Pork Chops with a Sweet Cherry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, and Pan Roasted Broccoli
Good morning! A quick pop in to say “hello”. This week is going by super fast.
Good Eats
I promised I would start sharing a pic of some of our Hello Fresh meals. We are just taken with this service and having fun with it. I enjoy picking out our menu for the following week on Monday’s. It’s hard to decide. I forgot to take a picture of our beef cavatappi last night though, oops. Oh my gosh it was some of the best food I ever put in my mouth. It was heavenly. We’ll be ordering that again. It had a creamy sauce. Was probably not low fat, but the tomatoes that were in it burst with flavor when you bit in. I may also recreate that one on my on. I’m going to recreate the enchiladas later in the week.
So it’s quarter end now that I have closed the last Friday payroll of June. And I will begin checking off the long list of of check boxes until it is complete. I’ll be doing not only my normal weekly payroll and weekly taxes that I pay for our bigger states with the most employees, but also doing the withholding tax returns and unemployment tax returns and our reconciliation report. It’s also month end so here’s kinda the run down.
___Pay Weekly Taxes
___Do my normal weekly routine: payroll, time entry fixes, PTO’s, garnishment check run to agencies, manual checks, and our 401k upload, and more.
___Pay the Bi-Weekly Tax for one state
___Pay 11 Monthly Taxes for the 11 states we pay monthly too
___Pay the 8 Quarterly paid Taxes for the 8 states we pay quarterly
___Do Withholding Returns in 26 states (Includes both our plant and Transport companies) for states that have withholding tax. This many do though.
___Do Unemployment Returns for all those states as well. Which is probably more than 26.
___Do my reconciliation report.
So in case you wondered why I’m so beefed up about getting it done. It’s a lot of extra work that has to be on top of your already busy week. So I have to try and get this “worked in” to my days.
How to Look Up a Phone Number Free
I found this website the other day and was able to find out for the first time in a long time, who called, lol.
It’s thatsthem.com. I’m not going to put the link in here, but you can try it if you want. Another time the phone number couldn’t be found. But I was pleased it worked for one of the numbers. I think we ought to be able to know who is really calling us.
Dexter Having a Quiet Moment
And here’s a video of him playing with a tea bottle I brought home yesterday.
Nails Done
I had time to go get my nails done. I have such mixed feelings. The cost with tip is over $50 for a dip. It just seems so high but it’ll last me close to a month. I feel guilty getting them done sometimes, especially since I also get my toes done. I like to get them done separately so I can enjoy getting them done without them hovering over me getting my nails done. I like to be on my phone and when my nails have foil on them while I get my pedi, I can’t do that, lol. So usually I go separately. I may look to see if there is cheaper prices anywhere. I bet you all say that is a good deal? Last time you did. I fussed about a year ago too. Well it’s something I will cut out if times get harder, but for now I’ll still do it as busy as we are. When I retire, I’ll do my own and just go periodically has a treat for a manicure so they can clean them up nicely from time to time. Then I’ll have more time to do them at home. I don’t mind doing them and enjoy it but only if I have time to sit there and do them and let them dry. Otherwise it is frustrating.
The Next “Less Hustle More Coffee” Video is Scheduled
This is ONLY the thumbnail – a preview of Saturday’s upcoming video that goes live at 7:00 a.m. Saturday
Wow, I can hardly believe it myself but the next video is scheduled for Saturday at 7:00 a.m. of Mom’s Walk-Thru of her new house and of our going through a local Christmas shop and celebrating her closing on her house. I think I have a schedule now where I can get them done more quickly. Scheduling it in advance is helping me. So all the videos will go up Saturday at 7:00 a.m. if there is going to be one. I was trying for every two weeks and this week I’m beating the goal by a week! We’ll see how it goes but weekly may be a challenge. Or maybe not if I can get them scheduled in advance and get a rhythm going. Before I would wait until it went live to start the next one. Now I just wait until I have it scheduled.
So, Over and Out. I need to get to work and Dexter is wearing me out this morning wanting more attention. It’s very difficult to blog as he gets into so much in my office. I have to stop about 6 or 8 times despite the fact that I have brought him toys to play with in here. Sometimes I have to put him back out in the hallway and close the door, so I can finish but I try not to as he is closed up all day. But you get to a point where it has to be done or I’ll be late for work. Most of the time he is calm but those two hours of the day. And one of them is always my office time despite the tennis ball playing we did earlier. It’s a wonder I get to work at all on time.
Oh and….
Meanwhile in Texas
Little Roo gets a haircut today. His first one. All his little curls will be gone. It’s time though. She waited as long as she could. Here’s a pic of the family at the beach! They had a fabulous vacation. Little Roo liked the sand but not the waves.
Well the nice comforter has been exchanged for a quilt turned inside out since the color scheme doesn’t match and a little extra layer of a short quilt throw. Not seen are the towels underneath it all. The goal being if there is some kind of accident in bed, we’ll be covered and maybe not have to remove ALL the bedding. The good news is nothing has happened since he is over the digestive issues. The original comforter though had all kinds of smells on it in which he promptly marked. I have washed it but have decided not to put the good one one unless we have company or I get extremely brave, lol. I really like the comforter and those colors will be hard to find again, so I’ll tuck it back until needed.
Here’s some things about Dexter we’ve learned in the week we have had him:
He is so smart. He has learned to sit and lay down this weekend.
As you know if you read the blog last week he already is potty trained for paper and will also go outside, and he learned to retrieve a tennis ball.
He only has periods of “spastic and erratic” puppy behavior, but most of the time is laid back and rests or sleeps and this is welcome ;-).
Loud noises scare him. He’s a chicken a lot of the times. A bird outside scared him, sliding glass door plates (his foot landed wrong on one and he thinks they bite), grinding coffee, using the vacuum, using the blender – send him over the edge. Fireworks were not favored, but he calmed with both fireworks and thunder easily when I laid my hand on him.
He learns easily.
Only today has he responded to “no no” more consistently.
He has has explored much of the house and does not seem to care to mark like boy dogs usually do.
He slept for the 2nd time ALL night. It’s me that gets us in trouble when I need to get up to go potty and he wakes up too and then he wants to be up for the day. But last night we both made it ALL night.
His teeth are very very sharp and it is best to have a toy ready to go when he decides to play, til he learns people’s flesh are not play toys. He’s still learning no no. And we’ve learned that if we Yip, like a sibbling puppy he is quick to stop. But I forget to yip and say no no and point finger and that just makes him bite more and growl lol.
He will eat anything, so you have to watch him like a hawk. He particularly loves worms and can track them and pull them out of the grass. Outside walking is not a safe place right now for him without having all his shots yet but we do the best we can as he loves to see and possibly eat poo! “No No” is his name, he thinks.
He wants to please but his most persistent desire is to play and chew, but we are so lucky that he is not like that all day like most puppies are.
He is calm more than we thought and will sit at our feet a lot of the time. Much more than we anticipated.
He is growing and gaining weight and seems to be starved at meal time. So we’ve added a little extra. He was 11 lbs the day we got him and he is now 15 lbs.
His ability to adapt to us and our schedule has been incredible. I’m so proud of him.
Things we are working on:
Learning no no consistently.
Learning sit and lay down commands consistently
Learning to stay
Learning “no”
Redirecting biting/chewing.
Learning that night time is sleep time and transitioning from play time to sleep time so that everyone gets a full night sleep.
Learning his name and we are trying to use his name more instead saying “little buddy” which we endearingly called Roger and so it’s hard not to use it.
Other Updates
Mom and I had a very pleasant day out Saturday. We took Fancy to be trimmed. We went to IHOP at Mom’s request. Their breakfast and service is very good in the Mount Juliet area. Imagine the service you get at Publix. That is the service the IHOP has. Very nice and happy and pleasant.
Then we went to Lowe’s and bought some shelving, in which we had a very nice young lady to go get a scissor lift and help us with the unit mom wanted which was on the top shelf and out of reach. They didn’t have the size she wanted within reach. But we saw one on display and the lady found it for us. Then we went to her bank to cash a check and since the bridge was closed at Providence due to construction we went all the way to Donelson to Kohl’s simply because we could get there. Mom thought it was too far out but it was a lot of red lights. We’d have been stuck in interstate traffic for hours had we gone to Belk. Anyway, she found a purse she wanted and even bought me one when I found totes on sale for $18 and couldn’t decide which – she said “aww you buy one and I’ll get the other”. But she bought me breakfast. Anyway that was nice. I will enjoy one now (a yellow one) and one at the end of the summer which has a more rust look. I’ll show these to you eventually when I get time to change purses, lol.
George fixed a seafood feast last night. Scallops and shrimp and clam strips and onion rings. My favorite was the shrimp pasta with mizithra cheese.
So since I had Saturday out, George offered to take Mom to church yesterday to give me a day at home. It is what my soul needed. My most productive time in the house is in the mornings. I was able to get laundry done, kitchen cleaned and get some of the dogs things organized. I changed both sheets on our bed which needed it desperately. The only thing I did not get done is the ironing for this week. So I will work on that some in the evenings. I decided I better take the time to do voiceovers while the dog was sleeping and George was out of the house. I got way more done than I thought. I enjoyed the time so much getting to be creative and have some hobby time, a day of both productivity and rest. While many got their worship time in yesterday for an hour or two, I will get in 5 hours of worship this week in a study I’m listening to while on the road. And prayer time as well on the road.
Anyway, I need to go but here is the kitchen area with the new baskets I bought. There were not cheap but I needed them and wanted them to look nice since they are in the kitchen where we also entertain at times. We are reaching for these things a lot now and it’s just the best place to put them out of reach from the dog.
Then Little Roo is at the beach and wearing his airplane shirt. He did good on the plane ride. Loves the beach, but not the waves! He did great without a nap and was flexible. He gets to be with cousins.
Ok, so, this week? Well, we get the Hello Fresh shipment in today and we’ll square away which meals for next week. Mom has her hair appointment Tuesday. The lady we like, left the salon so we had to be placed under a new stylist. And so Mom’s is this Tuesday when mine was supposed to be, but hers needed to be the later appointment since I have to go to Lebanon to get her. And mine is next Tuesday I think.
So, I think we have a pretty good week of being home with the dog, getting ironing done, and cleaning some and working on the to do list as well as keeping up the blog and working on the next video.
The next video is actually about 30 years of marriage, our anniversary and going through our freezer, as well as a few local spots in the area. So hopefully I can crank this one out soon. I gained a subscriber that also left a nice comment so that was good. And the past video did double well as compared to most of the rest, so that was refreshing.
Ok need to get to work and I’ll see you all mid-week and that is really all I know to share right now! Ya’ll have a great week head!
As mentioned in a previous entry, we did the wine tasting at the Hermitage and really enjoyed it. I liked the wine very much. And was shocked to learn they had an “iced tea wine”. George had his favorites and I had mine and so we bought enough to get “their deal”. You buy so many you get 15% off. So we treated ourselves.
We also went to a few yard sales last Saturday. There were not many with it being Mother’s Day Weekend. But there were a few. I have become to love adding flowers to a room for decor. I needed a couple of big vases that would hide the bottom of stems (most of mine are see through). I bought these with the idea of spray painting them. (Like I have time for any more creative projects). Currently they are in the basement “waiting their turn”. If I can get them to a neutral color, I can use them in various places in the house. And I can sign up for Hobby Lobby emails again and be able to find out when their flowers are 50% off.
A friend (Lisa J) from work brought cookies and left them on my desk. A little Momma’s day treat. So sweet. I shared with my next door office neighbor, Deb.
My Mother’s Day card came in Monday. It was worth the wait. It was a special constructed Momma’s day card.
The gift itself came yesterday. A pic of Little Roo.
I love this photo but everyone is going to tease him one day for being just like Cody and George. They love to sneak something into the photo without being totally obvious – a subtle little birdie or in George’s case sometimes a purposeful glimpse of his belly button. lol. If you see it in the pic let me know. Yes they will tease him about it one day. That makes the pic even more perfect. lol lol But I love that pic of him by the planter. I love him in his little khakis and plaid shirt and bare feet!
A “Peace Offering” Cookie.
There’s a “Mexican” bakery close to work. I’ll go there someday. I saw where it was while driving around in the area. But someone brought me one this week. But this week another department had some “issues” that caused payroll to be half day behind as I was told not to close payroll yet til they were ironed out. I stayed over a bit and then had to focus to rush through Wed and Thurs to catch up. I didn’t get many of my extra projects worked on this week because it took away some of my week. To make matters worse, no one told me when the “issues” were fixed so I waited three extra hours to start payroll. I could have gone after about 2 hours of waiting if I had known. And when I checked three times I was told it was not finished. (Yes, It was confusing and miscommunication as life often is. You know when several are involved.) Anyway the department felt bad and brought peace offering cookies, which was so nice of them to do. I was so impressed. Often in this day and time no one cares when someone makes you work harder and longer because of an issue. So it was nice to see that there are people that care or recognize it when they make your life more difficult and didn’t mean to. So Thank You Lord for that. There is a bite missing. I took a bite before taking the picture. No harm. No foul. At least we made the upload/deadline for the deposit.
Night Out with Mom
One night I took Mom out to Cracker Barrel. I don’t think she felt too good. She seemed a bit agitated and unhappy. They set us at a 2- seater table and she brought it up 4 times before our order that she was not happy sitting there. I get it. I prefer a 4 seater also so you have more elbow room. Neither of us is a small person, lol. I asked the waitress to move us but Mom refused. Thankfully she didn’t go on about it after that. I think I would have moved and ate by myself if she had, lol. I either wanted us to move or get over it. And she fussed about the purse she has and how small it was. She can’t ever find anything in her purse and when something comes out it won’t go back in and that was making her mad. She cursed loudly at it. I felt sad for her that she was having such an unhappy day. I often have those days when I don’t feel good or upset about something else and I’m just impatient with the world. Patience has never been her strong suit. So if you wonder where I get THAT. There ya go! It’s not been mine! So let’s talk about that!
Patience, Emotions, Guilt, Manipulation, Contentment – We are all a work in progress.
I’ve had to work really hard on this thorn in my side of not being patient. I can’t say that I’ve mastered patience, but I can say that I am better at it and that I am learning to “self parent” myself (lol, don’t you love that psychological term?) when something doesn’t go my way or suit me. I’ve had to learn how to better handle my emotions in my adult life. In the early days (20’s and 30’s and even 40’s), I just said “it’s me – it’s who I am – I want what I want and when I want it – I’m just driven – so get over it”. But that attitude is just kinda selfish, childish, and not very loving or considerate of others. So I’ve tried so hard to be better at reacting. I’m not perfect but I’m better. And I no longer desire to lay claim proudly with that type of reaction or behavior. I admit to not having patience at times but I’m no longer proud of it or claim it as a character trait that others must live with. I’ve learned to “self soothe” as the psychologists/psychiatrist calls it. And that has been a big learning curve to try and find contentment within yourself and soothe your own spirit. A lot goes into it. It’s a lot of work to try not to be narcissistic when your pattern is cut out for you to be. :-O I have decided that recognizing those patterns within yourself is over half of the problem. Because only then can you begin to be honest with yourself and be humble and ashamed of that kind of behavior and let go of the ego and start again to trying to be a better person. Believe me, Iiiiiiiiiii know.
OOOOPS! Anyway, I got off subject, lol. I offered to take Mom to a store nearby to find a purse but she said she would go on line or get Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken to take her when they got up here. She had not asked me to take her to Belk so I will not be made to feel guilty over that – that is another thing I’m learning is not to be made to feel guilty for things that are out of my control. While this manipulation tactic has worked on me before I’m learning to let go of that as I am learning how to be aware of various people’s manipulation tactics – intended or not. Sometimes I think people are so engrained at manipulating others they don’t even know they are doing it. I’m sure I do it myself. We probably all do to a degree at whatever has worked in the past. I expect for others to let me know if they need something from me as it’s not my job to determine what others are wanting or thinking. Mom may not have been manipulating me in this way – only she can answer that, but whether or not she was- I am the one that has allowed myself to feel guilty in the past as if I had done something wrong. Even then, you see – I immediately offered to take her to get a purse. I’ve been trained in that way to respond to negative behavior – after I saw her curse at the purse. I wanted her world to be right. Even though we all know the purse is one thing. And tomorrow it’ll be another item. I’ve been the same way. So I’m still in a work in progress too. lol. I almost think Mom is happier when George is with us. He must lift her mood. With me she seems more agitated. Or perhaps she is more comfortable and lets her guard down and allows herself to me more agitated with me. Sometimes I feel like I’m just the no count daughter that can’t do anything to please, other than provide gossip worthy adventures, so… Who knows. At least I’m the daughter still around. The other one said she couldn’t handle it and took off. lol
I hate she didn’t seem to have a good time although she thanked me and said she did. And I appreciated that. I tried to make her happy by getting her out of the house. I can’t make people be content though. And I can’t be held responsible for anyone else’s happiness. As I know toooooo well, contentment has to come from within. Other people can’t fix everything for you. There is nothing anyone else can do. An individual just has to learn to find their own contentment with their circumstances. I have had to do this for a while for things that turned out a lot different than I had expected or wanted. Often my own desires and plans in life have been squashed. I can accept it and go on. Or I can wallow in misery. Or I can decide to change the situation. It’s my choice. And I’ve made my decisions. Subject to change again if I decide. But on the way back from Mom’s God gave me the most awesome sunset to watch as I drove home. It’s as if He was consoling me from the work week and life’s snotty little trials. Or was it me just settling in with my own contentment at going home, finding silence and peace, and going to bed?
George stayed home this night to work on a few projects music wise. He is doing some recording with the device/equipment I got him for Christmas finally. And it’s yard work season so that takes up some time on other nights. Mom takes up some time during the week and on weekends some. And he cooks which he loves to do. But…..I’m also trying to give him a break too by doing some cooking here and there. I just don’t have time either, lol. My problem is that I get in the store and don’t have recipes with me, don’t want to take time to find them in the store, and have tried to get organized with this for some time and it just gets pushed to the bottom of the list. So….a friend at work gave me a “free box” invite from HELLO FRESH. So…..
Hello Fresh
So George and I got on last night and I ordered the 3 meal plan with Hello Fresh. We got a “free box” and it will come every week all with fresh ingredients. You can skip weeks if you need to. But often I don’t get to the store but every two weeks and we take Mom and it’s hard to get my own groceries bought. But this will help. I’m excited. I don’t have to pick a recipe other than getting on line each week and making a choice. I set up the app on my phone and have the alerts come when it’s time to pick the next week. You can add on breakfast and lunch items too. Even like granola bars, oatmeal. And the price is about what I’d spend at the store. So it’ll come in and I’ll be able to fix these quickly with the ingredients and recipes already gathered.
I am excited to try it. My friend says it’s worked well for them. They spend less because instead of having to buy a whole thing of bread for example or buns – you pay for just the ingredients you need and a whole bag of buns or the cost of it doesn’t go to waste if you don’t have time to eat them. That makes sense. I will let you know how it goes.
We also began looking at pet finding apps and websites. I’m not sure we will qualify as some of them are very self righteous as George calls it about their pets. Did we forget a year to do the rabies shot? Do we have a fenced in yard? Did we faithfully do heart worm meds? Do we work and out of the home a lot? George said not to get my hopes up. I already wasn’t. I know God will allow us to have the dogs(s) – yes two of them – when the time is right and the dogs are right. He does that and I’m praying every day so I will not fret over it. I’ll patiently wait. But it was this dog that got me started. When I started. Then George got started. He’s inquired about a set of dogs that are bonded. But this one is the one that got me started as I inquired about her. But I’ve yet to go in and finish the sign up as it required an application before they will talk to you. I needed to get references. So I’ve got permission from non-relatives mainly friends and neighbors (required not to be a relative) to give their address and phone so we can try to get a dog. I was not going to blindly do that w/o their permission. It seemed wrong. So I’ve not finished signing up on line (no time). But the reference information has been obtained at least through some phone work. Monkey gets extremely car sick but I’ve inquired. No response. Other than an email to do the next step by completing an application. (Insert eye roll here). So we will “play their game” for a while and try to find dogs their way, if not we will try something else – visit shelters and find a more personable way of doing business that works for us. But hey – at least we are getting started! George said he could go a while without a dog but when he retires he’ll want one. But he is also good with getting one now. I’m ready now. But letting God decide. If not us, I hope Monkey finds a perfect home for her. And I appreciate her getting us started so she deserves special mention. That sweet face. I want a dog with a sweet face. I love you Monkey. For getting us going. ;-). I wish you could be mine.
I’m sorry my blog is all over the place. My head is all over the place as usual. I have more to say but I’ll wait til tomorrow I suppose. Tomorrow I’ll say what all the week next week will bring.
Today we are going on an excursion and seeing friends and eating out and doing a bit of shopping in between, and another wine tasting. I’m not getting many groceries due to the Hello Fresh. But we do need a few things. I like to see what Whole Foods has. But we need some condiments and basic things – like coffee, peanut butter, snack items, and such.
Ahhhhhh. I have so many things I want to do this weekend but we are gone today and half of tomorrow. It’s ok. We are having to force ourselves out and have fun. Although we may discuss maybe doing it once a month instead of three. lol. I can’t keep up with ourselves. LOL LOL. My blog can’t keep up with our adventures either now. LOL LOL So…More tomorrow.
“Ruffled feathers and endless squawking over a minor difficulty is typical of a crow’s life. I lean back on the counter and realize that could be my line….”
Less Hustle More Coffee 