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Showing posts from 2013

Cleaning House

A long, long time ago I wrote a post while I was going through the cleaning of the day.  Today's cleaning and laundry is to get ready for Thanksgiving. I sent Tom and Phoebe out to do the holiday grocery shopping with a list, coupons and gift card we got for the one warehouse store (BJs) as part of the rewards you get.  That will help keep the holiday grocery budget down!  The boys had cheese sandwiches for lunch:  Tommy's cold with oil, oregano and crushed red peppers (yup!) and Liam's was grilled cheese.  They are sitting for some quiet time with the movie Toy Story.  They may nap.  They might not nap, but at least they are having quiet time.  My timeline today has been: 2:30 PM - At this point, the toys in the living room are cleaned up and the room is vacuumed.  I took a lot of trash out of that room as they get out of control when Mommy was at school on Friday and Saturday.  The trash was like ripped up papers, McDonald's Happy Meal boxes (their little indulgence

Coming Back

I've really missed my space here and all my blog friends.  So sorry if I've been absent, but good things have been afoot.  Here's some updates: Me Graduate school has been kicking my behind!  I knew this was expected to be a tough term, but it really lived up to it's reputation.  I'll be graduating in May 2014, and I'm very much looking forward to that event!  Work has been interesting.  We were re-organized into the IT department from the business in April and there have been a lot of new processes and procedures to get used to.  My boss also left the company in September and she hasn't been replaced yet, so I've been reporting directly to her old boss. Home has been OK, although I've been completely stressed with school and work, so I think my family will be very happy when school is over.  Actually, I know they will be happy as my husband has professed so numerous times. Tom He's awesome!  Holding down the fort with the kids:  pickups, d

July Goals - Better Late Than Never

I have had all my goals in my head and it's starting to hurt!  This weekend I spent a lot of time updating my To Do list.  I keep feeling like I'm forgetting things, so this weekend I kept my iPad with me and every time I thought of something I should not forget, I put it on the list on my iPad.  I use Awesome Note on my iPad and iPhone and it really does help me when I don't forget to put things there.  The month of July is going to be very busy both school and work wise.  Most of my school assignments this term are due before the end of the month, and with work I really need to work with my managers and peers to put a vision together for our future.  Then we need to start executing.  And I need to balance all this with the family stuff that needs to get done.  Let's see how this goes.  I feel much more calm just writing this down. Work 1.  Finish Q2 reviews, write up my own accomplishments too! 2.  Move four people to new managers in system. 3. Document vision fo

It's London Baby!

We're in London now, baby!  Back at a station called King's Cross...  let's all sing the Pet Shop Boys now! I really loved London!  It was everything I ever thought it would be! Don't I look happy with my Phoebes? I do love a man in uniform! The Prime Minister wasn't taking my calls And yes, the bell is called Big Ben and not the tower, but let's go with it OK? The London Eye was fabulous, sorry Marcia , no grey skies this day! And this is not the London Bridge as some think but the Tower Bridge.  And it was fabulous!  Grey skies came in, Marcia! Let's have a pint and some fish & chips Sir Thomas More is one of my favorite saints.  Here's his name at a memorial for martyrs. The streets were extremely clean, so I had to take this photo Cab anyone? Had to find a red phone booth! And just as red are the royal mail post boxes Architecture everywhere was amazing!!!  The second p

Moving on to the Paris Part of Trip

We flew out of Johannesburg for London and took the Eurostar train to Paris.  It was a beautiful way to see the Paris countryside on our way to the huge city.  On the train, we were provided with a delicious lunch that has given us lots of ideas for future dishes to make and wine, of course!  I don't think a day went by that I didn't have at least one glass of wine!  It was everywhere! We will definitely learn more French before we attempt to go back to Paris or anywhere else in France. We took the subway to get from the train station to our hotel instead of taking a taxi.  We had to change trains two times, but had no problems.  It was very interesting taking the subway in an unfamiliar city in another language. Everything was so beautiful!  The language, the buildings, the food!  We had an amazing time.  The streets are very hard to navigate in Paris though.  Very windy-twisty as I would call them.  There was no grid-pattern to the streets I am used to like in Philadelphi

Trip to South Africa

I'm finally getting a little bit of time this Father's Day to reflect on the trip to South Africa.  It really was amazing!  My favorite part of the trip was seeing my dear friend, Marcia , and her family.  They are such lovely people and we spent a beautiful day at the Lion and Rhino Nature Reserve checking out the animals and had a Mother's Day lunch.  Malva pudding has become one of my favorite desserts, right behind creme  br û lée.  And Marcia is so right that it tastes best with the creme on top warm.  I think I ate malva pudding at every place that served it.  Kind of like my love for fish and chips.  I usually love to try it everywhere it is on the menu and mentally compare where I think it is the best.  I think Phoebe was really missing her brothers that day.  She was playing a lot with their twins, having races and showing them different things.  She is really good with kids, but then again she may not look like it, but she still is a kid, LOL. My second favorit