Red Robin Why Do You Hate Us?

You're a chain restaurant, why don't you publish your nutritionals? Don't you know people want to make informed decisions about what they eat before they eat it?

We are going there tonight with some friends. Normally I love that place, but since I've totally re-done the way I eat, my big blue cheese burger won't be in my tummy tonight. I'm sad, but happy to know ahead of time that I won't make myself sick by eating an f***ing amount of calories and fat thanks to Red Robin's lack of social awareness. Don't they know there's an epidemic of OBESE Americans?

The safest thing I can see on their menu is a simple salad (very simple) or a grilled chicken sandwich (plain). Which are fine for me but when I see everyone else enjoying their gigantic burger, I'm going to hate Red Robin even more.

Maybe one day I'll be able to eat it as a special treat for that year. Because the amount of calories I can only assume it would be my quota for at least 2 weeks. Sick.

Overall Ok

Ok, so my days have been better, thanks for asking everyone (those who called too). I still don't know who hit my car. Maybe they ate the can of bad peaches. I can only hope.

My parents are coming to town along with my grandparents. Should be fun. Except when I told Justin where my grandparents are sleeping he guffed.

"Why can't they sleep in the same bed like normal people?"
"Cause they haven't my entire life."

My serger is out on the table and I started on these pants (5144). Pretty simple design for pants (not the gauchos) but I think I used the wrong stitch. Oh my serger does like 12 different ones so I just guessed. Guess I was wrong! The pants themselves don't look bad at all. I still need to hem them up. But I want to do the cover stitch on it. Gotta find out how to thread it. But it's so nice!

After the pants, I'm making Justin a wallet. He's been begging for one and the test one didn't turn out so good. He's picked out better fabric so it should turn out much better than the first.

Well here's to a better week.

It Started Bad, I Should Have Known

The only good thing was Justin coming home from another trip to Kansas City. Work started off crappy with my crappy latte made from crappy coffee instead of espresso. It was like their espresso machine was down. Jerks! I've already complained to Starbucks once this year. Gotta wait a while.

I love getting yelled at first thing when I sat down at my desk (with a crappy headache by the way). Although it wasn't my fault, I still got the brunt of it. Jerks!

My plain chicken sandwich wasn't plain. It was filled with crappy cheese and bacon. Plain means plain jerks!

I was too exhausted to go to the gym. I'm a jerk.

I went to the grocery store instead. Walking out I notice someone hit my Silly Car! The baby blue paint now has f-ing white paint scratches along with a dent. It apparently happened a while ago because I don't park next to a white car at work and the car next to me at the store was green.

If it was someone at work: I hate you forever for not notifying me. Everyone knows the Silly Car is mine!

If it was someone who doesn't know me: I hate you even more for not having the balls to leave a note. I hope you eat a can of bad peaches and get botulism.

April 2nd is THE day

THE day=Braces come off! The almost 2 1/2 years has left me with very nice, straight teeth (with a minor cross bite that will never be fixed I was told today, but who cares). He warned me that they'll look nice when they come off. I'll take his word for it on April 2nd.

Exciting news #1--Braces Deadline

Exciting news #2--Secret Sauce

I can't tell you excatly what it is but Justin, who is awesome by the way, got me a "seasoning packet" for something that we can't buy out here. So needless to say, I'm double excited.

I still haven't opened my serger. I think after the gym tonight I'll finally open the box and try it out. I miss sewing. But I'm still excited for this machine.

Declutter Time!

It happens about 4 times a year at my house. Justin doesn't mind but he just hates going through everything. This weekend we decluttered the living room, closet and the office (which always needs decluttering). I sold our huge IKEA coffee table and down sized to one that matches and is smaller. Bonus! We also gave our curio cabinet away and got a taller one that takes less space. It's nice.

Speaking of IKEA, I finally tried their meatballs and I'm hooked. Too bad the closest store is 4 hours away. But if anyone watches Good Eats with Alton Brown, he showed me how to make them. I'll give his recipe a try.

Justin's in love with Alton Brown. He calls him the man's man. So he wants to be like him. But I remind him constantly that he is a man's man. Maybe he needs to hear it from Alton. Sounds gay to me.

So we are off to watch the game, eat some meatballs (that I bought on our last IKEA trip) and fall asleep (that's my job). The decluttering will continue after that.

Look for a Change

Just a little one. I decided I needed more control over the ads on my blog. Mostly I wanted cute ones. I'm not quite to the "cut the check" mark for Google Ads so I made them text links incase you miss them.

I think these new one will cater to you, my loyal readers, better than anything that's just pulled at random. Plus I'm sick of seeing the "E-coli at Taco Bell" ad.

Please let me know what you think or don't think. If you care or don't care.

Thank You Everyone!

Including the wonderful people I work with who did this to my desk:














It's hard to see but there's Tinkerbell everywhere, including my tiara and my very own little pink wands. (That's Doug in the background, he's happy the pink stayed on my side of the pod.)

Dinner last night with Elsa, Frank, Courtney and her husband John was great! The "communion" wine was consumed in orange juice glasses so who knows how many we all actually had. Then we headed off to see the fountains at the Bellagio. Yeah for musical fountains!

A club in the Bellagio scared some so we left and went to Margaritaville for...you guessed it-beer. Just kidding. I had a margarita and it was tasty. The clock read midnight but Elsa's celebration continued and Justin and I headed off for bed. 6 am comes quickly! So today we are sleepy but we'll be ready to have some fun after work.

And this special day isn't just for me. My cute little nephew, Evan, shares this day with me. But I'm sure he'd protest all the Tinkerbell cuteness.

Early Birthday Gifts

My birthday came a day early for various reasons. My friend Elsa is coming out to see me! Actually her 30th birthday is today so it's just by chance. But I like to think that it's all for me.

I haven't seen her since her wedding like 4 years ago!

Actually the best part about today is Justin bought me my first Serger! He's been hounding me to pick one out and I've learned that you can't ask people about their machines. Everyone has an opinion.

"I love mine"
"Our brand is the best"
"That other brand blows"
"It's a pain to thread"

Technically they are all a pain to thread so that's a cop-out. But it gets even better! I got a machine with a cover stitch. What's that you say? I have no idea but I wanted it!

Just kidding. A coverstitch is usually seen in ready-to-wear clothes. It's a pretty sweet stitch.

He got me the Singer Quantumlock Serger:



I can't do anything until I read the manual and actually thread it. But I think it should be fun learning how to use it.

Plenty of projects in line for this.

Air Judge It

After about 7 years of performing, 6 or 7 years of teaching, I'm finally in training to be a Winter Guard judge. Tomorrow is the second time I'll be using a tape recorder other than making my making my own radio shows. The first time was when I was asked to critique a marching band show. It was rainy and windy and I commented about the use of their flags (or lack of) without realizing they were told to "air flag it."

I'm an idiot.

But I'm much smarter now and know I should probably not comment on such things. Now it's things like:
strength
hand placement
timing!
blah blah blah your guard sucks blah blah

Ok, never say that last part. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. That rule applies 100%. Or just make crap up. I learned that from Tony. Or maybe not. I think I made that part up as a quick back-up plan. Because you've always gotta have a back-up plan.

Hey we all had to start somewhere. Even if it was performing a painful looking show. And I'm sure the judges were just so nice to us. Because back then, they "appreciated" everything we did.

"I appreciate what I see." Which now translates to "blah blah blah your guard sucks blah blah."

Save the Chili Cheese Burrito!

Besides bean burritos, I love the Chili Cheese Burrito. But sadly I can't get it anywhere. Did you know that it's really hard to find because most Taco Bells dropped it from their menus? Can you believe that!? And with all that other crap on there...honestly, who wants to eat a quadruple decker stuffed-supreme taco/burrito? (Ok I made that up but they have some weird ones.)

I'm not the only one who's upset. Justin LOVES that burrito too. We tend to eat at least one while in Minnesota or Texas (where they take them for granted). He's always telling me of his days as a TB employee and how easy they were to make. But he also knows that nothing else on the menu requires those ingredients. So he understands why they might have scratched it. But I still think it's unforgivable.

My Grandparents were extremely disappointed at the local Taco Bell when they scratched it too. I was the one who introduced them to it. My Granny loved to go and get one for lunch sometimes. Then one day after a quick visit to Taco Bell, she came back with something else after being told they didn't sell them anymore. I told her it was true and she said, "Crimeny, they were so good!"

I know Granny.

But there's hope everyone. I'm not the only one who really thinks Taco Bell made a big mistake. Over at ChiliCheese.org, they've created petitions, forms, posters, banners -- Anything to get the Chili Cheese Burrito back in stores. So I'm asking all my blog readers to sign the online petition, even if you don't like the Chili Cheese Burrito or know what it is. This could be your chance to try it out. Unless you already live in an area where they sell them (lucky!), but you should sign it anyway.

Mamma Mia!

Sometimes things surprise you. Like your husband buying you tickets to see Mamma Mia after begging for three years. And what's more surprising...He loved it too! Ok I'm probably exaggerating about the "loved" it part but after the first act he looked at me and said, "This is actually really good!" And he's not even an ABBA fan.

Our seats were premium. We bought them through Nevada Public Radio where we are members, and we got a VIP pass for an after show question and answer time. Sweet!

Sitting third row in the middle, the band was loud and I could see the actors so well that we really got into it. But all the other NPR members around us didn't. It could have been that we were the only members under the age of 65 and this was a late night for them. Who cares, we had a great time.

I thought it was really clever how the songs (already written) were incorporated into a narrative that was written 20 years later. It's almost like buying a soundtrack to a show you've never seen until now. What was sad was some of the actors never liked ABBA growing up. I wonder if they just say they love ABBA now because they've got a job. I guess that'd be like saying "I hate Bill Gates" then go boot up windows on their PC at home.

If you come to Vegas and your spouse has been wanting to see this show for 3 or 4 years, take them. You might surprise yourself and get up and dance! Or you might just be surprised at how good it is.



VIP Baby!!

New Year...New You

A new you can be anything you want it to be. Consider a resolution that we all can easily do, for a new you, me and everyone. He's not our President (close, but no cigar) but Al Gore has a good point. Justin and I just saw his documentary An Inconvenient Truth and we are glad we are doing our part, even if it's small.

He might annoy some and bore others, but he's got a point about global warming. His documentary is a hard hit to the face about global warming, even if there were tons of charts and graphs. It's a serious issue. His life has been fighting this problem and up until I saw his documentary I didn't think it was such a problem. But it's not too late. We all can do small things to help.

Turn off your monitor or anything you aren't using (turn it off!)
Wash your clothes in cold or warm water
Plant a tree
Recycle at home
Carpool with co-workers/friends
Replace your furnace filters often

Easy! So instead of being selfish with the standard resolutions like "weight loss," "get more organized," "watch bad language." Be selfish by doing your part to keep it here for generations to come. Who knows, you might set a good example for the next generation. But keep the charts and graphs to a minimum.

Geeking Out Old School

It must be the fact that I haven't done any type of homework or research since I graduated that has led me to do all the things I used to enjoy. My musical skills are somewhat intact since I busted out the flute. I've been wanting to play again for fun but never got around to it. Now that I'm bored after work I finally got it out the other night (along with the fingering chart) and tried to play. Now I know what kids went through with braces. I sound bad...but I'm sure I'll get better with practice.

Scully likes my playing. Or so I think.

Justin got me a whole bunch of feet for my sewing machine at Christmas. I have no clue how to use some of them but I'm excited to try them out. Especially the teflon foot (to help with leather and vinyls). I'm such a geek.

Speaking of geek (or geeking out), I bought some Shrinky Dinks! I saw on craftster that some chicks were using Shrinky Dinks for their tags/labels. What a great idea! I haven't done those since hanging out with Jennifer Putum in 3rd grade. I'm sure some of them are around my old bedroom. Watch 'em shrink! That's the best part.

One old school thing I'm sad I can't geek out to anymore are my VHS tapes. We had a DVD Christmas mostly to replace all the VHS tapes that I own as well as getting a few new ones. So off to the D.I. they go. Goodbye VHS tapes. I enjoyed repairing some of you (btw, you can't repair a DVD but I'll bring that up when it happens).

Weekend preview:
Justin's parents fly in for a short trip.

A few friends are coming over for New Year's. Shrinky Dinks might be on the agenda.

I'm determined to sew this stupid skirt I've wanted. Honestly it'll take me like 2-3 hours but I can't seem to do it. Here's to hoping I'll get it done.

Eating Red Velvet Cake from Doughboys! Thanks Tony, I'm sure we'll love it!

Job Blunders

I worked at a decorative stamp call center. During this time of year, I told all the callers that their orders would arrive in a week. Surprised and happy, they loved me!

I was wrong. Shipping was two weeks.

I worked at a car dealership with a name very close to Jerry Seinfeld. I answered the phone "Thank you for calling Jerry Seinfeld!"

More than once.

At an engineering company I did administration work. I was doing inventory on everything in that building. Serial numbers, items, who's using it, etc. I forgot to save my excel file.

My boss took me working late was dedication to my job. I was frantically re-doing everything.

I was a waitress once.

I quit 4 times.

D-List Baby!

You might be wondering why I have that little icon over to the right. And if you're not, whatever.

I was surfing a bunch of people's sewing blogs (stop laughing now) and some chick had a link to find out what "list" your blog is on. Apparently I so rule with all 5 readers that I made the D-List!

So I thought I'd share that with everyone. I guess I could be embarrassed but I think it's cool that I'm not below a D. That would be like no one ever reads my blog. So I show it proudly.

It's like College Algebra all over again!

Classic Company Christmas Party

It has gone from about 30 people at the local golf club (Justin's first year with the company), to the local bar, to the local nice casino and to finally the newest casino (meaning really nice)with about 300 people. As usual it was a fun night. Talking to all the people I talk to every day but with a drink in my hand. Wearing something that I didn't plan on cause someone told me I can't pull off red (mean I know). And driving my husband home because he didn't even know what level we parked on.



The magician totally freaked me out. They had a hula hoop contest which I was confused by but was watching intently because a guy won it. Weird how they can move like that. The fish was fabulous. I wish I had another piece. Todd took lots of photos as usual. I forgot my camera, but he got some good ones of us. (And not so good ones.)

No idea what Alex was doing in the back.

I think the best part was I got to hang out with people that I don't normally get to. Overall it was a good night. I'm sure next year they'll stock the bar better. Our guys tend to clean it out. Not good on the liver kids.

Last Minute Goals

I'm sick...again. I got over a head cold a few weeks back but I've been stuffy since. Now I think I've got Justin's sickness. My cube mate gave me some zicam to stick up my nose. I don't like things up my nose so I'm skeptic. But I did it and now we'll see how well it works.

Goal: Feel better by the end of the day.

I've been so busy with Christmas shopping and sewing. I finished my Holiday party top (Justin needs to put my computer back together so I can post pictures but here's the pattern pic). It's pretty sweet. I need to make the skirt and little jacket because the party is Friday! (Not the same pattern, I'm using a different skirt and bolero type jacket pattern.)

Goal: To complete the skirt and jacket in 2 days!

I'm also working on 2 custom dog harness bags for a guy in Florida. It's for his wife's seeing-eye dog. I'm almost done with one but it turned out about 2 inches bigger than requested. And I'm having a hard time with the sides. Ugh! I was hoping to finish it last night so I could whip up the second one. But the sides are turning out to be tougher than my proto-type was. I'll have to come up with another way of doing it.

Goal: to complete them and mail them off in 2 days!

Christmas shopping is almost done for everyone else. I've gotten a few things for Justin but he wants another helmet bag. Since my sewing skills have improved to the point where I actually know what I'm doing compared to last year when I attempted this. This bag shouldn't be too difficult. Ha! That's what I said the first time.

Goal: To finish a great helmet bag for Justin by Christmas.

Movie Madness

With 4 days off work, Justin had planned on watching movies and nothing else. How lazy. But I have to admit, having the projector is such a cool way of watching movies. So I didn't mind sitting around. Also, it helps when Best Buy put tons of their movies on sale for 5 bucks. Can't beat that!

Even Scully got into the big screen viewing mode.
We all liked the dog show. Except they always pass over the Min Pins. Jerks! Scully hates that.

Then after joking about the Best in Show breed, Justin almost burned down our house. This turkey frying stuff is dangerous.
You like how I've never taken the tags off that oven mitt. I rule.

Luckily we weren't fully up to temp so we shut it off and had to get another setup. I think this will be the last year for turkey frying. I'd like to try grilling it next year.

After dinner, we watched 2 movies but I fell asleep during both. Friday, we watched about 4 movies and I think I slept through most of them. Hey I was tired after getting up at 4:30 am to shop! Saturday, we had friends over for turkey enchiladas (yum, by the way) and watched another movie. Amazingly I stayed awake.

By Sunday I couldn't take the laziness anymore. I went shopping. But then we came back and watched another movie... which I slept through.

So I guess I really didn't *watch* any movies. But I own them all and have a sweet theater setup. If you would like to come over and watch a movie (and me sleep) just let us know. I'm sure we'll be having lots of movie nights to catch up on the ones I've missed.

The Panic of the Day Before

I'm not really panicking, but I'm stressing. That can be considered the same. Justin and I our hosting our own Thanksgiving meal-for ourselves. Our friends are coming over tonight for a movie on the new projector and then they are off to spend Thursday with their families. So we are going at it alone. Which is fine. So why am I stressing?

1. After all the projector work in the living room, which moved into the kitchen and dining room, my downstairs is in a state of disarray. So we are taking care of this after work (which, btw, we get off extra early). So after the gym and the store to pick up some evaporated milk for Justin's favorite pie, house cleaning is first on the list.

2. We have to prep our turkey this afternoon. We learned this brining technique from some cooking dude on t.v. It should be interesting. That's Justin's job but I have to make sure he's not making a huge mess in the process.

3. Potatoes. I want to start them, but they brown easily. So I'm going to peel them and put them in a bowl of water and leave in the fridge. Do I need to add lemon juice? I don't know! Someone tell me!!

4. Black Friday. Do I participate? I'm not sure. I got some great catalogs in the mail yesterday for Black Friday but I can't decide. I get up so early during the week why would I want to on my day off and spend it with psycho shoppers? Maybe I'll wait until 9am to go. I could just stay home and decorate. Now that sounds like fun.

I guess that's all I'm stressing about. Not too bad for 2 people at dinner. Maybe we'll have a big Christmas Party. I'd better start planning now and put my potatoes in water. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Expect an Invoice From Me

Last night Justin and I had to go to Target. On our way in we noticed a line forming outside the store. People were camping out for the new Playstation 3 (which, btw, is like $600!). Target actually had a nice sign that said "Line starts here". How nice of my favorite store to keep the wandering people in a nice line far away from the front doors.

I don't understand the appeal with the new ps3. It doesn't play old games, it's $600, and honestly, how many versions do we need? The main problem I have is not being able to play older games. Justin thinks it's clever marketing. Charge more for the console and they have to buy new games. I work in the marketing field and I think it's terrible.

Well what I'm marketing is something different but it's all the same idea. Don't you ever get annoyed with brand-named clothing? Especially the ones that say "GAP" in big bold letters. Or dealer logos on new cars or that pen you got at the latest trade show that labels you a "Citi Card User".

Not only did we pay for these items (except that pen maybe or if you stole the car with the sweatshirt in it) but we are marketing for FREE!

Ok, I wear an Old Navy shirt (that says Old Navy on it) at the gym. That should be a good indicator of what I think of their shirts; not worthy of anything but sweat. Now if it doesn't say anything on it (branding it to a specific store), I'll totally wear it.

And my Coach purse....I love it. And I've been known to let people know it's a Coach when they ask. But that's it!

I really think that they should pay us to market for them. The next time I buy a new car I'm going to send an invoice to the dealer for the ad buy they didn't know they bought. Or they can just remove the stupid logo off the back of my car. I think it's a fair trade. Pay me or take it off. But the chance of me buying a NEW car is slim. I like my silly car at the moment.


All I'm saying is if they want me to wear, drive or use something recognizable with their logo on it, they should pay me. Then I might be able to afford that ps3 Justin wants for Christmas.