Less Hustle More Coffee

Here’s to starting the new calendar at work. It’s bigger and I like it. Of course I’ve taken a pic of just the picture for you b/c I like the saying, and you have seen what a January calendar grid looks like, lol. I love my “saying” calendars.

I feel like so much has happened in just two days. It’s all good of course and nothing huge or major but still a lot happening. I won’t mention the fact that work is busy. Of course I just mentioned it. lol

Mainly we have been birthdaying, eating, using our Amazon Reward Points, and it feels like Christmas all over again.

First of all the cooking!

Pasta with White Wine Sauce

The pasta with a white wine sauce turned out well. I’m not a recipe writing girl and I throw in pinches of this and a squirt of that, but here’s what it was. Very easy to do.

I found some red pepper pasta to give George for Christmas because we look for it everywhere and can never find it. So we used it because we didn’t have any other spaghetti on hand. I’m shocked because I have a fear of running out of spaghetti! It was perfect for this dish.

My idea was to make a simple white wine sauce to pour over pasta and sautéed veggies.

I started with sautéing onions over medium heat, then added the garlic, then added the zucchini and added the halved cherry tomatoes – with their inside parts down on the skillet and the skin part in the air. I’ve found this traps the liquid flavor inside and makes it scrumptious.

No times – just wing it! I added butter and olive oil, white wine, (should have added pasta water – just a couple of table spoons, but I forgot). Add in your flavors:

**Sweet: I added in honey. It was “hot honey” so then I hit two flavor elements at once.

**Heat: The pasta was pepper pasta so the heat was already there and then the honey was heat. If I’d not had those I’d have added pepper flakes, which I cook with a lot.

**Sour: I added in White Balsamic Vinegar, which I’m finding I like a lot!

**Salt: I used Worcestershire sauce, I believe. You can also use soy, or just simply add salt, but I like to add a liquid salty flavor if I can.

These taste elements above are what I try to put in any dish that has sauce or liquid to it: soups, pasta sauces, etc. Because if you put those elements in a dish the flavors will really melt together and give it a more complex taste. Makes you go mmmmmmm.

Then I added in the herbs: salt, pepper, oregano, basil, celery salt. I think that was it.

I cooked my pasta and cooked the chicken in the George Foreman Grill.

The next day I fixed some more pasta for lunch using ramen noodles because I had some sauce left over and I usually cannot ever get enough pasta.

Then George fixed “cold noodle” with some leftover noodles and we had it alongside some lettuce wraps with ground chicken with a sauce George made. We had egg rolls with it

For my birthday, we went to Longhorn. The steak was great. A little more done than I had hoped but it was ok. It was still good.

I’m also getting good at being a DESK CHEF. I’ve learned what ingredients to have on hand to make a great meal on a whim. Today I made tuna salad with celery, pickle relish, mayo, sliced almonds, with a side of crackers. To add some flavor I added some Olive Garden Italian dressing to it. Yum! I also had applesauce on the side.

Maybe one day I’ll do an entry on what to have on hand in your office fridge and pantry. I think it might be helpful.

So I opened my gift from Katy and Cody and Little Roo. My goodness it was loaded.

George let me order my dishes for my birthday from him. They look like this:

I’m so excited. I love the beading around the edges. He also intended on giving me $60 worth of gift cards b/c of my 60th milestone birthday. But he miscounted – I think some of the chic Fil A cards stuck together so I got $80, lol.

My boss bought me some flowers. So beautiful. Made my day! And offered to take me to lunch once things calm down.

Yes I know, my nails need “doing”. I’m going tomorrow and getting rid of the red and getting a transluscent white!

And then….here is what I ordered with my Amazon Reward Points which came in today. So it’s been like Christmas all over again.

I’m really gonna like this. I took my ISA one to work. I would never take this nice one to work. It has a base but it will do a smoothie or a smoothie bowl. I’d never heard of a smoothie bowl. lol My goal was to get one that would take ice really well and this one will. There is only one base, and it will work with the bowl or the smoothie glass. It came with two 24 oz glasses and tops and a smoothie bowl and top.

So I ordered this “work bag” and I’m still very undecided about it. It’s really supposed to carry a laptop. But I figured that it would be fine to use to carry other stuff.

But without the laptop it sinks and slouches, lol. I think that will drive me crazy. So I either send it back and get something different, or just order me an apple laptop, lol. No I’m not gonna, but I did entertain it for a few minutes to see what I thought that would be like. I’m pretty happy with my apple computer set up.

And I needed some more socks and found these lovely pairs after searching the bowels of Amazon for over an hour. Finally they showed me something I wanted.

And then there was the needed Lacie 2TB of storage to hold the next couple to three years of videos storage. My current one is about used up. I think it might have been 1T though. And these have definitely gone up in price.

So all the ordering, cooking, eating, unboxing, and birthdaying have kept us really busy.

And in addition to all THAT.

We’ve made our travel arrangements for our spring break San Antonio trip to meet Katy and Cody and had to move some appointments around, turn in PTO requests and communicate back and forth on a few things. The flights are made. We are looking at a VRBO to book but I have run out of time and I’m tired. I want to make sure it’s in a good part of town. I’m in no condition for that tonight. I’m whooped. I took longer for lunch to get the flights booked and get Dexter’s boarding booked, and to change Fancy’s vet appointment which landed on the Saturday we’d be gone. And I had to make Mom’s February eye appointment.

So I worked later today to make up for some of that. I’ll be working later a bit for a while due to all the responsibilities. However, tomorrow I have a nail appointment. I’ve not decided if I’ll work over or not. But I probably will some because every day will count and I am behind this week being a holiday week and not everyone was ready to close payroll like I had asked for them to be so it threw us behind.

Anyway George and I are watching Yellowstone’s latest season. Our night is running behind now because my work schedule is behind so it throws off everything. I still haven’t checked on Mom tonight and this blog entry has taken two sittings. It’s hard to skip a day of activity and then write about two days – so much happens in two days. So much for “Less Hustle and More Coffee”. That is the irony. That is why I always wish for it. That’s why I love going to the ranch, sipping coffee and looking out the window and letting the mind rest and free think. But it’s all good.

I’m going to put on my PJ’s and we’ll watch our show and I’ll collapse into bed and we will do it all over tomorrow – different day, different plans.

I still haven’t ordered Amazon using my Christmas Gift Cards. God has blessed us this season. We hardly buy anything all year long except household needs and gifts and vitamin supplements, lol, so it seems like a lot but this is when we buy things and then call it Christmas. Except occasional purchases when we travel and find things. Mostly we hold off and order at Christmas. I’m so excited to order my next Amazon haul. I have a few things in my list and have to decide which ones. 😉

Saturday is starting to look real busy too. So much to cram in one day. Sunday is church, Mom taking us for my birthday lunch, and then we run her errands. I have to get ready for our party the following weekend. And this month just has us going every which direction. I need an oil change, car wash, and I miss having an extra day to do all this stuff in. No chance of getting to work on videos this week either. But one day. Things must settle first.

Nite Nite