A Good Weekend
Since the realization that who I am isn't static dawned on me, I crave enrichment opportunities. I now view having something I overlooked pointed out to me as such. It's like having camouflage removed. To see something that only a moment before I was blind to is quite exhilarating.
Camouflage was removed for me twice on Saturday. The first time was during a game of WordsFree against an opponent I underestimated. My usual MO is if I'm not immediately an expert at something new I attempt then I have no interest. This is not the case with WordsFree. I love words and strategy, but never had the patience for traditional strategy games and always had patience with words. I've spent years honing my writing skills and am thrilled there's a word strategy game. My impatience with developing a strategy is tempered by the art of creating words. I've been playing WordsFree for about a year against two of the best opponents ever (my SIL and the other brought to me via the random search option - good fortune was with me that day!) I've learned a great deal by having them wipe the floor with me. At the Easter reunion my eldest sister and I tried creating a game but the search wouldn't find either of us. I had to succumb to using FB, which I'd been avoiding because it wants to grab all my info. Then I figured since don't put any national secrets on FB, it's not that big a deal. After I found my sister I challenged some other friends. That sister and I have yet to finish our first game, I've won a few against my other older sister and have won some games against other friends. While duking it out with one friend last week, he mentioned another mutual FB friend was pretty good. With all the wins I'd just racked up my ego was sufficiently fluffed, so I sent a challenge with some smack talk attached. I was expecting a good game, but that I would win the first one was a foregone conclusion to me. Such hubris... Needless to say I didn't win the first. Or second. I almost won the third game (cry of the loser, I know). What killed me about losing the third game was after studying the board for a good fifteen minutes I pulled out what I thought was a great word - it connected to another word so two were created, and ran over a double word score. Ironically, as I created that word a nearby Triple Word box caught my eye and despite my efforts I couldn't find a way to make use of it. I lost by eight and started another game. After I made my first move, my friend messaged me and pointed out that my fabulous word was a mistake then showed how I could have made use of the TW. Doh! I'd like to think if I'd studied the board a bit longer I would have caught it, but that's not for certain. What is for certain is I thought I was paying as close attention to my choices as possible, but now my eyes are open. I have three games going with SIL and am winning one of them. Yesterday morning I managed create two words and rack up 29 points in one of the games I'm losing. She's still ahead by 100 but with my sharpened vision I can at least close the gap. Now maybe the number of games I'll win against her will increase...
The second time camouflage was removed was at the end of Saturday by husband o mine. He said, "Today was a great day." I almost let something sarcastic fly, then I shut my yap and recalled the day. It was particularly pleasant. We all enjoyed each other's company. Ben and I didn't argue once (given that we've been referred to as The Bickersons on more than one occasion, that was quite a feat!) The Isaac Monster didn't kidnap Isaac. Shiloh didn't once have to go to her crib because of her whining. By two o'clock I finished the blog as well as our DVR'd episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Then I mentally stuffed a chloroformed hanky over the mouth whispering "It's too late to do your workout." I pulled on my workout clothes and sneakers and busted out my 1.5 hour JM Extreme Shed and Shred DVD. Then I showered and dressed. And before I ran out to get a couple of things, Ben figured out how our French close and lock! There's a trick to them that until Saturday, eluded us. So we'd wrap zip ties around the door handles so they wouldn't fly open when it was windy, or when they needed to be locked. But Ben figured it out - and before the end of our first year here! When I returned from my errands Ben was grilling, the first fire of the year was a-roaring in the fire pit and Shiloh was scampering across the yard.
Isaac was glued to Ben's laptop playing Stronghold. I gleefully grabbed all the credit card offers, and other papers that had collected over the past several months and torched them after dinner. Isaac of course helped adding them to the fire. After his s'more he went to bed without a fuss. Just before we tucked Isaac in Ben pointed out to me what a nice day it had been. And to think, I would have let it pass without giving it a second thought.
Also this weekend I grabbed an opportunity to earn some easy money. I get job opportunity e-mails from Secret Shopper. Most of them I need to upgrade my membership to take advantage of, but not this one. And I actually listened to that inner voice of mine that said to take it. So I followed the instructions in the e-mail and was sent all the info for the job. Target was giving away reusable shopping bags - some filled with free samples and the rest not - as an Earth Day promotion. My job was to make sure the greeter had a full shopping cart of bags to hand out, making sure to refill it when it got low. I printed off all the information and instructions. I arrived at 7:00 and all that the manager on duty knew was there was a pallet of boxes for the event. He brought it to the front and I started unloading the gift bags into some carts. The greeter was supposed to be there at the same time as me. By 7:20 the greeter still wasn't there. I called my coordinator per the instructions. She told me to proceed with the event as the greeter. Okaaaaay. Then the greeter showed up a few minutes later. I'm glad I learned early on in life not to go with my first impression, because while she seemed nice enough that she showed up so late irritated me. After she checked in with the coordinator we started chatting and my irritation dissolved instantly. This wasn't the first time she'd done an event like this and it was great to have someone who'd done it before so I could relax. We got along famously! She's just as chatty as I am and her youngest daughter is a few months older than Shiloh. She said she's a make-up artist (which didn't surprise me since one of the first things I noticed about her was how nicely her make-up was applied) and is trying to get her business off the ground. At one point she told me that she was dreading coming to this job because of the preconceived notion she'd formed after she was told she'd be working with "Meghan". She'd imagined some blonde, idiot, unintelligible teenager. Then she said when she saw me she thought, "Awesome. She's got a short, edgy haircut and cool nose ring." Awww - blush, blush! I'm going to mention that to my hairdresser when I see her in a couple of weeks. After about a half an hour, we found our groove accosting customers with smiles and reciting, "Target is celebrating Earth day with reusable shopping bag filled with coupons, and earth-sustainable products," and then handing them a bag. She said I was a natural at this; so was she. That was the quickest, most enjoyable easy money I've earned in a long time. Not only are we FB friends, we exchanged phone numbers and I'm going to drop her a line and invite her to a MOMS club event next week.
Camouflage was removed for me twice on Saturday. The first time was during a game of WordsFree against an opponent I underestimated. My usual MO is if I'm not immediately an expert at something new I attempt then I have no interest. This is not the case with WordsFree. I love words and strategy, but never had the patience for traditional strategy games and always had patience with words. I've spent years honing my writing skills and am thrilled there's a word strategy game. My impatience with developing a strategy is tempered by the art of creating words. I've been playing WordsFree for about a year against two of the best opponents ever (my SIL and the other brought to me via the random search option - good fortune was with me that day!) I've learned a great deal by having them wipe the floor with me. At the Easter reunion my eldest sister and I tried creating a game but the search wouldn't find either of us. I had to succumb to using FB, which I'd been avoiding because it wants to grab all my info. Then I figured since don't put any national secrets on FB, it's not that big a deal. After I found my sister I challenged some other friends. That sister and I have yet to finish our first game, I've won a few against my other older sister and have won some games against other friends. While duking it out with one friend last week, he mentioned another mutual FB friend was pretty good. With all the wins I'd just racked up my ego was sufficiently fluffed, so I sent a challenge with some smack talk attached. I was expecting a good game, but that I would win the first one was a foregone conclusion to me. Such hubris... Needless to say I didn't win the first. Or second. I almost won the third game (cry of the loser, I know). What killed me about losing the third game was after studying the board for a good fifteen minutes I pulled out what I thought was a great word - it connected to another word so two were created, and ran over a double word score. Ironically, as I created that word a nearby Triple Word box caught my eye and despite my efforts I couldn't find a way to make use of it. I lost by eight and started another game. After I made my first move, my friend messaged me and pointed out that my fabulous word was a mistake then showed how I could have made use of the TW. Doh! I'd like to think if I'd studied the board a bit longer I would have caught it, but that's not for certain. What is for certain is I thought I was paying as close attention to my choices as possible, but now my eyes are open. I have three games going with SIL and am winning one of them. Yesterday morning I managed create two words and rack up 29 points in one of the games I'm losing. She's still ahead by 100 but with my sharpened vision I can at least close the gap. Now maybe the number of games I'll win against her will increase...
The second time camouflage was removed was at the end of Saturday by husband o mine. He said, "Today was a great day." I almost let something sarcastic fly, then I shut my yap and recalled the day. It was particularly pleasant. We all enjoyed each other's company. Ben and I didn't argue once (given that we've been referred to as The Bickersons on more than one occasion, that was quite a feat!) The Isaac Monster didn't kidnap Isaac. Shiloh didn't once have to go to her crib because of her whining. By two o'clock I finished the blog as well as our DVR'd episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Then I mentally stuffed a chloroformed hanky over the mouth whispering "It's too late to do your workout." I pulled on my workout clothes and sneakers and busted out my 1.5 hour JM Extreme Shed and Shred DVD. Then I showered and dressed. And before I ran out to get a couple of things, Ben figured out how our French close and lock! There's a trick to them that until Saturday, eluded us. So we'd wrap zip ties around the door handles so they wouldn't fly open when it was windy, or when they needed to be locked. But Ben figured it out - and before the end of our first year here! When I returned from my errands Ben was grilling, the first fire of the year was a-roaring in the fire pit and Shiloh was scampering across the yard.
Isaac was glued to Ben's laptop playing Stronghold. I gleefully grabbed all the credit card offers, and other papers that had collected over the past several months and torched them after dinner. Isaac of course helped adding them to the fire. After his s'more he went to bed without a fuss. Just before we tucked Isaac in Ben pointed out to me what a nice day it had been. And to think, I would have let it pass without giving it a second thought.
Also this weekend I grabbed an opportunity to earn some easy money. I get job opportunity e-mails from Secret Shopper. Most of them I need to upgrade my membership to take advantage of, but not this one. And I actually listened to that inner voice of mine that said to take it. So I followed the instructions in the e-mail and was sent all the info for the job. Target was giving away reusable shopping bags - some filled with free samples and the rest not - as an Earth Day promotion. My job was to make sure the greeter had a full shopping cart of bags to hand out, making sure to refill it when it got low. I printed off all the information and instructions. I arrived at 7:00 and all that the manager on duty knew was there was a pallet of boxes for the event. He brought it to the front and I started unloading the gift bags into some carts. The greeter was supposed to be there at the same time as me. By 7:20 the greeter still wasn't there. I called my coordinator per the instructions. She told me to proceed with the event as the greeter. Okaaaaay. Then the greeter showed up a few minutes later. I'm glad I learned early on in life not to go with my first impression, because while she seemed nice enough that she showed up so late irritated me. After she checked in with the coordinator we started chatting and my irritation dissolved instantly. This wasn't the first time she'd done an event like this and it was great to have someone who'd done it before so I could relax. We got along famously! She's just as chatty as I am and her youngest daughter is a few months older than Shiloh. She said she's a make-up artist (which didn't surprise me since one of the first things I noticed about her was how nicely her make-up was applied) and is trying to get her business off the ground. At one point she told me that she was dreading coming to this job because of the preconceived notion she'd formed after she was told she'd be working with "Meghan". She'd imagined some blonde, idiot, unintelligible teenager. Then she said when she saw me she thought, "Awesome. She's got a short, edgy haircut and cool nose ring." Awww - blush, blush! I'm going to mention that to my hairdresser when I see her in a couple of weeks. After about a half an hour, we found our groove accosting customers with smiles and reciting, "Target is celebrating Earth day with reusable shopping bag filled with coupons, and earth-sustainable products," and then handing them a bag. She said I was a natural at this; so was she. That was the quickest, most enjoyable easy money I've earned in a long time. Not only are we FB friends, we exchanged phone numbers and I'm going to drop her a line and invite her to a MOMS club event next week.
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| I can get in anywhere! |
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| I like to climb...and have a great smile! |
WHAT'S FOR DINNER?
I love roasted chicken and dinners that are quick, yummy and healthy. This roast chicken dal encompasses all those loves smashingly - unless, of course you have an aversion to curry. Bone-in, skin-on chicken boobies are a staple in my freezer. They always come in handy - especially for making chicken salad (of course with light mayo, chunks of apple, red onion and TONS of curry - have husband o mine to thank for that yumminess & Isaac LOVES the chicken salad, too!) I also have dried lentils in my cupboard that I cook instead of buying canned. If you are in a real rush for dinner, you can always grab a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store to use instead of cooking the chicken at home.
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