the most wonderful day of the year

BRING YOUR PET TO WORK DAY! it's the most a-mazing day ever!

you may remember that my office did this last year and i brought mokey. this year i opted for doozer and he was just about as thrilled with me as mokey was last year. oh well, i enjoyed having him around.

even if he did hide behind my desk:


and under a blanket all day.


(notice he wore his tie today. we are a professional office, after all).

most of the staff brought in their furry friends as well:







cute.cute.cute

quote of the day

"don't just a book by what they looked like in high school."

so true, so true.

a little nccc pride

happy thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving from two turkeys!

harry potter assessment

i was very pleased by the movie. i've heard people say that it was boring and didn't really get to anything of substance. but if you've read the book, the first 1/2 is basically a couple of "kids" who don't know what they're doing and are scared and hiding. i think this was the best adaptation of the book and can't wait for the second 1/2 to come out in july.

harry potter

AHHHH!!! couple hours till showtime. can't wait!

yippee!

harry potter movie tickets are in-hand! can't wait!

the frustrations continue

the hubby got a call last night around 7:45 from dss saying that they had a 2 month old baby needing placement and asking would we take the kid for the night or the weekend. he said yes but asked them to call me to work out the details because he was at a work event. a few minutes later i got a call from dss asking the same question. so i said yes, we would take the child. so the guy said that i would be getting a call from the caseworker to work out the details. i ran home and cleaned off the cat hair from the various surfaces in the kid's room, cleaned the bottles, checked the formula, laid out some clothes. and then i waited. and waited. and waited for that damned caseworker to call. after 1 1/2 hours i tried to call the guy back but his number apparently can't be return-called. long story short, we didn't get a single call back. not a word saying that they found another home. nothing.

i am just so pissed at them for the inconsideration and the lack of professionalism. i can't even express it fully here. i did try to call him back again this morning and couldn't get through. i also tried my caseworker and she wasn't available. i think i'm going to call the foster care association. if nothing else they can confirm that this is how the process goes and that everyone is treated this way. slim comfort, but at least i'd know it wasn't just me.

making preparations

i'm rereading harry potter book 7 in anticipation of part 1 the moving coming out in a few weeks. it's the only book in the series that i have not read multiple times. it occurred to me that if harry were real he would only be 2 years younger than me.

risotto recipe

i made a good risotto tonight and since i made up the recipe i thought i'd jot down how i made it for future references. i've been trying to use up the green tomatoes from our end of the season garden and this was a really good way to do that.

green tomato and pumpkin risotto

saute 1/2 onion in olive oil till soft.
add 4 chopped green tomatoes and cook on medium for a few minutes. add 1 chopped clove garlic.
add 1 cup arborio rice and mix around for a minute.
and 1 cup pumpkin puree and 1 cup white wine. mix well and cook until liquid dissolves.
add 1 cup of veg stock, stir and cook until liquid is dissolved.
continue adding 1 cup of veg stock at a time until you've added a total of 4 cups of liquid.
when almost done salt and pepper to taste. add a pinch of cayenne and clove.

so good!

as an aside, we finished insulating under the house last saturday. i'm really, really glad that we did it, even though it was laborious work. i'm home sick this afternoon and it's really nice to have a cozy, less drafty house to rest in. it's amazing what a difference it made. the floors are WAY less cold than they used to be and the house just seems overall less drafty. definitely a wise decision!