End Of Year Post

Well, since we're down to less than an hour left in 2010, I'd thought I'd do some kind of year end thing, so I stole the questionnaire from Absolutely Narcissism. This year was kinda...well, I guess it was a good year. I got married in 2009 which is really tough to beat short of having a baby. I did get a motorcycle in 2010 though. Anyway, on with the show.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?



I helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to a bunch of African refugees.

2. What countries did you visit?

Does Mississippi count as a country? It is very different from Ohio.

3. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

A newer more reliable vehicle.

4. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

1) Being even happier in my marriage than I was last year.
2) Straight A's every quarter.
3) Scoring in the top 15% of all English Content Praxis Exam test...takers.

5. What was the best thing you bought?

Motorcycle. I would also say iPad, but Hubby bought that, not me.

This is my motorcycle. His name is Jeffster.

6. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Hubby, he started college after being out of high school for 12 years and made it through the entire year with a 3.2 GPA. I'm so proud of him.

7. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted?


Westboro Baptist. Of course, this will apply pretty much every year until they finally drink the kool-aid.

8. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga

9. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Sleep and work out.

10. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Work and eat junk.

11. Did you fall in love in 2010?

Ummm...with my motorcycle and my iPad...so no. I fell in love in 2008 and just keep falling deeper. :)

12. Who was the best new person you met?

Yeah, not a fan of questions like this. But I will say that my Young Adult Literature professor was a huge inspiration for me as far as being the kind of teacher I hope to be. 

So that's it folks. Happy New Year to everyone, and I hope y'all have a fantastic 2011! 

Still Alive

Hello blog readers. I just thought I'd post a quick update to let you all know that I am indeed still alive. I got sick last week and then I was just distracted by Christmas and then we went through another drama with our kitty Jack. That is a long story that I might explain some other time, but suffice it to say that it was very stressful and expensive. He is doing ok now though, we are hoping to pick him up from the vet this afternoon.

So yeah, I am posting this from my handy dandy new iPad. Hubby got it for me, but even more awesome than that, he sent me on a little treasure hunt to find it. It made me feel special. If you read JumbleMash this may sound familiar. Our Christmases were eerily similar.

So anyway, I hope to be bringing you some more awesome drawrings and comics and stuff now that I have he awesome capabilities of the iPad. For now, I must go eat some lunch.

Toodles!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Things on Facebook that bother me

So, I know there are numerous versions of the "Things that suck about facebook" lists out there on the interwebs, but this is one is mine.

The Politician

We all have them in our news feed. They're the people that post nothing but political stuff. All. Year. Long. They use their facebook status as a podium with their own personal seal on it. And most of them are completely unreasonable. It doesn't matter which camp they fall under. Every person I know that focuses this much on politics are very very biased in their beliefs. You'll find them saying things like, "Obama is an un-American socialist terrorist nazi who is ruining the country," or "Obama is the coolest raddest most intelligent president that ever was. He is our savior." I disagree with both of these camps because I am very much not into politics and therefore tend to ride the fence a lot.

The Religiocious Person

I'm not talking about people that simply quote Bible verses or people that are simply honest about their faith. I'm talking about people that tend to inject religion in politics in an un-cool way. I am a Christian, and I'm not just one of those Christians that say I'm a Christian because I believe in God and leave it at that. The story of my relationship with God is very long, and I may share it someday, but not now. My point is, I have no tolerance for intolerance. People who think something like the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell or the beginning of gay marriage means that "this homosexual steamroller will crush all decent men, women, and children who gets in its way" because homosexuality is a sin can bite me. Yeah, it might be a sin, but so is lying, adultery, anger, gluttony, and so on and so on. 100% of the time, the person spewing judgment is guilty of one of these kind of things at some point. Unless Jesus is on facebook. Then that's a different story. Do you know that the divorce rate for Christians is the same as it is for non-Christians? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

The Lovey Dove

I love my husband. Very much. And when he does something totally awesome like give me flowers for no reason or make me a wonderful dinner or not take his uniform off in the living room, I might post about it on facebook. This accounts for maybe MAYBE 10% of my status updates. So those people who post nothing but crap about their significant other. . . I want to punch them in the face. I've always felt this way. I used to think it was out of bitterness over being single, but now that I'm married to a wonderful man that makes me very happy, I realize it's just effing annoying. Can you imagine if that's how you operated IRL?

Joe: Hey Betty, how's it going?
Betty: Oh great. I love my boyfriend Adam so much. He's the best thing that ever happened to me. I <3 you baby!
Joe: Ummm. I don't know how you vocalized <3 but kudos. Did you do anything over the weekend?
Betty: Oh, yeah, I spent the weekend with my awesome bf Adam. I love him so much. He's so awesome. He's the best. I <3 you baby!
Joe: So how's school going?
Betty: Oh, I quit school. It was getting in the way of spending time with my super rad lover, Adam. OMG he is so great. We've been together for 2 months, 1 week, 4 days, and 15 hours. 10/3/10 - Best day ever!!! I <3 you baby!
Joe: Don't you have anything else to talk about?
Betty: Oh, I can tell you how spectacular by boyfriend Adam is. He's amazing. I couldn't imagine life without him. 10/3/10. I <3 you baby!!!

STFU!!!!

The Oversharer

99% of the time, the oversharer is a parent. You get to read things like, "Yay! Little Hanky just pooped in the potty for the first time. It was only a wee little marble sized turd, but he finally did it!!" Because everyone really wants to know how big your kid's poop was. I'm fortunate enough to not really have much of these in my news feed. My facebook friends all seem to have that social filter installed.

The Vague Emo

"You have ruined me! I can't believe you did this to me! I don't know if I will ever recover from what you've done to me! My life is over!" So...who the hell are you referring to and what the hell did they do? Do I ever ask this this question? Absolutely not because that's exactly what the poster wants: attention. If it wasn't a cry for attention, we'd never know about it. They'd address this junk directly to the person and in a private message or an e-mail or *GASP* a phone call.There's also the direct version of this, when someone actually calls the other person out by name. This is just awkward for everyone. Don't do it.  There are actually many different flavors of vagueness though - mystery happy statuses, mystery countdowns, etc, but this one annoys me the most.

So these are just the top examples. There are others. But I'll just leave it with these for now.

Crazies

On a certain level, crazy is not something to joke about. Crazy is a real thing, and I have experienced it first hand. A lot. But there is a different kind of crazy. A more personal kind of crazy. What I mean is, everyone has ideas about things that people do that are crazy and those ideas usually differ from person to person. So I'm here to share with you my idea of "crazy."

Even within my own personal brands of crazy, there are still different flavors of crazy. For instance, hoarders. If you've ever watched the TV show, you know what I'm talking about. I think everyone hoards to a certain extent. I still have the softball glove I used in little league, but that has a lot of sentimental value. I'm talking about the nutsos on that show that will keep something like a broken dresser drawer because they can use it to drain oil into the next time they change the oil in the car. It doesn't help that that particular drawer is just one thing in a giant massive shit heap of crap littering your yard, your garage, and your house to the point of needing rock climbing equipment to get up to the second floor. You might think I'm exaggerating, but I'm really not. I saw it with my own two eyes.. Why anyone would rather hold on to some useless piece of crap than to keep their house from getting demolished is beyond me, but that's why the show exists. To help those crazies.

Then there's another kind of crazy that might still seem sane to many people - lotsokids. Hubby and I do want to have kids, just not right now and not more than 2. Well, maybe 3, but definitely not more than that. That's about all I think we can cope with. So people who willingly have 6, 8, 12, or even 19 kids. . . I call that crazy. Why anyone would subject themselves to that kind of mayhem and money suck is something I just don't understand.

Then there's a group of people that take crazy to a whole new level: Alaskans.

I guess you could include Northern Canadians, but I cannot speak much of them because I have not been to Northern Canadia. I have been to Alaska, though. Let me tell you something. Alaska is beautiful. It's the kind of beauty that I don't think can really be appreciated unless you see it for yourself. There's something pretty amazing about looking out over an expanse of land reaching in all directions for about 100 miles and not seeing one single man made structure. Check it.

However, I will only step foot in that state between the months of May and September and here's why:

I went there on a business trip in mid-September. The temperature was usually in the 30s. The first day I went into work it was around 32, so I wore my big poofy winter coat, gloves, scarf, the whole bit because 32 is cold to me. Especially when you consider I had just left 70 degree Ohio. When I walked in, they looked at me like I was the strange one. Everyone was wearing a light jacket if they had anything at all. But before I even made it that far, I saw several people riding their bikes around. The kicker was seeing the bike with one of those little trailers behind it. You know, the things you force your little kids into. So those poor tots were riding around exposed to 30 degree weather against their will. Nuh-uh. Not me. As soon as I'm old enough to swipe Daddy's credit card and get on Priceline.com, I'm having William Shatner find me a one-way ticket to warmth and getting the hell out of dodge.

So naturally, being the sane person that I am, I asked the Alaskans a lot of questions about the weather, because to a "mainlander," Alaskan weather is actually a very fascinating subject. Most of the discussion was about things that happen at -40 degrees. Things like ice fog. According to wikipedia, "Ice fog is a type of fog consisting of fine ice crystals suspended in the air. It can happen only in cold areas of the world since water can remain liquid down to -40 °C (-40 °F)." What this means is, any liquid turns solid which includes things like the exhaust coming from your car. Imagine walking through that in solid form. Eugh. There's also square tires. At -40 degrees, the tires on your car freeze and therefore keep the flat shape at the bottom when it's sitting immobile. Makes for a bumpy ride until they warm up. If you go to any house, driveway, or parking lot, you will find outlets. Lots and lots of outlets because all cars pretty much have to be equipped with engine block heaters, oil pain heaters, and the like. Because at -40, even antifreeze freezes. So without the engine heaters plugged in, your car won't start.

That to me, folks, is a special level of crazy of which I will never ever enter. No way. The coldest temperature I've ever seen in my life is probably -7 or thereabouts. And I already want to move to a warmer climate.

There are lots of other flavors of crazy, but I'll save that for another day.

Top 5 Canceled Shows You Need to Watch

With the age of DVDs and now even digitally streaming media via sites like Netflix Instant Watch and Hulu, it's easier than ever to watch older shows that are already canceled. So I thought I would share a few of my favorites with y'all.

1) Firefly

This is by far my favorite canceled show ever. In fact, it might be my second favorite show ever right behind Chuck. It's kinda like a Sci-Fi/Western hybrid and it's got Nathan Fillion who oozes with awesomeness. It's got a great story to it. It only lasted for 14 episodes, then a full-feature film was made a few years later called Serenity. It's available on DVD, Netflix Instant Watch and Hulu Plus, so go watch the goram show now without delay!

2) Arrested Development

This show is hilarious if you possess a certain kind of sense of humor. I happen to have that kind of humor, so I love this show. It lasted for 3 seasons and there has been talks of a movie being made for quite some time, if Michael Cera will ever agree to it.

3) Journeyman

I doubt any of you have even heard of this show. It was on NBC and launched the same time as Chuck. Journeyman wasn't as fortunate though and it was canceled after just 13 episodes. It's about a man who involuntarily travels through time at random. He just disappears from wherever he currently is and lands in another time period as himself. It gets interesting a couple times when he crosses paths with himself. It's also great if you like music of the 80s and 90s.

4) Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ok, so this show wasn't really canceled. It had a specific story to tell and they knew the amount of time it would take to tell it. It's 3 seasons long, and yes, it is a cartoon. If you've seen the movie by M. Night Shyamalamadingdong, ignore it. From everything I've heard, it's a far cry from the show. The show has such great humor that was apparently lost in the movie, so you definitely want to give it a shot. I was skeptical when Hubby suggested it to me, but I ended up loving it.

5) Alf

I'm not sure if this was actually canceled or not, but the point is, it's not on the air anymore. I'm quite certain all of you know what Alf is, so I'll spare you the explanation. But seriously, it's one of very few shows from my childhood that I still enjoy now. Most of the shows I loved when I was a kid are painful to watch now. Alf is not. In fact, it's probably even funnier to me now than it was back then because I understand a lot more of the jokes.

So when you have some free time, vacation, sick, whatever, look these shows up and watch them. All 5 of them are available on Netflix or hulu and can probably be found elsewhere.

Things About Christmas That Are Great Vol. 2

So, Hubby thinks I'm a bit strange with all of my Christmas decorations. When we first met, he was quite the grinch, but he's warmed up a lot since then. He still thinks my level of Christmas decorating is a bit absurd though. What can I say? They give me the warm fuzzies. Thing is, I never full understood my own fervor for Christmas decorations until very recently.

You see, just about every decoration and ornament either has a memory attached to it, or suits my (now our) personality in some way. Let's take a walk down Christmas memory lane, shall we?

These two ornaments I just bought 3 days ago. I like the piggies on the motorcycle ornament because the motorcycle looks exactly like Hubby's. I don't like it, though, because I do not ride on the back of Hubby's bike. I ride my own. More on that in another post. Anyway, I like the beer one too even though I do not like beer myself. It's the thought of it that counts. It's also punny.

These two ornaments I got last year. I got the polar bear because Hubby is a polar bear. Seriously, the amount of body heat he emits is astounding. I get home from work and I'm freezing cold. All I have to do is crawl into bed and cuddle with him, and I'm toasty within about a minute. The heart one I got because it was our first Christmas together as a married couple. So now, when I pull this out every year, I get to think about that Christmas. :)

This one my mom got me 2 Christmases ago. Love it. To say that I'm a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean universe is an understatement. It even talks although it says generic pirate things instead of actual Captain Jack Sparrow quotes.

I've already told you about how much my Grandma loved Christmas. One of my aunts gave these to everyone in our family two Christmases ago. I couldn't make it to the family Christmas dinner that year, so my mom gave me mine on Christmas Eve, about 2 hours after Hubby had proposed to me. I lost it. It was kind of a little reminder that she was there for that moment even though we couldn't see her.

Since I'm going in reverse chronological order, next would be the tree as a whole. I already told you I got it on the cheap because I worked at Target, but the reason I had to get a tree that year is because I left the pole to my previous tree in the shed at the house I lived in before. We even snuck over to that house to try and retrieve the pole, but the shed was locked. Woops. So anyway, it's not the highest quality tree ever, but it's the first one I ever bought. All previous trees were inherited from my mother.

The fireplace is brand spankin new for us, so that's not where the memory is. It's the green garland with the white lights intertwined in it. My mom came up to visit my junior year of college which was the first year I lived off campus and therefore the first year I could really decorate for Christmas. We bought all the makings of this garland for like 10 bucks total from The Dollar Tree and I've found some way to use it every year since.

Yep. This is a University of Tennessee ornament. Back in my days of junior high and early high school, I was fairly determined to go to UT for college. Unfortunately, as that day got closer, reality set in and there was no way I could afford the out of state tuition. Anyway, this ornament was a gift from my mom because she was always supportive of my goals.

As previously stated, my mom and I would occasionally make our own ornaments. I remember doing this a couple of times, but these are the only ones that are still surviving. So every time I pull these out, it reminds me of all the Christmas fun I had with my mom. Good times.

I actually made this particular ornament myself. It's a little doggy sticking his head of a stocking. Isn't that adorable? I made it in 5th grade which makes it 16 years old. I'm amazed every single year when I pull it out and it's still completely intact.

No, not the kitty. I have year-round memories with him. The focus here is the tree skirt he's laying on. I LOVE that tree skirt. I always have. My mom got it Christmas of 1992 which now makes it 18 years old. This old tree skirt has a lot of memories attached to it. Some good some bad. There was even the year my dad had claimed he threw it out with all the other Christmas stuff, but he was lying. I retrieved it ASAP, and I haven't let go of it since. It's my goal to have this under my tree every Christmas until the day I die.

Finally, we have reached the oldest Christmas decoration I own. This little bear ornament is from Christmas of 1991 which makes it 19 years old. Someone in my family had these made for each of us with our name and the year written on it. I remember that Christmas rather distinctly. My aunt, uncle, and cousin were in from Las Vegas. A long lost cousin came with us, and my mom's car blew up or something like that so we had to stop at a weigh station which at the time I thought was spelled way station and my uncle from Vegas came to pick us up and asked "who wants to ride with me in the car that might blow up?" or something like that. See? Memories.

So there's my second post on things about Christmas that are great - the memories attached to the decorations. And now, a couple gratuitous shots of our kitties.

Emo Christmas Kitty.

These are all for me, right?

Four Things

Totally copying from Ingrid's blog, but I like this idea.

{4 shows I watch}

1) Chuck - Best. Show. Ever

2) Big Bang Theory

3) Glee

4) Mythbusters

{4 things I'm passionate about}

1) Hubby

2) Family

3) Friends

4) Education

 {4 phrases I say a lot}

1) Lame.

2) Good times.

3) Kitty!

4) I'm not pregnant.

{4 things I've learned from the past}

1) Credit cards are the devil.

2) There are a lot of people worth loving.

3) There are people who you think are worth loving that might not be.

4) God is good.

{4 places I'd like to go}

1) England - I've been there before, but I want to go with Hubby.

2) Italy - MMmmmm. Italian food.

3) The Caribbean - I'd really like to take a cruise.

4) New York City - Two reason: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and good food.

{4 things I did yesterday}
   

 1) Took my car to the shop.

2) Christmas shopping

3) Ate at Steak and Shake. MMmmmm.

4) Wrapped presents.

{4 things I'm looking forward to}
 

1) Christmas parties!

2) Finishing my masters degree...in a year and a half.

3) Moving away from Ohio...in about 2 and a half years.

4) Trip to Vegas for Spring Break...if we're still able to go.



{4 things I love about winter}

1) 6 week break from school.

2) Christmas.

3) I've got nothing.

4) See #3.

Things About Christmas That Are Great Vol. 1

So, I haven't been posting much lately. My apologies. This week is pretty busy for us. Chock full of Christmas get-togethers. We had one on Sunday. We have one tomorrow. Another one on Friday and the last one on Saturday. This brings me to one of my favorite things about Christmas: spending time with friends and family.

So our first Christmas par-tay was at a co-workers house. I see these people all the time because I work with them, but it's still fun to get to know them outside of work and meet spouses and such. It was fun.

Our next soiree is our Beer & Bible group party. Beer & Bible is kind of a long explanation, and I promise I will post about it someday. Suffice it to say that it's a group of about 12 or so of my best friends. They're some of the funnest people I know. Every year we have a Christmas party where we do a White Elephant/Yankee Swap/Nasty Christmas gift exchange. One year I got a giant peppermint stick with two snowballs attached. See picture below.

Can you figure out the joke?

That same year, one of the guys got little girl sized High School Pajamas, but instead of giving it to the daughter of one of the other guys who was that sized, he decided to put them on.

Look closely at the face on the girl behind him.

I think the absurdity of our gifts builds every year. Last year someone got a picture of a monkey or something like that, and I gave a book called I Love You Stinky Face. I'd tell you what we got for this one, but I know some of the B&B peeps read this.

The shindig after that one is the corporate party for everyone in the area who works for the rather massive company I work for. It's at the Crowne Plaza hotel. I'm excited. I've always wanted to go to a fancy-shmancy corporate party. Don't call it a Christmas party, though. It's called the Rewards and Relaxation Banquet. Not kidding.

After that is Christmas dinner with my mom's family. That one's gonna be rough due to the other party before and my working a 14 hour shift and having to drive an hour and a half to get there, but I wouldn't want to miss it. I don't get to see much of my family with my busy schedule, plus we have fun. We eat yummy food. Watch TV because my cousin has 3 TVs in his basement. Seriously, his place is CRAZY awesome. Then we play games.

My mom, Hubby, and Me last Christmas

So anyway, I love Christmas and one big reason is because it allows me to spend time with people that I don't get to see very often or to at least spend time with them in a different and fun manner than usual. I also get to do embarrassing things to our kitty.

My mommy must be stopped. Please.

Reasons I Hate Winter Vol. 1

Dear Ohio Drivers,

There is this awful beast that seems to sneak up on all of you and it's called snow. Why it surprises you even though it arrives roughly the same time every year is beyond me, but it's clear that you don't expect it given the 4 cars I counted in the ditch on my way home this morning.

So I'm here to help you all out. Since you seem to have forgotten or never learned how to properly drive in snowy weather. I had the advantage of getting the stupid out by landing in a ditch when I was only 16. Never had any snow-related accidents since. So let me share my wisdom with all of you.

1. No Tailgating!

Tailgating is not only annoying, but also dangerous even in normal weather. It's especially inexcusable when there are 2 other lanes by which you can go around those who are not driving to your standards of speed. However, this is something that should NEVER occur when the road is covered with snow. As high as the chances are of you rear-ending the person in front of you in normal driving conditions, those chances increase by 973% with snow on the road. Back off.

2. Use Your Turn Signal.

If everyone followed #1, this wouldn't be quite as urgent. However, even when one gives the proper distance to the car in front of them, if they stop suddenly or even slow down a little to fast with no indicator to the person in front of them that they are slowing down to turn, rear-endage is likely. Personally, I believe turn signals should ALWAYS be used when one is turning, but I understand that some people can't be bothered to flip that little lever 2 inches.

3. Don't Drive Normally

Here's a little hint: if you're not sure what lane you're in or if you're even in a lane because the road is completely covered in snow and/or ice, you shouldn't be driving 80 mph. I don't care if you have 4 wheel drive. I don't care if you have the most winterized snow-crushing vehicle ever created, you're still dangerous. You can still slip and slide and fishtail and completely lose control of your vehicle. If you don't believe me, watch the Top Gear North Pole Special. You can also observe the fact that about 80% of the cars lying in a ditch are big-ass trucks or SUVs that are probably morons that think they can drive normally simply because they have 4 wheel drive. 4 wheel drive does not equal invincible.

4. Don't Drive Like A Grandma.

I learned today that most accidents on a highway are the result of #3 and #4 meeting. No, you shouldn't be barreling down the road at a high speed, but you also shouldn't be getting passed by Frosty the Snowman walking down the interstate. If you can get out of your car and walk faster than you're driving, then you should do just that. Leave the car at home and walk. You could be saving lives. And if neither of these things sound appealing...

5. Stay Home!

If you can't handle driving in inclement weather, then don't do it. Unless you are absolutely required to either go to work, take someone to a hospital, or get food because you're totally out and your only option is to start eating the cat, whatever you think you need to do can wait till the roads are clear. Getting cookies and milk to enjoy by the fire while you're stuck at home, although urgent, is not reason to go out into the white death. Stay home. Save lives.

Follow these few rules, and winter will be just a wee bit more bearable and old PirateGeek will appreciate it.

Peace!

Mother-Daughter Bonding

So I had a rather busy weekend. Just to clarify, my weekend is Monday through Wednesday. I work four 10 hours shifts Thursday through Sunday nights. It's weird and sometimes it's a real pain in the butt, but it definitely has its advantages. Anyway, I spent a good chunk of my weekend cleaning our house because it needed it and another good chunk of my weekend with my mom.

Back when I was a tot, we would occasionally spend days doing stuff like baking cookies. Making our own Christmas ornaments, making white chocolate covered pretzels, etc. That was one of the reasons I love Christmas so much. So I decided we should do it again this year since it's been a while. So mom came over and that's exactly what we did. I lit a fire in our fireplace and we went to work in the kitchen.

This is one of the ornaments my mom and I made ourselves. Lots of felt, fabric, and iron-on glue thingies.

We made No-Bake cookies, which unfortunately, didn't work out too well. Apparently my peanut butter sucks. They were of a mushier texture than one really wants their cookies to be. They taste fine though. Then we made Summer Sausage. You know all those gift baskets and stuff with meat and cheeses and such. 99% of those include Summer Sausage, and guess what. You can make it on your own for a heck of a lot less money. People also seem to find it mildly impressive. Not many people make their own sausage. I will include the recipe at the end of the post.

At some point we also made Cinnamon Roasted Almonds where my mom used more nuts than it called for and about twice the amount of egg white the recipe called for. That's how we roll though. More on that later. They still ended up being pretty decent.

Next we made the Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe called for bourbon which I thought we had. We have Crown Royal and Jack Daniels. My mother then informed me that neither of these are bourbon. They're whiskey. I insisted there wouldn't be a difference, but I rarely ever drink alcohol and she assured me it would be a big difference. So we used Spiced Rum instead. We totally go by the book on recipes. :)  I also made a fairly significant mess during this process because I had the mixer going too fast as I added the flour. It went all over the place. It looked something kind of like this:

Except instead of a mom and a 2 year old and 5 year old making the mess it was a mom and a 26 year old. Tiny differences. The cookies turned out pretty good though. The texture was a smidge chewier than the usual cookie, but it was yummy. Then we went to see Tangled and it was awesome...again.

So yeah, good times. I thought I'd share a couple pictures of our Christmasified home.

I got this Christmas tree for $20. It was one of the displays at Target and the manager let me have it for 75% off since I worked there. Good thing because I was way broke back then.

This is a dancing Santa that my mom and I got for my Grandma Grace right before she passed away. He shakes his butt while singing "Are y'all ready for this?"

This is Jack. He really likes hanging out under the Tree.

And this is our fireplace. When we moved in back in July, one of the first things I said was "Yay! I have a mantle to hang Christmas stockings from!"

And now for the Summer Sausage recipe:

Beef Summer Sausage

2 lbs ground beef or chuck   
1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 Tbs Tender Quick curing salt
1/4  tsp garlic powder
2 tsp pepper
1 TBS cracked pepper corns
1 tsp mustard seed
1/4 cup water

Mix salt and spices into water
work into the meat
Shape into 4 logs
Refrigerate 24 hours uncovered then
Bake at 350 for 1 hour

Wee Bit Wednesday

Yes, I know it's not Wednesday, but I was quite busy on Wednesday, and I've seen this on a few different blogs for a while and decided to do it myself. I dig the concept.

{one} if you were granted three wishes, what would they be?

1. The ability to buy anything I want that won't just cause additional problems.

2. For all of my favorite foods to not be fattening anymore.

3.

{two} who is your favorite author?

Two Letters, One name: C.S. Lewis

{three} what crowd were you involved in during high school?

Well, given that there was a grand total of 22 people in my graduating class that actually attended our school and not the vocational school, I didn't exactly fall into any particular "crowd" as they didn't really exist. I'm not sure I would've anyway, as I was an honor student who played sports and had just as may "cool" qualities as I did "nerdy" qualities.

{four} what is your favorite thing to do when you have time to yourself?

Sleep. Watch the Food Network. Read. Sleep.

{five} do you have any hidden talents?

I can plug my nostrils with my upper lip.

{six} can you fake any accents?

I can fake a mean Southern Ohio accent...probably since I used to have one. I can also imitate a British accent immediately after watching any Harry Potter movies, but it wears off rather quickly.

{seven} have you ever been mentioned in the newspaper?

Many times, actually. The advantage of being a decent athlete in a very small town. I actually have a picture from the front page of the sports section that took up 1/4 of the page. I'll scan it and post it someday.

{eight} have you ever been arrested?

Nope. In fact, I only ever had 2 detentions. They were in 5th grade, and I still think they were unfair.

{nine} what is your favorite job you’ve had?

The one I have now. It's very chill. Very accommodating, and I have the best boss ever.

{ten} do you have any scars?

A chicken pox scar on my belly halfway between my belly button and my happy region. A scar from a cut on my left arm just below the elbow from some mystery sharp thing that was in my bed when I was about 14ish and I never found. Very bizarre. That's about it.

Next, we'll start getting charged for air . . . Oh wait.

The holidays. It's simultaneously amazing and infuriating. It has all the positives of the wonderful Christmas music, Christmas movies and specials, cookies, candies, general yummy food, time with family and friends. One of my favorite small things about Christmas is the warm glow coming from my Christmas tree over in the corner of my living room. Love it.

On the other hand, though, the holidays turn shopping into an absolute nightmare. Every store is always busier than normal. Because I live in a suburb where retired old farts and stay-at-home moms with rugrats under age 5 run rampant, so there just isn't a good time to shop except either really late at night or really early in the morning. Otherwise, you're either avoiding old fogie traffic jams or trying to block out the soul-sucking sound of screaming children.

So this Jekyll and Hyde personality of Christmas has only become this bipolar mess because of consumerism. Now, I'm not about to sit here and pretend that I don't like having things. All you have to do is check out my wish list, and you will know that I like stuff. However, there are ways in which American consumerism just goes way too far for my taste. Here are some things that we're getting charged for today that I'm quite sure would've never been tolerated 20 or maybe even 10 years ago:

Air

That's right. Air. Even though it's everywhere and it's required for us to survive, someone has managed to find a way to charge for it in the form of gas station air pumps. This started happening within about the last 5 or so years and the price keeps going up. I remember stopping to fill my tires in the fall of 2007 and it was 50 cents. I went to fill my tires up about 2 months ago and it was ONE FREAKING DOLLAR! For TWO minutes of AIR. Trying to check and fill all four tires to the appropriate level in 2 minutes requires Nascar pit crew-like skillz. It's ridiculous. And just in case you haven't put air in your tires lately, and you think I'm pulling your chain:

What a crock. Moving on.

Water

I must be more specific about this. I know we've been getting charged for water to be provided to our homes in a sanitary manner for decades. That's not my gripe. I'm not even going to gripe about bottled water in general, because occasionally I forget to bring my water bottle to work, so I have to buy a bottle out of the vending machines because I refuse to drink the water from the water fountains. Seriously, it tastes like it comes straight from the river passing through some gamma radiation on the way in. No, my gripe is the horrendously overpriced bottled water in places like theme parks, sports arenas, movie theaters, concert venues, and the like. Basically any place that you have to pay admission to and are forbidden to bring your own liquid can get away with charging $10 for a freakin bottle of water because people get thirsty and they can't go out and get water elsewhere. I hate it.

Things you carry on to a plane

I don't like getting charged for checked luggage, but I see the reason for it. Getting charged for carry-ons in addition to my checked luggage . . . hell no. Some crap airline called Spirit Airlines have actually started charging for carry-ons. Not just like 5 or 10 bucks, no. $20 - $45! That's absurd. Why not just raise the price of the airfare to cover the alleged "cost"? People cannot travel without at least a carry-on unless they're insanely rich and will just buy everything they need at their destination. So instead of getting horrendous PR by saying that you'll be charging for carry-ons, just add it to the cost of the airfare because NOBODY TRAVELS WITHOUT BRINGING THINGS WITH THEM! I've already considered how I would try to beat this system though. I will either wear all of my outfits all at once thus taking the risk of getting the extra charge for being "fat" or I will send my clothes to my destination via USPS. It might actually cost lest.

So those are just a few of the things that we are now getting charged for that really grinds my gears. Feel free to add as you please.

Amazing Grace

No, I'm not going to discuss the old go-to hymn, although it is a marvelous song. This post is about my Grandma Grace.

Today would have been her 81st birthday. There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss her, but it's especially true this time of year. In addition to it being her birthday, my grandma loved Christmas time and Thanksgiving. I'm guessing it had something to do with the whole family getting together. As much as we've expanded in numbers throughout the years and as many of us have moved around and away, we still get together for the holidays. But that's another post.


My grandma was an amazing woman that brought up an amazing family. Check it.

Count them. There's 8 kids there. Those are my aunts and uncles and the youngest there is my mom. A whole gaggle of very interesting individuals. A perfect example comes from one of my first clear memories of my Grandma - her 60th birthday party.

Yes, those are bras hanging from the fireplace mantle. Apparently, every time someone asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said bras. So, my aunts bought about 5 or 6 bras and hung them from the fireplace in the party venue. I was only 5 at the time, but I'll always remember the bras. You definitely can't say our family lacks a sense of humor.

Grandma was quite a sexpot back in the day.

Check out that hotness. And although she grew older, she still retained her beauty.

Oh yeah. Grandma was a bartender for a while. Now that's a cool grandma. Not many people can say, "My grandma is a bartender," but I could. Even after grandma retired and got a little older, she never lost her spunk.

"The old girl's still got it!"

 This is largely how I remember my grandma. When I was a kid, I would stay with her for about a week or two each summer. She lived in our town for a couple years, so I would often go to her house to hang out and sometimes spend the night. I remember one time I spent the night with her and we made cookies and candies and stuff for Easter, and then she let me stay up late to finish watching In The Heat of the Night. I was 8. I don't know why I was even into that show. She was that kind of grandma, though.

Me (Age 9ish), Grandma, Aunt Donna, and Mom. I recall playing Trivial Pursuit at some point on this day, and I actually did quite well for a kid.

She had a very set routine. She would wake up around 8ish. Watch the news, watch Regis and Kathy Lee, watch the Price is Right, and then whatever she could find on TV. At night, she'd watch the 11 o'clock news and then go to bed. Spending a week with this in a one bedroom might sound like a nightmare for a 10, 11, or 12 year old, but I loved it. Aside from the fact that grandma was flat-out awesome, she was also an amazing cook. She was one of those that subscribed to the "you will eat what I put in front of you or you will go hungry" frame of mind. I was a very picky eater as a kid, but staying with grandma really broadened my horizons as a potential foodie.

Unfortunately, she had a massive stroke when I was in junior high. It changed her life as well as all of ours in one night. She did ok on her own for a little while, but eventually ended up in the nursing home.

She greeted everyone the same when you would visit her. I can still hear her with her slight Kentucky accent, "Hi!! How are you?" Sometimes, when you'd answer and ask her how she was, she would say, "Ok, I guess. How are you?" She wasn't senile. She just cared a lot about people.

She was still able to get out for family get-togethers and such. But every year, it got more and more difficult for her to make it. So it meant the world to me that she was able to make it to my high school graduation party.

At some point she started crying pretty much every time she saw any of us. It always eventually rolled into laughing though. That was who she was. My Grandma Grace was one of the most caring individuals I've ever known. She didn't judge people. She never knew a stranger. I don't think I fully understood this until her funeral. There were just as many people there who I never knew as there were that I did. It was because if you came within her orbit, she welcomed you as a friend and often times even family no questions asked. It is my hope that I can be half as kind as Grandma was.

One of my biggest regrets in life is not visiting her more the last few years she was with us. I was in college. I started putting so many other things before her, and it killed me to see her condition gradually deteriorate every time I did see her. But whenever I did come to visit, she never passed judgment. Ever. She was always just glad to see me. And that's why I loved her so much.

So here's to you, Grandma Grace. We miss you just as much now as we did the day you left us. We love you!

And because I know some of my family will read this and will likely be crying. I'm going to end with something that I know will make them smile.

I don't know if Mom took this because she was proud that I made my own bed or what, but this picture cracks me up just the same. Stylish. NKOTB. Raggedy Ann.

This was one of the more traumatic events of my childhood. I got poison ivy on my face right before a family reunion, and just about everyone has a picture of it somewhere. Now the whole world does.

Peace.