Okay, fine, I admit it

I am totally psyched for the New Kids on the Block concert on Saturday. I am. I can't wait. I know I am being a total dork, and that I am not 10 anymore, but neither are these guys:Quite simply, they are hot. And we're all legal now, which makes loving them rather odd - unlike when I was actually 10, and the furthest my imagination would stretch was holding hands, perhaps kissing on the beach, and then having an amazingly extravagant wedding at which all my friends would be jealous that I was marrying Joey and they weren't. And then I would go on tour with NKOTB as their bass guitarist, and all the screaming fans would be jealous that I was married to Joey and they weren't, and I would have to have private security because of all the death threats. Nevermind that I was 10, don't like the beach, and also never learned to play the bass guitar. And didn't have a chance of marrying Joey McIntyre. (Note to Brock: I think things turned out okay anyway.)

I have been listening to their new CD, The Block, in the car on a continuous loop for about three weeks. That is, when Hannah's not in the car, because these are not the NKOTB of yore - most of the song themes are not kid-friendly. This is because the Kids are not kids anymore, either...and I daresay their imaginations grew up the same way mine did. I, however, would not sing about some of this stuff on a CD my mom was probably going to listen to. Or I would just tell her not to listen to it. There's really no bad language, but I also don't want my three-year-old singing this, either.

Anyway, I am in no position to judge whether the CD is any good. I enjoy it, and only have to skip a couple of songs (I know we're all adults now, but there are just some things I cannot listen to my beloved New Kids sing. I have my limits, and I need to preserve a little bit of the innocent puppy love I had for them ca. 1988). I thought I would try to critically evaluate the songs, but the fact is that it just takes me back to a much simpler time in my life, before I realized that it does no good to dream of marrying Joey McIntyre, and I would have probably loved listening to the CD even if it was terrible. (For the record, I think it's actually pretty good. I just don't know if I'm objective enough to state that it is pretty good.)

So I am totally going to see them in concert on Saturday night. Unlike when I was 11, I will drive myself to the concert, and I will be meeting up with some girlfriends at a bar beforehand (don't worry, I will drink responsibly). Also unlike when I was 11, my friend Julie's mom will not have made sandwiches for us all to eat after the show (big shout out to Julie's mom, who deserves some kind of award for taking a bunch of insane preteens to a New Kids concert - especially when we had lawn seats and had to get there hours early to wait in line). However, just like when I was 11, I will probably scream myself hoarse.

Unlike when I was 11, my husband will be waiting to laugh at me when I come home. :)

Homework. Meh.

I am four weeks into the school year, which means that homework is now starting to pile up in earnest. There's reading. There are projects to start working on. (My professor yesterday had the nerve to ask if anyone "was encountering any issues" in working on our final projects - which are not due until December. The issue I'm encountering is having professors who think you might actually work on a project that's not due for three more months this far in advance. Who has time for that??)

My project topics this semester are...if not quite interesting, at least intriguing. One is to "reinvigorate" the Taster's Choice brand. The other is to market Oreos to people in India. While "Oreos to India" sounds like some misguided relief program, I think it will be really interesting to learn more about Indian culture and marketing segments; figuring out how to get them to purchase a cookie (although it is admittedly a delicious cookie) is kind of secondary for me.

The Taster's Choice thing is in another world entirely, as I think the idea of the project is really cool, but having to work on a brand I've never even tried (and won't, as I don't drink coffee!) is turning out to be really challenging. I'm having a hard time paying attention to it. I am drawing heavily on my first semester of grad school, where I had to work very hard to care about Gain laundry detergent, which I had also never tried before. I have since tried it, as I bought two bottles to use as visual aids for my presentation, but a year later I haven't even finished the second bottle. If I end up buying Taster's Choice to use as a visual aid, I have no idea what I will do with it - because everyone I've told about this project has said, "Wow, they still make Taster's Choice?"

I guess the upside is that I could be a hero to Nescafe and give them the blueprint for bringing Taster's Choice back from wherever it's been since the 1990s.

I'm rambling because I'm avoiding the draft of my situation analysis. Must go do real work now. :)

I hate sand flies

Last week, I attended my company's annual sales meeting on a lovely island on the Gulf side of Florida. There were palm trees, and thankfully no hurricanes. Despite the warning signs posted all over the place we were staying, I did not encounter any alligators. And they have lizards the way we have squirrels here in the upper Midwest, which was kind of a fun change. I like lizards.

But they have sand flies, also called no-see-ums, also called by me the Most Evil Insects on the Planet, and that's coming from someone who is allergic to mosquito bites and has often said that the question of their existence would be the most important question I could ask God.

I have now had dozens and dozens of sand fly bites for more than a week. They have not changed at all in this time. They look the same as they did when I got them. They are as itchy as they were when I got them. And I'm starting to worry about the effect of what I feel is probably an unreasonable amount of Benadryl accumulating in my system. Benadryl is the only thing that makes them bearable, so I have been taking two to three pills every single day for a week (I didn't have any Benadryl with me on the trip and no way to get any, or I would have started popping antihistamines even sooner).

So...if anybody has any ideas for what to do to make these horrible things go away - or any convenient excuses I can give the next time someone tells me I have to travel anywhere near a beach - please let me know. Itchy legs make me really cranky. And I have enough other stuff going on in my life to make me cranky (like the homework I am not doing while I write this post), so eliminating even one source of crankiness would be most welcome.

Dip it - dip it good

At work, I am becoming somewhat famous for my dip recipes. Once a month, we have "birthday day," when everyone in the department brings in food to celebrate whomever's birthday falls that month. (Luckily, every month has at least one birthday in it.) Then we just eat all day and compare recipes. It's excellent for morale. :)

Anyway, I'm becoming known for dips because usually about all I can muster the night before birthday day is stirring. I would love to bake or make something more complicated for my lovely coworkers, but this is life. So pretty much every month, I bring dip. Sometimes I really take the shortcut and just throw a mix in some sour cream and call it a day. But occasionally I put in a little extra effort.

That said, here are my three favorite birthday day dip recipes. The first one on the list is one I just tried for the first time today, and it was super good.

Garlic Onion Dip
Adapted from Simple & Delicious magazine (I think!)
2-8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
3 green onions, green parts only, chopped
2 strips cooked and crumbled turkey bacon
3 tbsp. apricot preserves
1 tsp. minced garlic
Dash of pepper

Really good on whole wheat crackers.

Spicy Avocado Dip
From kraftfoods.com; EVERYONE loves this one, and it makes a lot
2 medium avocados, mashed
16 0z. sour cream
1/4 cup chopped green onions (about 4-5 onions)
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
1 tbsp. lime juice (I just squeeze half a lime without trying very hard)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

This is good on everything - veggies, Wheat Thins, other crackers...but it's the best on blue corn chips.

Salsa Onion Cheese Dip
I think I made this one up.
16 oz. sour cream
1 envelope onion soup mix
About 1/2 cup salsa
About 1/4 cup shredded cheddar jack cheese

The best on Fritos Scoops...but works on other chips and veggies, too.

I would rather eat chips and dip than cake. I know that's weird, but I can back this up - because there's always cake on birthday day, and I hardly ever eat it because I'm full of chips and dip.

It's come to this

This is what I had for dinner:


Please allow me to explain how this came to be. This was my day today:

• Get up only 15 minutes late, which is a big improvement over the 30-40 minutes I usually waste trying to convince myself to get out of bed, especially now that it is totally dark at 5:30 in the morning again.
• Get ready for work.
• Go wake Hannah up, who says, "I just want to lay here and cover up and close my eyes." Totally agree with Hannah but make her get out of bed anyway.
• Manage to get Hannah ready, toast her breakfast and go wake Brock up.
• Finish getting dressed for work while Brock brushes Hannah's teeth and puts her shoes on.
• Lug bunch of stuff out to car.
• Come back for Hannah. Drop at daycare very late, like 7:45, despite "early" start to the day.
• Get to work at 8:20. Supposed to be at work at 8:00, but never happens.
• Turn on computer. Get coffee (frappucino, actually).
  
• Drink coffee while spending an hour and a half combing through 226 (no kidding) unread emails. Do not read all emails. Feel annoyed at email culture.
• Go to meetings from 10 to noon.
• Go for sushi with friend. (High point of work day, to be sure. Spicy tuna rolls are awesome.)
• Go to meeting from 2 to 3.
• Try to get work done from 3 to 4. Not very successful.
  
• Go for performance review with boss at 4:00. Boss is stuck in other meeting. Wait 15 minutes for boss to show up. Realize that review is going to last past 5:00 now, which starts customary "I will be late picking Hannah up from daycare" panic.
• Have very nice review. Learn that I possibly laugh too much (I do have a tendency to laugh all the time, which I suppose does make it sound like I think what I just said was a joke - even though I've always thought it was charming and disarming), but am otherwise quite capable, well-respected and doing a good job. Need to work on establishing strategy, which is part of the new job and was not part of the old one. All in all, pretty good.
• Get out of review at 5:20. Get to car, in the steady rain, at 5:25. Realize I will probably be late picking Hannah up, and if I'm not, she will for sure at least be the last kid at daycare. Again.
• Deal with slow, annoying drivers for 34.5 minutes. Pull into daycare at approximately 5:59:30 and race to door in continuing rain.
• Feel very happy to see Hannah, who's happy to see me.
• Drive home. Get call from Brock that he has to work late and will not be home till after 9:00.
• Realize that there is not enough time to make the taco casserole I'd planned to make with Hannah this evening.
• Give up and get fish sticks and Smiles out of the freezer. Realize we eat a lot of meals that can be dipped in ketchup. But it has been a long time since we had Smiles, and Hannah likes them, and they are tasty. We like our dinner even if it's sort of ridiculous for a grown-up to eat fish sticks and shaped potatoes.
  
• Give Hannah bubble bath. Fun. :)
  
• Watch Dr. Jiggle & Mr. Sly episode of Veggie Tales TV show on DVR with Hannah. Sing along to "The Hole in the Bottom of the Sea" at the end.
  
• Get Hannah to brush teeth.
• Read two stories, Color Kittens and Goodnight, Little Bear, both of which are really old Little Golden Books and also kind of annoying after the 87th reading. But still enjoyable because Hannah likes them.
• Sort laundry. Start washer, only to realize that there is still a load of laundry sitting in the washer from two days ago that needs to be dried.
• Put laundry in dryer. Put more laundry in washer.
• Blog instead of doing reading for school, which started last week.

So...it's been kind of a crazy day. A "fish sticks and shaped potatoes" kind of day.