aftermath.

i don’t know if i’ve fully recovered from thanksgiving saturday.   i’ve eaten more food in one day than anyone my size should eat in a year.  i actually didn’t eat that much on saturday. i was so busy running around and getting everything ready that i was just happy to see everyone else enjoying the food.  i didn’t have an appetite for food, just vodka.

the next day i was really hungover. i walked upstairs to see piles of dirty dishes. the Brit, bless him, did all the chores with the help of our friend the Kiwi who crashed in the spare room. by 3pm everything was clean and put back into place.  the boys took turns doing dishes in between episodes of House. i ate leftovers the ENTIRE day.  i don’t know what came over me but i woke up with a horrible vodka headache and completely ravenous.  and i stayed like that for the whole day. ham, turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes…i ate it all.  i’m afraid to get on the wiifit.  it’ll know i was a glutton. (me scared of video games – nice.) we managed to get 8 episodes of House in before the Kiwi decided to shuffle on home.  The Brit and I stayed on the couch only getting up to go to the fridge for more food.  it was such a good weekend and my turkey was perfect and everything else was so good.

we watched a documentary last night called “Intelligent Design” on trial.  It’s about the teaching of Evolution in public schools in america and trying to get this “alternative theory” called Intelligent Design introduced into the classrooms as well (kitzmiller v. dover school district).  it’s total crap and it’s just creationism disguised. it was very ineresting and part 2 is on sunday so i’ve set the TV to record.  the thing that surpised me was that 30-50% of americans don’t believe in the theory of evolution. frigntening…but not surprising. but look up “intelligent design” on wikipedia if you’re interested.

turkey day.

happy thanksgiving america!

half day today for me! it’s the thanksgiving pre game.  gots to get it all ready for tomorrow (and fit in some wii playtime).  i have my excel spreadsheet ready with each recipe and it’s ingredients which feeds down to a shopping list which gives me a cumulative total for each ingredient which then converts it to metric units.  i am so ready. and perhaps, a bit nerdy.

i was reading the huffington post today and saw that rick astley performed at the annual macy’s thanksgiving day parade. i felt a bit giddy knowing that he’s still kicking around.  just add that to my list of questionable viewing/listening preferences (see previous post “becoming lame”). 

btw, my review was postponed until next week, thus rendering it even more pointless.  i’m hoping my manager forgets about it all together esp. since he caught me shopping online (“does not utilise down time appropriately”).

becoming lame.

omg, it’s lovely outside today! i can’t stand being indoors when it’s so nice outside. 

sooo,  this morning i googled “dancing with the stars” to see who won this season.  how lame is that? sadly, i watched the first episode when we were back in america and that was enough to get me hooked. i made sure that there was no one with in sight of my computer screen – i didn’t want anyone to see what i was “researching.”  i actually checked regularly to see who’d been eliminated.  my god, i need to get out more.

i will already watch an occassional episode of matlock, if i happen to be home and “there’s nothing else to do.” i like his seersucker suits though i admit that’s not enough of a reason to join the geriatric matlock fanclub.  i have not watched an episode for over a year though.  i’m scared that the Brit would die from laughter (not love!).

before you know it, i’ll be downloading barry manilow songs to use as my ring tone.

the opposite of motivation.

this week is crawling by. my motivation to do anything job-related has plummeted.  i’m hoping for late afternoon rally to keep my head in the game – a chart to fix up, an image to slap onto an invite…something. there are only so many things that i can google.

walking like frankenstein. part 2.

three blog entries in one day! it’s like christmas innit? (better the english lingo rub off on me than the aussie…trust me)

i had another wiifit adventure yesterday and i probably should have skipped the lunges but i wanted to better my score from sunday.  goodness, the soreness is even worse today but i think becoming hooked. i was a bit disappointed when my “male” trainer was replaced by the female trainer in the breathing part of the exercises but was relieved when he was back for the rest of it.  how dumb does that sound?  he’s has an english accent, i’m almost waiting for him to ask me if i would like a cup of tea after i collapse on the floor after balancing on one leg.  a colleague noticed that i was walking a bit funny but i just smiled and shrugged my shoulders as i stiffly waddled my way past him.  i probably should have mentioned something about exercising instead of leaving him to wonder what/who caused my curious gait. 

more on my wiifit progress later. i actually just got work to do!

giving thanks extravaganza

this week is thanksgiving and in the spirit of the holiday, i’m going to run down the top 20 things i am most thankful for this year.  I know it’s early, but i may forget on the day (and i need to kill some time before its lunchtime)

These are in no particular order after #1.

1. my husband, the Brit – he’s my rock and my sanity and he makes me unbelievably happy. and he can iron a mean bedsheet.

2. my job. i’ve been reading a lot about the financial troubles in the US and around the globe and i am so very thankful that I am secure

3. Barack Obama – he makes it cool to be american again

4. Turkey – it tastes so yummy

5. Wii- for endless hours of diversion while waiting for the husband to come home from work

6. Friends here and across the ocean – you know who you are

7. My family

8. Online shopping from America

9.  Knowing that I am loved

10.  My work mates – they make work not seem like work

11. Fluffy blue dog slippers

12. Flannel gnome pajamas

13. Being able to travel home to America/London to visit family

14. My family being cool enough to actually warrant a visit

15. Long distance calling cards

16. Nintendogs

17. Ballet flats – comfortable but yet stylish as well

18. Always having enough

19. Feeling safe

20. Yakitori (mmm, lunch time now).

four plus plus.

it’s review time and we have to rate ourselves and then have a “dialogue” with our manager about why we rated ourselves that and then we come to a consensus as to what our rating should be. blah blah blah, it’s just an exercise in witty corporate repartee with someone that thinks they’re more important than you.  “team player” “able to think outside the box” “uses time wisely” “builds effective client relationships” et al – it’ll all be mentioned and i’ll have to respond. i really hate this time. not only do i have to rate myself, but i have to rate/write reviews for my team.  my usual method is to rate myself a 4 (the highest mark) and have my manager talk me down to a 3. by the end, fatigue has set in and there’s no more constructive banter on why i should really have been a 3 so 4 it is! this year, i’m going to rate myself a 4++ (though such a rating does not exist, i feel as though my efforts during the year have been “off the scale”) and get argued down to a solid 4. now my manager may put the kibosh on my 4++ rating straightaway which means i spend the time being talked down to a 3, but it’s worth a try. i don’t think these reviews do anything for me. i don’t gain a “broader prosepective of the business and how i fit in”.  it doesn’t motivate me to “work in partnership with colleagues to achieve shared goals.”   i mean, i already know i’m excellent. 4 plus plus plus plus plus plus…

fairdinkum.

walking like frankenstein

i got an early christmas present on sunday. we took a walk into the city to buy a stock pot and slow cooker (how very domestic of me) and the Brit bought me WiiFit. I’m sure the proper etiquette would be to wait until christmas… but come on, look who we’re talking about. the minute we got in the door i was ripping apart the box. the shiney new slow cooker and stock pot – forlorn and forgotten on the kitchen counter.  i don’t know what i was thinking. i can run for miles but i know my muscle strength is next to nothing, but christ, it was hard. i put on a good show for husband and friend who would yell things out like “you’re doing it wrong!” and “straighten your leg more.” it was good fun and even though i’m stiff and sore today and walking like i have no joints in my legs, i look forward to trying it again tonight.

saturday we went to the opera…or to the cinema which does live HD performances from the Met. This performance was “dr. atomic” about the building of the first atomic bomb. the weather was really bad – pouring rain and cold.  i was hoping that the Brit would say “let’s just stay home in our pajamas” … but as he started to take out sandwich fixings for our intermission snack, i knew it wasn’t going to happen.  I believe that if the Brit actually owned pajamas, it would have been more of a consideration.  he did say “well, YOU don’t have to go” in that “fine, be a brat” tone of voice. so i threw on me wellies and raincoat to spite him and off we swam to the theatre.

we got there very early (wrong time printed on our tickets!) and so i shuffled off to Borders to buy a book to occupy my time.  By the time I got back, two men had plopped down next us and were engaged in a conversation with my husband. Turns out they review operas, mostly live, but they are now reviewing these for their US audience.  I’ve written a note to myself to check their site later to see if they’ve posted their review of Dr Atomic.  I’m more interested to see if they write about their experience at the cinema – about the fidgety american girl sitting next to them who, the minute she sat down, took her boots off and rested her wet stocking feet on the seat in front of her for the entire show.  The opera wasn’t as crap as i thought it would be, but it wasn’t that good.  I don’t like operas sung in English.  I think it sounds funny and i was completely lost during the second act. i had no idea what they were singing about and how it related to the story but the singing was good and i enjoyed that part of it. by the end of the opera, my feet had dried, my sandwich eaten, and i was considerably less grumpy.  after the opera, we got home and laid around like lazy slobs for the rest of the day.  our friend stopped over and lazed around with us. drifted in and out of sleep and bad TV. perfect rainy day.

and… we picked up our turkey! i’m using the “royal we” because it’s the Brit who had to lug its 5 kilo goodness home along with 3 slabs of beef brisket while i sat on the couch, drank coffee and waited for him. the turkey is now in the fridge defrosting.  6 days to turkey scrumptiousness.

turkey update.

seriously guys, only one more week of this sh!t and i promise i’ll shut up about the damn turkey.

i just called the butcher to see if my turkey would be ready to be picked up this weekend.  turns out i ordered a 5 kilo bird. i was thinking i only got a 5 pound bird.  finally, the metric system works in my favour.

more turkey.

so i told the husband about the need for a 75 pound turkey and wondered whether i should call the butcher to ask for a bigger one.  he told me that i must’ve mucked up someplace or forgotten to put a decimal place somewhere and that our turkey would be just fine.

drama averted. for now.

it’s great to see that people have started reading this and i’m glad that my blog provides some sort of diversion whiilst at work. it’s a win-win situation if you ask me.  it gives me something to do…after i’m done googling myself (again).

i went to bed at 9pm last night and i’m still sleepy today. i’m not quite sure what’s up with that. could be the weather. it’s grey and cold here – bleh, i thought it was supposed to be summer. very depressing. i’m thrilled that today is friday and i look forward to a weekend of doing nothing except shopping for thanksgiving supplies though admittedly, most of thanksgiving will be coming from a box.  i have not the desire to be martha stewart this year and make little turkey placeholders with pipecleaner and glitter.  there’s an american supermarket in the suburbs and i’ve ordered most of my supplies there. i suppose i could’ve taken a trip out there but it involved a tram, a train and perhaps another tram and that’s too much for me to process so thank goodness for online shopping.

this is the time when i wish i were in america. i’ve always liked thanksgiving – though my family can do my head in after a while. all families are like that i suppose. i miss the atmosphere, the drunken pettiness among family members, the anticipation of the christmas season, and not having to cook the turkey myself. all stuff i took for granted.

it’s fun doing it here though. educating the aussies about the first thanksgiving, pilgrims, indians, blankets with smallpox…it’s all part of american history. i could be cruel and make people dress up like pilgrims (aussies do love a good costume party). there’s always next year.

i learned a new aussie word the other day – “fairdinkum.” i think it means “for real!?” (but i don’t really know).  i said the other day to a colleague ”i saw a lady on the tram this morning with a beard,” aussie colleague replied with ”fairdinkum.” (i actually don’t know whether to follow that up with a full stop, exclamation or question mark).  i wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.  was he asking me a question?  is “fairdinkum” the aussie word for woman with a beard? i didn’t want to appear unhip so i just smiled and nodded my head in an ambiguous way.  i asked husband about it when i got home and he was amazed that i never heard it before.  well, i learn something new every day.