It Feels Like Fall

Finally it feels like October. At the moment it's overcast and rainy and there's a chill in the air. Today is the perfect day for cooking. I've got a couple of things up my sleeve to cook for the week. I have a new blender, a vitamix, and I hear it's excellent at making soup in. I've never made soup from scratch before, just from a can or a box. I found a recipe for celery and buttermilk soup. Sounds yummy, right? I'm going to make that so I can have it for dinner this week. I'm also going to pull out the slow cooker and make a barbecue glazed turkey meatloaf. Another yummy recipe. This one will be for lunches this week. Since it's only me that I cook for, I like to find recipes that I can cook on a Sunday and then eat well into the following week. I don't waste food that way and I eat healthier that way. Knowing I already have dinner made at home keeps me from stopping and picking up dinner on the way.

Sick Kitty

My poor Katie, she's feeling a bit under the weather. We spent a hissy and growly hour at the vet's this morning to rule out an obstruction. By all appearances she's perfectly healthy. She's not eating though, or drinking. She's still her usual playful self. I've got to keep an eye on her the next few days though. I really hope she starts to at least start drinking water again soon. To top it off, Jack is a hissy grump any time she comes near him. Poor Katie, she doesn't feel well and the other kitty in the house makes it worse by hissing at her anytime she looks in his direction.

Friday Fun

Thursday Recipe

Thursday Recipe is back! I discovered this one on Pinterest. It looks so so yummy. Not very Weight Watchers friendly, but a delicious fall treat.

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes

makes 2 shakes

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup cream or half and half

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

2-3 ounces of bourbon

frosting + sprinkles (or cinnamon sugar) for glasses

Add all ingredients to a blender and mix until combined. Rim glasses with a light coating of frosting then dip in sprinkles. Pour in shake and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Top with whipped cream if desired. Serve!

Harper

Such an amazing story - this will definitely make you smile this morning.

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Halfway Through

I am almost halfway through another semester - school for me, not work (but that semester is almost halfway through as well). I'm taking three classes this Fall. Fortunately two of them are online so I only have to drive up to Denton for class one night a week. And this week it was canceled. Boy that feeling never gets old. It's almost akin to hearing "Snow Day". I've been crunching numbers and looking at my degree plan. I was going to meet with my advisor tonight to turn in my NC State documentation so we can get the official transfer of courses done, but she's the one who canceled class. It'll have to be next week. I'm hoping to map out with her the rest of my coursework and file my degree plan. Last time she and I met we discussed my potential dissertation topic. Rather than a study, I asked if I could do a historical analysis of a topic in education for my dissertation and she said yes. Oh happy happy day. This means no IRB! No SPSS or SAS! Heavenly words to my ears. I'm very excited about the possibility of finally merging my love of history (and my undergraduate major) with my current field of study. If everything goes according to plan, I should finish coursework next December and then start writing after that. My own personal drop dead date for writing is for it to take no longer than a year. As a procrastinator this worries me. I do better on a deadline. My writing is better that way. But I also know I want to be finished so that may light a fire and hopefully I'll be done in summer. If I can start reviewing literature this summer, then I may be able to pull off finishing in Summer term. We'll see what happens.

That Magic Moment

Isn't that what everyone looks for? That spark, that something intangible that makes someone right for them? Well, the lovely gentleman I had dinner with tonight did not have it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he looked about 10 years older than the picture on his match profile. I'm not being ageist, he just didn't look the way I thought he would. He looked my parents ages, which kind of weirded me out. I don't have hang ups about dating someone older, I just have an issue if they look like they went to high school with my dad. If the man I had dinner with tonight had that spark, I could have overlooked the age thing. Not to mention he had a terrible time reading me. We parted after dinner and already he was blowing up my cell phone with texts. Really? I didn't even kiss him good night and the man was already sending an endless stream. Don't get me wrong, I was flattered, but he obviously didn't read that situation well.

So what am I looking for, you may ask? I've only felt it one other time. I'm not going to quantify it with time, so those of you following along won't be able to pinpoint who it was. But talking with him, being with him, just seeing his name on paper gave my heart a thrill. You know, that pulse racing, catch in your breath moment. That's what I want. If I can't have that, I'd rather be single. And single isn't default for me. I love being on my own. I have friends, I travel, I like my life. So if I do find that magic moment, life will just be sweeter than it already is.

Discovering Dallas...and Fort Worth

I've been in Texas for over a year now. One year, three months, and two weeks, but who's counting? I like Texas (politics and government aside). I like my life here. Work is a zoo, but outside of 8-5, I really like my life. I've discovered a dance class I love, I'm taking three more classes toward my Ed.D., and I'm making friends. I mention all of this because my long term goal is not to stay in Texas forever. I'd love to go back to North Carolina someday or back to New England. It would have to be the right job at the right time to take me there, but who knows when that will happen.

I mention all of this because I've been in Texas over a year and there are still so many things to see and do and my goal is to try them all at least once before I leave the state someday. No use planning for where I'm going to end up next if I don't know when that's going to happen. In the meantime I'll miss out on all the fun things around me. I've been to a few Rangers games, ostensibly to cheer on the Red Sox, but I like the Ballpark at Arlington. I want to go to a Mavericks game and see the Dallas Stars play. There's theatre and music - too many venues to count from as small as House of Blues to the big ones like Cowboy Stadium. And that's just in Dallas. Fort Worth has lots to do as well. I like Texas, so I don't want to have regrets when I leave some day that I didn't make the most of my time here.

31 for 21

It's that time of year. This will be my third year participating in the 31 for 21 blogging challenge. I discovered the challenge when I started to follow Michelle's blog Big Blueberry Eyes, where she blogs about her life and the life of her daughter Kayla. Kayla, who does indeed have beautiful blue eyes, has Down Syndrome, aka Trisomy 21 (hence the name of the blog challenge). I think the third year will be my most challenging. I'm taking three classes this semester, plus work, and some travel this month as well. I'm determined though. If any of you want to join in the challenge, click on the 31 for 21 button on the right side of the blog. Happy October everyone!

posting

I will post again, I promise. I had a few posts all planned out and realized it's almost time for 31 for 21 - the blog challenge I participate in for Down Syndrome Awareness Month, aka, the month of October. So sit back, I'll be back to posting next Friday!