Times...they are a changing

Well today it happened. As it does every year where I work, the talking heads upstairs feel they must rearrange people to see if things will work better. This year because of the recession it has been an even greater blow and change to us all. This once was a family run company, but the founder has passed. Her children do not have anything to do with day to day run of things letting those they’ve appointed run it all. I guess as long as the money still goes into their bank accounts they’re good.
Many people here have worked for 15 years or more and turnover is rare. This last year many have left due to a company offer to take early retirement or a “leave now with benefits” offer. The benefits being several weeks paid based on tenure. Some jumped at that chance, others were “encouraged”. Now those who did not take that “encouragement” seriously are being told to find other positions within the company (there is nothing) or flat out told to gather their things and leave.
Yes, yes I am grateful for my job as it pays well and I’m able to support my family since my husband lost his job. But it is no longer exciting and I no longer love it or this company as I once did. I know it could be worse but right now I really envy those who are doing what they love and getting paid for it.
My colleagues will be sorely missed (didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to some) and I know they will eventually find peace and embrace this opportunity to start a new chapter in their lives. The rest of us will continue to nervously trudge along until new changes are deemed necessary and hope for the best.

What a difference a day makes

Well after our record snow fall here, my kids and i drove around the neighborhood once roads were decent to look at the many snowmen built. Had to share these two - a Valentine snowman and a chicken! The snow is gone now, schedules are back to normal with school and work, planes are back in flight. I imagine people flying off to warm exotic place. These "sculptures" are reduced to tiny mounds of snow, but they will live on here to come back another day -- and i will eventually get back to a warm exotic place too.

Day 2 of Snow!

Well today was an official snow day, all schools closed and my job location was closed. it had snowed even more last night. Totals acording to the news are about 10 to 13 inches depending on where you live. Although we still have power a large area does not (about 180,000 homes). Our satellite signal did go out last night but now its back. This morning i did a short walk in the snow and took some pictures at a small block near my home -

Snow Day!!!

I'm sure most people up north are sick to death of all the snow and cold they've had. But here in Texas we hardly ever get snow, much less like the snow fall we had today. It was a TRUE SNOW DAY. Unfortunately nothing closed so we had to just watch the snow fall from our windows (those of us lucky enough to have windows in our work areas). All day i just wanted to go out and play, make snowmen, have a snowball fight and make snow angels. The snow is just pouring down like nobody's business and not much work is getting done as everyone keeps going to the window to watch this rare treat.
i managed to take a few photos with my cell phone on the way in to work this morning. not very good ones - but you get the idea here. From the weather forcast this promises to stick around till tomorrow so should have some much better pics then.

Saints WIN!

It’s been a dismally dreary weekend again here, with cold, rain and clouds (I so wish to be back in sunny, warm Cozumel again!). Well since my Cowboys weren’t playing in the Super Bowl (once again) this year, I decided to go for the Saints. This being their first time I felt they deserved a chance. At first it looked like they might have gotten there on pure luck as they started out with quite a bit of errors – interceptions, dropped balls, etc., but in the second half they proved their worth and won it!

As I got ready to watch the big game I made my own game plan for food! I had come across this web site (Homesick Texan) with a fantastic photo and recipe of chicken and andouille sausage gumbo. It looked so good I had to try and make this for myself. So I printed out the recipe and went shopping for my ingredients. Surprisingly enough I did find andouille sausage in my regular grocery store. It’s probably always been available there but never having cooked with it before I of course never noticed it. I also bought some other things to make some appetizers to munch on while we waited for the gumbo to cook. Ok I like to cook and I have tried some recipes outside the norm of my usual type of food that I like. I always learn something new in the way of cooking – with this one (and I should have known better cause I’d heard this before) always read the recipe through! If I had done that though I probably wouldn’t have even attempted this, it was so time consuming and detailed in all that it instructed you to do. I’ll let you read for yourself but suffice to say I did not follow all those steps. I bought chicken breast that had no bone or skin so there was no fat to skim off or separate. I also used minced garlic and got out of mincing five garlic cloves. Everything else I pretty much did as instructed. I’d never made roué before in this manner and it only looked slightly different going into the oven as it did coming out.

While all that was cooking I made a couple of appetizers (recipes from Pampered Chef) to tide us over. The Moroccan Chicken Crostini Melts  (second photo below) and Asian Crab Salad Crisps (first photo below). They came out quite tasty, however the crab appetizers were a little too spicy – note: next time little less of the spice mix.

The kids are not too keen on trying new things but they were good sports and gave it a shot – they gave them both thumbs up.

As they munched I finished up the gumbo and made some white rice to go with. I served myself a nice steaming bowl and ……it did not taste as I expected. I’m not even sure what I expected it to taste like – but I did not care for – I think it might have been the taste of the andouille sausage that threw me. You could see the chunks of fat in it and I just could not eat it. My two older kids however LIKED it and ate a whole bowl full. So the day wasn’t a total waste.

I ended up eating more of the appetizers which were quite filling and watched the Half-time show and the rest of the Super Bowl game. They sure can party in New Orleans! Happy Mardi Gras.

Road trip!

The other day was pretty dreary and my daughter and i decided to take a very short road trip down to our fave chinese restaurant - Mr. Chopsticks. This little hole in the wall features authentic chinese food and even chinese sake and beer. Nestled in the middle of Denton, Texas just off the University of North Texas Campus. Although it was pouring down rain, we drove slow and soon were savoring Shrimp Dumplings, Shrimp Tempura, Eggrolls and California Rolls. The shrimp dumplings were a first for us and even though the sauce is flavorful and spicy, it didn't help much (in our opinion) to give the dumplings a better tast. The texture of the dumpling (the outside part you see here) is sticky and blah. The shrimp inside did not have any kind of marinade or flavor either. I don't think we'll get this dish again. The eggrolls on the other hand had a chicken filling and lots of flavor - fabulous!! These eggrolls are the best of any other chinese place i've eaten at. The other two dishes were also very flavorful and delicious. Made an icky day much better and on the way back home, the rain had tapered off and we could even see Lewisville Lake as the day winded down.

Resolutions

As the New Year has come this is all you hear every time you turn on the tv or pick up a magazine. Most of them of course have to do with weight loss, managing your money or just being a better person. And in a couple of months everyone will have either stopped doing whatever they promised to do until next New Year’s eve comes around. I did not make any resolutions and figure I’ll just keep working on what I try to work on all year long anyway  which is eating more nutritionally and trying to buy as much as I can locally (veggies, fruits, dairy, etc.). One good site I’ve found for this is Local Harvest

You can sign up to receive updates on local farm happenings and more. Another thing I constantly work on all year is keeping fit and healthy by exercising and taking my vitamins and supplements. These are my main sources of supplements and vitamins – www.discoverlimu.com/aurora, www.blufrogenergy.com/aurora and www.ardysslife.com/gilrod - the Cran Aloe, Le’vive and Triple Lifeline all help me meet my health goals by providing daily recommended nutrients and antioxidants to help fight illness and strengthen my immune system.

And of course working on making money through the opportunities with Limu and Ardyss as well as saving money where I can.  David Bach has just come out with a brand new book “Start Over, Finish Rich”.  Seems to be the story of my life (the starting over part)! The best part is today only, Jan. 4 you can download a free copy of it - Start Over, Finish Rich 

Of course if you buy the book you’ll receive many more bonuses for free, so you decide which of the two is the better bargain.

For this year I resolve to keep on improving my relations, my outlook, my life….