Meghan's Musings

Find this image here Guess what? Wait... How's everyone doing? Ecstatic that it's Friday, I imagine. I'll be ecstatic around 3:30 p.m. tomorrow - I'll have finished my shift at my night/weekend job and en route to pick up our Christmas tree. So, guess what?! Someone at work told me that they read this little bloggy-blog! (I'm not quoting them verbatim) If I could have done a pirouette without looking like an utter fool, I would have. If she's reading right now - thank you - and tell your friends! If I remember correctly, I left you pining for my Christmas traditions. Get it? Pining? Pine tree? Never mind... While Halloween is my favorite holiday, Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. Despite the fact that I don't believe in God, nor have I been involved in dealings in which I've amassed a great profit, the following quote from Ebeneezer' Scrooge's nephew, Fred Holywell sums up my feelings eloquently: "There are a great ma...

Find this image here Happy Hump Day! No this is not my street. I just love a serene picture of clean snow blanketing nature. How has everyones week been so far? I've been working since Saturday and don't have a day off until Sunday - but that's okay with me! Football Sunday is the best day to have off! Sure, I've managed to pop out a Tweet and FB status update or two, but this is the first moment I've had to sit down in front of my computer and communicate in a meaningful way in days! I was musing with my coolest sister on Turkey Day about how much happier I am since I've obtained gainful employment. Both my jobs total just over forty hours a week - a full time schedule. The way it's worked out is that the day job pays for Shiloh's daycare and the night/weekend job for us. If I had a straight nine-to-five job, Monday - Friday, it wouldn't work out as well since we'd also have to shell out for an after-school program for Isaac. ANYWAY.... ...

Have everyone else's waistlines expanded ever-so-slightly? Have you been portioning out leftover sides periodically throughout the day and reheating them as snacks, breaking the pact you made with yourself to do no such thing whilst staving off the pending food coma? Then I'm in good company! Dinner was scrum-diddly-umptious! Ben and I worked in tandem to put it together. He's a great sous-chef! Originally we were going to get a turkey breast because Ben doesn't really care for turkey, and a breast would be perfect - enough for dinner but no leftovers. Since procrastination is our favorite game, we didn't get the food until Thanksgiving Eve. Of course Hannaford's was a zoo, but it wasn't as awful as I'd mentally prepared myself for. We made a beeline for the turkey. The whole turkeys were $0.99/lb and the breasts were $2.00/lb. Looks like we were destined for a whole turkey after all. No big deal. I whipped out my phone, pulled up Food Network's ...

Find this image here Happy Hump Day - and Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I know, I know. You've been rapturously checking your social media feeds  for my next posting, anxious to know: "What was the second cherry on the sundae that was last week?" Well your wait is over! The second cherry (drum roll please....) was the smashing great time that was had by all at our little dinner party last Saturday. Ben's friend Mike (who hosts Friday night video golf) and his wife Jessica (who's responsible for Shiloh's blossoming) came over for dinner. We've lived in our little town for nearly two years, and Shiloh's been going to Jessica's daycare for at least three months. As I've gotten to know her through our brief daily interactions, I've come to like Jessica a great deal. Since Ben has been going to their house on a regular basis for about three yeas, and Shiloh's been attending Jessica's daycare for several months, it dawned on me - t...

http://mtiblog.mtishows.com/wp-content/ uploads/2011/10/Picture-7-300x284.png Greetings musers! How was your week? I certainly hope it was as enjoyable as mine! After a few months of hitching a ride with  Tickity the clock dog  through the doldrums, it's been glorious to glide through the lighter side of life. Some (not all) money worries have been alleviated because of the unexpected monetary gift bestowed upon us and I've not ceased being amazed at how the other issues that have been thorns in my side are less prickly. Remember that detox diet I mentioned? Yeah, that didn't fly. Caffeine is on the "abstain from" list of this diet. By the end of Wednesday I was just tired and didn't feel as great as I remember the other times I'd done this diet. Thursday morning I made a pot of coffee and within twenty minutes of having half a cup, I was perky and motivated. I crammed everything into the morning that I wanted to - including my workout before lea...

Happy Hump Day, everyone! How's your week been? As weeks go, for me, this has been pretty decent. The day job has been quiet - the only downfall to that is  the lack of lunches needing to be ordered. I'm ordering one tomorrow for a meeting on Friday, but for the past two-plus weeks there have been an average of three lunches a week for various meetings/trainings. Last week I had to make sure there was lunch for meetings every single day, plus there was another lunch ordered for company-wide off-site meeting (which I didn't attend because I had to man the phones..no big deal, though). There is a restaurant we use regularly that makes great wraps and sandwiches, and on the odd occasion we need a formal dinner, they're right on top of that too. The desserts they have a sublime! I tasted one pumpkin cookie with a browed-butter frosting and I HAD to have the recipe. The whole concept was a conundrum for me because butter needs to be softened for frosting, and to brown bu...

How was everyone's week? When I got home from work Thursday night, Ben was asleep so I couldn't grill him about the parent-teacher conference or ask if Shiloh's diaper-area rash was any better. Friday morning I awoke at 5:30 to see a small rectangle of white light hovering in front of his face as he read his phone. I immediately asked, "So how did the parent-teacher conference go?" "It could have gone better." Ugh. Ben then proceeded relay Isaac's teacher's concerns. None of them were surprising and we need to step up our home involvement with his school work. "Has Shiloh's rash gotten better?" "No. It actually looked worse when I put her to be last night." Double ugh - not even the aroma of coffee is hovering about and already the day's veering toward a bumpy dirt road. Ben got up to take a shower and I dragged myself from the warmth of bed and trudged down to make coffee and commence with the rest of the mo...

For now November 7th is my new favorite day - the day the campaigning ended! No matter what your politics, can we not all come together and do the happy dance because it's all over?! https://thegrownupya.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/dancing.jpg This past Sunday I was officially married for twelve years. I now grasp the concept of time travel. It seems l just like yesterday Daddy was walking me down the isle, my cheeks aflame with the recognition that all the eyes of our modest crowd were on me. While there are many people who contributed to the wedding in different ways, without Amy-Beth's assistance (Ben's BFF from high school) I wouldn't have had a dress nor would my locale have been decorated appropriately. Amy-Beth and her mother are master seamstresses. They made all of her high school formal dresses, and her own wedding dress. Hers was one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen - gorgeous satin with intricate beading and a full skirt. She and her mother made m...

As I sit snuggled on my comfy couch, laptop atop my lap, I can hardly believe Monday was only five days ago! Nothing like a little natural disaster to mess with one's internal barometer. I'm so grateful that our little corner of the country missed the brunt of Sandy's wrath. Some trees were knocked over around town, we had some minor flooding in our basement and our power went out for a matter of minutes. We were fortunate. How did you fare? We did manage to have a wonderful Halloween - especially since I sent my grumpy old lady packing and got in on some family fun. I of course remembered to make time to watch the most romantic movie ever - The Crow . I don't watch this movie only around Halloween, but always  around Halloween. The girl-narrator says, "If two people are meant to be together, nothing can keep them apart." Even though this is a romantic sentiment, I am a pragmatic person, who believes in infinite possibilities. When I voiced my agreement wit...