Monday, September 30, 2019

Homecoming 2019!

I'm late getting to this post, but it's been a busy week! Last week was homecoming. The girls were busy getting ready for the parade for Thursday. The drama stage crew kids built a float with the then/now theme of the parade. They featured a play from this year (Beetlejuice) and a play from the past (Guys and Dolls). Aubry found out on Monday that she would be designing the float so they only had three days to get it built and painted. Aubry is excited to be using it for her Thespian Conference portfolio. She is hoping to get a scholarship for theater production for next year. :) I'm so proud of all her hard work!

And then the night of the Homecoming Parade, there was an AFJROTC drill competition so Aubry carried the American flag in the parade. My parents and grandparents came up to watch the parade with me and Ashlyn (Johnny had to work, unfortunately). Aubry did a great job!


Then Friday was the football game. Aubry had to work but Ashlyn went to the game to hang out with her friends. And we won! Then Saturday afternoon, my mom and grandma, sister, and my nieces came over to help the girls get ready for the dance. They looked so beautiful and had a great time!




Thursday, September 19, 2019

Super Busy!

It's been a crazy busy week. On Monday, I grabbed 10 work files all for the same case. That is my favorite thing to do...being able to work on files that are related to each other. It definitely seems to make my workflow go even quicker. There were more available, but I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, so to speak. So I've been working on those throughout the week.

Yesterday I took the day off, though, because Johnny had an appointment for some skin cancer biopsies. He had a large basal cell carcinoma removed from the top of his head in 2014 (that's what happens when you do swimming pool work for years without wearing a hat!). He has several more spots now that also need to be removed. My poor guy! So we will wait for the biopsy results and then go from there. Right now he's just struggling with being able to sleep.

Since I've been so busy with work this week and we were gone for several hours yesterday, I decided on quick and easy meals this week. Monday was Baked Ziti. Then we had tacos, burritos, or taco salad for Taco Tuesday. I browned the hamburger and mixed it with the taco seasoning, shredded the cheese, cut up the lettuce, and Ashlyn made the guacamole.  Wednesday we had leftovers. Last night we had sloppy joes with cheese peas and candied carrots. All three of those recipes came from my mom. The sloppy joes are super easy. It's just browned hamburger then mix it with ketchup and minced onion and heat through. The cheese peas...just drain a can of peas and melt Velveeta cheese in them...mix them up. Candied carrots are just canned carrots, drained, little bit of butter, and then brown sugar...heated on the stove until the sugar melts. And then tonight we will have leftovers again.

I've been trying to find my planner groove. I've loved planners for as long as I can remember. Even before high school when we got planners through the school, I always had planners. My favorite back then was the Five-Star planners that I used in middle school...but I've had several other kinds as well. In 2016, I switched over to the Happy Planner brand and I still love it so far. I got my new 2019-2020 planner a couple weeks ago and it has a slightly different layout than I usually get. So I've been playing around trying to figure out what I like. While I like decorating my planner to look pretty...I'm definitely more of a functional planner. I also love color coding...so everything has it's own pen color. Here is my decorated functional Happy Planner. :)

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I use the colored box at the top for appointments and other things scheduled in advance. The line right below it I use for meal planning. The bottom I use to track work stuff. The rest is just for everything else. I am thinking about getting a different kind of planner specifically to track all my work stuff that is just January to December (instead of the 18 month planner I have now) and perhaps the mini size. Or they also have new skinny planners as well...so maybe I'll go that route. Or maybe I'll just continue to write it all in this one. I haven't decided yet. :P

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Still love my laptop...

I bought my Dell laptop in the summer of 2013 after my previous HP laptop overhead and fried the motherboard (seems to be a common problem with my HP laptops despite using them only when they're sitting on cooling fans). I remember when I got it...because I was sick that day and Johnny was sitting in the bathroom with me so I could guide him through the set-up in between the times I was vomiting. :P I have a very sweet and very helpful husband! ;)

Anyway...I'm very picky when it comes to the keyboards on my laptops. They have to have a certain feel when I'm pressing the keys or it screws up my groove (I type really fast!). We had to buy Johnny a laptop about a year later...and I HATE the keyboard on his computer...which is really just the newer 17 inch screen version of my 15 inch Dell Inspiron laptop.

So...I really don't want to get a new laptop unless I absolutely have to. I have taken this thing apart so many times...I'm getting pretty good at it! See...the power jack where the cord plugs into the computer kept needing to be replaced because the plastic bottom case was broken in that area. So it meant that the power jack was loose...which would cause the wires in the back to break apart. So I replaced it twice...and the last time I also had to replace the wireless network adapter card. That was a pretty easy fix though...I just have to remove the keyboard and then you can access the card from there.

BUT...I finally decided to just replace the entire bottom case of the laptop so the power jack would be stable again. I'd never actually taken apart the ENTIRE thing before...but it was fairly simple. It was really just a matter of unscrewing some screws, popping it in the new case, then screwing everything down and connecting a few cables.

So this is what I did today...


Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Amazon Shopping Experiences

So...I do a lot of shopping on Amazon. I like the variety of items, the convenience, and I can generally find pretty good prices. But one reason why I prefer shopping from Amazon, is because they are pretty good about compensating for any problems you might experience.

First, I ordered some ink for our printer with 1-day Prime shipping. I got an email from Amazon saying that it was going to be delayed. I chatted with Amazon customer service, and I was given a $10 promotional credit (which can be used on anything that is both sold and fulfilled by Amazon) immediately applied to my account for the delay. Then I got an email saying that the package was lost and they didn't have a replacement item, so they would refund me the $30.90 that I paid for it. After I got the refund, the printer ink showed up.

With the $10 promotional credit, I decided to try some brush pens that I'd been looking at. I also splurged and bought a large pack of fineliner pens for my planner. I did notice that when I placed the order it said 1-day shipping, but then the confirmation email said 2-day shipping. It wasn't that big of a deal...especially since I was getting $10 off my order already.

Then I ordered this Happy Planner Recipe Organizer Kit on September 8th. It had a "guaranteed" delivery date of September 10th. Well...Amazon didn't even ship the item (from California) until 11:30pm on the 9th. It left Texas on the morning of the 10th, so obviously it wasn't going to get to Kansas in time to be delivered by the guaranteed date. Then I got an email saying that it was "delayed in transit" so I contacted Amazon chat again. I stated that I was getting irritated that we pay $119 a year for Amazon Prime and I'm not getting what I paid for concerning 2-day shipping items arriving by the "guaranteed" delivery date. I didn't even have to ask for anything...she just said that she could issue the refund of $34 for my trouble and then just keep the item once it arrives on the 11th or 12th. :)

So for anyone who likes shopping on Amazon, if you don't get your package by the "guaranteed" delivery date...contact Amazon. I've gotten the "promotional credits" ranging anywhere from $5 to $150 on an expensive item we'd purchased. You can almost always get a $5 or $10 promotional credit for mentioning that you're a pissed Prime member. It has happened quite a few times in the last two years...and it all adds up! With all the promotional credits and refunds that we've gotten, Amazon has basically paid for our Prime membership. ;) But...it works out for Amazon as well. Because they're so good about compensating the customer for any problems they have, I feel more comfortable buying from Amazon...so I do more shopping with them. I know I'll either get my item or they'll make it right without a lot of hassle on my part. And returns are even easier now! You can just drop off the items (you don't have to box them or anything!) at Kohls. They just scan the code from your email and that's it!

It really just boils down to good customer service. That's what makes a person want to continue frequenting any establishment and to recommend it to others.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Recipe: Ritz Baked Chicken

We tried a new recipe last night. It was very tasty! I baked the chicken breasts in the oven but you could also fry them on the stovetop.

Ritz Baked Chicken 

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup real mayonnaise
1/2 tsp garlic salt 
1/2 tsp paprika
1 cup crushed Ritz crackers
1 tbs dried parsley 

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. 
2. Combine mayonnaise, garlic powder, and paprika in a shallow bowl. 
3. Combine Ritz cracker crumbs and parsley in a shallow bowl. 
4. Coat chicken in the mayonnaise mixture, then in the cracker mixture, then place in the baking dish.  
5. After the chicken is arranged in the baking dish, pour any extra cracker crumbs over chicken.
6. Bake for 30 minutes then use tongs to flip chicken and bake 30 more minutes. 

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Mashed potatoes and corn go perfect with this chicken! It's definitely a dish I'll be making again. :)

However, I do think next time I will use a metal rack to sit the chicken on so it doesn't get soggy in the juices while cooking. Other than that it was very tasty! 

Monday, September 2, 2019

Lazy Labor Day Weekend

It's already Monday...the holiday weekend went by too fast!

The girls spent the weekend at XH's mom's house. We didn't have any plans, so I don't mind. They're old enough now that I pretty much let them decide when they want to see XH and his family as long as we don't have other plans or anything. So they left shortly after school got out on Friday. They'll be back later this afternoon.

Johnny had a day of leave to make-up for when he worked on the National Day of Mourning on December 5, 2018. And since it was a holiday weekend, he would've had to sign up to volunteer working the 8 hour overtime shift on Saturday (which he hadn't). And then he was off yesterday and today for the holiday. We just had a nice, relaxing weekend at home. We had dinner together and rented a $0.99 movie on Amazon. Geostorm was really good! Andy Garcia is one of my favorite actors. :)

But...tomorrow is back to the daily grind. I'm already ready for another staycation! ;)