Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in SunMoonStars' LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, January 1st, 2020
4:14 pm	Intro Post EDIT: As of July 14, 2008 I no longer work at a courthouse. I now work at a private university in downtown Chicago as their director of records management. I took the huge step of moving from my hometown to a place where I know only a few people. I'm going to try my hardest to make it a great adventure. I am a 28 year old legal clerk in a county courthouse. I used to process criminal files, specifically felonies. Now, though, I have officially been given the position of Records Manager. I graduated with my Masters of Library and Information Science in December 2005. I was married on May 25, 2003 to Jason (notapreppie). We've been together since 1997. Jason and I currently have two dogs, Ashley and Trinka. Our other dog, Spot, passed away in November 2005. My dogs are my children. I consider myself child-free in that I do not ever plan to have actual children. In fact, I can't tolerate most people under the age of 18. I graduated May 2002 from Miami University in Oxford, OH with a bachelor's in psychology and a minor in criminology. Originally I thought I wanted to be a police officer, but I have come to the conclusion that I would be better off as a librarian. Quite a switch, huh? I met two of my best friends ever at Miami. Jess (aka El aka indyselsa) who I lived with for two years and Rachel (aka Rae aka antithiscully), who I lived with for three years. Unfortunately, I don't get to see them often anymore as they both live in Ohio. I consider myself to be liberal and an atheist. I also happen to work in an office full of conservatives and Christians. While occasionally I like what I do at my job, I don't necessarily like who I do it with. But it pays the bills....sort of. However, I wouldn't turn down a new job as long as it had similar pay. I'm sort of on the search for one in the archives or library field. Might as well attempt to put that Master's degree to use! Other names you might see in my journal? Tony- (everythingsblue) Jason's best friend, Rachel's husband, and a good friend of mine. In fact, he's sort of the one that got Jason and I together. Carrie- (shellyburger) One of my best friends from high school. Unfortunately, I don't get to see her much either as she moved to Virginia to be with her fiance (now husband), Erik (erikforperson). Dale- my stepdad. He's a physics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When I refer to "my parents" I mean him and my mom. W - a friend of mine who does not like her full name to be used on the Internet. I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff that inquiring minds want to know. Feel free to ask. Feel free to add me as a friend. Don't be offended if I don't add you back, though. By the way, my bio is adapted from the lyrics to Savage Garden's song "Affirmation". (24 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 24th, 2008
9:00 am	Shiny That building reflecting the clouds? That's my building. Sorry for the bad quality photo. I told you the sun doesn't cooperate, (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
10:09 pm	Photo request Recently I posted to see if anyone wanted pictures of anything specific pertaining to my new life in Chicago. katers5636 asked for a picture of the outside of my office building. I promise I will get to that one when the sun cooperates. mitmee wanted to see photos of my new work clothes. Today I had Jason take a picture of me in one of my new suits. You can't really tell in the pictures but it's brown with a white pinstripe and the skirt has a cute little flirty kick in the back. And I really need better shoes to wear with it. But you can probably tell that from the photos :-) ( And here they are ) (11 Comments |Comment on this)
10:04 pm	Dinner Recipe: Salmon with Ginger & Green Onions and Cranberry Couscous Salad It's been awhile since I've done an installment of "What I made for dinner." Mostly because I never heard from anyone if they ever tried any of the recipes or not. But I really like what I made for dinner this evening and it's pretty so I decided to post about it anyway. The main dish this evening was Salmon with Ginger & Green Onions. I don't have the original recipe handy, but here's what I've typed out to send to people in the past: Salmon with Ginger and Green Onions Prep: about 5 minutes Microwave: about 7 minutes Makes 4 main-dish servings Ingredients: 4 green onions 1 teaspoon sesame oil 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 2 tablespoons water 2 teaspoons peeled & grated fresh ginger 4 pieces of salmon fillet (about 6 ounces each) 1. Cut green onions into small pieces (1/2 inch or smaller) 2. In glass pie plate (or glass baking dish), toss green onion pieces with sesame oil. Cover and cook in microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from microwave. 3. Stir soy sauce, water, and ginger into dish; top with salmon, skin side up with thinner ends toward the center. Cook, covered, on high for 5 minutes on until salmon is opaque throughout. Let stand, covered, for 2 minutes 4. Serve! I forgot to cover the dish during both cooking periods but it turned out just fine. The only difference is that the salmon had only a hint of the flavors instead of the flavors being really strong. I rather liked it that way, actually. I have to admit that grating ginger is a pain in the butt. Either buy a ginger grater or use a very fine cheese grater. Just be aware that if you use the cheese grater it might be a pain to wash if you don't have a dishwasher. As a side dish I made the couscous salad. My mom made this when she was visiting right after we moved. It was really good that night but even better later on the week when I had it as leftovers. The flavors really got a chance to mingle. Cranberry Couscous Salad * 1 cup water * 3/4 cup uncooked couscous * 3/4 cup dried cranberries * 1/2 cup chopped carrots * 1/2 cup chopped seeded cucumber * 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions * 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar * 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil * 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1/8 teaspoon pepper * 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted 1. In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Cool for 10 minutes. 2. In a bowl, combine the couscous, cranberries, carrots, cucumber and green onions. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, mustard, salt and pepper. Pour over couscous mixture; mix well. Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, stir in almonds. Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1/2 cup) equals 199 calories, 6 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 247 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 4 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fruit, 1 fat. What did I do differently when I made it? First off, I used pine nuts instead of almonds but I'm positive almonds would also be tasty. I forgot to toast them ahead of time which made me sad. Toasted always tastes even better. I definitely used olive oil. To cut down on chopping I used pre-shredded carrots. I also bought an English Cucumber since you don't have to de-seed them or peel them. My mom suggest using pickling cucumbers because they're small and, again, don't have to be seeded or peeled. Overall, a very tasty and filling meal. And it only took about 20 minutes to make! That's what I call awesome. But what you really want to see are pictures, I know. ( So I shall oblige ) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
4:51 pm	Shopping anxiety Of all the things I thought would cause anxiety pertaining to my big move I never thought it would be shopping or going out to eat. However, I'm experiencing anxiety about both of those things. For example, I couldn't find the bookshelves I wanted at the one store I went to but I have no idea what other stores to look at so I just ordered one online. I was anxious about driving all over creation only to not be able to find anything let alone figuring out what stores would even have what I wanted and where they were If the one I ordered sucks then I'm back to square one. I also need new dress shoes for work (one pair of beat up black heels is not going to cut it). I feel as though I should take advantage of the great stores in downtown but I'm terrified of going into any of them. I'm intrigued by the idea of Nordstrom Rack but scared of having a panic or anxiety attack due to the alleged crazy nature of the place. Even the thought of cheap designer jeans and shoes isn't curing it! And I want to find good restaurants to eat at. Jason and I didn't go out to eat a lot in Chambana but when we did we went to the same few places. Now I have to find all new places. My idea is to start with downtown Forest Park and eat at a different restaurant once a week. I suppose that's how you figure out the bad from the good, right? I tried yelp.com but reviews are finicky creatures. One review is raving and the next says the place downright sucks. How are you supposed to know? I guess you go yourself. I suppose once I tackle downtown Forest Park I can move onto other places. So, yeah, if anyone wants to come with me on my new store and restaurant adventure they are more than welcome. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 21st, 2008
10:21 pm	Walking errands Today after work I came home, changed, and walked over to the village office and the library. My goals at the village office were to get both our cars registered with the village (I'm still not completely sure why we had to do this. It's not for parking purposes...), register to vote, get both dogs registered, and get a dog park pass for Trinka Deu. What I actually got accomplished? Both cars are registered, I am registered to vote, and Trinka Deu is registered as a dog living in Forest Park. Apparently registering your dog with the village has nothing to do with registering them with the county for rabies purposes. Apparently the village just wants to know who has a dog and what kind. For $10.00. But, you have to have a rabies tag number in order to register your dog. Well, we got Ashley vaccinated the week before we moved and our vet said it was pointless to register her and get her a rabies tag in Champaign County since we'd just have to pay again to get her one in Cook County. Made sense. I originally thought the point of registering your dog with the village was to get them registered as having been vaccinated. I figured that since Cook County is so large that maybe registering was handled at the city/village level and not the county level. But apparently in Cook County you have to see a vet to get a rabies tag for your dog. So, we can't actually register Ashley with the village until she sees a vet on the 31st and gets her tag. As for Trinka Deu and her dog park pass, well, we can't register her for that until we have proof of about 10 different medical exams and shots. So she'll have to wait until after the 31st, too. She's had some of the shots and exams that they require but not all of them. I have to wonder, though, if the people who take their dogs to the park actually jump through all these hoops or not. I would hope that they would, but one always wonders. I did manage to get a library card, though. However, the Forest Park library is a sad little place. I suspect I will be doing A LOT of interlibrary loan. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
10:11 pm	The joys of being a renter *The window in the upstairs bathroom was installed on Friday. Now we can use that bathroom! *However, we don't want to use the upstairs bathroom because the upstairs air conditioning broke yesterday and it's hot as hell upstairs. The landlord is meeting the HVAC repair person here tomorrow (Tuesday). *The landlord asked us if we would mow the lawn for $50 off our rent. Um, sure? We offered that plan when we applied to live here and he said he was going to hire a service. But for $50 off we can certainly use our own lawnmower that would otherwise be languishing away in the garage. Plus, the lawn is like a postage stamp and will take approximately 10 minutes to mow. A far cry from our previous hour and a half mowing chore. Things we still need taken care of? *The gutters on the garage need a serious cleaning. There are things growing in them! *The front door is missing the threshold so there's a half inch gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. Great for energy efficiency. *The ceiling fan in the living room makes a horrible grinding noise when you turn it on. *The door in the basement that leads to the outside is missing the door knob. And we still need to install a closet rod in one more closet. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 20th, 2008
1:03 pm	Welcome elephant This is the mascot outside the candy factory and store at the end of my street. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
12:19 pm	Walkabout I just went for a walk to check out where I could get to from my house by walking in my new town. Other than the train station. Places I can get to? *The public pool and park district office *The library *Downtown Forest Park which includes: *Many wonderful looking restaurants *Two wine stores. One has wine tastings on Friday and Saturday nights and one has a wine bar *Lots of cute boutiques that sell clothes, shoes, jewelry and lingerie *An ice cream parlor *A gelato store *An Army Surplus store *A hardware store *A bookstore that specializes in histories and mysteries *A gym *A knitting store *A bead store *Several antique stores *The neighborhood grocery store. Sadly, the store doesn't seem to carry whole wheat English muffins but their meat department looked really good! Pretty cool, huh? (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
11:28 am	Those Silly Swedes! Last Saturday we did a massive Ikea run (Ikea is now only 30 minutes from my house!). We bought furniture and rugs and mirrors and lots of other things. And it was late by the time we headed down to the check-out. For those of you that have never been to Ikea, once you're down on the first floor where the check-out is, there are tons of little knick-knack type things. As we were negotiating our carts through the aisles we came across the pet section. There, amongst the pet beds and food bowls was a bin of hooks upon which you hang leashes. And these hooks? Shaped like the back end of a dog. We were tired and giddy and for $1.99 each we bought two. So much classier than the plain ol' nail we used to hang the leashes on! ( Pictures of our dog butt hooks ) Pretty hilarious, huh? But it gets better. Yesterday I was cleaning off the kitchen counter and came across the Ikea receipt. For some reason before throwing it away I glanced at it. There, staring me in the face, was the section of the receipt that included these hooks. I started laughing and immediately showed it to Jason. "You have to blog about this!" He exclaimed. So, I am. ( See for yourself ) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
10:23 am	Help an Auntie Out I don't know if any of you have an opinion on the matter, but my aunt would like some other people to weigh in. She needs to buy a new car and she's torn between a 2008 Toyota RAV-4 or a 2008 Honda CRV. So, those are your choices. If you had to buy one of those two vehicles, which would you pick? ( More information ) ( My opinion ) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 18th, 2008
11:27 pm	Furniture woes Every time I move into a new place I have to buy new bookshelves. I just never seem to have the right bookshelves to fit the space I want them in. I currently really want ladder or leaning bookshelves for my library/office. I think I found some at Dania which is about a 25 minute drive for me. I may head over there tomorrow and see if they have them at that store or if they can order them for me. I've already spent so much money getting things for the house, but what can you do? I can't live surrounded by boxes so I guess I'll just spend more money. I think my credit card can take it :-) Also, I'm on the hunt for a headboard for my guest room bed. I don't really want a headboard AND a footboard although I might someday so I should probably get a matching set and just store the footboard. But I also don't want to spend a ton of money on it. I've been searching craigslist but everything is ugly. I suppose that bookcases take precedence over a headboard since I don't currently have any guests lined up to stay in our guest room but I do have a ton of boxes overwhelming my office. Anyway, that's why I'm still up even though I'm exhausted, my head hurts and I have a lower back ache. Actually, I should really go to bed. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
2:22 pm	Bags and trains and photos, oh my! Something I have noticed in my first week of work is that people, especially women, on the train have a lot of bags. They usually have a purse, some kind of larger bag, and then some kind of paper, handled shopping bag that is filled with items other than what was originally purchased and put in the bag. However, when walking around downtown by my office, women don't even carry their purse. Just their wallet, for the most part. It's interesting. I would be afraid I would forget my wallet somewhere if that's all I was carrying. But I guess you get used to it. ***************** Separately, Jason and I play a fun game when we get home from work if we didn't ride the train home together. Our game? What weird thing did you have on your train today? Yesterday I had drunk construction workers. I know they were drunk because they smelled of beer and were very loud and obnoxious. The day before Jason had a woman changing all of her clothes. On the train. He knows because he caught a glimpse of her in her underwear. He thinks she was homeless. I suppose if you're homeless then a moving train is a good a place as any to change. ****************** On a third note, now that I have my fun camera phone I've been trying to take more pictures of things to document my new adventure. Is there anything in particular you all would like to see pictures of? As much as I would like to do something like Project 365 I don't know if I have the right personality type to remember to take a picture every single day. But I'm always open for suggestions! So, hit me! In other exciting news, I get off work in 30 minutes! And then it's off to find the downtown DMV and get a driver's license with my correct address on it. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
5:21 pm	Train stop This is what I see when I get off at my subway stop. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
3:33 pm	Question of the Day I'm pretty efficient at work so I currently have lots of down time. I don't think this will always be the case but it sure is right now. So, I need some entertainment. Therefore, I think I'm going to try to re-institute my Question of the Day posts. That way I can get comments emailed to me and I will have something to read in between attending meetings and writing emails. Today's question is the following: If you could have any one snack food at your desk what would it be? Hard candies? Chocolate? Something salty? Something sweet? ( My answer ) (23 Comments |Comment on this)
2:02 pm	Hair today My former hairdresser down in Chambana suggested a guy up here in Chicago. She thought he was working at a salon downtown. I called that salon today but he no longer works there. "Well crap," I thought. But then I decided to Google him just to see what came up. Lo and behold, there was his name! He now works at a salon that is between my office and my house. It's not as convenient as the place downtown, but I think it will work. He gets very good reviews on yelp.com (which, separately, is a pretty cool service) and the prices are reasonable (except for eyebrow waxing which seemed a little steep to me but I can do more research into that later when I don't have Sasquatch eyebrows). And the other great thing? The salon does online appointment booking! I just booked a hair appointment and eyebrow wax for the 25th without having to call anyone! For someone who hates the phone, that rocks. Pretty cool, huh? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
3:24 pm	Be careful what you wish for.... I used to complain that my boss was a micromanaging control freak. It drove me crazy. But now I work for someone who isn't and I'm not sure what to do with myself. Oops. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
11:39 am	Away we go! Our moving truck last Thursday: (2 Comments |Comment on this)
11:16 am	Downtown lunch Here's where I ate lunch on Sunday. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
10:49 pm	I'm here in our rental house and I didn't even have to sleep on the porch. I am exhausted, though, so more information will be forthcoming once I have a real computer and not just my iPhone. (3 Comments |Comment on this)