What to Eat, Sometimes...

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.

Getting All Dolled Up

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

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!

Love Flowers!

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!

Do Bee Do Bee Dooo

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...