Suz Chef

Last night Uncle Joe and I made home-made pizza. He texted me at work and can apparently read my mind because I had just been trying to decide what to have for supper and pizza sure did sound good.

Text: Pizza at home for supper?
My reply: Yesss! You are reading my mind!


I stopped at the grocery, list in hand, to pick up some last minute things for the Pizza De Jour. I only had to call Joe once to ask about yeast preference and only had to go back for one forgotten item. (Good thing I was still in the parking lot!)I got home and he prepared all the toppings: Ham, pinapple (fresh!), onion, mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage and cheese.

The recipe for crust we found was easy and tasty. I would recommend you try it next time you want to impress your family. :o) This batch makes TWO regular crusts.We made two batches of this dough after one other recipe flopped. Our company loved it and the girls had fun making their own pizza.

Quick Pizza Dough

1 pkg Quik Rise dry yeast
1 cup luke warm water
2 T olive oil
1 T honey *** yes honey! it was delish!
2 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt

*this recipe also calls for 1/2 t garlic powder and 1/2 t onion powder, but we didn't use it.

Mix yeast in water in glass bowl. Add other ingredients. We used our stand mixer and it worked beautifully. Place in a bowl that has about a teaspoon of olive oil..just enough to coat the bottom. Cover and let it sit for 15-30 minutes.
Turn out dough on lightly floured surface. Cut in half. Flatten out on a floured surface and place in pizza pan. Add sauce, cheese and toppings of your liking and bake at 450 degrees for 12 (or more) minutes.

I was in charge of mixing dough. UJ patted most of the pizzas out and i topped them. I didn't do TOO bad for my first "Suz Chef" job. Hey... at least I got lots of kisses while I was working. I bet Chef Gordon Ramsay doesn't kiss his sous chefs!

My 39th Year

My 39th year.

Hardest by far and by far the most rewarding.

On the eve of my 40th birthday

I am stronger

mentally

physically

emotionally

and spiritually

than I have ever been.

40?
Bring.It.On.

Holiday?

Just sittin' @ home enjoying a cuppa joe with Joe on my first Federal Holiday!!

Be My Valentine?

Do you see love?

********

Have I Told You Lately

Song by Rod Stewart

Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you there's no one else above you

Fill my heart with gladness,

take away all my sadness

Ease my troubles,

that's what you do

For the morning sun and all its glory

Meets the day with hope and comfort too

You fill my life with laughter,

somehow you make it better

Ease my troubles,

that's what you do

There's a love that's defined

And it's yours and it's mine

like the sun

And at the end of the day

We should give thanks and pray to the one,

to the one

Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you there's no one else above you

Fill my heart with gladness,

take away all my sadness

Ease my troubles, that's what you do.

******

Dear Uncle Joe,

Will you be my Valentine?

Love,

Aunt Josefina

Hurry Up and Wait

Well my first week of Federal employment is over. I heard from our trainer that there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" going on.

Oh. How. True.

With 88 people in my trainee group, it takes us a while to do ANYTHING.

When we do something in unison, like getting on the internet, we crash the system. (Tech guys said they were glad we crashed it because they had been asking for more bandwidth....now they'll surely get it!)

I sit by a really nice lady.....Beth. She is so quiet and I have to lean over every now and again to try and make her crack up. The lady behind us however is pretty close to getting hurt. She doesn't know what is going on because she won't keep her mouth shut. She talks loudly making it difficult for us to hear. Since she doesn't know what is going on she has to ask a "coach". She dominates them with her incessant chatter and I am getting very annoyed. We haven't been doing any real training yet so I have been patient, but if she causes me to miss something I will have to tape her mouth shut and tie her to her chair. Let me also add that I sit on the back row.....a very different experience for me. I am a "B" so I am usually at the front, and it is very weird being in the back. (although at break time, I get to the bathrooms first!)

So, I am enjoying NOT anwering the phones, NOT having to deal with difficult patients in person or on the phone, NOT pulling faxes, NOT filing charts,and NOT balancing my money. I know that this job will ramp up real soon and all these slow days will be a thing of the past.........

Have a great weekend!

First Days

My first days at the new job have been good. Very busy with do's and don'ts, training and orientation. There are 88 people in my "class" that is a lot of new faces and names to learn. We are the largest group to train in the history of this office.

The hours are 730 to 415 and if any of you know me I am morning challenged. It will take a concerted effort from my whole family to get everyone up and ready on time and get me out the door by 710am. I may be putting my shoes on on the car, but I will be on my way!!

It was so nice to be in a room full of people who are "thrilled to be here", "tickled to have this job", "happy to serve our Vets", etc. everyone WANTS to be there and will work very hard to maintain the awesome reputation of the Muskogee Office. Let me say here that in all the Veteran's Services that Muskogee offers.....we are the top office in all of them. We get extra work because we rock it out so fast.........can you believe that?? Okies know how to work and we ROCK!!

Gotta skitter.....look at the time.

Closed for computer maintenance and upgrades.....

Y'all come back now...