Tag Archives: challenge

a to z: y is for yawn… and YES

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If you’ve been following my blog, you might recall how I’ve posted about how much work I’ve been bogged down with lately and how pooped and exhausted it’s left me.

Today is no exception… hence, the yawn.

However, the YES is representative of many things.

  • The celebration of the near conclusion of this A to Z, my first, blogging challenge.
  • My response when my name is called (and the way my children respond when their names are called).
  • The answer I give when asked for a favor even before knowing what it is I’m agreeing to.
  • Knowing that after this week my workload will significantly decrease.
  • How I feel when informed that I already have people fighting for a position for me that I hope to secure upon passing my Nursing Home Administrator’s exam.

 

a to z: x is for…

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exhausted aki exhausted baiAfter a long 9.25 hours of straight work today (with no lunch break as I was the presenter at a “working lunch” in-service) the only “x” word I can think of is eXhausted. Training, audits, documentation, more training, in-service, treating, and more documentation = one eXceptionally eXhausted eXpert.

a to z: vision and wisdom

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Tatsumi: “Powerful” – My spirit is assertive and persuasive.

Your strong leadership and your ability to inspire others to follow your vision releases my powerful spirit. May your endeavors always succeed and bring prosperity to your life and to the lives of those who help you.

One of my dear friends and coworkers (previously my subordinate, currently my superior) gave me this kimmidoll as a gift yesterday.

(Missed “v” yesterday as I was recruited to do some audits and training on top of treating patients and studying so time has been even more scarce.)

  • A to Z Challenge: V and W

a to z: u is for unicorn

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As a child, I LOVED unicorns! Their uniqueness and mystique captivated me.

I had a book with a dark blue cover (and border around each page, if I recall correctly) that had beautiful illustrations of unicorns that I used to spend hours studying. The unicorns and rainbows and scenery were all on the darker side… colorful but with a darker tinge that ran throughout the book. Not childish. Not pastel. Not cartoonish. No humans. Just unicorns and rainbows and scenery. I hope to someday track down this book as it was one of my childhood favorites.

I also had unicorn bookmarks, stuffed animals, and chose Shel Silverstein’s “The Unicorn” to present in high school Speech class.

(P.S. – I will just send this a long right now and edit/link later since I keep falling asleep and waking up with random letters all over my screen!)

Edited to add: A to Z Challenge: U

a to z: t is for (no) time

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Running out of time to post “t.” It’s almost midnight and I’m still in my closet texting with two of my coworkers trying to figure out what to wear to work tomorrow since ownership is in town. Trying on various outfits, sending pictures back and forth of clothes we have, shoes we have, clothes we can let each other borrow. As therapists, we don’t dress up for work. Dressing up is one of my worst nightmares. Running out of time. Gotta go…

A to Z Challenge: T

a to z: s is for sulking, silent treatment, shouting

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What conflict resolution should look like:

What my style of conflict resolution looks like:

Haha, well, not exactly but here’s one of those cool graphic presentations by Jeff Muir illustrating conflict and the Conflict Resolution Model:

  • A to Z Challenge: S
  • Daily Prompt: Showdown at Big Sky – How do you handle conflict? Boldly and directly? Or, do you prefer a more subtle approach?

a to z: r is for requested recipes (coconut oil popcorn and spam musubi)

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I’ve received requests for my coconut oil popcorn recipe and my spam loving friend over at Willow’s Corner requested my spam musubi recipe.

20140421popcornI forgot I already posted the coconut oil popcorn recipe here. Enjoy!

As for the spam musubi recipe… I didn’t get around to making  it this past weekend (we had three Easter parties and didn’t volunteer to take spam musubi to any of them).

Like my coconut oil popcorn recipe, I still haven’t figured out how to insert those pretty recipe cards (if anyone is willing to teach me, please teach away! Also couldn’t figure out how to remove the number “12” and continue numbering below the pictures – tips welcome!)

Spam Musubi (makes 12 rectangle 1-serving musubis – 24 square half-serving ones if you cut them in half)

Ingredients:

  • 1 can Spam (regular if you want full fat with full flavor, lite if you want less fat with decent flavor)
  • 4 cups cooked rice
  • 6 full squareish sheets nori (cut in half lengthwise)
  • 1/3 cup shoyu
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • furikake (optional)
  • spam musubi mold (see Momofukufor2‘s pictures below for utilizing the spam can as a musubi mold – ingenious!)

Directions:

  1. Cup spam into 12 equal pieces.
  2. Fry on medium-high in a non-stick pan until browned and crisp on both sides.
  3. While frying, mix up shoyu and brown sugar (this is your homemade teriyaki sauce).
  4. When spam is brown and crisp on both sides, add in shoyu-sugar mixture and turn down to low.
  5. Simmer on low until shoyu-sugar mixture is thick and sticky, making sure each piece of spam is evenly saturated in the sticky goodness.
  6. Assembly time (see Momofukufor2‘s pictures below) – Lay the nori shiny side down and place mold in the middle of the nori.
  7. Scoop out some rice and add to bottom of mold – just enough to create a thin layer on the nori (can be adjusted depending on how you prefer your rice:spam ratio).
  8. Push down rice (lightly sprinkle furikake on rice, if preferred).
  9. Place 1 piece of your sticky sweet Spam on top of rice (lightly sprinkle more furikake, if preferred).
  10. Add more rice (equal to first layer) and push down again.
  11. Holding top layer of rice down, slide mold up, releasing the musubi from the mold.

  12.    

  13. Tightly wrap remaining nori around the musubi, slightly wetting end of nori before closing it up (to help it stick).
  14. Cut in half, if preferred (perfect size for snacking or for little kiddos).
  15. Serve right away or wrap individually in plastic wrap to take to the beach, hiking, or work. Enjoy!

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A to Z Challenge: R

 

a to z: q is for quiet time

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Shh… we’re having quiet time. Quiet time is something we developed in our household for times when we parents elect quiet time for the kiddos instead of naps so the kiddos can be put to bed earlier. The kids love it because that means they can watch a movie, do a puzzle, or read a book instead of taking naps. We parents love it because that means more quiet time for us at night.

When we’re not committed to going anywhere or doing anything, I prefer quiet Saturday nights lazying around in my recliner on my iPad or laptop while the hubby watches TV. That’s my idea of a perfect Saturday night.

The past few weekends, including this one, have been far from quiet. I’m already looking forward to quiet time and the weekend has only just begun…

– A to Z Challenge: Q
– Daily Prompt: Saturday Night – S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT! What’s your favorite way to spend Saturday night?