Slowing Down....

Well we made it through all of the craziness of Christmas and now I'm thoroughly enjoying the after Christmas slow down....that time after all the get togethers, when the house is starting to get back to normal, and there's some time to just hang out.
We had a wonderful Christmas: dessert with all of the Bomers and Griggs at Mariann's house, Christmas Eve service at Groveland, Christmas at Opal's, breakfast and Christmas at Joyce's, some time at home to have our own little Christmas, dinner and Christmas at my mom's house, seeing the Nobles open Christmas at grandma's house, lunch with Natalie, sledding with the Nobles, dinner out with my parents and brother, and dinner out with my small group ladies. We actually have one more get together planned tonight with Brad's sisters. But it's nice to just have some time to hang out at home, no place to be at any particular time for a few days. The only downside to this break has been that Brad and I have been fighting off colds for the past week or so.
So now it's just getting back to a normal eating schedule that doesn't involve eating out every day. It was actually kind of nice yesterday to just have our meals at home, eating some regular food. It was a perfect night for grilled cheese and soup and cuddling up on the couch with Brad and Lucy.

Vacation is in full swing

It's when you hit a monday and you don't have to go to work that it really starts to feel like you're on vacation. Today I finished up the last of my Christmas shopping. I was almost done, but needed a couple more stocking stuffers for my family and the rest of Brad's present. I also had wrapped myself right out of wrapping paper, so I picked up some more of that and wrapped what was left. So everything is bought and everything is wrapped...and it's only December 21st. One year, Brad and I got home from Puerto Rico on Dec. 21st and pretty much started our Christmas shopping then. So for us to be all done, is pretty amazing. I've started a little baking as well. I tried out some new recipes from a magazine. They turned out okay, nothing amazing. Today I went for some old standbys - Ritz bits in almond bark and pretzals in almond bark, all topped with M&Ms. Perfectly bite sized and great for snacking :)
Brad has been working like crazy since he finished work. I think he's pretty much spent most of the past four days in the basement...working on the basement bathroom and repluming the entire house. So I don't have to worry about doing the dishes after baking since there's no water in the kitchen :)

Getting into vacation mode

Well vacation officially started yesterday around 2:30 when I got home from work. Most of my vacation so far has been spent wrapping presents. Everything is now wrapped except for one thing...I ran out of paper for that last one. Now on to cleaning. Whenever I have a break from school, I usually try to get a full house clean in. It helps when your whole house is only six rooms...you can really clean the whole thing.
Brad also finally got rid of some of the assorted old appliances already this vacation. One dryer and one hot water heater gone. Now if we could just get rid of the freezer, refrigerator, and stove...

The End

And that, my friends, is the end of the Fall 2009 semester. All finals are graded, all grades are posted, and everything is filed away. Ahhhhh....
Now we just wait to see if anyone throws a hissy fit about their grade and start planning the next semester.

Very Christmasy Weekend

This weekend has really started to feel like the Christmas season. Yesterday my church kids had their dress rehearsal for their Christmas program which is tonight. They are always very cute, though somewhat unpredictable once you put them up on stage. After the program practice, I made a couple varieties of Christmas cookies. I tried out some recipes from Country Living...thumbprint cookies and red & whites. They are both pretty good, though I wouldn't say great. There are some other cookie recipes in this magazine, so maybe I'll try some more kinds. And then last night Brad and I did some Christmas shopping in Peoria, and I think we may actually be done with our shopping...which is really something for us. We are always out shopping on the 23rd and 24th trying to finish up. Though I still need to get Brad's present, I think everything else is pretty well set. Just waiting on a couple more things ordered online. So I guess now it's time to start wrapping...which that part I enjoy much more than the shopping.

Being dragged by the bandwagon...

So after four good days of exercising, I've now gone three days with nothing but grading. Monday I was at school all day, Tuesday I graded all night and Wednesday I graded all night. So perhaps tonight I can actually have a non-working night. There so many tests that had to be graded and returned this week before finals that everything else has fallen by the wayside...like laundry, vacuuming, exercising...
One more week...

Getting Back on the Bandwagon

So maybe it was seeing all of those in-shape people at the Riverplex on Wednesday or maybe it was knowing that I really had not done any exercise in longer than I care to admit, but however it came about, I decided Thursday I was in need of a workout. While I still have swim passes at the Pekin Y, the lap swim schedule just isn't the greatest for my work schedule, so I decided to stay at home and use my friend the internet. A while back I had discovered sparkpeople.com for stability ball workouts, so I decided to see what else I could find there. I like that it's free and I can just take my laptop upstairs to get in a workout. The weekend routine included:
Thursday:
-Cardio Kickboxing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XFBkv2xjbU)
-Stability Ball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it8Bn0MVJ4M)
Friday:
-Jump Start Cardio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M38HDCGmhm4)
-Some much needed stretching after Thursday's adventure (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_MVPJ3dX_8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBmy1T-3d6I)
Saturday:
-Nice walk with Brad and the pups
Sunday:
-Cardio Kickboxing
-Lower Body Stability Ball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDXQcLDXYhg)

Tomorrow will be a day off as I have a 13 hour workday, so hopefully we can pick this back up on Tuesday...

O Christmas Tree

Just Another No-Beef Wednesday

Maybe I could write a little theme song for no-beef Wednesdays to the tune of "manic monday"...but that's another topic...

Anyways, tonight we enjoyed some garlic cheddar chicken. It's pretty easy...chicken dipped in garlic butter and then rolled in a mixture of bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and shredded cheddar cheese. Quite a tasty one.

Tonight I think I may even go watch Brad play volleyball. He's been playing volleyball at the RiverPlex for several years now, and I have never gone to watch...because he said people don't do that. But Shom is just watching tonight, so I think I may go join the cheering squad.

Quite a weekend

Well it's only 5:00 on Saturday, and already this has been quite the packed holiday weekend. Wednesday I worked through my to-do lists and got lots of things done for church, the house cleaned up, and one set of tests graded. That night we went over to the Noble's to celebrate Luke's first birthday and make some cookies with the older boys. The cookies were a big hit...pilgrim hats made from fudge striped cookies and reese's peanut butter cups with a reese's pieces for a buckle. We ate a lot of candy and frosting in the process, but they turned out pretty cute. Thursday was some more time to get caught up around the house and I actually finished all of the grading that I brought home for the weekend...that has made everything else so much more fun! We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Brad's family that night. Friday we spent the day with my family as my aunt and grandpa were down for the holiday. We brought them on a little "field trip" to our house and spent a lot of time hearing stories we've already heard from grandpa :) And today we went to cut down our Christmas tree. We took Lucy along and met up with the whole Bomer family there. Brad and I did a lot of hunting to find a good one, but settled on one that seems reasonably skinny. We have it in the stand in the office and tonight I hope to get it decorated. I added some cute pictures from the weekend to my facebook.

And we made it!

The blessed event of Thanksgiving vacation has finally arrived...that five day weekend that seems to have been off in the distance so long, keeping us saying "if I can just make it 'til Thanksgiving"...is here! I've been up for all of 20 minutes now, and that time has already included hosing off one of the dogs, so it looks to be an exciting day. Between school to-do lists, church to-do lists, family get-togethers, family birthdays, and getting a Christmas tree, it looks to be a cram packed five day weekend. I told my students I would have their test grades posted by tonight, but that is really looking like an unrealistic statement at this point...though if I don't grade them today I'm not so sure when they will actually get graded...maybe I should have said Sunday night...

A messy day

For not having any kids, we sure have to deal with a lot of puke and poop at this house. Someone had thrown up on the rug before we came downstairs this morning. And later in the morning, Midas decided it would be fun to roll in some sort of poop substance outside. I opened the door and Midas greeted me with a big brown lump on his forehead. Lovely. So it was bath time for me and Midas...bath time involves Midas and me in the downstairs shower and both of us end up quite wet in the process. He was then very depressed all day and kept curling up in a little ball.

13 down!

Thirteen weeks of the semester are officially in the books with three to go. And next week we only have two days of classes...unfortunately one of them is a Monday. For some reason I am always excited when I can make a to-do list that includes everything that is left to do for the semester. I guess it's encouraging to know that when I finish my to-do list I don't just have to make a new one, which is what I do most weeks. I still have quite a bit of work to do for those last two weeks of classes and finals, but it feels like a manageable time frame. I will be glad when I only have 16 hours next semester. It's been nice to make a little extra money this semester, but it will be even nicer to have a little more relaxed semester.
This week some of my Shutterfly creations have arrived. I got my first photo book and my christmas cards...both things that I got free from my friends Shutterfly party. They really turned out nice. I feel like the vacation books will be a really nice way to remember the trips and share the memories. It seems like something I would actually get out and look at. One more photobook is still on the way, and I'm thinking about making one for our honeymoon...the only other vacation we've been on.

Busy Week

Well somehow it is already Thursday of this week. Monday I had a marathon of teaching from 8:00am until 9:00pm, Tuesday after work we had a surprise birthday party for Brad's mom at Avanti's, and then last night, of course, was No-Beef Wednesday. So here it is Thursday morning already...not that I am complaining. A quick week means that we're that much closer to Thanksgiving break, which officially starts for me at 12:30 on Tuesday.

This week in movies

Well it must be getting to be winter as we are settling into our winter routine of watching movies on the weekends. This weekends choices were District 9 and Up...definitely two different movie genres. These were both Brad's selections. District 9 was interesting, a little scary for me (really any suspense is too scary for me), but it was interesting to find yourself cheering for the alien. I didn't have any alien dreams last night, so that was good. Tonight we watched Up...it was okay, cute, but not my favorite Pixar movie. I didn't really get the whole French thing...they weren't in France...and they didn't go to France...so why was all that stuff in French? It's not one I would really want to watch again at any point, though I did like Doug. Who doesn't like a dog named Doug?

Time to rearrange

It seems every 6 months or so, we buy some piece of furniture and finding a place for it prompts moving every piece of furniture in the whole house. This time, it was a barrister bookcase/desk from an estate sale. Brad refinished the desk and did some rewiring in the office, so today was moving day. To find a place for the new desk, we ended up moving the rug, chair and ottoman, Brad's desk, my desk, the new desk, filing cabinet, and another bookcase. It took most of the afternoon, but it looks nice. The one part that will take some getting used to is that Brad and I are now sharing his desk, which is a big library table. That means only one place for everyone's computers and piles of crap.

Shutterfly Book #2...Vieques 2007

Click here to view this photo book larger

My 1st Shutterfly Photobook...Vieques 2009

Click here to view this photo book larger

Totally hooked!

My friend Natalie hosted a Shutterfly party last weekend which I "attended" (in spirit), mostly so I could get the party gift which was a free 8x8 hard cover photobook. Shutterfly has templates where you can just drag and drop your pictures into pre-made templates (tons of different templates!) with all kinds of cute backgrounds. It's like scrapbooking without all the glue and paper scraps to pick up. I started last night uploading all of my pictures from our vacation in May and could not stop working on my book today. I made a 20 page book today and it turned out so cute! I can't wait to order it. I'd like to do one of these books for our other two vacations, though it will definitely be harder to remember what all the pictures are from for those ones from a couple years ago...all those beaches kind of look the same after awhile.

So maybe it's not all bad...part II

So last week I mentioned all the crazy things the dogs do on Monday nights when I have to work and Brad is left to deal with them. Well this week again they did not disappoint. When I got home Lucy was all wet as if she had just had a bath, which I knew was a bad sign since I had just given her a bath a few days ago. Apparently she rolled in something that smelled just vile...Brad said she smelled worse then she ever had before (which is really saying something, cause she has had some crazy funks). So he had the fun of washing this smelly poop substance off of her...all while I sat at work giving a test. She still had a lingering smell when I got home, but he said it was way better than when he found her.

A Little Getaway

At this point in the semester, I always am looking for something to look forward to...and Brad found just the thing. We're looking at taking a little weekend trip to Richmond, Indiana. It appears to be a cute little area with lots of antique shops (it's known as "Antique Alley"), historical buildings, little bed & breakfasts, etc. A nice relaxing weekend to do some Christmas shopping and site seeing...maybe we can leave today? :)

Pork Cacciatore

Pork instead of chicken and rice instead of pasta gives a fun twist on Italian food.

1 T Olive oil
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped bell pepper
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (with liquid)
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2-3 pork loin chops cut into bite-sized pieces
Cooked white rice

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced pork and cook ~7-8 minutes (I cook it until the pork looks pretty well cooked through). Add onion and bell pepper and cook for ~3 more minutes, stirring occasionally until veggies are softened. Stir in tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic, sugar, salt and black pepper. Cover and simmer on medium low, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Serve with cooked rice.

One little black dot...

Last night as Lucy and I were cuddling up in a chair reading, I saw a little black dot moving around her head. After much hopping by the black dot, I caught the little flea and gave him a good drowning. I took Lucy downstairs and gave her a good bath and Brad vacuumed upstairs, so hopefully it was just one little rogue flea and all his friends are not hiding here somewhere.

Continuing to make our way through the low quality movies of the past year, tonight we watched Four Christmases. I'd definitely watch Twilight again before this one...I've decided I may even have liked Twilight.

Today was just one of those days....

It's always a fabulous feeling when you look at the clock and it's 6:45 and you have an 8:00 class. Somehow, at 6:45 this morning Brad and I both were still in bed. So I quickly got ready and Brad let the dogs out. When I went to let them in, Lucy was all muddy from digging a hole, so I took her downstairs to hose her off. Finally ready to head out the door, I realize for the first time of the year my car is covered in frost.
Make it to school around 7:45 and try to make sure I know what I need to teach at 8:00. After my class, I realized that I had not done all of those things I was going to do before my 8:00 class so I tried to frantically do them before my 10:00 class, which lead to printing off a whole class worth of incorrect grade sheets.
So off to calc I go. And things are going well, until I work all the way through this giant example and find that I have made a mistake...on the very first step.
So it was a fun morning. Thankfully, it seemed to get better once my classes were over for the day, and now I'm ready for a slow evening at home, doing nothing, and watching tv. Tomorrow, I don't have class until 1:00, so that shouldn't be a problem :)

Canine swine flu?

So can dogs get swine flu? There has been a mystery puker at our house for the past couple weeks. It probably has nothing to do with the swine flu and a lot more to do with the fact that two weeks ago today, one of the dogs got a bowl of hamburger grease off of the counter and ate the whole thing. Now I know that Midas had to get the bowl down, just because Lucy wouldn't be able to reach it, but once it was down I don't really know who ate it. And I don't know who puked on the rug while I was at WalMart buying chewable Pepto for them that morning, or who puked twice the following Monday, or who puked the following Saturday, or who puked this morning. But, Lucy was kind enough tonight to puke right at my feet while I was doing the dishes. So all this time that I've been accusing Midas of eating the grease and doing the puking, but maybe it was Lucy? Both of them seem completely fine, but neither of them ever throw up in the house...except during peach season. So we'll see...perhaps my experiment needs some better controls so I know who is doing what when we're gone.

Stromboli Sandwiches

1 lb ground beef
2 T finely chopped onion
1/2 c ketchup
1/2 c tomato sauce
2 T Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 c butter, softened
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 loaf Italian bread, halved lengthwise
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook beef and onion in skillet, drain. Stir in ketchup, tomato sauce, Parmesean cheese, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, oregano, and Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine butter and 1/2 tsp garlic powder; spread over top half of bread. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese over bottom bread half. Spoon meat mixture over top; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Wrap sandwich loaf in foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.


Mmmmm....tasty :)

So maybe it's not all bad...

The dogs seem to have decided that they don't want Brad to be bored on Monday nights when I have to work. It seems every Monday lately they cook up some kind of adventure to keep the evening entertaining. This week, it was Midas rolling in the burn pile...resulting in him needing a bath. The week before, Midas greeted Brad as he got home by puking twice on the rug...he tried to help that week by cleaning it up himself. The best one was the previous week, when Lucy ran up to Brad outside carrying a deer leg that she was so very proud of, and did not want to give up.
So maybe it's not all bad that I have to work on Monday nights...

Some crazy movie choices

For the first time in awhile, we watched some movies this weekend. I had been complaining about Brad's movie choices, so I made a few requests of my own, one of which was honored. Friday night, after our weekly WalMart run, we watched Management with Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn. The humor was that real awkward type humor like in The Office. It was mildly humorous, but mostly just awkward. Tonight, we watched one that Brad had downloaded...Twilight, a fantastic teen-vampire flick. I don't really know anything about vampire movies, but must admit that Edward Cullen is a cute vampire. It definitely is aimed at 15 year old girls, but that's not to say that Brad and I didn't enjoy it.
I'll admit, Brad's movie was better than mine. Though neither will be winning any awards...except maybe some Teen Choice Awards.

My First Blog

I've pondered starting a blog for awhile now...but I must say, my life is not one of great excitement. But I do really enjoy writing, and I find that I really enjoy reading other's blogs, so perhaps that is reason enough to have my own. And there was that "Julie & Julia" movie....

So here we go, enjoy the ride through life and times in the Bomer family.