[First off, I wanted to let y’all know that I will no longer be able to do two posts per day for a while due to some interferences with my work schedule. I have a feeling this could be a good thing though since I won’t be nearly as rushed and can really develop my writing style and photography for you! Not that it will necessarily matter to most of you, but I just wanted to put that out there in case there were any questions :)]
That being said, hi there! 🙂
Today was a HECTIC day at work! But our morning started out hectic before that. We were both still suffering from lack of sleep yesterday and decided to sleep downstairs since it’s significantly cooler there. I woke up super groggy and just wanted to stay in bed, but unfortunately work was calling. I wrote my first blog post of the day, hurriedly got ready for work, and barely made it out the door in on piece! We ended up stopping at the grocery store for some milk and breakfast sandwiches. Nate got these Aunt Jemima griddle cake sandwiches:
They were actually really good! I can’t say they were the best things for us, but they had about 350 calories and 8 grams of fat, which is actually significantly less than most frozen entrees. Again, not that these need to be a staple in our diets, but they are far from the worst! Nate made me another magical latte:
We’ve been using 2% milk in those, and I have to say I rather enjoy it. I’ve been stuck on using nonfat for so long, but I really think that in a latte or cappuccino it’s good to have some fat involved. It really helps to develop the milk’s sweetness when steaming it and makes for a much more satisfactory beverage in the end. This morning moved like it was in fast-forward, and then it was time to eat! Spicy Shrimp, Carrot, and Pea Penne was served in a mug:
I had about 1.25 cups or so and was stuffed the rest of the afternoon. On my walk I sweated like crazy…who can believe it was almost 100 degrees in Colorado today?! Let me tell you, I was NOT a fan of that! I don’t mind sweat, but I’d prefer it be the result of me working hard, not just sitting still. We rushed home to get my car and get it up to the tire place before it closed. Dinner was a Subway sandwich eaten while we waited for Rolly to get her legs fixed:
Nate and I split that bad boy, but it was whole wheat bread, roasted chicken breast, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, banana peppers, and sweet onion sauce. SOOOOOOOO good! Tonight we are just relaxing and I know I’m hoping to get in bed early again…recovering from the weekend is hard work!
Funny story…my hamstrings are oh-SO-sore from weeding the other day! The funny part though is I totally knew that would happen. You see, just under 2 years ago, right after we moved to Colorado, I was desperately looking for a job because we were tight on cash from the move. Nate was working at a local magazine and basically volunteered me for some weed pulling outside of the magazine’s headquarters! I didn’t mind though…I needed to make some extra money and didn’t have anything better to do. I asked him several times if they had watered the grass (since it makes weeds easier to pull), and he told me not to worry because they had sprayed the weeds a couple days beforehand with weedkiller, so he was certain the weeds would be no trouble at all to pull. That being said, I decided to go on a quick hike before weeding that day.
Big mistake.
I didn’t find this out until I was about 3 hours into weeding in the hot, blustery, noonday sun. Keep in mind that this was also after a 2 hour hike. I kept thinking, “He said they sprayed weedkiller on this crap…” but was having no luck in pulling those stupid weeds out! Not to mention the onslaught of spiders, roley-poleys, ants, bees, and wasps. I must have had about 3 gallons of water to drink that afternoon alone. Come to find out…that weedkiller? That weedkiller that was allegedly sprayed on the weeds? That weedkiller that was supposed to make my life easy and get me some extra cash? That weedkiller was diluted vinegar. And that weedkiller was not effective.
Finally, after almost 8 hours of weeding and feeling like I would certainly die, Nate’s boss declared that I had done a good enough job and sent me on my not-so-merry way with a $20 bill in hand. Yes, you read that correctly…apparently $20 is the going price for 8 hours of hell and a measly couple of gallons of water. But y’all? That’s not even the worst of it! You see, all day I was diligent in applying sunscreen, drinking water, and wearing a hat. Upon inspection at home though there appeared to be one spot on my person that had not received adequate coverage: the 2-inch piece of skin on my back, right above my waistband and right below where my T-shirt ended when I was bending over. That patch of skin was RAW, red, already blistered, and brought tears to this grown woman’s eyes. Without going into gory details I think it would suffice to say that I wore yoga pants for 3 weeks after that episode…as it turns out even the oldest and softest jeans feel like sandpaper on a sunburn!
And that’s just the external pain. Not only was I hurting from the sunburn, my hamstrings were sore for at least 4 weeks after that. 4 weeks I tell you! I think it was the combo of hiking and weeding for 8 hours, but it was painful in the most excruciating way. And then there was the matter of my pride. Call me crazy, but I don’t really feel that $4 per hour is fair when it comes to manual labor. Especially manual labor I didn’t volunteer for. I think Nate still owes me for that one 😉
Have you ever had an experience like that? What have you had to do when it comes to manual labor? I also had to help my mom and dad pull out 12 cedar bushes that were about 20 years old in front of our house one day, and then a year later helped build a brand-new fence around our backyard. I’m used to doing stuff like that, but let’s face it: it still kinda sucks 🙂
Weeding is quite the work out. It’s 8:10 p.m. here and I am thinking about weeding before…oh wait it’s already raining. 😕
I love the cute little coffee mug! It’s fun and cheery! 🙂
Manual labor and I do not get along!! I feel for you 🙁 and you are right about fat in coffee beverages- makes it so much better! My favorite is So Delicious coconut milk creamer.
$20 for 8 hours?! YIKES. Nate totally owes you. Hope your hammies feel better soon!
mmmm the griddle cake looks amazing
That’s horrible! He sounds like a cheapskate.
When my mother (a teacher) had to switch classrooms, she somehow got sick the day it was time to move, and I ended up moving her thousand-some-odd books, bookshelves, filing cabinets, and boxes of general “stuff” across the road in the Florida heat…alone. Manual labor just ain’t fun!
you are one hardcore weeder! damn work for getting in the way of your blogging.
What a rotten experience. It’s hard sometimes going into a job you don’t know much about. I like that they used diluted vinegar, but if it didn’t do any good and they didn’t water the garden for you ahead of time, what a pain.
That story gives me even more reason for why I don’t do any yardwork. LOL I would have been PISSED if I only got $20 after all of that.
Are you allowed to spray herbicides in Colorado? It’s forbidden for home use in Ontario (only allowed for farming)
I biked 55 miles for Reach the Beach and wasn’t sore AT ALL. One hour of weeding cripples me for days. Seriously!
OMG I did the exact same thing last summer while weeding in my yard. I still have a weird tan line above my butt crack! I still feel the pain he he !!
That is awful, only $20. I hating weeding so much that I pull every little weed I see when I take the dog out so that I never have to spend more then 5 minutes doing it at one time. Some how that makes it better for me!
Being the only girl, with 3 brothers, I never had to do much outside labor…just inside “girl stuff.” That burn sounds AWFUl though! OUCH! I can remeber I went to hilton head one summer and forgot to apply on my upper thighs. Needless to say I could barely get my shorts up without tearing up. Sunburns are the worst.
Only $20?! Yowza! I packed and moved our family once and only once – after that I vowed I would never move again and it is worth all the $$ to just show up at the new house with all the boxes in the right rooms!
eeeeeeeeeep! the only manual labor i’ve done was volunteered – but awful anyway haha
I bet you could easily recreate those griddle cake sandwiches and they would be just as delicious! Kind of like the McD’s mcgriddles!
Also.. $20 for 8 hours of manual labor?! That is insane! I’m so sorry!
I have to tell you that I made your shrimp pasta over the weekend and we loved it!! We are still eating off of it too. Thanks for a great recipe. 🙂
Oh dear, that sounds so miserable. I may not have handled that interaction as well as you did. I have two measly flower boxes outside my apartment and my hamstrings kill the day after I put some work into my planties. A totally deceptive great stretch.
Ohmigosh…that is terrible. I would be miserable, mainly because I HATE to be hot! I don’t mind sweating and exercising, but I just hate being hot. Ugh!
I remember my brother and I sanding and restaining our deck a few times when we were younger. I’m pretty sure $20 was the going rate for that fun little task as well. We were like 12, though, so we thought we were rich!
That’s awful! The sunburn, the $20!!!! Wow. I love your blue mug!
$20 that’s it? you need to go back and get the rest of that money… based on my calculation he owes you $460.