Friday, July 13, 2012

Friday Flip off's

Well, I haven't done this in a really long time!!

This week DEMANDS A flip off though.


Monday: Came into the office at 7:45 since kiddo had to be at camp super early  and the server wouldn’t turn on.  Had to call the IT company from my cell phone because God forbid we have a phone that actually reaches into the room where the server is.  I run diagnostics with the owner for about 10 minutes when he finally says he’s going to have to send someone in because “this doesn’t look good” Guy gets here around 9 and has to take the server with him because he can’t fix it here.  Luckily he hooked us all back up to the internet before he left because otherwise we would have gone crazy.

Tuesday: We got our server back, Server had a virus, hard drive shot, had to reinstall the OS and the backup that we were using was completely useless so he gave us an external hard drive that backs us up automatically every 6 hours.  Now, if my boss wasn’t a super cheap ass when it comes down to getting office equipment and actually Paid an IT company to check up on us every so often instead of coming when we’ve got an emergency we wouldn’t have had this issue at all.  My boss is going to have a canary when he gets this bill, that’s for sure.  

Wednesday: I had to deal with people being assholes at work but I did manage to clean out my truck and now she’s very happy having gotten rid of all the junk in the trunk.

Thursday: All working fine at work, kid having a bad day at camp, THEN we lost all power in my office around 4pm.  No phones, no computers and no lights in the stairwells of my office building either!! (hello building code violation) We all left at 4:30 because I had to go get kiddo at camp and only two of us have flashlights on our phones.

Today: I get a call from the secretary who gets in early after leaving her a note to call me when she gets in so I can tell her how to turn everything back on.  She calls me back a few minutes later that the server still isn’t turning on and she can wait until I get in to do it.  I get in around 8:30 and after the BOIS runs the screen says “a Disk read error occurred press Crtl+Alt+Del to restart.  I do it and nothing happens.  Call the IT company and he calls me back on my cell... this isn’t good.. Not good at all (his words) Sending out a tech should be there by 10... it’s 10:40 and he’s still not here.


So.. This whole Freaking week can flip the hell off.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Summer officially begins when camp starts

But this is no vacation. Kiddo's gotta be at camp by 7:30. I don't have to be to work until 9. It's 8:20am. Guess where I am? Work. Our server is down so I guess it's good that I got here early because when I couldn't get the server to boot up I called the IT guy and ran diagnostics with him and then when that didn't work he sent out one of his guys. So now I'm waiting here.

So, summer camp. Summer camp means no more calling the kid to wake his butt up, No more empty refrigerator when I get home (we went through THREE GALLONS of milk last week!!) and a kid who will most likely pass out from exhaustion by 10pm at the latest.


This is my kid's 7th year at this camp(they actually knew him when he was little!), second as a counselor. He got assigned to the little ones which should be fun for him. Little kids think my kid is great because he's giant (6' at the last check) and he's a big kid at heart too ;). He's gotta be there at camp until 5pm. So it's gonna be a long day for him but I'm sure totally worth it.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Chicken and black bean burritos

This has easily come to be one of my favorite quick meals.  Not only does it make enough for a family dinner (or for us enough for leftovers for a day or two) but it's quick and easy on a hot summer day.

Chicken and black bean burritos (adapted from cooking light)



1 pound chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 /2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 cup lower-sodium canned black beans, rinsed and drained or soak dried beans as per package directions
1 garlic clove, minced
2 (10-inch) whole wheat tortillas
Preshredded Monterey Jack cheese (or cheese of your choice, I like the new Kraft with a touch of Philly blends, they melt really well)
Cooking spray (I keep canola oil in a spray bottle, no chemicals)
1/2 cup pico de gallo
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream



Combine chicken, onion, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper in a bowl; toss well.

 Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add oil & swirl to coat. 
Add chicken mixture; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally. 
Add beans and garlic; cook 2 minutes or until heated, stirring frequently.

Place tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel, microwave 15-30 seconds to make malleable so they don't crack while you roll them up

Divide chicken mixture evenly among tortillas. 
Top each burrito with 2 tablespoons cheese. Roll up each burrito jelly-roll fashion.
 Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. 
Coat both sides of burritos evenly with cooking spray. 
Place burritos in pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. 
Top with pico de gallo and sour cream.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July!!

Everyone have a safe & happy 4th of July!


Monday, July 2, 2012

Venturing out of my comfort zone...

I ventured out into NYC with my bestie, her son and my kid last week and tried bubble tea for the first time at a street cart downtown after walking around the World Trade Center site.  Work still in progress, we didn't get to visit the memorial because they were having some sort of ceremony.  Instead we walked around.



 Caught a hilarious street show and then stopped to get something to drink at a gathering of street carts.  It was  really hot on Thursday with temps in the low 90's, but in lower Manhattan between all the tall buildings and masses of people it felt more like 100°.  We stopped for smoothies and the kid and I opted for bubble tea.  It was really good and I wanted to figure out how to do this myself.  


After we got home I did a search online to find out where I could get this stuff locally and thought I had hit a dead end until I realized that there was an Asian market right over by where the kid's summer camp is.  The reviews of the store were mixed and I remember walking past there a few years back in the heat of the summer and the smell was atrocious (fresh fish market inside).  Some of the newer reviews were very good though.  It was blistering hot on Saturday and I decided maybe that wouldn't be the best day to go.  Instead we went yesterday (it was still hot, but  not as hot as Saturday) and OMG!! What I great place!  I can't believe I never stopped there before!! The store was Very clean and neat and reasonably priced.  


We walked in by the bakery and then went into the store first, got 2 bags of boba pearls and a package of bubble tea mix and a few other things and then walked over to the bakery where they also sell bubble tea to go.  The prices of the snacks and pastries was all under $2!!  I got a roast pork bun (that was FANTASTIC!) and the kid got a ham and cheese bun, each was $1.10!! for $3.50 the kid got a coconut bubble tea and off we went.  I'm so glad I stopped there and I will be going back often :)


Sometimes it's good to travel out of your comfort zone and try something new.  Go into that little shop that you've seen and always wanted to try but were afraid to.  It might be a great place! :)