10/31/2020

Happy Halloween! Today has been a nice day. I packaged up the stocking stuffers I got for my sister and put them under the Halloween tree because our stockings hadn't arrived yet. Funnily enough, they arrived today! Our Halloween set up is now complete and it's time for me to set my sights on Thanksgiving starting tomorrow! We discussed our strategy for watching Thanksgiving and Christmas tv show episodes and decided to change it a bit and do a show, and watch all the Thanksgiving and then all the Christmas episodes before moving onto to the next show. This will allow us to work out of one disc holder at a time, so that should be nice.

We started the day with bacon, pancakes, and eggs for me for a brunch and it was great. We did a Wayward Pines marathon today, which is a great show for Halloween. It's very creepy. After a couple episodes we paused for a bit so I could go to Bartell's to pick up a prescription. While I was there they were playing Halloween music and got to listen to the entire Twin Peaks theme song which was epic!

When I got back we took out all the recycling and garbage before getting back to the show. I started the spaghetti sauce, and the blog recipes. One recipe I only did the first step, and I'll finish it tomorrow. The other recipe I made entirely, and have tasted it and it's lovely! Both recipes are breads, but very different from each other. I'm excited to make the other one tomorrow too.

The spaghetti sauce turned out great and I'm happy to have more tomorrow for dinner too! We've finished Wayward Pines and have launched into our annual viewing of the Garfield Halloween and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown specials. To me, this is the true kickoff of the holiday season!

Even though I slept well last night, I'm still pretty tired and anticipate another good night's sleep tonight too. We get our hour back tonight too, so that'll be good.

10/30/2020

I ended up going into the office this morning and stayed till around noon when everything got under control. I'm glad I went in because it'll be that much less to deal with on Monday. I brought a cd of Christmas music and listened to it while I worked, so that was fun! When I got home I logged on for the rest of the day. It was pretty slow in the afternoon, so that was nice. I watched Labyrinth, and then turned on Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel for the rest of my shift.

Once I logged off, we went out and ran some errands. We stopped at my parents's house to pick up and drop off some stuff, then went to Central Market to stock up on meat for my Christmas blog project. Then a trip to Joan Fabrics to get some non-Christmas ornaments. Then I picked up chicken shawarma from the Middle Eastern restaurant next door. It was sooo good! I'm enjoying some baklava for dessert now.

We're likely to finish out the Simpsons Halloween episodes tonight and tomorrow we're planning on a Wayward Pines marathon. I'll also be picking up a prescription, and making a batch of spaghetti sauce for dinner. It should be a nice Halloween! I'm going to try to make the stollen tomorrow too. I picked up the dark rum I need to soak the fruit tonight from my dad.

I hope I sleep well, I didn't sleep well last night and I'm pretty tired today!

10/29/2020

Today was a full, and I mean, till 5pm full, day at the office. Luckily my coworker came in for a few hours to keep me company for a while and went over some stuff before she goes on a short vacation. And then it was busy the rest of the day, so it didn't matter that I had to stay for the people using our office for their prepping. I'm not 100% certain yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll go in tomorrow for a couple hours since my coworker won't be there. I'd rather get everything as caught up as I can for Monday, but who knows, maybe it'll be super slow and I'll work from home instead.

I didn't walk on the treadmill tonight because it was so much later than it usually is for me, and my knee is feeling iffy today. I want to give it a day off. Leftovers for dinner tonight. Simpsons again.

10/28/2020

Today was finally a very short day in the office. I spent most of the time working on exhibits. There wasn't much when I got home either. Hopefully I'll have a lot to do tomorrow because I'm facing a full at at the office to deal with somebody coming in at 1pm and I have to be there until they leave. Still not sure about Friday. I should have no problem getting everything done tomorrow, so it's just a matter of how busy I think Friday might be.

While I worked, I finished out my Halloween movie list with The Sixth Sense, and I threw in Little Shop of Horrors for good measure. Then I switched to Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. Always so fun! I also caught up with the sink and ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher.

After logging out, I walked on the treadmill, showered, and made an awesome pork chop dinner! Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!

More Simpsons tonight. Good times!

10/27/2020

Today was a full day at the office. It was ridiculously busy! The next couple weeks are going to be a bit stressful. My coworker goes on vacation and there's some random stuff we have to do at the office, or might have to do, not sure yet. But at least the day goes quickly, that's nice! I left at 4pm and stopped at the post office by my bus stop downtown to look for envelopes for our stuff we mail, but they were out. I ordered some last week but they haven't arrived yet and we're out! After I got off the bus here I walked to the post office here and got ten envelopes, so hopefully they'll last until the delivery arrives.

I almost didn't walk on the treadmill today when I got home, because I wasn't feeling like it, but I made myself do it anyway. This is how it starts, with one day, then another day, then I just stop. I need to keep going as long as I'm not injured.

Leftovers for dinner. Pork chops tomorrow night. Simpsons Treehouse of Terror episodes tonight.

10/26/2020

Today was an easy day at work. My coworker came in and helped out. It's amazing how much easier work is when more than one person is doing it all! The day flew by and was simultaneously slow, if that makes any sense whatsoever. I ended up staying till around 3pm before heading home to finish working remotely. 

I was busy most of the time when I got home, till logging out at 5pm. I walked on the treadmill and then cleaned up the kitchen before taking a lovely hot shower!

Today I broke down and took out my winter coat and got out my hats, gloves, and scarf. It's supposed to warm up a bit soon but it's cold now! And I was really glad I did cuz I was nice and toasty warm!

Leftovers from last night for dinner, and Treehouse of Terror Simpsons marathon tonight.

10/25/2020

Lazy day today. My parents dropped by to help my sister put some stuff up in her room, and my dad helped hang a picture in our living room, so that was nice. They really liked all our Halloween decorations, especially the tree!

We mostly watched movies today. We borrowed my mom's copy of The Birds, which I haven't seen in ages, and it's the perfect time of year to watch it. We also watched the new version of Rebecca on Netflix. It was ok, a bit slow. I'd like to try the novel out and the Hitchcock version, sometime.

I also did my blog food, which I'll write about in my food blog next. I changed up one of the recipes for a future week based on my 23andme DNA test update, in which I lost all my Southern European DNA, but gained some Eastern European. I want to try and keep it as accurate as I can!

 I did a few typical Sunday chores. Laundry and taking out garbage, compost, and recycling. Also some general straightening up and putting away the clean dishes. Good times!

Now we're watching a DCOM to finish out the night. Back to work tomorrow..another Monday...!

10/24/2020

Today started with a trip to Safeway, even though it wasn't a shopping weekend. There were some good deals and a coupon to take advantage of. We picked up the ingredients to make a giant batch of spaghetti sauce next weekend, which will be perfect because my blog recipes for next week are both desserts, cuz of Halloween.

When we got back, we settled in for some episodes of The Office, and then we switched to more Halloween stuff on Disney+, including my first viewing of Frankenweenie, which was cute. Hallmark channel has switched to 24/7 Christmas, which is fun. I watched some of that after before calling in our teriyaki order for dinner.

We picked up dinner and drove out to our parents' house for our family gathering where we finally watched Hamilton as a group! Sigh, it's so good on screen! I also got some feedback for my new possible book intro, and have a better sense of the direction to take it in, which is really helpful!

Tomorrow my parents stop by to help my sister with some stuff, and they get to see our Halloween tree. The last of the ornaments I ordered from Etsy arrived today, so I feel like the tree is as set as it can be until we start tracking down more ornaments on our as of now, non-existent day trips. We're also awaiting our Halloween stockings. Nobody seems to make Halloween stocking holders, but I found a good idea online of how to make our own. Too late for this year, but we can work on it for next year.

Tomorrow I do my blog meal. Hopefully it'll turn out better than last week's did!!!

10/23/2020

I worked from home today and it wasn't very busy, which is nice. I got some stuff done in the kitchen and watched some movies during the day. About an hour before logging off for the weekend, I needed to add some jobs to the calendar and my connection died on me. Of course it did! There was no reconnecting, so I had to go the "back door" way and connect to two of the elements I need to do my job, online instead. I wasn't able to get to the last element, but it turned out I didn't need it anyway, which is good. I was able to finish putting the jobs on our calendar and set up zoom appointments for them.

We now have some ornaments on our Halloween tree. Today the Haunted Mansion ornament arrived! It's so cool!

The tree is really coming along now! I can't wait for our Halloween stockings to show up!

We picked up Azteca for dinner and I have to stop ordering the tamale with my dinner because I keep getting a beef tamale when I order chicken. Not ok when you don't eat beef! I'll just get a taco or something instead!! Next time...!

Now we're watching Halloween Disney shorts and Treehouse of Terror Simpsons episodes on Disney+. Always fun!

Getting together with family tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll get to sleep in tomorrow morning!

10/22/2020

It was another full day at the office today, but it was ok. My coworker came in and we had a good afternoon. One of the things I miss about working mostly alone is having people to talk to and commiserate with. We hashed some stuff out and hopefully it'll continue to improve for everybody by sharing some more of the work. I'm going to start getting phone calls at the office some days and that will expand my experience which means I'll eventually be able to work the front desk better. It also keeps things busy, which I enjoy!

I walked on the treadmill after work today, which I've come to quite enjoy. I work from home tomorrow and typically don't do the treadmill that day, but Monday through Thursday I try to do it without skipping it, unless I'm injured.

I made chicken in bbq sauce and rice for dinner tonight. Nothing special, but it just sounded good. I did use up the rest of a bottle of sauce in the fridge, so that's good.

I have some movies in mind for tomorrow when I work from home. We'll see how busy or slow the day is and if I manage to get any chores done in between stuff. We're getting Azteca for dinner tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

10/21/2020

Today was a short day at the office and I was home a little after noon! Funny though, it got busy for about an hour when I logged in. I was able to get the dishes under control and watch an afternoon of Call the Midwife on Netflix. I also learned the hard way that when they say to take your Omeprazole on an empty stomach, they really mean it. Not on the first bite of a big lunch that will then sit on the pill all afternoon that will then make your stomach sour all afternoon. I'm just now starting to feel like I could eat some dinner.

After logging out for the day, I walked down to Bartell's to pick up a prescription I'd called in and I also picked up some junk food and "peppermint" Christmas lights which should be fun! Then I came back and did my treadmill walk before a shower.

An evening of The Office is underway. Now, to dinner!

10/20/2020

It was another full day in the office. We got so much mail set up to go out! I'm still working on beating myself up when I make mistakes. I'm still relatively new at this job, and I'm being asked to do a second job as well. And I don't always have in-office support when I need it the most. I shouldn't always expect perfection under such circumstances.

The bus ride home worked out way better today. It was less irritating and I had more energy to do the treadmill, and then get the sink under control, start a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and take out compost/garbage/recycling before taking my shower.

I finished out the last of my Spanish tortilla from Sunday for dinner tonight. I hope to get home sooner tomorrow and will make an actual new meal that I picked a recipe for this morning. I actually have all the ingredients!

We got through our Halloween stuff too soon and it feels too early to start on Thanksgiving shows, so we spent the evening watching The Office, which oddly included a Christmas episode! If Michael and Holly don't end up together I think I'm going to throw something at the tv...!

I hope I sleep well tonight. I woke up early today and couldn't get back to sleep. Tired now.

10/19/2020

What a day! It has never been this busy since July when my coworker went on vacation. It was busy to start with and it just kept coming and coming all day long. I stayed till 4pm before leaving and there's probably at least half a day's work for tomorrow to get all the paper stuff squared away. Luckily my coworker comes in tomorrow and will hopefully be able to help me out. It wasn't hard stuff or anything anxiety-inducing, which was good. It was just so much!

The worst part of the day was coming home. It was freezing cold and raining and the bus said it was 9 minutes away, but it ended up being at least twice that long till it arrived, and was then packed. And then when it got to the park and ride, it took a ten minute break before moving on again. It was ridiculous!

I almost skipped it, but I walked on the treadmill when I got home, and finished out a Joker storyline on Batman. A nice hot shower helped me forget the silly bus ride home. Leftovers for dinner and a strawberry Pop Tart for dessert helped too. Fun stuff on youtube tonight is very relaxing. Cold feet though, in spite of socks and slippers!

10/18/2020

Today was mostly food blog recipes that turned out to be an epic fail and a hug disappointment. We ran out to get Domino's Pizza for lunch and came back to settle in for the last of our Halloween stuff to watch. We did the Donnie Darko actor commentary, The Return to Oz, the Halloween episode of Charmed, and all the Goldbergs Halloween episodes. We just finished the Rugrats Halloween episode, which finishes out my sister's Halloween list. I have a few more things I'll watch this week most likely, but starting tomorrow, we move onto Thanksgiving!!

I also did two loads of laundry and an emergency blanket laundry load when I accidentally spilled pasta on it. I cleaned up the kitchen before I started the recipes, and refilled my spices, but I'll need to keep cleaning the kitchen as the week goes on. I prepped my work food too.

Work tomorrow is always a mystery for how busy it'll be for a Monday. I have a few things I need to work on, for sure, but we just won't know till we look at it tomorrow how busy we'll be! I do like a busy Monday, though. We'll see how it goes!

10/17/2020

Today has been a pretty nice day. We started off with breakfast before heading to Fred Meyer. We spent a lot of money but I got some things I've needed or wanted for a long time in terms of clothes. I also did the last of my grocery shopping there, as well. Afterwards, we drove out to my parent's house to pick up/drop off some stuff. My mom's birthday is next week so we wanted to give her her present before instead of after her birthday.

When we got home, we settled in for the rest of the day with movies. We watched Knives Out, teamed up with Clue. Then we watched Poltergeist, and now we're onto the classic Ghostbusters to finish out the day. We have a couple more Halloween movies for tomorrow but then we'll be moving onto Thanksgiving!!

I took out the garbage/compost/recycling today, but laundry will be tomorrow. So will my blog recipes. I wanted to make sure they're as fresh as possible into next week as I can make it since on Tuesday I'll have coworkers in the office who might eat leftovers if they're still good then.

Last night I ordered a few more Halloween ornaments from Etsy for our Halloween tree and so far two of them have shipped, so hopefully over the next week they'll show up and we'll put them on the tree! It's so much fun to have a Halloween tree, I don't know why I didn't do it sooner!

I shouldn't stay up as late as I did last night because I'm super tired now!

10/16/2020

I worked from home today. It was a well-paced day but I had some times to work on other stuff. I swept the hardwood floors, vacuumed the apartment, and cleaned the toilet and bathroom countertop. I also made my candied oranges for this weekend's blog recipes. I watched one of the commentaries on my Sense and Sensibility dvd because I watched the movie yesterday. No real reason, I just felt like it. But in Halloween things, I watched Crimson Peak. I also set up the Halloween tree and the decorations we have gotten so far for it. We have a tree skirt, garlands, a black glitter tree topper, and candy corn lights that I strung up around the leaf garland on the shelves behind it. We're still waiting on our ornaments and the stockings.

Here are the candy corn lights. We had the garland up, but I put the lights around them today. I think it looks really great like this and we'll keep those up through Thanksgiving.

The lighting isn't the best at the moment, but that's the tree as it is now. I'll try to take some more pictures once the ornaments show up and I'll experiment with the lighting too.

And here's a close up of the Jack Skellington tree skirt. I think it's super cute!

After logging out for the day, we did the majority of our grocery shopping but we'll have to go back out tomorrow to do a little bit more before we're finished. It was getting late, so we picked up dinner and headed home. Watching Halloween DCOMs tonight.

I forgot to put on one of the nose strips last night so I didn't sleep well and am very tired. I hope to sleep in tomorrow! More Halloween shows and movies tomorrow.

10/15/2020

Well, it was another well-paced, yet nondescript day in the office. I got everything done that I could, including as much for the exhibit that has to go out tomorrow, as I could. My coworker comes into the office on Friday while I work from home, so she'll have to use her magic on the pages I can't get to scan right, and then tell me how she did it. There's also at least one random mystery we have to solve as well, so that should be interesting.

I left the office around 1pm and got home around 2pm after a bit of a wait for the bus. It was a well-paced afternoon but not too bonkers. After logging out I walked on the treadmill, and then ran downstairs to get a package, which turned out to be my spice and tea order from Market Spice, and our ballots came in the mail!! I started filling it out but I'll need to research the rest of it. Hopefully I'll get it finished and in the drop box over the weekend.

We're going to go grocery shopping after work tomorrow and that'll give us more time to just be home on the weekend. It'll also give me the chance to do my blog foods on Saturday instead of Sunday. I'm pretty excited about this one. I'm currently doing the next step in the candied pears prep and I'll be making the candied oranges tomorrow.

Freezer food for dinner tonight. Ugly Betty, My So-Called Life, and ER Halloween episodes tonight. Good times!

10/14/2020

Today was a longer day at the office, but part of it was because my coworker needed to log into the transcripts desk for some time and I was unable to do my work for a while. I had stuff to do in the back, so I stayed busy, but I had to stay longer to finish the other stuff. And I was busy when I got home too. It was not a stressful day, but a well-paced day.

After logging off, I walked on the treadmill. I wanted to be really careful because I stepped in a hole on the way home today and have the tendency to wreck my foot/ankle/knee/leg when I do something like that. Fortunately I don't think I did any damage this time!

Leftovers for dinner tonight, and I did the next step of the candied pears. They're now soaking in the sugar syrup. More Halloween tv shows tonight. Not a terribly exciting day, but a pleasant one.

10/13/2020

Today was another easy day at the office, but it certainly picked up when I got home. I have a few things to work on in the morning when I get to the office tomorrow. I tried out the new ideas we came up with for my stamp and it's definitely way better. If I had to do it over again I would have tweaked the wording, based on how I'm whiting out some of it, but, it's too late now!

I left work around 1:30pm and there was pretty much a wind storm downtown as I walked to the bus. I swear I almost blew away in the wind!

Once I got home, I made a quick grilled cheese sandwich and used up some of my supplies. Work really picked up in the afternoon but I also had the opportunity to catch up with the dishes and prep my dinner, which was good. It was a new recipe and it turned out to be really delish! I have leftovers for tomorrow night too.

Tonight I began the prep for my candied pears. It's definitely unlike anything I've ever done before, which is a fun challenge! Each day I'll do another step until it's ready for me to use on Saturday for my baking project. Though we're grocery shopping this weekend, so it might be Sunday, like this last weekend. Either way, it'll be ready then.

Tonight we're watching the Halloween or spooky episodes of NCIS. Tomorrow I hope to have some time to do a bit of cleaning around the apartment so I can set up our Halloween tree. I will post pictures when it's all ready!

10/12/2020

Today was a pretty easy day at work. I stayed at the office till about 2pm. No major drama or problems popped up. I had a few questions for my coworkers, but nothing crucial. I got to test out my new stamp which is fun! I got some good feedback on it and tomorrow I'll redo the ones I did today and make it look even better. This will help me have to write less and will ultimately save time. It's boring and silly to write the same thing over and over on all the paperwork when a stamp will do it all for me!

When I came home to finish the day remotely, I put a couple jobs on the calendar, but that was it. Really simple day, overall. After I logged out, I walked on the treadmill and finished up a particularly ridiculous Batman storyline, which is saying something! I also worked in the den for a while, continuing to clean up and organize in there even more. I gathered and took the compost, garbage, and recycling out in two trips. And a nice, steamy hot shower was in order afterwards!

Leftovers from last night's Christmas dinner from Cameroon for dinner tonight. I'm thawing out chicken for tomorrow night's new recipe to test. I am hopeful that it'll be pretty delicious. I'm also going to start the prep work for this weekend's blog recipes. One of the recipes calls for candied oranges and candied pears. Candied pears are super expensive to buy online, so I decided to try my hand at making them from scratch! I'll be photographing the process and will write about it over the weekend.

Tonight, we're watching the Buffy Halloween episodes, but we'll probably have time for a half hour show afterwards. I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight. I've been having problems with congestion waking me up and making it difficult to get back to sleep, but I moved my humidifier and my sister gave me some of her nose strips and I tried one last night and it seemed to help. I might have to start using them from now on. I do love this time of year when you can get all cozy in the heavier bedding and it's just the perfect temperature!

10/11/2020

Today was Halloween movies, a few chores, and my first food blog project meal! We watched the second Fantastic Beasts movie, then had a Halloween Town marathon. During that time I did two loads of laundry and made my blog meal which turned out to be really delicious! I already wrote it up in my food blog so I won't go into the details here.

I did something random today: I helped my sister put way the ac unit and switch out a shelf in her room with one of the shelves in the den and redid all the items on the shelf in a much more usable way, which is great. The den seems to be the room we're still transforming the most, but it's getting better and better all the time.

It was rainy and stormy all day long today. It got dark really early tonight. Super lowkey day today. Hopefully I'll be nice and ready for work tomorrow and the week ahead!

10/10/2020

Today was a nice day. We did our trip to the zoo, at long last! Started with Burger King for breakfast, and then a nice, chilly morning at the zoo. You have to kind of follow the path they set up and a lot of it is one way only, but somehow how we spent a lot of time with literally just my sister and me at parts of the zoo. It was pretty cool. We got to see the rhinos by ourselves and they looked right at us and when we moved to another vantage point, they turned and kept looking at us. I spoke calmly to them and one of them looked so intently at me, like he was listening. It was pretty special. And we got to see the baby gorilla and he was so cute! And the python is usually really sedentary or not in its enclosure but it was really active this morning. It was very cool! And we had to buy some stuff at the zoo store. I got a pen made out of a recycled bottle, and a Christmas ornament.

After we left the zoo, we attempted to go to Trader Joe's in Ballard but the line to get in was ridiculous so we just left and came home. We watched the first of the Fantastic Beasts movies and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on Disney Plus before heading out to go to our parents' house. We tried to go to the Shoreline Trader Joe's first and it was the same thing with the line to get in, so we skipped that one too! We ended up at the Safeway out by my parents and picked up stuff there for dinner. Nothing exciting, but it got the job done.

Tonight we introduced my family to Randy Rainbow. Somehow they've managed to get by this long without ever seeing his stuff, so we had to educate them on him. It was fun! I also got some really amazing feedback for the first two chapters of my book that I sent out to my cousin for her input. People don't seem to get that you get more out of negative feedback than positive, so you really can't sugar coat and overlook stuff if you're editing somebody's work. And you really can't take it personally. the story is always, always better when you work out what doesn't work, rather than surround yourself with "yes" people.

Tomorrow will be chore day, first blog meal day, and movie day. I don't get Monday off, so it's just a regular weekend for me, though my sister gets Monday off. Lucky duck!! I might try to do my blog meal for lunch so I can write it up in the afternoon and get it posted. I'm excited to get this project under way!!

10/09/2020

Worked from home today and it ended up being super stressful. Drama and those horrid exhibits from yesterday came back to haunt me. And then connectivity issues pretty much ruined the afternoon. I'm going to try to stay calmer in the future, but it's tough when you are all alone with no sounding board to talk things through with. You tend to keep things bottled up more. At least that's how my experience has been.

I managed to watch three movies during the work day, though, so that was good. Bram Stoker's Dracula, off my Halloween list, Remember the Titans, off my autumn movies list, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which I haven't seen in forever but it seemed like a good day for it. It also feels autumnal to me too, in the look and scenery.

After logging out, I walked to the teriyaki shop down the street and ordered potstickers and chicken yakisoba for dinner. I walked around while the food cooked and checked out a nearby dentist I am considering going to once I research it properly. The food was delish. We watched Rudy while I ate.

It was windy and really air pressurey today and my head hurt pretty much all day. I took a hot, steamy shower after the movie ended and I'm feeling better now. We're watching the Halloween episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air now and I'm charging my camera batteries for tomorrow.

So excited to be going to the zoo tomorrow, at long last! We were going to go last month but smokepocalypse rolled through town and we couldn't leave the apartment, and then they closed the zoo anyway. I am so happy to go again!

10/08/2020

Today was the day of nightmare exhibits, but it ended up being because nobody showed me how to resize the electronic stamps we put on them now. It was so stressful I was really glad to leave the office about a half hour sooner than the rest of the week. But the exhibits followed me home in my spare time, I scrapped all the messed up ones, resaved them, and then followed my coworker's instructions and finally got the stamps to work. I feel very accomplished, but it was just ridiculous! At the end of the shift, somebody turned in a last minute rush so I stayed online and got it out to the referral company who needed it asap. I guess that's the advantage of working remotely. A late day isn't that big of a deal.

After logging out I got ready and left to walk down to Bartells. I had made an appointment online yesterday to get my flu shot, and also ordered a refill for one of my meds, so I took care of both of those things, and then perused the Halloween aisle to get some fun decorations and stocking stuffers for the Halloween stockings when they arrive. I'm glad I finally got my flu shot. I definitely don't want to mess with that ever, but particularly not during a pandemic.

Dinner turned out to be really tasty, even if it was entirely store-bought. Marie Callender's now has this family-size ham and scalloped potatoes dish that is like my mom's patio potatoes, only way cheaper and easier to deal with. We made that and a can of refrigerator biscuits to go with it. I threw in some baby carrots on the side to eat an actual vegetable today!

More Halloween episodes tonight. Boy Meets World and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Working from home tomorrow and probably gonna watch a couple Halloween movies. Not sure about dinner tomorrow...It'll be a surprise!

10/07/2020

The work day went as long as the previous two did. I had to go on a field trip this morning and swap out a transcript at one of the law offices, or the lobby of the building they were in since I couldn't come upstairs. I had to kneel down on the floor which hurt my knee. Fortunately I was able to use the bus for the majority of getting there and back, but but me knees, which don't do well with bending far and kneeling on the ground, needed a break from the treadmill to make sure I don't overwork them.

Work again slowed way down in the afternoon when I got home. I got the sink caught up and watched The Mummy Returns. I made an appointment for tomorrow after work to go get my flu shot at Bartells and I will also pick up a prescription. Definitely will be perusing the Halloween aisles for decorations and candy...! 

After logging off, I read in my reading corner in my bedroom for a while. I'm making my way through some of the works of Frederick Douglass currently in my antiracism reading. 

Tonight was leftovers for dinner. I found a potatoes au gratin with ham from Marie Callenders at the store the other day and we'll be trying that out for dinner tomorrow night. And on another food note, I am planning on swapping my first two week's of blog meals because some of the ingredients I bought for week two will possibly spoil before then and all of the ingredients for week one will last longer. I had a game plan, but sometimes logistics get in the way! It'll be better to have fresh food that doesn't waste money by getting spoiled.

10/06/2020

Today was pretty busy for the first part while I was at the office. Two of my coworkers were in the office today with me till I left around 2pm. It's funny, there was so much to do at the office and then I went home and it was just nothing for the rest of the day except for one person needing me to redo a letter and send out a transcript that was already done to somebody who had just ordered a copy of it. I was able to watch The Mummy, fill and run the dishwasher, and get dinner started before logging out for the day.

While dinner cooked, I walked on the treadmill. I do like to be outside when I can but there are several factors that make the treadmill a better option for me to exercise consistently. Dinner was delightful. There are these curry packets we get that make wonderful stew and today's was a madras curry. It's just spicy enough to clear your sinuses but not burn your mouth or give you heartburn. I always try to have some on hand. I'm looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!

We finished out the Roseanne Halloween episodes and have moved onto the Home Improvement episodes. This is the fun part of the holidays for us. Deciding what shows to watch when to make sure we get through all of it in time.

10/05/2020

Today was a slower day at work that it looked like it would be at first. There was a lot of emails but most of them were for audio stuff or referral jobs. I ended up leaving the office around 2pm and finished the day at home. Obviously I don't mind much and I haven't been feeling too good today so I didn't mind coming home sooner. I turned on Beetlejuice while I worked.

After work, I did the treadmill and took out some of the recycling I forgot to do yesterday. I also took care of the garbage and compost because we'd created a lot from dinner last night. I think I'm going to try to take it all out every day or every other day from now on because it just gets too smelly under the sink.

Today my sister and I decided that we need to embrace Halloween this year like never before. Our Christmas tree is just a black tree with lights that are either white, or multicolored, so we decided we're going to put it out and do it up as a Halloween tree. We had fun looking at some ornaments, a tree skirt, garlands, and of course, Halloween stockings. This will no doubt become an annual tradition, so I have a new set of ornaments to start looking for on day trips and vacations. We just ordered everything today but I'll definitely take pictures when it's all ready. I need to figure out what to do for Thanksgiving, but we might just do an autumn tree. I definitely don't want turkeys and pilgrims on a tree, that's just weird...

Leftovers tonight, and I baked a few of the cookies I bought at the store. Peanut butter. Always tasty! Watching the Halloween episodes of Roseanne tonight.

10/04/2020

Today was a lazy Sunday, just like I like them! I got up at a decent time and sat in my reading chair, reading for about an hour. then we went out and picked up doughnuts and Taco del Mar for lunch. We watched the last Harry Potter movie, so next week we'll watch the Fantastic Beasts movies. We also watched Sister Act 2, and the new Ghostbusters. We had extra time tonight so we did the first episode of So Weird on Disney Plus cuz they finally added the show. It's a fun one, spooky and perfect for Halloween.

I also did chores. I took out the garbage/compost/recycling, ran two loads of laundry, swept, wrapped and froze all the bread products we got at the grocery store yesterday, caught up with the sink and ran the dishwasher. There's always more chores to be done, but I got the place functional for the week to come.

Dinner tonight was pulled pork and it was delish! Using up stuff from the freezer, fridge, cupboards, and counters in hopes of getting this place yet even more functional. We're still trying to work down some of the panic buying food we got at the start of the pandemic. Each week I clear out some more stuff from the freezers so soon it'll be easier to find stuff in them!

It's finally cooling down around here and feeling and looking like autumn! It's been foggy and cloudy all weekend but I think the sun is supposed to come back for the next couple weeks. It won't be that hot though. I'm glad of that because I love this time of year because of the crisp, sunny days! I love them while they last!

10/03/2020

Today was grocery shopping day. Three grocery stores, a lot of food, and a lot more of my Christmas food blog items to boot. I got red and green glaced cherries, citron, and a jar of mincemeat so most of that kind of stuff I'll be needing has been procured! I also purchased stuff I'll need for the first two weeks of blog meals. It's hard to do this when we're only shopping every other week instead of weekly, but I'm going to try to manage it.

We picked up Taco Time for lunch and came home to watch The Others, one of my favorite spooky movies to watch around Halloween. During that time, I ordered some lotion from Bath and Body Works that was having a great one day sale. 4-8oz bottles of lotion and shipping/handling for under $29 is a sweet deal!

We also watched the first of the Deathly Hallows Harry Potter movies, and now we're watching The Karate Kid. Leftovers for dinner. Pretty lazy day planned for tomorrow...!

10/02/2020

Today I worked from home. It was pretty slow, but had some moments of flurry. I managed to put up my Halloween decorations and watched a bunch of Call the Midwife on Netflix as I worked. It was a generally low key day. I keep getting complaints about my handwriting on some of the stuff I have to fill out at work and I really can't do anything about it, so I designed and ordered a custom-made stamp since it's something I write on al the paperwork, so it'll be nice. It's worth $20 to make the complaints stop.

After logging out of work, I walked down to meet me friend and we picked up food at a restaurant near my place. It was nice seeing her again, even if it was just for the time it took for our food to get ready. It's still nerve-wracking to be indoors, but we sat at a table waiting for our food, if not six feet apart, then pretty darned close and had masks on the whole time except when taking sips of water, which we did at different times. The food was delish. I picked up a calzone for my sister that looked amazing. I got the chicken marsala which was really good too. There's a lot of stuff on their menu that I want to try, so now that I know how it works, I can definitely see myself going there more often. It's nice because when we moved to the neighborhood, my sister and I wanted to try the restaurants out but the pandemic hit and everything shut down. We'll just have to figure out how it works at new places, even if we have to order online or on the phone and can't eat inside. It was easy enough to walk my food back and eat it at home tonight. I even have leftovers for tomorrow!

Since it's October, we are fully embracing Halloween and watching as many Halloween movies as we can this month. We're watching Disney's The Haunted Mansion on Disney Plus tonight. It's one I've actually never seen before! I do like watching spooky movies this time of year. We'll probably watch several more this weekend.

Grocery shopping weekend, and I'm thawing out a roast to make pulled pork for Sunday dinner. Should be delish!

American Presidential Elections and Contingency Plans

A lot of people are asking what will happen if something happens to Trump during this last month leading up to Election Day, in light of his recent Covid-19 diagnosis and being sent to the hospital. Can an election be delayed? What happens if a candidate drops out or is incapacitated and an no longer run? How does all of this work? Well, I looked all of this up, and it turns out that both the Constitution and the political parties have contingency plans for nearly every possibility. Here is a collection of links that will hopefully answer questions and assuage some of your fears.

Regarding postponing the election:

Newsweek Article

Reuters Article 

Quartz Article

 Regarding if Trump can no longer be the GOP nominee:

Quartz Article 

Newsweek Article 

Financial Times Article 

10/01/2020

Today was a good day at work. I had a good amount of work to keep me busy at the office till about 2pm before leaving to finish the day at home. I talked on the phone with my boss when I got home. I'm still not used to managers who actually have time for me and seem to care for me as a person, and not just see me as something they can squeeze more work out of. Most places I've worked, they just want to try to get you to do the job of four people for the price of one. It's left some lasting damage that's going to take some time to come out of, if I ever do. I'm not used to being supported. We're still all trying to work out the best way to do everything with the people we have, in the situation we're in. It's going to take continual tweaking, but hopefully we'll figure it all out!

Today was the first day since March that I had to actually pay bus fare to get on the bus. I put a monthly pass on my Orca card, and they've redone part of the site since I did it last, but it worked fine. It was strange to get on the bus in the front. They're still letting too many people on sometimes. Mostly in the morning. I wish they'd add one more 41 in the busy times.

I walked on the treadmill this afternoon after logging out of work. Watching the classic 60's Batman and this was the first time Cat Woman showed up. She's just the best. I still want to avoid walking outside while the smoke is in the air but it's getting better, so maybe by next week I'll be back outside after work. 

Pizza for dinner tonight. We had all the ingredients, including dough in the fridge, and it was delish! I'm getting together with a friend tomorrow night to pick up food, but not eat in the restaurant. It'll be the first time I've seen her since at least February. It might actually have been January. We stay in touch daily online but we used to get together every other Saturday to hang out so it's been sad to lose that time. I just don't feel comfortable being inside other people's houses for too long, though. We've been talking about getting together occasionally outside to get food so we can at least interact in person sometimes, but stuff kept coming up and pushing it off. Tomorrow will be the test run for it!

The Office and Punky Brewster tonight.