Jill

Tim's dad just turned 81 last week, so we took him out to lunch yesterday to the new Austrian Schnitzel Headquarters restaurant in Waite Park.

Oh, it was so good.

Let me start off by saying I'm a horrible, horrible person for going to a place named that and not actually eating any schnitzel. I know, I know. But I'm an old lady and deep fried food no longer agrees with me.

What I did have, though, was so scrumptious I'm salivating just thinking about it right now and I just had breakfast.

Their special soup for the day was Garlic Crouton. Yum. It was very garlicky and was basically just broth with croutons in it. It tasted like liquid garlic bread. Yum yum yum yum yum. Tim's dad and Betty had the Pancake Stripe Soup and really liked it. It's a savory soup with strips of pancakes in it! For the main course, I had the Shepherd's Spit (Hirtenspiess). "Pork Tenderloin, Bacon, Onions, Bell Pepper and Weiner Sausages" all on a kabob. Very very tasty. The pork was moist, the onions were cooked just enough but not too much, the bell peppers weren't over powering, and the little bacon that was on it gave everything a juicy bacon flavor. Mmmm, bacon. The menu says it is served with fries, but the waitress said I could pick any two side dishes. I chose peas and a dumpling. Oh, that dumpling was good, too. Soft and not too dry or too soggy and had a good mild flavor. I scarfed that whole plate down and would order it again in a heartbeat. Tim and I split the apple strudel (Apfelstrudel) and it was PERFECT. Obviously homemade as it was just the right touch of sweet and not over powering. Tim was wary of the raisins in it, but they were the perfect accent flavor.

I also tried the Elder Flower Juice. I've never had it before. It looks like a big glass of water and it has a very mild taste to it. Not too sweet, but very refreshing. I imagine it would be wonderful on a hot day. It wasn't too bad on the cold day that was yesterday.

The restaurant is where my old favorite pho restaurant was - right next to the Weight Watchers office I attended before I got married. It has over a hundred photos on the walls everywhere with big numbers next to them and the tables all have brochures detailing what each one is - they all have some tie to Austria. A few were for Red Bull, two by our table were of Arnold Schwarzenegger (one autographed of him from Conan the Barbarian) and none of Hitler. It's a family establishment - the diagram of all the table assignments for the wait staff was split into two - "Mom's" and then our waitress. Unfortunately, I think our waitress never really waited tables before. She forgot our silverware and napkins until we asked for them and, after we asked for our bill the second time, she finally told us we could just pay for it at the counter. But as the restaurant has only been open a short time, she'll have time to learn. The excellence of the food strongly outweighed the service. At least the girl was friendly and promptly kept Tim caffeinated.

Art and Betty seemed to like it, too. Betty is always so funny about some things. They had the schnitzel with rice special and Betty kept asking for soy sauce to put on her rice. I just shook my head. They really enjoyed the cucumber, tomato and potato side salad. Betty said the potatoes were "different" but ate them anyway and Art gobbled his up saying they were just perfect.

My old favorite restaurants in town were Mongo's or Jules' Bistro, but I think I have to add the Schnitzel HQ to the list.

I'm studying for a final this evening in my intl business mgmt class. I remember being amused by this portion when we first covered it, so I thought I'd share:

My professor had mentioned in passing that the requirements for selecting a partner in a strategic alliance should also be used when choosing a life partner:

Making Strategic Alliances Work

• Partner Selection
  • Shares purpose of the alliance
  • Helps partner achieve goals
  • Has skills
  • Will not behave opportunistically


• Do Due Dilligence
  • Get info from the public and knowledgeable 3rd parties
  • Have a meeting of managers

Have I mentioned how much I love my husband, lately? I especially appreciate all of his help as I've been working on my master's degree, not to mention all of his skills. ;-)

With reference to this article on the BBC: French hold out against credit crunch

... "Generally in France you spend what you have and not more," he explains.

"In the US and the UK, the economy has been driven by household spending, consumption has been driven by credit, and a lot less in France, so that's why when there were periods of expansion France grew a lot more slowly than the UK and the US but conversely when it's slowing down, it will slow down in a more moderate fashion than the UK or the US." ...

I have a sort of pride with regard to our home improvements. We also want to redo the kitchen, but we're not sure we have enough money in the savings account to pay for it to be done this fall. I'm really proud of the fact that it never occurred to Tim or me that we could just put it all on credit. We immediately thought to price it out and then pay for it with the cash we've been saving. That's pretty awesome.

I never quite have enough ambition for all of my ambitious plans. I guess I am an ambitious planner and not an ambitious, er, doer.

Starting tomorrow, every Wednesday and Thursday I have to leave work a half an hour early in order to get to class by 5pm. The last semesters I had class, I just didn't come home those days for lunch. This semester, though, I've decided I'm going to stay late on Monday and Tuesday for half an hour so that I can still see Tim for lunch on those days.^[1] But that seems to get to be a short night.

Take tonight for example. I stayed at work until 5:28 (I got there at 7:55 so it all evens out) and then rode over to the mall to pick up my contacts I ordered.^[2] Then I drove down to and around State to see if there were any better parking spots near the building I'll have class in on Wednesdays.^[3] There weren't. I started to leave when I remebered I also wanted to find out where that class was in the building, too, as I've only ever had one class there before and that was in 2002. I figured out the best entrance for me, but am unsure on if I will have enough time in half an hour to drive from work to school, find a parking spot, and then hoof it to the building (4 blocks). I guess I could stay later on Thursday, too, but I'd really rather not...

So I did all of that and got home at about 7pm. That seems late to me, and with the sun going down sooner, it just seems to feel even later. I was hoping to have enough time and energy to still take the dog for a long walk, maybe get more done in the bathroom (I loafed last night), and then try to read the first chapter in the book for tomorrow's class. Instead, all I want to do is curl up and take a nap on the couch.

There's also the question about dinner. I have a slight delicacy when it comes to my blood sugar - I'm tired and crabby if it is low and I haven't eaten in a while. It's also hard for me to concentrate when I just want to stuff food in my mouth and I can't. The professor on Wednesday has already struck the fear in me about being late for class or having any food, beverage or gum in class. And I haven't even met him/her (it's an Indian name, so I couldn't venture a guess). So, if I leave at 4:30 from work, that does not give me any time to stop somewhere for a snack and any chance of a break in the 5 to 7:40pm class is questionable at this point. I could try to bring a sandwich and eat it at work before I leave, but there's never any guarantee that I won't be busy with calls during that time. And again, I could stay late, but would I want to?

I'm sure I'll figure it out, as I only have to do this through May and then I am HOME FREE. May just couldn't feel far enough away, yet, though...

---

I'm kinda pissed.

I'm all excited to remodel the upstairs bathroom and have bought almost everything so far - just need the hardware for the cupboards and a new switch plate and a new curtain rod. Rick was supposed to replace the window in the shower with glass block this week but has been busy so he thinks he'll have time next week. That's fine.

What I'm crabby about is my flooring. I have fallen in love with cork flooring over the past two years and we just finally ordered it for the kitchen today. I also ordered some cork flooring for the bathroom and just received it today.

Nowhere in the literature that I received or read did it say to not use it in bathrooms. The installation instruction packet they gave me with my two boxes says it in the third paragraph: Installation of floating floor is not recommended in bathrooms or in areas with high moisture concentration.

Merde. Sucksucksuck.

I really LIKE the color and the look of my flooring. Crap.

I'm thinking of just biting the bullet though. It only says "not recommended". It doesn't say "Do NOT under any circumstances..." If it fails miserably, I'm only out the $150 for the floor. I'll take precautionary measures and put plastic sheeting underneath it and Tim is also offering to use some seam glue on it, too, if necessary.

Crap.

Otherwise, I am fairly happy with how easily the 30yr old wall paper came off. I bought some spray DIF stuff that removes the glue, but didn't need it right away as the paper just pulled right off. I'm using it instead with a scraper to get the glue residue off the walls. Tim was unhappy that we can't just move the TP holder as it has a tile thing installed on the wall that it fits into, but we'll survive.

*sigh*

I'm mostly stressed about the glass block. I'm not sure how it will look on the outside with the current windowsill or if the mortar-free installation kit is suitable for an outside wall in Minnesota. Again, nothing I could see on the box for the install kit says if it is "recommended" or not.

blech.

Maybe I should leave this remodeling stuff to the pros. Like superna.

Yesterday I took the dog for a walk and decided to listen to some music via my phone along the way. But the shorts I was (were?) wearing did not have any pockets. I usually bring a bag along on the walk with a dish, a bottle of water, a little baggie, and some dog treats because it gets hot out and you need your supplies when walking a fluffy, black dog. So I thought I'd just put my phone in the bag during the walk.

This worked well until the walk back when the dish was still a little wet, therefore getting the phone wet as well.

So, the displays were no longer happy on my phone. They'd blink a lot and then just get garbled in spots. So I opened it up and took out the battery and everything and left it overnight to dry out.

This morning, my husband tries putting in the battery and it turned on. And then immediately turned itself off. And then turned itself on again. And... You get the picture.

Merde.

Much disassembling and reassembling ensued with not much of an improvement other than the displays worked for the 3 seconds between the phone turning itself on and off.

Much disheartened, I went online to see if I could find a new phone with my requirements being (in this order):

1. Bluetooth (I love it - especially on roadtrips because my car stereo also has bluetooth and I don't have to dig through my purse at high speeds to answer a call)
2. 3G (fast and CLEAR)
3. Music
4. Camera
5. Internet capabilities

(2 through 5 being my addiction to connectivity when I am on trips)

The first phone I see on the webpage that fits that description? The new iPhone 3G. And it's only $200. (I don't care that I'd need another 2 year contract - I've been with AT&T since 2001 and I've found no good reason to change)

So, just as I start reading further on the tech specs and envisioning myself with this drool-worthy gadget (I usually don't buy things like this for myself - I'm actually quite thrifty), my husband manages to fix my current phone by tweaking the power button with a pair of tweezers.

I guess I dropped the phone too many times this week and the water just aggravated the issue.

*sigh*

Now that my phone works again, I can't convince myself that buying the iPhone is worth it. But it's so pretty and shiny....

Pbbt. My acutely honed patriotismconsumerism is fighting with my fiscally aware pocketbook. I've taken too many math classes to think that I can just afford any shiny thing I see (I still sigh over the beautiful Suzuki Boulevard C50C I saw at the mall last fall. The picture on the website doesn't do the subtle flame paint job justice).

Oh well. I still like my phone. It works really well for the things I use it for and I'm glad it's not broken. I can use the $200 I'd be spending on the iPhone for better things - like two new tires on my car, or the roadtrip we're taking to Kansas City next month for the Twins at Royals games.

Yesterday was Angie's 25th birthday. Amanda and I decided to throw her a little party. I had recently gotten some fresh rhubarb from my father-in-law's garden and decided I'd try to make some kind of cake out of it for Ang.

Tuesday night I dug around in my recipe book cupboard and found two recipe books I could use: one from the Catholic church in Rogers my mom gave me when I moved out, and one from Tim's relatives' hometown that we got as a wedding gift. I found five different rhubarb dessert recipes in these two cookbooks. I did not have all of the ingredients for any one as a whole.

Tim said I should go to the store, then, and buy the ingredients. I said no. That would involve leaving the house and I was done with leaving the house for the day. Instead, I tried to make do with what I had in the house.

Phone conversation snippets with Tim:
J: "What is sour milk?"
T: "I think it's just milk and some lemon juice."
J: "That sounds weird. I don't think that's right."
T: "Why don't you go on the internet and look it up?"
J: "Because that would involve leaving the kitchen. I don't feel like leaving the kitchen."

I get very lazy and curmudgeon-y at the end of the day, as you can see.

J: "This baking powder says it has corn starch in it. Can I just use it instead of corn starch?"
T: "No."
J: "Can I use it instead of baking soda?"
T: "No. You know, if there isn't any cake left after the party, that's OK. You really don't have to save any for me."
J: *digs in cupboard some more* "Wait! I do have baking soda!"
T: *sigh*

We hung up for a while as I worked. Later:

T: "I looked it up on my phone. Sour milk is milk with lemon juice. I was right."
J: "Ok. We don't have milk anyway."
T: "I think you could also use buttermilk."
J: "You know we don't have any of that, either."
T: "I know. I just wanted you to know that I was right. Like usual."
J: "Well, I suppose it has to happen once in a lifetime."

The end result is more of a coffee cake with a little bit of rhubarb flavor in it rather than the traditional rhubarb pie or bars that are a lot more gooey, but it's tasty. It's just a touch dry, so I've tried putting honey on it, but I don't think that flavor really works with it. I think I'll try a piece at lunch time with some butter instead. All three of my guests last night said they thought it was "really good" so I'll take that down as a success.

So, do we really look like swingers in this picture?

HA!

So funny thing.

princess_nicci is up visiting this weekend and last night we went over to Angela's new apartment.

Ok. Two funny things.
Er, maybe three...

1. Angela's new apartment is #205 in a building that I lived in just before I moved in with Tim. I lived in apartments #304 and #206 in that exact same building. Huh. Small town.


2. Angela has pet rats. She previously had three female rats. She then bought two more - one male and one female. This week she became a "grandma". Now she has 15 rats! They are so little!!!


3. Finally, the really funny thing. So, at Nicci's wedding, my husband Tim was sitting at a table with some of Nicci's friends. He had a few more than a few drinks. He gets really friendly when he has a few more than a few drinks. He gave this couple his phone number and told them that if they were ever in St. Cloud, to give him a call and we'll go out and have a few beers.
   
   They later asked Nicci if we were swingers.

Apparently, they couldn't figure out why else he would be so friendly and give out his phone number!

When Angela heard that story, she then informed me that her friend Krystal was also questioning why my husband gave her his phone number after the party the cops broke up.

Apparently he hasn't lost his touch. I guess he needs to figure out how to change his former man-whore-hitting-on-chicks-at-the-bar attitude into more of a non-sexual chummy attitude. But who can really blame these people for being unsure? The man just reeks of hotness. *grin*

motogeek took my husband snowmobiling this weekend up in Grand Marais.

Check out the stud:




Edited with picture on Flickr instead