I need a bib

I was eating lunch at my desk today, listening intently to a conference call while munching on a chocolate chip cookie. Sounds innocent enough, right?

Well, contrary to the popular belief that only 2 year olds smear their food on themselves, I managed to wind up partially covered in chocolate for the better part of the conference call and not even know it.

I happened to look down at my white shirt, only to see a HUGE smear of chocolate across my stomach. I stood up, checked the rest of my shirt, and bam! More chocolate! My cube neighbor joked that I had it all over my face, which, luckily for me, wasn't quite true. However, I then noticed that I did indeed have it smeared on my left forearm.

So I discretely made my way down to the bathroom and began dousing myself with water, trying to get as much chocolate off of my white shirt as possible. All the while, since they just installed automatic paper towel dispensers right next to the sink, paper towels kept coming out at me everytime I moved.

Was this the bathroom's feebile attempt to help a woman in distress?

Maybe.

So once my shirt was as clean (and now wet) as possible, I tried to nonchalantly walk back to my desk, hoping that no one would notice the wet, brown spots on the front of my shirt.

After reaching my cube, I realized that I was saved! I had a black sweater in the back of a drawer! Wrikled as it was, it covered up the offending spots. And so what if I'm wearing brown shoes and a brown belt? Right?

We're homeowners!

Yes, it's true. Friday we closed on our first house! I've purposefully not been posting about it because I didn't want to publicize all of the house happenings until it was legally ours. But now, we're in the clear. All of the paperwork went through without a hitch and we are officially homeowners.

In retrospect, the process was a LOT easier than I was expecting. I'm normally an optimist, but for some reason, during this entire process, I kept expecting it to fall through, or take a wrong turn, or have the house collapse upon itself.

I also read a lot of personal finance blogs and watch my fair share of home shows (house flips, home makeovers, This Old House....etc.), so I guess I've seen how things can go wrong. But we had a great realtor, a great lender, and a very easy going seller. So add all that up and voila, we get a house.

Here's the front of the house.

Which would make this the back of the house.

You can check out more pictures at our SmugMug page.

Up next: home improvement projects. Wish us luck!

I survived

I had a dentist appointment yesterday.

I don't like going to the dentist.

Not one bit.

I so dislike going that it has literally been years since I've darkened the door of any dentistry practice.

My dental philosophy: brush twice a day. Only see a professional if there is pain that is so bad you can't sleep at night.

So after a weekend of chewing only on the left side of my mouth to avoid the pain on the right side of my mouth, I turned myself in.

Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I was having nightmares of the doctor freely throwing around phrases like "root canal" and "total mouth overhaul" but nothing of the sort. Sure, there was a series of mega x-rays, and yes, there was some poking and prodding around the gums with a sharp metal object.

But all in all, I survived.

Immediately after leaving his office, I made stop at the grocery store nearby where I virtually cleaned out their dental aisle. The checkout lady must have thought I was a sicko with all of the dental paraphernalia I bought, but at least I felt like I was accomplishing something.

I do have to go back 2-3 times over the next few weeks to patch a few thing here and there, and get a cleaning (which I'm dreading more than the cavity filling). Seriously, why does that scraper instrument have to sound (and feel?) like fingernails on a chalkboard? It's hideous!

Mixing it up

Most mornings, upon arriving at the office, I head to the cafeteria to grab some coffee. There are a few options, including hot Starbucks, iced Starbucks, frozen Starbucks, shaken Starbucks and stirred Starbucks. However, in the effort to go easy on the bank account, I normally head to the "super mc. cheapy" coffee dispenser. I get my ~12 oz. of steaming, diluted "coffee" and I'm set.

For the past 4 1/2 years, it's been the same cheap brand. The same diluted coffee. The same semi-coffee taste.

Until today.

They switched it up on me when I wasn't looking!

Now there's not only a new brand, but a new machine and a new taste entirely!

How dare they?! I spend years building up a tolerance to the other stuff. Years, I tell ya! I knew just how much room to leave in the cup so that I could douse it with the proper amount of half-and-half. I knew exactly how much sugar to put in to make it taste more like candy and less like bad coffee.

Now? Now all of my proportions are off. Way off. And that's not really how I like to wake up...you know, conducting my own personal chemistry experiments with coffee in the cafeteria. Now I have to endure 4 more years of adapting to the taste. Yippee!

The great outdoors

This weekend the weather here was just tremendous. So tremendous, in fact, that a group of girls from church went on a hike. A 7.5 mile hike. Yeah, it was pretty nifty. You should come next time!

The hike started off innocently enough. That is, until we stumbled upon what looked to be a national crisis. As we approached the trail head, we noticed that there were two firetrucks and an ambulance stationed at the top of the hill. In the three minutes that it took for us to load up our gear and walk to the trail head, two more firetrucks and a hazmat team arrived. Woah nellie, you might say. And you'd be right.

We inquired with the firefighters whether or not we should start our hike. They all seemed pretty laid back and pretty much said that we could do whatever we wanted. Here's a picture of us entering the trail, while the fine folks of Ladder 17 look on:


After a few minutes of hiking, we saw the rest of the emergency crew coming up the hill, with the apparent victim. Apparently a biker had taken a rough tumble and injured his hand. It wasn't pretty, I can tell you that. But I'm not sure that it warranted a HAZMAT crew. Seriously!



After that minor drama, we hiked down a few miles to a nice river/lake/smallish body of water with pretty waterfalls. We decided to splash around for a bit, and let the dogs swim their hearts out. We continued our hike through the beautiful greenbelt, stopped for lunch, and then continued on.

All in all, an afternoon well spent! A few more pictures to share:

Weekend recap...and a new addiction

This weekend was actually pretty refreshing. It seems that things have been a bit crazy lately, but more on that later.

Saturday
Got up, grabbed some books and headed to Starbucks. Though the place was literally crawling with people, I found a nice table next to a sunny window. I sat there for almost 2 hours just reading. It was great!

That night we headed out to an event for Austin Life Care out at the TDS Wildlife Ranch. Here's the deal. It's this vast expanse of land with safari animals sitting right next to a huge landfill. But you would never know it. No, you're too busy looking around at the zebras, antelope and bison to think of the fact that there are millions of tons of landfill right next to you. All in all, very cool. My good friend Eryn put in a TON of work to make this event happen, and it was for a great cause. Way to go!

Sunday
The last sermon in what has been such a neat series on marriage. I think the church will be burning all of the sermons onto a CD sometime soon, so be on the lookout. Even if you're not married, it's great stuff to hear.

Then, the mini-roadtrip I've been awaiting for quite awhile. A trip to the new IKEA. Oh my holy goodness. That is some store!! I was specifically on the lookout for kitchen cabinets, but I had to hold myself back from buying more. I always thought of IKEA as a store with only ultra modern Swedish stuff...but boy was I wrong. Home decor, linens, furniture of all shapes and sizes. And the warm, welcoming fragrance of cinnamon rolls while you check out. A bit of a sensory overload, but I'll be back for more...

A little gross, if you ask me

I was recently having some issues* with my work-issued cell phone. So much so, that I needed a brand new phone. The old phone was, in my defense, a piece of junk. But, my job at times calls for me to be on the phone when I'm away from my desk, and there's no way I'm using my personal minutes for such instances.

Voila - new phone.

So I went up to the cell phone provider store at one of our offices to pick up my new gear. While waiting in line, I started looking at some of the other phone paraphernalia that they offered.

First of all, I had no idea that cell phone gear had gotten so, well, insane. I could practically buy a trailer hitch for my new phone, if I was so inclined.

I wasn't.

The next thing that caught my eye was an entire wall full of those ear bud thingys. You know, the bluetooth headset guys that, in my personal, humble opinion**, instantly turn the wearer of such a device into a robot.

Anyhow, they had little display models of each kind they were selling. But the kicker? They all said "try me on!" - EWW! Who else has put that in their ear!? Am I the only person that finds this a little disturbing?





*These issues were likely self-inflicted by yours truly, but I plead the fifth.

**Please don't take offense if you have a headset. If you have one, good for you. Just please don't look at me while you're talking on it, lest I think you're actually trying to talk to me and then I look like an idiot for participating in your phone conversation. Oh, and please, PLEASE take them off of your ear when you're not on the phone. Unless you're listening to the radio or something on it...then we're cool.

My world is officially shaken

This.

This is my life blood.

And now, half of it is considered poison.

At first, I didn't think much of it. What's that you say about peanut butter? Oh, never you mind. That stuff is fine. Heck - it's comfort food.

Well, apparently people have had their fair amount of discomfort if you knowatimsayin.

So then I checked our pantry. And then I ran screaming from the house. My stash had been contaminated.

Begrudgingly, I threw it out. All that poor, pitiful, poisoned peanut butter. You had such potential. With the crackers, and the bread, and not to mention the various flavors of chocolate you mingle so well with.

The spinach debacle, I could deal with. But this? It's too much.


Peanut butter, by dear friend, it's like I don't even know who you are anymore.


How do you go from this:



To this:

That's what I get for watching TV

I get a commercial stuck in my head. For days on end. I find my foot tapping for no apparent reason during a meeting. I get distracted on a conference call because I was singing a song inside my head rather than listening to my co-workers.

And still it's there.

A little bit more, a lil' bit more...
A little bit more, a lil' bit more...

Has anyone seen that Target ad? So you know what I'm talking about. The first time I saw it I didn't even know it was for Target. I must have been entranced by the beat, so I missed the "Target.com" text at the start of the ad.

And still...it's in my head.

A little bit more, a lil' bit more...
A little bit more, a lil' bit more...

So Amar and I googled it last night, because we just had to know who sings it. For your information, it's Jamie Lidell, and you can enjoy a sound snippet here.

I'm still alive...

So after 10+ days of not posting, I'm making a comeback.

Long story short, the past 10 days have been a bit crazy. Amar and I have both had the flu, and basically, it kicked us to the curb pretty quickly and didn't even look back. I think we did a pretty good job of not spreading it to anyone else, so that's one good thing that happened :)

Anyhow, life goes on. We saw Amazing Grace the other day and really liked it. You should go see it.

Oh, I also started reading Ragamuffin Gospel the other day. You should check that out, too. Good stuff.

Happy valentine's day

It's no secret that I work in a predominantly male field. My recent observations put the ratio somewhere around 5:1…sometimes even higher. Not only am I outnumbered, but I'm out aged as well. Most of my co-workers have kids my age, possibly even grand kids my age. You get the picture.

On my way to lunch, three of the guys approached me, apparently discussing the topic of they day.

"Kim," one of them started, "today is Valentine's Day."

I braced for 1) potential cheesy joke, 2) potential inappropriate joke, though those are rare with these guys or 3) potential Valentine's related question.

"Let's say you're getting a gift. A big gift."

I nodded, immediately picturing those Lexus ads from Christmas…the cars with the big bows.

"Would you also want a card with the gift?"

I could see where this was going. I paused to consider my answer. In fact, just yesterday remembered that I had been listening to a radio host discuss this exact topic.

"Guys," I began cautiously…"the card is like the icing…"

Before I could finish my sentence, one of them shouted "See!! I told you!!!"




Good luck out there, ladies.

Site updates

I'm experimenting with some site tracking widgets, so if you see a webcounter in the next few days, do not be alarmed. I'm only tracking your social security numbers and your mother's maiden names.

In other news, I'm coming out of an allergy funk. It happens about once a year. You never really, truly value the fact that you can breathe through your nose and swallow without pain until those abilities are suddenly taken from you without warning. But it was nice to work from home for a few days and take it easy. Not that I prefer being sick, but hey, whatever works.

Our pastor is going through some great stuff in church, so if you haven't tuned in yet, you really should listen in on the January and February sermons. Good stuff. The past two Sundays have been about marriage, namely leaving and cleaving as mentioned in Genesis 2. But it's good for everyone, not just married folk.

Check it out here: www.Grace360.org

The cookie

Peanut Butter Patties, you just may very well be the death of me...










But oh my, it would be such a tasty, tasty way to go.

Granola update

So it didn't turn out like I expected it to. It was not clumpy enough, and was a bit on the salty side. I blame the peanuts, personally. But don't we all?

Wish me better luck next time...

I amaze myself sometimes

I cooked.

A meal.

And it wasn't from a box.

Seriously, yes, Amar and I had spiffy pasta and broccoli last night. And in paying me perhaps the best compliment, he said, "This is good. This is 'invite people over' good."

So yes, I'm on a roll. Or at least the beginning of one. I mean I was rolling and cutting basil leaves. Amar was slicing garlic and cubing mozarella. I was dicing tomatoes and sprinkling red pepper flakes. Flavors were flying across the room left and right. The aroma of a nice meal permeated the entire place. Wow.

And it was apparently good enough that we both had leftovers for lunch today. Yee haw! We're in business!

I'm going to attempt two more dishes in the next few days, but as I type this, I'm reminded of some wise words....

"Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 16:18

I'm back!

Well, I'm back in Austin. Finally! I just barely made it out of Texas before the huge ice storm hit, and I wound up missing the entire thing. I've already unpacked and done laundry (a record!) and I'm hoping to stay unpacked for awhile. Wish me luck :)

Amar and I are still recovering from Christmas decor. Yes, the tree is still up, though yesterday we made some progress. He's taken our lights down, and I've packed up all the ornaments. Once we decide to stop lounging around, we'll start dismantling the tree and we'll finally be finished.

Anyone else still have Christmas in their house? Please, help me feel better about myself and admit that you still have decorations up. I know you're out there...

A few Brazil pictures

Out sick

Sorry for the lack of a decent update from the southern hemisphere yesterday. It seems that I was under the weather. Quite under the weather if you don't mind me saying.

But I'm back upwards of 90% today, and all is well. I'm literally counting the hours until I can be back on my home turf. Not that Brazil is bad or anything. Quite the contrary. I just miss my peeps, that's all.

Anyhow, it seems that now Europe is getting the same stuff that Texas got earlier in the week. I have a theory that there are really only a handful of storms circling the globe. Every time they cross the international date line, they change personalities. They do some reorganizing. Sometimes they downsize, choosing to let a few clouds go. Sometimes, if the hydrologic cycle has been good to them, they can spend a few extra on some cumulonimbus clouds here and there...maybe a cirrus or two.

But it's the same bunch every time. Just like corporate America, they have contractors that work for them. For instance, sometimes you just don't have the talent on-hand to generate the lightning that you'd really like to unleash on the Midwest, so you open up a few recs, and off you go.

Ok - enough silliness. Back to work.

P.S. On Wednesday we had both a fire and a massive power outage. Too much fun, my friends. Too much fun!

The update for Tuesday

While Austin has been busy digging itself out of the massive blizzard of '07, we've been enjoying rather nice weather down here this week. Apparently before we arrived, they had experienced daily showers since the beginning of the year. But the sun has joined us this week, and it's been really nice down here.

After a rather uneventful day at the office Tuesday, I returned to my hotel room to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers that had been sent by my dear, sweet husband. What a wonderful suprise!

We went out to a pretty snazzy pizza place last night, and enjoyed a stroll around the neighborhood in the cool weather. But by the time I got back to the hotel around 9 o'clock that night, I was dead tired.

So there you have it, the skinny from Brazil. That's all for now, folks.

A third of the way there...

Well, these first few days of work have been...how should I put it? Oh yeah, long!

We catch the shuttle at 7AM to get here, and we catch the shuttle at 6PM to leave, and an hour's drive on each end of that journey. That makes for a long day. But we're being productive, I guess :) Still wearing hard hats and safety glasses, but this time around we have indoor plumbing. Oh, bless those people who have been working on that!

We also have a cafeteria in the building now. But I'm still relying on my good ol' rice and beans to get me by. I'm not willing to risk the mystery meat yet. Here's an actual conversation I had with a Brazilian friend of mine yesterday during lunch:

Me: What kind of meat would you say this is?
Him: What? What do you mean?
Me: I mean what type of meat is this? From what animal?
Him: Well, I guess it's meat. The normal kind.
Me: Um, yeah. I'm going to pass.

Other than that, nothing too eventful has happened. It's warm here, so it's a bit crazy to imagine Austin as a block of ice right now.