3.14

I made Pie Cups. Just like I said I would last year. Sorry the pictures are fuzzy.

First: Apple pie cups. I made the crust and the filling and used cupcake tins to bake them. I used every other hole so the crusts wouldn't get ruined. I think this was an unnecessary precaution.

I criss-crossed the tops (it took forever!!) and the did the cherry pies. The cherry pies had normal tops, I also did them every other hole. I glazed the tops and baked them for 15 minutes on 425. Here was the result:
Deliciousness!!! Perfect with home made whip cream on top.

Say Hello to iPhone

My phone is broken. Again. Sigh.

I was driving home on the freeway when traffic came to a sudden halt due to a tire in the road. I called 911 on my cell phone ("It's not an emergency, I just need to report a tire in the middle of the freeway"). I was transferred to Highway Patrol and my phone hung up on itself. I didn't want to call 911 again, so I called Goog411 to get the number for highway patrol. Goog411 hung up on me because it thought I was talking because my phone was making so much noise.

Later that day my friend from Philadelphia called. I had to end the call early, even though we only talk every few months and we had a lot to catch up on, because my phone was cutting in and out and I couldn't understand what he was saying and I was afraid it was something important.

I decide to have a talk with Drek. The problem is this: I don't want to buy an expensive phone. I will lose it. I don't want T-mobile to give me a phone, or they will me sign a contract. I can't buy another $24 phone from Wal Mart, this is my third one in five months.

When I broke my first T-mobile phone, I bought a $24 phone from Wal Mart. It was a brick, analog, and it is Super-Phone. After using it for a year, I gave it to Drek-my-boyfriend, so he could have a cell phone (or, make him use a cell phone. Mostly I gave it to him so I could call him.) That was three years ago. He is still using Super-Phone. It still works (so much better than my two-month-old phone). It picks up signals where digital phones cannot. It could survive the holocaust. I need another phone like this. Alas, they do not make them anymore.

I tell all this to Drek, and suggest getting a landline. I hate landlines, but it would be cheaper. We could lower our cell phone bill and you know I would never lose it. If there was an emergency, I couldn't call anyone if I was out and about, but I couldn't anyway, so why not?

Drek is quiet, and then says, "Well, my work is buying me an iPhone, so you can have Super-Phone."

I freak out. "When did you find this out?!"

"I wasn't going to tell you until it arrived."

Allow me to reiterate the important parts of this post. DREK HAS AN IPHONE!!

Always Forever

I love my husband. To me, he is perfect.

Saturday was the first time in a while that we both could just be together without needing to do or be anywhere. We played board games and card games and talked and laughed and had a wonderful time.

Sunday my wonderful husband and I snuggled in bed after church reading books and watching shows on my laptop. He even made Peach Crisp for us to munch on. We went for a long walk on one of the many trails we now live by. I love exploring with my husband.

Guests is What I was About to Say But Now That You Mention it I Happen to Quite Like the Women of the Outback.

I finally watched Australia. It was good, it just wasn't Baz Luhrmann good. I liked it, but it wasn't stunningly brilliant and mesmerisingly beautiful and incredibly flawless like his other movies. Also, I still can't get over that she drowned in a water tower. How do you do that?

I was stunned at how much history it taught me. I knew nothing of Australia history, NOTHING. So it was educational. If not appalling. 1973? Really? And they only apologized in 2008? As in, when the film came out? Really? Australia, after that green New Year's party, you were #1 on my national list. Now you are #4. Shame on you.

What Is It? It's a Compass. What Does It Do? It Points North, John.

Today I volunteered at the temple. When Drek and I went to our new ward on Sunday, the stake was asking for volunteers to be ushers during the open house of the Temple (LDS temples have "open houses" before they are dedicated and functioning. Anyone can attend the open house, it's basically a tour of the inside of a temple). I volunteered, hoping to get some inside information (how long it took to build, how much it cost, why they chose that location, etc).

The hour meeting prepping you for assignment was just the supervisor checking and rechecking list, looking around, saying hi to friends and asking what every one's names were. Five minutes before we loaded on the bus he turned to me and said "You are number thirty-two, and you will be in the celestial room." Sweet! (The Celestial Room in an LDS Temple is always a beautiful room with white and flowers and such. It is supposed to represent heaven). The best spot, sure to be a wealth of information.

We arrived at the Temple, I was taken upstairs and handed off to the person I was replacing. She smiled at me, handed me her "Usher" name tag and turned to leave. "Wait!" I said; "What do I do?" She smiled and whispered; "Just smile and make sure people don't take pictures or talk on cell phones." And then she left. As she walked away I wanted to ask if someone did take a picture, was I supposed to confiscate their camera, but it was too late. Apparently, there would be no inside-information-giving. I smiled at the people already in the room and leaving the room ( I was at the exit, there was another usher at the entrance) and tried to figure out the situation. I realized that when everyone came into the room, they looked up. Curios, I, too, looked up. HOLY AMAZING!! Hanging from the ceiling was the most beautiful three-story chandelier I have ever seen. It was lighted, it sparkled, it was gorgeous. I looked back down. I didn't want to seem "touristy". People like their ushers act like they have seen the room before (and I had not).

Soon, a person walking by stopped and asked my my first question. "Is it made of diamonds or crystal?" Meaning the chandelier. I did not know. This was just the sort of inside information I was hoping that as an usher, I would be told. Alas, I was not told anything. However, given the choice between diamonds and crystal, I would pick crystal, and since people want their ushers to be knowledgeable, I answered "Crystal. Isn't it beautiful?" And smiled.

From then on I must have been asked twenty times what the chandelier was made out of, every time I would say crystal. On the bus going back to the parking lot at the end, I asked the supervisor what the answer was and he said Austrian crystal, and went off on how heavy it was.

My second question of the day came when a women asked me "What kind of flower is it?" "Which one?" I asked, thinking she meant the beautiful bouquets of flowers set in stunning crystal vases around the room. She gestured up to the ceiling. I gazed up and noticed that at the top of the chandelier was an elegant pattern resembling a flower. The same design is on the ceiling of the Provo Temple. I was pretty sure this was just a design, and not a particular flower, so I smiled apologetically and admitted that I didn't know.

Twenty minutes later a women asked me if my religion worshiped pansies. She could tell I was confused and added "Or is there some sort of pansy symbol?" Again, she gestured up and I supposed she was referring to the design on the ceiling. "Oh, they are just pretty flowers." I smiled at her (I had the smiling thing down pat).

Two hours later a man came by and said: "Are those Sego-Lilies?" and pointed upward. I followed his gaze and to my astonishment realized that bordering the ceiling were designs of flowers. This must have been what everyone was referring to. They resembled pansies, but I was sure the man was correct. "Yes, they are Sego-Lilies." I said. Which makes so much more sense, as the Sego-Lily is the Utah state flower. At the end I asked the supervisor and he confirmed they were, in fact, Sego-Lilies.

Little kids liked to ask questions too. They asked much better questions like "How do you now if there are mice in the temple?" and "How many shiny things are on the chandelier?" and "Did it cost more than gum to make it?" As he and his mom passed me one kid said "Mom, I want to live in this room."

Awwwww

All Those Months of Doing a Stunningly Boring Chore

I'm doing laundry. Ask me where!! Ask me where!!!!!!!!!!

Where?

AT HOME!!!!!!

I have never done laundry at home before.

Everything's Cool as Long as I’m Getting Thinner

So glad February is over. What a horrid month.

March was looking better; Drek and I are out of the old apartment and enjoying our new one. We are slowly unpacking and settling in.

My dad was released from the hospital yesterday, but was rushed to the ER again today. Not good.

Hating work. Seriously, if this keeps up I'm taking my chances with the economy. I am not going to keep dealing with this stuff.

I'm not getting thinner, BTW. Quite the opposite. It is scary. My newest idea is to have a small "Biggest Loser" competition. But not right now. Right now I have more urgent issues.

You Could Do a Lot When You Got Such a Happy Little Tune to Hum

I am so stressed. Today is the day we are supposed to be out of the old apartment. I've gone over to clean before and after work for the last two days, but there just enough time! I've painted, vacuumed, scrubbed and polished, but I still need to clean the walls, the bathroom and clean the carpets. I work today (I was over there cleaning before work) and when I get off I'll go clean for two hours before I go to the hospital to see my dad (you can't visit between five and seven). I know cleaning the carpets is going to take more than two hours. Sigh.

Yesterday I got off of work an hour later so I only cleaned for an hour before going and seeing my dad. I didn't get back home to Draper until nine pm, I had a leftover enchiladas for dinner, glanced over and delighted in my new washer and dryer and then went to bed. My new house isn't unpacked at all. Life is killing me right now.

Lost and Insecure, You Found Me, You Found Me

Last night Drek and I went up to our new Townhouse and started unpacking. I unpacked the dishes that have been in storage for...four years now? Every little piece I unwrapped was like a Christmas present. After all they've been through, only one bowl was broken. I lamented that loss in full. It was very therapeutic. I ran them through the dishwasher and that was nice too.

Drek and I went grocery shopping and we held hands the whole time. I decided I was going to cook dinner so we got all the fixings for enchiladas. I made it when we got home and set up our table and then we had dinner at our table. We just pretended that everything was ok and things were normal. It helped a lot with my stress levels. It was a nice night.

Acouchi is adjusting well. We moved her up on Wednesday. She was really freaked out on the car ride up, even though I told her a million times that we were moving, we were all moving together and that she would love the new house. In the car she hid under my leg and we just snuggled.
We left her alone for the first night and when we got to the house she seemed to have adjusted quite well.

I started potty training her and so far so good!! Hopefully she'll be full trained in a few weeks!!

We decided Acouchi couldn't sleep with us anymore, so we have been keeping our bedroom door closed in hopes that she won't know that room exists. Last night was out first night at the townhouse and Acouchi figured out where we were. She cried at the door all night. ALL NIGHT.
That better stop. I think I'm going to tie a balloon to the door. She is terrified of balloons.

I really like our new place. I think it will work out great. Our new Washer and Dryer are being delivered today, I'm super excited about that. We should have Internet by next week and hopefully our landlord will approve the garage door opener. It will be nice to have Jasmine in the garage, in her own little room.

I go to working part-time in March. That will be a switch. I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to really get my infant massage business going. When the Temple is finished I want to volunteer there once a week. That would be really nice.

Things not good...no sleep...dad in hospital.

Don't ask.

Higitus Figitus Migitus Mum, Prestidigitonium!

We're moving tomorrow! So excited! Our new house has a dishwasher and three bathrooms and a backyard and smells like pickles! I'm so happy.

My dad starts chemo-therapy tomorrow. He is so much braver than I ever could be. I hope he knows how brave he is, and how much we are praying for him.

Please Won't You Be My Neighbor

In our really old four-plex that likes to sing, we have three neighbors: Smoker lady, living diagonal from us, single lady, living next door to us, and crazy lady, living under us. I could write novels about crazy lady. She is crazy. She is also number three on our list of "why we are moving."

A surprising plot twist happened today. This story is not about crazy lady, it is about smoker lady. I know; weird.

This morning Drek came out of the house to find smoker lady outside, smoking. She does this a lot. Thus, her name.
This time her hand was splinted and bandaged to an ice pack. "Hey! How are you?" Drek politely asks. Then he noticed her car. It looked like this:

The pictures make it hard to see, but every window on this car is shattered. This included the windshield. The tires are also slashed.

"What happened to your car?" Drek asked.

"Frustration." Smoker lady answered.

...Ok...reason number two on our list of "why we are moving."

I'll Really, REALLY Be Using Amazon From Now On

Toby's present came!! I'm in shock! I ordered it, it came! And it came in perfect condition, just like it said it would. Amazon, Belle's Books, you make my heart happy.

Sweetheart Saboteur...

...was amazing! It was so great! Best game play yet! If I can talk my husband into it, I will give a full recount on the website. Until then, here are some of my favorite pictures:





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http://saboteur.stormhorse.com/

Happy Valentine's Day!!

My husband is the best husband in the world!! For Valentine's Day he bought be these:




Aren't they beautiful!? He is so great.

I got him a new digital camera. That is what I took these pictures with. Hooray for new cameras!!

I'll Really Be Using Amazon From Now On

Continuation:

Last e-bay mess resolved, except I still don't have Toby's present. So I ordered it again, from another seller. I ashamed to say it was off of e-bay. It was "buy it now" deal, so I bought it then. I pay, and get an email the next day saying the item is back ordered, and they won't be mailing it to me anytime soon. In the end, they wrote another email saying the product wasn't coming in, please pick another item from our selection. Grrrrrrr.

Never fear! I then ordered the product on Amazon! I am so hopeful! I am full of hope! Hopefully Toby will get his birthday present before Christmas.

May The Odds Ever Be In Your Favor

I read the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's a YA book, easy read, and intensely gripping. It's one of those books that sucks you in and you just can't put down. That is, if you can get passed the fact that the idea of the Hunger Games is ludicrous and after 74 years no one has even attempted to manipulate them? Ever? Really?

I would classify it as science fiction, I don't think it actually is though. I think it's classified as action. It's about the future of our world, in the ruins of North America, there are 12 districts and one capitol city. Every year, the capitol makes each district offer two teenagers to play in Hunger Games, which are televised and quite popular. The teenager basically fight to the death, last one standing wins.

It's basically an out-of-control reality show. While I was reading the book I could really see how easy it would be for our culture to become so desensitized to what's on TV that we enjoy watching children kill each other.

I really, really enjoyed the book. I highly recommend it. It's not to graphic or anything and is actually quite deep. It does have a cliffhanger, the next book is called Catching Fire and is released September 1.

Looking Forward To That Dishwasher

We got both the barracks and the townhouse. After much deliberation, we went with the townhouse. One less bedroom, but one more bathroom. It's not our own building, but we do get our own garage. The rent is more, but the utilities the townhouse is much less. We signed the contract on Saturday and Drek and I went to PF Changs to celebrate.

The townhouse is ours starting Feb 15th, we have to be out out of our apartment by March 1. We can make that work.

Why Pie Is Not The Answer

We saw the townhouse. I love it! It's very bright and well put-together. We like both the townhouse and the bunker, we applied for both and we'll be happy with either.

I finished reading the book I was reading: Such A Pretty Fat by Jan Lancaster. It was hilarious. I was dying with laughter. The book is a memoir about this women trying to lose weight. It's a book not about being crazy skinny so you'll be accepted into society, nor is the book about hating yourself, the book is about loving yourself no mater what and that includes loving yourself enough to make you healthy. Not skinny, healthy. I liked it. I can't recommend it though, Jen has a dirty mouth.

Really Bad Jet Lag Doesn't Make You Hemorrhage

I'm not really sore, proving the accident wasn't bad at all. I don't have any residual effects (besides Jasmine being banged up, but we'll fix that) that I know of. Well, I did have a nose bleed last night, and this morning, and then again this morning, and then one at lunch, but I think that might be because of the dry air and the fact I'm finally over my cold. Either that or I'm time traveling.

Speaking of which, LOST last night was fantastic. I don't want to give any spoilers, so let me just say that when a room burst into chants, cheers and then applause, it's a great episode.

My husband happens to be the best husband in the world. Yesterday for breakfast me, Drek, Kara and Jim went to the Bakery and then to Macey's for juice. My wonderful husband bought me three different containers of juice. They are delicious.

Most of yesterday was spent looking at a new apartment. We found a house we liked (it used to be an Army Bunker) and we'll see if that turns out. We have an appointment to see a Townhouse on Friday that I'm really hopeful about. We'll see.

Just Wait Until After Lunch

I was so productive this morning. Before 10am I had already gotten dressed, fed and out the door, clocked in to work, wrote and mailed four "thank you for your referral" cards, found a doctor's office I have spent three months trying to find, met the staff of the doctor's office and dropped of literature to them and catalogs to the office, visited another doctor, scheduled an in service, called 911, filed a auto insurance claim, persuaded a cop not to give a women a ticket, and sold an office chair.

Busy morning.

I'll Be Using Amazon From Now On

The first week in January I decided we had better order Toby's birthday present. This was a hassle because I don't have an ebay account (actually I can't have an ebay account, I shared once with the devil and after we broke up he ran the account into the ground a a few months after I open up any ebay account ebay contacts me and informs me that they know it's me, and I am on their "bad" list, and am not welcome on ebay ever.)

Drek will not give me access to his account, so buying things on ebay contains finding an item, IMing Drek, justifying the purchase with him (this warrants a fifteen page report on the subject complete with financial reports, graphs of account activity and the worth of the person I am purchasing for) and waiting two days because Drek cannot remember his PayPal password. Finally, we have purchased Toby's present. We bought from oddbanana, a power seller with a 99.2% positive rating out of almost 100,000 ratings and I am sure it will get here on time since we ordered it January 5th, and his birthday is not until Jan 27th.

Wrong.
On the night of Toby's birthday, we check the mail and it has still not arrived. I had to show up to the party with a card that matches an empty bag and promise that it is coming. While I don't think Toby minded (he turned one) I know it bothers Krisling since her present was also late. Late, as in, I haven't given it to her yet and her birthday was in November. I bought her a gift certificate to a yarn store than Drek threw away the before I could give it to her and I am currently in negotiation with the owner for a replacement.

So Drek emailed the seller and two days later we had no present, and no email. A few days and emails later Drek opened a PayPal dispute for "non-receipt of item". It took a couple days, but oddbanana refunded the money through PayPal with no comment or message or email.

One minute later they opened an eBay "Unpaid Item case" for the same item.

Sigh.

And now it is February and I have to start the whole ordering process over again. By the time Toby gets his birthday present he just might be turning two.

And the Oscars Are Only A Few Weeks Away...

A man from cooperate came to the store yesterday to film us doing product presentations. He is going around to almost every single store and filming how different salespeople sell different products. He edits the tapes and them posts them on a website where all the franchises can watch them. The idea is that we can learn from each other and improve as a whole. 70% of the presentation we might know, but that extra 20% of the information can be invaluable.

At our weekly meeting we picked which products w4e would show and then practiced them with everyone critiquing and offering their opinions. Yesterday I went I got all gussied up and went into work and hour early so we could film when no clients were in the store.

I was up first, I presented a Therasage table with my boss as the client. It was nerve-wracking at first, but it was a lot of fun. The guy from cooperate is apparently a professional director; he's taught at Art colleges in San Fransisco and things like that. He was really good at telling me exactly what I needed to do without telling me exactly what I needed to do. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but he was great. He filmed the presentation and then he had me do certain things over again so he could get close-ups.

Next up was me doing a presentation of a Sanyo massage chair, which went really well, and then he wanted me to do a Theracane. I panicked because although I love Theracanes, I had not practiced that presentation. Josh decided he would be the client this time, which don't work out too well because we kept joking and laughing and not really giving a lot to the film. The guy from cooperate finally coaxed out of me what he needed and I was done.

I'm excited to see the videos, I want to know how they turn out. I've already watched some of the videos the other stores did and I have already learned so much! This project was a great idea and it's already been a lot of fun. I felt like a real movie star. For a few seconds anyway.

If You Haven't Got Your Health, You Haven't Got Anything.

I'm getting over my sickness. I hate being sick. I really, really do. On the the plus side, Tuesday I only worked a half day, I didn't work at all on Wednesday and today I only wen in for an hour and a half meeting. Tomorrow will also be a half day, and then it's back in the thivk of things on Saturday.

Being sick in bed has given me ample time to watch Jericho (A TV show about how a little town in Kansas deals with the end of the world as we know it, with no fuel, no electricity, and no food). I've also been reading Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer (yeah, that really is her last name. Put in it all caps and it's even better: PFEFFER. I can't imagine what she went through as a young child trying to write her name). This was a great book. A nail-biting page-turner you hate to put down, but you have to, becasue reading the book makes you hungry and weak and think that you have no food and will never have food ever again, so you have to put the book down to raid the kitchen and eat a lot of food, just to prove you can.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I know when authors end books with loose ends teachers will tell you it's becasue they purposly left it up to your imagnation, but I think they just get lazy and decide to stop writing. It's so annoying.

Anyway, the book is about how a family deals with world as we know it, with no fuel, no electricity, and no food. Yeah, so, basically, I have been sucked into the Apocalypse. I find myself thinking about food rationing, medical supplies and such. How bad is it? Let me give you an example:

Yesterday Kara's boyfriend, Jim, stayed over the night at our house. In the morning, Drek got up and I awoke to him and Jim having breakfast. "OH NO!!" I thought shooting straight out bed, "They can't have breakfast! We have to ration the food!" . . . yeah.

Both of the stories have a few things in common: Food is a huge problem, especially since no one has even put a single can away for food storage. The only way people get food is through the charity of the government. As big as a problem as food is, the cold is a bigger problem. Winter is apparently the thing to fear. Chocolate is the ultimate luxury and object to dream about and lust after. All pregnant women die. There are no exceptions.

We have a year's supply of basic food storage. I am slowly collecting other things for our food storage that aren't so basic but still needed. I am still apprehensive. I will feel much better when we live down South and live off the grid, with our own electricity and our own garden.

If the world ended tomorrow I think we could survive for a year, maybe. We could at least survive longer than the people in the book. Come on, two months after the asteroid people have starved to death? Really? In the fall? Two months?

So. Very. Sick. I despise being sick. This sickness does not appear to be going away. I woke up sick on Monday, and I have improved by...um...say 15% since then. I stayed in bed all day Monday, well, no. I went to Rissy's house on Monday to have a LOST marathon, but got too tired three episodes in and then went home and spent all day in bed. I spent all day in bed on Tuesday. I spent most of the day in bed on Wednesday, but come on, it was the season premiere of LOST and we don't get TV, so what did you expect me to do? It was amazing, by the way. Thursday I spent the first half of the day in bed, then I went to work. Today will be the same thing. So sick of being sick.

Mostly, the annoying part is the stuffy nose. It's no fun when you can't breathe. I don't think the inversion is helping either. Air quality outside right now is appantly more deadly than ciggarette smoke. Great. Just great. When are we moving, again?

Sweetheart Saboteur

This one is set for Valentine's Day. Saturday, Feb. 14th from 4-7pm. The games are planned and they promise to be the best yet! So excited!

Prizes include a huge back of candy, as usual, but also some gift certificates and a few other surprises.

Price is $10 per couple, that covers dinner, hot chocolate, donuts and other things. Want to play? Just email me. Only the first eight couples to sign up can participate.

Yesterday I decided being cold was the worst thing in the world. Today I am sick, and decided that being sick is the worst thing in the world. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

P.S. My husband is, without a doubt, the best husband in the world.

Skewered. One Sympathises

I found my calling in life. Apparently, I am supposed to open up a Vegetarian Thai restaurant. Too much of a niche? Hmmm...Maybe. UNTIL YOU TASTE THIS FOOD!!!!

Yesterday's lunch:

Thai Satay Kabobs
3 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 10 oz pkg tofu, rained and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups (about 4 oz) mushrooms. Sliced, whole, whatever you like
3/4 cups coconut milk
1 tsp red curry paste
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 Tbs vegan sugar (Brown sugar is easier and works better in this recipe)
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt

Whisk together soy sauce, mushrooms and tofu in a large bowl. Cover and marinate 30 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 400F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Drain tofu and mushrooms and thread onto 6 skewers. Bake 15 minutes. Turn and bake 15 minutes more.
Whisk coconut milk and red curry paste in saucepan. whisk in peanut butter until smooth. Stir in sugar, salt and lemon juice and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook 5 minutes stirring often.
Place skewers on serving plate and drizzle with sauce. Remaining sauce can be used for dip.


And my own special, most delicious concoction:

Pineapple Curry!!!!!!

1 can coconut milk (I've found the best coconut milk brand is Thai Kitchen, but any will work)
1 can pineapple chunks (drain pineapple juice into a bowl to use separately)
1 can bamboo shoots (drained)
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
3 Tbs Soy Sauce
2 Tbs fresh ginger
1 1/2 Tbs red curry (I used red curry from Thai Kitchen, it comes in a small jar)
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 10 oz container tofu
Rice

Drain and cut tofu in 1 inch cubes. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a frying pan. Add tofu, cook on High. The point is to brown the sides of the tofu. Combine soy sauce, garlic and ginger in saucepan over med heat. Stir, for 3 minutes. Add pineapple chunks, coconut milk, and red curry. Bring to a boil, then simmer. Once the tofu is browned on all sides, add tofu, continue to simmer. In frying pan, add green bell pepper, carrots, bamboo shoots and pineapple juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once vegetables are slightly tender, add them (and the pineapple juice) to simmering curry. Simmer for 5 more minutes and serve over rice!

We Applied the Cortical Electrodes but Were Unable to Get a Neural Reaction From Either Patient

On Wednesday I go over to a little eight year old little girl's house. This little girl was born with half of her body paralyzed. Ever since she was born she has been surrounded by Doctors and specialists and therapists and such. I go over once a week to giver her a quick massage because her muscles get really really tight.

She is a very smart little girl. She's always the first kid to pick up on things and is always the smartest in her class. Today while I was giving her a massage I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be a doctor. I smiled to myself. Of course a kid surrounded by doctors her whole life would want to be a doctor. She probably has more training already than a second year med student. I asked her what kind of doctor she wanted to be. "I don't know," She answered. "Like a nurse-y doctor or something."

It's good to know that no matter how much a child has gone through, they're still just a kid.

And the Winning Numbers Are...

So, the St. George Marathon is not something you can just show up and run. You have to send in a running resume of sorts, and if it passes, it is entered into a lottery. If you are drawn from the lottery, you get to run. The winners of this lottery have already been announced for this year. Sigh.

However, if you are entered three times into the lottery, the third year you automatically win. So I might shoot for that. A 2013 New Year Resolution. I should see if there is another marathon I can enter...

Not the Smell, Not the Look, But the Sound of the Crust

I. Made. Bread. I MADE it. Myself. BREAD. So great.

I have never made bread before. This is so very exciting. Oh! I am just so proud of myself. I will never have to buy bread again!!

Krisling gave me a bread maker for Christmas. It came with a small manual. The manual explained all these settings and how it worked and said is included recipes. The only recipes were one for a chocolate cake and one for jam. There were no bread recipes. I soon discovered that if you put too much ingredients into the bread maker, it could explode, and since I didn't know how much ingredients to put in, I did not make bread.

Yesterday I used the bread maker to make the chocolate cake. It was...not exactly delicious. It was cake, but it was...um, not the best cake ever. So I decided this was a BREAD maker, and would make extra-delicious bread!! This morning I googled images of bread makers, found one that matched mine, got the model number and found the complete manual for my model of bread maker online. Hooray for Google!! This manual had recipes. I tried the recipe this morning and this was the result:

DELICIOUSNESS!!

I have wheat. It came with our food storage we got for Christmas. Now all I need is a wheat grinder and I will be set!!

A Lot of People Like Snow. I Find It to be an Unnecessary Freezing of Water

It is snowing like crazy here. It has been since mid-December. Two days ago it snowed for fifteen hours. Have you ever seen a wall of snow? I have.

At the beginning of the year, Krisling and I went skiing. It was my Christmas present to her. When we went two years ago, we went in March. I remember thinking I had worn too many layers. Krisling ended up in jeans and a T shirt. Skiing, after all, is hard work. You warm yourself up. This year, it was not like that. It was FREEZING. I suppose skiing in January will do that. It was ok coming down the mountain, but riding on the ski lift was very painful. We got through it by throwing Krisling's bag full of cameras, wallets, keys and such off the ski lift and trying to catch it with our skis and ski poles. A feat made difficult when you can't breathe because you are laughing so hard.

And if you think flying down a snow-covered mountain on two small sticks is dangerous, you should try riding on a bus driven by a guy who openly admits he is drunk.

Anyways. This year I have also had two major snow fights, built a huge and awesome snow fort with Meimei and Drek, been extreme sledding, shoveled snow, gotten my car stuck in the snow twice, been a passenger when another car got stuck in the snow, and I've had to walk through piles of snow in snow boots, boots, high heals, work shoes, tennis shoes, and barefoot.

Ok, I've had my fun. No more snow. Or cold. ok?

Alcohol: The Cause Of, And Solution To, All Of Life's Problems

Aaron came over last night. He brought his wii and all his lovely games. It was my...3rd? time ever playing the wii so it's still new and exciting to me. We played Mario Cart, which is so much more difficult when you don't know what you are doing, or which buttons do what. We had a blast. I even managed to win a few races.

During the transition between races the screen told us it couldn't read the disc and and that we couldn't play that level. We rebooted and tried again; Same thing. We rebooted and tried a different level; same thing. Aaron was distraught. And that's when the genius of Xirax came to me for a moment. I got out my most-awesome-teeny-tiny-bottle of 100%, entirely Russian vodka and cleaned the disc with it. We put it back in the wii and we didn't even have to reboot, the game started in three seconds flat. We even went back and played the level that caused the problem. Bwhahaha.

After this highly successful escapade I had to think to myself; Vodka is expensive and yet, so useful. You can clean/repair discs, make your hair shiny, make air fresheners that have a shelf life of two years and so on. Why would you waste this precious commodity by drinking it? Also, it smells disgusting.

2008 Review

On a personal level, 2008 meant progress. Drek Graduated with his Master's Degree, He got a job, he learned how to play the stock market and together we started investing in our retirement. We started saving money for a down payment on a house, we saved money for emergency funds. We got health insurance. And so forth.

Alas, all this is ridiculously boring. I understand that this year was necessary for the rest of our lives, and that certain things have to be done, but I feel that this year was just...working and doing nothing. Maybe because all the progress made this year was made by Drek. What did I do? I worked. A lot. Yeah.

I went on my very first business trip. I learned how to knit and completed three projects. I started running and did research so I can run a marathon. I got in a car accident. I learned Tao Bo. I bought a bed that I love. I planned and carried out two successful Saboteurs, played one more game and won! I ate and fell in love with sushi. I won a massage chair in a contest. I completed the Women's Challenge. I registered on facebook. I took a pregnancy test for the first time ever (Negative. Thank heavens. Calm down) I started writing a new novel. I touched and shot a gun for the first (and second) time. I completed the Book a Month Challenge. I expanded my cooking skills by leaps and bounds. I met my nephew, Toby, whom I adore. I planned and cancelled four vacations. I planned and actually went on two vacations. I drove on the freeways of California. I fell madly in love with my husband (again).

It should have gone something like this:
Went to Ireland. Went to Mexico and actually carried on a conversation in Spanish. Went sky diving. Went on a cruise and went Scuba diving. Ran a marathon and lost 500 pounds. Randomly earned a million dollars. I now own my own house and a skunk.

Sigh. Oh well. That's what 2009 is for.

Even When You Have a Bottom the Size of Two Bowling Balls

Ah 2008, you were a crappy year. I will not miss you.

2009 came in with...noise. Drek and I celebrated up at his family's house. We played lots of games and ate yummy appetizers and talked and set goals and then did the whole count down thing. Yeah!
And then I went home and slept, woke up and went skiing with Krisling. The skier guy there thought I was Kris's mom. Apparently 2008 was not a good year for me.

Goals:
Spiritual:
-Write in my gratitude journal everyday, right before I get out of bed in the morning. If I do, I will be grateful for more things!
-Index 1,000 documents. If I do, I get to find and book a trip to Ireland to find my family history.
Physical:
-Run a Marathon. So, train for a fast 5k, then train for a 10K, then train for a marathon. If I do, I will be really proud of myself.
Mental:
-Work on Spanish everyday. If I do, Drek and I are going to spend May 5th in Mexico, speaking with the locals
Financial:
-Have enough money saved for a down payment on a house. If I do, we can put a down payment on a house (some of these rewards are really easy to come up with)

Side notes:
Travel more. You only live once.
I hate the cold. I hate it. Next winter, I will not be here. I am moving even if it kills me, and if it kills me at least I will be warm.

Some of You are Going to be Burgled

Yesterday I went back to work. Not for a real work day, but because the floors needed to be vacuumed before the carpet cleaners came in today. The doors stayed locked, the lights turned off, the computer system off, the music blaring as loud as it would go. I had to move all the furniture around and vacuum and it took longer than expected. Drek went to go play badminton and I was left alone. When I was almost done, a person came and knocked on the door. I knew she could see me, but apparently she couldn't see that the open sign was not lit, and that the sign on the door said closed until Jan 2. She wouldn't leave, so I went and opened the door.
"Do you work here?" She asked.
"No," I answered,"I'm robbing the place."
"Ok." She said and got back in her car.

Ok. That works.

Indoor Plumbing; It's Gonna Be Big

Our bathroom sink works!! It's the best Christmas present ever!! Our landlord came over yesterday to fix our furnace (good thing we didn't go out of town; Acouchi would have been a catsicle) and while he was at it he fixed our leaky toilet and our sink. I didn't think it could be fixed. It's been broken ever since we moved in a year and a half ago. Do you have any idea how great it is to have a bathroom sink that work?!! It is amazing.

Also yesterday Krisling gave me a breadmaker. I am so freakin excited to make bread. It was all I could think about today. Alas, I have no yeast, so bread will have to wait until tomorrow. SO EXCITED!!!!

Three Christmases

Christmas was wonderful.

Christmas eve I worked until three. It was a fun day to work. Cherie gave me a beautiful new jacket that has quickly risen to may favorite piece of clothing. She also gave me an Australia movie poster, and an apron with cute little cherries on it. I love cherries! Josh gave me socks, which was hilarious. Bob gave me MOVIE TICKETS!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!! I want to use them to see Australia. Rissy, you free?

After I got of work Drek and I went up to his family's house. We played games in the gym of the church up there. We played kick ball and basketball and ultimate Frisbee, then I took of my shoes so we could play a form of dodge ball. This game was a blast. Two teams stand on opposite sides of the gym, each team must stay on their own side, divided by the line in the middle. You then throw hings at the other team. What kinds of things? Oh, gloves, stuffed animals, pillows, socks, tennis balls and things like that. Yes. you throw things at each other. That is the point of the game. I ran up to get some ammo, but jumped back to avoid a flying glove. Unfortunately, I jumped back into small corner, my foot catching a piece of metal on the wall. I tore open my foot on a wall. It takes talent.

After that we went back to the house for a fantastic feast. Drek and I then left for my parent's house, where we talked for a little bit before loading up in the car to go look at Christmas lights.
Looking at Christmas lights on Christmas eve has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. We always go in our little car. We drive up hills, we drive down hills. We charge up mountains and through snow drifts. We've gone in good weather and we've gone in blizzards. We have never gotten stuck in the snow. Until now. We got stuck in the snow. Luckily, we weren't that far from Drek's family's house so he just called them and they came and rescued us. It turned out to be great fun. I hope we get stuck again next year.

Drek and I finally came home, snuggled into bed with another feast of breakfast foods, put Acouchi in between us and all three of us watched Pushing Daises until we fell asleep.

Christmas morning came to soon. Our alarm went off at the ridiculous hour of seven am. Drek and I pulled ourselves out of bed and stumbled to the car, where we drove back up to Drek's family's house to open presents. Once we woke up, it was tons of fun. They had something called a hot chocolate bar, which I'm thinking will be a tradition from now on. What a great idea.

Drek's mom loved the calender, and she didn't mind that Amari's (that's the baby's name!! Amari Nakayla. I finally got to meet her. She is gorgeous!!) birthday wasn't marked. She didn't even realize any birthdays were marked. Hooray!!

Mathew, Drek's brother, had drawn my name for presents. He got me gift certificates to my favorite Mexican restaurant, a game called Buccaneer (which we spent most of the day playing. It is a great game. Very easy, very quick) and he got Acouchi the remote controlled catnip-filled mouse. I was blown away. It was so nice of him to do all those things. I still just can't believe it.

We then drove back down the mountain to my family's house to open presents there. My mom liked her calander. I am already thinking of how to design next year's calander.
My mom got me the exact nativity I had been wanting; one made out of olive wood. It is so beautiful!! I can't wait till next Christmas to display it! Drek finally let me open Xirax's present. It is a word game! It's called a Cross Words and it is hilarious. Drek and Kara got on a team against Meimei and me and we played viciously until my sister and her family came over and we opened more presents. When the last present was opened, it was around five. Talk about dragging it out. But in a good way, I really did love every minute of it. That day I finished my dad's scarf that I was knitting. He said he liked it.

It was snowing like crazy (after snowing like crazy for several days) so Drek, Meimei and I went into the back yard and built the best snowfort ever. It was amazing. Drek built a smaller one up on a hill and we had several snowball wars. We then buried Drek alive. Giggle giggle.

We played games, ate personal calzones and then said good-bye. We headed back to our house with our loot and to spend time with Acouchi. There, we finally opened our stockings and mostly played with Acouchi's stuff. Guess what I got in my stocking?? VODKA!!!! SO EXCITED!! It's a tiny little bottle straight from Russia! Russian writing and everything! I've been wanting Vodka because I read that if you mix Vodka with deep conditioner, it makes your hair really healthy and shiny. I'm so excited!!

Christmas was so much fun this year!! Not only did we get to spend a lot of time with family, but we now have our year's supply of food storage!! Hooray!!

Acouchi's Christmas

Acouchi had a great Christmas. Her stocking was stuffed full of treats from Santa Paws, and once Drek and I actually got home, she was given a lot of attention.

This is her looking over her loot:
Lots of yummy canned food, bacon treats (her favorite, even though they are supposed to be dog treats) a container of catnip, a laser pointer (the one from last year was lost) and, the best toy of all; Matthew gave Acouchi a remote controlled catnip mouse. We named the mouse crackers.
Notice that once we opened the can of yummy chicken and shrimp cat food, she dived right in and would not stop eating, even to get her picture taken.

I keep trying to get a video of Acouchi playing with Crackers, but she will not cooperate. I will keep trying.

Merry Christmas!!

And Happy Holidays!

Ah, Insurance Salesman

On Saturday, a guy came into the store. He was young (late 20's) and dressed like he was trying to dress well. He told me he had just opened up his own insurance company. He wanted to look at massage chairs. I put him in a Zero Gravity chair and went on to explain to him what Zero Gravity was:
Zero Gravity is a position in which your muscles are not extended or retracted. All your muscles are completely relaxed. The higher up your feet are, the more pressure is taken off of your back. So, as you can feel, it's a very comfortable position because you sort of melt. It's also very healthy for you; you have improved circulation and improved oxygen.

He didn't really seem to get it (he didn't seem too bright) so I left him to enjoy the massage. When it finished, I came over to see how he liked it. He asked about the position again, saying he really didn't get it. So I said this:
Zero Gravity position is the position that astronauts sleep in when they are in space, when they sleep in zero gravity. It's the position the body naturally goes to because it puts the least amount of pressure on your body. You'll also notice that it's the position you sleep in on your side, again, this is because it is the position your body is most comfortable in.

He answered: So, Zero Gravity is a pillow between your legs?

...

What? Me: Um, zero gravity is this position, that you are in right now, but yes, when you sleep on your side it is good to put a pillow between your legs. That will help take pressure off of your lower back.

He didn't seem to get this. He thought for a second, then got that look in his eye. You know when you have found a catch, a question the will prove that the sale person or the witeness in a murder trial is lying. That's the look he got. This is the question he asked: "But I've never been in outer space. So how does my body know it should be relaxed in this position?" and then he sat back with a "gotcha" expression on his face.

You Know I Think This Christmas Thing Is Not As Tricky As It Seems

My work Christmas party was last night. It was so much fun! That morning, Bob told me I was in charge of the games. Surprise!! Josh and I looked online to find good Christmas party games and found a good one. Cherie wanted to play Charades, and I came up with the other game.

We finally all made it to the restaurant and the fun began! We had the most delicious appetizers and talked and talked. We played the first game:
Everyone writes the name of a celebrity, famous person or character on a Post-It note which they stick to the forehead of the player on their left. Make sure they don’t see the name. Everyone else can see your forehead. The objective is to work out who you are. Going around the table, each payer takes a turn to ask the party questions about who they are - answers can be YES or NO only. If you get a YES you may continue asking, if you get a NO play moves on to the left.
I made Drek be Simba, and I was SpoungeBob. The game was hilarious. Next up was our white elephant gift exchange! For some reason, last year the game went on for almost an hour! This time it was over in ten minutes. I guess we were all content with what we got.

The next game was one Anna taught me when we were in Texas over the summer:
Different candy bars are put in the middle. One person rolls two dice. If he does not roll doubles, he passes the dice to the next player. If he rolls doubles, he picks a candy bar from the middle, announces what he picked and hides it so no one can see. Then the next person rolls. Same thing, except if he rolls doubles he can say what candy bar person one has, and if he is right he steals the candy bar. Play continues until all the candy is gone.
Drek almost always rolled doubles! He ended up with five out of the seven candy bars!! I need to take that man to Vegas.

The last game we played was Christmas Charades. It was hilarious. All of this was done over delicious food and even yummier deserts. I had such a wonderful time!

Qinghaosu: An anti-Malarial Substance Used in Chinese Medicine

It is snowing like crazy here. I do like snow, I just wish is wasn't so cold. Then snow would be delightful. I had my very first snowball fight of the year today. Drek hit me in the head with an ice ball. Xirax hit me in the face. I got Xirax back by distracting him while Alexis sneaked up on him and pelted him. I got Drek back by beating him at Alhambra. Bwahahaha.

A few weeks ago Krisling finally convinced me to join facebook. She only did this by bribing me with online Scrabble. So, I joined, and have been sucked in to the relm of facebook. Hey, did you know Jeremy is married? And Aaron hates Christmas?? Everyone is on facebook! It is amazing!! You know what else is amazing? That no one else is on facebook for the Scrabble. Not even Krisling, who has not played a word in nine days. I started searching for an open game. Alas, no one on facebook plays Scrabble. No one. There are no open games. I created one, but I am less than hopeful.

For some reason, I am going through a word-game phase. It started with Scrabble, but then I played Balderdash and my obsession exploded. I am now looking up random words all over the place, This might be an attempt to beat Drek and his sister, Anna, at a word game. These two are word fiends. At any given time, they can rattle off lists of English words with Q's that do not require U's. But I am getting closer...

Just the Chance that Maybe We'll Have Better Days

Ah, Christmas wish lists, what would we do without them?

This year for Christmas, I am asking for two things:

1) That you donate the money you were going to spend on a present to me. I have two favorite charities: Humanitarian aid and ucpets.com.

2) Food storage. You can either give the food to a food drive, or to me, for my food storage. You know, a bag of rice, a can of tuna, a 10 can of Morning Moo's dried fruit or Taco TVP. Maybe a few MRE's. Whatever.

So, that's my wish list. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Point Taken

We can't let Acouchi go outside. This is because there are stray cats wandering our neighborhood in hordes and we don't want her bringing home flees or viruses. Also, she is de-clawed, and can't defend herself. Also, I don't want her getting lost, hit by a car, or eaten by a dog. Also, it's freezing outside.

Acouchi does not understand this. She will stand by the door and whine and whine and whine for HOURS because there is a closed door, and she does not like closed doors. This got really annoying, really fast. Now, when Acouchi stands by the front door and whines to go outside, we shoot her with a water gun.

Today I was complaining to Drek about a website being slow, and he shot me with a watergun.

And God Bless What's His Face

Christmas presents, for my parents-in-law and my parents, are homemade calenders from Shutterfly. They were supposed to be easy projects. They were not. Still, it could have been worse.

The hardest part was gathering information from Drek's side of the family. Last year I did a calender for them, so the majority of the dates (By which I mean birthdays) were done. I just needed to know the birthdays of the two babies born this year.

The first one, little baby girl Sammy, was born in the summer. Her birth date was easy, not only because I remembered the date, but because her mother confirmed the date. Easy.

The second, little baby girl...uh, I don't know her name. Amari? Maybe? Her middle name is a mystery. It might be Nakayla. It might be Nekeely. No one is really sure. She was born the end of November. Drek and I were informed when her mother was in labor, but not informed when the child was actually born. Her parents don't like to answer phones, so they won't return our repeated request to come and visit them and our new niece. Nor will they answer what her name is or when she was born. Last night I was over at the family's house, and a cousin took out his iphone and shows me pictures of her. Apparently, she was born with six fingers on one hand. How does this information not get passed along? I then got to see a camera-phone video of her. She looks cute. At least, she looks cute on the tiny screen. I'm sure she's gorgeous in real life.

I finished my calenders today. The only thing missing was the name and birthday of grandchild #5. Alas, no luck. And I can't very well put "Six fingered child born sometime around this date". I don't think that would go over well.

Oh well. I am DONE!! She'll be in next year's calender.
This means I am done with all my Christmas shopping!!

Deer Crossing

S0 there we were, driving up the hill when suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared THIS!! We had the camera, and thus a shaky home video was born.
It's like we've never seen a deer before. I mean, honestly.

P.S. If Cloverfield made you camera-sick, maybe you shouldn't watch this.

Some of Us Didn't Survive

Last night I had the most amazing dinner. Drek and I were still talking about it when we got home. It was just so good. And he doen't even like black beans.

Also last night, I was laughing to hard tears were streaming down my face. See? This, Krisling is why we need to move in together. Delicious dinners and not being able to breathe.

Slightly Shotgunned!!!

Drek's birthday!!!

In the morning I made Drek breakfast in bed, and then he worked all day while I ran errands. My first present to him was that I cleaned the car. Outside, inside: happy clean car. And of course it rained. The outside is now not clean.

For lunch Drek, Kara and I went to a Chinese buffet and talked and had fun. A few hours later it was finally time to take Drek on his birthday adventure!!

We went shooting!! We went shooting with guns!! Like, shotguns (actually, they were .22 rifels. don't I sound so smart?) It was crazy fun!! We did so well! Drek was a lot better shot than me.
Afterwards we had dinner and desert (cherry cream pie) over at my mom's house.
Everything was delicious and we had a great time. Later that night, Rissy and Ismael came over and we played speed Scrabble and Munchkin late into the night.

Happy birthday, love of my life. I adore you, this year and always.

I LIVE!!!!!

Phew! December is here and I can blog again! Do you have any idea how hard it is not to blog after you have blogging for three years?? Well, it's not that hard, but still, there were lots of things I wanted to post that I couldn't.

Update:
I knitted. A lot. How much is a lot? I got very close to finishing my first ever project, and I started and finished a knitted scarf for Krisling for her birthday. It was my first ever finished knitting project!!!
Her birthday was lots of fun. We ate sushi, and it was soooo yummy. She got a baby kitty and named her Sushi. Sushi came and stayed at out house for a little bit. She was so so so cute!!

On the subject of Thanksgiving; Kara, Lani, Ben and I cooked the whole meal. My mom set the table and Mei-mei did clean-up. I've never liked Thanksgiving, but this one wasn't too bad. Drek made stuffed mushrooms (which were a huge hit) and this:Cranberry sauce. which was also good. The item I was most proud of was lemon meringue pie. My mom told me the secret of meringue, and my sister helped implement the secret. It turned out perfect!!!
Rissy's birthday was SO MUCH FUN!!!! As usual. This year was different as Rissy wanted me to do a little bit of the planning. So we set it up like a cruise, with a casino on board (she was turning 21) and we played poker, 21 and roulette. We drank Shirley Temples and Daiquiris and watched the movie 21. Of course, we had tater tots and chicken nuggets. What would Rissy's birthday be without them?
I LOVE Christmas music!!!! Oh, Christmas music of Josh Groban and TSO, how have I lived without you all these long months?

Today is Drek's birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLING!!!!

November BAMC: Eat Pray Love

Ah, November. I wasn't supposed to be reading, I was supposed to be writing. I did a little of both. I only read one book this month: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
November's word was giving, but, again, I only read one book so I'm making it count. Let's see. . . this book, is about . . . giving . . . back to yourself! And back to the world! And back to the universe! Wow. This book just screams giving!

It's a memoir. Liz Gilbert has just divorced her husband. Her life is in shambles, she has no identity, and is in a deep dark hole of depression and self-loathing. What does she do? She signs a book deal and spends four months in Italy learning Italian eating Italian food and being overall self indulgent. Up next is four months in India at Yoga retreat, eating only healthy vegetarian food, meditating, scrubbing Temple floors and learning self-control and self peace. To top it off she spends the next four months in Bali, Indonesia with a witch doctor, learning how to balance her life between self-indulgence and self-control and where she fits in the world.

This book will: 1) Give you a craving pizza 2) leave you wanting to meditate and do yoga 3) make you want to spend a grand vacation in Bali and 3) CHANGE YOUR LIFE

This book was amazing. I'm so glad Krisling recommended it to me. I loved this book! Not only was it hilariously funny, deep and philosophical, but my soul just loved to read it.

Liz finds out that the world is at her fingertips, waiting and wanting to giver her everything. After she discovers who she is and how to live, she can then give back to the world.

Spoiler Alert, You Have Been Warned

Dear Catherine Hardwicke,
Your movie was gorgeous. The filming, the special effects, the people: Gorgeous.

Dear Melissa Rosenberg,
?????
Did you miss somewhere that this movie was for young girls ages twelve to eighteen? Why all the adult content? There was no reason for it AT ALL.

Dear Kristen Stewart,
Congratulations; you did such a good job on the movie, and portrayed Bella Swan so well, that my loathing of Book-Bella became loathing of you. JUST TALK!! Stop biting your lip, stop stammering, stop breathing in-between words. STOP STALLING! I think you averaged one word every twenty minutes. Please move the story along instead of holding up the plot just like Book-Bella. So I suppose this was to more Bella, than to Kristen. Except for this next part, this is for Kristen: KEEP YOUR FREAKING PANTS ON. Whore.

Dear Robert Pattinson,
Stop. Moving. I get that it was a low budget film, and no one really focused on moving like a vampire, and that vampires do move to look more human, but please, please, stop fidgeting. Stop squirming, stop moving for two seconds, and for those two seconds you would be Edward. Still, you did a great job. You are now what I envision when I envision Edward, except more dressed how you were at the end of the movie rather than how you were dressed for the rest of the movie. Who did your wardrobe?
Anyway, That one scene where you drive off in the car, and you are so mad, and you want Bella to talk you out of turning around and ripping those guys into pieces; that was well done. I think it was my favorite part of the movie. You did great. I look forward to seeing in more movies.

Dear Taylor Lautner,
You have come such a long way from Sharkboy. Dressed up at Jacob, you made me, a die hard Team Edward, convert to Team Jacob, even it was only for a few seconds. On behalf of the females who will watch this movie, thank you.

Dear Jackson Rathbone
Wow. Book-Jasper is very vague, no one really remembers him from the first book. Everyone will remember you. You are now Jasper. Good job. Also, I love your hair.

Dear Peter Facinelli,
Fire whoever did your makeup. Seriously, I was so afraid for your life when you walked on camera. You were supposed to be a Vampire, not an anemic ghost who had just been splashed with bleach. But you made up for it, I loved movie-Carlisle just as much as I loved book-Carlisle

Dear Billy Burk,
Bravo.

Dear Soundtrack Person,
Why can't I find your name anywhere? Is is because you are Stephanie Meyer? In any case, you are a GENIUS. And I love you.

Dear Stephanie Meyer,
Your cameo was lame.

You're Right. We Should Just Deal With Nice People.

I'm not supposed to be blogging until December, but I can't resist. The James Bond Party was SO AWESOME!!!! I had to take a million pictures.

What better thing to serve than Martinis? Don't they look so great?!


The idea was that everyone gets a certain amount of gambling things. We play three games: Roulette, Blackjack and Poker. The person with the most money at the end won a free movie ticket. If you had a certain amount of money left, you could buy a Milky Way.
I wanted to be Vesper for Halloween, but I didn't get the idea until too late. This was much better!! My costume was fantastic and look at my husband!! We got his costume at DI. $17.99 baby. Isn't he so great?! He is my favorite James Bond. I'll be Vesper next Halloween, maybe.


The Characters:
Rodger Moore, Odd Job, James Bond, Vesper Lynd, Christmas Jones

The Bonds play RouletteRodger Moore wins. He sips his Martini in casual celebration.

A fierce game of blackjack breaks out! Christmas Jones puts up a good fight, but in the end, she is no match for Odd Job (notice how the gambling chips during Black Jack were Black Jack gum sticks. Hah! I am so clever!)
Next up, Texas Hold'em!! The stakes were high, the bluffs; indecipherable
James Bond began to win, everyone else was bleeding chips!

But in the end, I won.

Rodger Moore makes a very important call, only to be silenced by Odd Job!!

Off to the movie!!
It was so great!!!!!!!! I was surprised how much of a sequel this movie was. It was not a typical James Bond Movie, more of a crazy good action movie. I loved it!!

Vote

Voting was a blast. The longest I had to wait was while they were finding my name. So, Ralph Nader is an independent, right? Hardcore. Next to his name, where the party is supposed to be listed, it said: Peace and Freedom. Is that the name of his party? Or did he just put that on the ballots so you would be voting for peace and freedom?

Drek and I had looked up the issues in our area so I already knew how to vote when I walked in. I got may card, passed about 7 people at the booths and took the very farthest booth for myself. I zipped through the voting (touch screens are oh-so-awesome) and on my way out I passed the same people. No wonder lines in the East were so backed up, if people don't read the issues until they get into the booths, how do the lines move at all?

I made sure I got my "I Voted" sticker because rumors on the interwebs said you could get lots of free stuff with it. Krispe Kreame was giving away free star-shaped donuts, Chick-fil-a was giving away free sandwiches, and Ben and Jerry's was giving away free ice cream. Sweet! Our dinner was set! Alas, There is no Ben and Jerry's where we live, the rumor about chick-fil-a was a lie (the manager seemed very upset) but we did get free donuts. Alas, they were circle donuts and the sprinkles were brown and orange. THOSE COMMUNISTS!!!!!!

And Obama won. It appears the Dems also won the senate and the house. Well, there's nothing like putting all the power into one hand.

Reading the results of the issue results, I am a little shocked. For voting so completely democrat for people, the propositions were surprisingly republican values. Odd. Also, what was South Dakota thinking?? We overwhelmingly support Obama values but we vote overwhelming for Mcain?? Did you even read the ballot?? Did anyone who voted for the president vote for the propositions? Or did they just leave that field blank? Seriously?
A lot of the country was voting on gay marriage, gay adoptions, Abortion issues and Doctor-assisted suicides. I find it humorous that Maryland's most important issue is a video lottery. Ah well, our most important issue was giving our elected officials a longer vacation. This is what we vote for when the zoo is on the line??

Self-imposed rules of NaNoWriMo:

1) No laptop watching. Time watching Television shows online is time that could be spent writing
2) No knitting. If you can knit, you can type on a laptop
3) No Internet surfing
4) Procrasting won't help
5) Avoid all forms of procrastinating
6) Stop procrastinating by updating your blog
8) Stop pracrastinating by making up pointless rules
9) ENOUGH WITH THE BLOGGING!!!!
10) Write like crazy now, worry about editing later