Disappearing Tripe

Have you ever been certain that you have a certain ingredient in your kitchen, only to find it is gone?   That happened to us today.  Hubby and I planned to make Menudo this weekend and knew we had the tripe in the freezer.  Tonight, hubby went to pull out the tripe to thaw.  We have no clue where it went.  We didn't cook it and we didn't toss it out.  Our final conclusion.....a tripe thief snuck into the house and took it.  

Thai Spoon

I had Thai food for the first time last night at a little place near our house called Thai Spoon.  Their food was beyond excellent.  I had the Pad Thai with the Potak soup.  Hubby's meal was excellent too.  He had the Pad Prik Pow.  

We will definitely be going back again. 

References and Letters of Recommendation

I am frequently asked to give references to people and I am someone who is kind of funny about references and letters of recommendation.  I have a hard time giving someone a reference or letter of recommendation unless I have complete confidence that they can do the job or task.  Thankfully, our company has a policy against employees providing references, so that gives me an easy out when it comes to a work reference.  When it comes to personal references; however, I never quite know what to say when someone asks and I am not comfortable giving one.

Sometimes I am completely honest and say that I am not comfortable doing that.  Unfortunately, that typically leads to more questions.  Sometimes, I go ahead and give the reference, but keep it extremely generic.

What would you do if someone asked you for a reference or letter of recommendation and you weren't comfortable giving it?

Time Flies

Wow, I can't believe it has been over two months since my last post.  Time has certainly been flying by lately.  Since my last post,  I have officially completed my Master's degree, gone through the graduation ceremony and have received my diploma.  I have also switched roles with my company.  Sadly there was no additional money for completing my degree, but this role should put me in a better position for promotions in the future.

We are moving forward with our home project for this year, new floors in the main living area and halls.  I am so excited to be getting rid of the carpet.  The new floors will be installed in three weeks.

I plan to get back to posting on a regular basis and hope to find some fun and interesting things to post about.

Graduate Journey Almost Done

In the month since I last posted, I have been steadily working on completing my requirements for my Master's degree.  I am happy to say that I am almost done.  I have 2 papers left to write, need to take my oral comprehensive exam before the graduate board, need to try on my gown/hood (the regalia arrived yesterday), and send out invitations. 

I can't remember the last time I read a book for pleasure or sat down and watched TV without that nagging little voice in my head telling me that I should be studying.  I am ready to go on a trip (business or pleasure) and not have to drag along school books/material.

It feels amazing to be this close - 23 days and counting!  I has been a great journey, but one that I am ready to complete.

Alone For the Week

Hubby has been away all week on vacation visiting his Aunt in North Carolina.  It seems lately all we do is drive each other crazy, so I was kind of excited at the idea of having the house to myself for a whole week.  On Saturday, I dropped him off at the airport and headed home to have a fun relaxing day.  Well, the house was quiet, so I turned on the television and started doing a little tidying around the house.  On Sunday, I was still excited about having the house to myself and did more cleaning and some shopping.  Monday, the excitement had started to dwindle.  The dogs weren't great at conversation.  In fact, all they wanted to do was bark at every noise leaving me feeling like a recording from telling them to calm down. 

By Tuesday, I was over being alone.  The dogs had started to look for their daddy and wanted to go outside every 2 seconds convinced that he would be out in the yard.  One of the dogs started sitting in the door to his computer room just waiting for him.  I had no one to talk to and was in general just missing my husband.  On Wednesday, I distracted myself by going shopping for a friend and visiting with her for a while, but that only lasted a short while.  By Wednesday evening, I was tired of distracting myself with cleaning (I mean seriously, how bored do you have to be to resort to cleaning the oven). 

Today, I am starting to get excited again because he is coming home tomorrow.  I suppose I should just face it; we have been together for 26, almost 27 years, so being apart for extended periods of time really stinks. 

I am really glad he had this chance to visit his Aunt.  She is 98 and realistically he probably won't have the chance again.  But, I will be happy to have my partner back home - even if we do drive each other crazy when we are together.

SYTYCD and Justin Bieber

This season So You Think You Can Dance has Justin Bieber doing a segment on each show.  I absolutely love SYTYCD, but am not a fan of Justin Bieber at all.  To me, Bieber is the male version of Miley Cyrus; and that is not a good thing.  

I hope they stop the Bieber segments soon.