"The world would be a better place if everyone had your personality...."

I'll get to the origin of that line in a bit...

For those you have been living under a rock, a pretty big winter storm hit more than half of the country last week. Including western Ohio.  Now, I thought I had hit the jackpot with this storm. In Cincinnati, where we live, it was almost all rain - score! In Dayton, where I work, it was a pretty bad ice storm, resulting in my office losing power for almost three days and me getting two free days off of work. I got the benefits of a storm (snow days!) without the bad parts (shovelling inches of ice).

Then I made it work on Thursday morning. Apparently managing your own historic site means you get to clear the sidewalks of ice and snow.... So from Thursday through Saturday I spent a total of 4-5 hours salting, chipping and shovelling ice.... so much for the best of both worlds.

So where did the title of this post come from? Well on Thursday, as I worked on the last step I was going to do that day, a black pick up truck pulled up and a gentleman began talking to me from the vehicle.

"You need any help?" (would have been nice if he had driven by an hour earlier, but I digress...)
"I'm on the last step, I'm all set. Thanks for asking though!"
"You are very pretty! Are you married?" (ugh....)
"Yes, yes I am married."
"Well your husband must know how lucky he is." (I hope that's the case)
"He does, he is very good to me."
"He should be out here helping you!"
"Oh, I work here. This is a museum.... I'm actually being paid to shovel."
"Oh! Well that ain't too bad then!"
"Nope!" (hoping to run away.... end of conversation please...)
"You have a beautiful personality! I can just tell... you are a great person!"
"Thank you...."
"No really... I can just tell how nice you are. You found God, I can tell!"
"Yes, I have..."
"You know, the world would be a better place if everybody was like you!"
"I like to think so..."
"haha, yeah... you are just such a good person... I can tell..."

This continued for a couple more minutes, I found out this gentleman had lost power at his house because of the storm and was staying with his brother in law who lived in the neighborhood. After 5 minutes of chatting I was able to sneak away.

Definitely one of my more awkward conversations, especially recently. I mean, I felt pretty good about myself afterwards (after all, he could tell just how good of a person I was just by talking to me for two minutes). But definitely  not a situation I was entirely comfortable with... haha.

Can't wait to see what happens as I continue to clear sidewalks this winter.....

How do I love my Kitchenaid stand mixer? Let me count the ways....

This baby....

might just be my favorite wedding gift. It has been the biggest contributor to my increased domesticity. I can crank out a batch of chocolate chip cookies in 20 minutes (plus baking time). Breads, doughs, cakes, mashed potatoes, you name it - I can do it with my mixer.

So, needless to say, when Craig and I were invited to a friend's house for the Superbowl, I immediately volunteered to bake. So I spent most of my day Sunday doing just that. And here are the results....

Number 1 - Apple Pie

This has become one of my standard contributions to pot lucks. The crust is made from scratch and then just filled with apples, cinnamon, and sugar.  It's gotten many positive reviews and I have even given tutorials on making it to one of my friends (the same one who invited us for Superbowl). It's always a hit and very easy to make.

Number 2 - Pizza Bites

Who doesn't love pizza bites? Seriously, bite size pizza, you can't lose. These are homemade pizza dough wrapped around mozzerella and pepperoni. I served them with pizza sauce for dipping. I'm pleased to say none were left. They are a little heavy on the dough, but it's necessary to keep the filling from oozing out. Thankfully, the dough is delicious :-)

These dishes were complimented by stuffed mushrooms, spinach artichoke dip, chicken dip, cheese ball, and other goodies brought by friends. Superbowl was a success! Yummy food, good beer, and hanging out with good friends - can't go wrong!

Coming up later today.... an interesting happening from work last week.....

Adult Snow Days

Well, I was all ready to go back to work on February 1. Work clothes were clean, dried, and hung up. Leftovers were packaged for me to bring for lunch. I even went to bed early.

Then, the great storm of 2011 arrived. And I got an extra two days off of work :-)

While Cincinnati didn't get much in the way of ice or snow (a bit, but not much), Dayton apparently got an inch or so of ice over the two days. And, since my place of employment is not only located in Dayton but it's degree of production is based on the weather, the powers that be decided to close us. I've never been so excited to get a phone call at 6:45 am.

So what to do with these two extra days? Let's see, I....

- Got even more sleep
- Finished Mad Men Season 1 (amazing! can't wait for season 2 to arrive)
- Baked beer bread
- Baked cookies
- Did all of the laundry in the house
- Changed sheets
- Read for pleasure

Having random days off as an adult rocks. I mean, I totally should have used some time for thesis work, but I honestly forgot until this moment. So, no harm, no foul. I'll pick up on that soon :-)

Craig and I are in the middle of figuring out taxes, replacing our hot water heater, and doing all sorts of other responsible adult things. More on those later!

Hope everybody survived the storm of the century!!!

Dry Socket Free! (Fingers crossed....)

Well, tomorrow morning marks a full 7 days since my wisdom teeth extraction and so far there is no evidence that I have the dreaded dry socket. So as long as my mouth doesn't rebel overnight I think we're in the clear :-) So glad that my experience with this was a good one - not that I'm anxious to repeat it or anything.

The best part of having my wisdom teeth out was having over a week off of work. Craig and I actually got to hang out during the day on a Saturday. I know, crazy! But when Tuesday gets here it's back to the grind for me....

So what to do with my last day of freedom? I think some dancing and a Target run are in order :-) I'm determined to finally use some prepaid classes with the Cincinnati Ballet and after class I think it's a good time to hit up my favorite place to score cheap but awesome things. Target. This whole being a young couple with bills and student loan payments thing kinda sucks when it comes to the wardrobe.... so I'm hoping to score a couple things to make me feel cute again :-)

Another item on the agenda to feel good about.... a haircut and manicure. Coming up on March 11. For those that don't have it in your calendar yet, that is the day before my birthday ;-) I'm so ridiculously excited for a haircut it's kind of sad.... haha. But when you're an adult in the real world I guess you gotta take what you can get, right?

In other news, I've been missing my family a bunch lately. We didn't get to go home for the holidays this year (yet another stinky part of being a young couple) so I haven't seen my parents or siblings since August. And am not scheduled to see them until May. It sucks big ones if i do say so myself. Getting used to that fact of life hasn't been easy, and I'm definitely not at the "used to it" part just yet. Luckily Craig is pretty understanding and helps me deal as much as possible :-) Having great inlaws and friends out here in Ohio definitely helps. So thanks those of you who fall into that category!!!

I leave you with one of my favorite pictures of the Becker Children. Taken summer of 2007 at Disney. We're supposed to be acting like bugs in case you couldn't tell.

And I'm back!

Well, the toilet has been working for the past week or so. It was  a great exercise in working together for Craig and I - and we all survived! An added bonus is that with the new guts of the toilet it uses less water when it flushes - yay Earth!

I'm at home, in bed, watching season one of Rugrats: All Grown Up. Why is that you ask? Well, yesterday I said goodbye to a small part of me - my wisdom teeth. Craig was my nurse yesterday and took very good care of me. And as much as you hear horror stories of wisdom teeth extraction - it is day two and I'm feeling great. No bad reactions to the anesthesia (it was my first time going under and I was very worried I'd be very loopy and say embarrassing things - didn't happen! As far as I know....) or to the vicodin (first time on strong painkillers also). Still not up to chewing real food - but I've never appreciated instant mashed potatoes more than I do now.

I woke up this morning with almost no pain in my mouth, so hopefully I'm done with the vicodin and can stick to advil. The best part of feeling so good so soon though? I don't have to go back to work until February 1 - yes, a week from today. What to do with my free (and pain free!) time off!? I'm starting with catching up on Nickelodeon cartoons on instant Netflix. Maybe hitting up the airforce museum in Dayton on Saturday with Craig (they have a new Disney exhibit - so excited!). Though if I'm responsible I should probably dive back into thesis work.... you know... that thing I haven't looked at since April but that needs to be done in order for me to really graduate from grad school?

Yuck. That can wait till tomorrow at least... I need to make sure I'm really feeling well first ;-)

P90X day 1

I've done it. I've joined the rest of the population and started p90x. Thought I'm not claiming I'll follow it rigidly. It calls for 6 days a week and I'll probably only manage 5. Working Saturdays leaves me just a couple hours after work and before socializing and Sundays are my lazy days. So we'll see how doing it 5/6 of the way goes :-) I'm also not following their diet, but will be trying to eat healthier and decrease alcohol consumption (not that I'm a drunk by any means haha).

Anyhoo... day 1 went well. I'm following the "lean" schedule - it's more heavily weighted towards cardio then weight training so that I don't bulk up too much ;-) Today was Core Synergistics. Loved it. Though I'll love it more when I'm better at it... haha. Times like these are when I realize how much dance kept me in shape without me even trying.... The lack of dance the past two and a half years has really taken it's toll. My flexibility is almost non-existant and my stamina sucks. I'd hate to see myself try to manage a class back at the studio at home lol.

Oh well! All I can do is try my best and hopefully it all will become easier as I go. My goal is to look good for Country Concert 2011 (http://countryconcert.com/). I figure if Craig is making me go to a 2.5 day outdoor country music festival I might as well feel good in a jean skirt and bikini top :-)

I'll keep my faithful readers updated on the p90x endeavor - with any luck I'll stick with it!

As far as our exploding toilet goes.... it is still out of commission. Updates to follow.

Blogworthy

Life has been pretty boring here at the Schroeder household - hence the lack of updates..... To my large readership, I apologize :-)

I was talking to Tracie this morning and she said this was "blogworthy" so here we go....

Craig and I entertained some people last evening and someone must have need more "flush power" than we provide.  We keep a gallon of water in the tank of each toilet to reduce our water use (yay going green!). Well this morning, the gallon from the first floor bathroom was by  our basement stairs. Weird. So, like I mentioned earlier, someone must have needed some extra umph and took it out.

Kinda funny, but not a problem. I take the lid off the tank this morning and get ready to put the gallon back in, when... all of a sudden, while I'm looking at the open tank, a piece breaks and water starts shooting all over the place. Imagine Ben Stiller trying to contain this water - and you have Craig who I immediately screamed for.

So Craig is trying to stop the spray of water and I have to climb down to turn off the water. If you haven't been to our new house, this bathroom is tiny. When you sit on the toilet, your knees almost hit the wall in front of you. Width wise, it's just wide enough for a sink and toilet. Tiny. So fitting two people is a challenge when there isn't water shooting everywhere and one has to reach behind the toilet to turn a knob.

A challenge that was conquered! No more shooting water :-)

A trip to Home Depot is in order for today. Womp womp. At least we have two other bathrooms :-)