NaBloPoMo Fail

I failed. I'm a tiny bit upset at this but not really. I had the worst sinus infection/cold ever hit me Wednesday morning and take me out for 3 days. Awful. I hate winter. In other news Turkey Day is approaching and we have lots of family to see and catch up with. It should be a fun time. By the way, my two part-time jobs have become more demanding than one full time job, my schedule is way full right now. I shall try to post more on Wednesday (my next day off) but I wanted to write a little something to let you know I didn't die.

Currently on our DVR

Andy and I have never been huge TV people. Well Andy hasn't, if it wasn't hockey, he wasn't generally interested, I like TV, it helps pass the time and it's cheap entertainment. Currently with our "Reduce the Deficit" plan in effect (which is going smashingly, we haven't eaten out in two weeks!!!) we've been watching a lot more TV because we pay to have cable and a DVR (well I do because I work at night and miss some of my favorite shows). Plus it seems a tad ridiculous to pay $20+ to see a movie when we can rent one out of a machine for a dollar or watch our favorite shows together.

Anyway, currently there are a lot of good shows that we are in to, plus there is the added bonus of the "On Demand" feature which allows you to watch some of the popular shows when you want without having to record them. So what are we currently in to? Quite a few things actually. Wednesday nights on ABC are probably the best shows that we watch jointly, "The Middle", "Better with You", "Modern Family",  and "Cougar Town" never fail to have us laughing. Thursday night is my night with "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" giving me my chick show fix. Friday nights have "Supernatural" set to record on our DVR. Other than that, I have a few on my own that I've gotten kind of obsessed with "The Event" and "Parenthood" but those I only watch during the day when Andy isn't around and usually because I am bored and have all my work around the house done.

What's currently on your DVR or must watch list?

My favorite things: Gadgets

This is a continuation of "my favorite things series." For this one Andy and I both put our heads together and thought of the most used gadgets around the house.

1. iRobot Roomba 560 Series

• What it is: This is our daily vacuum, with just the push of a button (or not, see below) it will vacuum the whole living room.
• Why we love it: Hello! It's a vacuum that runs by itself! It's seriously amazingly fun just to watch but it does a great job at picking up animal hair. Bonus is that I can program it to run at a certain time of the day for each day of the week. Example: Monday schedule to run at 10AM, Tuesday to run at 9AM.

2. HoMedics SoundSpa Premier AM/FM Clock Radio

• What it is: It is an alarm clock with a built it sound machine.
• Why we love it: I have such issues with sleep. I grew up down the street from train tracks so I am use to falling asleep with a lot of noise. Before we got this alarm clock we would have to sleep with a heater or fan on all night just so I could fall asleep. Andy wasn't exactly thrilled with that scenario. Now I just push a button and fall asleep to my choice of sound. It's marvelous.

3.  Nintendo Wii

• What it is: I'm going out on a limb here and assume you don't live under a rock and you know what a Wii is.
• Why we love it: It's one of our favorite things to do together and a great way to pass the time. We have used it quite a few times when we have had people over as well.  Plus it doubles as a work out system for me!

4. HTC Evo (My phone) iPhone 3g (Andy's Phone)

• What they are: Our main means of communication with the outside world.
• Why we love them: Our phones are crazy awesome. Navigation, social networking, web, and of course the actual phones. These get the most use our of any gadget in our house. 

5. Califone 1005 Record Player with built in speaker for Education and Instruction

• What it is: Does anyone remember those large, black, circular disks with grooves (call records) that when a needle glides over the surface it plays music? Yeah, this thing plays those.
• Why we love it: This is more Andy's thing so I'm turning over to him. ... You really can't get much better than vinyl when it comes to music. The scratchiness adds a whole new level to the music. Elvis knew it; that's why his music sounded so much better on Sun than RCA. But anyhow, I love the vinyl, and this record player is REALLY good quality. Guess that's what you get for it being specifically for speech and auditory therapy. 

So there you have it, the most used gadgets in the SalTal household. More favorite things to come in the future. See you again tomorrow...I hope!

Comfort Food Sunday!

I think Andy and I have decided on a new Sunday tradition. See last Sunday, after we got the news about Maddie's passing, I spent most of the day crying off and on and all I wanted for dinner was comfort food. We ended up making pot roast, mashed potatoes, peas and biscuits. Talk about delish! It was a huge, lethargy-inducing meal combined with a nice fire and some good TV, it was the perfect way to end an evening. Anyway, I had to work today and Andy was kind enough to drive me and pick me up, (I had a long night of driving for a family event last night) so on the way home I ran the idea of another big Sunday dinner by him and he went for it. Tonight we decided on roast chicken, mac and cheese, broccoli and biscuits. I'm thinking about making this our own little family's tradition. Andy and I both thing that it could be a nice thing that we get to do together and it's also relaxing.

What do you think? What kind of traditions have you and your significant other come up with?

Adventures in Unclesitting

So we had to take care of my baby nephew Charlie for around 7 hours tonight. And when I say "baby nephew", I mean 5 month old gettin crazy with the teething nephew. And when I say "we" had to take care of him, I mean me by myself for a couple hours.

See, Amanda had to go up to Sandusky tonight for her grandma's birthday as well as their Thanksgiving, seeing as she's going with me to my family's Thanksgiving. So that just left me, 2 dogs, and a drooling cutie alone in the house. Now, keep in mind that Charlie was the first baby I ever held, period. Was I nervous? I suppose one could say that.

However, did I rock the uncle-ness?
Yeah, I suppose you could say that :) Had the little bugger taking a nice nap within an hour.

Truth is, Charlie is such an awesome baby that I felt like I had things on easy mode. Not saying I ever doubted my taking-care-of-baby skills, but let's just say that I hope being so good is genetic.

Working at the Car Wash...er...not quite

I literally walking into my house about 10 minutes ago and already I'm in sweats with a drink in my hand. So I now have two jobs. Both of which are part-time, which is great. It offers me a nice change up. I have only had two jobs a grand total of a week, but it's been a great week. A little tiring but not at all boring. See for the first time in my life. I love my jobs. I mean I looove them. Both are awesome in their own unique ways. It's fantastic.

Both of my jobs had a little segment in the orientation/handbook about blogging and social networking in respect to the company, which I understand. They don't want you bashing your company, which is totally understandable. I mean how awful would that be to get fired because of some Internet thing where you were letting out steam. Not that I would be that stupid. I mean my blog is out there for the world to see, it's not exactly the forum to say negative things about work. I think talking a little about my jobs is okay as long as I'm not bashing or divulging company secrets.

My first job that I have had for about a little while is with Columbus Metropolitan Library. It's a really great job. It keeps me on my toes both literally and figuratively. I find that I have enough stimulation and movement that I don't ever get bored. Honestly, probably one of the best I have every had in my life. I feel really comfortable saying that now because I have been there for a while and am starting to find my rhythm, it's a great fit for me.

My second job is newer and therefore I don't feel very comfortable talking about it yet. I will say that I enjoy it and that I have a lot of fun there, it's also looking to be a pretty good fit but I'm not even out of training yet so we'll see in a week or so how I feel. I sincerely don't think there will be any problems. I just feel that confident.

Now, I've worked an 11 hour day and would like to go to bed, so see you all on the flip side.

Happy Veteran's Day!

I just want to take a brief moment to thank all the men and women that serve this country and have served this country in the past. You are all my heroes and I respect and admire all that you do for us. Thank you again veterans, you all are amazing, incredible people to do what you do!

On a different note, regular posting will resume tomorrow. I think. I hope. I'm gone from 9:30AM to 11:30PM for work tomorrow, so it may not be me. I'm trying to convince Andy to write a post since he hasn't written in ages. I'm hoping that still counts for NaBloPoMo. If not then I'm screwed because I will have very little time to write something creative and intelligent for you to read. Have a good night everyone!