Welcome to the Nut House...

As of Late

2010-09-06T19:02:00.006-04:00

Not much note-worthy going on here lately, as usual. I can't believe August is already over - it flew by, and the poor blog has certainly suffered from my lack of attention and time to devote to it. Such is life, I guess... only a few note-worthy events worth writing about... at least, note-worthy in comparison to the daily routine.

The (very old) elevator at work has been acting up for a while now - being jumpy, opening the doors with a little gap left to the floor, things like that. They actually had to shut it down a few weeks ago to work on it. Lately it started acting up again though, and it got more serious. We got a few reports of people getting stuck on it, so we'd all wait a day or two, then gradually start back into the old routine of taking it. One morning a few weeks ago, I was the first one on, and the doors started shutting. I hit the button to hold them open for others, but it didn't work - one guy tried to stick his hand in front of the door too, but that didn't work either. I was quickly shut in by myself, and I just figured the door buttons weren't working. But sure enough, the elevator just sat there with no response to my floor request, door open request, nothing. I'm sure it felt like longer than it was, but it had to have been at least 15-20 seconds that I was standing there and evaluating my options - call my office, press the call button on the elevator, etc... Thankfully, as if it decided it had sat there long enough, it eventually started moving and made its way up to my floor. Six floors has never felt like it took so long... and I sure was glad to see those doors open when it got to #6. I told myself then and there that I'd take the stairs on purpose from now on. I also emailed the rest of my branch to let them know, since we'd already been getting a few alerts from people in weeks past who had encountered issues with it as well. I've since been taking the stairs up and down every day, and let me tell you, six floors is a lot to start out with. It has gotten easier over the course of a week or more doing it consistently, so here's hoping it continues to get easier.

Oh, and the elevator has had an "Out of Order" sign on it since then as well.

On the home front (well, near home), they've been putting up new housing developments around here like it's going out of style. There is one close by on my way home that has gone from woods to dirt to tractor playground to suburbia, all within less time than the past year alone, and I've been documenting the craziness as I pass by...

There is also a new development going in very close down the street, near a large intersection (don't ask how silly the driveway location is). New townhomes keep popping up in no time, and people are already moving in as well...

Along with this have been improvements to the road and intersection near the driveway... a la a new turn lane...

...as well as resurfacing an entire section of the road right in front of our complex, which meant milling out the existing surface. I go that way to work every day, so for a week or two, I had to ride through the milled out section and its deep joints - aka BUMPS. Wanna know the joy of these bumps? The tractor trailer traffic that uses this road got to ride over them too. This translated into noises, even in the middle of the night, that actually sounded like thunder at times. J even said it sounded one night like someone was breaking in a door - which tells me it's a lot louder than most of the car door noise and thug music we tend to get used to hearing around here. Anyway, last week the road was finally resurfaced, and the joint was filled in. Not only was my daily ride smoother, but we finally weren't wondering if it was storming outside or trying to tune out all the truck traffic. Not exciting for most people, but believe me, we were glad to see that fixed.

Oh, one more fun part of this project? The new lane striping was started last week too, and J and I rode on it shortly after the crew had finished their initial work. The lane this picture is taken from is the only through lane from behind it - as in, all traffic is coming into this lane...

Anyone want to venture a guess as to what went wrong here, or what you're supposed to do? Haha, it still looks like this, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I also got my husband to watch The Devil Wears Prada, and he actually enjoyed it. J and I don't usually watch a lot of movies, but every now and then, we'll DVR one and finally get around to watching it together a month or two later. I'd recorded this one for me a while back (or us if he wanted to join, and he likes Anne Hathaway) and we finally made it around to watching it about a month ago. This channel had been messing up sporadically, and wouldn't you know that 2/3 of the way through the movie, our recording stopped. J was actually enjoying it too, so we both were pretty bummed. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I found it on TV again. We got to watch the entire thing from start to finish this time, and J liked it too. Fun stuff. Next up, I'll put in some James Bond time with him to even things out a bit.

J and I got to have a nice date night last weekend too. We don't spend a lot of time out and about, so it's always a fun change when we do. It actually turned out to be very relaxing and a nice time together. We went to Olive Garden, and the waiter really took "glass of wine" literally, almost overflowing J's glass. He even gave us the leftover half glass from the bottle.

And my Tour of Italy served me for more than two meals in total...

I've also joined Flickr, a photo-sharing website. I take so many photos, but I never seem to follow through with the sharing aspect of it, which kind of defeats the purpose, unless I want to be the only one ever seeing them. Facebook has photos, but the quality degradation is terrible due to compressing down such large files - Flickr is also public, and it also allows me to easily link more photos into this blog as well (vs. just a bunch of phone pics that I typically use now). So once I start making use of that, hopefully photo sharing will become a bit easier for me to follow through with.

We just finished up a Labor Day weekend at the beach and home, so more on that later (hopefully sooner than later, actually). Maybe a good way to start out on a good foot with some picture-sharing...

Oh, and before we left for the beach this weekend, I'd secured a huuuuuuge centipede (the normal-looking kind this time) via the tried-and-true cover-with-a-cup method for J, but we both forgot to get it before we left. Came back yesterday, and we finally remembered to get it today... and it wasn't there. Darn thing somehow got out... guess those hundred or so legs are stronger than I figured. So now I feel the need to go pull up everything in there until I find it... we'll see. But there is a WANTED bug somewhere in my house right now, and his visiting days are numbered...

Why Hello There

2010-08-12T21:32:00.002-04:00

Not much interesting (or even uninteresting) has been happening around here lately. Mainly just work... nothing new about that...

I've had multiple night meetings at work, including two in a row this week. J has been really busy with work too. So we're both knee-deep in all that, and finally getting home in the afternoon/evening (or even night for me sometimes) is definitely the welcoming part of our day.

J and I met up for supper and family time this past Saturday with Mom, Dad, and my brother, Jacob. We all enjoyed some steakhouse and a bit of family hanging-out. It's always nice to see family.

We didn't get into all the tax-free shopping with the rest of the world, but we did take advantage of a mail coupon for a new pair of tennis shoes for yours truly - much needed, I might add. My feet are already thanking me after only a few days.

J and I ran our errands a little later than usual this weekend, so we enjoyed one of our go-to meals right now - Greek Fiesta...

On our way to one of our errands, we also passed under one of those rare moments at the airport when you time the ride perfectly and end up directly under one of the planes coming in to land. For once, it wasn't me driving under it on my way to or from work - I was actually in the passenger seat for a change, so I snapped a pic with the phone... this never ceases to amaze me when you hear that huge plane going right over your head...

And while we're in picture mode, here are a few lovely (well, it was lovely in person...) pictures I grabbed on my way back from night meetings at work. It seems like every time I'm coming back from one, I see the perfect photo opportunity for an awesome sunset... yet all I have is this camera phone, which unfortunately doesn't do so well at dusk or low light. But you can see the slight idea of the beautiful light...

Day 1 had beautiful orange, pink, and purple tones throughout the sky

with straight line breaks in the clouds and tones... gorgeous

Day 2 ended a little earlier, so I got to catch some bright sun rays

followed by a big, beautiful, orange ball of fire as I got closer to home

Setting sun over the airport pond...

Well, thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. Looking forward to some rest and downtime! I sure do have enough (real, not phone) photos to last me through blog posts for months, but I can never seem to find the time to sit down and prepare them after work and everything else that needs doing. Maybe that should add to the forever-long to-do list...

Recipe: Turkey Quesadillas

2010-07-31T17:58:00.001-04:00

We've been looking for new recipes for lunches with low GI and low carbs, and J found a quesadilla recipe we started with. We tweaked a few things based on what we wanted in them, as well as ingredients we found in stores. We experimented this morning with them, made some changes to the recipe, and J and I both gave them our seal of approval when we had them for lunch - they were very tasty. They were also very handy - a great size to fit in the hand, and not too big or small. One makes a great snack, and two would be a great meal.

The half cans below reference the fact that we're making a second batch early in the week to last us through the rest of the work week - we'll use another pound of meat and the rest of the can contents then. So you could use just one can of the same kind of beans. We also used a rectangle tortilla in halves, actually called Lavash bread, that we found - flax, oats, and whole wheat - very healthy. We're essentially making little pockets that are closed all around, instead of making the typical round quesadilla that is sliced like a pizza. These are a lot easier for transport to work than having something that's sliced open on the sides.

Turkey Quesadillas

Ingredients:
Small tortillas of your choice
1 lb ground turkey breast
2 cloves garlic (we used garlic powder)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 small can enchilada sauce
1/2 can dark red kidney beans
1/2 can black beans
Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Combine turkey with spices, and cook in skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Try to break up into as small pieces as possible.
3. Rinse beans in colander and add to pan. Add enchilada sauce, and mix all ingredients until coated with sauce.
4. Add mixture by spoonful onto a tortilla until majority of area is covered, leaving edges free. Do not pile high, as the top tortilla will need to easily reach the bottom one.
5. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
6. Using a basting brush, lightly coat the edges of the bottom tortilla with water. Add the top tortilla, and sqeeze the edges together so they stick and enclose the ingredients. Lightly coat the edges of the top tortilla with water.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Servings will depend on how many you make and how much you put into each one. Out of the pound of meat and full can of total beans we had in there, we got 12 quesadillas total.

The original recipe offered all kinds of suggestions for toppings - salsa, avacado, etc. I think sour cream would do nicely as well. But honestly, these things are really good on their own - the bread is very tasty too, much better than a regular flour tortilla in my opinion. And with the combination of the beans, cheese, and sauce, you don't even taste the turkey, which is usually the most bland part.

One tip I have is to only use the water right before you're going to seal them up and put them in the oven. I had to do multiple rounds of them since only 4 would fit at a time, and I quickly learned that the water is definitely the secret to getting the edges to stick together. So just wait to seal them until you're ready to get the next batch in, then spread the water on the edges and stick the top layer on.

We used our pizza stone to bake them on, since it gives a nice crisp to food without the scalding that comes from a metal pan - they actually turned out nice and firm, much more so than I expected, so they're easy to handle and pick up to eat. We also cooled them on a cooling rack as they came out of the oven. The only thing to watch out for is sometimes the sauce may leak out of the bottom slightly, so just flip over when you take them out of the oven.

Ready to go into the oven...

After coming out of the oven, nice and crispy brown on the sides...

Hot and steamy!

Yum yum!

We ate 4 today, so the remaining 8 are ready to take for lunches...

They certainly were awesome straight out of the oven. But the only unseen factor is how it will be when we take them for lunches at work. Microwave is typically the only option, but I think they'd still be great if we had access to a toaster oven. We shall see.

Next up: Greek food. We've been enjoying Greek Fiesta more and more, and I'm on my way to learning how to recreate our favorite meals they have here at home. Got some items at the store yesterday, so we'll see how that goes.

The Day That Started Last Night

2010-07-27T21:45:00.001-04:00

(aka "The Night Post That Almost Was")

Today was quite a day. It actually started during the night last night with me waking up nauseous and sicky feeling. I haven't had that feeling in a long, long time, but I used to get it in college - basically indigestion that makes me feel awful unless I'm sitting up. No clue what made it happen randomly last night, but I do know it's the one time I've actually wished it was just time to go ahead and get up for work - no such luck. I tried to lay halfway propped up on my back pillow for a while because I was so darn tired, but all that got me was a sore neck and some light rest. I was thiiiiis close to just getting up and coming downstairs, which inevitably would have led me to do exactly what I'm doing right now, because everybody knows there's nothing on TV at 2 or 3 am. But somehow I was able to fall back asleep, because next thing I know, I was being woken up and told it was time to get up for work. Hooray...

It's funny, because today was a big meeting at work, and I had some mapping to finish up this morning before lunch and leaving for the meeting this afternoon. So I had actually done really well last night with getting things done early here at home, pulling everything together for today, getting showered, and winding down before turning the light out at a decent time so I could get some good rest and be ready to go today. Haha, shows what I know.

Due to that extremely weird schedule, I had some really foggy moments at work, as well as some really on-the-ball moments. Meeting went well, but a lot of the day was spent in the rain, trying to keep maps and meeting materials dry. Not complaining though, because we desperately need the rain, and it certainly helped cool things down a bit around here. But the rain definitely doesn't help with my drowsiness!

I even left work for home before rush hour, since I'd gotten to work early this morning. But this immediately began the most tense part of my day by far. The traffic on the ramp to my main thoroughfare to get home was at a stand-still. After trudging along and cresting the hill, I could see something a ways away that was completely across the road, blocking both outbound lanes. As I got closer, we all had to merge into one lane to turn off into a neighborhood... at 5:00pm... in Raleigh... downtown. As I turned, I got a good glimpse of the problem:

Maybe got stuck pulling out? Trying to straddle the median and see what his truck can do? I have no idea. I do know that I sure hope he wasn't taking that SUV back to its owners.

Those neighborhoods are all somehow connected over to another major road... that just happens to be shut down in various areas right now for repair. Of course. And I don't even know my way through these little neighborhoods anyway, but I just went the opposite way of all the stupid traffic. I followed what my direction sense was telling me, and at least made it back to downtown, not even a mile from my work. Great... just wasted 30 minutes. But I found another way out to try, which turned out to be not so bad. I even got to ride through the new Hillsborough St. project, which was neat to see...

Pretty new medians...

I eventually made my way back to my main thoroughfare to get home, which I had to do because this whole time, I was in the staff car. Gotta love that I not only had to detour all around Raleigh for the heck of it, but I couldn't even be in the comfort of my own vehicle to do it. Oh well. If another person has to drive the staff car before I have it again next week, I hope I can plead my case to them as to why I didn't refill the gas tank.

To top it all off, on the way home, this was the weather (which also reflects the general feeling I had by this time)...

Dreary and worn down...

Regardless of the good and bad, overall, today feels like it was one of the busiest I've had in a while. Which is odd, because time-wise, it really wasn't. But it's funny what the contents of your day can do to how you feel about it. Yet another reason I'm not a fan of Raleigh.

Well, at least it ended pretty nicely. I have a kind husband who was waiting at home for me and willing to head out for a nice, relaxing dinner out at the steak house for a change. Now I'm home, a good hot shower helped wash off the day, I'm in my comfy clothes, squishy socks have replaced the day's nice shoes, and it's time to get some rest and try to replace last night's weirdness.

Tomorrow is another day!

For my Fellow Engineers

2010-07-25T20:38:00.001-04:00

(and all you nerds too...)

Just a little something to enhance the fondness for our self-proclaimed nerdiness...

A coworker sent this last week, and I got a good laugh. It displays not only our thought processes, but also the way we hunt to make an answer work, instead of just searching for the only correct answer.

(Due to the fact that I don't typically worry "for" things, I'm thinking this was made by someone with a little bit of lingering language barrier... and I'm assuming the medical student said "However." Regardless, funny...)

There's your knee-slapper for the day...

Letter to the Centipedes

2010-07-22T08:26:00.000-04:00

To any monster centipedes still hiding out in my home, or those outside thinking about coming in:

I've just about had enough of you for one season (or a lifetime). I was quite taken by surprise the first time a freakishly fuzzy thing scooted out from beside the bottom stair when I was putting on my shoes a month ago, and I had to trap you with a cup.

I had never seen your kind before, so I had to google you. Google said you liked warm and humid places, so I figured you were just lost. We have nothing in here for you, and it's most definitely hotter and more humid outside than it is in our house.

Then your buddy decided to scare me by making his presence known under my vacuum another morning. He really pushed my buttons though when I came back with a killing tool and was gone, and I had to leave him in my house all day. We made amends though when he showed his face that afternoon and was taken captive. J would have let him live in the great outdoors, but he had a homing beacon on our house, so he met his end.

One of your little ones really pushed the limit when they were found playing inside my lunchbox... even worse, inside my cup inside my lunchbox. NOT COOL.

A few nights ago, one of your elders who apparently has been around a long time decided it was safe to come out in the wall on the stairwell. Guess he thought we were upstairs for good, but little did he know, I had to go back downstairs. J was in no mood for bug-saving games, so a huge wad of tissue was called in for duty. Sorry if this guy was important or something.

But you guys have now gone too far. This morning was the last straw - coming into my bedroom? No sir, I'm not going to take it. The thought of you guys near my bed and in my clothes... not gonna fly. J found one of your young'uns in the kitchen again too, so I'm thinking you guys have gotten a little too bold with what you think is OK around here.

It's a good thing I don't have pets or babies around yet. Because the bug spray is coming out this weekend in full force. There will be no entry surface to cross without walking through our poison. I'm sorry, I know you're all God's creatures too, but you've overstepped the boundaries here.

I hope you've enjoyed it while you can, because next week will be like walking on hot coals for you... well, hot coals coated with poison. And one day, when our home isn't rented, I promise you my windows and doors will be sealed so well that you won't even have an option.

In closing, I think it's time to terrorize someone else now. Move on please, because even though I really can't stand your creepy-crawliness slinking across my floor and walls, I still don't really care to pick up your poisoned bodies either.

Please pass this along to all your friends.

Sincerely (and not kidding),
Sarah

Home Grown Food

2010-07-17T19:23:00.001-04:00

I think there's nothing better than homegrown and home-prepared food. It's natural, good for you (usually, ha - depending on the method of preparation), and you know exactly what's been put into it. Nothing processed about it, and the flavors are just amazing and fresh.

I got to see my maternal grandparents last weekend, and my grandpa in his 80s still keeps a big garden every year. We've grown up with his incredibly tasty green beans, lovingly called GGBs (Grandpa's Green Beans). Silver queen corn is my absolute favorite, which we get every summer there. And at some point in the last few years of my life of not liking raw tomatoes, my tastes have changed and I can now be guaranteed as much tomato as I can possibly handle at their house, as well as a bagfull to come home with me for continued enjoyment. We got to enjoy a seemingly unending supply of all 3 of those things last weekend at their house, along with some tasty roast and my personal favorite... fried okra. I don't think I could ever, ever get tired of fried okra. However, I could do without the itchiness that comes with raw okra... but that's another fun story.

So I came home with the aforementioned supply of extra homegrown garden food. I haven't had a chance all week to enjoy any of it - it's just been sitting on my counter. Two squash, 3 ears of corn, and a big back of tomatoes have been waiting and beckoning me. So last night, I got in the kitchen and set to making myself a yummy meal of fresh-from-the-garden food. The first thing I started was a plate of fried squash. I grew up eating that at the grandparents' house probably every time we were there, and I haven't had it in years and years. I couldn't even remember the taste of it, but I could remember how much yummy goodness was involved. I used safflower oil, which we use around here instead of vegetable oil, and a little cornmeal, salt, and pepper. I think I probably ate 10 or 15 pieces just during the cooking process between frying rounds. And I think I melted with the first bite - so good.

Next was cooking an ear of corn, and last was making a tomato sandwich. Now I am seriously not a fan of mayonnaise - but I don't think I've always had this strong of a dislike for it. Somewhere along the line, the consistency, smell, and taste began to make me queasy. To this day I shudder when I have to cook with it. And I still did when I got it out last night. However, you absolutely can't have a true tomato sandwich without it. So I did put a thin layer on the bread (as I still shuddered at the nasty glopp-i-ness of it). I can't even taste it, but it really does make the sandwich, along with a little pepper of course! When I finished getting everything ready, I showed it all to J, who wasn't in the mood for any of that food that night, but actually said it looked reeeeally good.

So here is evidence of the incredible yummy goodness of a home-grown and home-prepared meal. I may or may not have eaten an entire squash and an entire tomato all by myself. That's ok, right? Right??

Also, more evidence of the goodness of homegrown food: the peach. You can buy canned peaches all day long, but nothing will ever, ever, ever compare to the incredible taste of a fresh peach right off the tree. We had 3 right off the farm, and I ate them 3 different ways. Observe...

Whole, of course

Freshly sliced for an easy snack at work

(Anyone else see mandarin oranges here?)

My personal favorite, freshly sliced in a bowl of plain cheerios - I know Dad favors this too, because he's the one that used to make it for me!

I didn't try it with the skin on, because for some reason that's not very appetizing to me. And coincidentally, smoothies have been on my mind this afternoon. I suppose I could have made myself a nice peach smoothie too, but it didn't occur to me then. Guess I just need to find me some more fresh peaches!

So here's to homegrown food. We had a small garden in our backyard growing up too, and I always thought that was a really special thing. Hopefully, one day I can be one of the people cooking from my own garden and handing out extra vegetables and fruit to folks.

Anybody else?

2010-07-01T12:17:00.001-04:00

Anybody else despise the idiots in traffic that fly all the way to the front of a lane closure and bully their way in front of you with such speed and rudeness that you're force to slam on brakes as they weasel in line uninvited, lest you slam into them with no choice?

Yeah, me too.

Anybody else want to shake some common sense into the dummies that stop and sit in the middle of a free flow turn lane, looking back to their left to find an opening to merge into, instead of looking forward and seeing that there is an entire open lane in front of them?

I sure do.

Anybody else want to go put up a few more better-placed, bigger signs at said turn lane so that said dummies will have a better chance of seeing the already-marked free flow characteristic that awaits them ahead, giving the rest of us behind them that have a little common sense a chance to save on our brakes and gas?

I think I'll go get me some cardboard today and do that.

Happy Thursday!

Recipe: S&J Spaghetti

2010-06-27T13:08:00.002-04:00

We used to eat spaghetti pretty often because we both love it so much. But recently we've really been working hard on eating well and portion control, and spaghetti always tends to turn into quite a hefty meal.  So it's been quite a while since we had some, and in our weekly grocery shopping yesterday we decided to make some this weekend.

I cooked it all up last night, and it was the first time we'd had it in a long time... and I swear I think it was the best version yet. The sauce was so tantalizing even while just stirring it on the stove... yummm. Jason happened to eat the first bite, and his eyes opened wide while his spaghetti-filled mouth muttered "mmm-MMM!!" I think I had the exact same reaction as soon as I had my first bite. Maybe we just haven't had it in so long that we just forgot how good it was, or maybe this really was the best batch yet.

The back-story here is that when we first met, we knew we were both fans of spaghetti. We learned the specifics of how each other likes their spaghetti... such as the fact that J likes a lot of extra sauce, and he hates watery sauce oozing liquid onto his plate under his noodles. He will choose homemade sauce every time over storebought sauce in a jar, and he will always prefer meat (preferably ground beef) in his sauce over just marinara. He doesn't like other types of pasta besides spaghetti, and he likes parmesan cheese on top of his sauce. I think he's also incapable of having spaghetti without some type of bread... gotta have that bread to sop up the extra sauce (hence the purpose of the extra sauce). I, on the other hand, prefer the perfect ratio of sauce to noodles - I can easily do without bread most of the time, and I don't like to have a lot of sauce left over with no noodles to use it up with. Even though I wouldn't choose it purposely, watery sauce doesn't bother me so much - but I definitely don't want sauce that's so thick it lacks moisture and is hard to get down. I don't mind switching up pastas, and I actually love a little cheddar cheese melted up under my sauce. I don't mind meat, but sometimes a nice smooth marinara with chunky tomatoes is sooo good too.

So every time we made spaghetti for a while, we experimented with what we liked. And this "spaghetti experiment" has been going on for quite some time. We had some meatless sauces, some with beef (even different types of beef) and some with ground turkey, various types of pasta, various brands of pasta, different sauce brands, different ingredients, different spices, different ratio mixtures, sometimes with tomatoes, sometimes with spinach or zucchini blended in, sometimes with beans. Sometimes a salad on the side, sometimes Texas Toast, sometimes loaf bread with butter and garlic.

A few things always remained constant from the beginning of our experiments. We avoid "white" food whenever possible because we try to stick to low GI foods.  So we always go with either a brand we like that has lots of fiber and low net carbs, or a whole wheat brand, which was an experiment in itself to find one that actually had some good flavor to it. And with the exception of one of the very first times, we have always made the sauce mix ourselves - no jars of ready-made sauces. At one point I was using a canned sauce as one of my ingredients that was flavored with various spices, but I've since moved on to regular sauce and adding the spices myself. And I think we've come up with what seems to be the perfect spice mix.

Last night's version was a mix of both types of pastas since I had a box of each available. But we're on our way to using all whole wheat, because I'm really making an effort to eliminate preservatives from our intake.  And these other pastas that still taste like white pasta but have low net carbs still have some preservatives in them. But really, even the whole wheat pasta we like has some additives in it. So until the day that I get the ultimate mixer and learn to make my own pasta... this will have to do.

I can also say with utmost certainty that the meat makes a huge difference. Whether you want to use ground chicken, turkey, or beef, the quality needs to be good. We were buying a lot of very high quality ground meat for a while at the grocery store, which was also the lowest fat content possible, and it was putting a big dent in the grocery budget. So we found one day that our buy-in-bulk warehouse carried 93% beef, which was great compared to the only previous choice of 80/20. I have a vacuum sealer, so for a few months we bought the 93% 4lb container and divided it up into 1lb sections for sealing and freezing. The freezing and cooking never adversely affected it, but we both definitely noticed a quality difference in our sauce due to the meat itself - much more grit found in our bites, and the meat was a lot greasier and watery when cooking. So we've since gone back to purchasing the best beef I've ever tasted - the cows are fed a purely natural diet, and I wholly believe that has a huge part to do with how good the meat is. This meat even smells better when cooking. When we were experimenting with other meats, we made sure we used quality ground turkey breast or ground chicken breast as well.

The final version has kidney beans in it, as a result of us trying to work in more fiber and make the meal a little more filling when we were taking it as lunches to work a while back. Sometimes I like to add in a can of tomatoes, and I don't think J prefers this, but sometimes even some spinach leaves thrown in towards the end are really good. The beans/tomatoes definitely add more bulk to the meal, and the 4 servings it makes are already pretty large in my opinion. But they're filling without making you feel overly full, which is what's great about fiber and low GI meals.

So, in light of the "spaghetti experiments" we worked on together and pretty much years put into perfecting it, I've dubbed this recipe...

"S&J Spaghetti"

Makes 4 hefty servings.
(Updated to actually add the numbers I had published without and had to go look for...)

Ingredients:
4 servings (224g/8oz) dry spaghetti (we've been liking Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Blend)
Sea salt
EV Olive Oil
1 lb ground beef
1 15oz can Hunt's regular tomato sauce
1 6oz can Hunt's regular tomato paste
1 16oz can Bush's dark red kidney beans
Garlic powder
Oregano
Basil
Paremsan cheese

Directions:

Put water on the stove to boil for pasta. Also put a large pan on medium-high heat.

When water is boiling, add a little sea salt, then break spaghetti in half and add to the pot. Add a few drops of EVOO to water and give everything a stir. Turn heat down a bit and let pasta cook, stirring occasionally.

When pan is hot, add the beef. Cook beef fully, and make sure that it is broken up enough that there are no large chunks remaining.

Add the can of tomato paste to the pan, then add the can of tomato sauce. Use a little water to get the extra sauce out of the can and add to pan. Use a large spoon to break up the tomato paste and mix everything together. It will take a few minutes of the heat and stirring to disperse the paste.

When the paste, sauce, and beef are smoothly mixed, turn down the heat to about medium. For the spices, you'll have to learn how much you prefer, but ours is not overly strong or spicy by any means. I sprinkle the garlic powder into the sauce, probably using a good 1/4 tsp, if not more. Then I add the oregano and basil, probably using at least a good full tsp of each. Stir in the spices. (Add in tomatoes or spinach leaves here if used.)

Rinse the kidney beans in a colander under cool water until bubbles no longer appear on the beans. Drain well, add to the sauce, and mix everything together.  Keep it on the heat for another minute or two, then remove from heat.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and separate into 4 servings. Then add the sauce to the pasta servings until all of the sauce is used. Top servings with parmesan cheese.

Serve with preferred sides... salad, bread, etc.

We like to treat ourselves to New York brand texas toast every now and then - sooo good, and suits the spaghetti perfectly. (Not exactly non-white and non-preservative, but hey - it's a treat.) This recipe does have what most people would probably consider "extra" sauce, but the noodle serving is actually a great portion size. And the sauce really isn't that much once you mix it on your plate - the beans take up a lot of the room that you'll see.

Enjoy!!

More Bug Torment

2010-06-26T16:33:00.000-04:00

Ok people, this is getting ridiculous. No joke, the evening of my last crazy post about all the bugs, I had the pleasure of almost having a conniption fit at the finding of this...

...on. my. TOILET. SEAT. I lift up the lid and get the surprise of the month. I think I probably jumped back a few feet while simultaneously gasping... I think my mind was reeling at the ickiness I would have experienced if I hadn't looked first... Anyway, I'm in my pajamas, getting ready to go to bed, J is already asleep, and I have to take care of this thing myself. The thing didn't move at all, but the moment I tried to push it into the toilet, the thing half jumped/half floated through the air and landed on the floor - it all happened so fast that I'm not sure if it flew or what. So as I try to work up the courage to do the deed, I keeping hering these small shrieks and gagging sounds, before I realize they're involuntarily coming from me. It's pitiful, really. I just get these tight feelings in my chest and gut that I can't get rid of, even now just writing and thinking about it. In the end, it took a huge wad of TP, a quick flush of the toilet, some clorox wipes, and some fun TV to help me get over the event.

I think all this craziness and bug surprises have made me a little jumpy. Today a bulb blew in my bathroom when I turned on the lights, and I think I gasped and jumped about 2 feet. I really need to chill, haha.

And just for reference, I cleaned out my phone and found a picture I'd taken of the lovely surprise in my cup inside my lunch box last week...

So much fun...

The Creepy Crawlies Are After Me

2010-06-24T12:17:00.001-04:00

So, long time no blog... but I had a realization that I figured was blog-worthy.

Tuesday morning as I was eating breakfast, I saw movement in the kitchen out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see a lighting-fast-crawling-freak-of-nature-thing scooting across my kitchen floor and onto the carpet. By the time I got up to grab a trapping method (benefit of having husband around - I do the trapping, then call him in for the kill), the thing had disappeared. I searched all over the place for the thing but never found it. Unfortunately, I ended up having to leave for work knowing I had a huge creepy-crawly pet somewhere in my home. Makes me shudder just thinking about it - I promise you the thing was at least 2 inches long.

When I got home that day, I started straightening up a few things. Low and behold, this thing came crawling directly across my path in the hallway (must not be very smart, if you ask me). I hurried to the kitchen to get my trusty plastic cup that has been my go-to trap for monsters on the carpet. Thankfully, he didn't scoot as fast as that morning for some reason, so I was able to catch him up under the cup. The plan from there is typically to let the cup sit there till J gets home, who then gets the honor of doing the bug duty. With tiny creatures, he usually just grabs a paper towel or tissue and does the deed. But with big monsters, a lot of times he'll do the slide-cardboard-under-the-cup deal and take the thing back outside somewhere. That ended up being his method of choice yesterday as well when I showed him the waiting cup.

Now, you're probably thinking I've got some sort of bug phobia. And I'd probably agree with you. I don't know at what point that changed, but years ago I used to have no fear when it came to squashing things that were unwelcome in my home. Now I can't even squish one - I almost get sick if I do and hear the noises of bug death. BLEGH... gives me the goosebumps. Maybe the change came when I was off at college by myself and was BOMBARDED by bugs. I swear to you, my apartment senior year was a direct line to some sort of colony. Literally for a few months, my bathroom and kitchen always surprised me with a bug of many different varieties... on the ceiling above my head while I'm at the sink, on the wall while I'm in the shower, shooting across the floor at me. I ended up with bug traps up under my bathroom cabinet, spraying poison all over the place, and I even had to set off those stupid bug bombs (which ended up setting of the smoke alarms, which I had to leave on because you can't go back in for hours with the exploding bombs... I just couldn't win). And even after all that, I still had bug issues. The apartment office was no help either. So I checked everything - every last corner in the house for holes and cracks, places in the doors and windows where they might squeeze through... My last resort was to duct-tape up the overflow hole in my bathroom sink, and for some strange reason, my bug issues were mostly resolved after that. Go figure. So unless they finally ate the poison from the traps and carried it back to their immense colony somewhere, they were entering through my sink??

Fast forward to now, in my current apartment, and I still have bug issues. It's actually a townhome, so I'm on the ground and have a door directly leading to a sidewalk surrounded by landscaped areas with mulch and bushes - perfect hiding ground for the crawlies that want to sneak in my front door and windows. And I promise you that multiple times a week I'm calling J into the room I'm in to kill a bug that I see. The typical breed is spiders - a lot of them fairly small, but we've had some monster spiders that require me running and getting out the cup trap. We also get the little rolly pollies in the back room, which obviously are coming in via the stupid sliding doors, but I don't mind them so much. But I just can't imagine where these monster things come from.

I started to think about it a while back, and I wondered how many cracks and holes are probably in this place in areas that I can't check - back behind/in kitchen cabinets, behind the frig, behind the washer and dryer... I mean it's not like they swoop in the front door unseen for the 2 seconds that we have it open every day. Yet I constantly find them trying to make a run for it across my living room floor, across my kitchen, down my walls, and even defying gravity and scaling my ceiling. The worst was when I had a spider DROP DOWN onto me from the ceiling like a ninja, web and all, while I'm sitting peacefully on my couch watching TV. Talk about a freak-out moment - who the heck could be prepared for that?? Then of course the couch is dark and patterned, and the spider elusively got away and wasn't found that night. GAH.

Earlier in the spring, I began to do some investigating in our kitchen. Ever since I've lived here, the corner cabinet in the kitchen has had some black and white spots on the floor under it. I'd clean it, and a few weeks later, the spots are back. After checking it out, I realized that the cabinets had an open area up under the front that creates a perfect haven for these creatures. I'd swear to J that something is living up under there and leaving its nasty deposits on our floor for us. And with every kitchen spider I killed, I figured I might have finally gotten the culprit. But no, the spots kept reappearing. So finally one day, I got out the most trusted common tool in the world - duct tape. And I taped up the underside of the front of the cabinet - completely sealed it. No more spots in the corner... but they began appearing under other parts of the cabinet. So one day, it occurred to me to use a mirror instead of craning my head upside down against the kitchen floor. I examined the entire length of the cabinets... and in one right in the middle lived one of the creepiest spiders I've ever seen. And right beside it... an egg sack. So we'd finally found the culprit, but getting rid of it was another thing - apparently everything with more than 4 legs that barges into our house has lightning-fast speed capabilities. But J got it... and I took a picture. I haven't yet done the research to identify what it was, but it sure was ugly. And after going back and looking at these pictures again, I don't think I'm going to do the research. This particular spider memory will just fade into oblivion... because rest assured, all of the cabinets in my kitchen and 2 bathrooms now have completely duct-tape-sealed areas up under the front.

"Hey guys... mind if I shack up under your cabinets and excrete on your kitchen floor? No? Ok then, see ya around the house..."

(yes it's in an old snack bag from my lunchbox - I wasn't about to examine this thing up close without some sort of physical barrier giving me superiority...)

J pokes fun sometimes and says I have bug radar, but it's probably true. I think growing up my mom was always spotting bugs and just things in general that were out of place on the floor, walls, etc., and that very well may be where I inherited the radar from. It's not like I'm constantly on the lookout specifically for bugs, but I do have an eye for detail. I can't help it if I'm looking around while making dinner and I see an odd black spot on the floor or wall - wouldn't that ring a bell for you that all is not right in the home, that something is there that shouldn't be? Well, I think so... so I check it out. And 98% of the time I've just spotted a bug. The other 2% is random stray dryer lint in the hallway, a string from somebody's pants or socks, or outside paraphernalia such as leaves or mulch.

You know, I think I have more than bug radar. I think it's a bug homing beacon or something that I have no control over. Because how many bugs has J spotted since we've met? Um, I can't even remember any. I'm always the one stumbling upon them at home, or having them drop on me on the couch or in the car (yes, in the car too... yet another freak-out moment). Then yesterday, when J took this massive creepy crawly thing with a hundred legs outside and THREW it into the parking lot, the thing continually seemed to turn around and start crawling back towards our place. No matter what J did with sticks or shoes to shoo it the other way (conveniently into the path of cars through the lot), the thing would eventually turn back around, like it had a signal set on our place. Needless to say, I came back inside before the inevitable happened. When J came back in, I was informed that he didn't get bug guts on his new tennis shoes, but I didn't need to worry about this particular crawly coming back in here anymore.

So fast forward to yesterday morning. I come downstairs to get my bags together, and head to the shoe rack that sits at the base of the stairs. I grab my shoes, sit on the 2nd stair to put them on, and what do I see out of the corner of my eye? No joke, another of these creepy crawlies like the previous day shoots away from the stairway into the living room. There's no telling how close I came to this thing actually touching me at the stairs and creating a major freak-out moment again. But thankfully, I was able to book it with one sock on, grab a cup, and trap the sucker in front of the door. No clue why, but my curiosity got the best of me and I raised the cup for a hot second to get a better look at the type of thing that's apparently trying to torment me. I should have known better from the lightning-fast one the day before, but it shot out from under the cup. I tried trapping it again, and in doing so laid the cup down halfway across the monster, hearing a nasty buggy-cracking noise, I get the shudders and gag, and thankfully trap the thing again in its entirety. With all of this happening before 7am, I can assure you that I was ready and willing to get out of the house of creepy crawlies. I think J ended up taking this out outside again but not even giving it the benefit of the doubt as he did yesterday, since he was headed to work too and had on the infamous steel toe boots. Ick. I informed him that he was not to walk around the house in those boots now.

I was also reminded that this same type of creature (although dead) had surprised me last Monday morning at home from inside my LUNCH BOX. Although there was no food in it, I guess he was curious, and ended up meeting his fate at some point over the weekend at the bottom of my plastic water cup (which was directly put in the dishwasher after discovery). So, in an effort to become more familiar with these unwelcome guests, I've done a little research of my own. The immediate words that come to mind are centipedes and millipedes. These crawlies are definitely somehow related, and I think I've found the one that's been trying to drive me crazy these past few days. I was so grossed out that I wasn't even about to take a picture of it myself at home. And I can't even stand to look at the photo on this internet article, so it's definitely not earning a photo spot on my blog. But you can see it here - it may not be the exact thing, but it's close enough. Talk about gross...

Anyway, the plan this weekend is to do another round of the bugspray around the doors and windows (even though we did it about a month ago and it's supposed to last 12 months). And I know you could be wondering about the cleanliness of my home, but I promise you I keep this place straight and clean. So I just don't understand the torment. But I will deal, as I always have, and rise above. Yes, I will rise above the bugs.

...but I still wish they could be like these bugs instead... at least they'd be nice and talk to me.

Heck, maybe they are, and I just have the evil ones invading my home...

Traffic Rant, Part II

2010-05-18T21:25:00.000-04:00

I left at the ~~worst~~ usual time today from work, and encountered the same traffic that made me have the same reaction as in the last post.

I even changed lanes on I-40 today into one in which a crazy little white car, though a ways back, was obviously flying past most other cars. (But by now I've realized that everybody making this commute has to be out for themselves while on this road, so I've just joined in the attitude in order to keep myself sane on the drive.) After passing some slower cars, I switched lanes back again to the original one I was in. By now, the little white car has been tailgating me for a while. No biggie, now that I'm where I need to be for my exit, they can do whatever the heck they want to. Little white car proceeds to drive up beside me, and I look to see what crazy-little-white-car-driver looks like. I can't see though, because she is leaning all up on her steering wheel and checking her other blind spot as she simultaneously swerves into another lane away from me. But, in her hasty passing, I got a glimpse of something that made me do a double-take. Her toddler daughter, in the back seat, was as close to the window as could be, staring straight out at me, giving me the evil eye while shaking her head and making all her colorful hair clips in her braids flip around, and wagging her finger at me like she was ~~telling me off~~ reprimanding me. Must have been something she learned from her ~~crazy-driving-don't-get-in-my-way-or-me-and-my-toddler-will-tell-you-off-because-we-deserve-the-entire-road-to-ourselves~~ lovely mother. I was glad to see the kid sticking up for her mom, who was too busy to glare at me herself because she had to work on playing the vroom/switch-a-roo/tap game around other people's bumpers.

Thank goodness I was exiting.

And if that wasn't fun enough, once off the interstate, I got to enjoy some guy's R&B ~~nothing but bass~~ music who was sitting behind me at the light, which was loud enough to drown out even my own tunes. Honestly, I don't know how folks like that deal with it - it hurts my ears, and I'm not 3 feet from the sound source. I mean, I have my times of my own loud music, but I make a point not to bother others with it, and bass is a completely different story altogether. Guess that's where the difference of common decency and respect come in with this world. Oh well.

Man, I just love Raleigh...

...It keeps my cynicism and sarcasm in check, and I'm now a healthy user of cross-outs and always proof my writing, just to make sure you guys don't get an overdose of cynical Sarah.

Vroom, tap, switch-a-roo, tap...

2010-05-12T18:05:00.001-04:00

Loosely translated, that was the plan of virtually every single car on my way home from work. It's really making me consider getting up at some crazy early hour just to drive into work and home in the afternoon at times that no one else is on the road.

Today it was pretty much like everybody (except me) had organized a zig-zag game of lane switching, and just for fun, the rules required that you do it within 4 feet of somebody's bumper. And 2 feet gives you extra points. And turn signals are OPTIONAL, just to make things more interesting. And the more you tap your brakes, the better.

And that wasn't even rush hour.

It really does get to you after a while. Time to seriously consider changing hours.

These are a few photos I've taken on my way home from work sometimes when the amount of traffic amazes even me. Pay special attention to the other side, which is even worse. Honestly, I don't know how the people in it stand to sit there like that every day. Never fails to be consistently backed up every afternoon (with the exception of when a wreck completely blocks all lanes). But in the year-plus that I've been making this drive, I've noticed even my side has consistently gotten more congested. To the crazy point that it was at today.

(when the opposite direction was completely blocked by a wreck ahead, and the only traffic was entering from the entrance ramp)

...Now I'm at home unwinding. Need it.

(Disclaimer: These pictures are taken while driving, but all I do is hold the phone up and snap the camera button. No watching involved. Eyes remained on the road.)

It's my Birthday!

2010-05-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to Sarah,

Happy Birthday to me!

Even though, after having an annoying head cold for a few days, this is pretty much how I feel...

So conflicted... I just want to rest, yet it's my birthday, so I wish I felt like this...

(If you ever want some funny entertainment with animals, go here or here - definitely good for a laugh, especially from the animals' perspectives.)

Here are a few photos from last year's birthday...

The tasty cake made by my mommy (that inflicted sugar shock, haha!)

Dad steals the candles, as always :-)

Strawberries everywhere...

So, here's to another year... and the past 25!

The Ups and Downs of Camping

2010-04-23T10:08:00.003-04:00

There are so many nice things about camping. My favorite, by far? The campfires. The warmth, the crackles and pops... mmm. I even took video so I could come back and watch and enjoy whenever I wanted...

But there are also some downsides. My mom would be the first to tell you this. Besides the fact that there is no A/C so why would you purposely stay out there, she'd tell you that the biggest downside is that even when you stay somewhere with a bathroom that has electricity for your hairdryer, it's not worth it because the hairdryer will inadvertently whoosh the air up to the ceiling and knock off the years of dust and dead bug carcasses resting on top of the lights and alcoves above, bringing it all fluttering down into your freshly washed hair, causing you to have to shower all over again in the public shower, which you were already grossed out at to begin with. Haha.

Another downside? Ticks. On our first night out, I didn't think about shaking and brushing off every now and then. So, on the day at home inbetween our two camping locations, I made a discovery and won the award for first tick of the season in the Lee household. Yay. Even got the head stuck and had to do some splinter-removal-type maneuvers. Ick. I cleaned it up really well, but the area is still slightly irritated. If I was skin and I got picked and prodded at after having a nasty bug latch onto me for who knows how many hours, I'd be irritated for a while too. Blegh - makes me shudder just thinking about it. I definitely did a lot of picking up of my pant legs and brushing off the second time out. I know, I know, I could walk around with my pants tucked into my socks and my shirt tucked into my pants and long sleeves... but I'm a little more cool than that. Heh. Plus it still leaves my shirt neck, which to me is just asking for a drop-in visitior anyway. Oooh ok I'm shuddering again... moving on.

The last downside? Injuries. Jason is Mr. Boy Scout, therefore Mr. Be Prepared. If I ever ask his opinion on if something should be taken somewhere with us, I usually already know his response (unless it's something trivial) - "I always say, be prepared!" So, you'd think of all the things we took with us camping, he'd have brought his first aid kit that he's had for years and years, right? Sure. So, in the short time we'd actually been at the campsite the first day, all it takes is me getting the area on the picnic table prepared for me to make supper and moving some things around to pick up his lovely little axe and slice my little pinky finger. So, you might ask - "Why wasn't the cover on?" It was. "Why were you picking it up by the blade?" I wasn't. "So what happened?" Well I'm glad you asked. It's a new one he got recently to replace his old, old, old one. He'd just finished using this new one to split some wood and had put it back on the table, in its case. All I saw was a case, so I glanced and grabbed for the main handle. My pinky grazed the bottom of the head, where the very tip just happened to be sticking out. After J exclaiming and wondering how in the world I cut myself on it and me having to adamantly show him the tip sticking out of the case, he finally realized... the case was on upside down. Once turning it into its proper position... well, that looks a little better! Now I just need to get a bandaid... Aaaaaand of all times for J to ignore his "Be prepared" motto, this turned out to be the one - yes, ONE - time I've ever known that to happen. Greeeeat. He figured all we were doing is camping, and what in the world would we be doing that we'd need a first aid kit for? Well, just maybe in case I decide to go moving an axe not very carefully that happens to not have the case put on correctly! Hmph. At least this was why we did the first night camping near home - to learn the things we wanted to have with us, and the things to leave at home. First aid kits? Definitely needs to stay on the list. But I made it through the night with napkin wrapped around my pinky finger, held on by a hair rubber band. Now who's prepared for anything that comes? :-)

The day after - looks like my napkin/hairband combo let my platelets do their job!

I also managed to somehow smack the heck out of my forearm on the back of the Jeep. You know Jeeps, with their random hard points sticking out every which-way... yeah. No great photos of that, but man did it add insult to injury after my little pinky incident, plus added a whole lot of bruising and pain for the next 3-4 days. It also earned me a nice comment from J on how clumsy I am and how I just can't escape injury. Gee, thanks - tell me something I didn't already know.

Regardless of the downsides, I still can't wait to go back. Campfires await me. :-)

The School Lunch Debate

2010-04-20T17:06:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to see more and more about this being publicized, which is such a great thing. I try my best to eat good, healthy foods that benefit my body, and I can't imagine wanting any different for my family, or for anyone else's kids for that matter. I can remember sitting in school every day, and how hard it was most days to get through the afternoon classes without falling out. And my school even had fairly wholesome meals, compared to what public schools seem to be offering these days.

If you haven't seen the blog I'm about to mention before, read up when you get a minute. It's a school teacher that is eating the same lunch as the kids offered by the school cafeteria every day in 2010, to demonstrate the lack of nutrition and bad quality of food that the kids are having to digest and get through their day on. And I was appalled when I first read that they only get 20 minutes - 20 - to get through the line, find a seat, eat, and clean up. Twenty minutes. Talk about indigestion. Here is her blog: http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

I also saw an article talking about military recruits and how many kids today don't even meet the physical requirements because they are too overweight to even join. They are targeting the school lunches as one of the primary reasons. Now, we all know there are 2 other meals in the day plus physical activity levels that will lead to overweight issues, but the things they talk about in this article certainly are eye-opening. It is ironic how they mention that years ago during the war, the issue was not obesity, but inadequate nutrition and stunted growth. Now the issue is not the lack of quantity of food, but rather the lack of nutritional value and its affect on kids' health - physically and mentally. Here is the article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_school_lunches_threat

The Lees go camping

2010-04-18T13:52:00.000-04:00

After finally uploading the photos, I can document the trip. We've been meaning to get out and camp for a long time and never were able to make it work. We had all the gear and were itching to get outside and enjoy the nice weather. So except for the not-so-great timing with the huge pollen explosion of the season that coincided with Easter weekend and our camping trip, we had a nice time. Very relaxing, and so nice to get away from everything.

Day 1...

Love the tent - it can be completely sealed or can open all the way up to have a huge view of the entire sky.

Backpacking stove.

Trying out one of our MREs - actually was pretty good. Reminded me of spaghetti-Os.

I love a fire. So entrancing, peaceful, enticing, warm.

YUMMY breakfast.

Day 2, second location...

Beautiful lake view.

Afternoon visit to the lake.

Rainfly to keep all the condensation and crazy ants off the tent.

Gorgeous sunrise on the lake.

Morning light.

YUMMY breakfast, day #2.

Can't wait to get back out there.

Interesting read

2010-04-16T21:21:00.001-04:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041505964.html?g=0

You know, I would usually say that I whole-heartedly support this. Because there are just some times that words mean absolutely nothing to a student (or just a person) and they'll continue to act up, bully, disrespect, and disrupt. I noticed it very early on when just teaching preschoolers, so just imagine trying to discipline an older "child" when he or she may very well be bigger than some of teachers themselves are.

But in my mind, that's in a semi-perfect world, with good people. When I think about children I may have one day, and when I think about the many, many ugly and bad-intented people in this world, I begin to second-guess my above opinion. Because really, I doubt I'd be comfortable with someone else paddling my kid. I know I'm not perfect, but I also don't trust others to practice restraint or to know when is enough. Honestly, how do you decide who is worthy of deciding that kind of punishment, besides the parents? (And honestly, many parents aren't even worth of that, in my opinion... but different subject for a different day.)

So I don't really know what to think now. I do know that in today's world, only using "encouraging words" and thinking that will make the ones needing discipline "want" to just act better, in my experience, usually doesn't work.

It is interesting that since the reinstatement of the discipline, behavior has significantly improved, even though only one kid has actually received it. It's also interesting that it was reinstated due to parental request.

Which kind of brings me to what I'd say is my final opinion on this idea. In today's world, I wouldn't be comfortable with someone else paddling my kid. But I'd rather them leave that option to me. Which really drives home the thought that good parenting makes all the difference in the world. If a child is raised right and the time is invested in their life to help make them a good person, their discipline shouldn't have to extend to paddling anyway. But if it was necessary, my thought is that the schools need to inform the parents of the problems, and even send the kids home if they continue to disrupt. But leave the actual discipline to the parents. If this was years and years ago, my opinion might be different. But in this world we now live in, that would be my choice.

...What's yours?

The week we all turned yellow

2010-04-07T12:09:00.001-04:00

So things have been pretty crazy and busy around here, including the pollen. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is yellow right now. I have never seen such thick pollen before.

And this is probably why...

In early April. At 6:00pm. No wonder the blooms are taking this chance to go crazy.

This is what sticks out to me the most - the fact that there are tracks in the pollen...

Tire tracks and footprints at the parking garage entrance.

People's footprints walking towards the door at work.

Sick, sick, sick. Gross. Ick. Shudder. Achoo. Any other words I'm forgetting?

Feel Better Food

2010-03-25T17:04:00.001-04:00

When we get sick around our house, we like meals with some "umph" that will give us some energy and help our bodies fight off the gunkiness and grossness. We usually try to eat much healthier and leaner, but meals like that don't tend to offer much relief when you have the energy of a groggy turtle and moving feels like your limbs weigh a ton each. So sick meals turn into sort-of treats that we normally wouldn't have otherwise. J has a cold right now, so I picked up some extra yummy items for meals this week.

For some lunches, I found this recipe on my cousin's food blog - Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie. Haha, with a name like that, what's there not to like?? Apparently it's pretty widely known (even though I couldn't find it on my Bisquick box like the website said), but I've never made it before. We both really enjoyed it - I definitely want to make it again, and experiment with some different additions to the recipe as well. Here it is in my lunch container - probably not looking so appetizing here, but ignore the gladware and picture a pretty plate! (Why yes, that is yummy cheesy goodness all on top...)

Hamburger helper (actually chicken helper for us this time) made the cut as well - always a favorite around here. As spectacular as it always tastes though, it doesn't come across very appetizing in photos.

And last night was one of my personal favorites - always a comforting and yummy meal. Ever since I first had these years and years ago, I've absolutely loved the taste of them - pigs in a blanket. :-) As soon as I hear it, I think of kid food and smile... but hey, I'm a kid at heart, so it works.

And what goes better with pigs in a blanket than mac and cheese??

Haha, only bad part is, I'm not sick. But I'm still eating the yummy food - I can't cook it for the sick guy then not eat it myself! So, gotta get my rear doing some activity and work it all off, haha.

But until then, it's most likely Stouffer's lasagna for tonight. YUM.

A New Outlook

2010-03-17T12:32:00.004-04:00

No, not on life - a new view. At work.

I recently got to move to a new office, which is awesome news compared to my old view. The guy across our mini-hallway from me moved to another group, so I was able to move into his old office. It's a little bit smaller, but check out the change...

My walls before...

What I looked at before from sitting at my desk...

And the new one... not a great shot of the office, but check out the greatest perk (besides a real desk)...

Ah, yes, the window... so much better than staring at walls. The photo doesn't do it justice - the window is about 4 feet wide, and goes all the way up to the ceiling. As much as I love the outdoors, it's definitely helped me to at least have this sort-of-connection to it on the hard days at work. People were surprised when they saw that I left the bigger office for this one (it's not as small as the picture makes it feel). But to me, natural light and a connection to the outside world is so much better for my mental state than being cooped up in a hole full of harsh flourescent lights. I've even willingly not had the burned-out lights above my desk replaced, just so I can avoid the fake light and soak up the all-natural.

So now, the office itself is just much brighter...

(notice the way we use even cubicle walls wisely - that is my only exit)

And while we're in the sharing mode, here's my normal visual range for 8 hours of every weekday...

Haven't had time yet to add more personalization to the wall - it needs some lovely pictures and other things.

But regardless of that, now instead of only white walls and cubicle fabric,

I can see blue sky...

puffy clouds...

hazy days...

storm clouds...

and even snow.

Add that to a couple weeks of parking space issues that resulted in assignment changes that slashed my walk to work from 5 blocks to 2... and you've got a pretty good upswing in working conditions. Hooray.

Sad Pillows

2010-03-13T17:20:00.001-05:00

I found out how pitiful my old pillows really were. I'd known it for a while but put off replacing them. When I finally found some great new pillows last weekend, I did a comparison once they got home... and no, the one on the left is NOT sitting on a higher level - they are both on even ground. New is on the left, old on the right. So sad. But my neck and shoulders are now happy.

My sinuses are probably happy now too, based on what you can read out there about dust mites and all that nasty stuff that can get into your pillows and mattresses after a certain amount of time. Ick.

So what's your record time for keeping pillows? My old down one that's a standard size is still my head-prop second pillow, and I think I've had it since before college... so at least 8 years. Ew. Might be time to replace that one too. And my foam contour one is about the same age - wonder if the same rules apply to the foam ones. Haha, google, here I come for some research...

Around here lately...

2010-03-12T17:32:00.002-05:00

Not much new around here, besides the usual busy stuff... guess that contributes to my lack of blog updates...

I have been reminded yet again this week that headaches stink.

Everybody kind of seems in and out of funks, me included. Lately it's been one of those where I can really see a 180 coming, with respect to my activity levels, motivation to exercise and eat right (all the time, not just some of the time), desire to cook more, and do some of the things I've had on my things-I-want-to-do list for quite some time. Just don't feel like I'm quite on the road toward that yet. Maybe the spring weather making its way in is exactly what we all need.

I'm pretty bummed because my camera is sick and had to go away to the camera "doctor" for a little while... hopefully it can come home soon. Maybe that's where the funk comes from, mine at least... lack of being able to get out and take photos, which is something I take a lot of joy in.

Speaking of photos, I do have tons of them to upload online and share with folks. I love taking the photos, but it the sharing that I've got to work on getting better at. Haha, so don't be surprised to see photos from last summer or other events finally making their way on here at some point. I should actually take this time as an opportunity to do just that, while I'm not adding to the collection with new ones.

Speaking even more of photos, I spent Saturday night at my parents' house, stuffing photo albums with wedding pictures. The grandparents don't have internet access, so Mom wanted to take them the actual photos to be able to see in person. We got them all printed - over 1,000 photos - and Mom and I spent a few hours slotting away photos, along with a little wine, and some good laughs with Jason and Dad sitting by watching us work. :-) Here are the finished products, all 3 are honestly practically FULL of photos...

In other news, I found a new recipe to try - Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole (linky). I've been searching for recipes to use for dinners for chicken and other meats besides beef, plus some dishes that have fiber and are filling and energizing. This one fit the bill great. I used chicken instead of beef, and a few other substitutions for items I didn't have on hand, and it turned out yumm-o. Also feeds us both for 3-4 different meals. Definitely will keep this one in the rotation.

That's about all that's going on in the Lee life right now... speaking of which (topic for another time) - I just have to say that it is SUCH a pain to change your name. Seriously. I thought it was annoying to sit at the Social Security office and DMV for hours on end - those were a breeze compared to the headaches I've had with processes elsewhere. I'll stop now, or else you'd get many more paragraphs of complaints about something that should be so much simpler.

So, now THAT is all that's going on.

Such a busy world... and squeezing in life

2010-02-24T13:34:00.001-05:00

It seems lately that everyone is just so busy, me included. It feels like there are so few hours left in a day to do the things I want to get done - some days it's like there are no free hours. I wish I could find time for multitudes of things... to really keep my home as clean and organized as I'd prefer... to do all the junk purging and donating that needs to be done... to work the extra hours at work that would be so beneficial... to volunteer at the SPCA... to update this blog regularly... to post the hundreds of pictures online that I have from probably the last 12 or so months... to take the photography classes I've been yearning for... to have a consistent workout schedule... to cook the hearty and healthy meals I really want to... to spend more time outside... to actually use the many hobbies I have... to see my family and friends more... to have the consistent daily quiet time with the Lord that I want and need... and so many other things.

It looks like many other people have the same "busy" problem as I do. Many of the blogs I keep up with don't get updated like they used to. I play phone tag with people constantly. Even the people I would tag as having all the free time in the world seem to constantly be on the move.

So what's going on? Is everything in the world just getting more and more fast paced all the time? Are we doomed to just run around like crazy for the rest of our lives, with our speeds just increasing exponentially? Are any future kids I may have going to just have no hope of having any free time? (And yes, I know that in most cases kids tend to add to the busy-ness of your own life. But I tend to think that your priorities and schedules shift - I know mine would have to, because I wouldn't stay sane otherwise.)

For a long time now, I've often brainstormed about ways to slow down... to make the WORLD slow down. It seems like such an impossible feat to help the entire world do so. But for me, I could probably do it. It would take some lifestyle changes and people in my life being understanding of those changes. But a lot of times, I really think it'd be worth it. Maybe lose the cell phone for a weekend and spend that time camping and hiking in the woods, away from everything. Maybe give up some sleep... haha, sike - not a good idea - I need more now as it is. Maybe give up the few TV shows I do watch in my few spare hours a week to do some of the other things on the list. Maybe make myself even more lists than I do now, but instead of just scratching down all my random thoughts and to-dos, put aside time every day to organize my thoughts and agenda items, and make a plan so I can get it all done, and just live by a constant schedule. Heck, maybe even job changes come to mind sometimes, but that's a big consideration for another day.

This does make me think of the Andy Griffith episode with the famous tagline of, "What's your hurry?" A visiting preacher gives a sermon on slowing down in life and not being in such a hurry. Makes me wish I had as much free time as they did... sit around on a Sunday afternoon and decide to walk down the street to get ice cream, or go watch your cousin wash his car, or suddenly get the notion to revamp the old band and have a band concert the same day. :-) Here's the link to the episode if you want to see it (this is the first third, the next two are right after it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz_LNzUcaN4&feature=related.

I was searching for a funny "busy" picture to include here before I published, and I found this cartoon that perfectly depicts the priorities of the majority of today's world... made me laugh, so here ya go...

(found here: http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2008/04/busy-times.html)

And this one is pretty good too, for a reality of the usual excuse for not exercising...

(found here: http://pastorsteveweaver.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/too-busy-to-exercise/)

Anyway, these are more just thoughts out loud, but I'm really curious if anyone else has had a time of evaluation that I seem to be having at the moment. If so, did you make schedule or lifestyle changes? Haha, or did you just come to grips with the fact that you'll be running around like a madman forever?

(I did just realize, however, that running around like crazy does fit the name and idea of the blog... "The Nut House." But I do need some satisfaction of being able to do some of the things I want to do in life as well. Just need to find some middle ground is all... keep some of the craziness and nuttiness, but fit it in with the rest. Haha, I think I'm even going to create a new label for it.)

Whistler-Blackcomb and the Winter Olympics!

2010-02-12T12:27:00.006-05:00

With all the talk about the Winter Olympics starting soon, I thought it was a fitting time to show the fantastic trip that Jason and I were able to take last winter - especially since I've never put anything up on here about it before, and it's such a cool place. We went to Whistler-Blackcomb for a week, which is a ski resort/town in British Columbia, Canada, comprised of two giant mountains that are side by side. It is one of the locations for many of the events in the Winter Olympics this year, which are based in Vancouver. Jason had been to Whistler one time before, many years ago, with a bigger group, and only got to stay for a few days. He hardly got a true taste of the place, so he really wanted to go back. His desire rubbed off on me, and before long we were both so excited to go. We got the trip planned and booked, and went to our little lookout spot at the airport multiple times a week, just anticipating and getting excited to go. Looking back now, I really think of it as a trip of a lifetime. Sure, you can drive a few hours to go skiing all the time around here at our state's little resorts. But Whistler is world-class - I mean, it's the home for the Winter Olympics. But it's a place that takes a good bit of effort and time from this side of the country to get to. Then once there, I really was in awe the whole time at how majestic this earth can really be, and the many ways how God can demonstrate the grandeur of this world, along with how small we really are. The beauty of it all was just amazing, and it's something that you just don't see every day.

So, I'll stop with the talk and get going with the photo stream...

We started with a flight that took off before dawn, so we got to enjoy a gorgeous sunrise from the air along with a nice, quiet, cool morning 2-hour flight...

We landed for our connection in Chicago, and got our first taste of snow earlier than expected...

O'Hare had a really cool underground tunnel that takes you between terminals, actually going underneath the taxiways. J was more concerned with keeping us on schedule, but I totally was enthralled with the experience. I also took a video of going through the tunnel, which I'll have to find and get on here.

After we boarded our plane in Chicago, it slowly backed up to get out onto the apron. We then sat there for over an hour, before we ever even moved forward, with no word from anybody who would know what was going on. After quite a miserable time of sitting and lots of de-icing of the wings, we finally felt the plane get going again and start to move forward. The sun baked us in the plane like meatloaf in the oven for the 4 hour flight, and we finally landed in Vancouver not a moment too soon. We spent over an hour slowly winding forward in the line for customs, right behind some very fashion-forward (read: fashion-strange) girls, admiring their skill to keep standing in some sky-high heels.

After some QandA from the customs lady, we went to find our bags from the various bag areas, praying our snowboard bag had made it through. We finally found it in a random pile of the oddly-sized items, then had to somehow find our way to the correct bus to get us to Whistler. After some wrong lines and misguided information from airport people, we finally found the lady that would direct us to our bus. We were the LAST two people to get on this short-bus, and I ended up with the window seat above the tire (aka the one with no leg space). Yay for a three-hour drive in icy slush at dusk up a road called the "Sea to Sky Highway" that overlooks cliffs. :-) Thank goodness the windows were foggy and it was getting dark, so I didn't get so freaked on the ride up there. And thank goodness for a travel partner who doesn't mind when I need to stretch out my poor legs over his lap.

Our bus driver LOVED to talk, but unfortunately he couldn't multi-task, so his driving severely slowed whenever he was having conversation. The dude sitting up front apparently didn't realized this, and kept him in conversation for the entire drive up there. But, thank goodness Jason and I had each other for company and distraction. We also took a short pit-stop in Squamish at a fast-food restaurant, which let us get a little air. When we finally made it to Whistler, in the dark, after a full day of travel, we learned that the driver barely knew his way around the resort. It was then, thanks to his endless chatter, that we found out he wasn't a regular driver - he was one of the owners/planners for the shuttle company who doesn't even live around there. He had to come fill in because the scheduled driver couldn't make it. So, after driving all over creation, secretly fearing we were stuck maaaaany times on really steep driveways, and actually having to direct our driver around because we knew more from our online research and learning for the trip than the driver did, Jason and I were the LAST people to get dropped off at our hotel. Ours was a partner hotel with the one nextdoor, so you had to check in there and get keycards to get into our hotel. We got it all done, trudged across the snow with our bags, and finally got into the lobby - SO thankful to finally be there. But, we were treated with quite the lovely first view upon arrival, which definitely helped... (sorry it's blurry - but it's snowing, and I love all the Christmas lights!)

Me outside our hotel, finally here!!! Look at all the snow!

Inside our hotel lobby - I secretly want one of these chandeliers for our future home... j/k. Maybe if it's in the mountains. :-)

Huuuuuge fireplace in the lobby that I thoroughly enjoyed...

And after documenting the lobby, we finally made it into our room. I L-O-V-E-D where we stayed, and I would so enjoy having something just like this every single day of my life. The best part of the kitchen (besides the granite counters, huge frig, awesome appliances, and everything needed to cook provided)? The tile floors are HEATED. Yes, they are WARM. Oh my gosh, I just stood there every morning, basking in the warmth that radiated up through my cold little feet. The bathroom also had them, and both rooms had a thermostat for the floors. Haha, so innovative, and so cool. I would just love to have that every day. That was probably one of our favorite parts of the entire hotel. So serious.

We also loved the view out the living room - it looked up the side of one of the mountains, the pool areas, and at the other side of the semi-circle hotel. So beautiful.

On the first morning there, this is the gorgeous early-light view we were treated to. Everything was so calm.

We did some walking around and getting to know the area on the first day. This is Creekside Gondola, right outside our hotel. That run directly up the left of the photo is part of the Dave Murray Downhill, which is the run being used for the men's alpine event in the Olympics. I can't WAIT to see it on TV and know that I've been right there!

We caught the shuttle to the main village to explore a bit there. It's more of the "happening" place, if you will, but also therefore louder at night and busier. We chose to stay in Creekside, which was the original "village" before what is the main village now existed. Creekside is quieter and more serene, which we really liked. But it still has all the necessities - restaurants, bank, grocery store, ski shop, etc. The main village just has more of that, plus lots of shopping and more restaurant variety. Here are two of the beautiful hotels in the village, right at the base of the mountain. You barely have to walk out the doors to get to the lifts.

The lift map for Blackcomb mountain - all lifts were currently open on that mountain. Not all lifts were always open though, because there had been a lot of dangers of avalanches that season, which were causing lifts and runs in the higher elevations to close.

Looking up one of the main runs from the village, at the base of Whistler mountain.

The lift lines and base station (in the building) of Whistler Gondola. This became one of our favorite lifts, because it has a station in the middle of the mountain where you can get off, or load there to go up as well as down. We used this at the times we were exploring and taking some photos, so we could ride up to the station to see the views and take lots of photos, but be able to come back down without having to cart all the gear around with us. Also notice that there is NO line for the lift. We apparently came at the perfect down time in the middle of the season, because we never once had to wait in a line longer than just a few minutes. It was great, and definitely unexpected.

The base of the Blackcomb Gondola, later in the afternoon. You can see on the map how the higher lifts were closed on Whistler mountain.

This is the view that afternoon outside our hotel - I just love the snow on the trees. It's one of those beautiful views that I could never get tired of looking at.

Later that night, we caught the Fire and Ice Show that they put on every weekend during the winters at Whistler. It's run by the Whistler-Blackcomb staff, and the ski and snowboard school instructors are the cool dudes and gals doing all the tricks. I've never seen anything like this in person, so it was quite a show. I really enjoyed it, and I was lucky enough to get a front row spot next to the rails. The hill is actually built up just for this show - it is right at the bottom of the run that you can see from the village in the photo above. This is one of the snowcats grooming the hill before the show started...

We watched as they did some practice runs...

We watched some cool ladies throw and spin fire around for a while to techno music...

Then they lit the ring of fire, and spun wreaths of flames around their heads...

Then came the tricks! It really was cool to watch the amazing things these folks can do. Not to mention the ability to ski (or snowboard!) behind the snowmobiles that pulled them back up the hill every time for their next run. Haha, kind of reminded me of waterskiing and wakeboarding, but a lot harder looking.

And here's all the awesome instructors that put on the show for us...

We hung around for a little while after the show and got to see the snowcats completely maul the hill of snow and flatten it back out for the next day's ski crowds. It really was cool to see how much snow they have to work with and do whatever they want with.

Speaking of lots of snow, check out this video for how much snow Whistler has been dumped this season so far. It's WAY more than they got last year when we were there, and even then I couldn't believe how much there was. So the Games should be awesome!! Check out the snow... http://video.whistlerblackcomb.com/tv/125/media-25942-channel--page-1.html

And, as a good ending for now, check out the aerials in the beginning of this video. One of them has a good view of both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, side by side, with the village at the base of the both, so you get a good idea of the setup of the entire place. I just watch it, and it stirs up this want to go back so badly! I'm just in awe when I see it and realize that I. have. been. there. So awesome... http://video.whistlerblackcomb.com/tv/125/

More photos, trip details, and cool info on Whistler-Blackcomb to come. The Olympic opening ceremonies are tonight!

The past week or so

2010-02-03T11:47:00.002-05:00

Besides all the snow, here are a few semi-interesting things that have been going on in the past week or so, in a more interesting picture format...

Enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise through RDU on my way to work.

Finally got assigned a permanent parking space at work... and of course, of all the open spots, I get the one with a tree canopy two feet above my roof. Hooray for bird poop, little berries, and blooms that will undoubtedly cover the FJ soon. Not to mention the lovely feeling of anticipation I'll have during thunderstorms at work, wondering if I'll have another crack in my windshield. Can't wait.

One might say that being a corner, oversized spot is great... until you come back to work after the snowstorm and find that they've used your corner as the piling up point, and didn't bother to make room for most of your vehicle. Good thing I wore my Goretex boots today, and good thing they have a good rubber toe for kicking blocks of snow.

Ahem, enough of that...

Incorporated breakfast for supper back into the meal plans. YUM.

(Hooray for free Krispy Kreme donut coupons from people at work... and hooray for the store being only a few blocks away from work!)

Made a scrumptious chocolate pie, after J's continual requests

Totally enjoyed the still-warm pie - something we don't get to do very often at all... then shared this pic with Mom and Dad. :-)

Incorporated raisins back into my snacks... which brought back many fond memories of California Raisins from when I was little. I had a complete set of toy figurines, and there's a picture somewhere at home of me and the Raisins at an NC State football game. Gotta find that.

Caught a beautiful sunset through the airport on my way home... not so good with the camera phone, but hey. Squint a little if needed. I love the clouds.

Included cinammon rolls in our snow day breakfasts... special treat for us. YUM.

Started cooking some fish... made some yummy salmon and mashed potatoes last night. One of the prettier plates I've made, haha - I don't cook for presentation quite yet!

(I must say though, the fish oils I usually take are great because they don't give you fish taste later at all... definitely can't say that about eating the real thing!)

Hmm, do you notice a theme with all the food? Haha, oh well. Cooking (and eating) is fun.

I did have a snow video from the phone, but I need to change the file format later. And the snow photos are on the desktop, so all that will come next time. Good news is though that I finally got J to try the Greek place near home, and he loved it... it is now one of our go-to place when we eat out. Who'da thought?

Taking photos throughout the days like this really makes me think about doing the 365 Photo Project - it's something I've read about for a while and have considered. Just need to carry the small real camera with me, instead of relying just on the camera phone. Just might start it up here soon.

I also got a lot of cleaning done at home during the snow days... much of it has been on my to-do list for quite some time, and streamlining is one of my big current goals. And putting a big dent in that definitely feels good. Now I'm in that groove where I feel the need to get in there and finish it all. So truthfully, I should say... hooray for wanting to clean!

I'll bake you a pie... and update you while I'm here

2010-01-26T13:40:00.002-05:00

Or a loaf of bread, or a bun, or a bagel, or some cake.... or whatever else Miss Sara Lee has available in your local grocery store... even sausage, hot dogs, or cocktail weenies (apparently Sara Lee owns Hillshire Farms, Ball Park, Jimmy Dean, and multiple other brands, even in other countries...) Anyway, Mrs. Lee here. Yep, I got married! So go ahead, get out the jokes if you've got'em. I've already gotten a few laughs. :-) I actually think it's pretty cool... and shorter and easier to write than the former last name, haha! Not nearly as unique though. :-) I mean, how often do you get to have two Z's in your name? Good thing that one gets to stay in the middle. (The other middle sort of stays too, which is always fun...)

I've been waiting to publish a new blog post so I could include some photos from the wedding weekend and the beach, but I just haven't found the time at home to actually sit down, get on the desktop where we keep the photos, organize them all, and get them posted. So I figured I'd go ahead and get this one out, seeing how I've had it saved for about a week now, and the darn straw thing was the last time I had time to post, and wow was that an interesting one (sike...) ...

I think life's going to be a *bit* slower now (or at least not as hectic), which will hopefully allow more time to be on here and do some of the things I really love and that fulfill me (being married certainly does, but planning and organizing a wedding... not so much, haha...). Staying active and exercising are one of the top ones right now - I've had so little time to dedicate to that, and now it's something I can finally jump back into full swing. I plan to really dive into photography a lot deeper than I've been able to as well. We've looked into some classes, so hopefully I can get all that together soon. I also have been wanting to volunteer with animals for a long time, ever since I visited the shelter last year (well, for years actually, but that just made it a lot more real). Also on the list are getting back into my music - my guitar and I have been apart for way too long. I also haven't read a good book in a really long time, and I miss that so much. (Any good book recommendations from you find folks for me to get back into it are certainly welcomed!) J and I have also discussed multiple other hobbies, and I'm really excited about it all, so I'm really looking forward to everything... and having TIME to do it all... or at least attempt to fit it all in.

Not much else has been going on lately. We've been settling in and trying to get motivated to streamline things a bit and stay active. It was a tough first week back at work - not workwise, but just getting back into the groove. I added up the actual days I was gone - I took off from work Wednesday 1/8 through the end of the week, plus all the next week (thereby thoroughly exhausting my vacation time...), then we also had Monday off for the holiday. So when I came back on Tuesday 1/19, I'd basically been gone from work for two whole weeks. Definitely makes for a rough start back into the normal work schedule. I've basically evened out now, and I'm starting to feel a lot better - I tend to get just tired feeling and unmotivated when I'm out of sync like that. Even this past weekend I felt like that. But yesterday something got ahold of me, and I actually got a lot done at home. So I'm hoping this is finally the motivation I've been looking for, and I hope it sticks around. There are a lot of things I need to get done, plus a lot of things I just want to do and take part in. And I want to feel energized and excited about it all.

Let's see, what other news is there... I'm in the process of changing my name, legally. Now there's something fun for ya. Social security, DMV, passport office, bank, car insurance, health insurance, work email, business cards, work directory... not to mention all the random places. Blegh. So far, I've accomplished social security, and that one took an hour waiting at the office, and a few hours off work. Can't wait to do the rest... I love that my passport was renewed just over a year ago. If it's been renewed in the past 12 months, you aren't charged for a name change. But over a year, and it's the entire application and fees all over again... yaaay.

In other (not so important, but still funny) news, Jason got his first pair of "slippers" yesterday. I don't know what everybody calls them... I live in my Dearfoam ones at home and have always used some as long as I can remember. I always called them "bedroom shoes" haha. He's always thought they were silly, but multiple times before, he's complained of having cold sock feet, and I'll offer him a slipper for a few minutes, and he just oohs and aahs at the wonderful warmth. :-) Anyway, he saw some really nice men's ones in Macy's before Christmas that were all nice and cushy and warm-looking. I never made it back over there for them, but I looked around closer to home for some others. I never found any worth getting, but we happened to see some while out last night. We got them home, and after complaining that his foot wasn't going to fit, and some coercing from me, he now absolutely loves them, haha. So we'll see if the warm, loving feeling for the slippers sticks around. :-)

Nothing much else that I can think of right now. It's good to be back, and hopefully I can find some time to sit down and get some photos up for ya here soon. This is the only one I have access to right now...

It's me on the beach on the honeymoon... North Carolina's beach, that is... in January. :-) No tropical clear waters and swimsuit, just windpants and a sweatshirt, haha. J captured this one of me, which is rare because I'm hardly ever in the photos, since I'm usually behind the camera. But on this trip, we both had to share, haha - we discovered that it's not going to be too long before we both need our own camera. We came to the realization that he's definitely the landscape photographer - he loves the lighting, colors, speeds... which I'm still trying to learn. But I'm the people and action photographer. I have hundreds of bird photos from the trip (in my defense, I saw more birds this time than I EVER have down there before... plus I finally had the right kind of camera to capture them). I also love capturing the people at our familiy events, and I'm always the one that tries to convince J to pose for a picture with me wherever we are.

Haha, what a far cry we are from when I was a kid, going everywhere with my 35mm Olympus, carrying around plenty of extra rolls of film, running off AA batteries, asking Mom and Dad to take me to Eckerd Photo to drop off and pick up my many packs of photos, spending all my money on prints that you can never anticipate the outcome of until you see them... (Which reminds me, I've got a huge bin at home of photos I need to take the time to transfer to digital - what a task that will be!!) Or for a different perspective, what a far cry we are from when J was a kid, running around with his Polaroid. :-) But now, we can take 1000+ high resolution (aka HUGE) photos on this crazy, teeny-tiny invention called a memory card, or even 2000+ smaller photos... and with 4 cards so far, I can go quite a ways... we even have a hard drive dedicated to photos and movies alone, which is going to be full before I know it. We have so many awesome photos and wonderful family memories we've been able to capture (and ensure were actually captured). It's just so hard to look back at the little 35mm (which is probably still in a box with my old photos, haha!) and imagine trying to capture the same memories and photos. J has even commented multiple times at how much he can learn now with digital, vs. his film SLR that he learned on years ago. I just love it.

Anyway, back on TOPIC - in this photo, I love the reflection he captured on the wet sand. He can just look for and find things like that, which never ceases to amaze me. Our rule is that you can't go to the beach without getting in the ocean. It actually warmed up to the 60s at the end of our trip, so we decided to go out barefoot for a while. The water was still cold enough to make your feet numb after about 5 seconds, haha, but it was definitely fun, and definitely worth it to feel the sand under my feet. I absolutely love it, and there's nothing like it. More photos to come! (Including some AH-MAZING sunsets from the landscape guy...)

The straw dilemma

2009-12-29T18:43:00.000-05:00

So this is pretty pitiful, and probably not interesting to many... but I'd like to see what people think about this.

Every time I go to Chick Fil A, which is pretty much the only place I get take-out, they give me straws in the bag to go. I take it home, and Jason and I don't use straws - we take the lids off and drink from the cup itself. I hate to be wasteful though, so I put the straws in a drawer in the kitchen. The other day, while searching for something else in that drawer, I got fed up with the mound of straws. So I took them out, and I was amazed at the amount. I've probably been keeping them for at least a year, and I don't even get take out food that much. I started keeping them just as a thought of, "Hey, I might have some other use for them some day, or might run into a time when I need straws." (Hahahahaha, right...)

So here's what came out...

I keep my asparagus rubber bands... I rather think the straws now rather fondly resemble asparagus from the store...

These picture actually don't make it look so bad. But I promise, I was having issues even holding them all at once. They were OVERFLOWING in my kitchen drawer, where they probably took up 80-90% of the space.

As far as I know, straws aren't recyclable, which is sad, because I'd have many to throw that way. So does anybody need a bunch of straws? I just hate throwing things away. And how do I stop the pile from growing even more? Do I hand them back every time after fishing them out of the bag while in line at the drive thru before I pull away? Can I take my asparagus bunch of straws back to Chick Fil A every now and then and tell them I don't need them? Or maybe just throw them into the straw container at the condiment counter? :-) Should I tell them as I order my food that I don't need straws? Haha, because those people are so speedy that I don't even have time to do that when I pull up to the window before I get my bag handed out to me.

So what to do with the extra?

My favorite Christmas commercial

2009-12-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share it... I think most people have probably seen this many times. It's been around as long as I can remember, and it comes on every year. I used to play handbells too, so it's fun in that respect. My favorite part is the little sigh of exhaustion at the end. :-)

(Those of you on FB will need to go to the blog to see the video...)

I gave in to the holidays

2009-12-22T09:11:00.001-05:00

So I've been a total blog slacker. Not without reason though - I am getting married in just a few short weeks, after all. I hope things will slow down significantly after that, but somehow I have a feeling that they won't anyway. We shall see.

Well, I know I complained about everybody and their brother bringing out Christmas way too early, even before Halloween for goodness sake! But last week something got into me and I finally gave in. I figured it's a week out, it's ok. So I went upstairs, moved the stuff away from the wall, and opened the little door to the lovely attic crawl space that is such a *great* perk of apartment living (you know what I'm talking about... the little child-size doors that open to a dark space of plywood and insulation up under the roof, which serves as your "storage space"). I tried to hold my breath as much as possible to avoid all the dust as I continued to get aggravated at the lack of storage space, as I always do. After pulling out numerous boxes, bags, and bins, I finally found a few things worth keeping out.

My first item on the agenda was the lighted garland. Here is the final result (this is something I usually do each year, so it was an easy choice to pull out)...

(Forgive the cell phone photos... these are of the stair railing.)

The little bow is either from my mom or one of the grandmothers, I can't recall... but I think it's fun. Cute Santas are always fun.

Thank goodness I'd kept all the garland in a box together, along with the bow. I even labeled the box before I put it away last year - probably knowing how annoyed I would get trying to find it again if I didn't do so.

I usually have a mid-sized tree I'll put up, but I decided against pulling all that out this year. At my bridal shower a few weeks ago, they had a little tree, and everyone brought different snowflake ornaments to put on it. It turned out beautifully, and it's also very special to me now since so many people contributed to it. So I decided just to put that up in my place instead of the big tree this year. Here it is...

All the snowflakes are from family and friends. There are even some famiy heirlooms on there that have been handmade and around for a very long time, so it's a great keepsake. And I've got a tree up now. :-)

That's all I did last week, but everyone around here was hanging up wreaths on their doors, so I decided to go dig mine out too on Sunday. The wreath was in its own box. But I had to do MUCH searching, digging, box shifting, and sneezing before finding the hanger. Unfortunately, for some reason, it was put up in a big bin labeled "Christmas Stuff" - haha, what was I thinking? THAT's a title that's going to help me out a lot. Anyway, here ya go (bow credit to my mom, hehe)...

So, that's it for the Christmas decorations. There are about 10 more boxes of stuff I could drag out up in that darn little storage area, but I wasn't going through that hassle this year. I also gave in to some hints by a certain someone who really wanted some sausage balls, so they got baked this weekend as well. I even find myself stopping on the Christmas radio station every now and then to hear the rest of the song. Most still get on my nerves, since it's all basically the same set of songs done over and over different ways by different people... but hey, I guess that's just something to deal with.

Honestly, I truly hope everyone is having a good holiday season. Spend time with the people who are important to you, and make sure they know that. Remember the true reason that we celebrate Christmas, which is our Lord. It's easy to get swept up in the holiday craziness all around us, so just make sure you take a few steps back and keep it all in perspective with what (and who) is really important to you. :-)

Grease

2009-12-08T20:51:00.000-05:00

Just had to share that I'm sitting here on my couch, working on wedding plans, and watching Grease... and laughing... and singing along (haha, should I be embarrassed about that?)... Greased Lightening just went off. What makes me laugh even more than the movie itself and all of them dancing and flying around is the fact that I know all the words.

The Martins, Acapella

2009-11-28T00:34:00.002-05:00

So in my search to find the name for that hymn the chimes played last night that I just can't remember for the LIFE of me, I've been scrounging around the internet for lists of hymns from hymn books and all. For some reason, a song rang a bell in my head that I know well from years ago. My grandparents like the Gaithers, and I grew up with a lot of the hymns and songs they sang. So yes, I'm a gospel fan. :-) With my parents, we had some CDs of music from some absolutely amazing groups that would perform on there. This was one of them... their performance of "The Doxology." I found videos of them on youtube, and I've been sitting here for over an hour, while I wrote the last post, listening to their various songs. It captures me. It's just incredible what these people can do with their voices. I don't care what kind of music you like - you can't deny the beauty in this harmony and in the amazing talent they have. It gives me goosebumps. Plus, the message in itself and the song are beautiful already on their own. (Tip: Seriously, don't watch... just listen first.)

If you want more, check this next one out from the same group... totally different feel and is a bit bouncy at the beginning, but the last half is insane. Gospel doesn't get much better than this.

Haha, and a hilarious tip from a comment at the bottom - check out Mark Lowry at 1:36. :-)

And now, I must go to bed... with some great music in mind. (By the way - I enjoy this in my head MUCH more than Christmas music!! Yes, I'm still putting it off as long as possible! :-) )

Thanksgiving and more

2009-11-27T23:56:00.001-05:00

I'm thankful for so many things I've been blessed with in my life. I often find myself thinking how thankful I am for even the smallest things... Like my fuzzy slippers that keep my ice-cold feel warm (speaking of... I just reminded myself to go get them!)... Or the little toaster oven that can bake just a few cookies in under 15 minutes from start of preheat to eating time... Or the dimmer switch in my bathroom that my handy man so nicely installed for me (after months of me begging him to grab one and put in, hehe) so I don't blind myself in the mornings with crazy-insane bright lights... who ever thought that was a good idea anyway?? It's so much better to get ready in the half-dark bathroom. :-) At least it is for my eyes.

Anyway, back to the subject. Small things are so important. But the big things have the huge impact. One of the things I am most thankful for in this life is family. Mine is incredibly supportive, loving, caring, funny, and so great to be around... and that's extended family as far out as I've ever met. Not much goes on around here without family being present... holidays, of course, being a primary example.

This year's Thanksgiving was a little different schedule than we're used to, but so far, it's been a blast. We're actually having another get-together tomorrow, so a few of us are getting two Thanksgivings, haha. Yesterday was hanging out with the Ezzell clan, and I so enjoyed it all. I absolutely love my family, and I mean that in all honesty. It's just good to spend time with people.

So, now that the sappy part is out of the way, here's a little photo-story of Thanksgiving, yesterday...

(All that really happened prior to this photo, that's worth mentioning, was before we even got out of the car at the grandparents' house. Jacob and I went earlier than everybody else, so I could make my casserole and we could hang out with them a bit. As we turned onto the street they live on, my heart jumped into my throat at the sight of a fire truck down at the next block. I know my eyes are bad, but I always think the worst, and it certainly did look to be near their house. Jacob, always casual and unassuming, assured me it was nothing. Turns out, the truck was actually at the house right next door to the grandparents' house. The guys were in the process of leaving, and nothing appeared to be wrong. Haha Grandmom didn't even know they'd been there, so there obviously wasn't a big to-do. Thank goodness. So we proceeded with our morning. :-) )

I made my casserole at Grandmom's...

While the guys did the usual... :-)

Dad did come play Turkey Carver for a while...

So I took Dad's place in the hang-out room...

Took a few pictures before the meal...

This is actually my only food plate shot... this is one of Jacob's "pose" faces - haha, I promise he really was having a good time :-) ...

I got evidence of everybody chowin' down...

Jacob and I took our usual places at the "kids" table (as it will probably always be called) - no worries, we still like it...

Got a shot of the dessert spread (and a dog trying to be sneaky) before we dug in...

All we Ezzells have our quirks... Alli's is apparently a love of mac and cheese (we already knew that one!) alongside chocolate dessert... (no worries, she did at least admit that the bites with both tasted strange, haha)...

And a nice shot before we left...

And along with dessert always comes the time to sit around and have good conversation. I like getting little slice-of-life videos, and I grabbed one of a funny story here. Dad is talking about the happenings of their wedding day - Granddad had to go into surgery that same day, so Mom and Dad left from the wedding, in all the attire, and drove straight down the Interstate all the way to see Granddad... and headed right into the ER after hours to go find his room.

As we were seeing Connie and Steve and the girls off outside, the 6:00 bells began to chime at the church down the street. This is something my dad grew up hearing, as they ring hymns every day at 6PM. It's such a beautiful sound... I captured a bit of some of them. It was dark out, so the video might be boring if you don't like hymns. But I grew up with so many of them in church, and all of these were ones I knew by heart. I loved sitting out there last night and listening to them. Since it was Thanksgiving Day, they added an additional fourth song, since they usually only play three. Yesterday's selections were fitting... "Because He Lives," a song I'm racking my brain for but can't remember for the lift of me, "In the Garden," and "How Great Thou Art." These videos are of the last two, in respective order.

So that's about it for Thanksgiving 2009, Part 1. Part 2 comes tomorrow.

Today was an interesting break inbetween the two. Last year was one of the few years I've ever actually gotten up early and fought the crowds to get some Black Friday deals, and I definitely scored on some stuff then (although I basically got all Christmas shopping done then!). I'm trying to not spend much this time around though, despite the fact that there are SO many good deals, and so many things I'd like to have. So in my typical sales paper browsing I do on Thanksgiving Day, I made a list of the few items I was looking for. And last night, I was thrilled to find that many of the places I was considering going today had everything online too. So I was able to get one item I wanted online. I ended up able to get up and take my time this morning, and Jason and I headed out late morning to check out a few things. Wolf Camera was a cinch, and they even let you order the items that are out of stock in the store at the sale price... I love it when stores don't pull the rip-off with the fine print (3 minimum per store, no rainchecks... blah blah blah). Kohls was a different story... I only wanted a few clothes items, so I walked towards the line areas with said items in hand. Haha, I think my jaw probably dropped when I saw the line. It was INSANE. I honestly can't believe people were waiting in it - some only had a few shirts or what not. Haha, so I promptly turned around and put the items back. Jason had dropped me off, and was so ready to get out of the parking lot - apparently it was a mad house. And this was even at 1:00... guess people were trying to make the doorbuster deadline, haha. The mall was even worse... so we stopped and called it a day.

Something noteworthy did present itself before our first stop today. We parked right in front of the camera store, next to the sidewalk. There was a man there tending to his baby in a stroller, and there was a puppy right next to them, with his leash tied to the bench. The man was kind of grinning at the dog but not interacting, which I found odd. When we came back out of the store, the man was gone, but the puppy was still there, confirming my thought that the dog didn't belong to the man. A few people walking by kept crouching down to pet it a while, but then would get up and keep on walking. I kind if asked aloud to Jason what we could do, because someone obviously had left it or was too busy with their shopping to make arrangements for their dog. We left, because people kept stopping and tending to the dog. I was pretty worried (aka ticked off) though... animal cruelty and negligence is something I don't take lightly at all. I won't get into all that... but it just makes me angry - no matter if someone actually left the dog there on purpose, knowing that a kind stranger would take care of what they're too lazy to do themselves... or if someone was just so incompetent and uncaring that they decided to tie up their puppy while they did a little shopping or had lunch in a nice heated restaurant. I don't care, there's no excuse. We had lunch nearby, so we drove back by afterwards to check. I was fully prepared to pull the guilt trip and at least beg Jason to drive us to take the dog to the SPCA adoption center if it was still there, because it certainly didn't deserve to go back to the people who left it there, even if they did plan to come back. (Yes, I had already jokingly mentioned "rescuing" the puppy ourselves, and let it become part of our family... and how it could conveniently save us adoption fees in the dog we eventually want to get, haha... and that "joke" was quite denied... oh well, in due time.) Thankfully, the puppy wasn't there any more. I'm happy that it's at least out of the cold. I can only hope that it's with somebody more responsible now. If I could have, I would have had no problem taking that dog home without even a note left on the bench. I just pray he's happy, warm, and cozy - it's reeeeally getting cold out tonight!

Hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday and is getting to enjoy a long weekend...

Random musings of the day...

2009-11-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

Just a few of my thoughts from today...

There are just certain days that it seems like the stupid people come out on the road... all at the same time. Or, as I also like to say, everybody wore their stupid hats. Today was one of those days. Hmm, random braking all over the interstate - seems like a good idea to me! Swerving all over the place, especially a few feet from my bumper - always fun for all! Sheesh...

I also was reminded today of just how lazy people can be. I was working on entering paper surveys, and it just amazes me how few people actually write legibly and make sense of their words and thoughts. I was able to decipher most of it pretty well, but it is frustrating to spend so much time doing that when all it would take is them taking 2 more seconds to write so that somebody else could read it. But it just reminds me of how lazy and conditioned the world has become, with each person being allowed to think it's all about them, and that's all that matters. It would be such a better place to live if everyone stepped back a little from that. And I truly believe you get what you give.

And lastly, if you live in the Triangle area and are not ready for Christmas spirit, do NOT (repeat, DO NOT) go to the following radio stations: 106.1, 101.5, 102.9 and 99.5. (Am I missing any??) Surprisingly, 93.9 has not joined in yet. Maybe they figure everyone else is doing enough already and they're just going to stick with their normal continual Christmas during all of December. I found all this out today by flipping through the preset stations in the car, trying to find some normal music, making sure to avoid hitting 106.1, as I found that one out yesterday MORNING (yes, a Monday morning... that was fun). So while channel surfing today, I changed over to my rarely-used FM2 presets. Loved the surprise when even 2 of those had jumped on the wagon. So I had to break out the CDs. Seriously, are all the stations going to have a monopoly come December and make us listen to NOTHING but Christmas music?

Aaaaand to top it all off, the TV commercials on right now are all playing Christmas music. YAY. Same thing happened last night - I had Jingle Bells stuck in my head, which of course isn't going to fly. So I had to go rock out to some real music before bed, just so I wouldn't fade into winter wonderland and dream of Christmas yet.

I'll leave you with one of those truly awesome songs... always makes everything better. :-)

It just keeps getting worse...

2009-11-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

...and it looks like it's only going to continue getting worse. Guess I just need to brace myself until New Years.

I get see this while walking to grab lunch in downtown. The leaves are still falling off the trees, for crying out loud!!

It's a bit hard to see because it's a cell phone picture, but the second one is wreaths, lining the entire street, as far as you can see. I love how there's still leaves on the trees, right next to the wreaths.

Good grief. Craziness.

A non-cooking night for me!

2009-11-11T21:59:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to share the nice thing Jason did for me tonight - he took care of the cooking. Always a nice thing to not have to worry with that once in a while. :-)

Taking a peak...

Servin' it up...

The whole spread, on my fun old thanksgiving placemats. :-)

He baked some awesome porkchops and sweet potatoes, with some LeSueur peas (my favorite!!). I was in charge of putting the rolls in the oven and finishing making the tea. :-) Not bad compared to the amount of cooking I usually do.

By the way, if you want some really nice-smelling fall scents, Bath and Body Works has a yummy pumpkin scented candle. I've got a little one burning in that picture above... it's just enough without being too much. Puts me in the fall mood, especially in all this rainy weather! (aka NOT Christmas mood!!!)

Well, it was nice to have the day off (work, I mean...)! Back to work tomorrow...

Yeah, more Christmas...

2009-11-07T10:22:00.000-05:00

So this was in Target as soon as I walked in the other day...

Yay, even more Christmas! They're even playing Christmas songs on TV commercials now too... it's getting ridiculous. I can't wait to see how else they're going to immerse us in the holidays.

Seriously... Christmas, now?

2009-11-03T22:06:00.000-05:00

(Note: This picture is posted with much sarcasm on my part, courtesy of Target.)

The past few years, I've really gotten sick of the "Christmas spirit." We're hit with it from all sides so much that I'm sick of it before December even comes around, let alone Christmas itself.

But this year, it's already gone too far. I mean, waaaaayyy too far. Weeks ago, Jason and I were walking down the second floor in the mall, and they already had the little Christmas trees hanging from the balcony. We stopped with jaws dropped when we saw those, looked down, and saw that they were setting up for Santa's huge area down on the first floor. In early OCTOBER.

Mom and I went to Asheville this weekend for some wedding work. Biltmore already has up the Christmas tree in the winery, and the big tree is up in the fountain in front of the house. But I give them a break, because they do the Christmas candlelight evenings. BUT last year, the Candlelight evenings started the last weekend of November, which was when we actually went to see it all. But this year, they're starting on November 6... which meant they had the trees up on Halloween, when we were there! I mean, come on, Christmas decorations in October, really? I just went to Biltmore's website, and apparently they're already geared up, lit up, and ready for the Christmas-happy visitors...

(Photo credit Biltmore.com)

[Note: I am not bashing Biltmore in any way. I love Biltmore. :-) ]

Mom and I did some shopping yesterday as well. Went in a few stores, and all was fine. Then we set foot in Kohls. Not a few minutes in, and we reached a quiet area. You know those times when suddenly you can hear the music in department stores? Well it happened... and I couldn't believe my ears. Keep in mind, this was NOVEMBER 2nd, people. Halloween was only 2 days before. The words I began to hear over the speakers were... "Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful..." I can't describe the icky feeling I had inside. I shuddered. I shook my head. I think I made some disgruntled noises out loud to my mom, halfway hoping the nearby employee stocking the shoes would hear me. Ugh. I mean, I hear that song, and typically feel the epitome of Christmas spirit. It should be cold outside, with Christmas day shortly over the horizon. Snow is optional, but welcomed. Cozy fires are preferred. But November 2, when I'm surrounded in the majority of the store by pumpkins, cornucopias, fall-colored leaves, turkey decorations, and Halloween costumes on clearance?? REALLY?? I was so close to finding the manager of the store and asking what the heck they were thinking. But I just couldn't stand to be in the store much longer. We left, and I had to shudder some more once I walked out and get that way-too-early Christmas feeling out.

Next stop was Michaels, for some craft supplies. I won't get on my soapbox again, but you can probably guess what they were playing... what else but more Christmas music? Plus, in these stores, they now have all the Christmas decorations right up front as soon as you walk in. It's ridiculous. And we can't get away from it without separating ourselves from society completely. Even the discount stores like Ross and Homegoods are doing it, which is sad.

I was watching ABC Family last night, and they started advertisements for some Christmas movies. I didn't pay much attention, thinking it was the "normal" (today's version of normal) advertising for their Christmas movies they run all December... they call it the "ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas." (I only remember that because they advertise the darn stuff so much during the holidays that you can't help but get it stuck in your head... plus those 25 days monopolize the time they'd usually show some halfway-good movies on TV, which I think every other station is in on too... so basically it's either Christmas TV or no TV at all for all of December.) Anyway, the particular commercial I saw last night turned out to not be for the 25 Days movies... it's for a Christmas movie marathon they're starting up soon in ANTICIPATION of the 25 Days movies. Yes, they are going to play a marathon for most of November... of Christmas movies. Yay, can't wait. I'm probably better off anyway... less TV to feel the need to watch.

It's like some crazy person started Christmas WAY too early this year, and everyone else in the world felt like they had to keep up, maybe some sort of domino effect or something. Whatever happened, I really feel a need to fix it. First of all, the real meaning of Christmas has been completely lost for a long time - much longer than the holiday spirit has been coming out too early. Christmas is about the birth of our Lord, and celebrating his grace, mercy, and gift of eternal life to us. Second, I really like Thanksgiving. It's a great holiday. With a great meaning as well. And it's really getting lost in the shadows with all this early Christmas hype, kind of like a little road bump on the long, huge, speeding-fast road to Christmas. It's like a little pothole in the road... "What was that?" "Oh, just Thanksgiving. It's ok, keep going! We've got so much to do!!" Blegh.

Growing up, you just didn't decorate for Christmas until the free-for-all day, which was the day after Thanksgiving. When you went shopping that day, aka Black Friday, THAT was the introduction to all the Christmas stuff in the stores. THAT was when you were free to be bombarded with all the Christmas spirit, and you're actually allowed to enjoy it and start to immerse yourself in it, should you so choose. And even if you didn't go shopping, you could stay home and start to pull stuff out of the attic and closets to begin all the Christmas decorations. THAT was when you started getting into it. I personally never liked doing all that until December actually started, but that Friday was at least the unspoken "release" date.

I can recall times growing up that it seemed things were happening a bit early. I can remember neighbors setting up their trees early, just so they could "go ahead and have it done, and enjoy the holidays, instead of decorating all the time." I never thought too much of it. I remember when the radio stations started playing Christmas music in high school for the entire month of December... annoying, but hey, I let it slide - at least it's December. But now, it's absolutely insane. I heard on the radio today about one of the DJ's family doing their Christmas photos, and they already have them printed and ready to start addressing. Saves time I guess, but I just can't imagine dressing up for Christmas photos before Halloween is even here. Even our families now have all Christmas things set up for the family Thanksgiving get-togethers. I'm not complaining, because yes, it's pretty. And yes, it lets you actually enjoy December and revel in the Christmas spirit, instead of spending it all to decorate, just in time to take it all down. But it just solidifies that everyone has gotten used to starting Christmas way earlier than we used to.

Any thoughts on how to get things back to the way they used to be??

What I see every day...

2009-10-29T20:24:00.000-04:00

I've taken these the past few days on my walk to and from work, and just thought I'd share. I carry a little camera around in my purse with me, and unfortunately I think I've been spoiled by the Nikon. But the little one is still great to carry around to catch moments with, and there have been a few days lately on my walk to work where I just have to stop and stare at some of the gorgeous fall colors that are popping up. I love all the leaves on the sidewalks. I can smell them too... nothing like the smell of leaves in the fall. :-)

Anyway, a few of them are blurry because I have to snap while I walk. It's not too bad though. Enjoy. :-)

Well that's about it for now... not too eventful, just some (blurry) pretty fall colors and views. I snapped this one this afternoon... there was a pothole in my parking lot the size of... well, I can't think of something that's very comparable in size. It was about 3 feet wide and probably 6 inches deep. My SUV sank into it, so I know some cars had major issues with it. I finally emailed somebody about it yesterday morning, figuring it would be a while before I heard anything. I got back in my car today, and noticed this...

They filled it! Nothing special, but hey, I'm thankful, especially for the state responding so quickly. And I can say that, because I work for them. :-) Now I can't wait for all the rest of the alligator cracking that covers the rest of the parking lot to crack around and away from the patch. But hey, I'm happy for now. It's the little things.

Potato Diggin'

2009-10-26T21:23:00.003-04:00

Yikes, "update" - what is that? Apparently I don't know how to do that. It's because I've been endlessly digging potatoes for DAYS by myself...

Nah, just kidding. :-)

I got to go with my parents see my grandparents yesterday, and we made the annual trip to the sweet potato fields to do some digging. The farmers come through and get all the top picks to sell, and they leave the rest. Enter us, the folks willing to do a little labor and eat some unperfectly shaped potatoes... for free. :-) (By the way, if anybody wants some sweet potatoes, we've got PLENTY...)

We missed you Jacob! Poo on schoolwork!

So we headed out with some rakes and LOTS of buckets...

Farmer Joe!

Staring out at the field - look at the beautiful fall colors starting to show!

Ready to do some digging!

What my rows looked like after I got finished with them, haha.

My view from in the field...

Dad doing most of the bucket hauling - haha it was a loooong way!

Mom working hard... every now and then one of those would fall, then would start the process of bending to pick it up, dropping another one, and so on... :-)

Finally got them all. :-) Time to back head to the truck.

Alllllll the potatoes (minus Mr. Smith's one bucket)

Mom and me with Mr. Smith, my grandparent's friend, who took us to the field and helped us out

After we left the fields, Mr. Smith took us by his house to pick some greens for Mom to take home, and we got to meet Cricket, his sweet doggie.

Mom won't admit it, but she's a dog lover. :-)

Even Cricket helped us pick greens

Me and Cricket before we left - such a sweet dog

(and a handful of habanero peppers in my left hand, haha...)

Mr. Smith and his buddy

We headed back to the grandparents' house for some leftovers, and to hang out with Uncle Mike since he'd come into town while we were gone.

Doesn't get much better than this!

Me and Granddad

(courtesy of Mom the photographer...)

There we go, just needed a little zooming. :-)

One more before we leave - grabbed Grandmom for a picture. :-)

Well I was absolutely EXHAUSTED last night, and today. But it was a great weekend, and even more so, it felt so great to do some hard work. Some people would probably laugh endlessly at that statement, but I love it. It feels wonderful, plus I enjoy it. Eh, call me a nut, if you will. :-)

Holler if you need some sweet 'taters!

Glee Music

2009-10-16T22:27:00.000-04:00

So I'm mainly writing this post to shamelessly share some tv music I think is awesome. :-) Is anybody else watching the new show "Glee" on TV? Don't know if I should be embarassed to say I watch it, but I do. And I love the music - it's my favorite part. Specifically the fact that they actually do some pretty cool songs. Some of the acting is pretty cheesy. Well, let's face it - some of the music is pretty cheesy too. Some songs are great, but others remind me of kids with no rhythm trying to rap, haha. And sometimes it's pretty obvious that it's studio recorded. I've read many places that the actors are in fact doing their own singing, but it's done in studio and dubbed over the acting. Guess we can't have it all. :-) Still, I've got mostly love for the music, and for the effort. So, I thought I'd share some of the cool music with ya.

I'm fully aware that this may only be confirming my nerdiness, but I'm ok with that. I embrace it. :-)

First, the song that was used in the advertisements of the show back in the spring, before they aired the pilot. The song is sung at the end of the pilot's airing, then we had to go the whole summer waiting for the actual "season" to start this fall - can we say tease. I have to say there are times after certain episodes that the plot seemed to be getting a little ridiculous, and I figured I'd be dropping the show off my weekly watching list. But so far, I think it's redeemed itself. So check out some Journey... (sorry the videos are just singing... there aren't any full versions out yet that I can find of the performances themselves, except for people videotaping their tv...)

Now, for some Queen! I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the male lead's voice (in Glee, just to clarify) - I can't quite place my finger on it. It's too... lightweight? Dunno. But still, A for effort. Anyway, the cover of the song is great...

And now, to continue in the spirit of the 80s rock (can you tell that's what I'm a fan of??), some Heart music for ya. This episode guest starred a lady named Kristin Chenoweth. I only knew her from seeing this tiny, dramatically weeping woman accept an award at the recent Emmys for a show that had just gotten canceled. But after a little quick googling just now, it turns out she's been in multiple Broadway shows. She's a classically trained soprano and, according to the great Wikipedia, has a range of 4 octaves and can reach F6 (that's reeeeally high...). Pretty much explains why she could sing so well in the songs she performed on Glee. Anyway, after that little tidbit of useless info, here ya go...

And lastly, one I totally enjoyed when it came on. They were doing mashups - combining 2 different songs into the same one. I didn't find the girls' version that great. But I love some Bon Jovi. I think woever put this arrangement together was very clever - they've got my applause.

Well those are my favorites so far, my own little tv/music "review," if you will. If you want to actually watch the singing, go here and you can watch full episodes with the performances. Hope you guys enjoyed a little geekiness!

State Fair tales, some NCSU football, and my own fair food!

2009-10-15T22:55:00.002-04:00

So the State Fair is in town from now through next week. I don't always go, but Jason and I have been the past 2 years. The first year was just hanging out and looking around. We did ride the hanging swings that go round and round. That's about all I'll do at a fair anymore though - I just have this thing about rides that can be thrown together and taken down so quickly. But beyond that, I just think of all the "variety" of folks I see at the fair, haha... and how they're all in those rides at some point. Yeah, I'd rather put myself through that at a real theme park with real roller coasters, haha.

Anyway, we found a food stand at the fair that year that we LOVED. Most fair food stands offer generally the same kind of foods, but Jason had mentioned wanting a fried bologna sandwich, so we were keeping an eye out for one. Turns out they're very rare. But we stumbled on one - yay! They had some benches right by the stand where we could sit and talk to the super nice ladies inside, so we plopped down and dug into our food. I got a hot dog and french fries, and the best surprise of all for me was that the french fries were REAL! After talking to the ladies, we found out they actually cut the potatoes and fry them there - yum! For me, there is absolutely NO comparison between that and wimpy frozen potatoes (not bashing those, because I've had PLENTY of them in my day, and still love them). Anyway, the fries were awesome. The lady even caught us whispering about what the huge spicy brats under the warmer must be like, haha so she cut us off a huge bite each. Not something I'd pay for, but it was interesting, and free! So all in all, we just loved the great food, the wonderful ladies there who just sat back and chatted with us, and the relaxed little corner we'd found. We took note of the name - Granny Hester's - so we could remember it for the next year. We found out the stand is actually something that "Granny" purchased a while back solely to take to the fair - it sits in her backyard for the other 50 weeks of the year, haha. So, besides this great little find, and a funnel cake before we left the fair, that was about it for that year's visit.

So last year, we had we had tickets to the NC State football game and a great parking pass. It happened to be during the fair, so we got to the game about the time most tailgaters are setting up. And instead of tailgating, we walked across the street to the fair. The parking spot we had was actually better than one you'd get even just going only for the fair. Our sole mission this year - fill our bellies with Granny Hester's before the game. Accomplish two things at once - get our yummy fair food, and avoid the way overpriced football game food. We both got the exact same thing at the fair as before, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think NC State also won. :-) And I happened to have brought my camera for the evening as well...

Part of our 5 minute walk around the fairgrounds before we ate

Sheep in the barnyard area

Granny Hester's! Seeing this again, I think the chili cheese fries were what attracted me. :-) See the stools and benches? Nice, quiet little getaway from crazy fair foot traffic.

More NCSU fans at the fair, with the same idea as us.

The Wolfpack statue

Warmups

Mr. and Mrs. Wuf with the band, getting everybody fired up

Bringing out the Pack

A different look at the ESPN cameras

Card trick done with the fans - spells out WOLFPACK

Flipped over, the cards showed the logo

Honoring Cullen Jones and his Olympic gold medal in swimming

Mrs. Wuf dances with the band to "Heeey, Hey Baby" every game

And one of my favorite parts of the fair - fireworks... visible from the football game!

Well, after that fun trip down memory lane... fast forward to this year. We don't have any football tickets. It's $7 per person to get into the fair. They used to let state employees (us) get into the fair the day before official opening just to eat, and alot of ones, especially that worked near the fairgrounds, used to take advantage of that - heck, I would too! But apparently they don't do that anymore. Jason and I have both mentioned our beloved Granny Hester's to each other multiple times over the past week. But sadly I don't think it's going to happen. It's been raining and cold, we'd have to park forever away and walk all the way in, after paying $14 just for admission, only to be able to have access to the place we want to eat at. We're both past the point of trying to be patient with all the rude and scary people that attend the fair, so other than the food, we really don't have a reason to go. So as much as we want to, I don't think we're going to make it this year.

So, in light of that, since I've been doing a menu plan for myself lately and liking it, I had planned in this week to have burgers and homemade fries, which would hopefully satisfy especially if we didn't get to go to the fair. I did the first meal of that tonight, and it turned out great! I made us both a beef burger, killer real french fries, and slow simmered green beans just like the ones I was raised cooking - sooo good. Add some semisweet tea to that - man! I added some onions and parsley in the burger (side note: since starting to cook a lot more, the wonderful invention that is the food processor has become my BEST friend!) and cheese on top, and the french fries were coated in a little safflower oil and chili, garlic, and onion powders. They taste great alone, and it's almost like ketchup brings out the tasty spice combo even more. So yeah, the food might not be just like fair food, but I like to think it had a much better taste while being SO much better for me. Sure, you'll probably never beat the greasy goodness that is deep fried french fries and fried bologna. But for only the 4 grams of fat that was in my entire meal (and all that was only from the lean ground beef), I'd say we got away extremely well. And saved about $50, easy - and no, I'm not kidding - fair food isn't cheap at all. And our hearts are probably thanking us too. So, TAKE THAT, you tempting fair food! :-)

Here's the yummy dinner (minus the ketchup, of course) - I think the fries were by far the best part. I could eat those ALL day. The beef was really good too though, after my usual food regimen consisting of mostly lean chicken and ground turkey breast, that always needs some major work in seasoning... the beef even smeeeeells good. :-)

I also got some junk room cleaning done tonight, which was a major feat. So all in all, good day. Tomorrow's Friday!!

Funny family video

2009-10-07T23:01:00.006-04:00

Just a fun little video of the family I get to hang around this weekend... :-) My aunt doesn't remove photos from her memory card, which still has Christmas photos on it from years ago. So this is one of many events we've been at where she has to go through and delete some to make room to take current ones, and that's what the laughing is all about, since she'd rather not delete any at all, haha... maybe a good Christmas present would be a bigger memory card. :-)

Even funnier is the fact that we go through these antics just about every time we all get together for photos. But we wouldn't have it any other way.

(Here's a good opportunity for a plug... my family is NUTS. :-) )

So my cousin Liz is getting married!!! I'll be there for the weekend, but my plan is to actually post pictures in a timely manner of this event. :-) So look for them soon...

Hope everybody is having a great October so far... the year is FLYING by!!

No More Handshakes? Fist Bumps All Around!

2009-10-02T23:56:00.004-04:00

I'm seriously thinking about trying this. I've always been germ conscious. But ever since I started full time work, with the interviews and all, the handshakes have become much more regular than they were before that time in life. It wasn't so bad at first, when interviews were just every now and then. I think the turning point was when I got to the job I'm at now. On my first day, my supervisor took me around and introduced me to everybody in the branch, meaning everybody on our floor (6th) and the 4th floor. I had to shake the hand of about 50+ people. I think with a few people, at first it wasn't so bad. But after I started shaking soooo many people's hands, I started thinking about what they've touched. I saw guys who had their shoes off in their offices, who could have been touching their feet then shaking my hand. I started thinking about the people who are probably sneezing, coughing, and scratching things, then shaking my hand. And don't even get me started on the people that don't wash their hands in the bathroom - Jason has seen it firsthand, and my boss said he's seen it firsthand in our actual branch. I shudder now just thinking about shaking all those people's hands. I mean, my hand literally had that dirty smell to it, you know, after you've been playing outside for a while or something - yeah that, except just from shaking hands. Blegh.

So now, I'm at the point where I always make sure I haven't been touching public items if I'm about to eat my snacks or lunch. If I go down to the copier, I wash my hands afterwards. I push all the elevator buttons with my knuckles instead of fingertips. I keep my keyboard sanitized if someone from IT comes to work on it. I really don't even like people borrowing my pens, but I try to shake that feeling if it happens. But most of all, I shudder every time I have to shake hands with someone now. Cold... clammy... rough... hot... whatever. And all I think about is the unknown of where that hand has been. And if it's at the beginning of a meeting, then I have to sit there the whole time wanting to go wash my hands. Ick.

Now don't get me wrong - I don't go around using hand sanitizer every 5 minutes. Although I do keep it with me, and I use it after the gas pump, handling cash, etc. But I realize how easy it is to sit at a desk and touch my face without realizing it. I try to remind myself to not do it, but it's also helpful if I avoid the germs in the first place. Anyway, this may be partly confession, and partly me putting the question out there asking if I'm crazy. I honestly don't think so. I think I'm finally just aware of the total lack of personal hygiene some people have, and it grosses me out. And I'm finally aware of the many surfaces people's germs can be that can affect me.

And it's partly unfortunate that I'm thinking this way, because my dad raised me from Square 1 to have a firm handshake. I've always liked that I have a firm handshake. I've even gotten complements on it. And I've even read that women with firm handshakes supposedly get looked at more on the same equal level as men. Not that I'm worried about that as an issue, but it's just that I like my firm handshake. :-) And a handshake is our widely known symbol of greeting people and showing good intentions. But my desire to avoid other people's germs whenever I have the control to overrides that at the moment.

So I heard about this on the radio the other day - how some sports were considering banning the handshakes, due to the swine flu, and encouraging the fist bump. I personally love this idea. So I seriously think I might try it. If someone offers their hand, I'll just offer my fist instead and say, "Oh, I do the fist bump, no hand shakes." It'd be interesting to see what kind of responses I get. Maybe I can still get the greeting and good intentions part across with a nice smile and a "How are you? Nice to see you." Hmmm... any thoughts?

Fist Bumps (I know it's past the official "Day" date of July 7, but it's still got good information on it - check out the story under Founder.)

(www.ichilly.com)

Stop that Weddin'! - TAGS 9-27-09

2009-09-27T11:58:00.001-04:00

So, I'm still not keeping up with my Friday TAGS. Maybe it should just be every-now-and-then TAGS. :-)

This is just a short clip from my favorite episode of the show - Mountain Wedding. Ernest T. has been harassing the Darlings, trying to get Charlene to marry him, when she's already married to Doug. But it was a civil ceremony, not done by a preacher. So until then, Ernest T. thinks she's not rightly married and he still has a chance. So Andy and Barney come up the mountain to try to get rid of Ernest T., but he keeps on persisting and annoying them. So the preacher comes by on Sunday to perform a wedding ceremony, just to satisfy all, and they anticipate more trouble from Ernest T. This clip is from their ceremony, and it's a song I've always loved, especially from the first time hearing it here. Right after this song is when Ernest T. fires his gun, pops up out of the brush, and yells "Stop that weddin'!" He grabs the bride and runs off with her, soon finding out it was Barney dressed up to trick him. Such a great episode. And a great song.

Good story

2009-09-24T20:37:00.001-04:00

Just a good story... and coming from a family involved in a lot of sports, it really hits home - both the facts that good sportsmanship still exists, and that a kid can turn things around and a coach can be a big help in that.

http://arkansasvarsity.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=992976

Lovely Rainbow

2009-09-23T21:11:00.005-04:00

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post much lately. I really want to be posting more - it's just a lot to do in one day.

However, I did want to show this before I went to bed - check out what I was treated to when I walked out of the gym this afternoon, after a day full of rain and mugginess (this first is my cell phone pic from outside the gym)...

It was so bright and large that it really took me by surprise. So beautiful. So after the quick 1/2 mile drive home, I ran in and got the real camera. This is my view looking out my front door...

It also had a rare second rainbow...

Gorgeous...

I love how I'm always reminded of God's promises in the beauty of the rainbow. It's such a precise, gorgeous thing in nature.

EDITED on 9/24 - Wow these photos do not look nearly as good today on a different computer - I think my monitor at home made them look a lot better. Way too bright - I apologize.

Illegal Community College

2009-09-17T20:42:00.003-04:00

Well, it's happening. We've been hearing about it for a while, but here ya go. At least our governor actually is against it (yes, I actually agree with something she said)...

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/6019223/

A little different info, and a video:
http://durhamcounty.mync.com/site/durhamcounty/news/story/41926/nc-community-college-committee-allows-undocumented-immigrants/

Please tell me what sense this makes. Please. Because I can't see any whatsoever. People ignore the most obvious word in the very phrase they're using over and over - ILLEGAL. But hey, what do I know? I'm not a politician, driven by my own agendas. Hey, why should I care about the best interests of our state's citizens?? I'm not a member of some Board, like the Board of Community Colleges, or the Board of Transportation. What would I know? You have to be a lawyer, or developer, or politician to know that stuff, right? Those are the people qualified to be on those Boards, not someone who is actually involved in the subject matter... (please note my dripping sarcasm...)

I'd love to know what anyone reading this thinks. You probably know my stance, but I'd love to know any other opinions.

Cute Baby Photography

2009-09-11T22:52:00.005-04:00

Thought some of you who like the cute factor, or just interesting photography, might enjoy this:

Baby Photos

Friday TAGS 9-11-09

2009-09-11T21:10:00.003-04:00

(NOTE: While reading this beginning part, you might want to go down and click Play, then Pause on the videos - they apparently need a little time to upload and buffer. If you get fed up with it, just right click on the video and click Watch on YouTube.)

So I've been bad at updating this during the past week. I didn't even give you TAGS last week! Trying to maintain my routine of work, working out, eating right, and getting to bed early while crossing things off my to-do list doesn't leave much time during the week for blogging.

Anyway, here's my Friday TAGS for today! A real treat... a whole episode! So sit back and enjoy, if you've got about 30 minutes... It's a great one, called "Rafe Hollister Sings." Rafe is a backwoods farmer but has a great voice. Barney thinks Rafe would embarass himself by auditioning to sing. But Rafe at least sticks up for himself and goes anyway... so here's the first third of the episode. It gets good about 2:30 in... "Hoo hoo yuck yuck!!" :-) And "C'mon, pick-it-up, pick-it-up!" *snap snap*

So Rafe goes, he impresses, and Mayor Stoner (he was never my favorite anyway) and stuck up Ms. Jeffreys object to him being in the competition, since he'll embarass Mayberry by looking "unpresentable." So they try to dress him up, haha, which still doesn't quite satisfy. Part 2...

But the best part is the actual competition, when Andy's idea gets Rafe back in his element and surprising everybody. I love to watch Andy play the guitar as well. And the mayor finally smugly giving in and clapping too - so funny. Perhaps the best part of the whole episode though, is the final scene. Check it out. :-)

As someone else put it online, Rafe proves that "you can't judge a book by its cover." Jack Prince, who plays Rafe, actually appeared in earlier episodes of the show playing different roles. He was a trained vocalist in real life, and supposedly Andy wanted him to play a bigger role in the series, but Jack decined so it wouldn't take away from his singing career. Great character though.

Hope you enjoyed!!

9-11

2009-09-11T13:40:00.004-04:00

Found this photo and liked it very much. I'm sure many of you have seen it.

I won't bombard you with photos and words.

Just remember. And be thankful.

(According to Google, this photo was taken by 1st Sergeant Dave Jobe of the

Marine Corps Baker Company as a tribute to their fallen comrades.)

NC State vs. South Carolina

2009-09-03T21:15:00.004-04:00

(Photo courtesy ESPN)

Well everything this week has been leading up to tonight's game, at least in Jason's world. :-) All week he's been asking if I'm ready for Thursday. (Me: "What's Thursday again?" J: "NC State!!!") Yesterday he was howling like a wolf. When I first saw him this afternoon, he was chanting "N.... C.... State...... NCState!" over and over. He even wore his State hat to work today. Yeah, he was excited.

...He's no longer excited. In fact, he's been yelling at the TV since the first quarter. Mr. Wilson (pictured above, right) is not doing well, nor are his teammates. J is talking to the TV and telling the coach who he should be taking out, and saying that he wishes he could be the one giving the halftime speech, talking about how much better of a job he could do to amp them up. I actually think he'd do an awesome job at that. :-) State just intercepted a pass, then went on to drop it continually.

Anyway, I guess my brother didn't make such a bad choice after all (like I thought he did a few hours ago, when he told me he'd FORGOTTEN to claim his FREE STUDENT TICKET to the game... which he could have given ME!)...

You guys over in Idaho have a home game on ESPN coming up after this game! Enjoy!

We just got a first down and you could actually hear the wolf howl in the stadium... we'll see how it goes. It's still the third quarter, and I'm not staying up late enough to finish it. But, to show my continual support no matter what...

GO PACK!!!

PS - Daddy, today would be a good day for your first comment, since I actually wrote about the Wolfpack! :-)

Welcome to September (and a little Mosquito Reasoning)

2009-09-01T21:43:00.004-04:00

Happy September everybody!

Well I was attempting to write a post cataloging the bridal shower I went to this weekend, but it's taking FOR-EV-ER to upload photos, so that's going to have to wait for another night.

I'm actually thankful, because I was able to actually work out tonight and get a lot more done than I would otherwise, seeing how I was supposed to have a meeting tonight with work... but that got rescheduled, yay, so I was actually able to be home and do my own thing today. And on that note, I should probably still get to bed at a good time, since I can't seem to find/think of anything worth posting right now that doesn't involve endlessly waiting on my pictures to upload. :-)

Maybe some of you, like my brother in particular, would be interested in the following article. Apparently there's a reason behind why some of us aren't too particularly bothered by mosquitos, and why those pests happen to LOVE certain other people. And no, it's not because you're "just sooooo sweet!" Here's to hoping they'll come up with this new all-natural repellant before this weekend when I go to the beach (aka Mosquito Island)...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204660604574378933761528214.html?mod=yhoofront

Friday TAGS 8-24-09

2009-08-28T21:07:00.005-04:00

Well since I started this last Friday, and mentioned my immense fondness of Andy Griffith (thanks to my awesome family!), I thought I might try to give you a little dose of TAGS (The Andy Griffith Show, for all you newbies) each week if I can. We'll see how that goes.

This is a video from Youtube of one of my favorite songs sung by The Darlings on the show. There are a lot I'd love to show you right now, but if I'm going to make it weekly, I'm going to have to be patient and stretch it out. :-) In the meantime, this truly is one of my favorites, and an extremely beautiful song (warning - it is bluegrass, fyi for all you who are not so fond of the twang). The Dillards (the guys who make up the instrumentalists in the Darling family) also do their own version where one of the men sings, but I just love this version with Charlene singing so much better. It's very moving, and the music is beautiful.

And, in the midst of the song and its mood, I love how they keep a little humor with Briscoe crying, even though he's trying to "fight it."

Well that's it for now. Let me know if TAGS Fridays is gonna be Andy Griffith overload on ya, or if you vote a thumbs up for it. :-) Me and my congested head are going to take some Benadryl and get some sleep. Going to a bridal shower for my cousin Liz tomorrow, and I get to see my family tomorrow and Sunday! Not much better than that. :-) (Especially since it's FINALLY the weekend!)

Bonk on Your Nose

2009-08-26T18:48:00.010-04:00

I found a good program on this computer to use for the videos, so hopefully that'll make it easier to get videos up and running on here. It certainly made today's a lot easier! At least I know now for the future to change my camera settings to not HD quality, haha, if I want to be able to post a video online, unless I want to go through the process on the computer, which still isn't that bad. (Sorry about the quality though - it kind of lost some detail in bits of the videos.)

So this first video is one of my favorites from the day spent with all the Ezzells. We'd finished eating, and it was that time when everyone just kind of hangs around and chats, which can often turn into the most meaningful part of a get-together, in my opinion. And it's when the funniest things happen. :-) We were all sitting around, scattered through the living room and dining room. Mr. Kaden was being a total ham and stealing the show, which we all totally enjoyed. I don't remember how it started, but he had started a little "pong" on people's noses. And it's so hilarious to me how everybody reacts (including guarding their eyes). He even came up to me at one point behind the camera and did it - haha, he didn't care one bit that he'd been told to look AT the camera. It's so cute when he says "Sarah?" He even got Granddad on the nose, which made us all laugh... and it was incredible to get to see them interacting. Then my brother tried to be a nerd and confuse poor Kaden, but Jacob turned into a softy and learned his lesson in the end. :-)

And these next 2 videos were of the guys shooting basketball... namely of Sir Kaden though, who was, of course, the star of the show. :-) I love to watch his little legs and feet scurrying in the beginning of this one to get the basketball. And, of course, the shooting itself is so cute. Watching it back, I get scared every time at the end at how close the ball looked like it was to coming back down right in his face when he threw it up in the air! But all was ok. Then, the funniest thing to me, which is true in just about any 2 year old, is how his attention diverts right to the sand toys. Basketball - what basketball?

Just a little different view here... I love his determination! I can only imagine how far away that basket must seem, but he keeps on shootin'! Then mean ol' Hayden (j/k) steals the ball and tries to give it back, but Kaden's already forgotten about it. So funny. :-)

(By the way Sydney, I totally understand now about uploading the videos... it takes quite a while! And these are compressed files!!)

Kaden and Mickey

2009-08-25T19:03:00.010-04:00

So, as mentioned before, my cousin's blog got me pretty interested in blogging myself. So what better way to start off my own than highlight the recent visit we got to have with them when they were in town? This will also be great for some people, like my parents, who usually don't get to see photos and video from events unless I take them over and we look at them, since they're not on the social sites.

Here's a funny little video to start with (and the only one small enough to upload until I have some more time to resize and edit, haha)

This was just a small clip of my cousin Sydney's son, Kaden, and his funny reaction to the dogs. Usually he had a little more warning than this, and could keep himself far enough away. But Mickey snuck up on him here, and I happened to have the camera rolling. His face just makes me laugh. :-) Maddy saves him from the oh-so-dangerous doggies, then Mickey proceeds to barrel back down the stairs and run SMACK into me. Haha, I think you even can hear my mom laughing in the background right at the end, as she witnessed the whole thing in full momentum. I just about fell over. Haha, I would say that maybe Mickey learned some manners from Jax (my brother Jacob's dog) from the end of the day... Jax is well-trained, haha, but thinks he's a little lapdog. I have yet to see him run into somebody, but he sure is a goof. So who knows. :-)

I'll post a little more once I have some more time. Sometimes I wish there was more time in the weekday!!

Welcome!

2009-08-21T22:50:00.000-04:00

So I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. I've read them for a long time, and usually don't even think about the fact that it's somebody's personal blog. My cousin also keeps one, and she's the main reason I've seriously considered one myself, after seeing the benefits of hers and how easy it can be. (Stay tuned for a fun little tribute next time!) So I got to thinking about the different things I could write about, and I think I've come up with some starter ideas. We'll see.

The name... haha, surprisingly, many other people out there consider themselves part of a nut house besides just me, which is why I had to improvise a tad on the domain. The idea actually came to me the other night when I was almost asleep (isn't that when we all do our most clear thinking?). I love garden flags, and I frequent the local Ace Hardware because they always have a great selection. So Jason and I were in there a few weeks ago, and he pointed out one that said "Welcome to the Nut House" with a lovely little squirrel and acorns to match. (More on why he noticed it out of all the others in a moment.) I didn't get the flag that day, but it's been on my mind constantly, just because it matches us so well. So today, as I was gearing up to start my blog, I stopped by there on my way home, and they still had it! You never know, the way those garden flags can come and go... (Mom - make a note, their spring flags are going on sale!) So, here's the lovely inspiration, which is not planned to go outside to weather the elements:

On to why THIS flag... First off, I'm crazy. I'll go ahead and tell ya that. I think I have more crazy moments than sane ones. So do most of the people I'm close to, haha (yall know it). Second... "Nut" is a term of endearment for me, really. I call Jason a nut all the time. It's also what my Dad gets called when he's acting silly, or my brother when he makes no sense, or my mom when she's spurring on our giggle fests. We're all just crazy, in a good way of course. I can't help it - "Nut" is something that's ingrained in me... from who else but my Daddy. :-) Wanna know where HE got it? One guess is all you should need, come on, guess...

Yes, The Andy Griffith Show. Barney called Ernest T a nut, multiple times, to his face and not to his face. Andy called Barney a nut. Hmm... what else am I forgetting? My most memorable quote is this one:

Andy: If you ask me, this Ernest T. Bass is a strange and weird character.
Briscoe: Just plain ornery is what he is.
Barney: I think he's a nut.

You'd probably have to see it. And all the other TAGS episodes, to get the full endearment effect. Go watch an episode called Mountain Wedding if you never have before... it's a good place to start. :-)

I also have an issue with squirrels invading my birdfeeder. I have lots pictures and videos of that, mainly because they don't run anymore when I bang on the glass door, they just look at me and almost grin out of spite, then go back to ravaging the birdfeeder. Haha, more on that later.

Anyway, there's a looooong history of crazy nuts in our family anyway, so it's perfectly fitting. I hope this can bring some smiles to you and light up your day most of the time, at least just a little. Thanks for reading!