Buisy being a kitty.

Kitty says you don't need to go anywhere, just stay right here, I'll hold you down.

Yahzi is very happy to have me home.  Also he likes the new rug I got.

Ducky LOVED the toys I brought home from the desert.

Spazzy missed me.

Yahzi's safe place.

So no updates, I haven't done anything much other than hang out with my fur people.  I've been trying to catch up on house chores and yard work.

This year I'm trying for a few containers of berries and lettuces.  Hopefully they thrive & we have nummy fresh home grown food this summer.  Perhaps I'll even put in a tomato for Scotty.

Yesterday Mom, Glenn, & I went to the US Foods open house out at the expo center.  3 hours of eating tasty things one bite at a time as we wandered the room.  It was fun, but exhausting.  We found a few new products for Phat Jack's.  Glenn's headed out in a few weeks to cater for a Time Life photography tour.  Chicago to LA along rout 66.  It will be very interesting to see how things go.  Mom, Jack-jack & I are sitting out on this adventure.  We're both in house purging mode & hoping to bring order to our universe.

Today I spent a few hours at Tulip Tree, it's so good to be back home.  Tomorrow I get to go in and finish the corsages I'm making.  I'll post pics.

Live Long & Prosper!
~m

Gonna try this again...

It has been very long since my last post.  I have had many adventures.  Most of them full of details that aren't mine to share, or out in the desert beyond civilization.  It has not all been good, nor all bad.  I have had many moments of joy & made a few new friends who if I am lucky I will get to keep.  If not, I have loved all the interactions we've shared & I adore the time we were given.

So let's sketch out the basics:

Last spring the department I worked for proved to have the drama Lynn warned me of.  It was personally devastating but in hindsight I did what was right for me in the end.  Note to self, listen to Lynn even when she's being subtle, she is most often RIGHT.

I spent the spring and summer being the "order manager" (yes I gave myself that title) for Phat Jack'shttps://www.facebook.com/PhatJacks?ref=br_rs.  It was stressful (especially while Glenn was in the hospital) but we all banded together and broke in the trailer.

My adventure as order manager came to a rather abrupt end during the Lincoln County Fair.  After 24 hours of no contact from Scotty & much worrying, I dropped everything. I threw myself into Mum's car & made the drive home to Utah in record time.  Mom, & the Keeleys took good care of Oscar & the Behemoth while also rocking the county fair & selling a whole lotta cotton candy.  Me & Scotty learned a lot too, about burns and upper extremity prosthesis.

Then we all followed thru on what had been a huge joke...starting years ago when I made Thom pull over to take a picture of a hot dog cart for sale at Tyson Wells in Quartzsite.  I won't go into the whole story, I've told it too many times to count.  End result is early november Scotty & I loaded Glenn's house trailer & the four of us headed to Brenda, AZ.  They spent a few weeks setting up shop while Scott & I bob tailed home & reloaded Behemoth for our manual  trip.

We had Christmas at Phat Jack's, followed by a short visit at Oxbow with some of our chosen family for the new year.  Then Scotty flew home in the beast & I settled in to work for as  long as I was needed.  I had a few adventures (one particular incident with a rock in a wash sticks out) but all has been mended.  I met many new awesome people, and gained an appreciation for prime rib.

Then I drove home, too fast....and slept in an IHOP parking lot cuz I'm too stubborn.  I am paying for this.


Them's the highlights.

Live long & Prosper!
~m

Ouch

So, keeping on with the new norm... spent most of Saturday cleaning the house for company.  Love having a cleaner house, but good golly did I tear up my back.  Good thing I did my PT before we started the kitchen and bathroom.  Also, I managed to drop a sledge hammer on my bare foot while putting away the tools I used to repair the couch.  Toes are NOT tougher than steel.  In fact toes are not remotely compatible with sledge hammers ever.  So now not only do I move funny from an overstressed back, but I limp with both feet.  It's pretty awesome!  My physical therapy tonight was far more painful than it has been the previous two times.  Hope I didn't over strain.  I'll know for sure in the morning.

My main project this week is to finish up the graphics for Phat Jack's.  Good golly do I wish I'd taken a few graphic design classes over the years.  I'm pretty much teaching myself and learning the hard way.  But then as I have to keep reminding myself, they get what they're paying for, and at the moment that's $0.  So I'm trying not to feel bad about my abilities or speed.  I have made progress and by the time I'm done I'll have more skills than I used to have.

Going to go lay down and hope for the muscles to relax enough to let me sleep soon.
Live long and prosper.
~m

Positive Motion

Had my first day of physical therapy today, really happy to have the feedback and optimistic goals set by the PT.  I'm not usually the person to need someone cheering me on or nagging me, somehow that seems to motivate others while absolutely stopping me in my tracks.  This guy seems to understand where I'm coming from and is more concerned about me pushing myself too hard too fast.  He's also determined that part of why I keep getting set backs is because I'm actually too flexible, thus needing more muscle to support from bending or twisting wrong.  Let's hope that the positive outlook persists and I'm able to push just enough to stop in time to avoid overdoing.  I'm certainly feeling tonight all the testing, twisting, and balancing I did in the appointment.  There's definitely pain and muscle/nerve pain that I won't be able to fix, but if I get back even a little quality of life I'm calling it a success.  So I've got my homework for the week and a good attitude...update to follow.

Sounds like Phat Jack's will be cooking for the Smithfield Soccer games this spring.  We're all excited to dive into the season with our REAL FINISHED TRAILER.  I've been fussing around with a bunch of graphic design projects.  Here's a preview of the simple graphics we're going to start out with.  We're calling the old woman Ethel (as in "don't look Ethel" from the streak) and of course the running man is Jack.  Mom got the power of veto on Ethel in light of the possible aspersions on her character.  She like the rest of us finds the humor in the situation and we all love Jack and Ethel.

  I'm off to dose my aches with birch oil and then have a sincere conversation with my pillow.  It's been a full day and I'm satisfied with the results.  Live long and prosper y'all.
~m

Back on Balance

Haven't updated in quite a bit.  Honestly I was pretty upset and depressed there for a bit.  I'm doing much better now and have come to realize yet again that it really was ok for what felt impossible at the time to happen.

Let's see, what's new and noteworthy.  They cut my position at the college.  I miss the people, but realize in hindsight how much physical stress that job was giving me.  I'm pursuing physical therapy & really enjoying the improvements I'm able to make in my housekeeping endeavors. It's gonna be financially stressful for us, but I'm optimistic we'll survive.  It really is nice to have the time and energy to take on projects around the house.


We're gearing up to start our concession season with Phat Jack's Great food on the move!  Mom and Glenn have been doing a lot of recipe research and menu brainstorming.  With my new more flexible schedule I think I'll be their on call kitchen help most of the summer.  Probably means I'll have to spend a bunch of time camping in Cache Valley. Shucks, I might really enjoy that.

Gearing up for camping season. Having skipped our winter AZ trip this year we're planning to go south and visit our friends the Crawfords at their summer work area Senator's Wash.  We're both looking forward to the trip.  Scotty's doing several mechanical repairs and maintenance on the truck, and I'm planning to do a complete empty, clean out and re-stock of the camper.  It's been several years since we bought the camper and it's amazing how quickly things can pile up in such a small space.

We went rv shopping last Saturday, crawled into as many 5th wheel rigs as his leg & my back could stand to.  Saw several things we liked, and a few things we hated.  We've pretty much narrowed our decisions down to the 5th wheel toy hauler options.  Some of the non hauler trailers are really nice and would be comfortable, but we love the flexibility given with the toy haulers.  It's no surprise that the fancy curtains, electric fireplaces, and pendant light fixtures that are marketed as luxury & all the comforts of home don't do much for us.  We're getting to have a pretty comprehensive list of 5th wheel models we like so that when we go shopping in a few years (because I have a very hard time buying new and owning the instant depreciation of value) we'll be able to find our new home easier.  We're also encouraged to see that the models we liked 3 years ago new are starting to show up in the used market at prices that match our budget.  Now all we have to do is stay patient (we're not always the greatest at that).

Last week I found a pork barbacoa recipe that we both enjoyed.  It's sweet but not too much so and made for really tasty leftovers...however next time I will start with a smaller roast.

Kitties and I have been enjoying the lovely weather the last few days, I open the sliding glass door and they all take turns lounging in the sunshine and sniffing the smellavision through the screen.  The birds are coming back to the yard and every time there's a new chirp or visitor they sneak up to be wild hunter kitties. 

I'm off to do some design work and watch world championship figure skating.  Live long & prosper!
~m

Food Adventure

Ok y'all, this one I made up late at night when I knew I was gonna need yummy take with me lunches for the week. It's all pre-made/pre-packaged but it's yum, fast, and easy.

Chile Verde Chicken Dumplings

12 oz cooked shredded chicken (I used canned)
1 pkg cream cheese
1 can diced green chiles
dash onion powder
dash garlic powder
1 handful shredded cheddar cheese
9 frozen dinner roles thawed & let raised to double size
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can salsa herdez chili verde

Preheat oven to 350ish.
Mix the cream cheese and diced chiles, add onion and garlic powder and cheese.
Roll or stretch out rolls and fill with a scoop of stuffing mix.  Pinch to seal and lay seam down on parchment covered pan.  Bake 15-30 minutes (until warmed through or the cheese is reasonably melty).

Mix chicken soup with salsa verde. Top dumpling with a dollop of the gravy mix.

Consume!

So that's it, and I just decided it's a ton easier to cook than it is to write down the details in a reproducible manner.

Not much else that's noteworthy, cold weather, boring annoying work, and the usual meanderings of everyday life.  Live long & prosper!
~m

White Christmas

This year the Frost Miser won.  We went north.....and we froze!

 But it was so fun, to be home with all of my family and get to visit with everyone.  Like Mum says it felt like Christmas.  I even got to do some last minute shopping at the Imp.

I won't say that it was any better or worse than the celebrations we've gotten used to in the desert.  And I won't feel a bit bad next year when it's time to fly south.  But this year was AWESOME!  instead of a campfire for christmas eve we had home made waffle bowls and ice cream with the HFUN.  Instead of shopping the vendors and hunting down the cheese curd man we spent time with Mum & Glenn planning scheming and dreaming about Phat Jack's Great Food on the Move (it's so close to done we can taste it). Instead of steak at the Stratosphere on the way home we had spoon roast because we WANTED to run the oven.

It ROCKED.

Happy new year y'all.
~m