Twisted Tendrils

Me Time

2009-11-04T12:37:00.008-06:00

Hey,

So I kind of got into a funk where I just couldn't think of things to write about. And when I did think of things, I was too lazy to actually post anything. I am kind of an all or nothing person.
I tend to do things in cycles. Like, I will do something for a month and then I am tired of it and won't do it again for a few months. I think this is most evident in my eating habits. I will crave a certain food and eat it a lot, and I do mean a lot, until I am sick of it. Then in a few weeks or months I will crave it again and do the same thing. Lately it has been steak. I think I have eaten steak for dinner 3 out of 5 nights for the past three weeks. Seriously. And I still want it for dinner tonight...

Mostly though I think I just get busy and tend to forget to take time for myself. I swear it is like I forget that I like doing something. Maybe I like too many things? Or I think maybe it is just the lazy thing...

I do like to read, and paint, and make crafts, and go shopping, and do other things. But lately I have kind of been a recluse. I come home from work during the week and I do not want to do anything. I just want to eat and veg out and watch TV or play on the computer. Sometimes I even forget to get on the computer at home. I know I am just hungry and tired and want to relax and that is fine. I mean I know I can go out and do things and missing some TV is not going to kill me. But I think since I made my TV work again at the beginning of this new fall lineup, I have been kind of addicted. Sure I had gotten used to the series on Netflix, but I missed the new shows. I know I could pay more for cable rather than trying to use the converter box for free stations, but I could also live in an apartment that had better reception too, or one that did not require I go through only one company for Internet and phone (who of course are more expensive than other companies and are all complicated and offer bundles but only give you discounts if you buy more than one premium package, when I think I should get a discount on multiple packages no matter that they are the most basic ones, so I refuse to pay more for cable TV, bastards, who thankfully are going out of business later this month and I can now get whoever I want to be my provider so this whole rant is probably useless since I am thinking I will order cable TV from the new company I get to choose). I could do a lot of things, but all I really want is to be able to come home and watch NCIS and Criminal Minds and The Good Wife and The Mentalist and How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory (can you tell that one of the only stations I catch clearly is CBS, but really NCIS and Criminal Minds and CSI were favorites before I had only one channel to watch, though it would be nice to be able to watch Law and Order and House again).

So, Yes, I am a slacker who wants to come home, eat a quick dinner, and watch TV. And I kind of forget to do other things while I am doing that. I am guessing when the current season is over and reruns start playing I will be going out and shopping more and doing other things again. Oh and when Football season is over I will have my weekends back, which will be wonderful. I do love me some football but rearranging your whole fall weekend schedule around games gets kind of old after a while, mostly because though I might be willing to watch the game of the team(s) I like, other people feel compelled to wake up on Saturday and turn the TV on (where yes, he has cable and multiple channels available) and watch College all day Saturday and then NFL all day Sunday and then Monday Night Football too. Some weekends that is fine, but really I just want to watch my two fave teams and hear abouts scores and highlights from all the others, and I definitely do not want to listen to games or commentary in the car on the radio (I pretty much hate, loathe, despise, want to murder talk radio). It will be nice when the Football/Holiday season is over and we can go out for dinner or make plans for Saturday nights again.

So I am pretty much just rambling here. But basically I tend to go all out on things and get really involved in one thing and forget about doing others for a while. I think that I need to keep writing though. If nothing more than just to have a place to come and get some emotions out. I need to remember that I like this community and that as much fun as I have reading other people's blogs, they might like to read about me too, rather than just getting my comments. I will come back, and I will update on my life and things that have happened, and I will answer questions that I said I would answer. And I will still keep this blog a secret from my friends and family for now (though the Penguin did ask me about blogging this past weekend and I told him I had one but hadn't posted in almost a year, though I did not tell him how to find it, so in a way we can thank him for making me think about my blog and making me want to post again).

Things are going...and I want to talk about them, well write about them, here. See you again soon!

Ahoy Mateys

2009-02-24T17:04:00.004-06:00

I am alive..... I have not drowned..... yet.....

Here's the thing, I have been lazy, eh hem hem, I mean busy. With my new schedule at work I am no longer working on my own. This means I am watching someone else or working with them. I am sure they do not appreciate not being able to check their gossip websites while I am around just as much as I hate not being able to check my blogs. It is all for a good cause though. I have been chosen to learn about all the parts of my division at work. It is really interesting and I am enjoying it lots. And it should do good things for my career. And it is only until the middle of May. Then I go back to my old job and can work by myself and get lots of stuff done, like reading and keeping up with blogs. Sure I know I could blog from home or on weekends, but honestly I have been too lazy. I have not had things to say lately. And when I do find time to even read blogs at home, somehow I never get around to writing on my own. I am a slacker, and I know it.

So, I suppose I just wanted to say Hello and let you all know I am okay. Fortunately everything is going really well for me right now and it is not something bad causing me not to blog. I will probably not be blogging much for the next few months. I can say I will try to blog more from home but I am not making any promises.

On a good note I did visit a Mall here in Houston for the first time last weekend. I finally went to the Galleria. You know that 3 story mall with all the designer stores and an ice skating rink in it? Yeah that one. I have to say it is not somewhere I would normally shop and all I bought there was candy and a new watch. But it was pretty neat and I can see why it is a tourist attraction. I still prefer the Woodlands Mall closer to my house, but the Galleria is interesting.

Umm and I planted some bulbs on my back porch. I cannot wait for them to grow. They are lovely white Christmas caladiums, you know those white and green elephant ears. Hopefully they sprout soon. Also I will be planting some really gorgeous purple and yellow calla lillies at the house in Louisiana. Go LSU! I hope the Penguin can remember to water them often enough...

So things are good and hope you all are doing well too!

Little Update

2009-02-04T10:27:00.006-06:00

I know I have been a slacker about posting but a lot has been happening lately.

I have been busy at home with family and friends. I went out to dinner with some of my girlfriends Saturday night and I enjoyed the heck out of it. I went all by myself and we had such a good time, I realized I need to do things like that more often.

We are going to remodel our master bathroom at home. I just wanted to do the walls but it seems to have taken on a life of its own. I will be busy with the remodel for a few weeks. I will post more about it later.

At work I was chosen to work on a special project which will be great. It will change my schedule and some travel will be involved but I am looking forward to it. It will be a busy few months coming up.

And one more awesome thing to add to the mix, one of my best friends, Ginger, is having her baby! She just called and said that they are going to induce her today. This is her first baby, and I hope everything goes smoothly.

So life is crazy right now, but I couldn't be happier!

Two Transportation Things

2009-01-22T09:40:00.007-06:00

I just thought I might share some random things that happened to me yesterday.

1. The bus driver told me not to walk in front of the bus, it is not safe.

First please take a look at Diagram #1

I ask you, how the hell else am I supposed to get to the bus? I mean while I understand he meant the fact that I had walked so close in front of the bus but still, I had reasons for that. I mean I would not have had to walk so close in front of the bus if the Moron on her cell phone had not stopped blocking the crosswalk. See instead of walking in the crosswalk like normal I passed behind the Moron's vehicle and therefore my path to get to the bus put me closer to the front of the bus. So according to the Almighty Bus Rules I had passed within some arbitrary amount of feet in front of the bus and therefore deserved a tongue lashing. Though the lashing was polite, eerily so in fact. I tried to tell the driver that I knew I walked in front of the bus, but I had to walk around the Moron on her cell phone whose vehicle we could both clearly see was in the middle of the crosswalk. He just repeated his mantra about it not being safe to walk in front of the bus, somewhat robotically, obviously expecting me to have used my supernatural powers that allow me to walk through solid objects like cars. I pointed to the lady again and got the same exact reply. At this point I did not feel like arguing with the robot bus driver any longer and found a seat.

But my real question is how the hell am I supposed to get to the bus without walking in front of it?!?!?! I walk in front of the bus every day to get on it. No other driver has ever robotically told me to not walk in front of the bus. Also we were sitting at a freaking RED light and I knew the bus was not going to be running me over for at least another 20 seconds, the flashing crosswalk lights told me so. And also it is obvious the bus driver still saw me, I mean he had to see me to tell me to be safe. So really what was the point of telling me it is not safe to walk in front of the bus when I obviously have to walk in front of the bus to get on it, and also the fact that you saw me and would not have run over me just for the hell of it, and also that the little red flashing hand that gives me 20 more seconds to cross the street had not even started flashing and I was already across the street! What was the point other that to say it with so much sugar in your voice and repeat yourself twice just to annoy the freaking hell out of me and make the end of my day frustrating. Why bus driver did you feel the need to be such a nice asshat and ruin my ride home?

2. People who work on Hummers do not always drive Hummers.

I was driving by the Hummer dealership on my way home and saw an employee leaving for the evening and he was not driving one of these

Instead he was in fact driving something more like this.

I have no idea why this made me laugh so very hard, it just did. And yes he was an employee, or at least I am pretty sure because he was in uniform. Though it might have been a uniform for some other job, and he was just a guy in a crappy car looking to improve his manhood by purchasing a Hummer. Either way, the visual it created was freaking hilarious.

I hope you have more hilarious transportation encounters than annoying ones today!

What to Eat, Sometimes...

2009-01-15T10:59:00.005-06:00

I love when reading other blogs gives me ideas for new posts of my own. I was reading Kaila over at Shooting-A-Bird and her post about what a boy eats just made me laugh out loud. It reminded me exactly of the Penguin's picky eating. Her son, the Great White Lizard Hunter and the Penguin are both picky eaters with the added quality of randomness thrown in. I mean it is not necessarily the food that is the problem but rather the form of the food or the combinations.

I present to you some fine examples of just how random the Penguin's eating habits are.

Nacho Cheese: Yes
Jalapenos on Nachos: No
A bowl of Queso: Yes
Queso with Jalapenos in it: Sure, probably won't even notice them
A Cheeseburger: No Way!
Cheese on a Taco: Not even!
Cheese on a Sandwich or Wrap: Nope!
Cheese Steak sandwich from Waffle House: 1 Slice of Cheese
Cheesy Potato Skins: Yes
Cheese on a Baked Potato: Not really
Sour Cream on my Scalloped Potatoes: Has to have it!
Sour Cream on a Baked Potato: Not so much
Sour Cream on Potato Skins: Definitely
Sour Cream on a Taco: No Way
Stuffed Potato's with lots of Sour Cream and Cheese: Awesome!
Mac & Cheese: Not really
Pasta Alfredo: Loves It!
Raw Broccoli: Yes, Please!
Raw Cauliflower: With Ranch!
Cooked Broccoli or Cauliflower: No Way
Raw and Cooked Onions: Yes
Raw and Cooked Bell Peppers: Raw Please

Okay I am tired of thinking of these, but I am sure you get the point by now. My Penguin is a picky eater to say the least. I remember when I first met him how confused I was by the randomness that applied to consuming cheese. But eventually I figured it out, sort of. I have to say he is at least open to trying new things. Even if that means he will not order it for himself, but rather take a bite of mine. During our first few months together I kept trying to get him to go out and eat pasta with me but was never successful. Then one day at Chili's I tried the Pasta Alfredo. He took a bite and liked it so much he ended up eating more of my meal than I did. When I met him he also did not eat sour cream, but obviously that has grown on him too.

I think that I am now starting to understand why he is so picky about things. It is not necessarily the food, but the texture. He likes raw vegetables but not cooked ones because then they are mushy. He likes cheese and sour cream but not on a sandwich or anything like that. And honestly I get the texture thing. I don't mind eating chips and a sandwich together but do not even try to put lettuce on my sandwich that still has the crunchy part in it. I do not care what people say, the white/core part of lettuce is bitter and too crunchy for me. Texture is definitely something I understand. So I suppose we all have our preferences when it comes to food. Though some people are a little weirder than others...

Anyway, that was my randomness for the day. It may be a little difficult to find foods for picky eaters, but it is possible. If someone served you your favorite foods rather than something you refuse to eat, won't you be happy? I know I get frustrated when someone close to me, who I know I have told numerous times about my dislike for something, offers and/or serves it to me anyways. And conversely when someone remembers my dislike for a certain food or drink I am quite flattered. So while learning and remembering someone's food preferences can be difficult, it's worth it to make them feel comfortable. I think that we all try to remember the likes and dislikes of our loved ones.

So happy Love Thursday everyone, I hope someone out there loves you enough to remember the things you hate.

16 Things

2009-01-06T15:40:00.006-06:00

I have noticed lately that a few bloggers like hokgardner have been posting 16 random things about themselves. Since I am not cool enough to be tagged and hokgardner invited everyone to tag themselves I think I will.

So here are 16 completely random things about me

1. I fret over minor decisions but make big ones without thinking. Such as the time I changed my undergrad major one day, or the time I accepted a job in another state...

2. I was the youngest graduate in my Master's Degree Program at the age of 23. I graduated from undergrad and grad school in December both times.

3. I live alone for the first time in my life, and I left my family and boyfriend behind in another state to be here. Needless to say, I drive home often.

4. I like cooked onions, but not raw ones.

5. I got a new cell phone a year or so ago but still use my 5 year old one instead because it has a better battery life and I can charge it in the car easily.

6. The boyfriend and I like to go camping. We went 4 times last year. We tend to get sunburned whenever we go, and you think we would have learned to bring sunscreen by now.

7. My favorite candies are those with caramel and chocolate. I have recently rediscovered Milky Ways and I am in trouble...

8. I tend to eat food in cycles. I get cravings for something and will eat it every day for a week or so and then not again for months. Also my cravings are for crunchy, salty, cheesy, and other adjectives rather than a specific food.

9. My boyfriend once ran over my foot with the car. Amazingly it did not break and all I had was a really funky bruise. It is fine now, except sometimes shoes fit one foot fine and hurt the other, which makes finding shoes all the more difficult.

10. My favorite colors are Black and Blue. I do not however like being Black and Blue.

11. Caffeine gives me headaches rather than making them go away. I dearly would like to drink coffee and coke more often...

12. I have 2 tattoos. The first one I still love, the second I settled for and I will have it removed or added to later on.

13. My hair is turning grey already, I am only 25. My mom greyed really early too. I told my boyfriend about my grey hair a year ago and he told me he didn't care, he has been balding since high school, and he could care less about our hair. He makes me comfortable and I know it will be good to grow old together, even if we do age prematurely.

14. I am a really good shot with a gun. During summer camp I achieved some of the highest rankings there were, I even shot a smiley face once. One time I out-shot an old boyfriend and he got pretty mad, I am glad the current boyfriend thinks its cool that I can shoot.

15. I am not fussy when it comes to my appearance. I can usually be out the door in 5 minutes or less and it kind of annoys me when other people take so long.

16. I really like bowls. I have at least 5 large mixing bowls at my apartment and probably 8 at the house in Baton Rouge. I am not sure what is is about a good size bowl, but I keep wanting to buy more and I clearly do not need any.

So there you have it, 16 completely random things about me. I hope it is at least somewhat interesting to you or makes you laugh at least once. Feel free to tag yourself and let me know 16 things about you.

25 and Feeling Fine

2009-01-05T14:18:00.003-06:00

Today I am one quarter of a century old. Yes, today I turn 25. So it really is a New Year for me, a whole new year of life.

I have to say I am in a pretty good place right now. I am happy with the way my life is going. 2008 was a pretty good year but I have a feeling 2009 will be better. I don't feel like doing any reflecting really or over-analyzing of anything, I just want to be happy where I am. So far I have been successfully happy. That is really my only goal/resolution for the year; I want to be happy. I want to start making the best of everyday situations and having a more relaxed attitude. I want to say no to things I would rather not do and focus only on what is necessary and beneficial to me and my family. I am going to focus on the positive and try to block out the negative. I really just need to make myself take the time for myself. I am going to make it a point to just sit down more and let other people take care of things. I am going to make the most of peaceful, content moments.

Even though I know this won't last the whole year, it probably won't even last for the next few weeks, I am going to be happy right now in this moment knowing that I want a good outlook on the year to come.

Here's hoping you and yours are off to a good start as well.

Bang, Pop, Crackle, Fizz

2008-12-31T22:50:00.001-06:00

Happy New Years Eve!

All I Want for Christmas...

2008-12-29T12:52:00.010-06:00

All I want for Christmas is the two things I said I wanted and didn't get.

That makes sense right?

Did this happen to anyone else? Does anyone else feel kind of gypped right about now? Did anyone else go through months of trying to find the right presents for their family because they knew it would make people happy? Did anyone else not even get what they asked for but rather got something useful and boring, or nothing at all? Did anyone else watch people open presents from you and scream with joy and then open your own present and go wtf?

Yeah that was my Christmas. I feel kind of bad for complaining about what I did get. I feel downright grinchish. I mean I know that there are plenty of people who could not afford presents for Christmas this year. I wish everyone had the chance to have a wonderful Christmas. I am sure plenty of people would absolutely adore the things I got. And actually I do like the things I got, I like them bunches. I just... well... I wanted what I asked for or something else fun and present-like. Some things are great and while you want them, you do not want them to be your Christmas present. Birthday maybe, but not Christmas. I mean granted I do like to cook and so the cooking items I have gotten for the past few years have been quite useful. But there is just something about opening a really big present on Christmas morning only to find a pot inside, woo hoo. I mean now I am all ready to go and slave over the stove and fix a huge meal in my wonderful new pot, thanks let me get right on that for you.

Am I wrong to think Christmas presents should be fun? I mean I know I said I needed a pot like that, but I hadn't actually asked for one. (And yes hypocrite that I am I bought someone a pot for Christmas too, but to be fair he had mentioned wanting one and I got him other gifts as well to offset the boringness of the pot as a present.) I went through a lot of trouble trying to find gifts for my family that were practical as well as fun. I even helped family members figure out what to get each other and bought those things too! Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, I love giving, I love finding the right presents for people, I have a good time doing it. I just wanted at least one cool, sparkly, fun, laugh-out-loud kind of present. And yes I know I may not be the easiest person to buy for, but gift cards are awesome! And this year I actually did have a list of things I wanted, and I showed them to people in person so they would know exactly what I was taking about and where they could get a good deal on it. I even showed them to more than one person to up the odds on actually getting what I wanted, and yet nada.

I am not totally bummed, and this post is not meant to sound like me complaining at all. Actually the Penguin and I had decided that we were going to go shopping for each other after Christmas and try to get some good deals. We just didn't find any good deals on the stuff we wanted. He is actually in the process of trying to get me the camera I wanted at a really good price and I am excited about that! And I need to take him shopping and get whatever it is that he wants this weekend coming up.

What this entire post is leading up to is the fact that I went out and bought myself a present that I absolutely adore. Since I did not get it for Christmas and pretty much knew it wouldn't be happening for my birthday either (my birthday is in a week) I went ahead and bought a little something for myself. I went shopping the day after Christmas and my mom was going to meet up with me later in the day. I had plans to show her what I wanted again and ask her if she would buy it as a late Christmas/Early Birthday present. I knew she would get it for me but I just couldn't wait. I walked in the store just to check and make sure they still had one, and then like magic it was on clearance. I mean seriously on clearance, at like 1/3 of the normal price. And it was the last one they had, and it might not be there later if I came back for it. So I bought it! And when I told my mom she said Yay! Merry Christmas! tell me how much it was and I will pay for it. So bonus! It was not only 1/3 of the price, it is actually going to be free for me, and I feel good about saving mom the money. I am so happy about my purchase! And trust me if you got such a great deal on the ring you have been wanting for months you would be happy too.

See? See how gorgeous it is! I love it! It is getting sized as I write this and I can pick it up in a couple of days. I am very happy with it. I might even wear it on my left hand just to mess with people! But probably not.

So I hope you got all you wanted for Christmas, even if you have to go out and buy it for yourself!

P.S. If you like the ring too, I got it for $62 at the store in the mall. I am not promising it will still be on sale for that price but that is much cheaper than the website price right now!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T23:18:00.003-06:00

I hope you and yours are having a wonderful holiday. I know that I am having a good time. I know I have been so wrapped up in the holiday preparedness and excitment that I have not been around lately, but that is not such a bad thing. In fact I have been quite happy. The food, family, friends and fun have been pretty darn good. I hope you are happy wherever you are, with or without the internet. Enjoy what you love.

Merry Christmas!

Snow!!!

2008-12-11T16:59:00.007-06:00

It snowed here in Houston last night!

I can't believe it, we never get snow this far south. I am also quite jealous of my friends and family back home in Louisiana. The penguin reported 4 to 5 inches of snow in our yard and I was not there to see it, or play in it, or make a giant snowman, or anything. I so would have done all those things if I had a yard full of snow! Boohoo for me.

See this is a picture of the state capitol building in Baton Rouge.

I am still loving the inch or so I got here in Houston but I wish I could have been home for what was happening in Louisiana. And for you people up north, do not rain on my parade. I have lived in southern Louisiana my entire life and only seen snow once when I was like 5 years old and even then you had to roll up the entire front and back yard to even think about making a snowman. This is exciting for me! So I went outside once the snow started collecting on the ground and made a snowman for the first time in my life. Isn't he cute!

Yes, seriously, that is the first time I have ever made a snowman or played in the snow. I had no idea what the snow would feel like or how soft it would be. I mean I even tried drawing in the snow without realizing it wouldn't make straight lines. How was I supposed to know that?

I do like the effect the jagged lines made though.

So while it is not Christmas yet, it sure does feel like it. I had a wonderful time playing in the snow. I would never want to live where it snows a lot, but I enjoyed my one white night.

Green and Fuzzy

2008-12-10T09:18:00.005-06:00

This year I decided to be all earthy and try to grow my own tomatoes and cucumbers. I think those are my two favorite veggies and it is so much cheaper to grow your own. Plus my dad eats more tomatoes than I do so I knew when they started ripening like 20 at a time they would not go to waste. That is how I came to have cucumber and tomato plants on my porch. I suppose if I had been smart about it I might have put them at the house where they would get more sun and rain, but I knew I would be at my apartment to water and care for them. So I chose plants that said they were good container plants. I planted them and was creative with the stakes and climbing devices I used. I gave them good soil and miracle grow snacks with plenty of water. And they started growing, and Growing, and GROWING. The plants got huge! There was a caterpillar who decided the young tomato plants were yummy but I caught and disposed of him before he did too much damage. The tomato plants continued to grow, well over the height of my current cage contraption and I had to lean them up against the wall. The cucumber plants were making so many darn yellow flowers I thought I was going to have a bazillion of them. And the tomato plant made a modest 6 flowers or so, but that was okay it was still early.

Then there never were any actual little cucumbers that grew from all those freaking flowers. Not a One! And of course no tomatoes either. So of course the next thing that happened was all the cucumber plants started dying, one by one. I had like 12 of them in there so I wasn't too worried until only 1 was left alive. But then it started to make flowers again, lots of flowers and I thought well this time I should get some cucumbers. Nope. Nada. Niet. So I let that one straggler die off too. By this time it was getting really late in the season for anything to happen and the veggies would have no chance to ripen before the first freeze. But the tomato plants were still so pretty, and so fragrant. So I kept watering them. And lo, they did make a few more flowers, but never any little green tomatoes. So when I realized it was definitely too late for them to get a chance to ripen if any tomatoes actually grew, I stopped watering them and just left them to die. See?

The dead cucumber plants are in the background and you can see how droopy the tomato plants are. And what do you think happened? Well they made more flowers of course! So I mumbled and cursed under my breath but I knew they wouldn't make any tomatoes.

Then this past weekend I walked outside to wash some clothes and noticed this

Do you see that! Do you know what time of the year it is? Don't they know its way too freaking late to even start thinking about growing! I wanted to scream. Instead I told the plant to just *&#% off. I mean come on! I couldn't get normal tomato plants like Barb from So The Thing Is, no I had to get some degenerate plants who are confused about what season it is. I mean notice that the date on this first tomato post of Barb's is July 29th and they are ripe already! Mine don't start growing till the beginning of December, never mind when they would ripen since we will never know. My plants decide to start growing during a time when the temperatures are somewhere near freezing. And I planted them early I swear! Green and fuzzy just does not work at a time when things need to be all warm and cozy because it is freezing outside. And they are fuzzy, which is quite amusing.

The Penguin just happened to be at my place when I told the tomato plant to *&#% off. I told him that next year I was putting the plants at his house so that they don't get all confused with their seasonal orientation. He told me I could do that if I wanted as long as I didn't blame him if he killed them. I guess I will have to wait until I have my own yard before I can have a decent veggie crop. Such is my life!

I guess you have to try and kill something before it fights back. But it is just too little, too late in the year...

P.S. Yes, I know I spell it tomato in singular form and tomatoes in plural form. I like the way it looks with the 'e' in it just not at the end of it. This is normal right?

Making a List...

2008-12-09T15:59:00.003-06:00

Christmas is almost here! It feels like it is the day after tomorrow, though I know I still have 2 weeks to get ready. I have shifted into full gear Holiday Mode and can think of nothing but the prep work for the holiday and making sure we have all the presents and food and schedules ready. I am quite enjoying myself though. I tend to be one to make gifts that are useful rather than just buying random knickknacks, you know those ones no one wants and opens the gift already thinking about how long they will have to wait before they can re-gift it. So I am in the process of painting a picture for my future in-laws new home. I will post photos of it when I am done. I think it will be quite nice and I think they will appreciate it. I also usually make candles for presents. But this year I just don't feel as enthused about it as I normally do. I suppose that is because I have been doing it for a few years now and it seems like I should give something different this year. Plus I just feel like I won't have the time I want to be able and make them all. I might make a few, but not enough for everyone. I have decided instead to go with another home-made gift like mixes in a jar. I remembered something my mom used to make called Fireside Coffee. It is a hot chocolate and coffee blend which is absolutely yummy. I think I am going to get jars and make a few batches of the Fireside Coffee to give out this year. I tend to also have a few generic gifts waiting like some home-made cookies or ChexMix or something simple I can give out just in case we forget anyone.

So I have made my list and checked it more than twice. I am getting together all my supplies and starting to make all the gifts. It is times like this when I know I chose gift-friendly hobbies. Not to say that things like knitting are not good gift giving hobbies, on the contrary knitting is great for gift-giving, but you can tell by reading hokgardner, barb and madmad that you have to start way earlier than I have to be able to finish everyone's present in time for Christmas. My mother is an avid knitter and fiber enthusiast and every year I think maybe I should make a few scarves for Christmas presents this year, and then I don't. I love reading the knitting posts and quite admire the women who find the time and energy to make so many wonderful and individual presents. Maybe one day I will succumb to the forces that have so obviously claimed my mother, but for now I am happy with having her reteach me every time I want to make something.

I hope you are not too frazzled right now and your gift giving agenda is pretty simple.
I am off to make more presents!

Getting All Dolled Up

2008-12-03T10:27:00.005-06:00

Last night I went out and bought earrings and lipstick and stockings. I also bought some of those nifty new Dr. Scholls inserts for heels. I am getting ready for the Great Big Christmas Party at work, can't you tell? I already have a dress, and the sweater to go over it, and the pearls that make the dress look fancy enough to wear to this, and two pair of shoes to choose from. I also have all the necessary hair products to make me look sophisticated rather than like I stuck my finger in a light socket. Oh and I bought a new perfume which I absolutely adore. I think I am pretty much set unless I decide I need a slip or one of those shaper things to go under the dress.

I also have all of the Penguin's stuff with me. All except the belt. I just need to drop his pants off at the cleaners tonight. I was not allowing him to forget to bring anything like his shoes or dress socks or even the whole jacket. I also wanted a say in what matched and what was appropriate. I want this weekend to go smoothly. I want us to have fun and not worry about anything.

This is the first Great Big Christmas Party I have ever attended. Sure I have gone to Christmas parties before but they were always small and at someone's home. This is my first year working with a big enough company to actually be able to attend a Great Big Christmas Party. I am looking forward to it. Even if it is not something the penguin or I would normally do. We are simple people you see. We do not dress up often, if ever. I had to buy a dress for the party and he had to buy a jacket. We do not wear these things, we do not go to events which might require us to wear such things. We are creatures of habit, we like to be comfortable. It probably takes us less than 10 minutes to get ready and walk out the door any other time. I so rarely wear makeup that I just remembered it is not at my house and I hope the Penguin remembers to pack it or I will have to go buy more. I am okay with the dress, I need one for such times where dressing up is important. And the Penguin is okay with the jacket. We opted for a jacket instead of a tie since I knew he would be more comfortable, it had nothing to do with the fact that last time we tried to tie a tie on him we were horribly unsuccessful, but after remembering that fact I am so very glad we decided on a jacket and no tie. And the jacket is a non-traditional suede which suits his personality so well, we love it.

I have no idea how well we will match as a couple, but honestly I do not care that much. I would rather us both be comfortable and like what we are wearing rather than worry about matching. My dress is black and the sweater red, I have red and black strappy shoes to choose from. His jacket is a tan suede which he is wearing with a black shirt and shoes and a pair of green/khaki pants. I cannot say this actually coordinates but I can't say it will look hideous either. I think it will be fine. I know we will be fine at least, other people may disagree but I do not so much care for their opinions. I do however care for yours. Do you think the combo screams ewww mismatched, or will it be fine?

I do so hope we have a good time. I hope we are not so uncomfortable playing dress up that we do not enjoy ourselves. I also hope the food is good. I know it will be good, but really I just hope we are willing to eat it. We are not so much picky eaters as we just have simple tastes. I hope the fancy seasonings and garnishes do not bother us. I am thinking we will be fine as long as we are open minded and I know we can do that. Well I can at least.

Wish us luck!

P.S. The Great Big Christmas Party is Saturday night and I promise to tell you all about it.

Holiday Toilets

2008-11-30T22:55:00.007-06:00

So the Thanksgiving Holiday week is over. I am back home and somewhat ready to go back to work tomorrow. I did lots of shopping and got lots of great things. I made and ate lots of good food. I had a great time with lots of friends and family. And what do I have to show for it? What wonderful things did I take pictures of this past week? Nothing, nothing but toilets. See...
Yeah pictures like that one are all I have to show you about my fabulous week. I am amazing aren't I? I suppose I have sort of a good reason. I totally forgot that I even had my camera with me until last night. I found it in a bag and was so happy because that meant I could take a picture of our toilet. I had good reasons for taking a picture of the toilet. The Penguin's dad is a plumber and we have asked for 2 new toilets for Christmas. Our current ones are yellow and avocado green. They need to be replaced badly. As do the tubs and counter tops and floors and wallpaper and fixtures, but we figure one step at a time. So on Thanksgiving I mentioned to the Penguin's dad that 2 new toilets would still be a great Christmas present. He told me no problem but asked me to look at the toilets and tell him what kind of nut was on them. (I am avoiding all the dirty jokes I could make with that statement, but trust me there were quite a few witty comebacks.) Apparently the shape of the nut tells you what kind of fittings go under the toilet to help seal it to the floor.
I don't know if you can really see that or not but the nut on our toilet is cone shaped. If I got any closer to the nut the pictures came out all blurry like this.
Out of the twenty some odd pictures I took of this nut on the toilet, I only got that one semi-good picture of the nut that I posted before this one. I knew I needed a new camera but this experience really made me sure of that fact. I have already asked Santa for a new one, I even pointed out which one while we were at the mall this weekend. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

The entire point was that our nut is not flat like a normal nut. This means something to the plumber and he wanted to order all the stuff together which I think is awesome. That way we can actually install the toilets when we get them, which would be a good thing.

So yes, those thrilling pictures of my lovely dandelion colored toilet is all I have to show for such a great week. I totally rock!

Unreliable Wireless

2008-11-29T13:00:00.003-06:00

Internet connection is being spotty. Every time I write a post it gets deleted as I try to put it up. I am getting tired of writing it all over again. I suppose this is my cue to get off the computer and just go shopping. Have a good day!

Black Friday

2008-11-28T23:43:00.004-06:00

So I spent the day with the Penguin's mother and sister. We had a quite a good day. We did not wake up early by any means. Matter of fact we were quite lazy, but it worked for us. We did go shopping and it was not absolutely crazy like we were expecting. Then again were were in no hurry at all.

We were successful in finding the cutest strappy red shoes to wear for Christmas parties, with no lines at the checkout, woohoo. We found a few Christmas presents for family. We managed to avoid long lines everywhere we went. I actually had a really good time.

So if you went out shopping today I hope you had a successful trip. I know I enjoyed it more than I dreaded it.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T22:30:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone had a happy Turkey Day.

I hope you had a good time with your families.

I hope everyone is going to bed tonight happy and full,
no matter what you ate for dinner.

I Made Cookies Today

2008-11-26T20:35:00.001-06:00

Spaghetti & Cheese

2008-11-24T22:55:00.001-06:00

I promised that if I was able to find a decent substitute for Velveeta that I would post my recipe for Spaghetti & Cheese. Well luckily I found just such a thing. I was very happy with the way my casserole turned out using this new cheese. I found this wonderful creation:

It is Kraft Deluxe American Cheese. I found it right next to the Velveeta. My only qualm about it is that it only comes in a 1lb loaf when Velveeta comes in 2lbs. I do not really mind the price difference so much since I like the way it tastes. The 1lb loaf means adjusting and having to buy some sliced cheese for the top of the casserole but I can handle that. So as promised here is the recipe.

I used these ingredients

I hope you can see all of that. But here is a list of ingredients you will need. This recipe will make a 9x13 pan and can easily be halved.

1lb Spaghetti

1/2 Onion, diced

1/2 Bell Pepper, diced

1 can Evaporated Milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter
1lb Kraft Deluxe Cheese

1 package Kraft Sliced Cheese

As you can see I don't have a Bell Pepper in my picture of ingredients. I used what I had on hand which happened to be 2 green onions and they worked just fine.

So here is how you put it all together.

Put a pot of water on the stove to boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil, dice 1/2 Onion and Bell Pepper. Once the water comes to a boil throw in the Spaghetti, Onions, and Bell Pepper. I like to break the noodles in half before I add them to the pot, but that is just me. You can add in a spoon of minced garlic as well, I always do. (But I always add garlic to everything, except dessert.) Boiling the noodles with the vegetables gives the noodles a really good flavor and I promise you will like it.

While the noodles are boiling you will need to dice the pound of Kraft cheese. Toss a few cubes in your mouth because you just can't wait. Pour the can of Evaporated Milk into a medium bowl and whisk in the egg. Toss in the cubed cheese and stir together to get the cubes to not stick together so much. Set this aside.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Take your 9x13 baking dish and add the 2 tablespoons of Butter. It helps if you dice up the butter some. Once the noodles are done drain them and then add to your pan. You will more than likely have too many noodles but that is normal. You want to make sure to leave enough room for the cubed cheese mixture so you do not have to fill the pan to the top. Now toss the spaghetti around in the pan until the butter is melted. Once the spaghetti is coated level it out and pour in the cheese mixture. Use the pasta fork to kind of wiggle the noodles so that some of the cheese gets pushed down and isn't all just laying on top of the noodles. You want the level of the liquid to be right at the top of the noodles. If you think the level of liquid is too low you can add some more evaporated milk, or be like me and just add a splash of half and half or milk since you already have some in the fridge. You don't want the noodles to be swimming but you want an adequate amount of sauce, so adjust to your taste. Now take the sliced cheese and cover the top of the pan.

Place the dish uncovered in the oven for 30 minutes. Check on it after about 15 minutes to make sure the cheese on top is not getting too brown. You can always cover it if you don't want browned cheese. After 30 minutes take it out of the oven and be sure to let it cool for about 20 minutes or so. Allowing it to cool lets you cut and serve it easier.

Enjoy the cheesy goodness!

This is what mine looked like when it was done.

I kind of browned it a little too much but it was still yummy. You definitely do not need to brown it this much, I made it in two small pans and it cooked faster than I was expecting. If you do brown it this much don't fret I promise it still tastes great.

And this is what my serving looked like

I was very happy with my results.

So lets recap:

Boil the spaghetti with onion, bell pepper, and garlic.

Put the noodles in a pan with some butter to coat them.

Add in the diced cheese, evaporated milk, and egg mixture.

Cover with sliced cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

It is really pretty simple and you can adjust proportions for your needs. Please use this recipe as more of a guideline and add in whatever else you want. I sometimes add in frozen broccoli with my noodles. You could definitely add other ingredients and make it your own like diced chicken or maybe even spinach. What makes it unique is the use of spaghetti and the fact that it is a casserole. It is really easy and really versatile. Make it special!

P.S. If you do not think Velveeta tastes funny and/or you want to use it because it is cheaper and you only have to buy one cheese, go right ahead. Dice about 1/3 of the loaf for what goes inside the casserole. Use a cheese slicer and the rest of the loaf for the cheese which covers the top. One 2lb loaf of the Velveeta will be more than enough for one recipe.

P.P.S. The type of noodle you use will affect how dry or wet the casserole turns out. We normally use spaghetti and I remembered the first time we used angel hair it was soupier. If you use more of a fettuccine I can say it will be more solid.

P.P.P.S. You can make this ahead of time and keep in the fridge until you need it. Just make sure to have a little less milk in it if you want to do this so that it is not too runny.

Color me Black

2008-11-23T11:33:00.005-06:00

It has been a pretty good weekend. I am ready for the coming holiday. I am ready for cold weather. I am ready because I got a wonderful black pea coat yesterday. It looks a little something like this:

I love this coat. I have been wanting a pea coat for years now. Seriously I have always adored pea coats and been envious of the really nice ones. I just never could make myself break down and buy one, they were too pricey. Well I finally found one I liked. And it was on sale! I got it for about $75 and was sooooo happy. It is black, does the whole double breasted thing as pea coats do, and has this "belt" around the middle which is sewed directly onto the coat so I don't have to worry about losing it. I quite adore it.

I took it out of the closet today to pack for my trip home for thanksgiving. And I noticed something was not quite right. They left the freaking security device on the coat, you know the ones you can't remove on your own because they have the dye in them and will explode all over you and ruin your clothes and make you look like you just robbed a bank? Yeah one of those, still on the coat. I was not happy. Now I have to go back to another store on my way home today and hope that they will take it off. I hope I can find the receipt! Anyways, I started to think about how they could have left this on my coat, I mean this has never happened to me at this store before. Well the lady who was checking me out was a little older and really nice and was all chatting me up and we had some trouble with my gift card and she got distracted, which is totally acceptable. But she was not even the one who bagged my coat. Another person, a manager I think, came over to help with the gift card and then proceeded to bag my coat for me. So I had to laugh at the fact that two people missed this security thingy. I am not however laughing at the prospect of having to go out of my way to get to another store to have the device removed. It is in such a spot that I cannot wear the coat without it being noticed. So I have to find a store to remove it before I can wear it. I was so looking forward to wearing it, like today.

Oh well, such is my life.

Tired Equals Meme

2008-11-22T22:10:00.003-06:00

Today was great.

We ate Breakfast here:

And went shopping at an outlet mall and La-Z-Boy.

Then we ate lunch here:

Then we went shopping here:

And I got lots of neato kitchen gadgets.

Then I went shopping here and here:

Then I made french bread pizzas for dinner. And now I am too pooped to come up with anything else good to write so...I am going to do a meme. I stole this one word meme from hokgardner because I liked how simple it was. My brain needs simple right now.

Where is your cell phone? pocket

Where is your significant other? home

Your hair color? brown

Your mother? knitter

Your father? cook

Your favorite thing? home

Your dream last night? none

Your dream/goal? happiness

The room you’re in? living

Your hobby? reading

Your fear? loneliness

Where do you want to be in 6 years? together

Where were you last night? Houston

What you’re not? perfect

One of your wish-list items? ring

Where you grew up? country

Last thing you did? packed

What are you wearing? jeans

Your TV? tiny

Your pet? boyfriend

Your computer? ancient

Your mood? sleepy

Missing someone? Penguin

Your car? reliable

Something you’re not wearing? shoes

Favorite store? Wal-Mart

Your summer? crazy

Love someone? duh

Your favorite color? royal

When is the last time you laughed? tonight

Last time you cried? Wednesday

Shopping Trip

2008-11-21T22:09:00.004-06:00

My parents are in town for the weekend. They do not get to come visit me often and I am glad they could make it. We are going shopping! The main purpose of this visit is to make a trip to IKEA tomorrow. They have never been before and I think they will like it. I know I am going mainly for cool kitchen gadgets but I think we will enjoy the whole place. So this post is short because I was busy at work today, cleaned up when I got home, then took my parents to dinner. And now I am going to bed. But I am going to bed happy, dreaming of IKEA.

P.S. My spaghetti and cheese turned out well, mother approved, and I promise to post the recipe with pictures soon!

Love Flowers!

2008-11-20T22:11:00.004-06:00

This made me smile today!

One thing you should know about the Penguin is that he is a very practical person. He likes things to make sense. Flowers do not make sense to the Penguin. According to him they are a waste because all they do is die and you have to throw them out. Why give someone something that will only last a few days and then die? I tried to explain that it doesn't matter that they die, it matters how they make a person feel. But you know he has a pretty good point with the whole dying thing. Anyhoo, I have come to expect that the penguin does not give nonsensical gifts but instead prefers things that are tangible. But every now and then he does something that makes no sense at all, and I love him for it. (The first flower he ever gave me was a fake rose from the grocery store, a little bent, with the price tag still attached. I had asked him to pick up parmesan cheese for dinner and he was on his motorcycle so he had to put it in his backpack. So of course he chose this night to get me a flower, a fake one so that it would never die of course!, and so he had to bend it to get it to fit in his backpack. And I loved it! It is still on my table at home.) But anyway the point was that a few weeks ago we were out of town and visiting some friends of his. We were all out dancing when I suddenly noticed the Penguin was not beside me anymore. He snuck back up behind me and put a single rose in front of me. I turned around and smiled. He never does things like this, but he is a gentleman after all. So of course there was not only one rose but three, one for each lady there. And he succeeded in his mission to make all of us smile and make all of us feel special. These were not the freshest roses, the temperature was quite cold, we had no place to put them, nor water to put them in, and we had to carry them around the rest of the night. So by all measures this was something that did not make much sense. But he did it anyway because he knew we would like it. And I did like it. I liked it a lot. So much that even though I forgot the rose on the dashboard of the car overnight and through the next day, that I put it in my car to take home with me rather than throwing it away. I think leaving it in the car all day dried it out super fast and it did not mold or anything. So I still have it, it still makes no sense at all, and it still makes me smile!

Happy Love Thursday Everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-19T21:30:00.001-06:00

The Cheesiest!

2008-11-18T16:30:00.002-06:00

Remember rolling your eyes at your grandparents or your parents when they would tell you how different things used to be? I am not talking about the cliche where they say they walked 5 miles to school, in the snow, uphill both ways. I am talking about when people say they just don't make things like they used to. I have to say that I am able to say that about a few things nowadays. I mean crayons for one thing. Crayons were better when I was younger. Now they are too waxy and you cannot color smoothly. I laughed when I thought about how crotchety I sounded saying that when I was younger they made things better.

But honestly things change over time. Things change due to laws like McDonald's french fries being done in different oil now. Things change due to trying to cut costs. Things change to try and accommodate more people.

Has anyone else noticed a change in this?

You can ignore the Spiderman, I just chose a good picture from google images and wound up with him on my cheese box. But seriously, Velveeta has changed. In the past few years they did something to it so that it no longer needs to be refrigerated. I swear it is a darker yellow now, like almost orange. It used to be a bright yellow. But you knew it was fake processed cheese and you never cared that it was bright ass yellow. Now it is orangey, like you already left it out to harden, except you didn't. And it just doesn't taste the same. I am not sure what makes it taste funny now, it just does. I really noticed it last Thanksgiving when we made the traditional spaghetti and cheese. It tasted strange. I thought it might just have been because my Velveeta was pretty old so I brushed it off. But then the next time I bought Velveeta my casserole came out funny again. I thought it might have been the off brand frozen broccoli until I remembered the Thanksgiving snafu. I gave Velveeta another shot though because the processed cheese just melts better. And it still tastes funny. This makes me really sad. I love spaghetti and cheese and it just won't be the holidays without it. So I have a new mission to find alternative cheeses with which to make our traditional casserole. I will be going to the grocery and looking for other cheeses and/or other ways to make the cheese melt smoothly. I am determined to make a decent spaghetti and cheese without Velveeta. I would rather have it taste too cheesy because I used real cheddar than taste sort of metallic like the Velveeta. If I am successful I will post the recipe here. It is pretty simple, and yummy to boot!

Is there something that has changed in your lifetime that makes you want to scream at the manufacturer to start making it the old way again?

Those things you wear on your feet...

2008-11-17T21:04:00.003-06:00

I have a hole in my sock. On the right foot. On the inside of my foot near the toe. I have no idea how you can have a hole right there. Also, I just noticed the pair of socks on my bathroom floor has holes too. Lots of little holes in the heel. Again, I think it was my right foot sock. Those holes I understand better. They happen if I wear older socks with my crocs. I have to wear socks with my crocs or else my feet feel sticky and I cannot handle that. But crocs tend to destroy my socks. I feel like I am reading a Dr. Seuss book with the crocs and the socks and the box and the lox...

Perhaps it is time for new shoes which do not eat my socks. Nah, that would be too much trouble. I can never find shoes that fit right. Ever, I mean EVER. Well maybe once every couple of years or something. My feet are short. Seriously, like I measure a size 6 and a half. But I can wear anywhere from a size 7 to a 9. I usually wear an 8 or 8 and a half. But why you say? Well my feet are wide. And therefore I need a bigger shoe so my foot fits and my toes can wiggle and breathe. But then the arch of the shoe is never in the right place so the shoe feels funny. Or maybe the shoe fits perfect on my right foot and I fall in love until I try on the left one and scream in pain when I stand up. See the Penguin ran over my foot with the car a couple of years ago and my foot has just never been the same. That is a story for another time but suffice it to say it has only made finding shoes that much more difficult.

I think I shall just buy new socks. It will be cheaper. And it will make me feel better. Nice, new, thick, comfortable, really thick, white socks. The kind you get in big packs with grey heels. I think I need two packs of those. Or maybe even 3. Maybe I need the short ones I like and some long ones for winter. Cold wind blowing up the jeans is a no no.

Yes, I think new socks are in order. Thick, warm socks. The kind that make you feel good when you put them on. I think this time of year calls for good socks. And I do not feel like waiting till New Year's for Christine to bring them, I will go and buy them myself.

Cookies and Cat Butt

2008-11-16T10:03:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a good day. It was also a sad day. One of my good friends, Veggie Librarian is moving. Her husband got a new job in August and had to move. For various reasons she wanted to find a new job and/or be closer to him. She has finally found a job which will allow her to live in the same house as her husband again and she jumped on it. I cannot say I blame her. If my job here was not so awesome I would find any job to be able to move back with the Penguin in a heartbeat. So while I am happy for my friend, I am sad to see her go. We helped to load up what was left in the Uhaul yesterday morning. I gave her a present of cookies and this

Before you think I am totally wacko, she has 4 cats. Veggie and her husband do not have children yet and they love those cats as if they were babies. I had the honor of cat-sitting a few times when they went home to Tennessee for holidays and vacations. So when I saw this at the bookstore last weekend I just had to get it for her. If nothing else it will helped her to laugh a little on a day when I know she needed it. And it smells like hyacinth, not cat-butt. I figure she can hang it in the car or hang it on a doorknob at the new place. Hopefully when she sees it she will smile and think of me and call me. I do so want to stay in touch. And seeing each other will be even less frequent than it is now. For various reasons I just do not see our paths crossing that much. But I will have another place to visit. And she always has a place to stay with me.

I will miss her, but I know she will be happy, and that is what counts.

Happy Merry ChristmaHanaKwanzika and Festivus to you!

2008-11-15T09:29:00.001-06:00

The Holidays are here! The Holidays are here! Can you tell how exicted I am!?!

I do so love the Holidays. And I declare that they are here. Thanskgiving is soon enough with Christmas and New Year's soon to follow. Along with all those other holidays added in if you are of various religons and ethnicities. I am happy. My whole demeanor has changed for the happier. Thinking of the holidays just makes me smile and feel all warm and cozy. I am already planning out what foods to make for Thanksgiving. I am already making my Christmas List so I can start getting presents together. I like to give. I like my family. I like tradition. Therefore I really love the Holidays because it gives me a chance to do it all.

I hope everyone else is as happy as I am about the Holidays. I hope you are able to visit everyone you want to visit and can balance the Holiday family schedule without hassle. I hope you get good home-cooked meals, traditional or not. I hope you get along with your families and no one gets too drunk or starts a fight. I hope you are not stressing about money or presents and you have all that you need. I hope that you make some new memories that help you look forward to future holidays. I hope that everything goes exactly as you want.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I love Fridays!

2008-11-14T08:12:00.001-06:00

Today is Friday.
It is my day off.
I am going to be home.
I am going shopping with my mother.
We will buy all sorts of great things.
Hopefully a pretty new dress for my Christmas party next month.
Hopefully some trinkets from bargain stores.
Possibly some early Christmas presents.
We will eat lunch in a resturant where I used to work.
We will have great Lebanese food.
We will shop some more.
We will look at new cars.
We will look at new buildings.
We will get take-out for dinner.
The mall has the best Chinese food!
We will go home.
I will go home to the Penguin baring gifts of wonderful Chinese food.
I will make yummy yummy chocolate chip cookies for friends.
I will eat some for myself, warm out of the oven, with ice cold milk.
I will watch trash on TV.
I will go to bed happy.

Do Bee Do Bee Dooo

2008-11-13T15:12:00.004-06:00

I was sitting in my cube at work this afternoon and I looked over to see this,

(Well okay, not specifically this stuffed penguin, but this one was as close as I could find to the one I have without taking my own picture and I am lazy like that.)

And I bet you might be wondering why exactly I have a stuffed penguin in my cube. The answer to that is simple. We had this really fun class at work a few weeks ago and we all got to take a stuffed animal home with us. All the stuffed animals were marine life, to support the theme of the class, and I picked the penguin. He was by far the cutest one there. He is also really soft and cuddly. I have yet to take him home with me so he currently resides in a raised file tray in the corner of my cube. And honestly I think he might stay here. He makes me smile when I see him.

He makes me smile for a few reasons actually. The first is obviously that he is so cute and cuddly. The way the orange is sewn onto his beak makes him look like he is smiling. The second reason is a little more personal. I smile because the penguin also reminds me of my boyfriend. Odd you say? Not really. And no he does not resemble a penguin, thank goodness. (Though I am not so sure resembling a penguin would actually be bad. I have no intention of offending anyone who's significant other actually looks like a penguin, I am sure they are quite handsome.) The penguin reminds me of him because lately he has taken up the habit of saying Do Bee Do Bee Dooo, you know like that Bud Ice Penguin.

Oh come on you remember him, I know you do. He was in some super bowl commercials a few years back. You remember the Bud Ice Penguin right? If not, watch that video the link brings you to. (Yes, I suck and could not get the embed thing to work, deal with it, follow the link.)

Actually now I am starting to make myself feel old, which should not be possible. Apparently the Bud Ice Penguin was in super bowl commercials in 1996! I would have never guessed it was over 10 years ago. But I guess the good part is that since I feel old, you don't have to. So no one else gets to feel old because these commercials are from over a decade ago, everyone just gets to laugh at me for being so silly. Ha ha ha ha. All better right!?! I thought so. Also I thought I remembered the Bud Ice Penguin being cuter. I did not remember that in those commercials the penguin was scary and evil and plotting to steal the Bud Ice. The commercials kind of give me the heeby-jeebies. Okay so maybe I shouldn't have looked up those commercials and just kept my flawed but oh-so-much-better memory in my head. Sorry for planting evil Bud Ice Penguin memories in your head too.

Rainbows and butterflies and kittens and puppies and chocolate and shopping and money.....

There all better.

Okay so the cute, cuddly, soft, stuffed penguin in my cube reminds me of my wonderful, handsome, adorable boyfriend. Yes, that is much better. The penguin reminds me of him because he has taken to saying Do Bee Do Bee Dooo. He says it quite randomly, almost like a filler. He says it when our phone conversations stall. He says it while we are watching TV and a commercial comes on. He says it when we are riding in the car and not talking. Basically anywhere there is a lull he might unexpectedly burst out in Do Bee Do Bee Dooos. And it is quite silly and adorable. And it makes me laugh. And it makes me smile. I love the randomness of it. And it makes me love him more.

So today the penguin makes me smile because it reminds me of my boyfriend being silly and trying to make me happy. Happy Love Thursday everyone! I hope you all find something to make you smile today.

P.S. I am also happy because I have the day off tomorrow.

P.P.S. I think I figured out R's new name! From now on he will be referred to as the Penguin. Now if only I could settle on one for myself...

Not so wordless Wednesday

2008-11-12T13:26:00.004-06:00

I would love to just post a picture. But then you wouldn't understand my meaning for posting it. So it can't be a completely wordless Wednesday.

There is this slight anomaly in my life right now where R and I live in different states. So during the week I am all by myself. Which sometimes I absolutely love. But sometimes being alone here makes me miss him more than I know what to do with. Lately I have been really missing him. So here is a picture from a recent vacation. Gosh, I want to be with him right now...

Call Me Ishmael

2008-11-11T07:39:00.004-06:00

I have decided that I like this blogging thing. I like it and I like the outlet it gives me. I like it and I don't want to share it.

To this point my blog has been pretty anonymous. I have decidedly not put my real name on this blog. I have also decidedly not put anyone else's real name on my blog. This is not to avoid stalkers or anything like that. I have not told anyone in my real life about this blog. I do not want to share it.

Though to be fair I have been using real initials for people, including myself. And today I decided that should stop. Today I decided that I want to make darn sure no one in my real life could look at this blog and recognize the initials and go oh hey this is her blog. I don't want a friend or family member or coworker to walk up to me and go are you K? I want to keep my anonymity. I want to keep my blog separate from people I know.

I suppose you could say that I am hiding. And in a way I am. But I just do not want to have to deal with all the drama I think would come from people in my life reading my blog. I do not want to feel like I have to censor myself or tiptoe around subjects being afraid of backlash. I want to be me, all me, all the time. I do not want to have to worry about my mother reading this and being disapproving of anything I post here. I do not want my boyfriend reading this and getting upset with me for sharing personal things. (Though to be fair I do not think he would mind one bit. If I told anyone that I blog, I would tell him.) I do not want friends or family or coworkers approaching me upset because they felt like I depicted them wrongly, or hurt that I spoke my mind. Currently I do not really post anything negative that people could get upset with me about. But I do not want to have to hold myself back later on just because I know they read my blog and might get upset.

I know that I should not care what other people think and I should post exactly what I want to post. But, I just can't do it. If I knew that people in my real life read my blog I would always be wondering what they thought about me and if I hurt their feelings. Plus sometimes you need to vent and get things out of your system. It is not necessarily gossip, but it is something you would not normally say to a person's face. It is something that once you have talked about, you get over and it doesn't matter anymore. It is something I would not post if I knew they might read it or hear about it. Theoretically it is something I should just not post at all. And I can't do that to myself. I can't censor this blog. I just don't want to.

You can fuss at me for hiding my real self from the people I know. But I don't see this blog as hiding my real self. I think I am usually my real self, just my real self who knows there is such a thing as tact. And if I am ever not my total, complete, true self well then those are my issues to deal with. And maybe I am not ready to deal with them yet. Maybe I am still discovering who I really am and posting on this blog is my testing ground. I want to be free to post everything I want to post. I want to be able to write things I normally might not say. I want to be able to express myself and not worry about what other people think of me. Maybe one day I will get to the point where I tell people about this blog and will be able to not worry about what they think. But I am so not even close to that yet.

So the whole entire point of this was to say that I think I need a new name. I need a name that has nothing to do with my real name. I need a name that no one in my real life would recognize. But I still need to be willing to answer to it in the blogosphere. I need a new persona. I need to find something that just feels right. A name that I can embrace and make real and make my own.

I am having a hard time coming up with something. I had a hard time naming this blog in the first place. I know I will come up with something soon. And if you have suggestions I would be happy to hear them. I might not even settle on a new name right away. I hope I don't go through too many. I do not want to confuse those few people who might actually read me too much. I think whatever I choose for my own name will probably stick the first time I use it. The new name for R might be more difficult for me to settle on. So if in the future you see funny names you don't recognize I hope they still make sense to you. And just know that I should sort all this out soon. I hope.

Smell Me!

2008-11-10T21:50:00.003-06:00

No this is not a joke. I smell pretty good right now. I just got back from the mall and a visit to Bath & Body Works. I am looking for a new perfume and I smell pretty good after testing them out. Plus I need advice.

I like Bath & Body Works because they have some good fragrances. I do not like them for being a corporate pain in the you know what. I mean what is this fascination with discontinuing fragrances? Just when I find one I like they discontinue it. And of course it was like the only one in the store I really liked. And of course I only figured out it was discontinued after they had no more in the store and could not stock up on anything. But maybe it will come back for the semi-annual sales. Or maybe you can still get it online. Or maybe it is just gone for good, ha ha ha ha. Or maybe you should try this other fragrance that smells like the old one, only it really doesn't. Blarg!

Years ago I loved Juniper Breeze and they discontinued it. Then it took me a while to find Country Apple, but oh how I adored it. I honestly think this was my all time favorite, ever. Then that only came back for the stupid semi-annual sales. Sometimes, if I was lucky. Until they came out with some new crap they called Irresistible Apple, which is NOT the same I do not care how many times you try to brainwash me into believing it. It is quite different and not what I want, though it may be growing on me. Next, I moved on to the Breathe, pink colored lotion which was the only acceptable scent at the time for me. Which I still have some of because since R saw me buy some he went ahead and bought me some for my birthday. And when he bought it they were having the 3 for $18 sale or some nonsense so of course I got 3 or 4 of the exact same thing which I had just purchased 2 of, so I still have plenty. After that I had a very brief stint with the Calming, blue body wash because our introduction came by way of a sale bin because it was being discontinued as was my pink Breathe. Tonight I went looking for some of my current fave, Magnolia Blossom and well of course it was discontinued and they had absolutely nothing. Not only did they have nothing, the sales lady was so frank about telling me it was gone for good I was almost speechless. I asked her if it might come back for the sales and she said probably not. I was devastated. I mean why do they discontinue all the ones I really ever liked. I do not like any of the other signature fragrances they have right now. I think I smelled them all.

I do not think that "discontinuing" items is the smartest sales tool. I guess it might get you more income when you bring things back for a limited time only and people want it so they come and stock up on it. But this has never appealed to me. I have never wanted to try a McRib, no matter how many times it comes back. I know I will get sincerely pissed off when I have kids because I will want to buy them a certain Disney movie which will be "in the vault" and unavailable. Why don't them have them all for sale all the time? I mean I am a bargain shopper. I do not buy things full price unless I really really really want it. And that does not happen very often for me. I will wait until what I want goes on sale and then if they are out by that time or if they no longer have my size then it wasn't meant to be. So I am not going to go out of my way to remember when your semi-annual sale is taking place so I can stock up on full price items, maybe, if you have them. Because I have tried that route before when I really wanted the Country Apple. And I was too late because one woman had bought the entire case the first day of the sale and that is all they were getting. Screw that. I mean even if you take it out of the store and only sell it online or something would be better than having it gone completely.

So now that I have vented about my discontentment with the whole discontinuation process I can tell you why you should smell me. I think I might have found something I like. I did not buy it tonight and they better still have it when I go back next week to test it again and make sure I like it. And then they need to keep it forever. Along with bringing back my faves full time. But back from dream world, I did find a new something something. There is this Pink line of stuff. Apparently it is from Victoria Secret. They have a clean smell and a fruity one and I like the fruity one. It kind of smells like apples and that makes me happy. My only hope is that if I do start really liking this one that if Bath & Body Works discontinues it that I might still be able to find in the the Victoria Secret smell good store. I suppose I should determine if this is true before falling for the fragrance. I am tired of being let down when my favorites disappear. Smells can be soothing and help you feel good. I want to feel good again.

So do you think I should do it again? Should I trust that Bath & Body works will have this fragrance long enough for me to get tired of it first before it gets discontinued? Would you go for it or would you find a real perfume somewhere else that probably won't get discontinued? I want to like this fragrance. I really do. But I don't want to be let down again.

Everyone loves a good story

2008-11-09T22:51:00.004-06:00

Tonight I finished a really good book. I really love to read and have recently discovered audiobooks. Audiobooks are wonderful and really help to pass the time on my weekend drives. I was at the library last week and had no audiobooks on hold so I had to browse the shelf hoping to find something good. I found a couple of decent ones before I came across The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson. I got so excited when I found this in audiobook on the shelf. I had been meaning to request her latest books and was so happy to find it waiting on the shelf just for me. I knew I had postponed my trip to the library for a good reason last week. Normally I am more of a crime mystery reader but I absolutely loved Joshilyn Jackson's first book Gods in Alabama. So far both of her books have included tales set in small southern towns and I love the way she describes them. Her books are really about the characters though. There are these amazing women who come from the small towns with secrets that followed them out. Those secrets are woven deeper into the fabric of these small town families than you would ever expect. Just when you think you have discovered the big bad secret, there is even more to it. I get caught up in the story and find myself imagining myself as one of the characters. I really like Joshilyn's work. I have always thought of her as an easygoing person who writes stories that could be about any one of us. But, I suppose I might feel more of a connection to her now that I have been following her blog, Faster Than Kudzu. She is honestly just so friendly and hilarious. She tends to think less of herself than everyone else, for some reason I cannot fathom, because her antics are great. Heck when she recently joined the world of Facebook I even friended her.

I guess all I am really trying to say is that I like Joshilyn Jackson and I like her work. I can relate to her stories and they make me want to write one of my own. Have you ever read a book you liked so much it made you want to write one of your own? This feeling may have something to do with the fact that Joshilyn is so down to earth I feel like we could be friends. Or maybe it is the small town southern thing which I feel a connection to. But really I just think she is good at writing and making it seem effortless like the story just fell into place. I like her stories so much they really do make me want to try it myself.

And since she is so down to earth I really hope she doesn't mind me writing an entire post about her books. I think she would be flattered, if she ever even finds out about my little blog. Regardless I wanted to share her work with you all so you might discover her too. Finishing her book this evening made me happy. I am going to bed tonight feeling good and I like that. I am looking forward to reading her next book out called Between, Georgia.

Happy Reading!

Rivals

2008-11-08T16:27:00.004-06:00

In sports it seems that every team has a natural rival. In my hometown it was our high school, football team versus our closest neighboring team. In college, while getting my undergrad the team was not much good and I can't tell you who the rival was. Then for grad school I went to LSU. This was different, because our team was good. Therefore it seemed we had a lot of rivals. But one always stood out and that was Alabama. From what I understand this rivalry went back decades. But recently there has been something added to the pot that makes it that much worse. LSU won the national championship in 2003 with Nick Saban as head coach. Then he decided to leave LSU. I will let you guess where he decided to go. That's right, he is now the head coach for Alabama. I think there was some brief NFL stuff in between maybe and a lot more to the story than I can tell you right now. But basically LSU players and fans were pissed to put it lightly. I mean the guy who we had just won championships with left us for our rival. The tension has been interesting these past couple of years. Saban has been the but of many jokes and lots of people feel he is a traitor. Last year LSU had to play Alabama in Tuscaloosa. This is the first year that Saban has come back to LSU and this game is a huge deal. Not only is there a great rivalry between the teams, Alabama is currently ranked #1 and LSU would love to beat them.

So today my day is all about football. I really hope LSU is up to the challenge and can bring something to this game. So far I have been surprised and the game is tied 14 to 14 at the half. Lets hope LSU can pull it out. I know I will be all about football and food the rest of the day. I hope you have a good Saturday and that your favorite college team wins too.

Go LSU!

Oh the Things I've seen...

2008-11-07T13:12:00.003-06:00

Everyone is unique and everyone has a right to be who they are. But sometimes who you are just does not make a lot of sense to other people. I work in Houston, which is the 4th largest city in the US or something like that. So I get the opportunity to see lots of interesting people. This morning I passed by a person who truly made me laugh out loud. I think you would have laughed too.

Picture for me if you can that you have just driven into work and parked your car in the lot.

To get to your building you must cross the street at an intersection which looks not unlike this.

So you are waiting patiently for the walk signal which looks something like this,

and you hear a car drive up on your left and stop for the red light. Now seeing as cars are not unusual at intersections there has to be something different about this car to make you notice it. Now it is not something like this,
though to be fair I have seen a few like that in downtown Houston.

No, it is something more like this, which is to be expected in downtown Houston.

So there obviously had to be something else that made this particular Porsche Cayenne stand out. Well first let me say it was a pretty pearl blue color. And also that it had all the windows down. One would expect windows down and music blaring in the afternoon, but not this early in the morning. Yet here is a car with the windows down and music blaring at 7am. Let me say that before I recognized the music I was expecting to see a young male behind the wheel. Once I recognized the music I just had to see who was driving. And I saw an older man with white hair. It just made me laugh out loud. I mean who would ever expect an older gentleman to be proudly blasting this from from his Porsche at 7 am. And gosh I hope that link works for you. Once I realized what the music was, I was expecting to see something a little more like this.

Though he may very well dress like this on the weekends. And who am I to judge him. I am not judging, I am appreciating his uniqueness. I am appreciating it by laughing, but still I am appreciating...

Happy Friday Everyone!

Express Yourself!

2008-11-06T20:07:00.002-06:00

Presentation is everything. So are first impressions. Therefore it seems like a good idea to present yourself in the best way you can. It shocks me sometimes that there is so much ignorance about the fact that what you say or do reflects upon you. How can you not see that certain things will reflect negatively upon you and other's perception of you?

Today I encountered a really good example of this. It is performance appraisal time at work and we are all having to write up our goals and accomplishments. Our bosses see our written explanations of what we have accomplished this year and use that to evaluate us. Therefore you would think that everyone would try to make themselves look good right? You would want to come across as polished and professional. You would use this as an opportunity to convey the fact that you are a valuable asset to the company. You want to keep your job and get a big bonus. Yet, I noticed that some people did not take this seriously. There were a few people who just threw some words onto the form and expected it to be enough. Our immediate supervisor has been nice enough to give us advice on how to do this, in other words do this and this and this to make it look good. Then in turn we make her look good too. I find it amazing that people just do not listen and choose to ignore her advice. I know of one person that the boss has told at least 3 times to make their goals better and proofread it properly. Today when the boss told them yet again to proofread their goals they came to me and asked me to make corrections for them. I was expecting to help make the sentences sound better and was amazed to see the amount of grammatical errors in such a small amount of writing. Did this person not even realize how this made them look? Are their grammatical skills that bad that they cannot put words in the correct tense? Do they not understand what "use complete sentences" means? Do the honestly think words are spelled that way? Did they honestly think this was acceptable? I was in shock. This was a person who is very good at their job and for the most part puts off a professional aire (I so do not know if that is the proper way to spell that). I could not believe that their writing skills could be so poor. How can you ever expect to get far in a job when your writing and speaking skills reflect negatively on your education? I am not saying that you need to have attended an Ivy League school, shoot you don't even need to have finished high school to know how to present yourself. Somewhere along the way you will learn how to act properly. You will figure out how to make yourself presentable and make yourself look good to others. Sure you can talk in slang with friends and you can write improperly in certain mediums. But there is a time and place for that, and there is a time and place to present yourself well. If you never learn that fact then you will never get very far in life because there will always be people looking down upon your for your inappropriate actions. Even if you can talk and write well, if you choose to be lazy and your work shows errors, no one else knows if it you being lazy or if you actually thought things were okay. Either way you gave a bad impression and people lose respect for you. It has become so simple to make yourself look good in writing. We have spell-check and grammar-check and you should use them. Even if your English is not perfect you should be able to form a complete sentence with prepositions and all. You have to be able to get your point across. Throwing words on the page will not do that.

It always takes me by surprise when I realize some people do not even realize that they are presenting themselves poorly. And while I do not say that there is anything wrong with the person they are, what their culture is, or how they choose to act, they should know that certain actions are not always appropriate. That they are ignorant to how they might be perceived by others just baffles me.

I am very grateful to my parents for teaching me the proper way to act. I am grateful they saw fit to educate me well. For the record one parent has a high school diploma and the other does not even have that much. But you never would have known it. They knew how to present themselves, and they always made sure I did too. When I was friends with a few people from our small town and began talking with an accent my parents let me know how ignorant I sounded when I talked that way. And I learned from it, to this day no one can tell where I am from because I do not have an accent and speak properly.

To me there was just no question that you should be educated. I worked my way through college and grad school and did what I needed to, because that was just the right thing to do. It has paid off for me. I feel that while I am still young I have the foundation and this allows me to present myself accordingly. I have been approached by elders and supervisors for help with preparing presentations. I have been asked to help edit and proofread documents. I feel quite honored that a superior would ask this of me and trust that I will make us both look good. My goals and accomplishments were never returned to me for any corrections and I was actually complimented on them. Yet, I do not see anything extraordinary about this. everyone should be able to present themselves well and have others trust in them.

So on Love Thursday I want to thank my parents for helping to make me the person I am and for helping me realize that there is a time and a place for everything. I would have never made it this far without their guidance.

Make a Wish

2008-11-05T11:56:00.005-06:00

So the election is over and we have a new President elect. I hope everyone that wanted to was able to get out and vote.

I was talking to my friend veggie librarian last night and she made a pretty funny point. Do you remember when you were little and you had to make a wish for your birthday or on a shooting star? Remember how you were never supposed to tell anyone or it would not come true? V said she finds it funny that people act the same way about their choice for president. Why is it that everyone doesn't want to tell who they voted for. Are they maybe afraid it won't come true like the wishes we made in childhood? Honestly friends should be able to tell friends who they voted for and not be all secretive about it.

I found this perspective quite amusing. I began to think of reasons for why we might not want to broadcast our political choices, even to our friends. I mean logically politics and your opinions about them have no place in the work place. Therefore we can't really have conversations about our political choices with our co-workers, so we avoid the subject. I can definitely see avoiding politics at the office, but why are we still secretive with our friends? I came up with only a few good reasons. We hide our political opinion because we are afraid of retribution and potential attacks by people trying to get us to change our minds. It is either that, or we don't trust in our decisions enough to be able to defend them in an argument. I think we all know at least one person who is not afraid to give you their opinion and chastise you for not believing in the same things they do. Those people will not stop trying to criticize your choices and will constantly try to get you to see things their way. And politics are no different. There are plenty of people who are proud of their choices and who are willing to get on their soapbox at any given opportunity.

But not everyone acts this way. So why do we feel the need to hide our decisions from friends? If we are all reasonably intelligent people we should be able to accept that our friends have different opinions and embrace them even if we do not agree. Yet for some reason politics is different. Politics gets people up in arms. I suppose politics get to the core of our lives and has a effect on us all. We can all find a platform to cling to or rally against. I suppose criticising someones political choices is a little like criticising their parenting skills and you should be prepared for backlash.

So maybe we don't want to start arguments with our friends. Maybe we don't want to seem pushy. Maybe we don't want to feel pushed upon. Maybe we haven't even made a decision yet.

But maybe, just maybe we want our wish to come true.

Happy November 4th!

2008-11-04T13:58:00.004-06:00

So today is your last chance to get out there and vote. Your last chance to speak your mind and have your voice be heard. Your last chance to make a difference. So get out there and vote!

I am not usually a very political person. Often I feel that by voting I am not choosing the person I believe in but rather the lesser of the two evils. I used to rationalize not voting, because how much could my one little vote actually matter? If I am in the minority my vote only cancels out one in the majority and my state will be the color it always is. And if I don't vote I am showing how much I don't like either candidate and maybe it will get noticed and there will be someone worth voting for next time.

But one vote does matter. Whether your one vote matters in the overall election is debatable. But your one vote does matter. It matters to you! I do not care if you are the only person voting against what the masses want. In the end you voted for what you wanted and it made a difference. You may not have particularly liked either candidate but you did your research and made an informed decision. No matter what happens you know how you voted and what you wanted and no one can take that away from you.

So whatever your logic or reasons are I am asking you to get out there and vote. Go ahead and make sure that your voice gets heard. You might not change the outcome, but you made that margin smaller with your vote. Your vote does make a difference.

While I was looking for a simple image like the one up top to use for this post, I came across a lot of strange ones. I figured I could share a few with you and make you smile!

NaBloPoMo

2008-11-03T22:28:00.000-06:00

This is not another post about funny foreign names. I am going to attempt NaBloPoMo. Which stands for National Blog Posting Month and means that I should post at least once a day for this entire month. I have to say I think this will be difficult for me, but I also feel the need to try it. I started this blog with the best of intentions and I am slacking. I began by posting a few times a week and I was happy with that amount. Then I got kind of down on myself and started posting less and less. Recently I have been logging into my blog just to have the links to read other blogs (yeah I haven't even set up a google reader yet either) and never even posting anything. I mean the blog world is give and take. I know I look forward to new posts from my fave bloggers almost daily and I suppose I should be willing to return the same. So here I go...I am going to try and post daily for the rest of November. I know I am late and all and should have started at the beginning of the month but oh well, get over it, I already have. This will not be easy for me, especially with holidays and travel and locating a computer but I pledge to try my best. If nothing else posting once a day for this month will almost triple the current numbers of blogs I have ever posted here and I think that would be awesome. So wish me luck!

See you tomorrow!

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Do you think it is cheating if the first post is a post only about the fact that I will be posting all month? Really? I tend to agree with you.

But all I have is this:

Back to Nature

2008-10-08T11:40:00.016-05:00

I like pretty pictures.

You like pretty pictures too right?

I thought so. Everyone likes pretty pictures.

I wanted to talk about how soothing nature is and how much I love it. I wanted to talk about my recent camping trips and how much I have enjoyed them. I wanted to say something special about how it feels to be out in nature and how relaxing it can be. Things about how beautiful it all is and how your troubles seem to not be quite so important anymore. But for some reason my words today are not working well enough to be able to describe my feelings to you like I want them to.

So, maybe I should just show you instead. Here are some pictures from some of my most recent camping trips. We went to North Toledo Bend State Park and Hodges Gardens State Park. Those links are to the Reserve America website because they had pictures but the Louisiana State Parks website has good information too. If you live within a reasonable distance I recommend you making a visit to Hodges Gardens. It was created by A.J. Hodges and he did some really neat things. He made his own botanical gardens with numerous waterfalls and built his house on an island in the lake. R agrees that this has been his favorite place we have been camping together thus far. We visited the gift shop before touring the gardens and noticed someone who had signed in said they got engaged there that weekend. While we were walking in the gardens we noticed a rock with a heart and some familiar initials and a really recent date and guessed that it was the same couple who got engaged. While I do not necessarily condone the defacing of property, it was kind of nice to think of getting engaged in such a wonderful place. So I want to to just enjoy some pretty pictures. Relax and imagine yourself there or wherever your favorite places to be in nature are.

I Am Still Alive, Part Deux

2008-09-22T15:24:00.001-05:00

Hey there, how are ya?

I have been good. I know I have been gone a while. And I am sorry :(. Fortunately it was not due to any problems from storm damage or anything like that. It started when I went home to Baton Rouge to get away from Hurricane Ike. And I had Internet access while I was there. Then it continued as I had time off work because my work building was damaged by the storm. So there has been no excuse for me not posting. In fact I have been reading blogs but just not blogging myself. I have begun this post many times only to not finish it. I have thought about it often. The fact is that I just do not feel like I have much to say. Of course things have been happening and I enjoyed my unplanned week long vacation from work. I could be talking about the mundane but honestly nothing has inspired me. I suppose I went away for too long and then I was out of any sort of habit of writing here. I do not know why I feel like I am in such a funk. Hopefully it doesn't last.

I am looking forward to going on a short weekend trip soon. I still do not know where we are actually going though. It seems the trip curse has struck again. I like to jokingly blame most of it on R, but the truth is its not his fault or mine. Bad things just like to happen to us whenever we try to make plans. Something will inevitably come up and affect our plans. He has tried to surprise me with trips before and they just didn't work out. I have tried to make plans only to have something happen and we can't do them either. It seems that often we do not have plans but the minute we try to make any we then suddenly have 3 conflicting requests for our time. This upcoming trip is honestly no different. He is going to be training in another state next week and then I was going to fly out and meet him for the weekend after and we were going to go to the Nascar race. We made sure that we both had nothing that would conflict with this time and I went ahead and booked my ticket out there. Then R gets a call that he is needed for a meeting on the first day of his class which is out of the question and he is annoyed because this was supposed to happen well before his class. Also we had plans for the weekend and were getting some tickets for camping and now those tickets do not exist anymore. Which sounds bad but we can get free accommodations and did not truly need the tickets in the first place. But it is just typical of our luck that the tickets are not available for us anymore. It is always something last minute. But since we were never really that overly excited about the race we are thinking of maybe just skipping the whole thing and going camping somewhere else. Thing is it is still a last minute decision because we need to have stuff packed and in the car that R will be taking this weekend. And the place I really want to go is all booked up because we were forced to make this decision last minute. And we just don't know what to decide anymore. You just get to a point where you have tried and been shot down too many times that you just don't feel like trying to make plans anymore because what is the point...But we want, no we NEED the vacation and just to get away. Maybe the time off will help us get some enthusiasm back for trying to do things again. But right now we are just both fed up, with pretty much everything. So I suppose that may be why I have no desire to write anything. I do not feel the urge to do anything for anyone but myself, and even then I make excuses not to take care of myself.

When you get in a funk because nothing is going right...How do you get out of it? What makes you happy again? What makes you want to do things again? What makes going back to work any better than before? How do you change your attitude back to normal? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hurricane, Hurricane, Go Away!

2008-09-10T16:14:00.003-05:00

This year's Hurricane Season is just icky!

So far I have written about Eduardo and Gustav. Now I am going to talk about Ike. I know that I have more to worry about because my home and where I live now are both on the Gulf Coast. But honestly I did not think the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast this year would all aim at those places. Remember a couple of weeks back when I showed you the map of Gustav and his projected path? Well yeah he pretty much followed that path and did some pretty good damage to Louisiana. I can say that Baton Rouge was one of the areas that was hardest hit and I still know there are people without electricity.

Here is the projected path of Ike:
And every time they update the map, the path moves closer and closer to Houston. We have been making sure everything is secure at work and we get off tomorrow and Friday so we can evacuate if we want. I am headed home for sure. I am going to pack up some clothes, pack up an ice chest of food I do not want to spoil if I lose electricity, and pick up anything of value off the ground in case my apartment floods. I am leaving as soon as I can, not because I am terribly afraid of the storm, but because I want to avoid as much traffic as I can. So I am asking again for you guys to keep your fingers crossed that my home in Houston stays safe. I will be ever so glad when this Hurricane Season is over. I do know I am glad that none so far have hit the panhandle of Florida this year. They are almost done rebuilding some roads and I am very much looking forward to being able to go camping at Fort Pickens again.

So I am off again, but I should have Internet access this time so hopefully I will not be quite so lazy and actually post some on my long weekend.

Stay safe everyone!

I am Alive

2008-09-09T16:51:00.003-05:00

Yes, I am here. I made it through the whole Gustav Debacle okay. I ended up home in Baton Rouge for the storm. We were able to take back roads to avoid contraflow traffic and bring R's mother home to Alexandria and make it back to BR safely. While the family weekend was cut short we all still had a good time. I cooked some good rice and gravy and everyone was happy. R's family decided to evacuate north but my family all stayed in Breaux Bridge. Everyone ended up okay with no damage to homes. Fallen trees and branches were everywhere and tons of people lost power. But everyone we know came out of it okay. Our families were only out of power for a day and a half which was good. The power came back on to our house in BR after about 6 days. We were extremely lucky to have such great neighbors. Our generator of course refused to work but our neighbors were great about letting us stay with them. They plugged up our refrigerator to their generator and we put our window unit in their house. Everything went as well as could have been expected and we got to know our neighbors a lot better in the process. They are great. I know the house may not be perfect but I am so glad R bought that one because the neighbors are so wonderful.

We went ahead and packed some stuff and left for northwest Louisiana on the Wednesday night. R had a meeting scheduled up in Alexandria on the Thursday and then we had decided to go camping from there. Since we had made these reservations weeks before the storm and we knew the campgrounds had power while we still didn't, we hightailed it out of BR. We had quite a good time. We went to North Toledo Bend State Park as well as Hodges Gardens. Both parks were great. The cabins were awesome and well furnished, the weather was quite nice, and we had a great time on the lakes. We rented a boat at both parks and managed to get only a little sunburned. I will have to bring fishing poles next time we go! North Toledo Bend is a nice park and what you would expect from a campground. Hodges Gardens is really neat because it was built by A.J. Hodges. He built the lake and his home on an island and these wonderful botanical gardens with amazing waterfalls. We really enjoyed our time there and loved waking up to a lake view.

So I made it through Hurricane Gustav, had a good camping trip, and made it back to work this week. Now all I have to worry about is Hurricane Ike possibly making landfall near Houston where I live. Hopefully it stays far enough away from me. I want to be able to make it home to BR this weekend before it hits. Keep you fingers crossed for me and everyone else along the Texas coast that Ike is not a bad storm.

I will get back to more regular postings and hopefully will get some pictures of our camping trip up here too!

Getting Prepared

2008-08-29T10:35:00.005-05:00

So things just continue to be uncertain. A few things are good though. My grandmother had surgery yesterday but is doing well enough today to be out of the ICU and should go home this afternoon. Also R's family will be in town for the holiday weekend. And reservations have been finalized for our camping trip next weekend. Things were finally all falling into place and working out, BUT, (well of course there is a but, there is always a but, and this is one hell of a big but, sorry about that, the pun was not intended but it just fits) we now have to worry about Gustav. Have you heard about Gustav yet? Well he is a Tropical Storm who will soon develop into a Hurricane and has the potential to be pretty bad. He also has one of those foreign names that are kind of fun to say. You remember me talking about Edouardo from a couple of weeks ago right? Well apparently he didn't do a good enough job on the Gulf Coast so his big Brother Gustav is coming to try and finish things. And Gustav is pretty pissed. He might be starting out slow but he is making sure to hit everything he can along his path. He actually changed course just so he could skirt around Jamaica and dump enough rain on them to do some pretty good damage. And he is toying with us, because he is a very unpredictable storm. He could hit the Gulf Coast anywhere from Texas to Florida and that has everyone pretty worried. He might get enough protein from all those fish in the gulf to build up strength and be a Category 3 or 4 by the time he reaches land. And we do not know who pissed him off or where is is going. But so far most maps forecast that he will hit Louisiana, probably somewhere right around New Orleans, which could be devastating. Especially as slow as he is moving, he could bring all sorts of rain. Perhaps you heard about Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans? Yeah well in case you didn't know today is the 3 year anniversary of the day she hit NOLA. And honestly she was bad, but what really did people in was all the rains and the levees breaking and the flooding. NOLA has had 3 years to fix the levees and make them stronger so you would think they have it all under control by now, Right? Well, you would be wrong. There are still problems with the levees and the rain from Gustav could be absolutely devastating and ruin lots of lives all over again, some before they even finished rebuilding from Katrina. This makes me pretty sad because I like New Orleans, and I want the city to do well. I want everyone who received damage along the Gulf Coast from Katrina and her little sister Rita to be able to rebuild their lives. My family was lucky enough not to get any real damage from either of those storms, but I knew plenty of people who did. Gustav does make me worry though.

Take a look at this map and you will get a better idea of why:

The arrow pointing to Home is approximately in the middle of the two places I consider Home. I am originally from a little town just outside of Lafayette, Louisiana. I moved to Baton Rouge for College and that is where R owns a house. These two cities are only about 45 miles apart and they are separated by the Atchafalaya Basin which is a big swamp. Currently they are right in the path of the storm. While I know neither home will flood, I wonder about wind damage and power outages and traffic chaos. I am planning on going home for this Labor Day weekend because I would rather be with family who have generators and such rather than alone in Houston. Plus the storm could turn and come to Houston quite easily. They are already planning evacuations in NOLA and other parts of Louisiana if necessary. This could really hurt me trying to get back to Houston for work next week. But honestly I would rather be stuck at home with family. Then I was planning on going back home next weekend to go camping. I was going to go home on Wednesday night. I wonder if the storm will have passed by then and if they will even let me get back home to Baton Rouge. I cannot decide if it would be better for me to take a few extra days off and stay in LA or if it would be better for R to take the days off and come stay with me and we can leave for camping from Houston. Gustav is screwing up all my plans. It is also making rain for my vacation which I do not like, not one bit.

So I suppose I am just here to tell you that I might not post too much in the next week because I will be having fun with Gustav then hopefully having a good vacation. Do not worry about me too much, we are pretty well prepared. Just cross your fingers and do a little rain dance to make Gustav miss NOLA and keep my family safe. I really hope I have good traffic karma over the next week. I hope everyone is safe and sound.

P.S. I am really annoyed at Gustav because he made them move up the LSU football game from 4pm to 10am and it won't be on ESPN anymore it will be on ESPN Classic which is a channel we do not catch. And Baton Rouge takes LSU football seriously, that is why they moved the game, because they knew people would be going counter to the flow of evacuating traffic just to get to the game no matter what the weather. Because as they say, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium!

More About Me

2008-08-28T09:25:00.004-05:00

I know I have been away for too long now. I must make myself post more regularly. But the thing is nothing so exciting has been happening lately. Well actually that's not true. A lot has been happening lately but its a lot of speculation and what-ifs and none of it is ironed out in the least. So I have been lost in my own head trying to make plans for things that may or may not happen. I am really bad about that. My mind is constantly racing and trying to gather new information and fine tune what I already know. I am quite sure I am getting annoying to some of my family by asking the same questions over and over just to see if the answer has changed yet. I know they will tell me the instant it changes but I can't help asking. It's just a lot right now. And when I can't make plans or have a general outline of the way things are supposed to happen then I get ancy. So I am frustrated and since I don't know definites it is kind of hard to talk about them. And I like to talk! I like to talk my way through things. By talking about things I figure out how I feel about things and what is going on. But speculating over and over without getting any new answers gets kind of old. Oh well, I am stuck until some new answers come along.

So instead of just staying stuck with nothing definite to talk about, I thought I could tell you a little more about me. I know some people don't like memes but I figure I will give one a shot. Don't worry I don't know enough people in the blogosphere yet to tag anyone so just enjoy learning a little about me and know that there is no pressure to respond. Here goes...

1) Last movie you saw in a theater? I honestly cannot remember what it was. I am pretty confident it was some sort of action movie. I can remember the theatre we went to, just not the movie. We(R and I) do not go to the theatre that often. I have netflix now and we usually just wait until something comes out on DVD. I do really want to go to the theatre and see The Dark Knight though. I hope we make it before it stops showing.

2) What book are you reading? Cutter by Thomas Laird. I already told you how I like murder mysteries and this is a decent one. It is my interim book that I pulled off the shelf while I was waiting on some library holds. I am in the middle of the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly which is about a cop in California and I am really enjoying it.

3) Favorite board game? We don't really do board games, I like card games more. If I had to pick a board game I would go with something involving trivia in the game, but not as hard as trivial pursuit. I like the card games SkipBo and Phase 10 and Uno.

4) Favorite magazine? I do not get any magazines delivered to me. I will browse them at other people's homes or at the store. I generally look at the guy magazines because they actually do have interesting articles. I look at Cosmo, Cooking Light, Esquire, Maxim, PB, and the car magazines R gets. I know guys look at some magazines for more than just the articles but the articles are actually good. I like the snippets on new gadgets!

5) Favorite smells? Fresh cut grass, a baby's head, anything baking, anything grilling, clean clothes fresh out of the dryer, R just after a shower.

6) Favorite sounds? Running water, giggles, the words I Love You, nature sounds, nothing at all.

7) Worst feeling in the world? Rejection, Helplessness

8) What is the first thing you think of when you wake? Urgh, I don't want to get out of bed but I need to get to the bathroom.

9) Favorite fast food place?I do not eat fast food that much anymore because it just doesn't sit well with my tummy. But I have recently discovered Taco Cabana which is like Taco Bell but better and its open 24 hours.

10) Future child's name? Oh I love the name Aiden for a boy but it has become super popular lately and I don't want my child to have the same name as 5 of his classmates. R likes Sierra for a girl but I don't think I like that so much. We might name a boy after our fathers who are both named Steven. R made a joke one day that if we named the boy after our fathers and then the middle name was Ulysses then the kid's initials would be SUV I think I would prefer something like Aiden Tyler more and the initials would be ATV. Its mostly a joke but it would be kind of neat.

11) Finish this statement - "If I had a lot of money I'd..." Build a nice house, get a nice car or 2, make sure all my bills were paid, make sure all the family bills were paid, and just live comfortably without worrying about how I would pay for a house our kids or college tuition. Oh and I would travel. I really want to see the world.

12) Do you drive fast? Does the phrase "Drive it like you stole it" mean anything to you. Just kidding. Yeah I do drive pretty fast but only when I am comfortable doing so, I am not reckless.

13) Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Yeah I sleep with 2. R got me a bear for our first Valentine's day and this past one I got a really big Leopard with a heart in it's mouth. This thing is so big its like a body pillow. R got it for me because it was so big and would take up some space in my king size bed that I sleep in alone during the week.

14) Storms - cool or scary? If I am home or do not have to go out in them then they are cool. though I do not mind playing in the rain sometimes. If they are big bad storms that do lots of damage then scary.

15) What was your first car? A 1985 GMC Jimmy, Navy Blue. It is like the Chevy Blazer. I liked it a lot and was pretty sad when I totalled it.

16) Favorite drink? It's a tie between water and milk. If you were talking alcoholic then I like white russians.

17) Finish this statement - if I had the time, I would......do something fun.

18) Do you eat the stems on broccoli? Usually. Cooked most always, Raw depending on how big it is, and Always depending on how hard and fibrous it is.

19) If you could dye your hair any other color, what would be your choice? If I could do it and not worry about getting fired, probably blue. In reality probably red, like a deep purple-red.

20) Name all of the different cities/towns you've lived. Breaux Bridge, Baton Rouge, Houston.

21) Favorite sports to watch. Football and that's pretty much the only one I really get into. I mean Living in Baton Rouge and going to LSU and winning the National Championship last year kind of gets you in the mood for football.

22) One nice thing about the person who sent this to you? Well no one technically sent this to me. I snatched it off of Velvet Lava. But I would have to say that Ann looks like an amazing cook and I really want some chocolate cake now.

23) What's under your bed? Some rogue socks, some chapstick, a pot holder, a small bottle of lotion, fluff bunnies from the box springs. Technically none of that should be under my bed but the mattress slides around due to the bed skirt and things fall off of the headboard and my arm just doesn't fit where they fall in and I have been too lazy to go get a broom and retrieve them. I guess I can add that to my to do list.

24) Would you like to be born as yourself again? I do like me and I do not think I would turn out any differently if I were to be me again so I have no aversions to being born as myself again. I do think that I would like to try something different though. My main question about this is would we remember being ourselves and our experiences or would we not know anything. If we remember then I want to be someone new, if not then it makes no difference because I wouldn't know I was different anyways.

25) Morning person or night owl?I am a night owl, though I can't stay up as late as I used to. If I sleep in too late int eh mornings I get a headache which is just sucky.

26) Over easy or sunny side up? Over easy. But they don't have to be turned over if you cook them in the same pan as you just cooked bacon. My daddy just pushes the grease up over the top of the egg with the spatula until he is sure all the white is cooked and the yolk stays runny. This is my favorite way if I am doing eggs like this. I also love scrambled with cheese though.

27) Favorite place to relax? Camping, preferably near woods and a body of water. When you wake up to the sounds of nature or sit by a campfire it is just really calming. Smores help. I do just like to lay in bed though.

28) Favorite pie?APPLE! I love apple pie. I also love it as apple cobbler/crumble though. Pecan Pie holds a close second. Oh and Lemon Meringue too!

29) Favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate! I love chocolate. And if I get to mix things in then peanut butter, or brownie bites, or crushed oreos and fresh strawberries. I think the oreo and strawberry combination ties with peanut butter.

30) Of all the people you have tagged, who is the most likely to respond first? Well since I didn't actually tag anyone I have no idea. But whoever you are feel free to play along and tag yourself.

And if anyone else does this meme leave me a comment and let me know. I would love to know more about you too.

I promise I will try to get back to blogging more often, as soon as I figure some things out...

I Like Shopping, Sometimes

2008-08-21T07:45:00.004-05:00

I do like shopping, I really do. But only sometimes. Normally I am content to just go shopping. I like looking at things, picking up a few, putting most of it back, and buying what I really want/need/have to have. I am actually kind of frugal and like to wait for things to go on sale before I buy them. The reasoning behind that being that if I really like a shirt but it is $50 I will come back to the store later and if they still have my size on the sale rack then it was meant to be and I get it, Yay! If they no longer have my size on sale, oh well, no great loss. This generally works pretty well and I am not a very impulsive buyer. I am an impulsive want-er, and often see things and think, Ooo I want one of those! But then I stop to think do I really need that and will I really use that, or do I need that much of that? And usually this stops me from ever putting the item in my shopping basket. Then near the end of my shopping trip I do a mental tally of what I would be spending if I bought everything in my basket and if I do in fact really need everything in there. Inevitably I always pull a few items out and leave them behind. Usually this works just fine. Sometimes though I will get home and a few days later start looking for what I think I bought, only to remember I never actually bought it.

And I don't mind shopping as long as I am happy. If I am happy and rested, I love shopping. Let me stay in one store too long though and I will get bored and tired and just want to leave. This happens often in large stores like home improvement stores and malls and whatnot. I just start to get tired and my back hurts or my feet hurt and all I want to do is sit down. Or I get hungry because we have been there too long. Or my head just starts to hurt form thinking about things too much and I don't want to talk about ideas and potential uses for such and such anymore. Some stores are better when you take them in small doses. But those stores are also some of the best because almost everything you could ask for is already there in that one store. I like going to stores like that alone so I can take my time to look at what I want and then leave when I get tired of the whole charade.

Well this past weekend I discovered a new humungo store that I can have a love/hate relationship with. It is one of those stores that is a warehouse store. It is so big that they have more states in the U.S. than they do stores, and I just moved to a city that has one. It is a European company. People take trucks on day trips to other states just to visit this store and be able to carry home all the stuff they will buy. They have everything you could think of that you might ever need to furnish your home. They have fairly good prices and are all about the space saving capabilities and versatility of their products. Have you guessed it yet?

Well here it is!
Dun Dun Dun! Yes I have discovered IKEA and I love it. I spent 3 hours there this past weekend! We walked around until we were exhausted. We really only saw everything on the top floor in the showroom. I will have to go back to look around the ground floor which held kitchen and bath accessories and other nick knacks. We were so tired we just kind of glazed over everything downstairs on our way out. I was silently happy that my boyfriend actually got tired of a store too, and before I ever asked to leave! So yes, I am declaring my love/hate relationship with IKEA official. It is one of those stores that I will have to take in small doses but that I know I cannot help but patronize. I love it and all its great design. If you have the opportunity I suggest a trip here. They even have a cafe with super cheap prices like Sam's Club and an awesome playland where you can leave the kids. So when you have a few hours, or a day to spend, make a trip to your "local" IKEA. I promise you will be overwhelmed and satisfied!

Rainy Monday

2008-08-18T15:10:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you but I began the day just feeling kind of blah. Nothing out of the ordinary to feel happy or sad about, yet here I am still feeling somewhat down. Then it has been rainy all day long. So when I might look out the window to see the sunshine and green trees, all I see is a gray haze. The grayness does not help to promote the good moods. And I should be in a pretty good mood considering I had quite a lovely weekend. Yet somehow the weather is creating an adverse effect. And the blahness leaves me kind of empty for writing inspiration. There are plenty of good things I have done recently that warrant a good blog post but I just don't feel up to talking about them right now. I just don't feel like talking about anything. And when I don't feel like talking I can get slightly irritated at people who ask questions of me. Even when those questions are well meaning and simple like, how are you? Even that amount of conversation pulls me out from inside myself where I would rather stay. I even made sure to eat lunch all by myself today to just get a little bit of me time.

So I believe I will just go home tonight and try to relax. I think a night like this warrants going home and changing into some really comfy clothes. It also requires some yummy comfort food. I am thinking of eggs and grits or maybe even french toast because breakfast food sounds warm and good right now. Then I just need to vege out in front of the TV or curl up with my current read and relax some. No emails, No phone calls, No other people around. Just me and the rain outside. And though I feel kind of down, I do not feel depressed. I think we all need to take days to just be by ourselves and comfort ourselves. I am going to do that tonight, and I am going to enjoy it.

Happy Cows or Laughing Cows?

2008-08-14T09:45:00.001-05:00

Do you remember those commercials about how great cheese comes from Happy Cows? You know the Happy Cows from California? Well I always thought they were kind of silly, but fun to watch. So anyway the real reason I am asking is that I recently tried some cheese that made me think of this slogan. I mean this cheese is soooo good it has to come from Happy Cows, right? I think so. And I think you will too. Or maybe you already do...

Have you tried these?

They are absolutely yummy! AND they come in their own nifty little travel pouches! But the best thing about them other than portability is the taste. Some serious yum was infused into these little cheeses. And aren't they just the cutest! They fit right in the palm of your hand! But the taste! It is one of those things that makes your mouth water when you think about the taste. They are these little white cheese rounds with a slight tang. But they are really creamy too. So you take a bite and salivate due to the tanginess and then moan because of the melt-in-your-mouthness of them. And if you didn't eat the whole thing in one bite (which is entirely possible since they are tiny like that and some people just might pop in the whole thing all at once, not me, but some people, you know those other people) then you just want to take another bite! As yummy as I imagine a whole little cheese wheel would be I much prefer to take as many little nibbles as I can to be able to really enjoy the flavors. What? I do have some self control! Well, okay, the first bite may not be as tiny as the rest but jeez the expectation is just too much sometimes. And honestly up till this point I really have not popped the whole thing in my mouth at one time, but that's not to say that I won't do it in the future now that I have thought about it. But it would not be a tragedy, because they are tiny. So tiny that they have very few calories, something like 70 for one of the regular wheels and 50 for the light. So not a whole lot of guilt can come from the urge to eat more than one. And did I mention that they are baby cheese and really tiny? Well they are and they have this red wax protective shell on them so they are super portable. And the shell is really easy to peel off due to the pull strip which breaks the shell right in half. Well except for a little part where the halves are still connected and it then looks like a red Pacman. Think about how cool your kids would be if you packed Pacman cheese in their lunch! I wish this cheese had been around for my school lunches. This is my kind of cheese! And I am really not sure if it comes from the Happy Cows in California but I do know it comes from the Laughing Cow people. Oh, drat, I got curious and turns out that the Babybel people are actually a french company based out of Paris. But their main USA address is in Illinois. Maybe they import some Happy Cows from California though. Or maybe the Happy Cows and Laughing Cows are really twins. Who knows? All I really know is that I am glad I found these wonderful little cheese rounds. They make my mouth happy! Go, go, go, go, go to your store and get some to try today! I promise if you like cheese you will not regret this!

Hands and Feet and Body Parts

2008-08-13T16:02:00.008-05:00

I like mysteries. Most specifically crime mysteries. And crime mysteries seem to be pretty synonymous with murder mysteries. I like to read about them and I like to watch them. Now murder usually means some blood and guts but not a lot of gore. I do not like horror movies because they use the gore as a simple shock factor and it is gross. But I do like crime shows and movies because the crime is integral to the plot and is usually more tactfully described and displayed. I like trying to figure things out and the dark nature of the subject really does not bother me that much. I suppose it is because I am separated from the subject and can only imagine what happens. If I had to experience it I know I would not like it. But reading about something or watching a show where it happens to other people I am not involved with is pretty darn interesting to me. I guess you could look at it as creepy. But I think I just like the crime stories because it engages my intellect. I mean when you think about it, a criminal has to be pretty smart to get away with something. Sure luck plays a part, but there is some skill and intelligence involved. I relate well to the smart criminals in the plots. I love that some authors are skilled enough to have me completely in the dark as to the identity of the killer right until the end. I also like when I can figure it out early though, as long as it was not too obvious. So I guess my whole point is that I like crime dramas and I like the criminals to be smart in the stories. Therefore it is really easy for me to see why I like this so much

I really like the Showtime Series, Dexter. It is all about a serial killer with a twist. He is a good killer if that can really be true. He only kills other killers. He was raised by a cop who taught him that if he had to kill he needed to be really careful not to get caught and also that he should only kill those people who deserved it. He grew up to be a forensic blood specialist and uses his connections with the ops to get to the serial killers before they can be arrested. It is pretty interesting because he is not really this madman, he just doesn't feel anything and wishes he could be more normal. He wants to be able to blend in so he can continue to kill. I suppose you could get all technical and say that he should not be killing people even though they are bad. Because if you really think about it when you kill a person you kill everything about them, not just the bad parts, you kill everything they will ever become. That is why Dexter only kills those he is sure deserve to die and have evaded justice. In a way he protects more people from getting hurt. So it is easy to justify why you can root for the killer, because he is actually a good guy in a way. Regardless, I find this series very interesting. I watched the whole first season on my netflix in just 1 week. It may help that the plot is awesome and somehow you feel for Dexter and don't want him to get caught. I think it also really helps that he is pretty hot. It is a little strange because the actor, Michael C. Hall, has such a versatile face. One minute you look at him and you can see that he is empty inside with cold eyes and no emotion and then the next he is playful and quite sexy. Of course I much prefer to watch him smirk and be sexy. But I have to admit that his yumminess factor is a big reason I think a lot of women watch this show. The actress who plays Dexter's sister, Jennifer Carpenter, provides some eye candy for the guys too, even though she can be quite annoying. Overall I really liked this show and felt the need to share. I believe the show is in its third season and I plan to watch all I can get my hands on. SO if you are looking for a crime show with a twist and a pretty hot main character I think you should check out Dexter.

Happy viewing!

Morning has Broken

2008-08-12T15:34:00.007-05:00

Are you a Morning Person?

Well, for the record, I am not so much a morning person. I do not wake up all bright eyed and bushy tailed as the saying goes. Now, I am not usually grumpy either, unless I have gotten too little sleep. But there is no sunshine shooting forth from my derriere either like some people I know. I am just kind of quiet until I really wake up. And really waking up could very well take an hour or two. There are some mornings I am happy and some mornings where I am just comfortable with everything and feeling pretty good. Some mornings I hit snooze as many times as I can and others I get up with or even before the first alarm and feel really rested. Just depends on the day.

Well today did not start off the best. I did not get enough sleep really and wanted more. I decided maybe, just maybe I could try to at least close my eyes on the bus if not actually doze off for a few. But was that really a possibility? Not so much. There was only one strip of lights on and they just happened to be the ones right above my seat. Ehh, bright light is okay cause it will go away when the driver takes off right. Yeah well she didn't turn them off while we were driving in to downtown so there was really no chance of me getting any rest. Drat! Okay well I read my book some and I suppose that's okay too. And the buses were running relatively fast which was good. There was no line at my favorite breakfast taco place so I had time to grab one and still make it to my building on time, hooray! I needed a yummy breakfast today. So I am sitting at my desk as the other people in my office trickle in. The girl who sits in the cube next to me obviously was in a better mood than I and loudly professed a good morning to everyone. When the 3 people here did not make enough of a noise to really be heard when responding she told us we all needed to wake up. Needless to say, that annoyed me some. I had not realized how much until I heard the tone of the words coming out of my mouth. I told her I had said good morning back to her and frankly it sounded quite snippish. But darn it I had told her good morning and was annoyed that she was fussing at us for not saying it back when in reality she had just not heard us because she was the one talking so loudly. Sorry for not having sunshine shooting out of my you-know-where but I do not need to be as freaking perky as you are right now. I was polite enough in responding when I really didn't even feel like talking. So she got annoyed with me for sounding so snippy but you know what I really don't care. I do not need to be told how freaking happy I should or should not be in the morning. I am glad she was happy but I did not have to be. There are mornings when she walks in and mumbles sometimes instead of saying good morning and I don't go all sunshine commando on her arse like I could. Whatever.

So I was pretty awake by the time I had a meeting at 9. We did this video-teleconference thingy with some people in our other office. Well we found out one of the presenters was flying into our town for some stuff today and would be joining us as soon as he got in. So we started the meeting and got through one slide before he showed up. Since he was supposed to start the presentation he took over, and promptly elevated the decibel level in the room. He is normally a loud person, military background and all. But this morning he was actually trying to be loud and get our attention. Well is sure as heck worked. And once again I was like wha? Howcome the supreme chipperness? Especially when considering he had to be up at o'dark thirty to catch his flight and make it in for when he did. But we all made it through and the presenter left the meeting when he was done with his part. Even funnier was when a colleague who was sitting closer to the presenter later told me that he said he needed to go find a Starbucks as he left the room. I mean it already seemed like he had 5 espressos this morning how many more could he want. And if that is what he considers to be a tired morning for him I would hate to see what is normal. Jeez just sunshine all around...

Now I am all for morning people. And I like how I feel when I wake up early and get lots of stuff done. Those mornings when you wake up early and just feel really rested and ready to get out and do things are great. You can get so much done and then still have the whole day ahead of you. It is just so satisfying and it makes the whole day better. I love that content feeling you get on those kind of mornings. But really when it comes down to it I would rather sleep until I am ready to wake up. And when I am allowed to be the night owl like I like to be, I will sleep in. Other days if I wake up at 7 and feel like getting up I will, even on a Saturday. I swear its true! But no matter how good I feel I just do not see the need to act like sunshine commando barbie or something and attack everyone I meet with a shrill Good Morning! I much prefer to savour the morning and the peaceful quiet that comes with it.

So while morning may have broken, if you know me please refrain from breaking morning greetings over my head. Corny, yeah I know, but true. Thanks!

Let the Love Begin

2008-08-07T14:55:00.004-05:00

Tradition, what makes us want to follow it and never break it?

Well in the short time I have been reading blogs I have discovered that many of the people I read most often tend to participate in what is known as Love Thursday. There are plenty of other traditions in the blogosphere such as Works For Me Wednesday and the like. Yet, the only one I have been really drawn to is Love Thursday. The funny part about traditions is that lots of people do them because that is just what you are supposed to do without knowing why. I tend to question the whys and what-fors a lot, it's just who I am. I am often thinking about things and wondering how they work, how they are made, or who was the first person to think of something. But then again there are some things I just do out of habit, or tradition and never question why. I am sure we all have some funny stories about traditions and the truth behind them.

I remember going to the grocery store with my boyfriend before we were dating and having an argument about the milk. We had bought some ice cream and milk and a few other things. As we walked out to my car to load up everything we got into an argument about where to put things. I remember him popping the trunk to load things. As he was putting things in I kept out the milk and told him we would put it on the floor of the passenger's side of the car. He asked why and all I could really say was that the floor is where I had always put the milk. He thought it would be in the way in his feet and wanted to know the reason behind putting the milk on the floor rather than the trunk with everything else. I told him that's what my mom had always done and that's just how I do it too. But he wanted to know WHY? What was the reason for it? I realized I had never questioned it and had just always put the milk there. He was starting to make me mad, and when he makes me mad I get irrational and cannot think straight or formulate answers very quickly. So for every reason I started to come up with he would immediately tell me that my reason still didn't make a whole lot of sense and he didn't see why we couldn't just put the milk in the trunk. I told him I had no idea why my mother did this and was only trying to come up with potential reasons. Of course since I was flustered already and just kind of talking my way through things I wasn't really coming up with anything good enough to prove to him why it couldn't just go in the trunk. I was saying how the milk sweats and it would make the things in the trunk yucky with condensation and it would be better on the floor. Plus there is air conditioning in the car and not in the trunk and you can keep the milk cooler by keeping it in the car on the floor near the ac vent. And my main reason and I really do think this was my mother's reason was, what if it starts to leak or something. If it was on the floor near you you could see it and do something about it; if it was in the trunk you wouldn't know and it would get all over everything. But none of this was good enough for him. If it was on the floor it would still sweat and then just get all over his legs. And if it leaks then it is still all over everything and I am driving and there is still nothing I can do about it. Blah Blah Blah. Point is he made me so mad that he questioned me and how I do things and was basically telling me my way was just stupid and I was really mad. He was really mad because I couldn't formulate and answer in a normal amount of time because I was mad. So he told me to just put the dang milk in his feet and lets just go home, and I told him no to put it in the freaking trunk. I don't remember where it went but I know we went home mad. And as I was calming down I could think better so I kept coming up with more answers all the way home until he got really mad and just told me to drop it.

I guess if he hadn't made me so mad I might have seen the sense in his questions then. Honestly I never really had anyone ride in my car with me so it was never a problem before for me to put my groceries on the passenger's side floor because there were no legs and feet to worry about. And I had just never questioned my mother's reasoning behind it but I knew I didn't want the milk sweating and condensating all over other things in my trunk. (Yes, I make up words like condensating because I think they describe the situation better than being grammatically correct, get over it.) But it sweating and condensating on the floor of my car was no different really I suppose. So it really wasn't that big of a deal to change my habit/tradition and put the darn milk in the trunk with everything else. It so shouldn't have turned into such a huge argument. But he made me feel like he thought my tradition was stupid and that my mother was silly for doing it and I was silly for doing it too. And I had to justify it! Only I couldn't really other than saying that's just the way I want to do it.

So I guess what I am really wondering today is what makes us hold on so firmly to traditions that make no sense but that we have never even bothered to question? I once heard about a woman who always cut the ends of the pot roast off before cooking it. Her new husband asked her why and she said that her mother and her grandmother had always done it that way. She called the mother, who called the grandmother to find out why it started because surely it was just an old technique to make the meat more tender and flavorful. The answer they got was that the roast would not fit in the pan unless the grandmother cut the ends off so that's why she did it. So, since they had never questioned why and just done things as their mothers' had, they had been cutting off the ends of roasts for years for absolutely no reason. Granted cutting the roast did no harm either, there was just no real reason to do it.

As I have admitted I am usually one to question things. But sometimes I just don't, and I really am not sure why. What makes some things different from others? Why does it bother me that some people follow pointless traditions while I follow some of my own? When you actually sit down to reason things out you realize that your tradition and habitual way of doing something might not always have a reason behind it. So why do we hold so fiercely to our ideas of the way things should be? The only thing I can come up with is that some traditions are so mindless and we are so set in our ways that the repetition and simplicity of not having to question something is just comforting. I mean nothing says that everyone has to put up our Christmas Trees or Menorahs or whatever traditional holiday items your family uses on the same day at the same time right? Yet each family has certain ideas of what time is right for them and they make a tradition and follow it year after year. And there is really no problem with some children opening presents on Christmas Eve and others on Christmas Morning. So why do we find it odd when other families do not celebrate the way we do? I think tradition is comforting. I know I take some comfort in the ease with which I just know what to do sometimes and I just know the way things should be and how I just know what others are expecting of me. That's not to say it stops me from doing things my way just because I know others will disagree, because it most certainly does not. But I think a certain degree of tradition and habits are comforting for everyone.

So in the sense of tradition I think I will participate in Love Thursday, even though I don't really know why it happens or why it started. And I am not promising to be faithful and only post blogs about love on Thursdays. I will be a rebel and post blogs about love on any day I so choose, and Thursday posts will not always be Love Thursday posts. But that is okay by me. I just want to have some sense of tradition here and I think Love Thursday is a good one. It is one that will make me think about things I love and what makes me happy and makes my heart sing. I think that is a really good tradition to start. So from now on I plan on thinking about things that make me happy and sharing them with you in the hopes that I can make you a little happier too. Traditions are good for sharing the love and happiness! And I suppose I started a tradition with talking about tradition, ironic much?

Rain Delay

2008-08-06T08:38:00.003-05:00

So yesterday was a lazy day. And I am glad for it!

There was a Tropical Storm with the potential to become a Hurricane and his name was Edouard. He was supposed to make landfall Tuesday morning around 7am somewhere near Galveston on the coast of Texas. I like Edouard because he never made it to Hurricane strength. I also like Edouard because he turned some and hit to the west of us here in Houston so we got less rain than we might have. So while we did get some rain, there was no flooding. This made me happy happy since I live on the first floor and am near a bayou. Also just saying the name Edouard is fun and makes me happy, typing Edouard is almost as fun because it still makes me think about saying the name Edouard and contorting my mouth into funny shapes to say it. :)

I got out and drove around some to see what was going on, but it wasn't much. I thought about going to the mall but decided that my bed was looking much more attractive. So I went home and took a nap. Normally I don't nap but the day was sooo lazy and also I hadn't had the chance to sleep in quite like I wanted. R decided to call me when he got to work to make sure I hadn't drowned in my sleep. Quite nice of him, but I would have preferred the sleep. Though me getting up that early did have the advantage of being able to get a sausage biscuit from McDonald's so I suppose I should be thanking him for the call too, even though my ass doesn't.

So lazy I was for the entire day. All I did was play on the internets and watch some instant netflix. Well I did do some laundry and water my container garden. And I made spaghetti for dinner, which was quite yummy!

Thinking back now on what might have happened with Edouard is not so nice. But I am content to know that Edouard was lazy too and just decided to send a little rain our way. So thanks to Edouard for the rain delay, I enjoyed my lazy day!

Edouard, Edouard, Edouard....see its fun to say! Okay I guess I can stop now.

Edouard!~

Okay I maybe I can't!

Michigan on Friday

2008-08-04T14:01:00.006-05:00

So how was your weekend?

Mine was just peachy! Apparently I was in a Wal-Mart in Michigan on Friday. I went on quite a shopping spree and racked up a total of over 600 dollars worth of stuff. Oh I bought the usual food items since you know people have to eat and I was planning a great barbecue. And I splurged and bought a new entertainment center for my TV and some movies and music to go with it. And I got some stuff to decorate the house that I just know my S.O. will hate but I love it and that's what counts right. I mean everyone should have a purple shag rug right!?! Mmm...and I got me some of those little bitty bottles of that white russian stuff which is like so good (moving on up from that boone's farm!). And you know how them lava lamps are back in style I got one of those too! Oh and some floats and tubes to go have a splashing good time in the Great Lakes. I think I got all I needed to have me a really good weekend! Probably.....

I mean isn't that what you guys would have bought if you were me and in Michigan for the weekend? Okay maybe you would have gone for the lime green rug. I can't blame you I debated over the color choices too. And maybe you would have gotten some other kind of cute little drinks in the bottle, say that hard lemonade stuff and I can't fault you for your choices there either. But generally you would have bought all the neato stuff I did. Or maybe not. Thing is I don't know what you would have bought. I don't even know what I was trying to buy at Wal-Mart in Michigan on a Friday. Well that's just silly you say, how can she not know what she was buying!?! Well see the thing is I really don't. And NO, I hadn't already popped the top on a few of those white russian thingamajiggers before I got to the register. Shame on you for thinking I am such a lush I can't even wait until I get in the car to start drinking like a normal person! I really don't know what I was trying to buy because I was not even there. And how is that you say? Well I thought maybe my credit card decided to take a vacation of it's own and see a few sights. But that didn't make sense because it hadn't even asked me to water it's plants for it while it was gone. And sure enough it wasn't gone, it was in my pocket taking a siesta just like it should be. But my credit card is a little bit of a tramp you see. Seems it shared its numbers with someone one torrid, drunken night and that someone took its numbers on a vacation to Michigan. And that someone is a bad person. That dirty someone tried to use my credit card's numbers to buy only they know what at a Wal-Mart in Michigan.

So instead of taking a nice trip to Michigan to go shopping for the weekend I was forced to deal with my loose-lipped credit card. Sad thing is even though I have gotten close to my credit card over the years and it has become sort of like a part of me, I know it had to be taken care of. Now of course I didn't put out a hit on it personally, the credit card company did that themselves. Though they did make me agree to it. Which I was honestly happy to do since the phone call telling me about my credit card's indiscretions came at the ungodly hour of o'dark thirty on Saturday morning, and interrupting my sleep means war. I am quite angry at it for making me the bearer of its bad news too. I have to go through it's address book and tell all of it's friends that it is gone now. Because if I don't, all of its friends will be calling for it to come out and play again next month like it has every month before and when it doesn't show I will get the blame. In the end I know it was best, but I still feel lost with out it right now. Luckily it was the only one of its siblings who is such a loosey-goosey, well as far as I can tell right now anyways. Something tells me I will have to keep a close eye on all of my other cards for a while.

So that was my weekend and now I am left still curious...
Who is this dark someone and where did he meet my little credit card? Or did someone sell my credit card out? Was it kidnapped? Did it not listen to common sense and go phishing with strangers? Who took its numbers? How did they get to Michigan? What were the plans for the numbers? What did the someone try to buy at a Wal-Mart in Michigan on a Friday? Did they try to buy food for their family or a big screen TV? Will they keep trying to use the numbers? Will they be back to try and get more? Or do they already have more?

But most importantly, what would you try to buy if you stole some little credit card's numbers?

Carpet Difficulties

2008-07-31T20:29:00.004-05:00

How many people does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Or rather how many people does it take to shampoo a carpet? That is my real question here.
When I renewed my lease recently they offered to have my carpets shampooed and I gladly accepted. Granted they would have to come in and just go around my furniture, but it was still better than nothing, or so I thought. And since they only do carpets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I went ahead and scheduled mine for this past Tuesday. But I needed to vacuum before they came. Ugggh. So me being the over achiever that I am I went ahead and moved my furniture around and stacked some up and out of the way. I figured this way it would be easier for the people to shampoo my carpets and not have to maneuver around too many things. Riiiight...that's the only reason I moved things. It was definitely not because I felt that I should get everything I could out of this service, that's not it at all. So since we all agree that I only had the best interests of the janitorial staff in mind, I went ahead and moved some furniture. Then I vacuumed the whole apartment. And I felt pretty good about what I had accomplished, so I went to bed.

-Fast forward to Tuesday night about 6:30pm when I get home from work-

I walk in the door and think hmmm....I wonder if they came and shampooed my carpets today? It doesn't really look like it...I will go to the office and ask. So I go over to the office to pay my rent and ask about the carpet stuff. Only the lady in the office doesn't know if it got done or not because she just got back from vacation today. Yeah so I should call the office tomorrow and find out. Whatever. I assumed they did come, or they didn't, but either way I needed to move my stuff back. It just felt too weird with it all stacked up. The little fact that I couldn't get in my closet and reach any clean clothes for work the next day was not a problem at all. SO I moved all my stuff back assuming I would have to call for another appointment sometime. Stuff happens right and I didn't pay for it and I got a cleaner apartment out of it so no huge deal right? Right.

-Fast forward to Wednesday night about 6:30 pm when I get home from work-

Hmmm...It's really cold in here...did I leave the AC turned down this morning? Wait the tracks on the carpet look different from when I vacuumed...I think...maybe the carpet people came today even though they were supposed to come yesterday...typical...hmph...wait did they really come? So I check the thermostat and jeez its as low as it can possibly go! Crud! I have no problem if you come in and turn the AC down while you are in here but jeez don't leave it like that all day! The electricity people, the electricity! Why don't you just take some money from my tree out on the porch too! Well okay maybe you thought the carpet needed to dry, but as low as it can go!?! Really now! Darn people, never come when they say they will and always mess things up...grumble...grumble...grumble. Oh well at least most of the carpet got cleaned right? Don't be mad that you moved all that furniture all by yourself for nothing. Don't be mad. Please don't get pissed. Don't get mad because you knew, you just absolutely positively knew that the minute you put all your stuff back that they would come anyways. Just don't do it! Oh heck, its too late, you're pissed, just admit it. Grumble...Grumble...GRUMBLE!!!

Oh well, lets just fix dinner. Wait whats this? A present? The tool fairy hath visited my kitchen! What's that you say? There is no such thing as a tool fairy? Well then, how would you explain the brand new set of nifty plier thingies that have appeared near my sink? I claim tool fairy, hmph. Fine I suppose you non believers do kind of have a point...after all, all the other fairies are our parents right? And they usually leave money in exchange for something valuable like teeth, not just tools as presents. But it could be the tool fairy, right? No? Oh fine I suppose its just another thing the carpet people messed up on. Yeah you were right, I bet you noticed that funny round metal piece sitting next to the plier thingies and you probably even knew it went to my sink didn't you. Well no one asked for a smart alec. But dangit you are right. They had to take apart the faucet and couldn't even manage to put it back together or take their tool with them when they left. Why am I not surprised?

Sooo...if I were to be serious about this whole situation I would start to question a few things. Like why the people didn't come on Tuesday like we had scheduled. And if they ONLY come on Tuesdays and Thursdays then how come they came to my place on a Wednesday? And really why did the AC have to go so low, I mean I think 70 or 75 would have done the job. And so you needed a water source that you have to screw things into so the carpet shampooer thing will work, fine. But can't you put my sink back together when you are done? And do you really have so many tools that you can just leave them in random apartments? Did something happen and you had to leave really quickly, like maybe tamales for lunch in the office or the flying dog chained to my porch scared the piss out of you and you cleaned my carpet twice and then ran?

But I prefer to be less serious about the whole thing and just simply ask:
How many people does it take to shampoo a carpet?

...and come on time...and leave the AC at a reasonable temperature...and clean up after themselves...and not leave tools behind...

I should have just kept the darn pliers!

The Beginning

2008-07-29T16:22:00.004-05:00

Hi,

Welcome to my place of Internet residence. I suppose we should begin with some introductions. I will go first, that being only proper. (And there is no need to worry that I will hold it against you when you fail to reciprocate, considering I really am not sure who you are yet. Shoot, you probably don't know who you are yet either! And since I don't know you, and you don't know you, I am sure you can be trusted to keep the secret that I really don't know who I am yet either. Shhh...I won't tell if you won't.)

My name is Karen, this is my blog. I have curly hair, hence the name of the blog, which I figure defines me pretty well, or at least well enough to use as my title. I have no really specific plans for this place just yet and it is kind of empty and drafty to tell you the truth. Perhaps once you have identified yourself you would be willing to help me make some decorating decisions. I would like that. But until you figure out who you are I suppose I can tell you a little more about me. So I like books and I like to read, a lot, a whole lot. Mostly I stick to mysteries but I like anything really that reads well and I can just get wrapped up in. And while I like to read a lot, you may notice that my own grammar and writing style leaves something to be desired. But you will just have to get over that, because I plan to write like this is more of a conversation, and conversations may not look to pretty when you get down to the technical mumbojumbo but it sure reads a whole lot better. Plus its my place and I am simply going to be me here. If you do not like me, I find that sad for you but trust that you can find other friends to occupy your time with. So if you can get over the inappropriate use of prepositions and commas and whatnot and you are still with me, great! and glad to have you. So since I like to read so much I thought it might be fitting to have a few posts about the books I read. I will probably do some reviews and maybe just some lists. But I do tend to go through books kind of fast so I might just post about the ones that really move me.

In addition to books I like food. I like food a lot and I am from the South where you fall asleep planning breakfast and wake up planning dinner. So I am sure that I will be posting about food, perhaps about yummy things I find at restaurants, or more than likely about fun adventures I have in my own kitchen. And I am kind of picky and don't like too many raw veggies or strange things so anything I find to be really good will more than likely also be really simple too.

When I am not reading or cooking or eating I very well may be painting. I have just begun to really explore some fun new techniques and I am having a lot of fun. So I am sure I will be posting some pictures too.

Other than that I am a pretty simple person. I really just like to have a good time and enjoy the company of friends and family. I do look forward to finding new friends and family here on the Internet. I don't have a lot of specific plans for this place yet, but I want it to be comfortable and inviting. I know it will be random since that is just my nature. I am the person who will start laughing in the middle of complete silence at something that happened days ago. So there will definitely be some random musings here, it just wouldn't be home without them.

I guess there is not much else to say but sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

I know I will!