Now what?!

This weekend has been pretty crappy so far.

Friday night was slow and we had 5 instead of 4 waiters inside so our sections where cut smaller which meant less tables. I didn't care to much since one of the girls had asked me to work her Saturday shift.

Saturday was a busy morning I had to go do an interview with a repeat family and a 2 week orientation with one of my other families. Then I had to go back to the first family because I had forgotten my coat. One home I went to let the pups outside since it was nice when Sassy tripped me (I was holding her collar to put her on the long leash) and I fell on my bad knee. Needless to say the rest of the afternoon I spent on the couch with an icepack until I had to leave for work. The owner ended up sending me home to rest my knee since it didn't look like they were going to be busy enough for 6 of us. I wasn't all that happy about it since I could really use a good paycheck the once of the past few weeks were nothing to write home about but then resting my knee was probably better in the long run. So I spent the evening on the couch with an ice pack.

Today started out nice. I slept in made fried potatoes for break fast, my knee wasn't as swollen or painful and then the phone rings! The caller ID says its one of my families, one I talked to earlier this week about how the AP has been slacking this she started dating some guy. I am holding my breath hoping its a call saying all it well but no.
The husband was on the phone pointing out some additional things that happened. As he tells me about the boyfriend and how he is worried he is moving to fast (they have seen each other for 3 weeks and the guy is talking about a ring and going to see her family and bring them here ...) and so forth I dawns on me

that's JIMMY.

The husband says yes in deed it is, SHIT!!!! Jimmy is the restaurants owner best friend, the guy that was dating one of my coworkers there for over a year and the relation ship was a frigging nightmare. He is a manipulative jerk that has to control everything. I had front row seats to the last one and that girl is talking to a councilor now.

DAMN IT

now what do I do? Do I warn the AP about the guy tell him what her live will be like? He proceeded the same exact way with his last girlfriend. I mean the AP is madly in love with the guy and I can see how this would seem like a fairytale to her. She comes from Mexico to this country and there is this older guy with money that wines and dines her and promises the world to her. And I know even if I decided to tell her what I witnessed with his last relationship she most likely wont listen, but my question is should I try to warn her or let her run into an open knife? I mean I don't care if my boss would be pissed and fire me for it so that doesn't factor into this I just wonder if I should just give her the FYI or just let it be and watch her being used and tossed as so many before her?

Bad picture of me (preshower and all) but great shot of Cleo posing as a parot while I was writing this post. She loves to look over my shoulder.

Cherry's box

Okay so I know you are all dying to know what was up with the photo and all. Well .....

A while back Cherry and I were chatting and she told me she was on her way to work. Naturally I was curious and asked what she does. She told me she was helping a friend at his company which sells all natural Australian foods. Being a avid amateur cook and food lover I was curious as to what Australian food is. Cherry explained some of the stuff and it sounded really interesting. She gave me the stores web site and I was more and more curious. So Cherry generous as she is, said she'd sent me a little care package from Down Under. And it arrived today. So come on open it with me and see whats in it.

I was amazed at the box there was no stamp or return address or even a post mark on it. I had it sent to the office to save me from having to go to the post office and picking it up. Of course the other nice thing about sending it to my office was I got to open it right way and see whats in it. Knowing you all are dying of curiosity I took my time and took pictures of all of it. Bush Tomato Akatjurra spice came with two recipes I am dying to try. Roast Wattleseed sounds intriguing especially the ice cream recipe. The Lemon Myrtle Rainforest Spice smelled so good (even through the bag) I think I will make the cheesecake recipe listed on the card this weekend. I can't wait to try the Native Pepperberries these are ground but I think I will order the whole once since I love to cook with fresh ground pepper. The Bush Tomato Seasoning has a recipe for scrambled eggs that sounds perfect for a weekend breakfast. Now the Lemon Myrtle and Pepperberry Seasoning is something our Ms Jin would love I am sure. The Mountain Pepper Spice is supposed to have a eucalyptus taste so I am looking forward to experience. Here you can see all the jars. We tried every last one of these yesterday. Don't believe me check out the pictures below. The Hibiscus

This was a card with some more info on Wild Hibiscus Cherry included.

The Rainforest Plum jelly was yummy. But then I have always loved Plums and Plum jellyThe Finger Lime Marmalade was a bit tart to eat on bread but Grumpy and I both agreed you could use it as layers on cake or cookies and it would be to die for. The Macadamia Nut butter was neat. The initial taste is buttery with just a hint of nut. Very good. (I am not a nutty person and hate peanut butter!)Macadamia Nut Butter and Rainforest Plum Swirl now that my kind of Nut and Jelly preserve. SOOOOOOOOO much better than PB&J This one is my absolute favorite. Rosella Jam - oh I can't wait for Sunday morning, warm french bread, real butter and Rosella Jam. I liked the Dessert Quandong better than Grumpy he didn't care for it at all. It takes a bit getting used to but it really is quiet good. This one was another one Grumpy didn't care for. I found it interesting and definitely worth trying. Grumpy really liked the Bush Tomato Relish. I tried it even so I am not big on relish I have to admit it is pretty good. We also tried the Rainforest Plum Chili Sauce which will be good in recipes. Here is our plate as you see we sampled all the Jars and Grumpy got Chamagne to try out the Hibiscus flowers. (sorry for the mess haven't really had time to clean or organize a sit down dinner-to tired so we ate on the couch while watching Queen of the Damned on SciFi If you look real hard you can see the flower in the bottom of the glass.
Grumpy is intrigued. Here is mine I had to get the Champagne out of the way so I could take the picture for you.
And here is Grumpy after our little culinary trip Down Under. Misty is napping on her chair. When I asked Grumpy of his opinion about the food he said "intense"! Tonight I am making one of the recipes on the cards a Parmesan sauce. I shall tell you how it turns out.

P.S. I Linked all the product to their individual store website. There is the info abotu what it tastes like, what to do with it and of course how to order it. So be sure to click on the links of each jam/spice to find out more.

Jaming with Cherry?!

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Originally uploaded by dino0477.

Just a teaser more photos tonight

So much for my diet

Okay so here are some photos from Sundays holiday party. It was a great sucess. We had 67 people there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of kids that where playing APs chatting and HF mingeling. We had a potential family attened that since started their application (YAHHH) and there were several people exchanging recipies.

Here you can see some of the desserts. I tell you what for amateurs they did really yummy. I cheated on the desserts I went to the world market and got German Christmas cake and cookies. I wish I had taken photos of all the yummy dished but I didn't even get to try all of them :(. All in all I think it went great. I did pick up a vibe that people where annoyed they had to be there (HF have to come to one event a year) but it may just have been the fact that everyone got lost on account of map quest. I know you were all waiting on a photo of me and Grumpy ahmn Santa here you go.



What you don't like it? Come on I worked hard on this. I have kodak software installed on my work computer and played around with it. This is my favorite picture.


Well if you insist on on another one how about this? Its not to bad. I still like the black and white one better but oh well



Find if you must see the original one here it is.

So between Thanksgiving, housing au pairs and the holiday party my diet went down the drain. So I was hellbent to get back on it and then the drug reps start bringing food. I don't know whats up this year maybe they all took a course in whats good but they keep bringing stuff I like. Monday it was chocolate - caramel popcorn and today a patient brought a big box of assorted Belgian cookies and chocolates.

I did get my first Christmas present today from my mom, a magic bullet. I had eye balled them when the infomercials came on but decided I didn't need it bad enough to spend the money. I love it its perfect. I made my soy protein shake in it tonight. Sooooo cool. There was also a quilt she made and a a handmade bag I will use for my scrap book stuff. Its a winter theme very cute.

Hotel Katy

What a day. First the drama this morning with Sassy then when I finally had calmed down enough (plenty of tears while we talked about what to do with Sassy) and got mentally ready to attend an AP birthday party I looked out through the front door and saw someone there. When I opened the door it was my first ever AP (she for awhile was my only AP for whom I was an LCC) She had gone back to Peru in January and then came back to go to school here. So we after chatting we both went to the party and then came back here where I was preparing the food I need for tomorrows Holiday party. When I got back in the living room she was deep asleep on the couch. So I laid out fresh linens found her a pyjama and told her to crash here. I truly hope tomorrow is quieter but then the holiday party so far had 56 RSVPs and over half of them are kids. Thank god its not at my house or the community center where I had it the past two years. This way everything is decorated and I wont be stuck cleaning up by myself. Hope you are having a better weekend than me.

scary morning

My heart is still racing what a morning. I finally managed to find a new family for my house guest and we were getting ready to leave the house when she went over to say bye to Sassy.

(Grumpy and Sassy)

Sassy is our lab mix that we got from the pound about a year ago. She had been taking away from a family that beat and starved her.

She was fine with us after the first month but this morning when the girl went to pet her while she was at her food dish she bit her. Granted you should never approach an animal while its near its food but thats still no comfort to me right now.

Sassy got her pretty good on the index finger right above the nail and there was blood dripping from it. I got her cleaned up and bandaged her up but she was pretty shocked and so was I. I put Sassy back in her cage and then we had to run to catch her train.

I just called her and she says her finger is feeling much better but I am still sad. Grumpy and I will consult with a trainer and see if we can work with Sassy but it makes me sad to think that we may not be able to keep her. She is usually such a loving dog but we want kids and I am sure we will have more house guests. For now we will warn everyone to stay away from Sassy since she bites.