Weekly Wrap Up - Week of February 25

     Well, it's been a bit since I did a weekly wrap up, my last one was the week of February 11th when I told you all that I had gotten sick on the way back from my family reunion.

    Today is probably the first day that I feel totally like myself again. Not shaky, not coughing, not having that cloudy, fog-like feeling in my brain. Allergies are no joke!

    My sister Lisa got it and she's still struggling. Mom woke up Saturday morning declaring "I'm sick." She was a mess all weekend, could barely stop coughing. She has all the right medications, breathing treatments, inhalers, etc., but they don't really seem to be working. I see a trip to Urgent Care in her future today. She's still sleeping so maybe a miracle happened overnight.

    Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here, still kicking and will be back to posting weekly wrap-ups and hopefully more interesting content soon. 

    Hope the allergies in your area are mild. California has been having steady rain and snow packs in the mountains for a couple of years now, so we are probably out of the drought, but it makes it a nightmare for those that suffer allergies.

    Thanks for stopping by and hope to post something more positive soon! Take care!

Weekly Wrap Up - Week of January 28th

 

    Monday - It was mayhem, coming back from our annual meeting after being off Friday when all our offices were closed for our annual company meeting. Even though we gave our clients plenty of notice and we left our "out of office" notices on email and left updated messages on voice mail, they just didn't get it. I had so many voice mails saying I need to talk to you right now, please call me back ASAP. Let's hope Tuesday is better. 

    Tuesday  - nothing really exciting happened,

we've been having really heavy rain and a lot of wind. I hope my rain gutters hang in there. Thank goodness I got all my trees trimmed in November so no branches will be dropping through my roof and my fence is only a few years old so I don't have to worry about the wind. It can huff and puff but it won't blow my house down! 

Chorizo enjoying the rain and fresh air!

    Wednesday - Lisa and I went to Walmart after work and we captured this gorgeous sunset!

    Thursday - All the rain and excitement is over at least until the weekend when they are predicting super big storms...we'll see how that turns out!

    Friday was a fun day. I still worked all day but I had dinner plans with my two local coworkers and two of our top producers were coming in from Fresno to take us out to dinner as a thank you for all we did for them in 2023. We met up at a fairly new restaurant for Bakersfield, El  Puesto Cocina & Lounge. I had not been to this one, so I was excited to go and I really liked it! I'll just share some pictures now and caption what's going on.

The Group beginning with the blond lady bottom left, Amy, next to her Angelica, bottom right, Gabby, middle is Anusone and then me. Amy and Anusone are two of the top producers and I am so proud to be on their team, they are real go-getters and both do so much charitable work in their communities. I don't know where they get the energy. 

Amy - top producer and Angelica, my co-worker, friend and recently promoted to Transportation Manager!

Me, Anusone and Gabby. Anusone is also a top producer and entrepreneur. Gabby recently was promoted to Account Manager, so proud of her and how far she has come as well!

This is us on the way out, don't you love the decor? They actually served food in those pots and dishes, which you'll see the pictures of the food I'll share.

   

 I started out with my usual, a Jalapeno Margarita. I try to always have one so I can see if I can find the perfect one. This one was ok, not as spicy as I would have liked. 

    These were their nachos. They were so good and see how they are served on the pottery plates. I thought I had taken more pictures of the food but I didn't, this was the only one!

    We only had appetizers, but we ordered every appetizer on the menu so we could try everything. I wish they had a website or that I had taken pictures of the appetizer menu but I was having so much fun that I forgot all about it. It was such a nice end to the work week!

   

Saturday - Had a nice breakfast with my son at Dennys and then we went to the AT&T store to upgrade our phones. Mine was still the iPhone7, and now I have the iPhone14. My son upgraded to the iPhone12Pro. It's so nice to have new phones. I don't normally upgrade because I take really good care of my phone and I don't like to learn a new one, but they make it so easy now the learning curve is not as bad.

   

    Sunday - I'm going through football withdrawals. Thank goodness the Pro-Bowl is today. The wind and rain started while I was sleeping, it woke me up but I fell back asleep.

    Let me tell you it is howling out there as I finish up this post. I don't plan to go anywhere today. I hope the weather is good where you all are at and if it's not I hope you are safe. Take care all!

Today's weather, it's seems like 100 mph winds, but this says it's just 24 mph.

Weekly Wrap Up - Week of January 22nd

      Monday – Woke up to the soothing sound of rain, great way to start the day since we are still in a bit of a drought. Had a McDonalds French Toast K-cup this morning. I love flavored coffees! For dinner I made the best zucchini I had ever made in my life, let’s hope I can remember how to make it again, also served pan-fried pork chops next to it. Wish I had taken a picture!

    Tuesday & Wednesday- again I did not keep notes and I cannot remember anything for both these days.

    Thursday - This day started out normal, working my butt off because our annual State of the Company meeting was going to be held on Friday in Fresno which is about two hours away. I forgot to mention that due to the rain on Monday we had horrible Tule Fog. I wrote about what Tule Fog is on a 2009 blog post which you can read HERE. 

    It was so foggy on Thursday morning that our coworker/driver Angelica suggested at around 8am that we drive up after work so that we could avoid the fog. Gabby and I agreed it would be a good idea. So, where I thought I had a whole day to get caught up now I also had to get myself prepared for an overnight stay in Fresno! What to wear? Do I need to do laundry, but wait...answer the phone, clients are calling!! Needless to say, it was a very, very busy day.

    Angelica messaged us that one of the other ladies that was coming in from out of town wanted to meet up with us for dinner when we got to Fresno. We agreed to meet and picked a restaurant. But unfortunately, our plans were waylaid as Gabby had a problem client at the last minute and instead of arriving at the meet-up place at 5:30 she got there at 6:30, so we didn't hit the road until 6:30 and we knew it was going to be too late to meet-up for dinner so we cancelled and then decided to stop in Tulare for dinner at Cool Hand Luke's Steakhouse. 

    Traffic was decent considering it was Friday at rush hour. We got to the restaurant which was very nice. Angelica and I were both watching carbs so we each ordered the Steakhouse Cobb Salad, which was amazingly good! Check out this picture!

    Gabby had the Chicken Fried Steak, which I did not get a picture of. Unfortunately, since we were travelling, we all opted not to get a glass of wine or a cocktail...darn it!

    Then back on the road again and we reached the hotel at 9:25 pm and we each had our own room which was very nice. The room had a nice little kitchen, a living room and a very nice bedroom and bath. I was exhausted so after a shower I watched a little YouTube and went straight to sleep!

    We had agreed to meet downstairs in the lobby for the free breakfast and it was a very nice breakfast. I had Chorizo and Eggs and one pancake and coffee. Then we headed to the meeting place which was being held in the banquet room of the Ruth's Chris Steak House. 

    It was so fun to see everyone we work with and to meet all the new people that had started working there in the past year since the last meeting. Nice to put a voice with a face.

    Management had a table all set up with coffee and juices and snacks of all kinds. The meeting itself was fun, at times boring but they broke it up with team-building games which were fun and they handed out prizes, then it was time for lunch and since the only time that I remember to take photos is when there is food in front of me, here is the best steak I have ever had in my WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE! A beautiful, luscious, juicy Filet Mignon and some shrimp that were ok. 

    I swear this steak melted in my mouth and it was a nice size steak. They also served mashed potatoes and cheesy spinach which were ok also. I guess they figure when they serve the best steak in the world, you don't need sides!

    After that lunch we talked about what to expect in 2024, people gave speeches, including my co-worker Angelica who had recently been promoted to Transportation Department Manager, so proud of this young lady...she's a go-getter!  

    They give 4 major awards, Account Service Manager of the Year, Producer of the Year, Employee of the Year and Shark of the Year. None of us were lucky enough to win this year but we were proud of the ones that did. After the meeting we headed home with our Starbucks coffee in hand. We had a great time though!

    Saturday, we had to go get groceries. Mom was feeling up to going with me, so that pretty much took up our Saturday.

    Sunday of course if my "free" day and after figuring out how to use my new FoodSaver FM 2000 Vacuum Sealer I sealed up 8 pounds of hamburger meat and two huge packages of boneless chicken breast. I love this machine, it was so easy to use. I'm hoping it keeps those ice crystals from forming. 

    Then it was time to watch the football playoffs!! I'm a huge football fan and my team is the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys didn't make it to the playoffs so the pressure was off, I could just enjoy the games.

    First off, the Kansas City Chiefs with quarterback Patrick Mahomes played the Baltimore Ravens with quarterback Lamar Jackson. I like both teams and although I think Lamar is an amazing quarterback, I've always been partial to Mahomes. The Kansas City Chiefs won 17 to 10 final score. Great game!

    Following that was the Detroit Lions with quarterback Jared Goff played the San Francisco 49ers with quarterback Brock Purdy. I'm not particularly partial to either of these teams, so again there was no pressure, I just watched for the sheer fun of it. It also was a good game and the 49ers won.

Kansas City Chiefs vs San Francisco 49er's in Super Bowl LVIII on February 11th! I'm rooting for the Chiefs and putting together my Super Bowl menu!

    What about you? How was your week/weekend? Are you a football fan? What's your team? Are you watching the Super Bowl? Do you watch for the game, the commercials or the food?

Weekly Wrap Up - Week of January 8th

 

        So, this week was typical, not much going on except work. That’s the one constant in my life….work. I really do enjoy my job but I do have a handful of clients that are really demanding and not at all gracious or grateful for what I do for them, but anyway…

          Monday – I was physically out of sorts, not feeling well, but I’ve started eating better and I knew I just needed time for my tummy to sort itself out. I chopped up a bunch of Romaine lettuce and had thawed out some ground turkey for salad for dinner and lunch during the week. The minute the turkey started to cook it smelled horrible, I guess I didn’t freeze it in time. Turkey is very, very delicate and can go bad quite quickly! I was bummed as I had looked forward to a salad all day.

          Tuesday – Work as usual and I had an appointment at 4pm for a thyroid ultrasound/sonogram…not sure I get them mixed up. I had thyroid cancer in 2008, you can read about it HERE, so annually they do these exams to make sure it’s still all gone, it should be since they removed both my thyroid glands and it’s been 15 years but I guess you can’t be too cautious. I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some fresh ground turkey, called my sister on the way home and she was planning to make tacos, I told her to come have turkey taco salad with me and I would go the next day to have tacos with her, she agreed and we had a nice dinner with mom as well.

          Wednesday – Work was busy as usual and mom had an appointment with her primary care doctor and my sister Lisa took her so I didn’t get any tacos that night! But I had a turkey taco salad, so I was still a happy camper.

          Thursday – Was planning on taking mom to Walmart and The Dollar Store but had a long day at work and I was exhausted and mom was too. I had a turkey taco salad again …I’m telling you I can have this 24/7 and it never gets old! 

        Friday - Was a tough day of work because we have a 3-day weekend coming up as Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day and we won't have to work that day. I woke up out of sorts again, super grumpy for no reason at all. I emailed my sister and told her I needed a sister night was she available and she said yes and asked if I want to go out to dinner or stay in at her house with wine and yummies? Wine and Yummies please! Here's pictures of what my sister considers yummies, Kabobs with Steak, Chicken, Sausage, peppers, red onions and zucchini! They were delicious. 

Kabobs straight out of the Oven, she also made some in her Air Fryer, we preferred oven.

Kabob on fine china ...hahaha! 

Kabob off of the skewer and on a plate, Yumminess overload!

First a shot of our favorite tequila, Agavero. I needed this after the week I had!

        So that was our Friday, even though it was a tough day it ended with sister time, good food, good wine and a lot of conversation and jazz music.

        Saturday is usually mom's day. I do whatever she wants to do. Almost all the time what she wants to do is go shopping. So we did just that. First stop was Goodwill, mom loves a thrift store. They were remodeling our favorite store so there was not much of a selection, mom bought nothing which was out of the norm for her, I found and bought this bag.

        Pardon the bad lighting, but it's the only place in my bedroom that I had a hook available to hang this. Beautiful hand beaded bag in mom's favorite colors. It had a super long strap.

Close up of beadwork, it's just stunning!

You can see how many beads of varying sizes and styles were used.

View of the other side of the bag.

            Even though I loved the bag, I saw my mom's eyes light up when I showed it to her, so I bought it and as we stepped outside of the store I gave it to her as a gift, she could not believe it!

        Our next stop was a Ross Store. I bought a dress and I had always wanted a stackable mug set and this one was perfect! It's Valentine's Day theme, but I have the Corelle set of dishware with pink hearts that match perfectly so I can use them year round.

Aren't they adorable?

The cups match my plates perfectly.

        So after Ross we went to The Dollar Tree because I was hoping to find some Valentine's Day Decorations for my living room. I'll post pictures of the finished decor in another post. Somehow I've lost some of my decorations so my decor was pretty skimpy. I did find quite a few things, but my favorite was this little pink bear. To make her "valentiney" I crocheted a little red heart and sewed her hands to it so she looks like she's holding it. 

        After that we had burgers and fries at Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. That's not on my approved food eating list, but I'm not going to limit my life, when it's being out enjoying the day with mom I'll eat where she wants to eat and enjoy myself!

        Then we went home, happy, tired and full of burgers. Saturday night was when I crocheted the heart for my bear above and enjoyed my new mugs with some sugar-free hot chocolate and whipped cream. 

        Sunday started out great. My sister Lisa and her granddaughter Roselyn came over for coffee and then Lisa's son Isaac came to surprise his mom and ended up at my house with a big box of donuts...of which you will be happy to hear I did not partake.

        I did some chores and started learning how to crochet roses while I watched football. I am so devastated that my Dallas Cowboys lost against the Green Bay Packers. They fought their way back to a respectable score...but too little too late.

        As I write this it is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day and I have the day off. Probably Dr. King's most popular quote is his "I have a dream..."

        But my favorite quote of his is "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

        Everyone have a good week. Mine will be a 4-day work week so although it will be hard, it will be short.

Weekly Wrap Up - Week of January 1st

 This was a short week as I had Monday off for New Years Day, but even with a short week I felt like I had worked a 10-day work week. Trying to get caught up after the holidays is almost impossible. So many people take vacation time starting at Thanksgiving and continuing through New Years day so that makes the rest of us have to pick up the slack while still getting our own work done. It's brutal and frustrating. Next year I think I am going to join in on the vacation taking and let someone else pick up the slack.

New Years Day I took down the Christmas tree as it was making me claustrophobic and the room seemed too full. I did leave up the rest of the decorations and will be taking them down today while I watch football and I will replace Christmas with Valentine's Day decorations so we will still have something pretty to look at. 

Did not do much crocheting this past week. I did make a bookmarker for my journal and I did a bit of journaling, so that was good. I also managed to do a few blog posts...Yay me!

I was so happy to start this week with my brand new desk calendar! Every year I try to buy one that has inspirational quotes or motivations, but this year for some reason what caught my eye was one called The Daily Bitch.  I am really enjoying the quotes and the women on each page, so pretty and fashionable and opinionated, just like all the women in my life. It's nice to start the day off with a giggle!

Yesterday I took mom for one of our Saturday shopping days, even though it was rainy and dreary. It had been a while and she was more than ready. We went to Hobby Lobby and they had great clearance sales going on. 

I bought two of these pretty little framed prints for $3.49 each! They are only 9 x 14 but they look very pretty in the spot I needed them for in my living room.

I also could not resist this little guy. I always seem to find a little Valentine's Day llama at Hobby Lobby each year. He was 40% off so he was about $4.00 so he came home with me!

Mom and I also made a stop at her favorite thrift store, the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop. She always finds a lot of things there and it's the place where I get most of my books. I bought this one by Fern Michaels. The back of the book says it cost $16.95 new and then you can see a sale tag was added somewhere along the line for $10.49 but I bought it for just $1.00. I very rarely buy a brand new book.

To end the day yesterday my sister invited me to her house for a glass of wine and nachos. She's recently done a lot of remodeling in her home with a brand new kitchen and she got new carpeting in her living room and just yesterday the workmen put her furniture back in, so we celebrated. It was a great end to the week. 

So now I'm going to leave you, I'm off to cook some bacon for breakfast, then I'm going to put away the rest of the Christmas decor and put up the Valentine's Day decorations while I watch the Minnesota Vikings play the Detroit Lions, neither are my team, but it should be a great game.  Hope to squeeze in a nap somewhere along the way as well.

Have a great week everyone!