I jinxed myself!

So since my last post about NOT cooking, something crazy happened. I've been cooking freezer meals on and off for random people over the past year but have not had any consistent clients since the spring. Awhile back, one of the nurses at work found out that I make freezer meals and asked me to make 7 dinners for her. I did it and it went went and that was that. That was over 3 months ago.

Well apparently, Thursday night after I left work, this nurse had a conversation with a few other NICU staff that I make freezer meals. NEWS SPREADS LIKE WILDFIRE AROUND THAT PLACE!!!! I walked into work on Friday morning (having no idea about the conversation that had gone on the night before) and was almost immediately approached by 2 staff members, asking if I could give them a list of the freezer entree options that I offer. As the day went on, a couple more people were asking me about the meals. And then today, a whole new group of people were working and somehow the word spread to them. Everyone was asking for a list of meal choices. I had 3 people sign up for meals on the spot and have at least 2 more who plan to give me their "order" tomorrow and then about 3-4 more who are going to look over the options and get back to me. Holy cow--what have I got myself into??!! I'm super excited by the possibility and am sort of in shock that it was so easy to get this many people interested. And to think I did NO advertising! I am definitely working with the right group of people--busy moms working 12 hour shifts who don't arrive home until 8 PM and need easy, healthy dinner options for their kids/husband at home. I don't anticipate many of these "clients" will be consistently ordering meals on a biweekly basis (thankfully!) so I think if I stagger everyone, I can handle the load. Especially if a couple people want the same entree, I can just make a big batch and split it into 2 dishes....We'll see what happens!

So if this many people are desperate for meals, I'm going to have to expand my options. I came home today and in 2 hours flat, prepared and froze the following:

Spicy Grilled Chicken with Lemon Rice Pilaf

Asian Sirloin Steaks w/ Hoisin Sauce and Sesame Seeds

Herbed Lime Chicken

Pork Loin Chops w/ Pears and Cranberries

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Ham and Gruyere Strata w/ Turkey Bacon

I haven't cooked since Halloween

This is actually rather absurd come to think of it! I think the last time I didn't cook for a week must have been when we were in Italy on vacation....I feel like I am ALWAYS cooking but we've had a very busy week w/ dinner at small group, being out of town over the weekend and then out on a cheap date last night. Feels weird to have to cook tonight...
Anyway, we took a look at our finances about a month ago and were SHOCKED to realize we'd been averaging $200/month on dining out for 3 months straight! WHAT!!??? Where did that figure come from?? We really don't go out that much but somehow it was all adding up. So our challenge as of late has been to aim for $15-20 dates which we've been quite successful at using our entertainment book (thanks to my father-in-law--he bought 3 books--one for him, one my brother-in-law John and one for Graham, informing the boys that they needed to "keep dating their wives.") :o) A coupon can go a long ways!

New Kittens!!

Unfortunately they are not ours....much to my dismay. My parents just got this brother and sister pair last week and we were able to pay them a visit over the weekend and welcome them properly into the family. They are adorable! The smokey-colored one, Bear, is the boy and once he falls asleeps, he is SOUND ASLEEP (as illustrated by Graham's successfully putting him on his head without him waking). The girl, Monkey, is very playful and energetic and you have to make her run around for a long time before she'll snuggle with you. SO cute! Wish I would have been a good girl this year so I could ask for a pair for Christmas...

Monkey

Bear

Cuddling w/ Monkey

Bear can sleep through anything!

See?

"Girls dream a lot."

The title of my post is a direct quote spoken by Graham today. We had a great day together, running errands, shopping, enjoying pho soup and then having a delicious dinner at home (Graham made the best burgers ever!)

First we went to Shane Co to have our rings cleaned and polished (and mine re-dipped and re-sized). Of course I had to check out all the other rings on display, dreaming of the right hand ring I'll someday have... I did make it very clear to Graham that I am not expecting a ring ANYTIME in the near future, but explained to him that a girl always dreams about her wedding ring, and after she gets that, she has to move on to dream about her next piece of bling.

Then we went clothes shopping and I kept making comments like "Wouldn't it be cool to have red shoes someday?" or "Maybe we should just buy a pretty pump of green scented hand soap for our kitchen--wouldn't that be nice?" And on and on.... I really wasn't begging for these things or even asking for them really, I was just dreaming. Anyway, I did find a gorgeous winter coat that I'm excited about.

Over lunch, I started talking about how I want to take a three week trip to Europe sometime soon--"When will we fit that in?" Graham just laughed and playfully rolled his eyes.

On to Crate and Barrel where I used my gift card to buy the CUTEST Christmas mugs. Check out http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=17&f=30443 and http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=17&f=30370. Graham could not get over how excited I was to drink out of these come the day after Thanksgiving. Of course then I was on to jabbering about how my dream is to have a set of Christmas dishes to use during the month of December....

All this to say, we had a great day together and I in particular really enjoyed dreaming--it does my heart good. Now I'm doing my heart a 2nd favor as I sip a glass of red wine.

Today I dialed 911

So I was leaving work when the following scene unfolds:

I'm driving along Broadway when I pass a couple of strip mall (7-11ish type) shops next to a gas station. Out of nowhere, a man comes booking it out of the store, running along the sidewalk as fast as he possibly can, looking back occasionally as he runs. It was pretty much a blur because he was going so fast but I see him zipping into the gas station where I presumed would be his "getaway car." Acting on instinct, I take an immediate right next to the gas station to get off the main road and do something. (What I was going to do I'm just not quite sure...my gut said not to lose sight of the guy). To my surprise, he did not jump in a car at the gas station but ran into the alley right by where I had pulled over. Someone else apparently saw this suspicious activity go down and also had pulled over. He was dressed in nice slacks and dress pants actually got out of the car and approached the runner with fists raised. Then things get a little odd....The runner looks for a minute like he is going to try and knock the lights out of this nice business man, but instead he lifts up his white t-shirt and exposes his giant beer belly (I wish I would have had my window down to hear the verbal exchange because I certainly felt like I missed something!) At this point, I decided I should disappear because in Everett, crazy people like this carry guns and I wasn't about to get shot just for trying to be a good citizen. I was already on the phone with the cops and so I sped away quickly, giving them my best description of the runner. I hope they catch him! I don't know what he did, but he sure looked like he didn't want to be caught.

Good ole' Everett--gotta love working is such a classy city!

Bear--grrrr

Today Graham and I finally went to see a financial planner to discuss....well.... our finances. We've been meaning to do this for a very long time but it just never happened. We went to the father-in-law of one of Graham's fellow worship leaders at Bethany and he was so great! I think we definitely made a great choice by selecting a Christian man to help give us advice and guidance--not only does he know a lot about money and the market, Don also seemed to have lots of godly wisdom.

The two of us are pretty clueless when it comes to money and investing, or at least so we thought. Apparently though, we've gleaned enough guidance from friends, family, financial articles, and for Graham, NPR, that we're doing the right things (according to Don). We learned a lot about bear markets and bull markets and what that all means and were glad to see that a financial expert was so relaxed even despite our current bear market economy.

Basically now we need to decide our timeline for the various goals we have (i.e. selling our place, moving to Seattle, having babies, me quitting etc). In the meantime, we're going to explore the world of CDs while Don helps us look at our current 403b retirement plans. (By the way, my current retirement plan is set up for my retiring in the year 2050---doesn't that just sound depressing!?! I better not still be working in 2050!)

Sight of the day

Need I say more?