Angst Addict

Pork chops, pounded medium thin,
Pierce with fork until arm is sore
Squeeze lemon juice to cover meat completely
Add small dash of balsamic vinegar over the top
Lightly sprinkle white sugar over meat
Let stand for ten minutes

Apply even coat of garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper to taste.
Let stand while prepping apples.

Slice a sweet apple into small slices (mandolin works best)
Place apple slices on hot grill, squirt with lemon juice
Let stand covered for 2.5 to 3 minutes

Place Pork Chops on Grill (medium-high) marinade side down.
Cook on each side for approximately 3 to 5 minutes
(flip fruit halfway for even grill marks)
Put fruit on serving plate (cover with foil to keep warm)
When chops are thoroughly cooked, remove from heat and set on serving plate
Garnish with apple slices and two pinches of brown sugar per chop
Serve while hot

Good day all you LJers.

Since I have no facebook (hehe) I need to do this the old fashioned way. I have not yet composed an email to be sent out "world wide" as it were, but I'd like to get some feedback here first.

I want to go up to Massachusetts in the near future (not this weekend, but maybe next or the one after that?). I would like to see AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE that I have not socialized with in some time. This is A LOT OF PEOPLE.

And to be honest, some of you do not get along with others of you, which I think is rather sad. But none-the-less! I am up to the challange of a sleepless weekend, and I want to do some good old fashioned catching up. Maybe coffee somewhere, maybe a lunch date somewhere else. Perhaps a small videogame get together, maybe a small dinner party? Boardgames are also an option.

Who's with me?

First off, I am posting from my phone. So I appologize in advance for spelling and grammatical errors.
Second, I am still not employed full time by anyone. I am continuing to work for the lawyers I worked for before, just under a different name. they keep SAYING they they will merge with a national firm and be able to provide benefits, etc., but in my opinion they are not moving towards that option, nor do they appear to WANT to. That is all very frustrating to us peons.
Third - today I was asked by yhe firm I used to work for 4 years ago (man its been that long?) to cover their phones while they all attend the funeral of the managing partner's mother. very sad, but its $25 an hour for me...
So I'm just sitting here, at my old desk, no computer, just chilling and knitting for the next few hours. Oh, and Jays phone is busted so if u want to talk to him call me.
lovelove. kt

Current Location: old work

I just realized that I have three weddings to attend... and I need three different dresses...

Now in the past few years when I've had three (or more!) weddings to attend, usually I could get away with wearing the same dress at least twice simply because the weddings were in completely different circles (and states).

This however... this is going to take some massive planning, funds, and weight loss...

Crap.... How many days til the first wedding? Anyone?

EDIT: oh and if I could get the color schemes of each wedding pls? That way I won't blend in with the wedding party (made that mistake before)

Current Mood: thoughtful

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- What I create will be just for you.
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- You will receive your item before the end of the year (or sooner).
- You will have no clue what the item is going to be. It could be a story or poetry. It could be a piece of handmade jewelry or an art doll. I may draw, paint, collage or knit something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to repost this meme and make and send out five surprises of your own.

Current Mood: amused

Thanks to everyone who looked at or volunteered to look at my resume.  It's a lot neater now (hadn't been updated since I started in 2005). 

There were "people" in the office today to "look around."  I stayed home, had stuff to do, had planned today off in any case, but I heard it felt like a fishbowl.  These people were walking around, and we're "selling" ourselves as a whole, trying to get other firms to "buy" us as an office.... weird.

Anyway, I got an email today from a recruiter saying how sorry she was, that she had heard about everything, and that she wanted to talk about a possible billing position for me... odd much?  But lucky nonetheless.  So my resume will be posted tonight, and we'll see what happens.

Here's luck.

Current Location: home
Current Mood: anxious

Happy Birthday Angel!

 Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still
 selling gift cards through the holidays even though the cards will be
 worthless January
 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the
 contrary, it is
 referred to as 'Bankruptcy Planning).
 Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be
 cautious about.
 
 Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
 Ann Taylor 117 stores nationwide closing
 Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150
 stores nationwide
 Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after
 January
 Cache will close all stores
 Talbots closing down specialty stores
 J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
 Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots) Only closing some
 stores, not sure
 on how many.
 GAP closing 85 stores
 Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
 Wickes Furniture closing down
 Levitz closing down remaining stores
 Bombay closing remaining stores
 Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
 Whitehall closing all stores
 Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
 Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
 Home Depot closing 15 stores
 Macys to close 9 stores after January
 Linens and Things closing all stores
 Movie Galley Closing all stores
 Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
 Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
 JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
 Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
 Wilson Leather closing down all stores
 Sharper Image closing down all stores
 K B Toys closing 356 stores
 Loews to close down some stores
 Dillard's to close some stores

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

Hi!

HIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!

I'm alive, really :)

I say "Fail" cause this weekend my mother has planned a mass and a party to thank God for my father's miracle recovery, and I was in charge of the evite, but I didn't invite any of you!

FAIL

SO, if you want free food and booze this weekend, and want to see me sing & play clarinet while dad plays guitar, and watch my mom cry, swing by Norwalk at St. Matthews at 1:30 on Sunday, party to follow at my parents.

Nothing like short notice right????

KT

Current Location: Work
Current Mood: grateful
Current Music: Country Music!

Current Mood: amused

All,

As you know, yesterday Dad had the robotic heart surgery, and the doctors are calling it a complete success.  I spoke with Dad this morning, and he sounded wonderful!  He has so much more energy now than he did a week ago, he has yet to test his legs (they had to tie him down to the hospital bed) but as soon as they let him walk around he's anxious to see what his stamina is. 

Mom also sounds great, tired, but great.  They are hoping for a discharge TONIGHT, and they will stay overnight in the hotel in hotel in Houston before heading back first thing tomorrow morning.  Can you believe that!  Wednesday - Saturday? It feels like six months have gone by, and it's only been four days??

I wanted to share just a few of the MANY comments that I have received from all of you for my Dad.  It's wonderful that so many people realize how fantastic he is, and that we have our own little support group that apparently has a hotline straight to God.

Thank you all again, they should be home Sunday night (baring plane snafus) and I'm sure they will thank each and every one of you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Love,
Katie

*************************************

Thanks Katie for being the news room for your dad. He is in our prayers.

*************************************

Thank you so much for keeping everyone updated on your Dad.  He means so much to us. 

*************************************

Thank you Lord. 

Jim I miss your email funnies. 

*************************************

Glad everything is beginning to look good.  Can't believe how everything is moving along so quickly.  "SOMEONE" is in Jim's corner.

*************************************

fingers crossed that the little robots can go and do their thing :-) i am going to call your dad mr roboto if they can do this ;-)

*************************************

Thanks for the update. We are praying that the doctors will be able to do the procedure.

Tell your Dad we expect him back here repaired or....

I am collecting tropical drink umbrellas, bicycle tire patches and "Krazy straws"  if I have to do the procedure back here in Connecticut. Also a big circus hammer for anesthesia.

So just tell the damn doctors to fix him, or are all those Texans all talk and no action!

*************************************

We have had your father put on the prayer chain from our church. I have seen some unbelievable results from the prayer chain. Praying is a powerful thing.

 Hope everything is better tomorrow. We Pray for Jim all the time.

*************************************

Current Mood: hopeful

THANK YOU HOUSTON!

At approximately 1:00pm CST they started the cardiac catherization procedure to get a better picture of the inside of Dad's heart.  I have no idea how long that took, but I do know that shortly after 6pm CST Mom called me and said that they had completed both the catherization AND the robotic surgery!

They had gone in just after the pictures were taken and "corked the leak."  The doctor said that it "took two corks" because the leak was bigger than anticipated.  They plugged 75% of the leak, which is just awesome, and apparently they expect that over time the heart might heal itself the rest of the 25%.

Dad should be waking up from the anesthesia anytime between non and 9pm CST.  They have a computer lab on every floor in the hospital, so he has been receiving your comments almost as soon as you send them.

Again, thank you SO much for your thoughts and prayers, they made all the difference!

Love,

Katie

Current Mood: ecstatic

Current Mood: exhausted

Hi All,

It's been a long and stressful day, but we are one step closer to getting some answers.

I don't want to say the word "complications" but the doctors have run into a few unexpected things, and we are no longer 100% sure if Dad is a candidate for the robotic heart valve repair surgery.  Tomorrow morning they are doing a cardiac catheterization, (link) which is sticking a small tube in a artery and using a super small camera to go up and take pictures of the heart from the inside.  After this data is gathered and analyzed, we should have a better idea of where to go from here.

There are several options, one of which is still the robotic surgery, but we have to wait and see. 

All prayers and thoughts are greatly appreciated, and I have passed on every single response to my father, and he appreciate all of your well wishes.  This is a difficult time for my family, and it is wonderful to know that so many people care.

With love,

Katie

Current Mood: distressed

Current Mood: hopeful

Hi All!

You may (or may not) have notice my status message on Gtalk the last few days have been centered around Houston. There is a very good reason for that, but I will have to start with a little history.

Most of you know that my father has had open heart surgery twice, once in 2002, and once in 2003, both to fix leaky or damaged valves. Since then he has been plagued with various staff infections etc. that put a lot of strain on his heart, and by default, his valves.

Now, about 6 years since his first heart surgery (OMG it's been 6 years!!) he's very tired, fatigued, and a little depressed. Lately he hasn't been able to function well, and after several trips to the cardiologist we were told it's because the heart muscle where the stitching is holding the valve in place has become weak with scar tissue, and blood is leaking out of that muscle. This means that he's getting about 50% of the blood to the rest of his body, and he just has no energy. The solution from the cardiologist is more medication, and although that has been helping, it has not been helping enough.

Flashback to last Wednesday, July 16th. Mom had found several articles and webpages online about The DeBakey Methodist Memorial Hospital.  Recently, they've been doing heart valve repair.  No one else in the country is doing this.  They have had about 1,000 success surgeries since 2007, and have started doing it with robotics in MAY OF 2008, less than two months ago!

Mom took this information to the Cardiologist in Stamford, who was amazed and hopeful.  He said he would call them.

Flash-forward to Monday - The Cardiologist calls Mom and tells her that they should be contacting Dad today.  WHILE HE WAS ON THE PHONE WITH MOM, the Methodist Hospital called Dad.  Dad was on the phone all day asking questions about his health, his medication, his history, etc.

They asked him "Can we see you on Thursday?" he called me and said "Katie, we need to get to Houston."  I said "Done."

I spent about a half hour (at work no less) making flight, hotel, and car service reservations (maybe this was the reason I became an executive assistant?) and I had it all arranged and ready to go.  Visa thanks you.

They're flying out Wednesday (TOMORROW) to go down to Houston and get a TEE done (see link) and then they'll decide if they're going to perform the surgery (it's not even considered an OPERATION) on Dad.

You can read this link to see what they're going to do.

I'm hopeful, amazed, excited, scared, terrified, and jubilant (all at once no less)!

So anyway, that's what's been going on.  That's why I've been distant, and tired, and why my away message says "Houston, we have a problem maybe you can fix."

Please keep Dad and my family in your thoughts and prayers.  We're going for broke (especially if you look at my Visa bill!)

Love,

Katie

Current Mood: jubilant

I know I haven't posted in forever.  I have been meaning to, really, but things just get so busy, and the last thing I want to do after I get home from work is type some MORE.

For those of you that have been to my parents house, I want you to know that their dog, Patches, died last night.  She was a really good, quiet dog.  She loved people, she was never jumpy or in your face, but she just quietly wanted you to love her.

She died in her sleep sometime between 10pm and 7am.  Mom & Dad didn't hear anything, there most likely wasn't any pain.  She just stopped breathing.

Yesterday I had sent Greg over to lift some things for my dad (stubborn man) and Patches always loved Greg because he would sit on the floor and give her all the attention she could take.  He would house sit when my parents went on vacation and take care of her, and I think she loved Greg more than anyone else in the family.

So I think she was just waiting to see Greg again before sleeping forever. 

I'm so emotional right now I can't really think straight, but I'm sad, and happy, and so very sad all at the same time.

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: sad

On Monday, my underwear was "Made in China"
On Tuesday, my underwear was "Made in Costa Rica"
On Wednesday, my underwear was "Made in Jordan"

I'm interested to see where my underwear was made today.  I have a whole world in my underwear drawer....

Where was YOUR underwear made? 

Current Mood: amused

As some of you may, or may not know, RENT is officially closing on June 1st.  This means I want to see it at least one more time before it goes off Broadway.

I am goign to post a list of weekend dates (although I am also keeping in mind weeknights cause they're easier to get tickets) and if anyone wants to go with me, just respond.  My house, and my parents house are avaiable for crash sites, and tickets range anywhere from $40 to $80. 

Obviously, we can sit together as a group, but it's a lot easier to get tickets if you're not sitting together, especially if it's goign to be soon. 

Dates:

March 8th - Saturday
March 29th - Saturday
March 30th - Sunday
April 12th - Saturday
April 13th - Sunday
May 3rd - Saturday
May 4th - Sunday
May 24th - Saturday
May 25th - Sunday

Please respond if you're interested in going with me (and anyone else)

Thanks

Current Location: Work
Current Mood: sad
Current Music: RENT