Armed with Cheesecake and Vodka, World Watch Out, I'm 40!

Lordy, it has been awhile

2011-11-22T23:43:00.000-05:00

I think of writing often, but then I forget the premise, the reason and the passion that I once had to write daily. Today I noticed the mistakes I have started to make in grammar and in spelling. I NEED to continue to write.
I find myself spending more time and effort on the task at hand, rather than throwing the halfway done task out the window. The money spent to fix what I have started is enough to help diminish the feeling of "let's paint the entire house two colors" manicsode. That is what I call them now, manicsodes.
I feel that this is a good thing, yet there are still times that I will just break down and zone out. This does not last as long and I am glad. Someone told me recently make sure to take time for me, and do what I want to do.
I do miss writing, I miss continuing an education and I miss the moments that come naturally to me. Yes, I do still brush my teeth, thank you very much.

This week is filled with holiday smells and people running through the rain with filled gocery carts and lists of supplies a mile long. I have been yelling at myself to remember my camera so I can capture the tell tale signs of stress, happiness and loneliness in the people I walk passed.
I went to check the mail today and swore I could smell apple pie in the air. On the way back to the house, a waft of sweet potato tantalized my nostrils and made my mouth water.
I did buy a turkey, I have not cooked one in over a year so it will be memorable. I usually will cook one for Easter or when there is a chill in the air. I will then cook turkey soup and turkey salad, and take the cold out of the walls.
I sent Bryant to the store today, with a partial list so he would problem solve and try to figure out what I needed. He did pretty good, following up with about ten text messages. When he came home I realized I need to take him to the produce section and show him how not to pick out soft tomato's and brown leaf lettuce. Thank the Lord we were eating BLT's for dinner tonight and not this weekend.
I think I will start hiring him out!

Some say writing is good. I do not know what to say.

2011-09-28T00:30:00.002-04:00

They say that it is good to write.
It is good to write your feelings especially if one cannot express feelings to another. It helps to open the soul, help to heal, remember the good times, and reflect on the bad. I try to write every day, but most days I delete the things that I write, since I know other’s will read and feel the sadness in my heart. The sadness is one of the only things I have and at times I do not want to share the sadness, I want to keep it inside and countdown until I can go home, lay in bed and let out the sadness so no one can hear.

I feel that I must stay strong for the people around me. I want others to see my as strong, that I can take care of myself and that I will survive. They do not need to know the truth of what really is going on in my heart and soul. Sometimes it seems like a battle. Not necessarily of good and evil but of love and guilt. I lay awake at night thinking of everything we had planned to do, how we were going to live and the memories we were going to make. I miss the late night talks with him the most of all. We would go to bed and face each other and talk of the future and what lies ahead for us. We would talk of our jobs, our goals and accomplishments. I miss those talks and I wish I could share with him the accomplishments I had already achieved while we are apart. I know he is here, watching me, but I want him closer. I feel guilty that I am the one who must live out the dreams we carved late at night, I feel guilty that I will be the one to hold our grandchildren, while telling them what a wonderful man and father he was.

I lay awake wishing he was lying next to me. Sometimes I do feel him, laying there and I do not move as not to upset the universe or molecular structure of the presence I feel. I just wish he would say something to help me heal, to help the guilt go away. The guilt of knowing he won’t be here to experience life with me as we planned. The bedtime stories he won’t be able to tell his grandchildren, the stories of his grandmother, and plans to go to Disneyland. Things we were going to experience together, travels we were going to embark on all over the world. I want him to know that I think of him each and every day, and I cry for him, each and every day.

When I would experience something while with him, it would feel like a brand new outlook on life or the experience. I had been to Vegas a few times and had fun, but when Brian took me, I had the time of my life and all of the night lights that I experienced that first night in Vegas with him is one night I will never forget. This feeling I felt was the reason we married in Vegas.

I remember good times each and every day, then a haunting reminder of phones calls and last emails shared brings tears to my eyes. I wipe them away fast, so not to bring others, and go back to thinking of the good thoughts. These past few years have felt so gratifying there are no words to describe our relationship. There were so many turbulent times, yet all was forgotten, while we rediscovered ourselves and fell in love all over again.
The hard work and struggle was so worth it in the end. We loved each other, and our love was stronger like no other. We worked for our relationship each and every day. It was hard, then again, when it comes easy, that’s when you stop trying.

It has been two months since he passed on. I feel like it was yesterday, and I wish I had just one more day to spend with him. I hate the fact that life goes on around me, and I am expected to keep up. Sometimes I fall flat on my face, and that’s when my friends pick me up, dust me off and point me to the correct path. That is all fine and dandy, but I am tired of people pointing me. I want to make my own path and basically run away from everything and never come back. I know how to run away from my problems, I have done it many times in life. I was told I could not do that right now. Soon, but not right now. I am holding on to those words and waiting. I spent time sitting and dwelling over him, crying, thinking and suffering. I also spent time asking all of the questions and not coming up with any answers. If I did have just one more day with him, I could lie and say I would spend it laying there with him, but in reality, that is not what he wanted to do. He was always on the go and never was the type to have a jammie day! I don’t know what he would want to do, but if I do get the chance I will ask him.

His clothes in the closet do not smell like him anymore. At the beginning I would lock myself in my room and wrap myself in his shirts, hoping to never lose the smell of him, in the morning, right before he would wipe his cologne filled hands all over the dogs face. I only have his smell in my memories now. I bought some of his cologne, so I could spray it on a pillow and smell it at night. I haven’t done that for a few days, this does not mean I have accepted it. I smell the inside of his wallet, pick the dead moths and cobwebs out of the way, and laugh at the reminder that all of his money was in his front pocket the day he passed. A weird thing to laugh at, yes I know. Those of you who knew him know what I am taking about.

The hardest part so far was going back to work. We would talk to each other multiple times during the day. I would call him on my way to work, and throughout the day we would talk via phone and email. On the way home we would talk as well. One would think that we would run out of things to talk about, but we loved talking and learned it was very important in a relationship. Driving to work, and not being able to call him, or having my phone at work remain silent throughout the day is the hardest and it really hurts so much. Who am I going to tell all of this stuff too? Well, obviously I haven’t really had much to talk about. I had my 5 year anniversary at work, and an award presented to me. The first person I wanted to call was him, but when I picked up the phone I remembered he wasn’t there to call. Yes, I know he was there but that is really no consolation.

Last night I walked in the basement and turned on the light. The lights did not come on. I turned the switch off and then back on, while looking at both of the lights thinking how crazy it was to have them both go off at the same time. I walked back upstairs and cleaned for a while then going back to the basement I turned the light switch that was upstairs instead of the downstairs, and the lights came on. I was shocked to say the least. I went downstairs and tried that switch and it worked. I am thinking since the basement was Brian’s favorite place to relax and watch tv that he was trying to just pop in and say hello. I asked him to send me a message. When he was alive we would talk about death and how he wasn’t allowed to die before me, because I truly felt that I couldn’t live without him in my life. I told him that he had to haunt me and come and say hello, and I said that I would haunt him all of the time. I wonder all the time now, what is in store for me. I wonder when my clock will stop ticking and when it will be time for me to go. I wonder if I will ever see him again in another life and if he will recognize me when my soul departs from this earth. I hold on to the thought that I will indeed see him again and be a part of his soul once more. Some days this thought is the only thing that gets me out of bed and moving for the day.

I can’t really think of the future right now. Like I said, I feel stagnant while everyone else is pushing forward.

Get a tattoo or stand in a beehive. You choose!

2011-09-24T12:25:00.000-04:00

I started by telling everyone I was going to get a tattoo for my fortieth birthday. Deep down I wanted one but the idea of someone sticking needles in my skin over and over scared the living crap out of me.
I had seen many nice designs and wanted something that represented my son and my husband. I finally decided with friends help that it was going to be a bee, like the honey nut cheerios bee. The B would represent the initial of their first name.
I remember when my husband and I were dating we finally made the huge step of moving in together, the similarity of their names would confuse us all. After weeks of chaos and the men ignoring me when I would call them, we finally decided to call my son Little B and my husband Big B. When I was mad and ready to yell out my son's name, I would always blurt out the name of my husband, which would make them both wonder who I was really calling and usually upsetting my son, with him saying that I do not remember his name, and my husband telling me I was easily confused. This went on for years and still continued after being married for 10 years, but then I would also include the name of the dog as well as the cat when yelling for one of the boys.
The nickname though ensued for the both of them until my son starting edging out my husband in height and weight. Little B was soon standing over Big B and Little B wanted more than ever to hold the Big B title. Instead of letting them fight to the death for the renaming convention I figured it was time to take a minute and actually remember the correct name and using proper enunciation when calling one of them. And that never happened. Thankfully it only happened when I was angry and not while the husband and I were enjoying alone time.

This was where the B originated from.
The Bee was funny in itself, since I was deathly afraid of bees. Mind you, I was not allergic to them, but they scared the life out of me and brought tears to the people around me because they would be laughing at me so hard watching me trying to get away from the bee.
I would see the bee and of course the bee would then see me, veer off course sensing my fear and start towards me, it would turn and make a 'bee' line straight for me. I would shriek and then my body would do contortions that are not for the faint of heart. I could have easily surpassed a yoga master when trying to get away from the bee without moving my feet. I would sway and dip and move my waist, as well as my neck and do this little dance, all the while no one would help me get this bee away from me because they were too busy laughing and could not move.
During this time, the bee never touched me, it was like we were having foreplay, the bee would do his dance, trying to imitate what I was doing, while I was trying my best to dodge his stinger. When my feet finally figured out what the hell I was trying to get away from they would finally obey and I would go running, arms flaying while the bee followed me.
When my son was little I would also having him freaking out at my reaction and running down the street arms flaying screaming for his life. There was a period in his life that I thought he might have a little flavor in his step, but once he started hanging out with men and in sports all of those ideas were squashed.
I still freak out to this day and when I see a bee, wasp, hornet, wood bee, anything that moves faster than I do. I let out this soundless scream that everyone can hear and I wind up freaking out those closest to me. I do not do this on purpose, but I know I pissed off my best friend once by doing this, because when she hears that noise she knows to stop, drop and roll and at times, it isn't pleasant to see a 40 year old rolling around thrashing and flaying on the ground. I also make this same noise when my husband would get too close to the car in front of us, which almost ruined all of our road trips. Now I just bury my head in a book and do not look up.
Anyways, I figured I would put a tattoo on my bucket list since I do not want to stand in an area around swarming bees. I love the honey, but do not want to take any part in helping them make the honey. So I voted for tattoo.
Still, with wanting a tattoo and getting the actual tattoo was a chore. I would always bring this up with friends when I was drinking and tried to get others to join me, I would convince them to do it with me, while they were drinking and I know that they remembered something because I would never get a call the next day confirming what we discussed the night before.
I never did get a tattoo for my birthday. I was too scared.

I wound up getting the tattoo a few days after my husbands funeral. This was not the way it was supposed to happen. My son, stepdaughter and I went to get memorial tattoos on our body. My son already had a tattoo as well as my stepdaughter, so I was the tattoo virgin. We walked in the shop, and I immediately saw all of the different designs on the wall. I tell the kids that I wanted to go first so I wouldn't see anyone in pain and chicken out. With the help of one of the people that worked there, we discussed what I wanted and she put it in motion, something really simple and sweet. We choose the wrist, so I could see it and that was it. Stepdaughter and the son picked theirs out and we had to lie so
Ashley needed parental consent in order to get hers since she was not 18, but hey I was the awesome Stepmother of all time and we all were a little bit crazy during those days, so we showed Ashley's military id and I signed for her. I think I would have bungee jumped if I thought it would make me feel better.

I went to the back room, and the man started doing my tattoo on my wrist. I was waiting for the hurting to start but he was too busy watching his television and making me squirm a bit before he started. I turned my head so I couldn't see what was happening, and I felt the pain the entire time. I then knew that all of what happened these past few weeks was not a dream and that I was already awake and alone. I cried, no longer numb.
After the tattoo healed it looks nice and simple. I knew I would not be ashamed as a grandmother, telling the kids that the name on my wrist is the love of my life and no one can ever replace the love and friendship that he gave to me every day.
I got my tattoo and am already thinking of my next one.

2011-08-23T20:44:00.002-04:00

When I first met you, I noticed your eyes. They were blue and intense.
When I first talked to you, I noticed your smile. your smile was natural and you had dimples.
When I first was kissed by you, I noticed myself melting.
When you first held me close, I noticed time standing still.
When we married, I knew I wanted you for the rest of my life.
When I said I wanted to die a day before you, so I did not have to live without you in my life, I meant it. You kissed me and proceeded to discuss our son or daughters latest antics.

Throughout the years I felt very special and we were always close. Yes, we had our times but I would be more worried if we did not argue and yell. Each of us, being hard headed would not let the other person win, regardless of who was right or wrong. I loved the passion that I felt with you. Passion with work, home, family, love, and me, you always had so much to give. I loved the new experiences I had with you. Las Vegas, camping, flying to Buffalo, moving cross country, skiing, New Orleans, Jack in the Box after The Library. I remember seeing you in your Senior Chief uniform (swoon) then in your officer uniform (swoon again)! You would change your shoulder boards so often I could not keep up with the advancements. You were amazing in the military. I knew you missed it so much.
I feel all of these memories and try my best to remember more.

For that is all I have now.

The smell of your shaving cream.
Me scaring you in the shower.
The smell of your cologne.
The smell of your deodorant, which I did not like at all, but would give my soul to smell it on you again.

When I last saw you on Sunday, I was upset with you, but seeing you trying to sit up and talk to me, was enough for me to come over and kiss you goodbye. I came back and gave you another kiss and tried to be short with you when I told you to have crabs for breakfast. I then left you for the week.

Every night we talked and we said, "Goodnight and I love you". Each night I went to bed, content and thinking of you, a bit sad that I had a huge bed with a million pillows to myself. I was anxious to finish the week and meet you down south for a weekend of fun, friends and an amazing time.

I am mad at times, wondering why you had to go. We had so many plans.

Attack of the Weedwacker

2011-08-22T03:02:00.002-04:00

Brian usually took care of the outside of the house. One of his many nicknames was "Harry Homeowner". Now that I have to do everything, I decided to get some fresh air (anyone feel the humidity lately?) and weedwack the front yard. The last time I was outside walking Daisy, I looked at all of the other yards and they were all in a state of perfection. I looked at my yard, and saw how my entire life felt in a small parcel of grass. It looked devilish and unkempt and in need of a trim. I grabbed the rake and the weedwacker from the shed, once I checked for wasps, bees, and anything else moving faster than I do.
I took everything out front, getting a little giddy on the inside since I was going to be playing with a type of power tool.

I first had to rake, about 30 minutes I had a large bag of leaves collected and my back already hurt and I was tired. I looked at the weed whacker and wasn't so giddy inside, maybe a little sick to my stomach. I took a break and hydrated myself.

I went back outside and started ~~balding~~, I mean weed whacking the grass.

It was bad.
I think I will be hiring someone to do this for me.

I am the cook and cleaner, not the lawnmower man...

Baby Steps

2011-08-22T02:58:00.000-04:00

I think I have cooked twice in 3 weeks.
I went to the grocery store today.
I think I finished cleaning an entire room, the small entry bathroom, without having to stop and move on to something else.
I actually bought food at the grocery.
I do plan on cooking something.
It's 3 in the morning and I am still awake.

Baby steps.

I am armed.. with peanut butter

2011-07-26T21:59:00.002-04:00

I am out of town right now, staying in Bedford, hanging out with the work team and having a great time. I have been doing a lot at night, while in my jammies in the hotel. I planned on catching up on my reading, which I am... three books down! I also took my scrapbooking with me and have also been getting my cuts and cards done. I love the hotel I am staying at. Always clean, lots of coffee and hot water.
And
There is a lot of
Peanut Butter
I love peanut butter
They have huge containers of it. They are individual containers that have enough peanut butter for dipping. Dipping apples and celery and crackers.
YUM
I am so glad I am not allergic to peanut butter.

Adventures at the DMV

2011-06-14T15:42:00.002-04:00

As you all know I wait till the last minute to do anything for myself, then expect the world to bend over backwards to ensure that I get what I want when I want it or need it.

Well, I found out that the DMV is not part of my world.

I do not think that they want to be either.

I was making my plane reservations and such for my trip to Anaheim, California and thought to myself, since no one was listening to me, I should rent a car and go to San Diego for a night.
Suddenly a dark cold feeling washed over my body, seems that I forgot to renew my driver’s license when it was due. I remember making the time to do it, I just never got there. I check the date just to make sure it was not my imagination and maybe just maybe I renewed it.

I Loathe the DMV. PERIOD

You have to sit there with other people right next to you. They are coughing or look like they haven’t showered, and I always seem to pick the seat next to said person, or said person sits right next to me when there is an empty chair next to me. Some of them smell, or they want to talk to you forever, and after a few minutes of realizing that they do not contribute much to Jessica's world I want to go back to my book and make them go *poof*

I also remember when we first moved to Virginia and the requirements to get a license was outrageous. I had to go home 3 different times for information that I needed or I had the wrong paperwork. Yes, there is a list of info at the DMV, but for the proof of residency was a bill, and the deed to the house or something to that effect. I took some tax paperwork on the house. Wasn’t the same. I didn’t have a bill yet, since of course we just moved to the area. It was a bit confusing, yet I finally got it done and had the most amazing picture for my license.

Flash Forward a few years….

To this month. I went to the DMV in the afternoon, since it is so busy in the morning and I didn’t have meetings.

I walked in.

The mean lady at the desk gave me the information to fill out, told me I was to take the tests over since um it has been awhile since my renewal notice.

She directed me to the waiting area with a number

She did not give me a clip board, which I didn’t even know that they had until I filled out all of the information using my wallet as a desk.

I finished the paperwork and waited

AND

Waited

An hour later they call my number, do the eye exam, take picture and was told I would have to take all of the tests over again. All I cared about was if they could use my picture from the old expired license...

Including the drivers test, excuse me but what???????
Umm okay

I was so frustrated and mad, that I failed the test.

BUT

I could go back the next day and retake it for a 2 dollar fee

Umm no thanks!

So I wait a few days, and go back again

Different lady at the front door

She had teacher qualities to her

Fill this out

Bring back to me

I will give you a number

FINE

Fill out everything all over again

Turn it in, get a number

NUMBER is magically called

The gods knew that they did not want me to lose my shirt at the DMV

I went through the eye test AGAIN

The picture AGAIN, I asked if they could use my old picture, the one where I look hot and cute and was thin.. sigh

The questions AGAIN

Then I find out

OMG

I have to take the driving portion of the test

MY CAR IS A MESS

I say fine whatever

Kill me now

I pass the written test

And wait for the driving test, wondering if I remember how to make a 3 point turn.

I wonder if I need to be parked somewhere special

I think omg hand signals, omg I don’t have windshield wash in my fluids

I think omg that man is so going to fail me

I see an Asian man who is doing the driving test

He is the one that failed me a few days ago

I wonder if he remembers me

OMG he is really going to fail me now!!!

I start to panic, blood rushing to my head, heart racing.

I hear my name being called.

It’s an older lady who loves my air conditioning.

We drive around the corner

The lady is talking so much I think she is just happy to have the conversation

I passed the test, after driving around the block…

In my own neighborhood.

Sweet!!

Now what is not sweet is the picture in my driver’s license, and no you will not ever see it.

By the way, I wanted to laugh and tell them the reason my license was expired was because the picture was so much better, and I was cute, hot and young... oh that picture was great!

Says Tony the Tiger.

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-30T14:42:00.000-04:00

Have any of you been to a service man/woman's funeral at Arlington Cemetery?
The sound of the rifles going off and then the start of Taps, has me in tears regardless of whether I was close to the person or not. Standing on the ground of Arlington Cemetery is very sacred to me. The person who is being buried, gave their life for their country, regardless of whether or not they died in the battle field or of old age. At one time they made the decision that their life was worth the freedom that America needed and strives for on a daily basis.
Have any of you been to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and paid your respects? Have you stayed and watched each step the solider in full dress uniform takes, with precision and confidence? Have you wondered how that same solider does it, in the heat of today for instance, or in the snow storms that we had 2 years ago? Do you think that he questions the decisions that he made when he decided to become part of the Old Guard? Do you wonder if you could do the same thing without a feeling of selfishness in your soul? Would you do it for the honor of knowing that you are ensuring that the Tomb is not desecrated in any way?
When a person decides that they want to join the military, many know that they want to fight for their country and make a difference in the world. Some join the military to get out of their house, see the world or to get out of some trouble that they face. They do not think of the consequences of their job.
I don't know where I am going with this post; I just know that we take so much for granted.
I want to make sure that we, as Americans know, what our freedom costs. It may not affect us directly but in some way we need to pay homage more than once a year. I wish we could say thank you to each and every family member that has lost someone every day of the year. The ultimate sacrifice and we only recognize it once a year. We all go to a barbeque with family and friends, or a parade, while taking a day off from work. During this time, a mother, father, son, daughter or another family member holds a picture of their loved one who died for our country tears running down their cheeks, wishing that they could have one more phone call or one more meal with their loved one. Instead, they look out the window, remembering their child, learning how to ride a bike, or coming home from their first date, while the next door neighbor is cooking hotdogs and drinking a beer, toasting the holiday so that they could have a three day weekend.
It is almost 3pm EST. Please take a moment and silently think of what they gave up. Think of how our lives would be if we did not have people who would sacrifice their own lives so we could have a bbq.

Just because you fly an American flag outside your house doesn't mean a damn thing unless you know the sacrifices people have given for each stripe and star on that flag. Memorial Day recognizes all who died:
Revolutionary War: 25,000. War of 1812: ~20,000. Mexican-American War: 13,283. Civil War: ~625,000. Spanish-American War: 2,446. WWI: 116,516. WWII: 405,399. Korea: 53,686. Vietnam: 58,209. Gulf War: 258. Afghanistan: 1,413. Iraq: 4,430. And those are just the "major" wars. (items in parenthesis has been borrowed from Momtothescreamingmasses.com)

what I did last night

2011-05-11T12:55:00.000-04:00

Bee happy

Manic Mondays

2011-05-09T16:16:00.000-04:00

I was already thinking of everything that I needed to do today, last night! That made for a long restless night. I have been so busy at work and by the time I get home I am ready to collapse in a heap on the floor with the dog licking me like a dead carcass.

You think I am joking?

I am also in my last week of school so things are pretty hectic. I have a great post I have been working on, but it is not ready for public...

or I am not ready for the public to read it!

In the meantime I will leave you with this...
Be thankful for the weather today...

My Best Friends Mom

2011-05-02T19:02:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed your friendship
I laughed at your jokes
I humored your honestly
Even if I did not agree with you

I saw how strong you could be
I saw you move heaven and earth
I thought of your daughter in the same light
I thought of your daughter, who is my best friend
and smiled, since she can be just like you at times

I was there when the phone rang, and I was there when she cried
I wanted to make the pain go away, but again I knew you had no pain
It was a fair trade off, one she will take again and again
She knew you were tired and wanted to sleep
She wanted to help you and give her strength
I’m sorry it was not enough, but I am glad you are at peace
I will be her strength and ensure she rocks!
I will be there I promise

I held your daughter strong and gave her my strength
It was all I could give and I wanted her to have it
I don’t think she was ready for this mom
but, you raised a good daughter, and she will be okay

Your daughter was always my rock
Through thick and thin she was there for me
I never thought I would be able to repay all of the things that she did for me
I never thought the day would be today

I saw her at her weakest, and wondered if things will ever be better
I wanted to lie and say everything will be okay
I wanted to see her smile, and laugh like the old times
I wish I could take her pain and sorrow
And have it fly like a bird away from her

She will be okay,
You raised a great daughter
You were an amazing woman, with so many facets it was hard to keep track
Your daughter will keep your memory alive
You raised my best friend and I thank you for that

You will be missed by so many people
You will be cherished by your family
They have you watching over them
Please make sure my best friend will be okay

A Ten Year Tale

2011-04-17T23:29:00.000-04:00

Last week my husband and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. The day did not start off as well as I had hoped, with all of the household drama occurring, it was hard to concentrate on our special day. I got home from work, and hubby told me to get dressed and we were off in about 10 minutes. We drove into D.C., and I started wondering if he was taking me to a hotdog vendor. While we were driving around the streets making sure we did not turn on the wrong way street, we were in front of the Willard hotel and some dude started pounding on my car window. I freaked out! We were going to be shot in broad daylight! I rolled down my window when I noticed that the eye candy young man in a suit was talking. He told us that there was a motor pool coming and we just had to move right then and there to get out of his way. Well, we did move, and when the motorcade came, I didn’t recognize anyone who came out of the car.

Seriously?

What are our taxes paying for??

We parked and went to the meter to get a parking stub. The machine was broken, the fellow in front of us was trying to get it to work and I think he was slightly worried since he already swiped his credit card. We waited a few minutes, but were antsy since we had a reservation so we took the chance on not having a proof of payment for parking and went on our way.

He opened the door for me and the restaurant was buzzing with people. He let the hostess know we were there for dinner; we waited a few minutes and then were taking to our table. He said that online it said that there was a dress code, but obviously people cannot read since there were people in jeans.. and a lady sat right next to me and she was wearing heavy sweats. WTF?

We ordered a drink and an appetizer. The drinks took a few minutes, I figured that since my glass of wine was ten bucks, they might have travelled to Italy or California to pick it up!

The appetizer came, we dug in.. I was trying not to spill anything and I saw the hubby shudder after taking a bite of food. I looked at him scared that the app was spoiled.

He shuddered cuz it was fishy tasting…

Ummmmm

It was crab dip

Hello???

Anyways, a gentleman came up to us, and he looked familiar… he was the fellow from the parking meter, and he let us know that it was fixed. We thanked him and looked at each other.

Who wants to go put money in it now?

Not me.

I tried not to make eye contact with the hubby, hoping he would he the gallant one and turn into the old spice man and run to put money in the machine.

No chance

He decided we would take that chance…

Okay then.

Dinner came, wasn’t impressed

Ate

Laughed

Tried not to talk too loud so the person on each side of us could not hear us, yet we were quiet enough so we could try and hear what the person next to us was saying.

We enjoyed dinner, paid the bill

And

Left

We were walking towards the car, and hoping to not see a ticket, we saw a ticket.

Pouts

We walked closer and closer hoping that the image would disappear from our minds and that the ticket never appeared.

We looked at the ticket…

Hubby pulled it from the window.

It was not a ticket

It was a parking stub.

The young gentleman paid two dollars for us to park there.

We felt bad

Yet happy

We wanted to pay him back. We did not know that he paid it when he told us that the machine was working.

Love random acts of kindness.

Motherhood is happyness??

2011-03-25T21:41:00.003-04:00

I read this post over at AlphaMom. Chris then challenged all that read to go and blog about what is making them happy right now about motherhood.

This is hard.

If she knew what was going on in this household, she would say maybe tomorrow. But as I read her story and I agreed on many points one being, "I am not my child's friend. I am their parent"
I feel the same way.
You can laugh and have a great time with your kids, but there comes a line that they know that separates the parent from their friends and they respect this line.

Anyways, so on to my happiness feeling.

My son moved out last week because he did not feel that he had to follow my rules. Since he was 18 and a senior in high school he felt that he did not have to listen and suffer the consequences for breaking the rules, like keeping the grades up, and being home by curfew.

I was very sad and I thought my world was coming to an end. I cried for days, wanting my child back. Finally I woke up and realized that my child has grown up into a man. I also realized that his moving out could be a good thing. He can pay his bills, fend for himself and learn more responsibility than I could ever teach him.

I smiled, not because he might come running home defeated and broken, unable to make it on his own.
I smiled because I realized that I have done a damn good job raising my son.
He feels so strongly that he can make it out there, and he knows that it will not be easy.
I know that I raised a man who will do what he needs to do to get to work, and get to school, if anything to prove his mom and dad wrong.
I am starting to feel happiness for what I have done for the past 18 years. My son might not realize how hard I have worked to ensure he had what he needed.
I am happy that I can let him go and try this feat of independence. I am also happy to know that no matter what I will catch him if he falls, or I will celebrate his victories that he has in store for himself.

I taught someone, my son, to not fear the uncertain, but to face it with all of his might.

I reminisce of the past, of all the boo boos I kissed, all of the shoes I have picked up. I remember every Friday after I picked him up from after school care, we went for REAL rolled taco's and shared them. I rejoice in knowing that when he came home from school, he didn't mind sitting down to talk to his mom and have really deep and sometimes disturbing stories about what he is faced with at school.

I love the fact that he trusts me, and that he challenges me every day with something. He can make me laugh one minute and yell at him the next. I am happy that I taught him not to hold a grudge against people, and how to open the door for his girlfriend.
I am happy to start a new road with my son, who has turned into a man. Hopefully one of us has a emergency kit!
Baby steps.
And yes I am smiling.

this is a twitter test

2011-03-25T20:51:00.001-04:00

Calvin the Cat

2011-03-25T20:24:00.003-04:00

This is Calvin. He is my cat. He thinks he is a dog. My Daisy Dog, taught Calvin how to growl. When someone knocks at the door, Calvin will run to the door. He is no frady cat.

He sleeps on my pillow every night. He is very affectionate and will only eat one type of cat food. Friskies, Seafood Sensations. He says it is better than Red Lobster...

I love him more than a mouse loves cheese. Why is it animals will love you forever and never leave?

Test

2011-03-25T20:23:00.000-04:00

Sent from my iPhone

Sloppy joe turnovers

2011-03-18T20:46:00.000-04:00

Super easy and yummmie!

1 pound ground beef or turkey
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
the flaky refrigerator biscuits
butter, melted 2 tbs

cook the ground beef/turkey, with onion. Brown and drain, return to pan. Stir in ketchup, sour cream salt and garlic power.

preheat over to 375
roll out the biscuits into a 4 inch square. arrange the biscuit on a baking sheet (ungreased). Spoon 1/4 cup of mixture in the center of each square. Fold over the corner of each square to form a triangle. Seal the edges with a fork and cut three 1/2 inch slits on the top of each turnover
Bake until golden brown 15-20 minutes and bruch with melted butter.

New recipe

2011-03-18T20:25:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to tone down the servings that I make in this house. It seems that everyone is on a diet. I try, seriously I try. There is one problem, I love to cook and bake and of course I love to eat. I have been trying a few new foods in the house.

Have you noticed the price of tomato's? And they are horrible. The worst tomato's so far have been from Bloom. Very sad.

Okay where was I?

I have this box filled with old recipes. Don't you love finding those types of things at yard sales, or garage sales? I love it. Of course this box came from a yard sale, not past down from generation and if you knew where I grew up you would totally understand.

Oh lordy, I forgot to tell you, most overpowering marinade out there, Lawry's lemon pepper marinade. OMG the chicken was delicious but the smell was in my house till the next day, and after a while the smell annoyed my more than a paint smell. No more of that.

I have to tell you a story before I forget. I went to the store, and bought a pork loin. Usually I crock pot it, but this time I wanted to cook it in the oven and since it was cold out, the oven would warm up the house at the same time. So anyways, I marinate it and put it in the fridge with instructions for my son to take it out of the fridge, let it sit for an hour then throw it in the oven at such and such degrees. I called to remind him then I called again to remind him to change the temp and let it cook for another hour. It called for like a 3 hour cooking time.

I was rushing home since the spouse had a meeting and we met outside the house. He was laughing his ass off. Telling me he was thankful that he had to go to the moose and have dinner. I didn't understand what he was talking about until I saw the poor thing. The.. my pork loin looked like a burnt arm... BURNT was not the word. So I ask Bryant did it smell burnt, did you smell something like that you remind you that the house was burning down? Did Daisy alert you that there was something wrong in the house?? There was no smoke and I didn't smell anything when I came in the house so I am sure he did not smell anything either and as for the dogs senses... well, they don't go far.

I cut into the loin, hope a major artery did not explode. It was cooked that’s for sure, many of you know I won’t eat pork unless it is cooked all the way. Okay, so the loin wasn't as tender but it was chewable if you liked beef jerky. Daisy was waiting for handouts, and eager to please me with her idea of scarfing the entire thing...

Have you ever noticed that a dog will scarf a piece of meat, yet crunch a potato chip till it dissolves in their mouth?

Well, needless to say we had salad with grilled cheese...

Oh speaking of grilled cheese

rye bread
Velveeta
butter

you know what to do with it. Let me know if it tastes good, or even better put some bacon in there and enjoy for me.

Cricut Inventory

2011-03-18T20:08:00.000-04:00

1. Just Because Cards
2. Destinations
3. Pooh font
4. Mickey and Friends
5. Speaking of Fall
6. Walk in my Garden
7. Songbird
8. Forever Young
9. Thanksgiving
10. Sweet Treats
11. 50 States
12. Winter Wonderland
13. Calligraphy Collection
14. Plantin Schoolbook
15. April Showers
16.Give a Hoot
17. From my Kitchen
18. Tie the Knot
19. Stamping
20. George and Basic Shapes
21. Speaking of Winter
22. Animal Kingdom
23. Sentimentals
24. Home Accents
25. Inde Art

Blunt and honest

2011-03-18T20:02:00.000-04:00

I haven’t been me for the past few days. I have been shocked, rocked and everything in between. I have always loved being a mother and also have believed in a deeper being. Now is when I need that perspective to keep going, and alive.

My son has his own agenda. He is 18 and a senior and seems to think that he knows all of the answers, his life has been horrible and nothing can make him come back to the house.
My son moved out, and left nothing but chaos in his path

I was hurt beyond words and haven’t slept much lately. I lay there thinking of what he says, wondering if he is right. I lay there thinking about my childhood and how horrible it was, how scary it was, how I was running away when I was ten years old because I was so scared. I learned from my experiences and wanted to ensure when I had children, I was not the same mother.

I turned out to be a pretty good mother. Yes, I had made mistakes along the way, but as we both grew I learned so much about myself. I was stronger than I thought I was
He had everything he needed, and never went to bed hungry or with lashes on his back. He never went to bed wondering if his mother was going to beat the crap out of him tomorrow for leaving a dish in the sink or for some other trivia reason.

I used my strength to raise him as best I could. Obviously it wasn’t enough but
Right now, I need that strength.

I need strength to not take to heart what my son yells at me, how we destroyed his life and made it hell for the past ten years. Those of you who know me, know I take things personally and I wear my feelings on my sleeve when it comes to my family.

I need the strength to tell my husband that it is not his fault, I need to find the strength to stand by his side and support him.

I need the strength to not beg my son to come home and I will make it all better.

It’s not a boo boo, where I can kiss it and his tears stop flowing and a smile appears.
It’s not a heartbreak where I can listen to him, offer my advice and bake him a cake.

It is so much worse.

Everyone tells me that all teenagers go through this. I thought my teenager was different. We all think our children are different.

I just wonder when he will realize that life is not easy, and that he must ask forgiveness for his mistakes, as we all do.
I hope by then it won’t be too late to mend broken fences that have been whirled into the wind and broken into a million pieces.
I hope by then that my husband will let him back in.
Even more, though moms are supposed to say I love you forever and like you for always, is that so easy to do?

If this is the person that he is becoming, what have I done wrong?
And again I lay in bed wondering where exactly I screwed up. Many of you say nowhere, all kids go through this…
Just last week my son was saying how great everything was and how happy he was.

Today he has told me he has been unhappy for ten years. I think more of it is he has had to follow directions, rules and face responsibilities for the past ten years. He says that he got blamed for everything. He did. But he deserved to be blamed and many times we should have been stronger on him.

Maybe that’s what I didn’t do. I wasn’t strong enough for him. I wish I could start over.

It will all be better in the morning.

I’m in a good place just reflecting…
I think

My Crazy Weekend

2011-02-10T00:28:00.000-05:00

What happens at Crops Plus stays at Crops Plus.

The best scrap booking weekend I have ever had. I scrapped, laughed, blew diet coke out of my nose, met new friends, criticized (yes me) and had a freaking time of my life.

If you scrapbook I highly recommend this group for your scrapbooking get away.
The size of the tables were HUGE
Lots of electrical outlets, and if you brought what they told you to bring, you were set for life.
The music was the perfect level, not to interfer if you were talking or listening to your own music with headphones of course.
The giveaways were great! HUGE! Astronomical!!! Well worth the effort.
They had games, and stuff, but did not interfer on your scrapbooking.
They had the best classes with great instructors. Stamp classes, photography classes, and album classes. The classes were worth the amount spent.

The food provided by the hotel was good. I am usually a complainer when it comes to food. I WASN"T even hungry and I would go eat, just to see how it tasted. POTATO SALAD and that awesome beef for the taco's was great. Everyone had stuff to share too. Chocolate and diet dr pepper, coffee drinks etc.

The hotel location was kind of out of the way, but it was worth it.

This crop I have talked about for with bad review because of the problems I had when I had my surgery, and could not attend.

I am so glad that I went back and tried out the new owners.

The site is http://www.ourcropsplus.com/

I am going back ... in April...

May the force be wtih me!

Washing Machine Blues

2011-02-09T20:22:00.001-05:00

So, I am sitting here...
Waiting.

I have a 2 hour window where the repair man will show up, sprinkle fairy dust on my washer and the it will no longer sound like the space shuttle taking off.

1 hour has already passed.

We went out and bought the washer a few days ago after going to several different stores shopping for the best deal. Five stores later we scored. The washing machine did not have all of those fancy whistles. We just want to have the option to throw clothes in, pick the temp of the water, load size, and length of wash. I do not want to be able to adjust the half way cycle of the spins temperature in accentuate the flow of the water leaving the bin.

Not my cup of tea.

The deal also included free delivery and pick up of old machine.
We scored.

3 days later I am sitting waiting for the repair people to show up and fix the machine.

They came
They saw
and
They kicked ass

Wanna know what the problem was???

The shipping rod was never removed from the previous installers. The machine was also not leveled to perfection.

*blink*

What Would You Do?

2011-01-21T22:27:00.001-05:00

20/20 has this show, called "What Would You Do?". They have several scenario's about tense situations with actors initiating a tense conversation. This week they had a boy wanting to buy a Barbie doll, a boy wearing a dress in a toy store, a large person ordering unhealthy foods while the waiter tells her what she needs to order, and lastly a woman at the grocery store whose food stamp card ran out of money and if there was any compassion in the line of people behind her. Each of the women was of a different ethnic background and one of them did not speak English. There was also another actor who tried to talk the person who went to pay, out of doing it, stating that they are not helping the person, so on and so forth.

This scenario made me cry when a young lady who was on the phone, took it upon herself to go forward and pay for the non-English speaking woman, whose benefits ran out and could not buy the food.

This really hit home.

There were many times as a young mother where I was scrapping together change to buy food, diapers, formula and other stuff. There were many times I was grimacing at the checkout line when the items were being rung up where I didn't think that I would have enough money. I remember this one store I would shop at and when it happened once, they let me take the groceries home and come back with the money. It was tough, I remember going to the pawn shop with an item when there was still a week until payday and I was broke and something would always come up. I remember going without so much, yet I was so happy. I suppose it was because of the family that I had for support. My son, he was the light of my life and I would do anything for him. I made sure that he never went without something like I had as a child. I remember many nights being sent to bed without dinner. Going to school with the same clothes, not having what everyone else had. I know it makes you a better person blah blah. I made sure my son had all that I did not, but he still had to work for it. Thank gosh he was never a label guy, except shoes, he loved his Nike shoes.

Anyways, we were at the store once, and I had the actual food stamps, the card hadn't come out yet. Between walking from home to the store, I lost the food stamps. I didn’t realize it till everything was on the belt, being rung up. I didn't know what to do since I didn't have the money anywhere. It wasn't that much, forty-five dollars worth, but to me who did not have the forty- five dollars to replace it, it was gold. I went through my purse one last time, the tears already falling telling my son to hush who was asking me why was I crying. I then told the cashier that I did not have the money and I would put everything back. I did tell them I lost the money, but without having the money to replace it I could not take it home and not come back without the money. A man behind me, came over and paid for my groceries. He was a younger gentleman, who could have made fun of me, told me what a bad mother I was or laughed in my face. He didn't do any of that. He just paid for my groceries, bagged them in the bags I brought along, and told me, his mother would not forgive him if he didn't help. He said his mother would do anything for him also.

What would you have done??

In the position I am in now, that God and my hard work has helped me achieve, I never forget where I was and I know how easy it is to go back there. I always try to help out when I can, knowing that it could, it was and it can be me in that position.

We are woman!

2011-01-18T19:35:00.000-05:00

This weekend I was able to be a part of something so special, I was left speachless for awhile. Granted I could not be speachless for too long, since I needed to speak.

It was amazing.

When you leave your home chapter and you go to visit other women and learn about their chapters and how they do things, what obstacles that they also encounter, makes the world seem not so large. I met many women that I have never met before and created a few friendships that I hope withstand the distance. There were women of many ages, with so many memories and stories to tell to those who wanted to take a few minutes and listen. I was able to take one night, and relax after I memorized my speech and go to the lobby. While I was only there to grab a diet pepsi from the cocierge, I noticed a few older ladies sitting near the fireplace chatting away. I decided to sit next to them and introduce myself. They were amazing ladies who I am sure had just as much fun in the chapter as I do now. They had a few stories that took place in the 60’s and 70’s, in which all I could do was sit back and listen.

It reminds me of how fast and busy everyone is today, to where we do not take time to listen to history from our elders and friends. This type of history is not taught in history class yet it is just as important to learn how women lived in those days, and how they overcame many obstacles we take for granted today. Predjudice that did not just focus on color but also on gender. So many things that we, as women were not allowed to do. We laugh now when we read stories about how we are to take care of our man when he comes home from work instead of throwing a mirocwaved pizza in his face, they were cooking turkeys and hams.. during the week… no crock pot either…

We have come a long way baby!

We need to listen to how far we have come and keep the stories going.

Chicken tenderloins with Lawry's Lemon Pepper

2011-01-15T16:19:00.001-05:00

This was a great meal...

I pounded the chicken tenderloins and then placed them in a ziploc bag with the Lawry's Lemon Pepper marinade. The next day, I took them out and cooked them on top of the stove, no butter or oil. I added more of the marinade while they were cooking. I also made some rice in the handy dandy rice cooker.

Very juicy and flavorful. I put the rice the the chicken on top with a little of the marinade from the pan on top of everything.

Next time I will grill the chicken. The smell of the lemon pepper perminated the entire house all night long. I woke up at 2 in the morning, smelling the lemon.

Hello out there

2011-01-15T15:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am still alive.

No you cannot have my lifetime supply of cheesecake and diet coke. I had to diet in preparation of Big Man's graduation, so I gave up the Vodka and kept the cheesecake.

I have been thinking on how to improve my blog, adding topics of the week to it, or giving away chocolate.

Since I would eat the chocolate before I would mail it, I decided on the topics of the week. This would give me some incentive to actually provide some depth to this blog, so maybe smarter people would read and know where.. THE FOLLOW BUTTON IS... hello people if you are not following please do so.

You might miss something...
Like me!

I was thinking, and not necessarily in this order: movie review, cooking review... picture day... snarky day and then a free for all...

I have been watching some movies through Netflix, ones that I would not have watched without a recommendation from a friend. I found the movies a tad bit out there, or appealing and I would like to share those thoughts. Plus I need to think more while watching movies to provide an analytical approach to the main topic and also I like to delve into the symbolism of a movie.

I love cooking, plain and simple. I have been going through many cookbooks, and have the hips to show for it. So now, I am going to start making good for you food, with the exception of certain days of the year where I can splurge and eat the Pioneer Womans Mashed potato's. I cannot wait.

I need to start taking more pictures, becuase the 1500 I just had developed from WalMart for an upcoming crop just was not enough! Actually I want to start taking 'good' pictures.

Snarky day, well we all know that we have them. I would like for us to share our snarks once a week.

Ok enough of the productivity lines.. I'm tired.

That's all

2011-01-06T15:23:00.000-05:00

Why is it when I want to blog I have a cat up on my face????

I just want to say how wonderful this year has been with the exception of pending oral surgery and a gum graph.....

I have a feeling my diet is going to go real well soon!!!!

I'm not going to lie

2011-01-04T19:18:00.000-05:00

Only two days going to the gym, I'm not going to lie, I am sore as hell.

I'm not going to lie, it is killing me to then come home, clean, cook, wash, and get ready for the next day. Today it wasn't so bad, got off regular time home in an hour, immediately to the gym there were two treadmills open so we hopped on those. I did a mile and a half in 20 minutes. Yea slow I know but I am off my butt and exercising. The gym wasn't as crowded as it has been during the new year. I am also glad that I am not the biggest one there. When I would go during the summer I would be the biggest one there and that was very discouraging so I would just walk around the block and call it a day.

I am doing the three day walk this year and will be in shape. I have a lot of goals to meet this year and I plan on making each and every one of them.

I am getting all of my pictures from online and sending them to be printed. The process of moving hundreds of photos is a mess. I am moving the New Orleans pictures, going to finish the cruise pictures, doing a small book of Calvin and then maybe some pictures of when Bryant was younger. An old friend an relative sent me many pictures of Bryant when she saw him over the summers and I plan on putting those in the scrap book also.

I realize how many pictures that I do not take. I was so busy over the holidays I didn't get a single picture of the family. I need to change that.

I need to have something to take pictures of... hello out there.

I have to give up my love of The Pioneer Woman for a few months. It will be worth it, and I am thinking maybe a perfect goal treat would be a small serving of her mashed potatoes... or the stuffed mushrooms?? Maybe half of a cinnamon roll??

I'm not going to lie... I am going to miss the country gal as my best friend puts it.

1-1-11

2011-01-01T17:36:00.000-05:00

I have started this post three times, I want to post today so that I have something for 1-1-11. I am a true geek.

I am still in my jammies.

Just in case you are wondering.

I did take a shower and go out today, but came home and put clean freah smelling good jammies on...

Dont be jealous.
You can do it too.

I did ALL of the running around I needed to do yesterday so the entire weekend I can veg out in front of the television playing online games until my eyes bug out.

Isn't that everyone's goal this weekend?

New Years was very quiet and nice. Major drawback was celebrating the new year with a hot flash. So while everyone was dancing and drinking the night away, I was trying to figure out how to get the sweat out of my bra and how to redo my makeup. I wanted to go sit in the walk in for awhile, but was afraid they would forget about me and lock me in the moose LOL.

2010-12-31T23:45:00.000-05:00

2011 is fast approaching

2010-12-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

What are your New Years Resolutions? I could tell you mine, but why bore you since they are going to change a million times before the ball drops in NYC.

I want to be more healthy and come to respect the body that I am in, plain and simple.

It is time.

I want to experience something that I have never experienced before. I think that this is the year. Something is going to test me, but in a different way than I have been tested before. A good way I suppose, nothing bad. I just feel that I need something else in my life. What is going to be interesting is to see what I have to give up in order to achieve this higher level of something that I am craving. Can I possibly be having these feelings yet not even know what types of feelings these are?
Yea, convoluted I know.

I also want to become friends with yeast. If you are like me you totally understand where I am coming from.
Help is all I ask. My cinnamon rolls need you!

I hope everyone has a fantastic new year and hope that 2011 brings the hopes and dreams that you all are looking for. I envy you if all of your dreams have come true already, yet pity you in the same breath, since you have nothing to dream for. I want to wake up each morning with a dream, a goal that is needed to make the day complete. Something that when I go home at night or when I am laying in bed I can say, "I achieved something today." With conviction and pride in my head I will acknowledge mistakes along the way and learn as I go. It is never to late to change.

And with that I bid you all a Happy New Years.

I think that this year is going to be something to be remembered by everyone.

Wordless Wednesday???? NOT!

2010-12-29T20:33:00.001-05:00

I could post a picture and not say a word, but I have so much to say!

Like my San Diego Chargers having 6 players going to the Pro Bowl!! So happy I squeal....

like a pig..

Well, maybe not, since I love BACON so much!

Can you believe that I did not eat a strip of bacon during the holidays?? I am sure that the stocks went down because of that, of some pig got to live a few more days because of my decision.
It really wasn't a decision not to eat bacon, I just couldn't stuff any more food in my mouth.

I should have cooked some bacon since I needed 2 tablespoons of bacon grease (clogged artery syrup) for the sausage gravy. I used real butter instead.

Not that that is any better..
And I wonder why when I wave, I wave back to myself...
Interesting...

My New Years resolution??? Not to cook any Pioneer Woman recipes until March.

I can't seriously do that though...
The Roast is the bomb...
The stuffed mushrooms are butter in your mouth..
The cinnamon rolls can seriously pay your way into heaven...

No she does not pay me to say these things, but she could. If she did I might add that every thing that she cooks has either onions or butter in it. I love her. Even Julia Childs says butter is a food group.

So there...

A little bit of sumthin

2010-12-28T20:03:00.001-05:00

My gosh...
What a year. I cannot believe it is almost over.
Wait, can I have a few more weeks to relish in 2010? So many wonderful things happened this year:
My son turned 18
......
zzzzz
okay, so I can't think of them all, I am sure it has something to do with the food coma I have been experiencing for the past few days OMG

I told myself I was going to write down some recipes in here so I do not forget the heaven in my stomach, especially before it shows on my hips, under my arms, chin and buttocks.

I love saying Buttocks..
Remember when Forrest Gump said Buttocks?
That is exactly how I say it.

...
umm where exactly was I???
Oh yea...
Food
okay so where do I begin?
Sausage gravy?
Cream cheese?
jalepeno popper dip?
meatballs
beer/cream cheese dip???
Breakfast casserole??

Why am I watching Bill Reilly???? He doesn't look the same tonight.
*change channel*
okay.. so sausage gravy... if you want the recipe follow me on here and I will give it to you
okay... jalepeno popper dip?? friend me and I will show you the sinfulness of cheese..

Christmas was amazing here, full of family and friends. I would not have it any other way even though it was a stressful time.

362 more days...

Sorry for the sporatic post... I have cheese dip in my mouth and I dont want to spill it

Later!

yawn

2010-12-17T16:05:00.000-05:00

I would much rather go back to bed instead of wrap presents and get ready for children's Christmas party.
I would much rather go back to bed instead of so homework and postings.
I would much rather go back to bed instead of run around the house cleaning it...
I would much rather go back to bed instead of anything really...

I guess it really isn't all about me is it?

The days are going faster than snowflakes

2010-12-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

Not that we have any snowflakes here yet, I’m just saying. Although it would be nice to have some snow, not 56 inches, for Christmas morning.
Anyways,
Where was I??

Oh yea, well it seems I gave myself bad karma when I was counting down the days before Christmas in July. I would post 160 days, 130 days… and keep going.

That was not nice, and I was yelled at…
I was punished, it is now 14 days till Christmas and I have only 1 person/thing, a dog actually done for Christmas. Everyone else is still in limbo.

But trust me when I say this, I will do it again next July. Maybe I can start shopping then. I tried that one year, bought lots of stuff, hid it and proceeded to forget about it. I would remember shopping for something then just think it was a dream. Then sometime in the spring when I did my closets, I would find all of these treasures. Then I wouldn’t know what to do with said treasures so I wound up putting them in a basket and awaiting another year.

I plan on getting the rest of my shopping done this weekend. I have so many to shop for. I plan to do copious amounts of baking also and giving that away for Christmas gifts. I have my recipes in place and a grocery list not too long. Strange thing I will be buying is the buttermilk.

Who doesn’t love Buttermilk (Gag) but I LOVE what is made from it…

so this:

Equals this:

I am not making that though...

Holiday helpers

2010-12-09T17:31:00.000-05:00

Hi there,
I am going to make your life easier while doing something I love and raising money for my 3 day walk next year.
I will make dinner for you. Well, the main course anyways.
Stuffed shells a 9x13 pan and/or tater tot casserole. This is enough to feed a huge family and have left overs for lunch the next day. I'm still working out the prices, but let me know if you are interested.

Once Upon a Time

2010-12-05T13:53:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time there was a little girl.
She was a very sad and troubled girl who did not have a good childhood.
Each night she went to bed with sadness and heart ache. Instead of dreaming of barbies and surgarplums she was always dreaming of “what if’s”. What if I was rich, cute, white, pretty, secure, happy.
The little girl absolved to grow up and have lots of children and be able to give them the world. Be able to give all of her childrens things that she could not have in her childhood.
As she grew up, her promise to herself still giving her the strength to continue, she blossomed into an extraordinary young woman.
That young woman got married and tried for years to have children. She wanted to have those children that she dreamt about during her childhood.
She became very despressed and her marriage suffered greatly.
Each time she becamse pregnant she would become so happy and instantly bond with the child growing inside of her. She would start thinking of how blessed that she was. Then after a few weeks or months, for one reason or another she would lose the baby inside of her.
Each time this happened a part of her left with the child.
She was certain that God was punishing her for everything that she did in her younger years, and would become very dispondent to everything and everyone around her.
She became a very mean person and she was not someone you would want to spend time with.
She started surronding herself within walls that no one could climb.
She went to work came home and went to bed.
This went on for months and cost her a large part of her marriage.
Each time she lost a baby the depression would last longer and longer.
When she became pregnant for the sixth time, she didn’t want to feel anything towards this ‘thing’ growing inside of her.
She refused to believe that it was going to thrive inside of her and stay longer enough to live when it was born. She referred to the fetus as a crunch berry. This was the easiest way for her to acknowledge the fetus, without people around her freaking out.
Many people thought that the name was cute, but for the girl it had a hidden meaning, each time a child was lost it felt like the sound of someone crunching a potato chip with their shoe, and the parts were about the size of a berry. Yes, very morbid, but the girl didn’t care about anything and tried not to feel any emotion towards the thing growing inside of her.

Many months had past, and each week after going to the doctor, the doctor would express her delight in the progress the baby would be making inside the womb and she would breath a sigh of relief each time the heart beat was detected. Until the sound was found, the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop in the room.
The girl would hold her breath as well, but she would not tell anyone of her pending excitement of another week that had passed.
She knew what it was like to have signed a death certificate and say goodbye to something that had arms and legs. She did not want to do that again, yet she never gave up trying to have a child.

One morning the girl awoke and realized that if she were to have the baby today, then the baby would live. It would be a rough month or two but it could be able to live. The girl then looked in the mirror, and smiled. She knew she had a fighter inside of her. Sounds like a fairy tale coming to an end, but the clouds parted and the sun shone oh the girl that day, and continued to grow until the baby was ready to be delivered.

After delivering her son, the nurses cleaned him up , wrapped him and handed him to the girl. They both just looked at each other for the longest time. He did not cry or fuss when being delivered, he just stared at the girl with big brown eyes, as if to say, “I made it”. He was a handsome healthy infant
As the first few weeks went by she would not leave his side. The girl would wake up in the middle of the night and just look at him for hours. She was so pruod of him, so proud that he made it. She was so happy, something that she had never felt before, even on her wedding day. She breathed air of a different scent, she focused on lights that were never there. She was living a life that she could only dream about for so long. The girl was happy enough to try and fix her marriage. They did try for a few years, but that was something that was lost in the fire. She was not sad, for she had her son and that was all that mattered.

To my son

2010-11-30T18:51:00.000-05:00

Dear Bryant,

Let me try to describe the gift that you have given to me,
Although, I believe that will be a major undertaking.
Since it is quite difficult to describe in an ordinary language.
Your arrival 18 years ago was unmistakably
Marked with anxious trepidation.
The journey you undertook
Was not of a scheduled nature,
But more of a conscious decision.
By far, the finest creative gift was you.
For when you emerged into my world,
I became reborn
With my heart so willing to share its wealth.
There you were, a small wonder; a tiny reflection
Of combined traits which would ultimately be recreated
Into the distinctive person you have become.
I never realized that my heart
Was so willing to share so much love
With a stranger so small and needy.
You didn't arrive with instructions
It was strictly learn as you go.
I remember the first time you crawled
I remember the first step you took
I remember the first word you spoke
You were a joy to be around
Smiling and loving
Not necessarily sharing
At a young age
You became the teacher.
Ever so patient, so caring, so you.
To carry on a family trait that you will certainly pass on.
As you grew, you obtained a wonderful gift of laughter
I offered you the tools to learn and trust and to be a confident person.
You showed me that you can be an independent person.
The day I walked you to school
And you let go of my hand and said ‘It’s cool’
That day you rode your bike to school alone
And never looked back, while I was following you in the car
And we had secret words for I love you
Give me 5 was the phrase
We could say it anywhere
Soon it was said no more
You were growing up
I would think about it and get a tear in my eye
Not because I was sad but because a new chapter in your life was beginning.
You are an intelligent, sensible, affectionate and sympathetic person,
Who always seems to be there for those whose lives you touch.
You have an extraordinary enthusiasm and passion for learning.
You have the ability to communicate your inner most thoughts,
Where so many your age do not.
You can be angry yet let it go minutes later,
you can make an entire room laugh,
I am blessed for that.
Now, you will be going off on your own
Making decisions that you may not be able to pass by me
That will affect your life.
You may fall down
But I know that you will always pick yourself up
And begin again.
I never thought that I would look up to someone your age
But that has become evident.
As you look at us side by side;
the bond will not be broken.
The stranger that entered my life not so long ago,
Has certainly been transformed into a young man.
That I am proud to call . . .
My son.

.

Black Friday isn't so Black

2010-11-26T11:34:00.000-05:00

I was up this morning, before dawn wondering how I was going to survive this trip alone.

I looked in the closet and found my favorite baggy jeans, I picked those since I was still full from yesterday's feast of spinach dip, 7 layer dip, turkey, ham, mashed taters, green bean casserole and some pea concoction,yams, ham, turkey, gravy, more turkey, and rolls. I would have remembered the name of the peas, but I already asked Sandy what it was called and I dont want to ask again. I can't even remember the rice dish she made for her cook out and that was an absolute dream. I have learned whenever Sandy makes a new dish for company, no matter how weird it looks, just try a bit. Her french roots and knack for cooking is really a treat for the taste buds!!

Baggy Jeans check, now I need a shirt, that is not too heavy or so light I have to wear a jacket. It must have long sleeves and a collar. Check. The reasoning behind this, is because I will have a hot flash as soon as I enter a place where there is shopping to be had. The hot flash intensifies when people are banging into me, when people are not speaking english, and they have no manners when they do bump into you. So, I must be prepared. The rest of the dress is unimportant. I get my coffee and jet out the door with ads and credit cards in hand.
I feel like I am the only one on the road.
I feel that I should turn around and go back to bed.
I keep going
I hit the mall, park in my secret spot that almost no one else knows about and proceed to enter the mall.

First of all, jc penny's is awesome, as soon as I walk into the store they hand me an ornament, and a smile. Very nice!!! The aisles seem a bit wider, unless I am losing weight. Okay fine the aisles are in fact wider. The colors and selections are amazing, but I am not here to shop for clothes.
I enter the mall and go to my first store on my list. BINGO I get everything on the list!! Happy happy joy joy.
nd no I do not need the yearly protection plan.

I go to my favorite store and by ornaments. I bought lots of them, but do not tell the hubinator, he seems to think that the ornaments we made as children are good enough to go on the tree. So what if the tree looks bald, we can hang popcorn. I then send him home to his mothers.

Also, I am on the phone every 5 minutes calling the hubinator for suggestions since he had to work today, he loves going shopping on this day more than I do! I know we will be doing this together next year.

I exit the mall as fast as I entered it and proceed to Best Buy where you can always fine something to buy and of course I did. I am rocking with christmas presents and even found a few birthday things!!!

So today wasn't so black after all!!!

d is for dingbat

2010-11-16T14:33:00.000-05:00

Nesting or cleaning?? That is the question!

2010-11-11T14:47:00.000-05:00

The entire kitchen is almost clean! I spent the entire day going through cupboards, organizing and throwing away things that I do not use. I had this one caddy I ordered from pampered chefs, and the bowls didn't come with it, but I didn't know this until I got the order. I never did order the bowls but I kept the caddy's for 3 years. That is the way I roll. Well, I finally got rid of those.

While cleaning out the baking shelf, I noticed I did not have 2 cans of baking powder, I had 3. Yes, three cans of baking power, and 2 containers ofhershey's cocoa. I have no idea what I was planning on baking, but I know I seriously have a problem. Yes, I kept all 3 cans of bp and 2 cans of cocoa. If you need any, let me know.

Cleaned the stove, which I am currently cooking chicken and dumplings. The dumplings come later but I have the chicken on now and it smells so good!

I managed to find 3 trash bags full of crap to throw away and a box of stuff for goodwill. LOVE IT!!!!
I wish all of the rooms in the house were this easy to clean.

I still have the paneling to clean, and the floors.

I should be pregnant the way I am cleaning.

Sometimes things are better on paper

2010-11-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

I once wrote a paper for some class in high school. The class was one of those civic duty classes where we had to volunteer and figure out what type of impact we were going to have on the world, when we grew up.

We had to do 3 things out of 20 to get an A in the class. I of course waited till the last minute to do my last assignment.

I decided to write a letter of my life to my teacher.
I was blunt, honest and did not leave anything out.
I might have been high when I wrote it, because I wasn’t able to read it when I got it back from the teacher, and I blocked that time out of my life. I even threw out the paper, thinking that my mother would find it and seriously the punishment was not worth it. She hid behind the rafters of her bottles of alcohol and pretended nothing happened.

I was embarrassed by the truths in the paper
and
I was embarrassed at how these truths affected me, and the people around me. Specifically the friends I had who tried to support me, but never knew which way I was going and eventually gave up.
These friends, even though they are not my friends now, taught me how to be a loyal friend to a degree, and also how to know when no matter what you do, you cannot help your friend anymore.
That my friends is another post.

Anyways,

This paper was the one chance I could tell one person the truth and not have them be scared of me or judge me.
This paper made me stronger I think, for I never felt fear again and made some life choices, some for the good, and some choices were the worst choice I ever made.

I have grown from the choices and mistakes that I made, and wish I could go back and apologize for everyone I have hurt or pissed off.

I hope that EVERY child, kid, teen has a teacher that they can share fears and tribulations of their life.

10 Things I would tell my 16yr old self

2010-11-10T17:14:00.000-05:00

Things I would tell my 16yr old self

1. That guy with the cool Nissan truck… will be bald and broke in 10
years.
2. Stay after class and talk to Coach Al.
3. Stay away from the frizzy perms.
4. Invent Facebook.
5. No matter how thin you are, no one looks good in white leggings.
6. Don’t burn all of your bridges.
7. Demand braces.
8. Wear sunscreen all of the time
9. Don’t quit your day job.
10. Do not agree to sell the chocolates!

No more Cheesecake and Vodka... unless perhaps...

2010-11-10T16:07:00.000-05:00

Since I just spent over a grand for my son’s senior year of high school..
Wait a minute,
He doesn’t even like high school…

Fine, yes it is all for me, so I can send out announcements to all of my friends telling them that he made it through, that I made it through the million years it has taken to get to this point, graduation. Yes I would have to agree with Jo, GED is definitely cheaper.
I want to be able to send out pictures of him in a tux because I might never see that again. I want the pictures so I can remember what his natural hair color is somewhere underneath the tips.

Anyways, since I spent so much money I am looking at ways to cut costs without having to buy generic diet coke.
Or generic mac and cheese…

Actually the reasoning behind this is that I want a chair and ottoman I saw at Lazy Boy.

OMG heaven

I can picture this piece of furniture in the alcove I have on the middle floor with a nice end table and lamp I saw at Value City. Maybe I would stay home more??

So I am not spending any more money on cheesecake and vodka. I will, however, take donations.

A friend of mine is going to start bargain shopping at the stores in her area.

I have 5 grocery stores in my area, and that is not including the commissary.

This would take me all day long, and I could not do this with anyone with me. I would have to be alone so I could think and make sure I do not purchase the same thing and the different stores. I already have issues with duplicate items… see below.
I do not like coupons because then I usually spend more on crap that I never wind up using because I can get it for a buck cheaper.
With baking season approaching, maybe, just MAYBE I can use the two cans of baking soda I have or the 2 boxes of Hersey’s cocoa. I can ship at cost if You want some…
I can also throw in a 2 year old can of almond paste. I had this wild hair brained idea that I was going to make baklava, speaking of which, I wonder where the pasty puffs are???

This baking idea I have is highly doubtful. I bake for a day then never want to go back into the kitchen again. If you see how hard it is to keep my kitchen clean while baking and how I struggle with putting things away, then you would be in the same boat as I.

Unless, of course you want to give me a free kitchen makeover complete with a new refrigerator.. then I am in.

So now what do I want to talk about??

A bunch of sighs

2010-11-09T17:59:00.000-05:00

Sigh

I never do well with the time changing
I wonder where the hour goes

I get up at the buttcrack of dawn and wonder why I can’t sleep

Instead of going to the gym, I lay in bed and wonder why I am awake

I listen to my neighbors leave for the gym or for work

Last night I was cooked and done by 7 pm. I am sure that was due to my lack of sleep the night before, I was up from 2:45-4:30. I had to be on top of things for work, and take my son to take his car to the auto body shop, and now I am spending the next three days trying to figure out rides for him to and from school, because omg only weird people take the bus. I am hoping his car gets done soon.

I did make the boys kraut and kielbasa for dinner. It stunk up the house for about 3 hours while it was boiling. OMG *sniff*

The coffee isn’t going down fast enough

I have been at work since 6:45 am

I have read all of my emails, answered them and hopes that someone important writes me

Sigh

2010-11-08T09:34:00.000-05:00

The United States American Flag
Flying outside of the Pentagon

3/19/2009

I will be back

2010-11-02T13:46:00.000-04:00

I promise!

I have been dealing with a lot of issues. My son is getting ready to graduate, move out, become an adult and I don't want to miss a moment of it. I think back to his childhood and I do not remember much, tidbits of stuff, mostly stories. I try to write them down when I can, so I can embellish it a bit and make it sound good.

Anyways

I promise I will be back soon, in the meantime enjoy the photo's I have been taking!

Dinner for last week!!!

2010-11-01T17:17:00.001-04:00

Chicken Pot Pie (this was taken and modified from The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook.

I tasted the filling and it is THE BOMB.

Pie crust, I bought the frozen ones, you will need 2 of them one for the bottom and one for the top, follow the directions on how to flip the top pie crust out of the pie pan without ripping it to shreds, I would buy enough for two pies, if you don’t need the other one you can throw it in the freezer!!

1 rotisserie chicken (or 2 cups cooked chicken chopped)
1 small onion finely chopped (I won’t use as much onion next time, every time Brian burped it was onion)
3 stalks celery chopped fine
3 carrots chopped fine (make sure these are small enough to where they will cooked with the short amount of cooking time)
¾ stick of butter
8 oz of heavy cream (half a pint)
1 cup of flour
2 cups of chicken broth (have another ½ cup on the sidelines)
1 chicken bouillon cube ( I didn’t have any so I used a top ramen chicken packet)
Thyme
Salt and pepper

Ok, put the butter in a big pot, melt it.
Throw, yes I said throw, the onion, celery and carrots in the pot.
Stir till they are a bit translucent (about 10 minutes)
Add chicken
Stir
Stir again
Add flour and stir, making sure you cover everything with the flour, no you will not need more than 1 cup!!
Add chicken stock, (I added the 2 cups then kept another ½ cup on reserve, yes I needed it. I added more chicken that what it called for… and carrots!)
Add bouillon cube and thyme (2 tsp)
Stir
Add in the heavy cream
Mix all together, it should be the consistency of a filling.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and do not put this on top of biscuits!
Add to pie pan.

I had enough for two pies, I cut up a few extra carrots and used all of the meat from a chicken, with the exception of the legs.

2010-10-27T14:26:00.000-04:00

2010-10-27T14:25:00.000-04:00

2010-10-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

2010-10-27T14:00:00.000-04:00

2010-10-26T14:48:00.001-04:00

I love me some Goofy!!!

C is for compassion

2010-10-19T17:14:00.001-04:00

I watched a video the other day.

Yea, it may not seem so important to you.

But it is very important.

Joel Burns took a few minutes of his day to address the epidemic of teenage bullying, specifically to the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual teenagers. The few minutes of his day that he took to address the issues that he had grown up with, the bullying that he endured, things that happened he didn't even tell his parents about. He showed compassion to the young teenagers, telling them that it does get better, telling them that things will change and that there are people out there like them.

His video has been watched over 1 million times by teenagers, their parents and others across the world.

Hopefully you can take a moment to watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax96cghOnY4"

We need to teach our children compassion. This is something that cannot be taught on a computer, from a book or from a teacher. This is something that the parenta need to take a few minutes out of their busy day, before they start watching television, before they go out, before they get on the computer they need to show children compassion..

C is for compassion.

B is for Bug

2010-09-23T18:40:00.000-04:00

What is it with the bugs around here lately? I just found out that these bugs were stink bugs and that if you smooch them, they relish an odor that brings more bugs to your doors. I had to read about this because I do not squish bugs. I would like to think that I pick them up gingerly so that I cannot feel them moving around in the tissue and deposit them in the toilet where they are forever banished to the porcelain god. I do not squish them because I do not want to hear the crunch that is associated with the squish and I, under no uncertain terms, want anything oozing or popping onto my skin.

I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

I have a dog and a cat, the dog used to chase crickets that were in the basement and pull off each one of their legs, cast them all over the carpets and then we would never see the body. It makes you wonder if the legs have a really bad taste to them, since the only thing my dog will not eat is lettuce and pretzels. She used to eat pretzels, but now that I don’t cover them in cheese or ranch dressing she thinks that I am mean and horrible person. The cat will chase the bugs, sleeping all day in anticipation of the nights events. I fear to sleep down in the basement anymore, because of the cat and his pouncing. I always fear of one morning waking up and finding a dead cricket or two next to me on my pillow. Calvin brought a dead cricket to Daisy and it is still laying beside her bed, simply because I do not believe it is dead.

A is for Autumn

2010-09-23T11:22:00.002-04:00

Was it today or yesterday when the first day of Autumn arrived? I cannot remember since f course we are having another heat wave this week. Dogs days of Autumn just does not have the same appeal. I enjoy fall and everything it brings, including the cooler temperatures. I enjoy the leaves, and the sound they make when little children run through them. I enjoy the smells from the kitchen, as long as there is nothing on fire. I enjoy getting ready for the holidays. I love the fact that soon I can be swallowed up in sweaters and look ten pounds less while eating tater tot casserole… makes sense right?

B started his new job, completely amazed by how much of it is computerized. I told him when kids my age worked there, we had to time the hamburgers by sun dials. Unfortunately he had no idea what I was talking about. He got home late last night and of course I was up wide eyed and ready to listen to him stomp around and shower before he declared himself exhausted.

Fall TV schedule is driving me insane because I have no idea what to watch when, or when I am going to watch all of these shows that I have recorded. I do have a grand scheme of getting up early Saturday morning and watching all of the shows while the rest of the house sleeps. Hmm, sounds great if I did not have a birthday to celebrate (not mine) on Friday night which will require me to suck it up and drink many for my team.

Tomorrow the letter B

Did you know?

2010-09-17T13:00:00.000-04:00

1.The U.S. Constitution was written in the same Pennsylvania State House where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where George Washington received his commission as Commander of the Continental Army. Now called Independence Hall, the building still stands today on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, directly across from the National Constitution Center.

2.Written in 1787, the Constitution was signed on September 17th. But it wasn't until 1788 that it was ratified by the necessary nine states.
3.The U.S. Constitution was prepared in secret, behind locked doors that were guarded by sentries.

4.Some of the original framers and many delegates in the state ratifying conventions were very troubled that the original Constitution lacked a description of individual rights. In 1791, Americans added a list of rights to the Constitution. The first ten amendments became known as The Bill of Rights

5.Of the 55 delegates attending the Constitutional Convention, 39 signed and 3 delegates dissented. Two of America's "founding fathers" didn't sign the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson was representing his country in France and John Adams was doing the same in Great Britain.
6.Established on November 26, 1789, the first national "Thanksgiving Day" was originally created by George Washington as a way of "giving thanks" for the Constitution.

7.Of the written national constitutions, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest.

8.At 81, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention and at 26, Jonathon Dayton of New Jersey was the youngest.

9.The original Constitution is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, it was moved to Fort Knox for safekeeping.

10.More than 11,000 amendments have been introduced in Congress. Thirty three have gone to the states to be ratified and twenty seven have received the necessary approval from the states to actually become amendments to the Constitution.

The petals are sprouting

2010-09-16T17:20:00.000-04:00

...and soon my blog will be back from the dead.

I am in this webinar class all week and it is hard, but good. I dont think I will take a class this extensive again. Whew!

School is school. Who would have thought putting your ethical principles on paper would be so hard.

B is good, still not really any homework, awaiting his hair to grow back so I can get his senior pictures.

Lazy night tonight, have no plans... well, except to write a paper.. on..

ETHICS!

Back to school

2010-09-13T17:48:00.000-04:00

As well as my son, my only son, starting his last year of high school, I am also starting back to school on my Master's program. It has been interesting during the first week:

Instructor is great; he is a high school teacher and also reads the dissertations for student's going for their higher degrees. He is an excellent communicator and it shows in his posts. I have learned from him to chill out when typing something and always use spell check. Some of the students are not new to the online area, and do not use spell-check. I read one post the other day and he had about 4 spelling errors in his discussion post. I was used to this during my undergrad days, but now it really gets under my skin when these people are taking up my time, for me to read unedited posts. I am selfish, and if I am going to spend time reading other people’s posts I would like them to be coherent. I want to say something, like "you can turn on your automatic spell checker anytime now"

I am excited to use some of the tools that the University has. You can turn in a paper online, and have this program go through your entire paper looking for plagiarism and grammar errors.

LOVE!!!

I am also taking a class for work this week. So far it is awesome. Mostly review, but deals with a lot that I haven't really been able to work with. I paid attention all day, which is unusual for me! I am looking forward to days to come. The class doesn’t start till 930 but goes to 530 UGH!

My blog turned into a cactus

2010-09-13T17:01:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not warming your hearts with joy or funny stories. With summer here nothing has really been funny about it, unless you count how hot it has been. I am looking forward to the fall and the cooler weather that comes with it.

I could tell you about all of the fun trips that I have been on. Actually only two trips, and they were golf trips. One trip was nice and relaxing, the other was so traumatic I only remember my body being carried from the golf course because of the heat. It was hot, no one wanted to golf. It was Captain's Choice, so at least I wasn't spending my entire time looking for balls. I got out of the cart when I had to, my arms felt like lead when I would hit the ball. No matter how much water you drank, the thirst was still there. One guy on my team went blind for a moment; I call it "Idontwannagolf" blindness. Finally he sucked it up at went and crushed a ball 300 yards. I told him that there was no reason for me to hit a drive anymore.
Then there was another guy who I thought was going to faint. He just didn't look well, and well he doesn't look too good to begin with. He didn't talk much and we didn't see too much of him the rest of the evening.
The third guy would just complain about all of the aches and pains, because you know well enough that no man can go without complaining when other men are complaining.

I felt like I was working in an old folk’s home again...

Love Thursday

2010-08-26T20:57:00.001-04:00

There's a vug in our flue?

2010-08-25T07:30:00.002-04:00

I was sleeping nicely on the couch last night and all of a sudden the hub came running down stairs looking out the basement window, alerting me that he is not going to kill or look for the thing that is in our chimney. I rub my eyes and look at him to make sure he isn’t walking in his sleep as he then tells me that there is either a huge monster in the chimney or that Cheryl’s house is on fire.

That’s lovely

Then he wants me to follow him upstairs so I can hear the sound..
Yea

Right!

Though, I did follow him upstairs since curiosity got the best of me, and plus once I started thinking about it, the fireplace is like right there, and I don’t want something to start banging on the door, and I don’t care how many of you say that it’s ok as long as the flue is closed… if that thing can get through the trap on the roof, then it can slither right through the flue, oh hell, it could probably open it himself.

I get upstairs and sit on the bed, waiting to hear the noise… nothing… no noise.. so then the hub thinks that I think that he is crazy. I go into the other room and lay down, while my imagination starts going a mile a minute and I refuse to stare into the full length mirror on the wall, thinking something is going to grab me.
Yes I have issues, leave me alone.
I’m laying there, almost asleep when the hub says, “Jess.. come here…”
Yea right…
I say
“No way, I’m scared!”
I continue to lay there, and of course that damn curiosity gets me again, and I go into the room, sit on the bed and listen…
And listen
And
OMG
I hear it…
It sounds like the crackling of fire while something with long nails is rubbing up along the house siding…
I don’t move…
It doesn’t make a sound like a screech, or a bird noise, so I have no idea what it could be and I wanted to put my ear along the wall so I could hear it better but I was certain it would take that time to throw itself at the wall, break through the wall and start flying at me.
This was 4 am
I went back to sleep around 5 am
I slept soundly..
I wasn’t in the same room as the monster…
The hub didn’t get any sleep.

Kids and manners

2010-08-16T19:00:00.000-04:00

So there was a picnic this past weekend. The children were awesome and the parents were so nice and grateful and even helped out with the events. But of course one child can ruin the entire day. Now you have to remember I take things personally and I look for people's reaction when I am doing something. I like to do a good job and do it well. I spend time, make diagrams and set up the event 4 hours prior so I can work out the kinks. That is how I am.

I care

So I was working my butt off, talking to the children, taking pictures, making sure that they all were having a good time, all the while this one child would follow me and berate the games, complain that his cotton candy wasn't large enough, expect people to wait on him hand and foot and intentionally LIED in order to get a cream soda. I knew he lied, and was not going to prove it to anyone, but I wanted to take that child and just tear him to sherds and make him cry!

I dont feel like that often.

I loved the children who came. The little girl who got her face painted like a dog, never stopped smiling, the boy who wanted to take off his shirt and jump in the pool that was holding the duck game. The boy who continued to bounce in the moon bounce after it was closed. I had fun looking at the event through their eyes.

Sometimes I wish I had more children.

I get over that quickly.

I love children.

I dispise when children are mean, and moody and have to have something to complain about. I actually did tell the one problem child that, he should be careful because if he complains about everything now, then he wont have anything to complain about when he gets older.

If looks could kill.

Someone needs a time out and it is not me.

The day went spectacular and I cannot wait to do it again.

The drink .. or rather drinks afterwards made me sleep like baby.

Cucumber vinegar salad

2010-08-13T00:12:00.000-04:00

I remember sneaking this from the refridgerator when I was a child. My mother would never share this and I grew to look it and associate it with summer and of course thiefing.

Cucumber Vinegar Salad
•3 cucumbers
•1 red onion
•1/2 cup white vinegar
•1/2 cup water
•1/3 cup sugar
•salt and pepper to taste
Start by taking a look at your cucumbers. If the skin is very tender, don’t bother peeling it. If it seems a little tough, you can either peel the whole cucumber or just take some of it off… I like to create a little stripe design lengthwise.

Slice the onion and cucumber both thinly and add them to a salad bowl. Get out a small bowl and pour the vinegar, water and sugar in it. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the salt and pepper and pour the mixture over the onion and cucumber slices. Cover your bowl with a lid, a plate or some plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until you are ready to serve your salad. The longer it sits, the better the cucumber vinegar salad gets. I usually make it the night before or first thing in the morning. By dinner time it is absolutely perfect.

Why I like Facebook/Why I dont like Facebook

2010-08-12T23:46:00.000-04:00

I have fallen in love with Facebook since I have been on it. Of course there are times when I want to throw it out the winodw because they have to change the format of the home page or others as much as MSN. If it works there is no reason to change it! They havent changed it for awhile now and I hope it stays.
I can do everything on this site. I can tell everyone when I have to go to the bathroom, when I can't sleep and what I ate for dinner. I can show people random pictures of vacations and even tag people in very unflattering pictures of themselves, and I can show everyone what foods I have been eating by taking pictures with my cell phone and posting them right away. I can share everything from favorite links to my bra size.
I can stalk people that I know, but dont want to be friends with, by reading all of my friends friends walls. Yes this takes some time, but how gratified do you feel after reading about the bitch who called you names in elementary school is now poor and using food stamps. Not that I am dogging out food stamps, I used them.. but I also love Karma. I love going through peoples walls and see how many friends that they have, and seeing if by chance they stole friends from my wall LOL.
I love how I can read when others are eating, using the restroom or getting ready to go out. I can then plan my night of omg I can't leave I ran into you here LOL how random is that, then we become fast friends and you share your millions of dollars with me. I love that you can gamble with fake money, you can have your own Mob, farm, restaurant, fishtank and zoo. I am sure that there are others. When a new game pops up like for example, Frontierville you and your friends tell one another that there is no way you can find time to do another game and how there is no way you can even manage it. Then you go home and start playing it and not posting everything so your friends dont think that you are on Facebook 24 hours a day doing some sort of virtual farming, killing etc. Then about a week later you are hooked, I can look at my facebook wall and see at any time of the day or night these people who are constantly posting things to share and I want so bad to press the button and accept the tools, feathers, cow, ugly duckling, and I try not too, I look away saying I am not going to start playing since i have dinner to prepare, showers to take. If I spent as much time as I do on facebook in the evenings at the pool, I would be walking down the street and having people shove hamburgers in my mouth for being so thin.

Things I dont like about facebook...

I have some word today

2010-08-11T06:51:00.000-04:00

I have had a boring non eventful summer so far and have nothing funny to write about.

I could write about the woman who really needs to start wearing a shirt at the Moose. I can’t talk about it anymore, because every time I think of her, I want to throw up a little bit in my mouth.

That’s lovely

I could write about my dysfunctional home life right now, Bryant is all upset because he is learning that even though you did the right thing, you are going to get screwed. I get to hear it from both sides, and I am about ready to tell the both of them that I can leave, it’s not like I haven’t done it before. This time I am not taking anyone with me.

I could tell you how exciting my classes are going, that I am rocking with the GPA, but things on that front are slow. My enrollment counselor thinks that he can call me at all hours of the day and have a 20 minute conversation with me. I know you are bored dude. He knows more about my life than my husband. Although, every since I faxed him a copy of my passport, he hasn’t called back. I feel like I am online dating again LOL. I did however send him a copy of my not needed driver’s license so that he knew I really did not look like the passport picture. It is really bad.

I could tell you about the awesome meatball sub I had last night, but then I will just be hungry.

I could take a picture for Wordless Wednesday, but then hence the title I would not be able to write anything.

I need some focus and writing ideas. I have had some much time go into the growing chapters of a book I am writing that my creative thinking has greatly diminished.

A lot of me, and there is a lot, has been thinking what I am going to do with myself when B moves out, goes on with his life and starts one on his own. I am no longer going to be needed, well until he has grandkids anyways and even though I enjoy the idea, I am not in any hurry to have the house smelling like dirty diapers and babies crawling amuck.
I have thought about becoming that mother in the book, I Love You Forever, and following my son where ever he goes, crawl into his bedroom window and rock him like a baby. Now, while reading that as a young mother, yes I would cry, but then I would start freaking out because that mother was a stalker. She followed him everywhere. Rocked him, sang to him. Something is wrong with this picture. I did not want to obligate myself to having to climb on a ladder to soothe him. Also, where was the wife in this picture, shouldn’t she be a little bit upset over her mother in law climbing through a window into their bedroom??

And with that I leave you for I must work!

Wordless Wednedsay - a bit late!

2010-08-05T23:29:00.000-04:00

Things you never want to happen...

2010-08-05T23:20:00.000-04:00

So I have been out of town because of work and I have been loving every day of it. BUT
My son who is at home, also had some joy this week... he got into his first car accident. It was nothing major someone hit him from behind, but it was the fact that I was not there that hit me like a ton of bricks.
Then I realized how well I have raised him and how great he is going to be.
I called him shortly after I heard what happened, he couldnt talk because he was on the phone with the police, and he would call me back. He is 17, he sounded like he was 37. Very mature and took the reins and did the right thing. He called Brian, and then the police, police came out and said, no more monkeys jumping on the bed.. remember that song??
Okay well anyways, police said that they are not going to file a report since both of the cars are driveable and to exchange information and be on their way. He handled the entire situation like he has been through it a million times.

We have drilled in his head many times of what to do and to tell us right away. He did exactly what he was taught. A million lectures of trust, honestly and reliability came to a head this week and I am very thankful for him being well, him!

That was the only time I talked to him this week. We have emailed, but I can tell he is getting older and more mature. Oh I have no idea what I am going to do when he leaves the house, besides turning his room into a sewing and scrapbooking room, omg I cannot wait!!!!

I think that is the only thing keeping me from bawling my eyes out.. omg scrapbooking and sewing oh my!

wordless wednesday

2010-07-28T11:15:00.001-04:00

So many things so little time

2010-07-15T20:15:00.000-04:00

Haven't had much to write about this week. It has been a whirlwind of work, cleaning and trying to have a life when I get home. You know the week I am talking about, when you leave work and it takes forever to get home, you put jammies on as soon as you walk through the door, demand that your child cooks dinner and then you proceed to fall asleep on the couch.

I do have one thing to mention, we won. Friday for the Franconia Moose Golf Tournament we came in first place. It was the perfect day after being hot hot for days, and the golfing was on fire. Nearly perfect game, if it was perfect then we would have shot 2 more under what we had shot. 2 lips on the put made us win with a 59, but like I said, it could have and should have been a 57. Went back to the moose for the prizes and food. The food was excellent as always and was prepared by Bob's dad. The chicken was out of this world, could have been cooked a bit more, I like boiling my chicken before throwing it on the grill. I am learning how to cook LOL.

Then of course it was a great time, and for some it ended too soon, and those people did not come out of their house the next day. I was home at a decent hour and up early the next day.

Other than going to work and sleeping that has been it this week.

2010-07-13T19:59:00.000-04:00

wordless

2010-07-13T19:57:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

Hope it is not too late for this one

2010-07-06T18:53:00.001-04:00

I just saw that Lidsay Lohan received 90 days in jail and then another 90 days of rehab. I hope that this helps. At one time I felt sorry for her, because of her parents, which did not look like a great team to begin with, but now she is old enough to make the right choices and decisions. Her parents can be fame whores without her present. They can make the wrong decisions without implicating their daughter. I wonder how the sister is doing and where she is going?
The court gave Miss Lohan plenty of chances and went out of their way to accomodate her. Do you know of anyone who has received the same treatment and is also your next door neighbor or a co-worker? I hope that she gets this done and cleans up her act. I do think that it is too late for this one, and she is going to wind up in a bad place mentality, emotionally, financially, and physically. I have been wrong many times. Remember Nicole Richie?

They are all Fame Whores!!!!!

2010-07-06T11:21:00.001-04:00

Can you believe it? Jake and Vienna. Who knew that I could watch trashy TV. I mean I have enough of my problems to have to watch other people’s fake problems.

In conclusion I have come up with the following:
They both are fame whores
They both have issues that cannot even start to be defined in 60 minutes of bad television.
They both think that the other has undermined, and emotional abused the other.
Jake is definitely swimming on the gayness side and does not want to admit it. I think he loves women, but cannot be in a long term committed sexual relationship with a woman.
I am glad that Jake picked Vienna to wreak havoc on, because I do not think Tinley would have been able to handle it so well, and go to the tabloids before Jake could and spread fame whore rumors about Jake.
I think that the only one who gained the most from all of this is the dog, since the dog has gotten the most frequent flyer miles.

Interesting Facts

2010-07-06T10:59:00.000-04:00

Did you know that Lorton, Virginia is named for a village in England? It is the hometown of Joseph Plaskett, who settled in this area running a general store and opened the post office in 1875. Did you know that the Lorton Reformatory detained 168 women from the women’s suffrage movement from the Washington DC area from June to December of 1917? Did you also know that Lorton was where the Nike Missile site was built in 1955? This missile site stayed in Lorton until the 1970’s.

A couple more great landmark Plantations on the Potomac in Lorton are the Belvoir Plantation, (means beautiful view) and Gunston Hall homes to Lord George Fairfax and George Mason respectively. The idea of guaranteed individual rights grew in the fertile minds on the river banks of the Lorton area. The American Heritage was cultivated in Lorton and Virginia.

On the tip of Mason Neck you can find a few Bald Eagles. Mason Neck NWR was established in 1969 for the protection of nesting, feeding, and roosting habitat for the Bald Eagles. It was the first federal refuge established specifically for the (then endangered) Bald eagle. The refuge is part of the Potomac River NWR Complex.
The refuge, situated along the Potomac River on the Mason Neck peninsula, consists of 2277 acres of oak-hickory forest, freshwater marshes, and has 4.4 miles of shoreline. The refuge has the largest fresh water marsh in Northern Virginia, the largest Great Blue heron rookery in the Mid-Atlantic region (over 1400 nests), is a designated RAMSAR site, and hosts over 200 species of birds, 31 species of mammals, and 44 species of reptiles and amphibians.

Eagles use the mature forests for shelter and nesting sites and the marshes, bays, and river for foraging and hunting. The refuge was listed as one of the top ten sites in the country for viewing Bald eagles.

Started with an email

2010-07-01T08:46:00.000-04:00

You know when you get 'those' emails and make you remember back to the good times, and then when you talk about it in a large group everyone says, "they stayed out till the street lights came on". I love those emails, and with each one, I can say yes I do remember. Some of these though, I did not remember. Maybe some of my older readers will!

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
It took three minutes for the TV to warm up?
Nobody owned a purebred dog?
When a quarter was a decent allowance?
You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?
Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?
Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?
It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?
They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . and they did it!
When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?
No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?
Lying on your back in the grass with your friends?and saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a... '?
Playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?
Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?
Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.
. .as well as summers filled with bike rides, Hula Hoops, and visits to the pool, and eating
Kool-Aid powder with sugar.

The Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow knows,
Nellie Bell , Roy and Dale,Trigger and Buttermilk.

How Many Of These Do You Remember?
Candy cigarettes

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.
Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles.

Coffee shops with Table Side Jukeboxes.
Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum.
Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers.
Newsreels before the movie.
Telephone numbers with a word prefix...( Yukon 2-601). Party lines.
Peashooters.
Hi-Fi's & 45 RPM records.
78 RPM records!
Green Stamps.
Mimeograph paper.
The Fort Apache Play Set.

Do You Remember a Time When…

Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'?
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, 'Do Over!'?
'Race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
Catching The Fireflies Could Happily Occupy
An Entire Evening?
It wasn't odd to have two or three 'BestFriends'?
Having a Weapon in School meant being caught with a Slingshot?
Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?
'Oly-oly-oxen-free' made perfect sense?
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
The Worst Embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
War was a card game?
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
Taking drugs meant orange - flavored chewable aspirin?Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

yes it's hot..... again...

2010-06-28T20:44:00.000-04:00

I am too hot to blog. I am sure that the millions of other bloggers on the East coast are blogging the same thing and people are actually reading it cuz HEY they are getting paid for it and whatever they write seems like butter on the lips and coffee on the brain...
OH
COFFEE

I had some delicious coffee. The Chickory coffee that we bought in Nawlin's is
THE
BOMB

Hello, omg I'm awake I need to work a million miles a minute and I can do anything
I
CAN
EVEN
FLY!!!

Seriously...

Of course next time I will take pictures and then figure out the less blurry ones, since the caffiene intake was/is so high.

I really need to make that at work one day, and then just watch how many people it affects....

But anyways,
yea it's hot...
I'm tired of reruns...

YOU
HAVE
TO
WATCH WIPEOUT!!!!
It is a really good laugh, except for all of the commercials.

I am rereading Eclipse now...
go team Edward, and he seems so much more mature and hairy in the book than he does in the movie. I just cannot picture the character from the movie as I am reading the book, but what is happening is that a cross between Bill Compton and Edward flies through my head and then I am totally confuzzled!

have a great day!

Picture yourself...

2010-06-27T12:14:00.000-04:00

In the middle a huge black asphalt parking lot, trying to walk to a cooler place where you know that there will be air conditioning and ice cold water. No trees are around and the sun is beating down on you, you can feel the burning on top of your head and your sunglasses are sliding off of your nose because of the sweat dripping off of your forehead. Your feet are burning from the heat of the asphalt heating the entire sole of the shoe.

That is how I feel today, outside. There are trees for shade and I am walking on the concrete sidewalk.

Can you imagine if I was walking on black asphalt?

The rest of the Nawlins story! oh wait there will be more

2010-06-22T23:31:00.000-04:00

So why are you all asking about my drunk shopping night? I am sure many of us have been there.. you have a few drinks then you go shopping at the mall. It's the same as going to the grocery store hungry. You tell yourself not to do it but you do!

So it was Saturday night in New Orleans and I already had the SOOKIE draw going, and thought of buying a house and keeping vampires in my basement, but of course I didn't have a job down there, and riding a donkey and buggy as a tour guide really didn't interest me, cuz ya know it's outside with the heat, and the bugs. I also could not see me steering a boat showing people gators when I would be using my arms to swat bugs out of my face instead of steering the boat. I could tell fortunes, but I would be freaking people out. I wouldn't be so nice about everything. When I got my fortune told or rather tarot cards read, the death card came up, and I breathed in and the 'dude' said oh don't worry that really doesn't have to deal with you. Umm hello, my fortune, my 20 bucks, my death card. So then the 'dude' and I use that 'dude' term loosely, tells me that it is some dark haired person that will be out of my life soon. I am like thinking to myself, omg he is sooo right. Not with that, but he got all of the generic answers right LOL. I would be telling the people, hey, someone is going to die, the world is coming to an end, go on a cruise and read the book, "Don't sweat the small stuff" sell all of your stuff, buy an RVB and travel. So obviously I wouldn't make too much money off of that! I didn't see that 'dude' again, since of course they all came to play after our bedtime! So I told myself there will be no working in a bar, picking crawddads out of the swamp and making gumbo out of swamp stuff (true story).So I told my partner that we were not going to buy a house and make friends with vampires, but we were going to go home to the real world the next day! And just when the Werewolves are coming out!

So that prompted some drinking. Not as much as Friday, but enough to where we were having a
REALLY
GOOD
TIME

so the last souviner shop that we walked past, we knew that we JUST HAD to have that voodoo doll, and of course the skeleton on a Harley bike. Oh and let’s not forget the coffee and beignet mix that I was going to make the following weekend. Yes, it is still sitting on my shelf, it looks so good on there with all of my other trinkets from the trip that I do not want to disturb it. I also saw this mask with blue feathers and told myself it would look really good in my bedroom, since ya know the walls are umm blue. Yea good call. Then after the pictures on 100 year old slate, and the postcards and whatever else we bought... I am still pulling stuff out of the suitcase. Yesterday a few postcards fell out of a magazine I stole from the hotel room, and I thought, OMG I did buy those. Hmm like the 467 pictures that I took wasn't enough. I also wrote down all of my memories from the trip on a airplane barf bag. I thought that was a great idea when I was watching it on Tori and Dean, not so much when I am getting weird stares from the flight crew.
ANYWAYS
I have this box... of bread pudding. White chocolate bread pudding. I have no idea how to make it, but it sounded really good at the time. Kind of like that hotdog you get on every corner of Bourbon Street.
I haven't even thought of turning on my oven in order to make it. IN fact I haven't even read the box yet, cuz if I do, I am going to find myself rolling on the floor laughing at myself for buying the box and having to reminisce on the entire shopping spree that took all of 4 minutes to complete.
Do not take me shopping when I have been drinking.
I also bought a box of 16.00 pralines, haven't had one yet. Then I would have to admit that I have a shopping problem.
When we were at the airport it was brought to my attention how fast we were in and out of the store. Surprisingly, how two people could speed around the store, finding exactly what everyone wanted from the Big Easy and capturing it before someone else wanted it.
I feel as though someone took advantage of me
I wonder if there is a Twilight Zone episode for what happened to me.
I wanted to count how much money I spend and ask for a tax deduction since I was helping the economy that was hit hard during Katrina. OMG that is a great concept...

I am wondering if next time I go down there, if I can smuggle one of those horny gator drinks, and find out if there is really booze in there or some shopping type of viagra or spanish fly in the drink that encourages reckless spending. At least I didn't need a condom for that right?

I never told you how I came across the meaning of Spanish Fly, and I don't think you will ever find out...

I also did mention that I found a McChicken in my purse Friday night.

*sighs*

I am glad to be home.

Yes, it is hot.

2010-06-22T09:22:00.000-04:00

6 months and a day ago we had this:

Since the end of February, our temperatures have been higher than normal. Another words, it has been hotter than the feeling of an egg frying on a sidewalk.

I enjoy hot. But there is something else in the air. It's called Humidity. I do not like it.
This is what I want...

Spooky

2010-06-18T07:44:00.000-04:00

We visited the St Louis Cemetery while we were there. It was founded in 1789 and listed on the National registrar of Historic Places. It is the burial ground of some of the most illustrious citizens of New Orleans. For example, Etienne de Bore who was the pioneer of sugar development; Daniel Clark, Paul Murphy a chess champion. even Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau is believed to have her final resting place here.

The above-ground tombs in the cemeteries of New Orleans are often referred to as "cities of the dead." Enter their gates and you will be greeted by decorative, rusty ironwork, and blinded by the sun bleached tombs. Crosses and statues on tomb tops cast contrasting shadows adding a sense of mystery.

New Orleans has always respected the dead, but this isn't the reason the tombs of our departed loved ones are interred above ground. Early settlers in the area struggled with different methods to bury the dead. Burial plots are shallow in New Orleans because the water table is high. Dig a few feet down, and the grave becomes soggy, filling with water. The casket will literally float. You just can't keep a good person down! The early settlers tried by placing stones in and on top of coffins to weigh them down and keep them underground. Unfortunately, after a rainstorm, the rising water table would literally pop the airtight coffins out of the ground. To this day, unpredictable flooding still lifts an occasional coffin out of the ground in those areas generally considered safe from flooding and above the water table. Another method tried was to bore holes in the coffins. This method also proved to be unsuitable. Eventually, New Orleans' graves were kept above ground following the Spanish custom of using vaults.

You could take many tours to the cemetery, which is across the street from a wonderful church. They say this church was the oldest in the area, since the first four we no longer upright. I also learned that the church in Jackson Square was the oldest also. I need to do some research and find out who was right. So far as I have been researching, the cemetery tour guide has been correct in everything he has said. The chick on the horse and buggy... not so much!
We choose a walking tour that lasted two hours in the Louisiana heat and humidity, and I almost died myself.

Okay so the story behind this is, sell your plots. Total waste of money. You need to buy a tomb, and the entire family will be resting in there. It's really weird how it works. You die, then they put you in the tomb for one year and one day. Since the weather and the composition of the tomb is what it is, you are essentually being placed in an oven for a year and one day. After the period of a year and one day, they take you out of the tomb and basically put you in a trash bag and make room for the next body. If two people of the same family die at the same time, they would put one of them in the holding wall, awaiting the 1 year and 1 day time period. There are what is known as family tombs and society tombs. So if you did not have a family per say, you could be buried in a Moose society tomb. Interesting. The coffins are made of cardboard or plywood. They are not as glamorous as the ones we see at funerals.

In the cemetery there was a Italian Tomb make of imported marble. It was round and had many tombs incased in it. It was beautiful. It took many years to build. The head of the statue is missing and it was believed that Dennis Hopper was in possession of it.
This was the cemetery where Easy Rider was filmed, and that movie is why you can no longer film in the cemeteries unless it is a documentary. The exception was "Double Jeopardy" with Ashley Judd and "Interview with a Vampire" that was filmed at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1-1833. I have never seen Easy Rider, but the reasoning why filming is now prohibited is played in that movie. Something about the guys making love to the statues.
Has anyone seen it?

I didn't feel anything as I was walking though the cemetary. Even at the voodoo queen's tomb I did not feel anything, so I am thinking that she is buried elsewhere and this is just for show. Who knows. The people that visit her tomb, leave offerings, such as coins, booze, and flowers. They would make a wish and draw three X's on her tomb. Then the wish is granted, and so on and so forth. Did you know that this Voodoo Queen was a devote Catholic? She was also someone whom everyone would go to, to find advice. They say she was everywhere and knew everything. She talked to the most important people in New Orleans. The slaves. The Slaves always knew what was going on, because they were always around to listen, but never partake in a conversation. Voodoo Queen hung out with them. She also had a daughter who looked just like her, thus explaining the being in two places at the same time. They said that the cemeteries are very dangerous, because of all of the tight hidden spots where muggers could hide and then attack you!

This was the church by the cemetary
This was the Voodoo Queen's tomb, do you see all of the X's there?

This was just a crevice where the muggers could hide!

Now for the Yummie Blog Post

2010-06-17T03:21:00.000-04:00

Beignets

Beignets that are warm with powered sugar

I was already full, but stopped at Cafe Beignet with an hour to kill while Brian went to the hotel. I sat down, telling myself that I can eat one tomorrow. I knew we were leaving tomorrow, so I knew I would not get to eat here before going to the airport.

I stood up, and walked to the order counter.
Did you know that you get 3 beignets with an order and that it is only $2.10. I told myself that it was a deal and I had to buy them. I planned on eating one, and putting the rest away for tomorrow.

I ate one, and it was heaven. The powered sugar dropping everywhere. The texture on the outside was very different than the texture on the inside. The inside was like warm fluffy goodness, and the outside has a powered sugar crunchiness and part of it would melt in your mouth while the other part would make you want another bite.

I did save the other two, the lady at the counter gave me a bag filled with powered suger. I tried eating one later on that night, but without the warmth, they just weren't the same...

I do not encourage drunk shopping

2010-06-17T03:10:00.000-04:00

So we all know that when you go to New Orleans you drink. There is also a possibility that you will drink enough liquor to run a bus for a week.
We did not drink that much, but we were close.

I want to make sure you all know that I am not a drinker all of the time. This post will contain drunken episodes. If you think highly of me, please do not continue to read.

Gee thanks!

Thursday night after we check into the hotel and unpack we get on the hot humid sidewalk to find out how far we are from Bourbon Street. There was a lot of riff raff on the streets walking down and there was not the pleasant smell of wisteria on the sidewalks… it was a different smell.

Gag

Get to Bourbon Street, go to the first bar on the corner to quench our thirst. Now since we got there late (11 pm) they did not have as many drink specials as they do earlier in the day/evening. But there were other specials. I started off with an ice cold miller lite. It went down fast, we walked up and down the street and continued to drink merrily. They had bars like Fat Tuesdays ALL over the place. I had brain freeze more than once. We people watched from a balcony and saw 2 dead people. Well, they were not really dead but they were crashed out on the sidewalk, not moving. Many people walked by and a few stopped, one of them calling 9-1-1. The cops came, and woke him up and basically threw him in a barrel and wheeled him to the ambulance. That’s nice. I made sure I stopped drinking after that.
We walked into a few of the shops, and we also went down to the rainbow flags. I didn’t want to interfere with the other side, but I knew I would have much more fun on that other side. Brian was scared so I stayed with him.

We went home soon after that so we could wake up refreshed and ready to walk walk walk the next day.

So the next day we get up, get fruit, and go down to Jackson Square, we see a tomato parade and walk with them while I am getting pictures of tomato’s and the Treme band with the dancing lady. We then walk across the street and take a horse (donkey) and buggy tour through the French Quarter. We walk around much of the morning and afternoon, going to special markets and shops that we heard about. Then ate the infamous Boudin Balls at Huck Finn’s and walked back to the Quarter. We walked up and down Bourbon street and people were starting to come out and like us they were looking for one thing.. a place to sit down that had air conditioning and cold beer specials. We found the place. Razzola’s. They have a special called 3 for 1. No matter what you buy, if you buy 1 you get 2 in addition to the 1. So basically you’re sucking down beers at a fast rate because it is hot and you don’t want your beers to get cold. We survived 6 hours and then stumbled back to the hotel, after eating at McDonalds, called for a wake up call for 11 pm and promptly fell asleep. I woke up at 11, wide awake and stone cold sober. He woke up around 1am wide awake also. I told him if we go back to the bars, we would be drunk 3 times in a 24 hour period. Neither one of us got up, but we did watch reruns of Roseanne and The Cosby Show. I think all of the water that we drank helped a lot with the non hangover.

And that was only Friday!

Oh and I didn’t even tell you about the drunk shopping…
Stay tuned!

And I forgot to mention that at 1am I found a McChicken in my purse...
Don't ask
Don't tell

A funny thing happened on the way home

2010-06-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

I have been reading other blogs and noticed a pattern of horrible air travel, so I had to put my story in here so other could read.

We flew to New Orleans nonstop. It was on US airlines and it was the perfect flight, no hassles no problems and NO waiting. I won’t mention the baby that was in the same row as we were. He of coursed fussed, but he was so cute, I laughed when he hit Brian over the head with a toy. He finally settled down in his Tylenol induced sleep and was out!

*insert all of the fun stories about New Orleans here*

So the way home we expected the same leisurely flight.
WRONG!

We get to New Orleans airport and it was so small. There was no line in our airlines but the southwest counter was out the door.

We checked in, wondered if we could get on the nonstop flight since we had a layover. We should have fought for a seat on that flight. We were now through security and sitting for two hours before our flight. Of course I had to have one last order of beignets and coffee.

That took 30 minutes. There was nothing to do in that airport, and it had that funny smell to it. I am attributing it to the humidity and dampness of the area.

We got on the flight, pretty non eventful and went on to Charlotte where our connection was for DC.
We had 20 minutes to make it to our gate for the connection. As we were walking to the next gate my phone rang, 800 number so I ignored it. Then Bryant calls me and tells me that the airport called and let him know that the flight was delayed. He was telling me this as we were looking for the time, on the monitors and seeing that there was an hour layover. I realized then that the 800 number that called me was in fact the airlines.

As we continued walking to the gate to find out what was going on, my phone rang twice more telling me of even more delays. Once we get to the gate, they said that the plane was in FL stuck due to mechanical issues. I didn’t mind that at all, fix the damn plane, I want security while I am up in the air in a tin can flying with hundreds of people.

We went to have a beverage, and waited and waited. My cell phone continued to ring every 20 minutes or so with another “we regret to inform you that your plane has been delayed” automated message. By the time we finished a drink, we were not leaving till 7:10. Our 355 flight was now delayed over 3 hours. We went to the gate with all of the other unhappy flyers. Another plane landed at the gate and people got off… another flight took off…

We went to customer service just to be told that they have no idea what is going on while they are looking at us with confusion trying to figure out why we are in a panic. Blank stare, deer in the headlights look on a few of them.

We contemplated renting a car and driving home, but then we would still have to go to the airport to get our luggage so we then just waited it out, and waited some more.
We were sitting in the walkway, people watching when I called Bryant to let him know what was going on. Well, as soon as he answered the phone I said, “what are you doing?” Well, some guy must have heard me while he was throwing away the garbage and started telling me what he was doing. “Well, I uh was just throwing this away in the garbage right here, uh I’m sorry” Wild, I tell ya. I was laughing hysterically. Get off of the phone with the son, laugh some more and watch the man with interest while he went to other people and shook their hands and started talking. I think he had a few too many beverages.

Oh then guess what? They closed the runaway because of lightening. That’s great. Okay so another hour goes by, it’s around 830 and the plane finally lands, unloads its weary passengers and clean it. They finally allow us to board and we land at the airport around 1030 pm.

What a waste of a day!

Just a Rant

2010-06-16T08:34:00.000-04:00

I waited and waited to hear something from this company and now, I am very upset.

I scheduled and paid for a weekend scrapbooking get away in April.
I had to cancel since it was too close to my hysterectomy surgery and you know I had to get ready for that by drinking large amounts of alcohol the weekend before surgery, cuz you all know how much I love my spritzers.
I sent a cancellation, asked them not to cash my check and asked them to send me the amount of the cancellation fee.
I NEVER heard back from them...
so I though everything was okay. Okay fine, I ASSUMED and you all know what that entails... so I dont need to say the thing about the ass and u and me crap -
I GET IT!!!

So anyways, I thought everything was okay...

It wasn't
THEY
CASHED
THE
CHECK!

I was noticing a weird pattern with my checking account...
weird pattern being no money in the account. I did still account for the check, since I haven't received it in the mail, like I asked. So thank god I didn't bounce anything OMG

I found out that the check went through, called the company and hence,
SURPRISE..
the voicemail is full.
I sent three emails in the past two weeks in regards to this situation. NO phone call explaining what happened, no email response. No opps, so sorry to spend all of your fun money, but now we are going to ignore you for awhile to teach you a lesson.

I loved this crop too. I went to it a few years ago and I had the time of my life, meeting new friends and seeing some amazing work done with other croppers.

I do not want to say, I never will go to this event again.

I am hoping that someone died, that this was a complete oversight, maybe they will give me a free "FREE" weekend, while adjusting my bank account mind you.

This is my fault though, I should have spent the million dollars the bank charges to cancel the check.

Since they obviously check their mail box, I am resorted to send them a letter.

Did I mention this crop was for April and the check wasn't cashed till the end of May?

Nice business you all have. I am not going to mention the business here, if you would like to know the company so you too can stay away, you can email me.

Our Hotel in New Orleans

2010-06-15T20:43:00.000-04:00

I have to promote this hotel where we stayed at while in New Orleans. It was on Canal Street (did you know that Canal st was supposed to be a canal hence it's name?) and about 4 blocks away from Bourbon Street. When we walked in, it had a smell to it, but later on I realized all of New Orleans smelled like that. There was a guard, as well as a night clerk and I was scared LOL. Turns out it was one of the nicest hotels I have stayed at. The room had two double beds, a kitchenette, and a regular sized bathroom. The only thing wrong was that the bathroom sink was small.
They also had a continental breakfast, with juice, waffles and bagels along with strong as hell coffee and a main dish of the day. One day it was grits. I usually grabbed some juice and a piece of fruit to tie me over till the beignets came.
I have pictures of those too.
Best thing about this hotel was it was clean, friendly and cheap!
I love cheap!

http://www.clarionhotel.com/hotel-new_orleans-louisiana-LA082?promo=gglocal

Boudin Balls

2010-06-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

We escaped the hot and humid New Orleans weather by scurrying into a place called Huck Finn's. There was a restaurant and bar, we chose the bar area. It was clean and very air conditioned.

After getting something to quench our thirst, we looked at the menu and said we were going to try something new. Neither one of us was very hungry, so we decided on an appetizer.

These were scrumptous looking balls, with a southern pork sausage, rice and other green things, rolled in a ball and of course, deep fried.

The remoulade sauce that came with it was perfect. We ate these up quickly and it was very satisfying to the taste buds as well as the wallet. We had this appetizer, and 4 beers for tweny dollars and some change. The bartender was great and very friendly. She even took pictures of us.

Here is a picture of the boudin balls

Preservation Hall

2010-06-15T02:16:00.000-04:00

Preservation Hall is located in the French Quarter, just three blocks from the Mississippi River. The Hall has served many functions over the years. Originally built as a private residence in 1750, the hall has evolved into a tavern, inn, photo studio and an art gallery. The inside of the hall contains portraits of the musicians who first filled it with the beautiful sounds of New Orleans Jazz.

Preservation Hall opened its doors in 1961. The hall was created as a sanctuary, to protect and honor New Orleans Jazz which had lost much of its popularity to modern jazz and rock n roll. Allan and Sandra Jaffe, the hall's founders, wanted a place where New Orleans musicians could play New Orleans Jazz, a style, they believed, should not disappear.

Today, over 40 years later, the hall is still going strong. On any given night, the hall is filled to capacity with people eager to hear New Orleans jazz played by veteran musicians in their 70's and 80's and younger musicians learning and embracing music that is both sweet and very beautiful.

Nawlin's

2010-06-14T17:05:00.000-04:00

Yes I went.
Left on Thursday
Came back on Sunday

I should break this up in days, so you are not reading on and on and on.
I took over 400 pictures.. most of which will NOT be displayed here. I will however post them elsewhere if you would like to see. I have pictures of the food, nightlife (no Boobs), alligators, the cemetary, Burbon Street, French Quarter, food, and not in that order.

I would like to do some research of a few of the "facts" I was given, simply because they contradicted each other. Hummphf!

I will post more, for now I must go watch True Blood from last night, I missed the show since I was housed in an airport, where there were men who wore dress slacks with a polo shirt, with flip flops.
And no we weren't in Kansas.

Nationals vs Pirates Pictures

2010-06-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

best viewed in a slideshow format since many of the pictures are highspeed multiple's. Feel free to take, please credit my blog.

Man on FIRE!

2010-06-10T10:32:00.000-04:00

The baseball game was fantastic. Steven wasn't doing too well at the beginning, going to a full count before striking out the players at bat. Later on, toward the 6-7 innings he started to relax and vegg out and get into his zone. He was able to strike out batters left and right, 8 in a row to be exact. The entire crowd in the stadium were on their feet and even the catcher (ramirez?) was excited and pounding his fists. He said that this team reminded him of the Mariner's team he was on when they went to the World Series. It was simply amazing. The energy in the stadium was contagious and we were a part of it. I will always remember his first steps unto the mound to pitch.
Even if he would have done poorly that Tuesday night, he would have still been an amazing asset to the team.

I am getting goosebumps as well as tears in my eyes talking about this. I know Jim Dove would have loved seeing Strausburg take the Nats to a win. Hopefully there will be more wins.

14 strike outs in one game, new record for the Nationals (No they do not suck, they are a new team)

This taken from http://www.welovedc.com/2010/06/08/strasburg-delivers-sets-record-for-strikeouts-in-nationals-uniform/

"In a performance that could only be considered “air superiority” for the Nationals, Stephen Strasburg made his debut tonight in front of a sellout crowd of 40,315. He would proceed to do things to the Pirates batting order that would be considered illegal in 12 states and 2 territories. He struck out 14, including every one of the Pirates who batted. That’s a club record, surpassing John Patterson in 2006, and Clippard and Capps would add three more for a team record of 17 Ks in one evening.

Throughout his start, Strasburg kept his fastball in such a range that could only be measured in low mach numbers. He cleared 100mph on multiple occasions, and his fastball never dropped below 97. His breaking stuff was so superb that several hitters looked at pitches as if they’d just disappeared between the mound and the plate. We’ll have more in the morning, but suffice it to say: The Hype Is Real. This kid’s the real deal."

And here is another great article comparing Steven Strasburg to Walter Johnson.

I am sure there will be more to come.

And This One is For Connie...

2010-06-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

My custom made baseball card

2010-06-09T20:48:00.000-04:00

This could be for Wordless Wednesday

OMG OMG OMG

2010-06-08T14:57:00.001-04:00

I'm going to a baseball game today OMG *screams* OMG OMG OMG

Thunk...

Oh look a Bunny!!!

Pasta Dish anyone?

2010-06-06T17:33:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine makes these wonderful dishes, and she never writes down the recipe. She has throughout the years tweeked a recipe and turned it into a grand event. From her soups to her seasonings for meat she never disappoints.

Here is a picture of her pasta

Sweet or Dill?

2010-06-06T17:21:00.000-04:00

How about some porn... Food Porn that is!!

2010-06-06T17:08:00.000-04:00

Went to a party yesterday, and I tried the best salsa ever. It was not spicy at all, and as soon as I put a bite of it in my mouth, the lime, cilantro, the poblano peppers and tomato all exploded in my mouth at once. I asked a friend where she got the recipe, I have never known her to be so creative in the kitchen. She laughed and said it was a family secret, but then she laughed and then told me she bought it at Giant, and it was the Giant brand of their fresh salsa.

YUM. I can taste this on taco's, crackers, quesidilla's and anything else I can get my hands on!

Picky Eaters

2010-06-05T09:06:00.000-04:00

I have a few friends who have picky eaters, and I felt all proud for a minute that my kids are not picky eaters.
Nope, never were. I gloat in pride, thinking I did something right for a change...

Then that summer comes back into view. The summer of 2001. We lived in San Diego, and were saving for a house so we very rarely ate out.
It was 2 weeks of pure hell.

I can laugh about it now, and some of it is really funny.
Brian's daughter only came out once or twice during the year, so Brian went out there a lot. She came out to San Diego for 6 weeks. This was our first time together and of course there were issues.
When you take a 5 yr old daughter who never sees her father and throw her into a instand fmaily with a step mother she doesn't know at all and a 6 yr old boy who gets all of the attention it is hell.
I would not wish this on anyone.
EVER

There are a lot of stories connected with this summer, but lets talk about food.
Like I said we hardly ever ate out...
I cooked dinner, meat, veggie, starch. Let's say for example it was chicken, noodles and peas. LOL
She ate the chicken and the noodles but would just stare at the peas, wishing them to go away and replacing it with french fries. We would sit and talk, then Bryant would get up and go to his room after he was finished. Then Brian and I would be done, enjoying Ashley and getting to know her. The peas would stay on her plate. She felt that she didnt have to eat or even try them.

ENTER our first battle of the wills...
I love her, I really do... but she is just as stubborn as her father, which can be a good thing.
She refused to eat her peas. She never had them before, so I suggested to her that she try a few. There was, according to her, goobs of peas on her plate and she could not eat them all. After 20 minutes we said she only had to eat 10, I am compromising so now she had to. She sat there for over an hour... peas on the plate. Okay, ten peas is like a spoonful. So finally, after all of the dishes were done, after everyone had their evening clothes on (jammies) she gobbled down a spoonful of peas. I dont think she liked them, but she tried them.

Fruit, she wasn't a big fruit eater, so i bought the fruit she wanted and we started there. I would have her eat 5 then 10 then 15 grapes, counting all the 6 weeks of grapes. She really liked the grapes. Whew, apples not so much.

Once I asked her if she wanted a pot pie.. she got all excited and said yes. I cooked them, and brought them out, everyone sat at the table, including her, she was looking at me confused. I put the pot pie on the table. She looked at it with a gross look on her face. She didn't eat it.

She thought I said popeye's