Remodel Continues

Well the chaos in our house continues.  I guess the good thing about this chaos is that at the end of it will be a nice pretty kitchen with cabinets that fit all of our stuff and electrical that works properly.  Also good plumbing in there and a gas line to our stove that won't blow up :o) 

Part of the cabinets are up, yay! and today they are working on putting the walls they ripped out back together and then the rest of the cabinets will be installed.  Someone will then come out to measure the counter tops for the granite and we'll have to order the back splash.  I think the kitchen easily has another week of work to go.  Luckily hubby just got told at work he needs to start taking a bunch of his vacation time so he doesn't lose it so that will work out great for us. He can stay home and supervise and take care of the doggies who's nerves have had it :o) poor doggies.  

The electrical in the kitchen has now been fixed and our electrician is fixing the rest of the house now.  I think he'll be done today.

Yesterday we had asbestos removed from the heating system and today the heating guys are here replacing heating stuff and insulating some of the vents.  They'll be done by tomorrow or Thursday. We got really lucky that the weather warmed up because we'll be without a heater for a few days.  

I guess that's it on the home front.  Since it was a nice day and all I'm doing is sitting around doing nothing I decided to pull some weeds out front.  Oh boy, I'm going to have to learn to enjoy doing that, haa, haa.  I also need to learn some gardening stuff because I know nothing.  

This past weekend we headed to Carmel for Debbie's wedding.  I'll have to upload pictures later.  I have been helping Debbie with planning for a few weeks now and my hubby was very very nice and was the photographer/video person at the wedding.  The wedding only had 32 guests so it was small but it turned out very nice.  It also got very hot in Carmel so it turned out to be a perfect day for a wedding. Since it was a day wedding Rocky and I were able to enjoy sometime hanging out in Carmel Saturday evening.  We walked around, did a little shopping and had dinner there.  It was a nice weekend.

The doggies were at home with their momma, Olivia :o) I hear they had a great time and we are very thankful to be able to have Olivia take care of them when she can.

Dark Cloud of Sadness

There is a dark cloud of sadness looming over the Oakland, over the 4 communities that these four men were from and over the entire Bay Area. It doesn't matter if you know these men or not I think everyone feels the same, sad. The events that occurred on Saturday are heart breaking. Tomorrow the 4 officers killed will be honored in a public Memorial Service at the Oakland Arena. We will be watching at home since it's going to be broadcast live on national tv. I really considered going but with 18,000+ people attending we thought it'd be best to stay home.

Think of them and say a little prayer for their families and friends who are left behind :o(

24 Hour Bug

Life at home as gotten chaotic and then my body decided to fail me and knock me down.

On Monday I was at home dealing with our kitchen remodel. The contractor and workers came out to remove all the old cabinets and work on the electrical. WELLL.....as many of you with homes know that things don't always go as planned when doing any kind of house work. It always seems that some other "little" thing comes up :o(

After the cabinets were removed the electrical work began and I guess the previous people had done a hodge podge of work back there and it was all a mess and not something that could be left that way. First of all because we've pulled a permit and an inspector would not allow that and second of all because we don't want our house to catch on fire :o( The other thing that needed to be worked on was some plumbing and the gas line to the stove. Our contractor is awesome so we've told her to do what she has to do to fix everything properly so we don't have to deal with it again. Like I said, we dont' want our house to catch on fire because the electrical is not done correctly. So of course with all the extra things that were found the installation of our cabinets was pushed back a few more days. It's fine but our house is a disaster and the only thing working in the kitchen is our microwave so hubby has been eating dinners from Whole Foods that he can just heat up.

The same electrician doing the kitchen is going to fix the rest of the electrical in the house for us so that we don't have to worry about it anymore. Pretty much the whole house was done incorrectly and it's a bit of a hazard so it'll be nice to get that fixed.

Monday night I had dinner with Ms. Amy. A very yummy dinner at the Walnut Creek Yacht Club. Monday's they have mussel madness. For a set price you get salad, bread, french fries and all you can eat mussels :o) We had a very nice dinner and it was nice catching up with her.

Headed home and went to bed.....when I woke up I wanted to die.

My stomach was in knots and I started getting sick. The first thing that came to my mind was that the mussels had made me sick. I had an electrician coming to the house at 10am and our painter. It was not fun standing there talking to them while all I wanted to do was toss my cookies :o( I managed to get them going on what they needed to do and then I headed in to work to get a few things done. Luckily those things only took about an hour because I felt awful. I headed back home and once the painter and electrician left our house around 2pm I went right back to bed. I was sick for the rest of the day and night. I had called Amy earlier and she was not sick so it wasn't the food. I had a 24 hour Stomach Flu because when I woke up this morning, I was fine. Other than have no energy at all from not eating and my tummy hurting a little bit still I am doing fine and not sick anymore. Urrgggghhh, darn flu's. How do we catch these darn things? Hubby was really good and took care of me once he got home from work. I tried to eat a little this morning but my tummy hurt so I think today I'm sticking to mainly soup and fluids. Will try solids tomorrow or the next day :o( I am at work today and since my boss is on vacation this week it should be a nice mellow day which is what I need.

The cabinets are being installed on Friday :o) yay and then we head to Carmel for the weekend. My friend Debbie is getting married :O) and we are super excited for her. The weather is suppose to be nice and I know it's going to be a fun time.

Man/Woman of the Year

Last night we attended the Kick Off for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Man/Woman of the Year Campaign. Coach Al is one of the candidates and we wanted to head out and support him.

Kick Off was held in SF at Hotel Vitale. They had yummy food, drinks and our friend Brian gave a very nice speech to motivate the new candidates. I have to admit there is some good competition in the goup but of course our candidate is Coach Al :o)

A little info:

What is the Man/Woman of the Year Campaign? Their goal: to be the candidate who raises the most funds for LLS in a ten-week period. The clock stops the night of the Grand Finale Celebration, May 28, 2009, where the Man & Woman of the Year will be announced.

How did it start? The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man & Woman of the Year campaign began in 1990 in San Francisco to honor John Spencer, a valued employee at Hastings Clothier in San Francisco and a LLS volunteer. Spencer died of leukemia at the age of 39. It was in John's memory that Hastings began supporting LLS's Northern California Chapter with the San Francisco Man & Woman of the Year event. Now, more than 40 Man & Woman of the Year campaigns occur across the nation, making this a highly visible fundraising program.

Past Man & Woman of the Year candidates include Johnny Love Metheny, Harry Denton, Anna Alioto, Christopher Caen, John Bristow, Dean Karnases, Renee Richardson, Gavin Newsom, Heather Luplow Hartle, Edward Saenz and more. They are a diverse and talented group of individuals.

The Cause? The Man & Woman of the Year candidates run in honor of the Boy & Girl of the Year (local blood cancer survivors). Many of them also honor friends and family members who are currently undergoing treatment or have battled a blood cancer.How you can help? You can make a 100% tax deductible to Coach Al on his Fundraising Website or click logo on the left of my blog.

Eating healthy didn't go so well last night since all they had at the event was appetizer type stuff and I was starving so I ate one too many and didn't count my points :o( back on track today.

Happy 1st Day of Spring!!!!

Fit Camp Class #1

Well I had my first class last night and right now I am feeling....OUCHIE!! I am feeling it today. It's a good sore but boy I'm moving slow.

I arrived at the class about 15 minutes early so I figured I'd sit down and watch Gary, the trainer, train the very young high school girls he was with. NOPE, no such luck. He said to go ahead and get some cardio in to warm up. Okie dokie!

I decided to get on the bike and do a 15 minute warm up. I can handle that.

The rest of the people in the class started to come in and do the same thing. They each jumped on some sort of cardio machine and did a warm up. At 6:00pm Gary yelled out something which I did not hear so I just looked around to see what everyone else was doing. What he said was....10 push ups, 10 mountain climbers and 20 bicycles (sit ups)....okie dokie, here we go.

So basically the first part of the work out was

10 push ups
10 mountain climbers
20 bicycles

and then cardio - I did the treadmill

repeat and each time you had to pick a different cardio machine. I ended up doing the treadmill, the row machine and the elliptical.

Thrown in between some of those was hitting a punching bag 10 times followed by a squat and I had to do that as many times as I could. I also got to do a little punching on Gary and another punching bag they had set up followed by shuffling.

I think by the time we were done with this stuff it was about 6:20 and I wanted to vomit :o( This guys is not messing around and I love it but OMG, I was not feeling good. That's what happens when you sit on your butt for so long..haa, haa. I was not going to wimp out though.

Next we had to grab weight and do lunges all the way around the room. Then grab a partner and do sit ups in 3 different ways. He called them 60 second sit ups. The last set was 30 second sit ups.

I didn't do so well with those so I'll have to practice at home to get better.

Not done yet, next was weights.

He set up a circuit of 11 exercises. YIKES!!!! Each one had to be done 3 times. 15 reps the first set, 12 the next and 10 the last. We used the weight machines for some and free weights for others. By the time I was done my arms were shaking.

I finsihed by stretching and then I headed home, very exhausted and very hungry.

Hubby had made dinner so we ate as soon as I walked in the door.

This class was hard but I liked it and I'm looking forward to going back next week :o)

Back on the Wagon

There are lots of wagons I need to get back onto :o) one being my blog and two being my not sitting on my butt doing nothing anymore.

Things are starting to settle down and I'm hoping to get back on my daily blogging schedule. I am also planning on getting back on track with working out, which I'm excited about.

I have gone back to Weight Watchers in hopes of losing the last 15 lbs I would like to lose. Some would say I don't "need" to lose them but I feel that I do in order to feel good about myself and how my clothes fit. Tight close=grumpy girl :o( I pretty much quit working out once the house move was happening and that has not been good but I guess all the moving has at least helped keep my weight stable and I have not gained weight, I just haven't lost any. I've already lost a few pounds so I'm excited to see the rest come off. I've decided to join a Training Camp program at a new training gym that has opened right across from my office. I signed up for 12 classes and I'll be going 2 days a week. The fitness trainer is an older gentleman but very very fit and I have to admit he is a bit intimidating but he'll get my little butt in shape in no time. I have enjoyed being able to go home after work, making dinner and relaxing with my hubby so I don't want to be gone too much so for now I'll do 2 days of the training class and then 2 days of working out at home. I plan to start running around Lake Merritt on Saturday mornings as well to get a head start on training for Chicago. Official training for that will start June 1st but I haven't run at all since last September :o( not good. So that will give me 5 days of working out and should help with dropping the pounds but also getting me in shape for this next marathon training season. I'm excited.

We continue to stay busy with home stuff which has been fun but also exhausting. We fix one thing and then move on to the next. I think it's going to be like that for a long time but it's nice to be able to do things around the house the way you want them.

Last weekend we tackled our spare bedroom. We had set it up with our old furniture and it was serving as a storage area for things we hadn't put away yet and it was driving me batty. Part of the problem was that we were having a hard time figuring out how to set it up like our old one to fit everything we needed in there. The spare bedroom serves as our guest room, computer room and now my dresser is in there (didn't fit in our room). The room is not as big as our spare bedroom in the condo so fitting everything was going to be difficult. So after looking around online for ideas and shopping around we decided to take out the full size bed we had in there and replace it with a daybed. It would give us the spare bed we need when guest come over and sitting room in case you want to hang out in there but also it gave us the space we needed to set up our computer desk and bookshelf. We have a spare TV in there with a Wii set up so it will be the "fun room" as well. We are happy with the way it turned out and it's now a space we can utilize...yay!

Shoe Review

Actually it's more of a online shopping review of Zappos.com

Background on how I ended up on Zappos. Each year I buy a new pair of boots for winter. They are pretty much the same each year, sometimes different brand but for the most part I have a standard boot I wear. Black, 3 1/2 inch heel, pointy toe. I wear my boots out pretty bad each year so for as long as I can remember I know that each November or so I need to buy a new pair. In fact for a few years my mommy would buy me a new pair for Christmas because it was a gift I always needed. This year was no different but out of pure laziness I never got around to buying a new pair. Now I NEED a new pair because they are so worn out that my bad ankle bothers me when I wear them. A few weekends ago Rocky went on a hunt for new boots and I had NO LUCK. Retail stores have decided that it's now time to sell open toed shoes for spring and summer. Umm, have they not looked outside? It's cold and pouring down rain :o( Maybe it'll only last a few more weeks but it's still not time to bust out the strappy shoes, flip flops, open toed shoes :o( No success at the store so I turned to the handy dandy internet. I finally found some in my size at Zappos.com. I decided to go with Nine West since that is what I had at home and that way I could avoid the buying and returning if they don't fit issue. I picked out 2 pairs in a size 6 1/2, one was a pointy toe and one was an almond shaped. I would return the one that didn't look or fit as nicely.

The boots were "on sale" for $89.95 and I was willing to pay the $25 to have them shipped overnight. If you think about it $89.95 is really not that cheap considering it's not boot season anymore according to the retail world. I didn't really feel like I was getting a deal but what the heck I need the boots it's pouring cats and dogs outside and I can't find any at the stores. When I placed my order I forgot to say overnight service so I had to call them and see if they could still do it even though I had processed my order. The lady on the phone was very nice and said yes they could do it and they would waive the $25 overnight fee...YAY!! I was happy and coudln't wait to get my boots.

Boots arrived on that Friday as promised (it was actually 2 days since the day I ordered because I had ordered after 1pm, which was okay with me). I took them home I tried them both on and decided that the boots with the pointy toes are the ones I liked the best. The almond toe ones were a little too loose. I am going to return them. Anyway, I told hubby I should just go ahead and exchange the other boots and have them send me a second pair of the ones I like so that next year I don't have this issue. I went online to order a second pair and they were $96...what?? In 2 days the boots went from $89.95 to $96 and then today right before I was about to write this post the boots are now $106. I don't understand. How does this site work. I did see on their policies that if you buy something and the price goes down they will refund you the difference if you contact them within 10 days. What a paint though. I am thinking that I won't be shoppoing on here again. Who knows if you are getting a "deal" or not. My luck I'll go on there again next week and they'll be $29.99. Urrggghhh!!!

More Yummy Food

I've been trying to stick to my idea of cooking something new at least once a week and I was able to do it twice last week.

Last week was Mardi Gras so in honor of Fat Tuesday we made some beignets.


A beignet (pronounced [bε.ɲε], which is the French word for doughnut), in American English, refers to a pastry made from deep-fried dough and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, is a kind of French doughnut. Savory versions of beignets are also popular as an appetizer, with fillings such as crawfish and shrimp.

Rocky had picked up some mix when he was in New Orleans last year so we finally decided to make it.

Actually I should say that other than frying them, Rocky did all the work :o) and yes we do own a deep fryer, a mini size one.

The turned out super yummy but even though he only made half the batch it was still too many for us and they don't taste good the next day. So next time we'll have to make them when we have guests over.

On Friday I decided to try Ree's Pan Fried Rib-Eye Steak, delicious!!!


I followed the directions but added a little something extra. I added sauted onions and mushrooms to it and boy was it good. I paired the steaks up with some mashed potatoes. It was a very easy meal to make.

I still have to download the pictures of the final product, I'll post them tomorrow.

Last night I did not cook but we had Rocky's parents over for dinner and had some very yummy fresh crab.


The weekend was both hectic, emotionally stressful and then mellow.

Saturday Rocky and I headed out to Marin to support the cycle team on their 80 mile bike ride. It turned out to be a nice day with no rain although it was crazy windy out there and that is never fun on a bike ride. The first part of the morning was going well and then we had an accident. One our riders locked up her breaks and went flying over handlebars :o( it required a trip an an ambulance and some ER care (I went with her while Rocky continued on with the team) but she is doing fine and just pretty banged up but no broken bones. That was quite scary. When they finally discharged her Rocky picked us up, we went back to the parking lot and got her car and we took her home. The rest of the evening we spent relaxing. It was a long day for us.

Sunday Rocky had Kali so I headed out in the icky pouring rain to run errands. I had to go to the grocery store, made a stop at the farmers market and the headed back home. We cleaned up our house, vegged out a little and then had dinner with my in-laws follwed by a movie. It was a nice Sunday afternoon.

I was thinking of trying Ree's French Onion Soup tonight but it might take too long so I may need to wait til the weekend, we'll see how late I get home tonight.