A Thankful Heart

It's funny how things work out. Right now my freezer is PACKED with goodies for my older sis. We didn't get a chance to see each other before January, so those goodies will stay there until the next time they come thru on the truck. Since my freezer is full of goodies, I am prevented from going to DQ and getting an ice cream cake for myself. That's right. I want a WHOLE ice cream cake for just ME!!! I'd have them put something really snarky on it, too... make the workers wonder. But alas, no room in freezer, no solo ice cream cake. Really, it's better in the long run but man... ice cream cake. Sigh... good decisions are sometimes no FUN.

On that note, I realized the other day that I'm I'm need of interactions with other people. Shocking, I know. The original introvert actually WANTED to go out and... engage with others in conversation. So I texted my older sis to see if I should a) go to a restaurant for dinner, b) pick something up on the way home, or c) have leftovers at home. She went the responsible route and suggested leftovers because I've got quite a lot of them. So I called her on the way home and somewhat satisfied my need for interaction. Sigh... all my people are too far away and busy with their own lives... I understand this, but sometimes it sucks. I miss being able to rope A or J into meeting at Anamias after work.

I did have quite a Mandi feast for Christmas Eve. On christmas day i got to talk to some family, and was insanely lazy. It was a good weekend (minus the noisy upstairs neighbors... I think I found a new apt complex in cleburne... come on, april)April.

The veggies

Fruit.

Cheese, crackers, and meat

Chips, crackers, and dip

Drinks.

Christmas day was leftover pizza and snacks. Also a very good day.

I had a funny happen at work. Apparently I got a raise but no one told me about it. Once I established that the rate was real and not a fluke I realized that I had been paid at the new rate while I was out with covid, but at the old rate when I was actually at work. Essentially I was paid more to be home than I was for working!!! Don't worry tho, HR should have everything squared away by next paycheck. Hilarious mistake tho. Hehe. I'm training my replacement now (new nursing admin assistant) and eventually I'll have an office. Hopefully... once we clean out all the surgery and lab equipment. Lol.

The stack in my current office.

Apparently I'm too happy about being Quality again. I can't help it! I loves the data, the reporting, the figuring out how we can be better. It's fun for me! I'm trying to make sure my replacement will have stuff to do while im gone, and hopefully we'll have an office for me when i get back. 

Anyway, the reason I'm calling this "a thankful heart" is because I've been thinking of just how blessed I've been this year. It's been an adventure and I would not have survived without my amazing family and friends supporting me, so please know I am sooooo grateful for all of you. I love you and I hope that nothing but blessings and joy greet you in 2023. Sending warm hugs and loving thoughts to all, and looking forward to the next time we can see each other. MUAH! 😘

Soooo much loves!!

I've been at my 2nd house/dogsitting gig for a couple of days now and with 3 dogs the stomping is intense. I've got one that just wants ALL the loving, one that likes to use me as a chew toy, and one that goes back and forth between cuddling and chewing. I'm also loving every minute of it 😁 they at least get kenneled at night so I can sleep without being stomped on.

I've taken tons of pix of the snuggle butts and my older sister is officially mad at me/jealous because she wants to be able to loves the pups. Especially the little puppy. She might be interested In a schnauzer some day. It's been a bit of chaos and a whole lotta cuddles.

This is the mister needy butt. As soon as I sit down, he must be either on my lap or by my side.

The 2 hyperactive. Super sweet, but between the 3 I think I'm getting bruises on my thighs! Silly pups. Such sweet souls. I never thought I'd need a bigger lap, but here we are! Hehe

The little girl is always intrigued by what I'm drinking... I told her she's too young for coffee.

When it gets later in the day, they kinda become a living blanket for me. This is us watching Casino Royal last night. It was nice cuz Murphy usually lays on the other end of the couch.

I love this job.

I'm thinking I should probably get out and do something today, but perhaps not. If I go somewhere I'll probably end up buying things and really I don't need to spend any more $ until my trip to Albuquerque. I'm looking forward to that so much... I've had to stop myself from starting to pack already!

When I go home I'll stop by the grocery store and get all my snackies for my Christmas feast. That way I can be a lazy bum the whole weekend, watching all the Christmas (and Christmas-adjacent) movies I can find. I know I'm planning on Scrooged, White Christmas, the Christmas chronicles 2 (watched 1 already), kiss kiss bang bang, the long kiss goodnight, the Muppets Christmas Carole, and of course Garfields Christmas special (free on YouTube, gotta love it). I'd try to find die hard, but that might be a bust 😒 (I wonder if... hmmmm, might have to borrow those).

I've been wearing the slippers my older sis gave me for 2 days now and the little girl just realized they look like a chew toy. She hasn't quite chomped my foot yet, but I think its coming. 

I love these slippers!!

Anyway, that's been my weekend. Loving on the pups, playing fetch in the house, keeping mister snuggle butt from biting the mailman, you know, standard puppers stuffs. Someday when I have a house with a yard, I will have at least one pup. And probably 2 cats... and a fish tank. 😁 probably no cows, chickens, turkeys, guineas and the like, tho. Id love the fresh eggs but roosters and turkeys are MEAN! I'd have a huge veggie garden, too. Someday.

A Long December

Well, I got more than kolaches when I went to West. Somewhere I picked up the covid. Almost 3 years into the pandemic and I finally got sick.

I had a sore throat and cough on that Sunday, so I went to HEB and got sudafed. I also (finally) got a thermometer to monitor what I was pretty sure was a fever. I was right. I spent Sunday curled up on the couch, watching the dogs, and taking meds. By Monday AM I my fever.... wasnt... so I went to work. At 830 after feeling like crap I checked my temp again and the fever was back. I called the employee health nurse to see about getting tested for the flu. She told me to go to the lab and then go straight home. So I did. They swabbed both nostrils, I told my boss that I felt like crap and I went home. About halfway home I got a text from my boss that said "call me" so I did. She said "yeah, you're not allowed to come back for 5 days." We laughed a bit, because what else can you do? It's hospital policy to make someone stay away from work for 5 days once they test positive for covid. I also have to wear an n95 mask for 2 weeks (I have one week left now). So i spent the first week of Dec on my couch feeling miserable and watching a lot of stuff on streaming. Tho I did pretty much end on Scrubs. I drank so much lemon tea with lemon juice and honey those first 3 days that I NEVER want to drink it again. Also, I had my first telehealth visit and learned some meds leave a NASTY taste in the mouth. Ick. Just ick. My fever was gone by Tuesday, the sore throat was resolved by Thursday, and I was back to work by Monday. It wasn't a super pleasant week, and I was super bummed that the fella and I had to cancel a LOT of plans, but such is life. I even missed our holiday party at work 😔😭 super bummed me out.

Last week was fairly normal. I am officially the quality coordinator at work now, working for my old boss. The new nursing admin assistant is starting this coming Monday, so I can start training her in that job. I'm not sure where my new office will be... I just want to be able to bring my fridge with me!! Hehe.  I did find out that we got a grant, so that was exciting! I love it when we get $ that I've applied for!!

 I met A in weatherford yesterday for mexican food, and we had a lovely time. I was able to give her the Christmas presents i got for her, her dad, and her dog. She reports that they all love them! Hehe. I'm also going to be watching my former boss's dogs this coming week. She now has 3 schnauzers, so that should be fun. I'm heading out there later today. Cuts my commute down from 45 to 15 mins, no tolls, save on gas... I just love when I can house/pet sit. Apparently people at work are learning I do this because I've had one person say she may need my services in April, and another got excited that she may need me at an undisclosed time in the future. 

So that's what I've been up to. It's weird losing a week to covid. I've still got a bit of a cough, unfortunately. It's holding on for some odd reason, which I find RUDE!!! 

I was able to decorate for Christmas. Here's my Advent wreath. 

And my ornament that sings parts of the Oogie Boogie song. 😁

I'll be spending Christmas at home and then I'm going to spend New Years with my aunt and mom in Albuquerque! I'm sooooooo stoked! It's going to be a blast! Keep an eye out for that post. Hehehe.

Czeching out West

For those who don't know, on I-35 between DFW and Waco lies a small town called West. West was initially settled by people of Czech descent. We know this because the town has capitalized on it and has become an unofficial stop for Texas road trips. Any time you are going from DFW to Waco (or vice-versa) you MUST stop in West for some Czech goodies. 

I was first introduced to this in 2006 when we came down to New Braunfels for spring break.  Since that time, I've spread the love and introduced my family to the wonderfulness. This weekend I found myself in Grandview pet/house sitting and I thought since West is only 45 mins away, why not go there for the day and see what the actual TOWN is like. See, I've only stopped at the convenience store/bakery (aptly named the Czech Stop) and then been on my way. So yesterday I had my coffee, hopped in the car, and headed south to West.

Every adventure starts with coffee. I parked the car on the downtown drag and walked to the coffee shop. Ready Brew had one worker who made me an almond Roca latte. It was lovely. I then sat and journaled for about an hour before moving on.

The coffee shop also had a little store in it, which had some cute and sassy things. I almost bought my pepper jelly for Christmas there, but decided not to.

Probably the best store was the Old Czech Corner store. It had antiques and contemporary items and I couldn't help but get some Christmas presents there. I then found more at a boutique/hairdressers, and at another store they still had HALLOWEEN stuff so I just HAD to get myself a couple tea towels that say "pick your poison." Turns out the owner of that store also loves Halloween. 😁

At this point, I was getting hungry so I went to the Czech American Restaurant, which I had found online but also was recommended to me by the boss of my boss's son, who grew up around West. 

Super cute.

I was way more interested in the Czech food rather than the American. I got the combo plate with a sausage and a cabbage roll.

They must prep all their salads early.

It was SO GOOD!!! I was wracking my brain trying to remember the thing we had in Prauge that my tummy did NOT appreciate. I think it was the potato dumplings... they didn't have those here, so no worries, but I was annoyed I couldn't remember. Its only been 10 years 😳🙄

On my way out, I was blocked by a train! I'm always amazed by how HUGE these things are.

The other place that was recommended was Gerik's. You walk in, and it's mostly a pizza place, but walk around to the right and you'll see the baked goods. This place had HUGE cinnamon rolls that included all kinds of things. The one i remember most is the oreo cinnamon roll. I got Mo some stuff from here

On my way out, I stopped by the Czech Stop and picked up the rest of the things for M, M, and A. Hopefully I'll get to see M&M before Christmas to give them their goodies. I officially spent more yesterday at the Czech Stop than EVER BEFORE. And yes, I got a few goodies for myself as well. It took 3 boxes and one bag to get all my stuff out to the car. Thank God where I'm staying had room in a freezer!!

So if you ever have some free time and are around the area, I highly recommend getting off the interstate and Czeching out the little Czech town. You might find some unexpected goodies! 

Mobile Test

I haven't been using my computer much lately, so I thought I'd test doing this on my phone. Sigh... it's taking over.

Interesting that I can only do 1 pic at a time. Anyway, here's some of the pix from Santa fe, Albuquerque, and roswell... you know, that trip at the start of oct!! Lol. Ah well, such is life. Will do a more in-depth update later! Good to know this works 😁

My celebrity moment

 Thursday was date night with the fella.  We decided to go to a Korean restaurant near me, since the one in downtown Fort Worth was closed when we tried to go to it.  We walk into the restaurant and the lady there goes to sit us.  She then looks at me and goes "I know you, don't I?"  I've never seen this lady before, so I'm confused.  Then she goes "I think we have a friend in common.  Do you know anyone who went to school in Coppel?"  I go "Yeah, my best friend graduated from there!"  And she says something like "YES, that's how I know you!  You are all over her FB page!!"  Turns out the owner of the restaurant was besties with my bestie in school!  So, we took a pic and sent it to her.  It was crazy and the first instance of FB actually bringing me closer to someone in real life due to a mutual friend.  The fella and I ended up really enjoying our meal and the food was quite authentic.  Turns out her parents were from Korea and her mom does the cooking.  I was a little sad they were out of kimbap, but the spicy pork that the fella had was incredible, as was the bibibap I had.  Next time I'm getting the bibibap with the veggies.  We have decided that we may need to become regulars.

The rest of the weekend was spent making my huge pot of chili on Friday, Saturday we were going to go to the botanical gardens but decided not to due to both of us not feeling great.  Which brings me to today, where I'm watching movies and about to have a snackie snack before heating up my chili.  I've also decided to stick with the treadmill on days that I'm doing a fasted workout and changing to the rowing machine on the days I'm doing a fed workout.  The longer fasts 2x a week are going pretty well, tho I'm wondering if I might need to talk to my doc about the days my tum tum is no good.  And the weird pain in my side... it's been there on and off for YEARS now, and I've gotten a CT done before and they didn't find anything so I'm hesitant to check again.  Nothing like friends and family finding out their bodies are being mean to them to spark me wanting to check on mine.  It's supposed to just keep ticking away and not make any issues!  Dash it all. 

Anyways, not much is really going on.  The weekend was lovely and lazy, and it still surprises me how quickly a month of weekends can become booked.  Next weekend is a Greek festival that the fella and I are going to go to, then A is coming over for a LOTR weeekend, then it's Thanksgiving weekend, then I'm dog sitting, then free, then another dog sitting weekend, then Christmas, and then the New Year's trip!  And just like that 2023 will be here.  Craziness.  

Update

 Ok, ok, I know, I know.  It's been a hot minute.  My only excuse is that I'm lazy, the pix from Santa Fe didn't load, so it derailed my plans for posts about that, then October got busy... so forgive me, please.

Santa Fe was amazing.  A, L, and I had a great time.  Our hotel was near downtown, so we ended up walking most of everywhere and I'm afraid I walked A's legs off again, much like in Europe.  L was just as excited as I was, and he almost walked MY legs off.  LOL - thank goodness for GPS, as that made finding our way a lot easier.  We did the Margarita Trail and got our T-shirts (had to have 5 margaritas for the shirt) and saw LOTS of different stuff.  We went to the Loretto Chapel to see the miraculous staircase, saw the oldest shrine in the US (Our Lady of Guadalupe) the oldest church and house in the US, the Saint Francis Cathedral, countless shops, and the Chuck Jones Gallery (animator for Disney).  We had some AMAZING food, incredible drinks, and took some great pix.  My aunt came to visit for a while when we were at the farmer's market, which was also fun.  We went home by way of Roswell, so we got to see a bunch of alien stuff, too.  It was a lovely, long weekend.

Here are the only pix that came over.

Lotta nothing in West Texas.

Our first margarita stop.

We sat on the patio and the weather was perfect.

I love this pic of her.  The salsa here was weird, but it was good.

Work has been wonderful.  I've got a new position in addition to my old one - I'm now also the quality coordinator.  It's kind of what I was doing when I quit - I get to pull bunches of data and report it to various government entities.  We're also working on getting our hospital on a Health Information Network so that it's easier to communicate with other providers about our patients.  A lot of exciting things are on the list for the hospital, including a wellness center which would be AMAZING once it's done.  I'm kept fairly busy trying to find grants for the various things that we're want to do and upgrade.  Eventually we'd like to have an ICU and that's also going to require a lot of funding.  So, if any of my readers have a ton of $ they'd like to give away, I have a few GREAT ideas.  LOL.

I was able to see quite a few friends and family in October.  My uncle M came thru on his way down to FL and we were able to have lunch.  That was quite a treat.  A few days later my older sis was coming thru and so I took a Wednesday off to see her.  Ended up picking her up around 8, we went up to the Coppell area to have pedicures and eat at our favorite Mexican place.  We then ended up going to the huge half priced books off of 75 in Dallas, which was fun as always.  Then we had to do a Kroger run and pick up her hubby's dinner.  We dropped things off at her truck yard and then took the dog for a walk and got Sonic.  It was a perfectly lovely day with my older sis.  The following weekend I went down to San Antonio to spend some time with the bestie, which was wonderful as always.  I'm incredibly blessed by having so many lovely people in my world.  This past weekend the fella and I had a date night at a distillery to watch Scream and then we had a Halloween party to go to.  He was Mario and I was Pauline... which we had to explain a LOT that night, as not too many people know Mario was trying to rescue Pauline in Donkey Kong.  I was on the fence about the dress, but apparently it looked FANTASTIC.

Today I was poking around FB and saw some people marking themselves 'safe' from a stampede in Itaewon.  If you'd like to look up the news reports, feel free, otherwise please pray for everyone who was there, who was hurt and their families.  As far as I know, all my friends are ok, but it was a terrible tragedy.  

That pretty much catches you up on what I've been doing for the past month or so.  The apt complex continues to annoy me, as I didn't have water one night when I came home.  I'm not sure if I'll be renewing my lease or not (in April, I have time), trust me, if I do it's because of laziness.  The thought of moving again gives me the heebie jeebies.  I was wondering what was wrong with me until I realized some things.  I quit GRMC in 2018 and moved to San Antonio... then I moved to Korea in 2019, I came back in 2021 and moved in with Mom, I moved back to TX in 2022... that's what... 5 major moves in 4 years.  No wonder I'm not excited about the thought of packing and moving again.  No matter how much this place drives me crazy (oh, my catalytic converter was also stolen from my car in the parking lot) I'm not sure it's enough to keep me from staying.  I guess it depends on what happens with the lease renewal ($$).

Anyway, I don't have a ton to share today, just wanted to get back in the habit, as it were.  I'm spending the day in PJ's watching vampire movies.  The weather has been FANTASTIC, so my windows are open and I'm enjoying getting some fresh air.  Doing a little bit of cleaning, but not much TBH.  Lunches for the week are figured out (bbq brisket tacos), I've got plans for next Saturday (it's supposed to be dreary and rainy, so I'm making chili), and my fella is keeping me busy with social engagements.  I've almost got my finances figured out and under control, so that's also nice.  It's been interesting adjusting to having a fella in my world, but I must say it's been nice.  We make time for each other and enjoy each other's company, but we also don't smother each other, which is nice.  Im trying to move my pix from my phone to the computer at the moment, which is taking longer than I thought it would.  Sigh.

Oktoberfest

 Hello again, all!  I know, a post again!  Just 4 days after the last one?  WHAAAAAA?  Well, tbh I meant to post the last one well before I actually did.  What can I say, I got lazy.  I was watching Addams Family Values today and then the electricity did a 'blip' and now my Roku is super confused.  So, I unplugged it and figured I'd give it a while before trying again.  In the meantime, I could fill you in on the Oktoberfest shenanigans.  

For those of you going "But it's September" let me explain.  Oktoberfest was originally a celebration in October.  However, the longer it went on and the more popular it became, the start of the festival was moved to September because the sun stays up longer in Sept than in Oct, giving the festival goers more time to enjoy.  In Ft Worth I went to the first Oktoberfest at Panther Island.  This year, it was in Trinity Park (due to some legal issues from last year, I think).  It started on Thurs and ran thru Saturday.  I went Thurs with my fella and Saturday T came down and we went together.  Here are some of the pix from the last 2 days.

We gave our tickets to the people at the entrance and were promptly informed that the steins they had ordered were going to be there tomorrow.  Therefore, we'd have to come back tomorrow to pick them up.  I asked if I could pick his up since he would be busy and was assured that would be fine.  So, on Thursday we had to drink out of normal plastic cups, not out of the steins I'd been expecting.  Ah well, such is life during the Covid.

They had to do a polka/conga line.

I wanted to get a pic of him being him... he's kinda a goofball and I like that.

They looked like they were having fun going all around the tent, which, by the way, was AIR CONDITIONED!!!  That was part of the reason we were in here, as it was quite hot and melty out.

They were smart and put the A/C'd tent opposite one of the beer tents, so it was not difficult to get a refill.

I was going for a cute holding hand pic here... not sold on how 'cute' it turned out, but it was fun.

When the sun went down, we went exploring a bit more.  The carnival stuff looked fun, but we did not partake.

They make for good pix.

We did have food, but I did not take any pix of it this day.

MONKEY!

If you are my friend on FB, then you've seen this one.  I teased him a little about being officially official when there are these kinds of pix.

We're ok with it.  

Day 2 - Friday.  Here's the brat in a bun from Seigles that I had.  Ketzler's (my favorite German place in Granbury) was also there, but they were not serving brats.

My lovely companion for day 2 - it was still hot as hell.

A very German picture here, I think.  The pretzel was AMAZING.

Our food providers.

Sooo good.  I did in fact have a schnitzel on a bun from Ketzler's, mostly because I LOVE their sauerkraut.

We did also get our steins.  And I was able to get one for my fella as well.  So, all was good.  We spent plenty of time in the food, A/C, and beer tents.  The one complaint I would have is that (being in the park) the only toilet facilities were of the port-a-potty variety.  I did end up using one on Thurs (not bad, being the start of the festival) but was able to avoid them on Fri.  I'm sure they did their best to keep them clean throughout the weekend, but I can't say that I'm sad we decided not to go on Saturday.  Really, once we'd had some food and drink, we were good.  T and I had lunch at Rio Mambo on Saturday and then he headed home.  

It was a really nice couple of days of hanging out with my fella and seeing T.  The next post will likely be in October going over our Santa Fe adventures.  There's been a lot going on workwise, but I think I'll wait a bit to let you in on that.  Honestly, it's nice to be able to do more posts about 'here's the fun stuff going on' and less about 'I'm having a breakdown, come on the ride with me.'  I do appreciate when people read both kinds of posts, tho.  Thank you, faithful reader, for continuing to read the updates on what's going on in my world.  :)  :*MUAH!