time jobs).

From an HR standpoint, these folks are temporary, they do not get benefits.  They do get paid.  One requirement was availability to work on site (in these areas, which may be away from their home) for an indefinite period of time (less than 90 days) and work up to 12 hour days, six days/week.  The turnover was tremendous.  I remember one person resigning because she was unable to secure childcare for that long.  Why accept the job?  Overtime was paid over 40 hours/week, which the majority, most were working 50-60 hours/week.  SBA (Sm. Business Admin.) folks are directed to a disaster site after FEMA has processed their disaster assistance applicants.  SBA is different in that they offer LOANS, which must be paid back at a below market interest rate over an extended period of time.  There are still Hurricane Katrina loans being paid back. 

Again, from the HR perspective, my job was to ensure these folks were on the payroll and getting paid.  As I mentioned, the turnover rate has been high.  These temporary hires are experience loan processors (mostly from the finance industry), lawyers, bankers, realtors and construction workers with the ability to assess property damage to determine the amount of the loan being applied for.  This was tough work for these temporary hires, being away from their families through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and for some New Years and even now, there are still people in the field wrapping things up.  They are lending a sympathetic hand and ear to those who have lost everything or almost everything.  Disaster victims are devastated by their loss, more bad news, when not qualifying for a loan can be detrimental under these circumstances.  Kudos to those employees in the field, having to face it all.

I was getting the temporary new hire's paperwork one week and seeing the same individual resign a few short weeks later saying they were unable to give their time 50-60 hours/week indefinitely (max <90 days).  The hiring has stopped.  I'm working on these hires coming to the end of their tenure, processing separation paperwork, final pay, etc.  It's been a very busy and interesting time at work.  Thankfully, disasters are not the norm.

I'm still on my journey to lose weight.  I've resigned at my age, I now have the body type that will have a weight issue for the rest of my life, unfortunately, it is hereditary.  I've fallen off the wagon a number of times.  I keep getting back on.  I know the results don't come unless I exercise and eat healthy.  I've had those results, I want them again.  Spring is coming and time for me to get out and start walking.  The days are getting longer again.  I have a short window before the heat starts up and soon it's 100 degrees, when I sweat just going from the air conditioned car to the air conditioned house.  My plan is to get plenty of outdoor walking and other activities in before that weather hits.

Another sign of Spring has shown his face, Chippy the Chipmunk, who lives in our yard.  He leaves remnants of his visits everywhere - holes the size of my fist in my garden, in the front area garden where the hostas are, the side of the garage, where there are more hostas, and he's even been in the planters!  John has threatened to charge him rent.  Here's Chippy sunning himself on the back deck Saturday morning, the nerve!

Spring is my favorite season, everything comes to life again including me!  Here's the Forsythia bush next to our deck/patio, it is just starting to bloom.  It gets huge when in full bloom, such a beauty.

I was at the local grocery store, Giant, and found some Hyacinths (is that plural?).  They are so fragrant, I had to buy them.  I now have them in my kitchen, smelling beautiful, waiting for the final frost, before planting them.  John and I are talking about what to put in the garden this year.  Green Beans were the Epic Fail of last season.  He feels they may have been placed in the shade, and they didn't get enough sun to grow.  The corn didn't do too well either.  I suggested lettuce, which is suppose to be easy to grow.  One thing about lettuce that I know is that it has to be planted early.  I'm going to have to do some research.  I don't think we've had our final frost (usually planting in the Mid-Atlantic is suppose to occur after Mother's Day - that's my planting marker).

Finally, I had sight of more good news, I hope it's happening in your area too.  The price of gas is dropping!!!  Some places hit $4.00/gallon this winter.  I think the highest I paid was $3.89/gallon.  Yesterday, I paid $3.66 for regular.  I know some of you are getting gas even cheaper.  Yay for the summer blend and lower prices!

I try to remember to turn on my cell phone camera should something catch my eye.  Yesterday, while running errands, the message on the back of this truck caught my eye.

These days, I'm all over comfort!  I'll try to be a better blogger, certainly more frequent.  Get comfortable and stay with me.  I enjoy your visits and comments.

Been Awhile

Time is getting away from me.  What happened to August, it's past the halfway mark?  I noticed on Facebook my grandmother friends are remarking how their grandchildren will be back in school in just a few short weeks (one friend in Florida says school has started there already).

I missed spending summer outside this year, it was too awful hot for me.  I heard on the news tonight that today being 93 degrees was the 48th day this summer of 90+ degrees.  We had a nice Wednesday this week without humidity. I spent it at the grocery store chasing down the 24 oz Diet Cokes that John likes.  Chasing being the operative word.  They were out.  I was told to call daily to see if a delivery arrived - really?  Yes, I did.  They had Sprite, Coke, Coke Zero, but NO Diet Coke!  Delivery is expected Saturday.  The Store Manager now remembers my name, ugh!!!

Last weekend I had a wonderful mini-reunion with high school classmates.  Some were from the class behind mine, so I only knew two ladies, one was the hostess.  The others I met for the first time.  Yes, that's me, front and center. I don't know why they put the fat girl out front, ugh!  Three of us have started our own weight loss challenge.  One is already skinny, I guess that's how she does it.

It was such a short visit, we all had a wonderful time, it's never long enough.  I'm going back to Maryland (where I graduated high school) the end of September to visit with other classmates from my class.

My garden is almost done for the season.  The tomatoes were the only crop that did well.  The green beans died (early July).  I previously posted the picture of the only three beans that sprouted.  Here are the grape/cherry tomatoes that haven't stopped growing yet.  First, the clean to be eaten bunch (which I noticed I need to remove a few softies).

Today John was out garden picking and threw these into a bowl to be washed, which I found when I arrived home.

The grape/cherry size are delicious!  I've been adding them to my nightly dinner salads.  I haven't tried the regular sized ones yet.  I have two that I placed on the deck table to get sun and ripen because they couldn't be supported by the vine.

Then there's what is still left on the vine (both regular and grape/cherry sizes).

Sadly, there's not much left on the vine.  Good news/bad news on the corn.  Good news is the corn sprouted!  Bad news is that it didn't grow much.  We believe this about all we're going to get for the season.  This is the first year we planted anything but tomatoes.  It was an experiment, we learned what we need to do for next year's crop.

Work has been slow, and I'm worried.  In previous jobs, slow meant possible layoff.  I've been asking around the office if this is usual or unusual.  I'm told that this is usual until disaster strikes.  Remember, I work for the Office of Disaster Assistance in the Small Business Administration.  It has been over 2500 days since Hurricane Katrina, which was considered the biggest disaster in their recent history.  Needless to say, time is running out for one to hit, I hope no lives are lost.  Property can be replaced, lives can't, people matter in my world.

To pass the time during this lull, I've taken some (free) online classes offered.  There's a certificate to print after completing and passing each class.  I did all the classes and wallpapered my cubicle.