2009 Die Die Die!

Thank goodness it's only a few more days away from this year being history. A decade in review:

2000 - major surgery 6/23/00 #2
2001 - bought my first new car (2001 Chevy Cavalier, blue)
2001 - drove cross country for the first time
2003 - quit my job of 10 years
2003 - took a management role at the mortgage company
2003 - car accident, wrecked and repaired
2003 - I got braces
2004 - bought a new car (2005 Chevy Equinox, blue)
2004 - refinanced my home into a 5 year fixed/6 month Libor loan.
2005 - I took home two kittens
2005 - my dad died
2005 - took an analyst's role at the same mortgage company
2005 - the braces came off my teeth
2006 - son graduated high school
2006 - home burglarized
2007 - the mortgage company I worked at went BK
2007 - laid off from work
2008 - mortgage company folded
2008 - became a contractor/business consultant
2008 - car accident that totaled my vehicle
2008 - bought a used car (2007 Chevy Equinox, gray)
2008 - ended a 5 year affair
2009 - my Libor mortgage note adjusted... downward! HAHA
2009 - laid off from work
2009 - mom had heart surgery for the umteenth time
2009 - took an role at a credit union

This is a first...

I've worked for banks, I've worked for a mortgage company, but this is the first time I've worked at a credit union. Collateral perfection, assignments, Vault, trailing docs, Notary. I'm charged with these tasks in the organization. All of the paperwork and background checks were intense and for now, at least, I'm on contract. Now, I have to push a mass amount of paperwork through to an Agency by the end of the year.

Thanks Melinda

I'm working again. The commute is better 50%. More later.

Damn, it's cold

Old man Winter showed his face today in California and damn, it's cold. It won't even be 60 degrees today and the nights are in the high 30's to low 40's. I slept with the heater on all night.  If I don't my throat gets soar.

For the love of Thai Food

I am 43 years old white woman, I've lived in Orange County, California since 1992 and I'm just taking the time to figure out what the deal is about on Asian cuisine.

Thai is the best for me. It's recipes are based upon healthy, fresh ingredients with no flour, cheese or cow's milk.. I love that. I love being able to go out to a restaurant where I can order something from the menu and know that afterwords I'm not going to feel sick from eating it. I went so far as collecting three Thai cook books and searching out the grocery stores and farmer's markets in my area that carry Thai ingredients so that I can cook dishes at home.

Japanese is second best. It also concentrates on fresh, healthy ingredients. Noodles are an integral in many dishes, which is not so good, but in it's defense, Japanese eat more fish, so I love sushi, but especially sashimi. I found out it's extremely easy to make miso soup at home because it comes in these kits like the ramen noodles that everyone is so used to in California. You can add bok choi, thinly sliced shallots and/or green onion and cubes of firm tofu, if you want, or just eat the noodles and the broth - it's that easy.

I found out that I like Pho, which is a type Vietnamese soup available in just about any city you go to.You don't have to guess what you are going to be served there because Pho is usually in the name of the restaurant. Once upon a time, there was a restaurant in my neighborhood called Hung Phat. I kid you not. I read that, deemed the name disgusting and never tried the place. Later they changed the name to Golden Chopsticks. I later discovered that the term Hung Phat is a common phrase in Vietnamese and nothing to be afraid of.

Chinese food is the most unhealthful of all the Asia food, next to tempura in Japanese cooking. Chinese food almost always is served with some sort of corn starch based sauce and sometimes even deep fried items like in the calamari, sweet and sour dishes, and the wonton noodles. The easiest thing to whip up for a meal is stir fry, which comes from Chinese cooking. I have one prep bowl and slice everything up before i start cooking. I then cook the meat, lay on the prepared vegetables, let it steam for a few minutes and then mix it up in the wok until it's all hot and incorporated and pour some sticky sauce over it. I serve it with rice on the side. Another dish I make at home sometimes is the egg drop soup. It's chicken broth, scrambled egg and thinly sliced green onion. That's it. Simple and quick. Sometimes when you aren't feeling so good and the weather is cold, only egg drop soup will do.

I bought a new rice cooker over the summer. Man, is that thing great. Perfect rice in 20 minutes. Fry's Electronics had only one model like mine. I later found out that H Mart carries a ton of them, thank you.

And speaking of which, I found H Mart and I love it. It's chock full of Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese products and, to me, is the Pavillions of Asian food markets.

OK, that's better

I have an interview on Monday for two different jobs with the same company. When lightening strikes, I guess... For weeks I have not been able to find anything local. I even went so far as applying to a job near Phoenix, AZ. To me, it's the closest thing to California without water, but damn. I'm not looking to relocate unless it's something I absolutely must do.

Location, location, location

I found a job I can do... near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I don't want to work in Wisconsin. This is not good.

A Conflict of Interest?

I just read I can't be an Elite if I maintain a business listing (as a Notary) on Yelp.com, so I closed the business account. That sucks.

T-Day

2009 Thanksgiving Menu:

Roasted Turkey Breast
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Roasted Carrots
Steamed Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese
Sweet Potato Pie
Cranberry Jelly

My Thanksgiving Day started at 6AM and me on the road to go pick-up my mom from El Cajon who decided it was OK to have Thanksgiving with me this year, especially after her recent heart trouble.

I returned back home with mom in tow, a bag of crochet and a change of clothes at 10AM. It took me about an hour to prep and two hours to cook. We ate at 1PM. It was me, my son and my mom.

We later went to Walgreen's in search of cracked heel ointment with emu oil. No luck. Walgreen's doesn't carry it anymore. I use it to alieve the exema on my right hand that develops on and off due to stress.

Anyway, I cleaned the house more while the food was cooking and then mom went to sleep in my bed. I slept on the couch and watched TV until about 10PM which was probably too late. My throat was achy and my eyes were burning which meant I was toast and needed rest.

The next morning, I made coffee for the both of us and left for El Cajon at about 7:45AM. Mom wanted to go to Fresh and Easy so we found one on the way to her house. This one was located near Lake Murray.

I got back home by 1PM.

Life, Part 2

A friend called me last night and wanted to talk about a situation he's in. Sadly, after hearing his plight, what he's going through is nothing new and it's something I have heard men complain about before. After years of marriage, his wife is unhappy and won't take action herself to fix a sexual dysfunction in their relationship. And she thinks that the problem is everything else but her own behavior. She points fingers at this, that or the other thing and the man is at a loss because he can't fix her. This situation my friend's in is compounded by the fact that his wife is quickly loosing her identity as a mother because her son is 18, grown and not a baby anymore and she doesn't know what to do with herself now. She's had the luxury of being a housewife and now she has no one to fuss over but her husband and she knows if she fusses over him, he's going to take it as she's interested in him sexually and she's not. So she doesn't put forth any affection whatsoever to show him she loves him anymore. He's at that certain point of frustration where something's got to change.

I was glad to hear he said he has an appointment to go to counseling with her because he thinks his marriage to her is worth working on, but if she turns marriage counseling down and refuses to go, it makes you wonder what's going on in her head and her life that he doesn't know about because he's at work.