How many people can you fit in a One Bedroom Apartment?

7!!!

We had a change of plans on Friday and everyone decided to meet in Omaha so Brian could catch some good deals he saw in the ads for Black Friday and it would also get Brian and Jillian a tad closer to Hutchinson the next stop on their race around the states for Thanksgiving.

We were happy to have everyone over and even broke out the folding table and chairs (we're putting those wedding presents to use) Only one person had to sit in the lawn chair :-)

Christy brought over BBQ beef and a yummy salad (recipe at a later date)! We threw the BBQ beef in the crockpot to heat up while we headed to Scheel's (similar to Dick's) and Target. Jillian and I might have disappeared for a few minutes to visit one of our favorite stores Francesca's. I could fill a whole blog about my love for Francesca's.....at a later date. The crowds weren't to crazy since we didn't hit the stores till around 11:45.


Thanksgiving day we had a nice time with my family. It included a nice competitive game of Trivial Pursuit. AND guess who's team won!! That's right....MINE! Okay it probably had more to do with Brian and Eric who were my trusted partners in crime. I thought we did a pretty darn good job considering we didn't have someone from other generations like some other teams that were participating. We got to Clay Center around 7:30 Wednesday evening and Grandma and Grandpa treated us to Danny's a great little eatery in downtown Clay Center. Thanks for waiting on us everybody!! I brought the sweet potatoes using a recipe that Christy made last year and is YUMMY! Brian even tried a bite....which is a pretty big deal.

Yes I did steal this picture from Lisa's blog. So if you're related to me its a repeat :-)

We headed to Altantic Friday night and Saturday morning we headed to Boone with my in-laws and Drew! We had the Ladd Thanksgiving at a house that was built in the 1860's. The Ladd's do a reunion in conjunction with Thanksgiving every year so it was fun to visit with people that had come to the wedding that I hadn't had a chance to visit with that night. Eric and I stayed the night in Atlantic again and went to church Sunday morning. It was a really nice service with a great message about believing in something you can't see. I'll leave you with a picture of downtown Atlantic...the picture doesn't do it justice.

Neighbor SIGHTING!!!!

OH YES! The only time we've seen Mr. Angry from below was when he yelled at us BUT we had a literal run in today...Eric and I had just got home from Atlantic and as we were walking by the hallway downstairs, he emerged and before I knew who it was I looked up and smiled....(I have been trying to be overly nice to people I see in the building so they know we are such an upstanding couple. My regulars are the Indian man who lives above us, the Jani King guy who lives besides us. I always ask how they are doing and tell them to have a GREAT day with lots of enthusiasm :-) Back to the story it was HIM! And I'll give you one guess as to what he was carrying......Here is a clue it matched his Budweiser jean jacket....which he also had on.

NAME OUR NEIGHBOR CONTEST!!

My in-laws think I should have a contest on the blog to give a name to our nice downstairs neighbors....and with our recent run in I agree.....so here we go!! Next Saturday Eric and I will look at all the entries to decide who wins and that will be how our favorite neighbors will be referred to from now on!! SO get your creative hats on and start brainstorming......

Communication

How many forms of communication can I accumulate for work??


Apparently a LOT! Today I accumulated a pager to add to my multitude of technology. I'm not sure how I feel about being SO connected to work....... I think that we are going to have greater MIS-communication with all of this STUFF....I'll let you know. However, I had to go to Pager 101 today. I've never been that important before :-)

Super excited that tomorrow is the last day of work for the week! However not much of a break as Eric and I are headed to Clay Center tomorrow night, then back to Omaha on Thursday night, onto Atlantic, IA Friday morning, Saturday off to Boone County Iowa???, Sunday back to Omaha. WHEW!!! We might need a vacation to recover from vacation :-) It will be nice to see both our families which makes it all worth the traveling.

Eric came home for a couple of hours tonight but just headed into work for the night.....It's going to be lonely watching the Biggest Loser by myself.....Since he's working tonight he gets to take Friday off without taking a vacation day which is GREAT!

I'll try to take lots of pictures this weekend and I'll update as soon as I can! If I don't get on before Hope all you blog-stalkers have a great Thanksgiving!!

PRESENTS!!!!

But not for us......

Eric and I did our Christmas shopping this weekend. We (I) were very organized with a list and everything. We still have a couple of presents that we will need to pick up. We haven't drawn names for Harrison side yet so we couldn't get those presents. Here are all our packages from our adventure.


Christy, Eric's mom, was in town for a girls weekend with some friends so we met up with her for lunch on Saturday. She needed to go to Hobby Lobby and so did I so off we went. I got some stuff for marketing for work and she needed to get some crafty stuff for Eric's grandma. While we were there I saw that the Christmas Wrapping "Stuff" was 50% off. You have to love Hobby Lobby. So Eric and I each picked out a roll of wrapping paper. I picked out the sparkly blue and silver paper and Eric chose the green diagonal paper. After that we went to the mall which was really busy! Glad we are beating the holiday rush!


Last night we went to a game night that a couple from our small group hosted. Jamie didn't realize that she had scheduled "game night" on THE game night. So we only played games on commercials and watched THE game on TV the rest of the time. We had been shopping all day so I hadn't had time to make a snack to bring so I through together a little snack mix that I thought was pretty tasty!! Eric would eat the nuts that I don't like and I'd eat his raisins! Aren't we a cute couple!!


SPRINKLES!! Who would have thought it would be so hard to find Thanksgiving sprinkles but I've looked in 3 stores, Bakers, Target, and Hobby Lobby. I guess I waited to long because all I can find is Christmas sprinkles. One of my pet peeves concerns Christmas....I don't like all the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving! (YES we did get our shopping done but we aren't listening to Christmas music and we haven't decorated the house yet!)




OH I almost forgot.....I LOVED "The Blind Side" and Eric liked it (I think he didn't want to admit how much he liked it) I thought it might be a sold out show so when I ran that afternoon I ran to the movie theater and bought our tickets; however Eric didn't believe me that we needed to get there early to get a good seat. We showed up 25 minutes early and there was a HUGE line to get into the theater. There was also another huge line for New Moon. We did get to sit together but we had to sit closer than I would have liked. I felt like a rebel because we snuck our pop into the theater....YIKES! We did buy popcorn though. This was our first trip to the movie theater as a married couple... :-) As we drove to the theater I told Eric things definitely change when you get married because I went in a sweatshirt and Eric was in a t-shirt....no trying to impress each other!!

Well we are watching the Amazing Race tonight! So....I better start paying attention!

Nashville

Sometimes I think that I still live in Nashville!

Today on my conference call for work we took role and they said Nashville and I almost said here!! WHEW that was a close one...

I just pulled up the weather on weather.com and got really excited because it said 62!! WAHOO!!! AND then I remembered that I still have the website set to Nashville...wishful thinking??



It is 53 here though today. I am HOPING to go outside and run this afternoon!! You may be thinking isn't it the middle of the work day? Well yes it is. I am working from home this afternoon trying to do some research on the plethora of hospitals in the area. We have a limited number of websites that we can access at work so I'm using the internet at home. I needed to make some calls for my research but was waiting on a Physicians office to give me a call back since I had a patient who wanted to adjust his Tube Feeding. Since they just called me back I better get back to work and maybe to sneak off for a run! Really I could be done for the day considering I've worked way over 40 hours this week...

Eric and I are going to see The Blind Side tonight!!! YEAH!! I'll let you all know how it is!

Riding Partner

My lady in waiting is my partner in crime these days as I travel around Omaha and Lincoln. I'm telling you she's the perfect riding partner. Here are the top 3 reasons:

1. I can shut her up or let her talk when I feel like it (the mute button is almost always on in the Alero...I like to do the talking)
2. She gets me to where I need to go (sometimes maybe not the most direct way but lets be honest I wouldn't make it without it I mean her......reading a map...not my biggest asset)
3. My friend lets me know my arrival time and adjusts as I drive which has helped me out in multiple instances

MAKEOVER WEEK

Oh my gosh Super Excited that tonight is MAKEOVER WEEK on the Biggest Loser!! This is one of my favorite episodes on the biggest loser and I will probably most definitely going to cry :-) But not so excited that I only get an hour and a half tonight rather than 2 hours. Darn Madagascar something or another.

Speaking of the Biggest Loser....Eric and I are probably about 5 lbs heavier (water weight) from eating dinner last night. We have a church small group on Monday nights so whomever gets home from work on Monday night first is supposed to start making dinner. Last night I didn't get home till close to 6 so Eric was on his own. We had decided what to make the night before and had things laid out to make things go faster. It was a new recipe and I hadn't really looked closely at it because I figured I'll adjust as I go.....WELL Eric did follow the recipe which included adding 1 T of salt to 1 lb of hamburger. The recipe also had cheddar cheese soup and Worcestershire sauce. Can you SCREAM SODIUM!! BUT I would definitely give an A for effort!


Last Friday I got my first big girl Pay Check. It was exciting to get a check even if its not as much as the hubby brings in. It's really sad to see how much money gets taken out for taxes. GROSS! So how's work going? Well it's been an adjustment. I really like the clinical aspect of my job and I feel like I make a difference in my patients lives. I had a really bad day last week and then went to set up a patient and he was an 85 year old man who was a former science teacher. Can you say I was in my element. I love older adults and I love helping people. I'm struggling a little with the sales aspect. It's hard to be told no all day long and if you know me very well being told no isn't something I like :-) I'm hoping as I continue to show my face that I'll begin to get past the front desk....not an easy task.



Oh did I mention that I get to be on-call the week of Christmas. I will say that I'm lucky that I don't have to be here in Omaha to be on-call but I will get to haul around pump manuals and a few other notebooks so that I (hopefully) will be able to help answer questions from all of our patients located across the nation. I thought that I was the lucky one because I was the last hire but someone else just started this week. Oh well hopefully there won't be a lot of questions. Today I saw an e-mail that had all of the dietitians start dates with the company and lets just say that retention isn't a strong point....Over 3/4 of the dietitians with the company have started in 2009......

And as predicted it's happened, I've cried while I've watched the biggest loser. It just gets me every time.

I promise to be a better blogger this week! I don't want to make excuses but last week really was a busy week. I got 2 patients within 2 days. YEAH for the referrals because I get commission and get to educate patients my favorite part :-)

There was just a preview for THE BLIND SIDE!!! I've been waiting to see this since I first saw the previews in October. Eric and I are going this weekend. Okay Over and Out! Check back later this week to see what's happening with the Omaha Ladds

Blogging to Resume....

I promise tonight my blogging will continue. Sorry I've been such a slacker this past week :-)

TIRED

I haven't forgotten about you blog stalkers out there but I am EXHAUSTED today. It was a stressful day BUT I got two referrals which is GREAT! I was in Lincoln all day and have to go back tomorrow so no posting today but maybe tomorrow??

Happy Hump Day....

EMAW

Every Man a WILDCAT!!

K-State 17 KU 10

Saturday was a great day for gameday!! Not only did our team win BUT it was a GORGEOUS day. I probably could have even gotten away with wearing shorts.... I wasn't super happy to get up early after being gone all week but I put on my happy face and we headed to the little apple and the hubby even packed a blanket and pillow for me!! Which came in very handy on the way home :-) considering I left almost the whole way home. We had a blast hanging out with family during and after the game.

This is a picture that Eric made me take at the game. It's a KU fan and Eric was making fun of his shirt....He wanted me to post it.

I got home on Friday night about 8:30. My flight was delayed out of Dallas Fort Worth. BUT I got to fly first class. I didn't book my ticket so it can't be blamed on me if it was a problem. I did have lots of OU fans on the plane with me.

This was a picture I took down at Bricktown in Oklahoma City. It was a nice downtown area but I was disappointed that there weren't any shops to look around in. The area was predominantly restaurants. My cab driver informed me that they are still trying to build up the area. I got over my fear of eating by myself in restaurants on this trip. I didn't even take a book. I just did some people watching. The night I went down to Bricktown AC/DC was playing.....GREAT PEOPLE WATCHING!!!

Eric and I went on a 1 hour and half walk this afternoon. We did some house walking again and just lost track of time. Eric informed me that he probably would have stopped sooner if I hadn't come along but he was happy because he accumulated 90 points for his health points today.

Tonight I tried a new recipe and it was a HIT! I got it from the Centennial 4-H Cookbook

It was SUPER EASY and didn't take a lot of ingredients....



Chuckwagon Tortilla Stack
Yield: 4-6 servings (may depend on how hungry your husband is)



1 lb ground beef
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 can (16 oz) baked beans
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
1 can (4 oz) green chiles
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
3 tsp chili powder
4 flour tortillas (I like to use whole-wheat tortillas :-)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

In a skillet, brown beef and garlic powder until no longer pink: drain. Add beans, tomatoes, chiles, and chili powder. Bring to a Boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until liquid is reduced. Coat a round casserole dish with cooking spray. Place one tortilla in dish; spread with 1 1/2 cups meat mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheese. Repeat layers 3 times. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and tortillas are heated through. Cut into wedges. Serve with toppings of your choice.




Yes that is cantaloupe on my plate...and no Eric did not have any on his.....

Well back to the daily grind tomorrow! We will see if they let me do a little more on my own this week after having some training under my belt. Well, better get ready to watch the Amazing Race!!!

He's BACK!

So as I am waiting to board my flight from Dallas Fort-Worth I get a phone call from our apartment complex.....Oh Yes our neighbor has been calling in noise complaints about us repeatedly. SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY!!!!

I was so upset because Eric and I have been super conscious since the incident. We don't run the dish washer, we don't do laundry, ect. past 9 o'clock at night. The lady said maybe you're walking really hard. I informed the manager that my husband and I don't weigh that much and that we have been trying really hard to be good neighbors. HOWEVER, we aren't willing to not walk around the apartment at night. I mean seriously both Eric and I get up at 5:00 am so we aren't up past 10 o'clock each night and we don't have bounds of energy at that time of night either.

Eric called this evening to talk to the manager too and basically got as far as I did. I can't wait to get out of this apartment and thank god that I'm not there by myself all day anymore. Did I mention that there window blinds have been bent so much from spying that they are permanently bent....and no the blinds haven't always been this way.

I made it to Oklahoma City this afternoon and spent the afternoon with the dietitian. I am starting to get phone calls from patients back in Omaha. It's really scary to know that I AM THE DIETITIAN....YIKES! I'm sure I'll get more confident as time progresses but I'm still learning how to set up pumps and about site care. I'm sure this week is going to help A TON! I wrote my first note in my companies computer system today. I'm SUPER EXCITED to have electronic medical records. I'm telling you traveling for business is nice. I like not thinking about how much my meal costs and having traveling expenses covered. I really want to go down to Bricktown tomorrow night so we will see if I make it down there!

Well I'm watching the biggest loser as I type but I'm headed to bed soon so I can get up and work out tomorrow morning! (Sorry no pictures tonight)

Soar Like An Eagle

Well I'm sitting in the airport waiting to fly to Dallas Fort-Worth and then to Oklahoma City. I'm excited to spend the rest of the week with a dietitian who has the same responsibilities as me. Hope I learn a lot! I get back into Omaha at 5:50 on Friday evening.

I brought my camera so hopefully I'll be able to post some fun pictures from my trip.

Yesterday I went to Lincoln with the LPN who also works in the enteral department. She set up a patient to go home on Tube Feeding so it was nice to see how she conducted the session and I also learned a little something about the pump. I think there is going to be more traveling than they first led onto when I signed on for the job. Considering I've been there a week and have been all over Omaha, Atlantic, IA, Harlan, IA and Lincoln, NE. I guess I'll get to see the country side of IA and NE.

I am trying to book my travel for training in Montgomery, Alabama. I will be there Sunday, December 5 through Thursday, December 17. Which means that Eric and I have to get most of our Christmas Shopping done this month. We have started but aren't even close to being done.

Well not much to report on....hopefully I'll have more to blog about later in the week!

What a beautfiul morning...What a beautiful day

Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL!! Eric and I had so much fun...

We went to church at 10:30 and then Eric wanted to go out to eat. We both wanted to eat outside to enjoy the weather so we headed to Five Guys (a hamburger and fry joint). I was introduced to Five Guys in Nashville and really liked it. It's fairly inexpensive and the hamburgers don't come from frozen patties (important to a girl who grew up on a farm) The french fries are fresh cut...you have the choice of regular or Cajun style....we chose Cajun style. Everyone else had the same idea apparently because the place was PACKED and we were worried we wouldn't be able to find a bench outside. While Eric waited for our number to be called I scouted out the table situation and jumped on one the first chance I got.

Afterward Eric and I did a little house cruising. This is where Eric and I drive through neighborhoods and we look for houses that are for sale. We write down the address if there isn't an information flyer box so we can look up the price on the internet when we get home. But JACKPOT when there is an information flyer box. I jump (seriously) out of the car and run up and grab the information sheet. We have a lot of fun and house cruising has become our hobby. Eric makes fun of me because I get super excited to see these signs and direct Eric in the direction of the sign as joyous cheering soon follows. (No we are not buying a house RIGHT NOW but we have fun seeing how much house you can get for your money)


We came home and the ING New York City Marathon was on TV. I thought I would just check it out for a second but OH NO! We got hooked and watched for about an hour and a half. The woman winner ran the whole marathon 30 minutes slower than I ran my half marathon....OH WELL! AND a runner from the USA won the race the first time since the 1980s although it wasn't Ryan Hall which is who I was routing for....


Of course this made me antsy so Eric and I headed out for a long run. We even had some running commentary (more so at the beginning before we got winded and tired).....Oh they started out strong....Eric is starting to look winded....Oh she's breaking away from the pack...


Here is me at mile 6 during the Country Music Half Marathon last April....lets just say I wasn't still smiling around mile 12.... After finishing I said I would never do another half marathon again but maybe I've forgotten the pain because as I was watching the race this afternoon on TV it made me want to another one....HOWEVER I will NEVER do a whole marathon!!! When the half marathon and marathon runners split in Nashville's race I remember thinking to myself I would DIE if I wasn't even half way done at this point there is no way I can put my body through that much pain. So we will see if I have any comebacks in the future....maybe I should try a 10K first I felt great at that point.....

Of course we had to watch the Amazing Race and Brothers and Sisters (me)!! Then it was off to bed for another week of work. I have decided that I am going to get up in the mornings before work so that I know that I will get my workout in. (Yes, a couple days this week I got home and working out didn't happen) This week is a good week to start because I'm hoping to trick myself because of Daylight Savings Time. Eric gets up at 5 in the morning so I'm just going to start getting up with him so I can get my calorie burning in...... When I get back from Oklahoma City I'm going to start trying out gyms

Happy Monday!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I love daylight savings time....when I get to Fall Back. I woke up at 7:30 all on my own and that's after getting in after 1:00 this morning. I can not say the same for my husband....

We had a fun Halloween with Eric's Work Friends. As we drove home last night we decided it was good that we ended up not hosting the party as I'm sure that the cops would have been called and maybe not just from our downstairs neighbor....

Eric went as a Snuggie model and I was a Mighty Duck, Adam Banks to be exact.

Yes we can both fit in the snuggie together! This was a wedding present from Eric's younger brother Drew. I'm pretty sure it was gifted to me but let's just say that I'm not the primary user...

I had already bought Halloween sprinkles before we decided not to have the party so I decided to take my Famous White Chocolate Popcorn mixture anyway. Everyone loved this recipe when I took it to events in Nashville. Check out the recipe.


White Chocolate Popcorn

1 1/2 lbs almond bark
3 T peanut butter
2 bags microwave popcorn, popped
16 oz jar roasted peanuts
3 c. rice krispies
Holiday Sprinkles (optional)

Combine popcorn (make sure to pick out the kernels that didn't pop, you wouldn't want to be responsible for the chipping of teeth), nuts, and cereal in large mixing bowl. Melt the almond bark and peanut butter in a 1 3/4 quart bowl in the microwave on 50% power for 3-4 minutes or until melted, stirring halfway through. Pour onto the dry mix; coat well. Lay out on 2 waxed paper covered cookie sheets. I usually put the mix into the refrigerator to set up faster. After it sets up, crumble into an airtight bowl or tin for storing. May be frozen.


Well going to a party was not all that we did on Saturday. Since I'm a working woman now we have to do a lot of our shopping on the weekends so we headed to the grocery store. Eric needed to come with me this week because I'm flying to Oklahoma City on Tuesday and won't be back till Friday so Eric will have to fair on his own. I was SUPER EXCITED to head to the grocery store because Kroger was having their buy 10 items get $5 sale. A LOT of the items we also had coupons for and we eat on a semi-regular basis.....fruit snacks (eric), granola bars, frozen pizza (good for me being gone), Hormel Chili (eric), cheese, gum (me), canned tomatoes, ect....

When we picked up the chili Eric said put frozen fries on the list....YES he is going to eat chili cheese fries for dinner one night when I'm gone. He informed me this is the meal and he ate it a lot when he studied abroad in Sweden. Whatever french fries were included on the sale. At the check out we saved $32 yes that's right and we only spent $40.

We had to rush home so we could get ready because we were going to Buffalo Wild Wings to meet some "friends" of Eric's to watch the Nebraska game. The reason I use "friends" is because he met these guys on a K-State message board. It was like meeting a date that you met on the internet. Eric and I both wore purple but wore jackets over them so we could hightail it out of there if they didn't look normal. Well in a sea of red we spotted the purple and they looked normal so we approached. I introduced myself and one of the wives at the table was also named Jill and the other one's name was Renee. I just happen to be named Jill Renee. I thought this was ironic and then I learned one of the guys names is Brent. CRAZY! The other Jill was also Jill Rene (with an asterisk over the e) They were a little older than us but it was fun to hang out with fellow K-Staters. The girls like to work out so we had something to talk about too.


Well I better start thinking about getting ready for church! Hope all you readers had a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!