Pierogis!

A couple years ago I got ambitious and made homemade pierogis for Eric, who had been sold for the longest on Mrs. T's. He loved my homemade pierogis so much so that they're the only ones he eats.

I can usually make a big enough batch (today I made 3 1/2 doz) that we're set for about 6 months. It's not really a big deal to make them either, it's just messy. But then again, what kitchen endeavor of ours doesn't result in a mess of massive proportions? 

Indy also enjoyed pierogi day because he got to lick up all the mashed potato bits I dropped on the floor!

Elizabeth Belu, PHR

Yep, that’s right, I PASSED!!! Based on this test score I am fully certified in the HR body of knowledge! The preliminary pass report is below, and my official score with a breakdown of my scores in each of the six areas will be sent to me in about four weeks.

My boss, Heidi, and my other team member, Kristy, sent me flowers as a congratulations gift at the office and included a very nice note! Pictures are below. I also have received a couple really nice emails from other senior HR staff!

I’m so excited to have this successfully out of my way, so now I can focus on wedding stuff!

Indy's Paw

Somehow Indy managed to get an infection around the nail bed of one of his toes. We don't know how and neither does the vet. We luckily caught in very early on so he's just on antibiotics for a week and anti-inflammatory meds for 4 days. The vet recommended that we soak his paw in epsom salt to help it heal. Indy is basically our world so of course if the vet says to soak his paw that's what we'll do. Eric came up with the idea to soak Indy's paw in one of the jars that his brewing extract comes in. OK, no problem. We got him to lay down and it worked out just fine. Until we realized we were soaking the wrong paw. Yep. His infected paw is his back left and we had his back right in the jar. Go us. 

Anyway, after a few days he's not licking it as much as he was, and it looks like the swelling is going down, so I'm hoping things are getting better. We'll see how it looks come Tuesday to see if we have to go back to the vet, and possibly get a cone of shame.

PHR Update

I take the test on January 20^th and am to the point I’m fearing for my life. There’s just so much information to know and I have no idea how I will remember all of it. If I can pass this and get it over with I will be thrilled and it will be a huge weight off of me personally and professionally. I'm also enjoying the thought of having spare time and some sanity back!

The Holidays

Yet again I’m behind on updates- sorry, people! I have the most random series of pictures, so just bear with me as I do a quick fast forward through our holiday season! 

The house got decorated outside! Albeit 5 weeks ago, but whatever. Here’s the house with our candy cane posts! Also, all the decorations you are seeing for the first time are now down. Sorry. again.

Eric and I opted out of buying each other presents since we’re trying to save for the wedding, so we decided to buy the best coffee maker ever and split the cost. It has a side for brewing a full pot or if just one of us wants coffee there’s a single cup brewer on the other side- we LOVE this thing! We also got a burr grinder so we can buy whole bean coffee and fresh grind it before we brew it. Is it obvious we're coffee people?

I did manage to do some baking, nothing in comparison to last year, but it was just enough to keep the hubby happy.  I made the basics- magic bars, mint sugar snowballs, gingersnaps and kolaczkis. I did not take pictures of the kolaczkis as they weren’t the most photo-worthy cookies ever, but they are yummy! I made an attempt at homemade caramel, and FYI there are high altitude adjustments for candy too. Four years here and I’m still trying to figure out how to account for the elevation! Anyway, the caramel was so hard it was virtually inedible—Oops!

We did get Christmas cards out, at the very last minute, but they still went out. Indy also received his first Christmas card! It was a rawhide card from Eric's parents and it lasted just long enough for me to get one picture of him enjoying it!

Christmas Eve was low key and we spent it with our friends Cody, Trista and their son, Hudson. Eric and Cody cooked a fantastic meal- cioppino (seafood soup) to start, bracciole (Italian beef roast) for the main dish and veggies and potatoes as sides. We had some bananas foster fondue for dessert, which was really good- think Melting Pot good.

Christmas Day we were with Dad’s family in north Denver. Kathy and Jayne made quite the spread! Kathy made a great pork roast, and she saved the ends of the roast for Indy. Needless to say Indy has a new favorite person, and it’s neither Eric nor I. We had tons of food and we celebrated Noah graduating with his degree in Chemistry. I also got to eat potica, or as I always knew it- Grandma’s nutroll, anyway, Billy made quite a bit of it and holy cow have I missed that!

We did open some presents my parents had gotten us before we went to Jayne’s for dinner, and the biggest present was the fondue set below. Yes, I’m serious. Yes, it’s 2011. Yes, we’ll use it. Do not judge us :)

That’s basically it. Sorry we don’t have anything elaborate or exciting to share, but this was quite a low key holiday.