Back to Work...

Today is my last day of vacation. I took 10 days off from work, but only charged 2 days of vacation because of the holidays and my 9/80 schedule. I take vacation every year at that time. It's such a good deal, I can't pass it up!
I wanted to go to Vegas or visit my family up north, but didn't confirm on anything. I basically stayed at home and relaxed. I imagined this is what it feels like to be retired. I enjoyed every second of it.
I told myself that while I was off work, I would clean my house throughly, cook dinner every night, watch my diet and exercise. Hahaha.....

So, this is what I actually did...

Bertie and I went to Ikea with Steven, Krystal and Harold. I love Ikea. I want to buy everything there. And of course we had the 99 cent breakfast!
I bought some storage units to hang on my wall to hold stamp pads and my tools. It's a perfect fit and it was so inexpensive. We also bought some silly hats.

Sara and I went to Disneyland and California Adventures. We had so much fun because the park was not crowded at all and the lines for the rides were only a 5 minute wait! Sara and I decided to get something to eat, so we shared a turkey leg. Right behind us was a cat. Yes, a cat!! Just hanging out. Sara named him Jasper and we fed him some turkey. I guess Jasper got tired of us because he decided to go to the other side of the park. Everyone who saw Jasper was quite amazed that there was a cat there and Jasper didn't even care that he was at Disneyland.
Chuck and I drove up to Lake Arrowhead and then spent the day at the cabin in Green Valley Lake. There was still lots of snow up there and the lake was frozen. I tried to make a snow angel, but I'm so awkward at doing stuff like that I think I just made a snow blob.

For Valentine's Day I got a Brownie Edge Pan. I love brownies and I especially love the corners and edges. With this pan, every piece will have an edge or corner. Awesome!!

I ate every piece of Valentine's day chocolate and/or candy. And the only exercise I did was walk around Disneyland and Lake Arrowhead. I did clean up the backyard and sorted through some old paper and threw those away.

But the one thing I did manage to stick to was cook dinner and today I made some chicken that was really good. I got the recipe from the Everyday Food magazine and I had all the ingredients on hand. The family loved it. I served it with a rice pilaf and a salad.

Lemon Roasted Chicken

1 chicken cut up into about 10 pieces
6 garlic cloves, smashed
2 lemons, quartered
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp salt or to taste
pepper to taste

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Squeeze lemons into a bowl and add remaining ingredients, including the quartered lemons and mix gently. Place chicken on a baking sheet, skin side up, and cook through about 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

So even though it doesn't seem like I had a real vacation. I actually enjoyed myself only because I didn't have to go to work. I need to work on a few birthday cards as I know four people who have birthdays this week. And I am going to try (again) to start eating right...

So tomorrow, it's back to the grindstone. Being off work was fun while it lasted.

Ja Mata ne!

I'm a Winner!!!

Bertie and I went to the Quikutz club and Spencer and Loren from QK were there. Because they forgot to bring the new release dies they promised to give out some awesome gifts and they didn't lie!
Four of the raffle prizes was a QK alphabet of your choice (depending on what alpha you choose, the value could be $200). They raffled off the new QK magnet tool (which I won) and there also was a gift bag worth $200 and a $300 QK shopping spree.
A lot of people brought projects (including me) and it was determined that Loren was going to judge the top 3 projects. I got 2nd place!! I won the new Cookie Cutter alphabet Rockstar. First place prize was the alphabet of your choice, but I'm not complaining that I got 2nd. Actually, I'm flattered that out of all the entries, I think there were at least 40 or so, mine was chosen. And it wasn't even my favorite card. I really didn't like it compared to the other ones I made, but I'm glad I brought it to the class.
So here is my winning entry along with my magnetic tool:


Since they guys forgot their products, I'm suppose to email Spencer and he will send me my Rockstar alphabet. But this is what I will receive:


I'm working a 1/2 a day tomorrow and after that I start my vacation. Looks like I'm off to a great start!!

Ja mata ne!

Super Bowl Un-Fun Day

I'm not a big football, Super Bowl or any kind of sports fan. I think growing up with my sports fanatic dad has made me numb to all or any kinds of athletic events. His obsession is so over the top that we always joked that if there were championship tiddlywinks on at 2:00 am, dad would watch it! So the game is on now, and I thought I would jump on the computer for a bit.

I'm feeling much better now. My voice is back to normal and my bouts of coughing has decreased. I felt so good that I even cooked dinner and baked cookies. Last night I made Ravioli Lasagne. Sounds crazy, but it's actually really good. It's the lazy persons version of lasagne.

Here's the recipe:
1 bag of frozen cheese ravioli ( I use the Costco/Kirkland brand in the blue bag)
Spaghetti sauce (I usually make my own, but Prego will work!)
Mozzarella cheese (shredded or sliced)
Parmesan cheese

Boil the ravioli for a couple of minutes, do not boil these all the way as directed on the package.
Spray pan with Pam. Layer spaghetti sauce, ravioli, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese in that order ending with mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 375 degrees oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Enjoy!

I'm in a Quickutz club at my local scrapbook store. Every meeting there is a raffle to win prizes. For every item you bring using one of their dies, you get an extra raffle ticket thus increasing your chances to win a prize. The next club meeting a Quickutz representative will be there and he will bring lots of goodies to give away. The grand prize will be a $200 shopping spree. I so want to win. How awesome will that be? So yesterday I made a few cards. I have a few more ideas in my head and need to make my cards before the club meeting. I really want to win, no... I NEED TO WIN.
I'm off to run a couple of errands. I think it's perfect timing since the game is still on and I'm sure everyone is inside watching it. Go 49er's!!!!

Ja mata ne!