Speaking of free-ish entertainment, I'm watching Glee right now. I got it on Netflix so I'm only on the first season. I'm having a lot of fun with it...with the occasional need to fast forward through things.
Oh did I mention my issue with stressful shows and books? I almost got kicked out of the movie theater when I went to see Ransom with Mel Gibson. The man behind me turned around and said "would you PLEASE?!!!" The usher had to come and threaten me to settle down or leave. Needless to say, I don't see stressful movies in the theater anymore.
But the thing is, I'm so easily stressed out, even Three's Company stresses me out!
I read the last of the Harry Potter books walking around while I held the book open. I couldn't sit. I couldn't handle it. In fact, I read the last page of every book I leave before I read the first page. I know that this seems a little weird to some, but the thing is, I don't get any less out of a story just because I know the end. In knowing the end, I am relieved of my stress and I get to enjoy the way the story moves.
So back to Glee. I have been very stressed about who is going to end up with whom and which very bad relationships are going to end so better ones can blossom as they should!! And NO one would tell me what was going to happen...
People seem to think they are doing me a favor by not telling me the endings of things!
So my coworker overheard me on the phone asking my sister about Glee. After I hung up, he told me all the things I needed to know for a stress-free viewing.
I am so pleased! Now I can enjoy this little show, already knowing about about endings of things that will stress me out and just focus on all the music and sparkly sets and high school melodrama!!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
How much paper would a space case waste if.....
Well, it is National Disability Employment Awareness month... This means I am very hard at work on a little project called Disability Mentoring Day.
I have been busy, super duper busy, since early September all the way up until this week working on finding job shadow placements for 160 youth with disabilities in the Metro-Milwaukee area! The kids apply to the project and I set them up with a job shadow that is anywhere from an hour to a full day in one of their top three job choices. The most popular? Music, animals, health care, graphic design and carpentry or auto mechanics.
I have been hard at work and am proud to say that 159 of those kids have been placed and will be going out to their placement sometime during the day tomorrow. The one left wants to job shadow with the Milwaukee Bucks. I'm working on it. It'll happen. Pretty much no one says no to me.
Anyway, today I was printing participation certificates out--250 of them. For the kids, teacher and of course for the mentors. My printing code is 8390. In my frenzy of printing and typing and hitting buttons and clicking the mouse....I accidentally typed 8390 in under number of copies rather than the code. I can't even begin to tell you how many copies ran off before I realized my error.
Now I have a huge pile of scrap paper. Huge.
The, this afternoon, I took Coen to the doctor's office for his 7-year check up. After we checked in, the receptionist handed me a big pile of paper with a smile. "Scrap paper for you!" she said.
Whaaaa?!
I have been busy, super duper busy, since early September all the way up until this week working on finding job shadow placements for 160 youth with disabilities in the Metro-Milwaukee area! The kids apply to the project and I set them up with a job shadow that is anywhere from an hour to a full day in one of their top three job choices. The most popular? Music, animals, health care, graphic design and carpentry or auto mechanics.
I have been hard at work and am proud to say that 159 of those kids have been placed and will be going out to their placement sometime during the day tomorrow. The one left wants to job shadow with the Milwaukee Bucks. I'm working on it. It'll happen. Pretty much no one says no to me.
Anyway, today I was printing participation certificates out--250 of them. For the kids, teacher and of course for the mentors. My printing code is 8390. In my frenzy of printing and typing and hitting buttons and clicking the mouse....I accidentally typed 8390 in under number of copies rather than the code. I can't even begin to tell you how many copies ran off before I realized my error.
Now I have a huge pile of scrap paper. Huge.
The, this afternoon, I took Coen to the doctor's office for his 7-year check up. After we checked in, the receptionist handed me a big pile of paper with a smile. "Scrap paper for you!" she said.
Whaaaa?!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Double date weekend
Friday: The third annual Wisconsin Charter School Gala. We were invited as guests of Highland Community School. We got a lovely buffet dinner and ate overlooking Lake Michigan at Discovery World on Pier Wisconsin. We had our run of the museum, lots of wonderful parents from Highland to talk to and our son's school won the Silver Charter School of the Year award!!! And the parents of Highland Community School won the silver Innovator of the Year award! We got to go up on stage--thirty five strong (we were the best represented school there) and receive the award. I left full, happy and proud as ever to be a Milwaukee resident who's child goes to Highland.
A good friend babysat and was the first person outside of family to put our daughter to bed. He did awesome and the kids had a great time.
Cost of the evening: $0
Saturday: Tad's high school friend's wedding reception. It was exciting meeting all of Tad's old high school companions and kids from his neighborhood all grown up. Dinner was great-catered by Saz's and I even got to see a few people I hadn't seen in a while. My parents took the kids overnight so we even got to go for an evening walk, and watch movies and sleeeeeep in!! Lovely. We took a trip to Outpost to get a few items for dinner and the next morning's breakfast (which we ate at 9:30 a.m. on the porch in the sun).
Cost of the date: $15.00 (Outpost purchases)
Okay I can't resist..... Value of a two-night weekend with Tad, hanging around with grownups?
Priceless.
Sorry, it had to be done.
A good friend babysat and was the first person outside of family to put our daughter to bed. He did awesome and the kids had a great time.
Cost of the evening: $0
Saturday: Tad's high school friend's wedding reception. It was exciting meeting all of Tad's old high school companions and kids from his neighborhood all grown up. Dinner was great-catered by Saz's and I even got to see a few people I hadn't seen in a while. My parents took the kids overnight so we even got to go for an evening walk, and watch movies and sleeeeeep in!! Lovely. We took a trip to Outpost to get a few items for dinner and the next morning's breakfast (which we ate at 9:30 a.m. on the porch in the sun).
Cost of the date: $15.00 (Outpost purchases)
Okay I can't resist..... Value of a two-night weekend with Tad, hanging around with grownups?
Priceless.
Sorry, it had to be done.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Concert Denial
Tad and I have never been big spenders. All our furniture is hand-me-down. Most of our kids clothing is as well. We buy our clothes at Goodwill and other resale shops. Our computer was my graduation gift recieved in 2006. when we want to play video games, we whip out the old original Nintendo system.
But over the last year or so we spent almost $1000.00 on concert tickets alone--going to see Leonard Cohen, Matthew Sweet, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, the Magnetic Fields, Vampire Weekend, the Flaming Lips and the Fiery Furnaces. Dang. So of course when Tad and I made the decision for him to go back to school, we knew that one of the things that would have to go was the concert budget.
But over the last year or so we spent almost $1000.00 on concert tickets alone--going to see Leonard Cohen, Matthew Sweet, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, the Magnetic Fields, Vampire Weekend, the Flaming Lips and the Fiery Furnaces. Dang. So of course when Tad and I made the decision for him to go back to school, we knew that one of the things that would have to go was the concert budget.
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| Tad's completed homework, drying on the floor |
So far, we have skipped two concerts I wanted to go to. The first was Farm Aid with Willie Nelson and others at Miller Park. It wasn't that hard to skip because the tickets were so expensive that we may not have even gone to that one even in better financial times.
But last night, Iron and Wine played at the Riverside and I must admit, it hurt my heart not to go. But nevertheless, I survived. The self-denial of seeing my favorite artists live is hard, but will not kill me.
What did we do last night instead of going to see Iron and Wine live? We listened to Iron and Wine on the stereo and I helped Tad with his homework. Last night's homework? Painting twelve Montessori charts with watercolors. Not a bad evening all in all.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Now we're cooking with grease
I am having a lot of trouble cooking lately. I am chalking it up to the AMOUNT of cooking I'm doing. Here are a list of my mishaps in time sequenced order.
Friday: I made a chicken dish with a pear rosemary sauce. The sauce never thickened! It just never did. I was told to cook down until it is a sauce consistency and it was a watery consistency all the way. "Why won't you turn into sauce?!" I yelled at it. But to no avail. Eventually, I added corn starch, but too late, so it was clumpy. Then on the side I made that potato cheese casserole, the one with the corn flakes crushed up on top. The potatoes turned this completely weird and gross brownish green color. It all tasted good but looked just horrific!
Saturday: I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Tad and I to have with our vanilla ice cream. I made them, just like I always make them...but when I took them out of the oven, the bottoms were burned and the tops seemed not to be cooked!
Sunday: Pancake morning. I decided to try my dad's recipe instead of my usual. On the list of ingredients was "vinegar". Vinegar? That couldn't be right. But I made them, as directed and found out later from my dad that it was a misprint. Should have said sugar. Those were weird pancakes. My son said, "I'll eat them, but they'll need a LOT of syrup" I made double batch too, to last us the week.
Tad's cooking tomorrow.
Friday: I made a chicken dish with a pear rosemary sauce. The sauce never thickened! It just never did. I was told to cook down until it is a sauce consistency and it was a watery consistency all the way. "Why won't you turn into sauce?!" I yelled at it. But to no avail. Eventually, I added corn starch, but too late, so it was clumpy. Then on the side I made that potato cheese casserole, the one with the corn flakes crushed up on top. The potatoes turned this completely weird and gross brownish green color. It all tasted good but looked just horrific!
Saturday: I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Tad and I to have with our vanilla ice cream. I made them, just like I always make them...but when I took them out of the oven, the bottoms were burned and the tops seemed not to be cooked!
Sunday: Pancake morning. I decided to try my dad's recipe instead of my usual. On the list of ingredients was "vinegar". Vinegar? That couldn't be right. But I made them, as directed and found out later from my dad that it was a misprint. Should have said sugar. Those were weird pancakes. My son said, "I'll eat them, but they'll need a LOT of syrup" I made double batch too, to last us the week.
Tad's cooking tomorrow.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Two month itch
Well I've got it...the two month itch. What is the two month itch, you might ask? Well, I have not bought a thing outside of groceries and gas for two full months now. Not a thing. If I can't eat it or run my car with it, I'm not buying it.
But the other day I needed to stop at the store to pick up a birthday present for my friend. The place didn't take a check card. So I went to the local cash machine and withdrew twenty dollars. That left me with ten dollars burning a hole in my wallet. Did I save it for an emergency or to put it towards groceries? No. It took me approximately ten seconds to look around a locate a lovely re-sale boutique to pop into and spend all of that ten dollars on a shirt and a sweater. Ahhhhhh, I missed being a consumer.
Now, mind you, I did not go to the Gap or the Limited or any place like that to spend. Mind you, I probably could only buy one sock at one of those stores with ten dollars, if that. I went to a Goodwill-owned boutique. "The Re-Tique" Cute, huh? They had super cute stuff and nothing I saw was more than $7.99.
I'm also slated to go out to dinner with my girlfriends on Monday. I suggested Noodles since I still have my gift card for there from a generous donor! But my sister says she'd rather buy me dinner than go to Noodles for a girls night out.
I also went to Target and bought our Halloween Trick or Treat candy and let each kid pick out a $10.00 or less toy.
Yep, its the two month itch. I'll settle down now.... something tells me in two months from now..there'll be some more spending going on again.
But the other day I needed to stop at the store to pick up a birthday present for my friend. The place didn't take a check card. So I went to the local cash machine and withdrew twenty dollars. That left me with ten dollars burning a hole in my wallet. Did I save it for an emergency or to put it towards groceries? No. It took me approximately ten seconds to look around a locate a lovely re-sale boutique to pop into and spend all of that ten dollars on a shirt and a sweater. Ahhhhhh, I missed being a consumer.
Now, mind you, I did not go to the Gap or the Limited or any place like that to spend. Mind you, I probably could only buy one sock at one of those stores with ten dollars, if that. I went to a Goodwill-owned boutique. "The Re-Tique" Cute, huh? They had super cute stuff and nothing I saw was more than $7.99.
I'm also slated to go out to dinner with my girlfriends on Monday. I suggested Noodles since I still have my gift card for there from a generous donor! But my sister says she'd rather buy me dinner than go to Noodles for a girls night out.
I also went to Target and bought our Halloween Trick or Treat candy and let each kid pick out a $10.00 or less toy.
Yep, its the two month itch. I'll settle down now.... something tells me in two months from now..there'll be some more spending going on again.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Cheap date
I am a cheap date, by the way. I don't drink, so there's that. Also, I'm always happy to split things. Except dessert. But that's not the point of this post.
Tad and I had a really nice cheap date on Friday night. Our neighbor Julia babysat for our kids. She came over at 8, after they were already tucked into bed for the night. We didn't have to pay, since we swap babysitting hours with Julia and her husband. We went out to a movie!! It was the first theater movie we'd seen since...well jeez, I don't remember! I think it was at the Majestic Theater in Brookfield... and it was the Fantastic Mr. Fox. I just googled it and it was out in November of 2009, so yes, that's the last movie we saw in the theater. Almost a full year ago.
Did we have to pay big money for the movie? NO! Tad was the third caller on 91.7 WMSE, Milwaukee Film Festival contest and he won us free tickets!
We went to see "Date Night", a series of romantic shorts at the Ridge in New Berlin. We talked on the ride and held hands. We got to the movie theater an hour and a half before the film started, but we were so glad to be out of the house, we didn't care. We walked laps around the movie theater and enjoyed each other's company. We even splurged on a kiddie combo: A small popcorn, a small soda and pixie stix for $6.50.
A whole date night for six dollars, fifty sense and enough gas to get us to New Berlin and back.
Lovely.
Tad and I had a really nice cheap date on Friday night. Our neighbor Julia babysat for our kids. She came over at 8, after they were already tucked into bed for the night. We didn't have to pay, since we swap babysitting hours with Julia and her husband. We went out to a movie!! It was the first theater movie we'd seen since...well jeez, I don't remember! I think it was at the Majestic Theater in Brookfield... and it was the Fantastic Mr. Fox. I just googled it and it was out in November of 2009, so yes, that's the last movie we saw in the theater. Almost a full year ago.
Did we have to pay big money for the movie? NO! Tad was the third caller on 91.7 WMSE, Milwaukee Film Festival contest and he won us free tickets!
We went to see "Date Night", a series of romantic shorts at the Ridge in New Berlin. We talked on the ride and held hands. We got to the movie theater an hour and a half before the film started, but we were so glad to be out of the house, we didn't care. We walked laps around the movie theater and enjoyed each other's company. We even splurged on a kiddie combo: A small popcorn, a small soda and pixie stix for $6.50.
A whole date night for six dollars, fifty sense and enough gas to get us to New Berlin and back.
Lovely.
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