Back to normal...sort of

Well, the storm has come and went. This evening, we dropped my parents off at the airport in Palm Springs for their flight back to cold Minnesota. Perhaps I will blog about our Christmas tomorrow or this weekend. I am too tired as of now due to a crazy work schedule and a long day. Only one day left of work this week tomorrow (7-4). This weekend, we are planning on doing some tent camping at 29 Palms, California, near Joshua Tree National Park. Nick's parents are rolling in there in a rented RV for the weekend, and we are planning to camp in a tent on the same site. It will be a cold night, but I will haul some of my Minnesota gear out from the closet. Next week, I will have the same schedule-Monday afternoon off and Tuesday off with working 8-7 on Wednesday and Thursday. The following week should calm down, as the schedule is back to normal! One good thing about the holidays being over! I will write more later and post some pictures!

Getting ready for Christmas....

We've had a really nice weekend with the parents. Saturday, we went down to Nick's work on the other side of town. They have a nice little garden area there that my parents loved looking at. We even were able to pick some fresh oranges and clementines off of the fruit trees. They are really tasty! After having lunch at Panera, we headed back toward Nick's work and took a hike up Mt. Rubidoux (only about a net gain of 800 feet). Mom and Dad had to stop several times along the way to catch their breath due to the incline. Nick and I had a very leisurely walk. We took the "steep" way up, which is about 1 mile and the "easy" way down, about 2 miles. Everyone enjoyed the view from the top and spending time outdoors in the nice weather.

This morning, we headed to IHOP, Dad's favorite restaurant, for breakfast. It was so lovely outside that we were able to eat outside on the patio. Unfortunately, we all walked out with wet bottoms, due to the deep moisture in the chairs. After dropping the parents off, Nick and I went to Wal-Mart and WinCo to do all our shopping for the meal over Christmas. It was busy, as expected, but we buzzed through everything pretty fast. We returned to find Mom and Dad enjoying the sun out on our patio. This afternoon, after a quick nap, Mom and I frosted the cut-outs I had in the freezer. They taste REALLY good. Now, we are just waiting for the meatball dinner to be ready to eat!

Tomorrow, I am working from 7 until 12:30. It will be interesting to see how many patients actually show up, as people were already calling on Friday to cancel for Monday. Monday night we will have our traditional Passakorf supper (Nick will eat something else) and go to church at 7pm. We will return home to open presents!

Tuesday, we are making a turkey and all the trimmings. It should be a wonderful time! I hope everyone back in the Midwest is enjoying the winter storm(s). It was 70 degrees and beautiful here today! Drive safe everyone and have a good holiday!

The Eagle(s) has landed.....

My parents got in Thursday night safe and sound. We drove to Palm Springs and picked them up from the airport. They had a very safe and easy flight and all 4 suitcases got here without a problem. All things look safe. We had a quick supper at Pick up Stix in MoVal and then went home. Friday afternoon, I took them to the Canyon Springs shopping area so they could spend some time while I worked (7-4). Yesterday evening, we went to the grocery store and picked up the turkey and some other goodies. We also made two really good homemade pizzas with WinCo dough balls-always a treat. We are not sure what we will do today, as we haven't decided what we're going to do yet. Will keep everyone updated!

Can you see the sparkle?

This weekend has been a very low key one, not a whole lot going on, but a TON of cleaning here at home! I think everyone should be seeing the sparkle, no matter where they are! Forget Christmas lights!
Saturday, Nick and I went our separate ways to do some errands. We both had a few errands to do for Christmas shopping for the other person. Nick was gone for some time and brought home some presents that he immediately wrapped for me. He even told me that there was one more he was keeping at his office....hmmmmmm. After he returned home, I tackled the job of cleaning the guest bathroom. Not a bad job you would think, since we rarely use it. Wrong. I had a little incident with my paraffin kit a couple months ago in the tub and never cleaned it up. So, I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon cleaning paraffin wax from the bottom of the tub. Real fun-but the majority of it is gone. We had a nice dinner at Chipotle and even found some single serving Sierra Mist Cranberry! I can't seem to find either the 2 Liter bottles or 12 pack cans anywhere! So, I bought 4 of the little bottles-that will last me at least 8 servings. So, that's pretty good.
Today, after our normal Sunday morning errands, we tackled cleaning the rest of the apartment. We have been very lazy on this subject knowing that we would have to do a deep clean right before Christmas, so it was a task. We worked together really well and everything looks really nice. Only a few finishing touches that will have to be done Wednesday night before we pick up my parents. Everything looks really nice and organized (vs. cluttered). I also transplanted 3 of my cactus plants into a smaller pot. I had all of my cacti and succulents in one huge pot, but the succulent has grown so much, it was pushing the 3 cacti out. So, I attempted to transplant these 3 guys without gloves-ouch! I got it done, but we'll see if they make it. It was nice to be outside on the porch and enjoy the cool day (in the 60s).
Tonight, I may attempt to re-make some cereal cookies. I made them yesterday with white chocolate chips vs. vanilla almond bark, as that was all I could find. Although they turned out well, they are a little rich. So, I found some vanilla almond bark today and will try another batch.
I also have some charts to finish. We were busy at work this week, as always. I had 6-7 people there at one time slot, so that was pretty crazy. This week, we are getting some people in to help out with some evals, but I'm not sure where those new patients are going to go to get treated. My boss said she doesn't want me seeing more than 3 people an hour, but we need to get people in. I am really hoping that they will hire another assistant after the new year. We really need the help in my part of the clinic. They had laid off the second assistant in September, but she got tired of waiting and got a new job-I can't say I blame her. Anyway, we sure could use the extra help.
Anyway, we are looking forward to a busy and exciting week with the arrival of my parents on Thursday. It is always fun to see them and show them around Riverside. I hope everyone else stays sane before Christmas! Stay warm back in the Midwest!

All in a weekend!

This weekend was one for the records! We got so much done! I can say that I am really proud of both of us. Friday night was the only exception. It was a cold and rainy night, so it was perfect to stay in, relax, and make a nice pot of soup, which is just what we did.

Saturday morning, we woke up early and headed out for a day of shopping. We hit up several places, including the Harley store in town (not the best neighborhood) and going up to Rancho Cucamonga to Victoria Gardens. We had an extra good time there, as it is technically a mall, but no one from the Midwest would call it that. The "hallways" are actually roadways, which people can drive on, which makes it a bit hard crossing from one side to the other, but we were able to do just fine. We had an extra fun time in Crate and Barrel buying some gifts, among other places. We ate lunch there at the "Food Hall," where I was excited to eat at a Mongolian grill. For some reason, here in California,the only Mongolian grills (or barbeques) that we've found have been in food courts. So, I gave it a try and it wasn't too bad. I was wishing I was in Iowa for a second so I could be enjoying Hu-Hot, but then I realized it's probably about 10 degrees there! I'll take the outdoor mall and not so great Mongolian Grill, thank you very much. We then headed back toward home and hit up Target and Michael's. Upon returning home, I made some peanut butter blossoms and wrapped all the presents. Finally, we are making progress, but we are still not done!

Sunday morning came and we did our usual errands with an additional stop at the post office to get some stamps. This is another area that is not one of Riverside's finest, and there were several people loitering outside as usual. As I was at the self-serve kiosk, Nick was walking around and informed me there was someone sleeping on the floor in the corner! I guess it is a good place to stay warm and safe, but too bad they feel like that is their only option! After coming home, I cleaned and treated the leather couch, as I have been meaning to do this since we moved down to Riverside. It really needed it, but it wasn't a bad job. The first time I did it was much worse, so it must pay off to clean it. Now, that is ready for company. After hitting up Starbucks for a Peppermint Mocha (warm this time), we headed up to Sycamore Highlands park, as it is a high point, and you can see a lot of snow on the mountains. It was cold up there-probably lower than 60! I went and waited in the car. Upon returning home yet again, I took up the ambitious task of making krumkake, one of my favorite holiday treats. It takes forever, as you can see in my video, but it is completely worth it. A full 2 1/2 hours later, I was exhausted! They taste good so far, and I am hoping they will stay crispy, as it was nice and dry here today. Last year when I made it Napa, it was raining and it ended up being soggy and we had to put them individually in the oven to make them crispy. Hopefully, that will NOT happen this year. This evening, I was going to tackle some charts, but I am not sure if I'm going to. I might just reconcile to be super behind this week. I hate to start the week off that way, especially this one, as I am booked seeing 4 and 5 patients per hour. We have no time for paperwork and we are paid hourly, so I hate staying at work any longer than I have to! Anyway everybody, have a great week, and I am sure I will have more tales later in the week!

Winter is here!

This past week went by fairly quickly and by the time we realized it, it was Friday. Friday we had a full day of pouring down rain. We haven't seen that much rain since we moved here. We got over 2.3 inches of rain, which was much needed. Anyway, it was real cool out and it was hard to do anything except be inside. We did venture out to Qdoba and Target in the evening, and watched a movie before going to bed.

Saturday we went up to Rancho Cucamonga, as Nick wanted to look at some things at REI. While we were there, I went over to the Guitar Center to check out digital pianos. I'm not really looking to buy one now, but probably after we move into a larger space. We had lunch at Johnny Carrino's, an Italian place that had been recommended to me by a few patients. It was pretty good and the prices were decent. When we came home, I dashed out to get a quick haircut and then check out Kohl's for some Christmas gifts, but didn't have much luck with the gift end of things. Saturday evening, we stayed in and watched another movie.

Sunday, we did our normal errands and I made some spritz cookies. They turned out really good, but I froze them to save them for Christmas. I did a bunch of charts, and hardly made a dent in my pile at work, but every bit helps. I wanted to get some cut-outs done, but I ran out of time.

This week is going to fly by too. We are only working a half day on Tuesday, as our Christmas party is in the evening (don't even get me started on why it is like this). I plan on doing some Christmas shopping and doing the cut-out cookies. The party is not until six, so I think I will be able to get it all done. I am going to put some pictures of our tree and of our nativity set up, so everyone can get a taste of our small Christmas set-up here. Thanks to the Rice's for adding to our nativity set again this year!

Christmas tree in the daylight in our bronze and gold theme.

The nativity set.