Weird weekend leads into weirder week

A recap of the weekend of July24th…A weekend I will not soon forget…

Let’s see…I escorted the boys to San Antonio, we got up EARLY on Saturday to set up for Renee’s garage sale, then Renee’ felt sick, turns out, after dad took her to the hospital emergency room, she had a kidney stone…Baby Herbie is fine. He had the hiccups and was kicking the mic every chance he got.

BUT…Dori and I were left to make up prices for items since Renee’ chose not to put price tags on anything. …and that was FUN! Customer: How much is this…me: Um $5, right Dori, Renee wants $5? Dori: Yea, that’s right.

SOLD!

I came back home Saturday night, promptly lost my phone. Searched all over for it on Sunday, decided to locate the phone using Sprint’s Family Locator. Expected to narrow down whether it was at the airport or in my car somewhere, my heart skipped when I found it was actually in a different part of town altogether. Kicker is that I’m not about to knock on the door, but neither are the police. I have to write a “Lost Property Report”. I know where the darn thing is for goodness sake!

So to the guy at the apartment complex at Dennis and Northaven, in building 15, either apartment 1036, 1037 or 1038.

You SUCK!

So, out of boldness or sheer stupidity, my friend Sam and I made up flyers and put them on the doors of the apartment. We also wanted to put them at the mailroom but couldn’t find it, so we asked in the office. The guy in there said he would talk to them directly and let them know there is a reward too. We’ll see what happens.

8/9: …I am on a waiting list behind 39 other people and the store only gets 5 per week..nice. ..We gave up on the apartments because the phone cannot be activated, they simply have a paper weight right now. And AMEX can reimburse the cost of the phone to me because I purchased it less than 90 days ago. So by the time my name pops up to number 1, I will only be spending $50 out of pocket.

I’m still bitter though.

My reaction to chicken of the sea

The other night I made the most awesome tuna-fish salad. I had been craving it all day and went to the store and even got preboiled eggs so I wouldn’t have to wait on those. Pickles, Olives, Mayo and Eggs…Ooooh it was gooood!

Then yesterday, I didn’t realize it, but I had bitten the side of my tongue and I think my teeth felt weird all day.

It was in fact because my tongue was SWOLLEN! Even so, an allergic reaction to something didn’t even occur to me until late in the day. I had eaten normally, but that feeling you have when you first wake up and can’t really talk well stayed with me all day. ..and then I remembered the tuna-fish sandwich. … So I did what I normally do and called my friend, who yelled at me that I could have died and she made me call my doctor. After asking if I was itchy (No) or if my mouth itched (No) or if my throat was closing up (No). Just my swollen tongue, it’s just difficult to say numbers easily. “Call her right now and call me back and tell me what she says!” is how the conversation ended.

So I did. The doctor said that I might be allergic to tuna. Sad huh? I’ve had small reactions to sushi in the past, but I thought it was the roe that is on some of them, never occurred to me that it could be the tuna.

I love tuna-fish salad. -=sigh=-

She said to take 50mg of Benadryl at first and then 25mg every 6 hours for the next 2 days.

…and (as if it was an afterthought), “if you feel your throat closing up, call 911 immediately, because if you try to drive to the emergency room, you probably won’t make it.” Nice.

Seems my newness to sushi made me more sensitized to the cooked tuna. Weird. All of my allergies have been more intense in the last year or so. all kinds of stuff is popping into my head.

So the doctor is sending me to the lab to have me tested for fish allergies. They have tests that can determine exactly which fish I am allergic to. That would be cool because I would still be able to eat sushi, just not tuna rolls.

The end.

well, almost. I was trying to be good, but this morning I took 2 benadryl, not just one. ...realized that when I was on the tollway and my arms were tingling as the drug was kicking in...my thought..."Aw crap, Benadryl makes people sleepy!" I got to work okay, but I warned my team that I might just be a little woozy. I took about 2 hours to complete one task because I kept getting distracted and doing something else!

I'm a dork.

...with a swollen bitten tongue.

...there's still an awesome tuna-fish salad in my fridge.

Single Style - Chicken Patties

So I had some leftover Rotisserie Chicken that was calling my name, but I didn't want to just do the same ole same ole....Now that it's Lent, memories of Salmon Patties and Tuna Patties flew into my mind. Chicken Salad, Tuna Salad and Egg salad all have the same ingredients, why can't Chicken, tuna, or Salmon patties be the same?
I don't even know how much chicken it was...maybe a cup or two. I looked in my handy dandy Better Homes and Gardens red-checkered cookbook and found Salmon Patties. Immediately, I knew I wouldn't be using this recipe because it has a LOT of ingredients! But I got the idea. I then decided to check out FoodTV.com since I love the 5 ingredients idea of food. The trusty Paula Dean has a great basic recipe that I could compare to the other and find similarities. One Egg, and Crackers/bread crumbs was basically it.
Off to the Pantry.
I've got nuthin'... just flour and very basic spices.
Then the fridge...Eggs! Yes!!! what else???
..5 beers, a bag of condiments, string cheese...nothing that popped out at me for salmon or chicken patties.

Well, I had it in my head that I had to do this so I resorted to the usual...used what I had. For the dry ingredients: 1/2 a bag of Shake and Bake (I can't remember making Shake and Bake Chicken!), 1 bag of Wendy's croutons from a salad purchased who knows when, some Garlic powder, Table Blend Mrs. Dash and some flour.
Mixed and chopped it all in the handy dandy Magic Bullet Blender.
Threw all of that in the bowl with the deboned Rotisserie Chicken.
Mixed thoroughly by hand. I threw in a little shredded cheese to help bind.
In another bowl, mixed together one beaten egg and some Mayo (about 3 packets --lol)
Stirred all that in with the Chicken it's ready for the pan! It smelled good!

I used an ice cream scoop to drop them into the oil. Then, with a spatula dipped in the oil, flattened out the scoop.
I'm telling you they looked like Salmon Patties, so I knew I was on the right track. I tried not to mess with them and flipped only once. When complete, I placed them on a paper towel a la Salmon patties.
Served on a hamburger bun slathered with more mayo (yes, I have a lot of Mayo packs in my condiment bag.) and a slice of cheese.
Voila! Workin' with what I've got people. :)
I usually don't have bread at all, today was just coincidence. If I hadn't had bread, I would have probably tried to replicate Lenten Friday dinner by adding Macaroni and Cheese as the side item. But I don't have that either! So there would be another recipe showing you what I do when I crave it!
For another day. :)

Now...some recipes that will let me use some of those ketchup packets!

Flower and Max

I always thought it was kind of cute and funny that Max would eat ALL of his food when Flower would come into the kitchen. He gathers up his toys when Flower walks across the living room. Flower is what...less than 6 inches tall? ..why is that intimidating?!
Now I understand why.
I was in the kitchen making my own breakfast and heard Max give off a tiny little whimper and heard his little feet going back and forth in the way he does when he doesn't know what to do and needs guidance.
Flower was in his food! He had reached up and had one tortoise arm in the food and was looking around to find just the right kibble of Beneful. I scrambled to look for a camera, but missed the best picture of them all. Max had reached down into his dish, at the same time that Flower was in there, and grabbed a small mouthful of food and went to the other side of the kitchen to eat it. He did look like his feelings had been hurt too. I felt bad for him, but I've always told him that Flower is above him on the totem pole. I'm just glad he didn't get food aggressive with Flower. I'm glad I can trust the two alone together.

Happy Heart Day!

Things have been going pretty fast and now I am not as busy juggling several projects at work, and as a plus, I'm not sleeping through my weekend!

I recently met some really fun people and last night I went to "Cupid's Revenge" at Chi Gallery. The photographer, Debra Gloria, is a friend of a friend and I was honored to go. I loved the photos and at the end of the evening I found out that I know one of the models! I think it was a plus that I did not know ahead of time. Beautiful and sensual is how I would describe them. um...and HOT...would be another! :)
Made a stop at Jack's and then on to Sue Ellen's to round out the night. Fun Fun Fun!
I realized at the end of the evening that I prefer valet parking to trolling around searching for my own parking space, and I don't have to carry my keys!

Gotta give a shout-out for a new hot spot for the ladies -- Jack's Chill Grill. It's off of Commerce St just outside downtown. I love the feeling of the whole place. Inside is a concrete floor with lots of seating, pool tables, and on occasion, they set up the Wii! Outside is all gravel with little fireplaces for sitting out and conversing within earshot of the live band inside!

Speaking of live bands, the last time I was out there, I met Kathy Corbin! She mentioned that one of things she has to do is pick bands to perform at Jack's. Ding Ding Ding!! So I said she should contact Erin McKeown! I gave her the info and we'll see what happens. I'm excited. Just hope they don't invite her to perform in September! Why do we invite people to Texas at the hottest time of the year?!

As might've been observed, I've joined Facebook. I have a myspace site, but with all the eye-noise on myspace, I prefer Facebook. Except...the speaking about yourself in third person part. I was thinking about it and instead of me telling you what I am doing...or I mean what Roberta is doing, we should be able to update our friend's status' . That would be funny and cool! ...Let's see...Rupert is brown-nosing with the boss...Doug is hitting on a girl that is just not having it!...Jonny is ordering more breakfast than is allowed for a family of four!...
I think that would be more fun...should I suggest it to Facebook?

I guess I have to rephrase it as "Roberta is thinking that Facebook should allow me to update all my friend's status'!"

Well, hope everyone had a nice Valentine's weekend!

Wow

Things have been a bit whirlwind around me lately, all these holidays are sneaking up!
I have 2 weeks off work at a time when I think everyone around here needs a break.
I actually had 10 days to take, so I took 3 at Thanksgiving and I am taking 6 starting on the 19th. That leaves one day that will just be lost because I ran out of year.
The projects here at SWA have been amazing and it's been awesome to be a part of them. I was thrust into a position that I didn't think I was ready for back in the summer because the more tenured .com testers were placed on another project. I think I've held my own and rolled with the punches, but with that, I've also run out of year! Some major players in the development end are also taking the last 2 weeks off because we really didn't have enough slowdown to take any kind of break since the summer.
I believe all the hard work will pay off in the new year. As always in technology, people only notice when something goes wrong. All the hard work is behind the scenes and the customers should not notice a change.
On a really cool note, I'm actually going to travel a little with my job. Yeah, I know, I work for an airline! My jobs have never involved traveling, so going to Chicago on occasion will certainly be a new experience. I think the only other time I have travelled was to fix a server in Houston, not even a night's stay.
I had an opportunity to go to Seattle next week, but that fell through, so now I just want to get out of town to SOMEWHERE. I'll end up in San Antonio for Christmas for sure. I need time to decompress. It's been a very work-centric year.