More Vacation, Less Work.

Let’s face it; going from vacation straight to six days at the office is not a nice transition. It's also exactly what I did last week. Fun times.

While we were on vacation it was decided that some of our routines needed to be streamlined. Meal planning is something that I have been using for quite some time, but I've started meal planning with my freezer in mind in an attempt to reduce our grocery budget while simultaneously making weeknight meals easier. So far it has been a success; our grocery spending has been reduced by about 20% and our freezer is slowly being stocked with precooked meals to be added into the weekly rotation.

We also created a master list for our household chores and broke them down into checklists of weekly, biweekly, and monthly tasks. The nice part about having the checklist is that the person who gets home first knows exactly what needs to be started on, which makes our efforts feel more like teamwork rather than individual attempts to control the chaos that tries to rampant through our house.

Obsession of the Week: JAVOedge cases

I had a girly moment when it came to buying a much needed case for my phone. A phone case with animal print and it's a wallet? Sold!

(Admit it, this is pretty much the cutest thing ever.)

Fleeting Instants of Eternity

The past two weeks have gone by in a blur! From celebrating our five-year anniversary to visiting family and friends throughout Oregon, our vacation was jam packed with activities and lots of driving. 

The Saturday before last we packed up our car and the dogs and headed off to Wallowa Lake for a few days of outdoors, hiking, and relaxation. We took the back highways rather than the interstate, which was a gorgeous change of pace. The cabin we rented was quaint and cozy, the weather was mild with a couple brief thunderstorms, and the scenery was amazing.

Wallowa welcoming committee

The tram!

From the tram

Mt. Howard

Tree rat...

Wallowa Lake 

The rest of the trip was split between visiting family and friends, camping out for a family reunion, and attending a wedding. Pictures of everything after Wallowa Lake are in short supply since the batteries in our camera died shortly after we started the second leg of our journey - which is also when we discovered that the charger had not been packed. Poor planning at its finest...

All in all, it was a fantastic vacation with very little in the way of warring tempers despite spending 26+ hours in the car with two dogs. The only wrinkle was an ill-advised "theoretical discussion" about an end-of-the-world scenario involving vampires. Don't worry though, a truce was called before things got out of hand.

"Those that say you can't take it with you never saw a car packed for a 

vacation trip." - Author Unknown

Does Not Compute...

Temperatures have been in the triple digits lately, but when that combines with bouts of torrential wind and rain... my mind cannot handle it. So I've been staying indoors because, really, what does one wear when it's 100 degrees and raining?

The weather in between storms has been gorgeous, but we haven't been venturing too far in the way of hikes since there have been plenty of surprise thunderstorms rolling through as well.

In other news, our end-of-the-season softball tournament starts tomorrow - wish us luck, we are going to need it!

"I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days."
Daniel Boone

Drive Me Crazy

I've had a frustrating couple of weeks, and am currently pouting. The office has been crazy, overtime has been plentiful, and customers have been falling all over themselves to try and make their own issues my fault.

 In light of my present inclination to whine, I'm cutting this post short. Thanks to the holiday and my Saturday shift, I will be enjoying two days off this week by spending time outdoors and staunchly ignoring the fact that I have to return to the grind on Thursday.

"When life throws you lemons, make orange juice. It will leave them wondering how the hell you did that." Author Unknown