Dreaming of Mushrooms

Ok, so, today did not end up being my evaluation. It just ended up being my regular monthly supervisor feedback instead. WHAT A LET DOWN! I was so ready to find out what my raise is going to be. She said the reason she couldn't do it today was the fact that they have to wait for all of my April stats to come in. So, my year review is scheduled for May 4th. That's ok though, I'm still for sure getting the raise, I just have to wait a little bit longer.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today. On Friday night we are going to go to Missouri to visit Mom and Dad, Caleb, and Charlotte. I get off at 4:30p.m. so we think we are going to have just enough day light left to do some mushroom hunting!!!!! Man on man do I hope we find some of those mushrooms! I haven't had any in YEARS. Seriously I think the last time was while I was in high school, possibly even junior high. It's been so long I can't remember. Allen hasn't had any in a long time too. It should be a pretty good year for them I would think, with the rain we've had and the warming temperatures. We shall see!

So the squirrel finished off the rest of the bird seed in the bird feeder, that devil! He'd better watch out for Allen and his sling shot!

Oh, and in other news, mangoes are 2 for $1 at Hy-Vee...yay! We love mangoes! Is it mangos or mangoes? Hmmm...

A Childhood Favorite...of Allen's.

Well, today we received the DVD Allen has been waiting for. Drumroll please...none other than the first movie to use computer graphics, Disney's 1982 "TRON". Allen said he thought I would hate it, but I didn't. I thought it was pretty creative for it's time, and at least now I can say I've seen it.

Today was much better than yesterday at work. It was actually my one year anniversary. Hard to believe that I've been with the company for a whole year now! Time goes by so quickly. Allen and I are going to blink and will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary! Tomorrow is my one year evaluation. It's actually considered a promotion so the raise I'm going to get is supposed to be pretty substantial. It is only considered a promotion though because my job title changes. I go from being a CA1 to being a CA2, and the way it works is either you move up to CA2 or you lose your job, lol. So not much of a "promotion", but that's what they are calling it at work. I'm really excited about the raise. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Tomorrow for dinner we are eating an altered version of Allen's mom Brenda delicious pork roast that we ate at their house a few weeks ago. I hope ours turns out as good as hers was! Allen is the one that put it together, we are cooking it in the crock pot. Mmmmm! :)

The biggest news of the day: Allen has a new weapon to add to his collection of many- a B52 Daisy Slingshot. We have an evil squirrel that is eating all of our bird seed. He hangs upside down from the clothes line pole we have the feeder on and just helps his happy fat self! He's a little glutton, so Allen bought the slingshot to get rid of him.

So again....I'm still trying to find that magic wand.

UGH! Today was by far one of the worst Monday's I've had since I've been at my job. We were experiencing system issues and were told to tell callers this and have them call back after 1:30. Which I did, very clearly, might I add, yet I still had the few people who still believe that customer service workers bring magic wands to work with them every day.

ME: "Thank you for calling, we're sorry we are experiencing system issues and asking that you please call back after 1:30p.m CST which when we are expected to be up and running again. I'm sorry, but thank you for your patience."

BELIEVER IN MAGIC: "Well I just want to know....Can't you just tell me...But I need to know...I just have one quick question..."

ME: (in my head, and not out loud of course) UMMMM...sure let me pull out my super special magic wand...or, oh you're right I CAN help you because the system issues are only for people who's last name have a K and and E in them. And today is you lucky day and only YOUR lucky day. Pshh!

Allen says that people do that all time at his work too. Like when their ICEE machine is broken or the car wash is out of order.

BELIEVER IN MAGIC: "Did you know your ICEE machine is broken? That the colored liquid in the machine that doesn't look like an icee at all didn't magically turn to ice when it hit my cup after I removed the cup that was clearly placed over the dispenser indicating that it was out of order. Did you know that, huh?

ALLEN: I'm sorry our car wash is out of order right now.

BELIEVER IN MAGIC: "What do you mean it's out of order?"

COME ON PEOPLE!!!! WHAT DOES OUT OF ORDER MEAN? DOES IT MEAN DIFFERENT THINGS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTRY?

Ok, now that I have that out of my system... ( well sort of out of my system...I could go on and on for a LONG time, but I won't) a quick run down of the weekend:

Friday night: Bought a wallflower and hand soap from Bath and Body works, as an employee of BCBSIL I was able to get 20% off my whole purchase this weekend! YEAH! Bowling w/ our friends at Tangerine Bowl - FUN!

Saturday: Allen worked, Amber cleaned, Penny slept and tried to eat ponytail holders. Oh and rain, Went to Kate and Alex's birthday part, ate some awesome cake, went to bed way too late,

Sunday: More rain, got up way too late, walked with Penny in the rain, , Allen worked, Amber cleaned, Penny slept and again tried to eat ponytail holders. Went to Mom and Dad's, ate goulash. Went home.

Rinse. Wash. Repeat!

Today after work we walked in the park. And Penny got to see her first ducks! Next time we go we will take some bread!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend! Love you all!

Just a Ho-Hum day...

Not much to report. It was a Thursday! Penny helped me cook dinner tonight. We had "Citrus Chicken and Rice" good recipe. Had to add alot more liquid than what it calls for to get the rice cooked and followed some of the added suggestions in the comments. Also, the recipe takes alot longer than the 35 minutes it says, but was still worth it.

Oh, and tonight we were going to eat a Tangelo for snack, but it smelled like gasoline, no joke, so we didn't eat it. Well, Allen ate a few pieces of it. He's ok so far....lol.

Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Citrus-Chicken-and-Rice/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

There's something in the water...

Making people in Quincy CRAZY and MEAN! UGH!

Well, tonight we had "tasty tuna burgers" and this recipe is DEFINATELY a keeper. We both really like it and it was really cheap to make. Recipe below.

Not much else to say today. We lost Penny's Nylabone for about two hours tonight. LOL! Allen finally found it under the stove. It's clear with a yellowish tint and VERY hard to find on any floor. Oh well! All's well that end's well.

Happy 33rd Anniversay on 4/16/2009 to Allen's parents! We are very happy for them. Mom and Dad we love you! P.S. Check your email! ;)

We didn't give a shout out on here for Matt and Nicole's wedding anniversay, but they celebrated their first wedding anniversay last month. We are very happy for them too! Congratulations! We hope that the happiness and love only grows through the years!

Love you all!

Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tasty-Tuna-Burgers/Detail.aspx

Bird House and Grocery Shopping and Plant Potting

Well today was a very productive day for us Cooleys. Allen had today off and I took a PTO day, so we slept in a little bit, then we took Penny to South Park together. We planned our meals for the next week and a half, made our grocery list, went grocery shopping, bought a bird house and bird seed, and finally made it home. Allen put up the bird house and he also repotted my aloe plant from Grandma Downing and our Angel plant. We bought new pots at Farm and Home Supply. For anyone looking for a cheap, but attractive flower pot, Wal-Mart is NOT the place! We bought one of the bigger bird houses and hung it on one of the clothes line poles. We can see it from the kitchen! We can't wait until the birds figure out it's there. We also watched American Idol tonight. As always Adam Lambert was AMAZING. The guy is seriously going to go all the way. What an an unbelievable performer. We get excited just watching him on TV, can you imagine if we ever got to see him live! He's going to be a super star, no doubt!

Oh! Usually on Idol nights we buy a frozen pizza and eat it. We've been getting this pretty good BBQ chicken pizza lately and tonight I decided to make one at home...I'm not one to brag (too much...lol) but it was AWESOME. Not completely perfect though. Next time I make it I will use a different type of BBQ sauce but it was still really good! I used Betty Crocker pizza dough mix, Kraft Honey Garlic BBQ sauce, red onion, canned chicken (much cheaper than buying chicken from the meat dept.), chopped red bell pepper, cilantro, sliced roma tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. I brushed a little olive oil on the outer crust, dusted it with garlic powder and sprinkled on a little basil. I will make it again soon!

Well that's all for now. Hope everyone is having a great week! Love you!

Rainy Mondays Are the Best

Can't you hear the sarcasm in our voices! We had such a great weekend in Sturgeon. It's just never never long enough. We could spend days and days there! We missed our family in Northeast Missouri, too! Hope everyone had as great of a weekend as we had. Of course today was back to the grind. Bleh....had a pretty good dinner tonight. Main course recipe below. Pics from Easter Weekend uploaded and added to the side bar. Link below also. Love you all! :) ooooh and if any one is wondering what the wierd red triangle on my chest is....I got sunburned this weekend LOL!


Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Ground-Beef-Stroganoff/Detail.aspx?prop31=4
Easter Pics: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Ground-Beef-Stroganoff/Detail.aspx?prop31=4