so a couple of weeks ago, i had this dream about some deliciously gooey, insanely sugary mint chocolate chip cookies. in the dream, my oldest sister (heidi), made them. i woke up and had a craving for these cookies, which is unusual cuz i rarely eat sweets. some people have sweet tooths . . .
*i have a salt tooth*
anyway, i mentioned it to my sister, and to my delight, she went and bought the ingredients and made up a recipe and made the most amazingly good mint chocolate chip cookies and sent them to me in the mail. as soon as i got the box, i sampled one and had to immediately share one with my roommate. we reveled in their softness, in their gooey-ness, in their deliciosity. never had a cookie been so good.
*it was seriously explosions of heaven in my mouth*
anyhow, i shared some with my family and then decided to share some with my co-workers. they loved them and started requesting that she make different flavored cookies, some with sugar, some with splenda (for my co-worker who is diabetic). i pitched the idea to them about paying for cookies, and each one agreed that they would definitely pay. and so, the idea was born . . . my sister, much to my insistence, would begin her own cookie company.
*why hadn't we done this sooner?*
we went through a long list of names that we could call her business . . . sugar britches, heidi's, bites & delights, miller's morsels and finally settled on baker's dozen. yes, it is kind of generic, but it's something people will remember. we are shooting for simple, yet delicious. heidi played around and came up with our logo -- very simple, yet effective. i have nominated myself to be the COO (Chief Operations Officer) and heidi as the CEO (chief executive officer). we are hiring out for an accountant. there are a lot of aspects about starting business i don't know about, but i'm pretty clear on how to get most of it going.
*by the way, good people, we are looking for investors*
anyhow, we're starting off small. she will do 10 flavors of cookies. we haven't gotten into details about what those flavors are, but she will also look into making "diabetic friendly" cookies. a lot of details to work out. i am just excited to get it going. and i'm excited for her. i know heidi will do great with this business. it combines two of her (and two of my) favorite things:
*food and money*
and really . . . who doesn't like that combination?
3.27.2011
more garden stuff . . .
not a lot to write about. we finished up the garden today. more pics below.
the planters
all planted
the watermelon patch
jalapenos
the planters
all planted
the watermelon patch
jalapenos
3.26.2011
an impromptu home improvement project
so my roommate (not to be confused with the beau) always comes up with these hair-brained ideas and
*i always agree they are actually good ideas.*
on friday, we went to kohl's to find a dress for myself. didn't find anything, and since kohl's is next to lowe's, i asked her if we could run in and look to see if the BBQ grill the beau wants was still on sale. we ran in and somehow, in 5 minutes of looking for the grill, she convinced me that building a planter would be a good idea. and before i knew it, i was on the phone, asking my dad if he had used all the stone from my sister's house (she has a HUGE pile of white rock in her backyard she is getting rid of).
*turns out, there was plenty.*
in our heads, moving rocks -- and these rocks ain't little -- was going to be easy peasy and take like 5 minutes. insert reality and suddenly, we realized we were going to move about 400 pounds of rock from my sister's backyard to the roommate's truck, and into a wheelbarrow and then to the backyard, where we would unload them onto the ground until we could figure out where we were going to put everything. it started off easy enough, until the second minute of moving rock.
*two hours later, we had the rock moved to the backyard*
i was entirely sure i was going to pass out at more than one point. the next few hours were spent moving rock, tilling ground that prolly had no business being tilled, moving more rock and watering. we bought dirt and then bought more dirt. we also got fruit & vegetable mix, as well as coconut coir. did some more watering and i think the big planter will be ready for planting tomorrow.
while building this big planter, our old german neighbor, sue, came outside and talked to us about our garden. she is very knowledgeable about gardening; when we informed her we were growing watermelon in the big planter, she told us that the watermelon would overtake all the other plants and that the watermelon patch should be separate. what did my roommate hear?
*let's build another planter . . . which we did.*
there was a lot of wheelbarrowing and hauling and digging and weeding . . . but i am so proud of what we accomplished in two days. we will plant tomorrow and see how it goes. we are both new at this, so i hope our first attempt at gardening is successful. below are some pictures of our project thus far!
*i always agree they are actually good ideas.*
on friday, we went to kohl's to find a dress for myself. didn't find anything, and since kohl's is next to lowe's, i asked her if we could run in and look to see if the BBQ grill the beau wants was still on sale. we ran in and somehow, in 5 minutes of looking for the grill, she convinced me that building a planter would be a good idea. and before i knew it, i was on the phone, asking my dad if he had used all the stone from my sister's house (she has a HUGE pile of white rock in her backyard she is getting rid of).
*turns out, there was plenty.*
in our heads, moving rocks -- and these rocks ain't little -- was going to be easy peasy and take like 5 minutes. insert reality and suddenly, we realized we were going to move about 400 pounds of rock from my sister's backyard to the roommate's truck, and into a wheelbarrow and then to the backyard, where we would unload them onto the ground until we could figure out where we were going to put everything. it started off easy enough, until the second minute of moving rock.
*two hours later, we had the rock moved to the backyard*
i was entirely sure i was going to pass out at more than one point. the next few hours were spent moving rock, tilling ground that prolly had no business being tilled, moving more rock and watering. we bought dirt and then bought more dirt. we also got fruit & vegetable mix, as well as coconut coir. did some more watering and i think the big planter will be ready for planting tomorrow.
while building this big planter, our old german neighbor, sue, came outside and talked to us about our garden. she is very knowledgeable about gardening; when we informed her we were growing watermelon in the big planter, she told us that the watermelon would overtake all the other plants and that the watermelon patch should be separate. what did my roommate hear?
*let's build another planter . . . which we did.*
there was a lot of wheelbarrowing and hauling and digging and weeding . . . but i am so proud of what we accomplished in two days. we will plant tomorrow and see how it goes. we are both new at this, so i hope our first attempt at gardening is successful. below are some pictures of our project thus far!
3.22.2011
so many things, so much time . . .
so i got the notion to check out my blog this morning and realized
*i haven't actually posted anything on here since august.*
matter of fact, i'm not even entirely sure i have a "blog audience" anymore. oh well . . . i feel like writing this morning, so i will write and if someone reads it, i guess it's a bonus (for them, of course).
so much has happened since last august. let's see . . . i left and went TDY to california for a few months; added a new nephew (thanks to brett and cindy) and a niece to the mix (thanks to scott and val); got a new truck (okay, it was used but it's new to me) and oh yeah -- i got married. that is true and correct, my good people. the "anti-married" is now "the married." i'll share my wedding story here, even though i am sure if you are reading this, you already know the circumstances surrounding it.
i met this guy i kinda liked. that slowly turned to love and i decided that i liked him enough to introduce him the parents. they met him and fell more in love with him than i did (just ask my mom . . . i don't believe she has ever said "no" to any of his requests). they bugged us about marrying, but timing wasn't right for me. i was in no rush and neither was he. we just were. and then i went TDY to fort irwin (for those of you who don't know, that's in california, near LA/san diego, etc.). and one day, i got the notion that he and i should run off to vegas and elope. a little for love, a little for the tax break. mainly for the announcing it on facebook (i kid, i kid).
*so i asked, and he said yes.*
he flew out to visit and i took 5 days vacay and we headed out to that great city of sin in the desert, otherwise known as las vegas. we checked into the trump hotel and they upgraded us to a suite since it was to be our honeymoon. we headed out onto the strip and quickly realized, to our dismay and horror:
*we aren't vegas people*
he dislikes crowds, i'm not much for walking miles and miles in flip flops. we both don't gamble (we're the type that want something to show for the $200 we just threw away), nor are we huge drinkers (an occasional beer once in awhile, but not nearly enough to justify a trip to vegas). so honestly, we mostly stayed in the room and hung out. boring, i know.
anyhow, we had arrived on a tuesday. on thursday morning, we woke up and decided
*this is the day*
we got dressed -- i was down for jeans and a tee but the beau made me dress up a little -- and headed down to get our marriage license.
i had previously applied for one online, so the wait was literally 2 minutes. we got our license and the lady at the window told us we had to call the courthouse and schedule an appointment to be married. i called: the wait was 2 1/2 hours. so we scheduled and decided to kill time by driving down the strip.
we passed some landmarks -- gold & silver pawn (featured on history channel's "pawn stars"), some major casinos . . . and the little white wedding chapel. we decided to pull in to see the charge. we pulled up to the window and spoke with a lady in bad make-up with huge, southern hair. we negotiated fees and whatnot, passed over our information and decided to get married at a drive-thru window.
*IT.WAS.AWESOME*
lanette or ladean -- or whatever that lady's name was -- took our money, handed us a "tip envelope" for the reverend and told us to wait and a reverend would be there shortly to marry us. sure enough, pastor max zuniga came to the window just like a mcdonald's clerk would do, and began the wedding procedure. i could see lanette or ladean -- or whatever that lady's name was -- standing in the back with another lady to act our witnesses. pastor max said his piece and we exchanged rings, kissed, handed him his tip and were on our "marry" way.
*the whole thing took less than 30 minutes*
and we were married. pastor max pronounced us "mr. and mrs. gilbert," but i am keeping my own last name. it's not for any reason other than there would be so much paperwork involved to change it and the beau is perfectly okay with me keeping my name. i like my name, he likes his. no need in going through all the muss and fuss; it's already official.
*oh wait -- this isn't even the best part*
the best part is, we announced our wedding on facebook. prior to this, only two people knew. one being my sister, heather, because the beau felt it was important to ask someone for my hand in marriage before actually marrying me. since we wanted to keep it a secret from my parents, he texted her (yes, you have to love technology) and asked. i think she replied with something like, "you better marry her!" and of course, the roommate, cuz i had to get an opinion on my ring, and well, we kinda felt like she should know in advance she does live with us. but otherwise, no one knew.
i think i just posted a pic of our hands with rings and wrote, "look, ma! we got married!"
the parents were in el paso visiting another sister. my brother-in-law called my sister (who was out with my parents) and said, "did holly really get married?" my sister asked my mom, and they said something like, "what are you talking about?" and he told her that we posted it on facebook. the rest is history and
*that, my friends, is how we announced our marriage to the world.*
i mean, seriously . . . i don't know that anyone has a cooler wedding story than that! vegas, eloped in a drive-thru chapel, announced on facebook. it *is* pretty awesome, you have to admit. i feel like the winner in the deal . . . i got a great guy and a pretty nice tax break.
*win/win if you ask me!*
*i haven't actually posted anything on here since august.*
matter of fact, i'm not even entirely sure i have a "blog audience" anymore. oh well . . . i feel like writing this morning, so i will write and if someone reads it, i guess it's a bonus (for them, of course).
so much has happened since last august. let's see . . . i left and went TDY to california for a few months; added a new nephew (thanks to brett and cindy) and a niece to the mix (thanks to scott and val); got a new truck (okay, it was used but it's new to me) and oh yeah -- i got married. that is true and correct, my good people. the "anti-married" is now "the married." i'll share my wedding story here, even though i am sure if you are reading this, you already know the circumstances surrounding it.
i met this guy i kinda liked. that slowly turned to love and i decided that i liked him enough to introduce him the parents. they met him and fell more in love with him than i did (just ask my mom . . . i don't believe she has ever said "no" to any of his requests). they bugged us about marrying, but timing wasn't right for me. i was in no rush and neither was he. we just were. and then i went TDY to fort irwin (for those of you who don't know, that's in california, near LA/san diego, etc.). and one day, i got the notion that he and i should run off to vegas and elope. a little for love, a little for the tax break. mainly for the announcing it on facebook (i kid, i kid).
*so i asked, and he said yes.*
he flew out to visit and i took 5 days vacay and we headed out to that great city of sin in the desert, otherwise known as las vegas. we checked into the trump hotel and they upgraded us to a suite since it was to be our honeymoon. we headed out onto the strip and quickly realized, to our dismay and horror:
*we aren't vegas people*
he dislikes crowds, i'm not much for walking miles and miles in flip flops. we both don't gamble (we're the type that want something to show for the $200 we just threw away), nor are we huge drinkers (an occasional beer once in awhile, but not nearly enough to justify a trip to vegas). so honestly, we mostly stayed in the room and hung out. boring, i know.
anyhow, we had arrived on a tuesday. on thursday morning, we woke up and decided
*this is the day*
we got dressed -- i was down for jeans and a tee but the beau made me dress up a little -- and headed down to get our marriage license.
i had previously applied for one online, so the wait was literally 2 minutes. we got our license and the lady at the window told us we had to call the courthouse and schedule an appointment to be married. i called: the wait was 2 1/2 hours. so we scheduled and decided to kill time by driving down the strip.
we passed some landmarks -- gold & silver pawn (featured on history channel's "pawn stars"), some major casinos . . . and the little white wedding chapel. we decided to pull in to see the charge. we pulled up to the window and spoke with a lady in bad make-up with huge, southern hair. we negotiated fees and whatnot, passed over our information and decided to get married at a drive-thru window.
*IT.WAS.AWESOME*
lanette or ladean -- or whatever that lady's name was -- took our money, handed us a "tip envelope" for the reverend and told us to wait and a reverend would be there shortly to marry us. sure enough, pastor max zuniga came to the window just like a mcdonald's clerk would do, and began the wedding procedure. i could see lanette or ladean -- or whatever that lady's name was -- standing in the back with another lady to act our witnesses. pastor max said his piece and we exchanged rings, kissed, handed him his tip and were on our "marry" way.
*the whole thing took less than 30 minutes*
and we were married. pastor max pronounced us "mr. and mrs. gilbert," but i am keeping my own last name. it's not for any reason other than there would be so much paperwork involved to change it and the beau is perfectly okay with me keeping my name. i like my name, he likes his. no need in going through all the muss and fuss; it's already official.
*oh wait -- this isn't even the best part*
the best part is, we announced our wedding on facebook. prior to this, only two people knew. one being my sister, heather, because the beau felt it was important to ask someone for my hand in marriage before actually marrying me. since we wanted to keep it a secret from my parents, he texted her (yes, you have to love technology) and asked. i think she replied with something like, "you better marry her!" and of course, the roommate, cuz i had to get an opinion on my ring, and well, we kinda felt like she should know in advance she does live with us. but otherwise, no one knew.
i think i just posted a pic of our hands with rings and wrote, "look, ma! we got married!"
the parents were in el paso visiting another sister. my brother-in-law called my sister (who was out with my parents) and said, "did holly really get married?" my sister asked my mom, and they said something like, "what are you talking about?" and he told her that we posted it on facebook. the rest is history and
*that, my friends, is how we announced our marriage to the world.*
i mean, seriously . . . i don't know that anyone has a cooler wedding story than that! vegas, eloped in a drive-thru chapel, announced on facebook. it *is* pretty awesome, you have to admit. i feel like the winner in the deal . . . i got a great guy and a pretty nice tax break.
*win/win if you ask me!*
8.05.2010
home improvement 101
so the beau and i started some various home improvement projects around the house. we decided that for right now, we'll stick with those that are low cost but that can be done in a few days. i don't know what we were thinking when we decided to redo the kitchen cabinets!
it all started because we have (or should i say "had" now) some unfinished patio furniture. it's really sturdy and made of really good quality wood, but we never did paint / stain it. plus, we rarely sit outside (cuz it's typically too hot or there are too many mosquitoes) so we have never done anything with it. however, the beau and i were talking about how we'd like to have some dinner parties or something at some point at our house, and it would be nice to have patio furniture to use. so we bought a can of stain that is a red mahogany color (which matches our inside house dining room table and barstools) and the beau went to town staining. he got it all done and it's now outside on our patio, getting crapped on by birds (which i'm not happy about).
when the beau was done, we noticed we still had about 3/4 of a can of stain left. and it was a saturday and i was in a project-doing mood, and so i came up with the bright idea to start staining the cabinets, cuz we had talked about doing it for a long time. and we took all the cabinets off (all 17 of them) and began staining. and didn't think about it being july and how hot it is. which, for painting cabinets outside isn't bad. it's just bad when the cabinet borders have to be painted INSIDE the house . . . which means the a/c goes off and the windows are opened. and that means the house gets to be about 100-degrees and you can't stop sweating and there's no relief from the fumes of the stain or the heat of the day.
and it takes a lot longer than one weekend to finish. and quite frankly, we're still not finished. we still have cabinets left to hang and i think we're also going to have to paint another coat of stain onto the cabinet borders. it ended up going so much smoother and way more quicker in my head. but i think that overall, the cabinets look good. we're now looking to see what else we can stain . . .
anyhow, here are some pictures of our almost-completed project:
it all started because we have (or should i say "had" now) some unfinished patio furniture. it's really sturdy and made of really good quality wood, but we never did paint / stain it. plus, we rarely sit outside (cuz it's typically too hot or there are too many mosquitoes) so we have never done anything with it. however, the beau and i were talking about how we'd like to have some dinner parties or something at some point at our house, and it would be nice to have patio furniture to use. so we bought a can of stain that is a red mahogany color (which matches our inside house dining room table and barstools) and the beau went to town staining. he got it all done and it's now outside on our patio, getting crapped on by birds (which i'm not happy about).
when the beau was done, we noticed we still had about 3/4 of a can of stain left. and it was a saturday and i was in a project-doing mood, and so i came up with the bright idea to start staining the cabinets, cuz we had talked about doing it for a long time. and we took all the cabinets off (all 17 of them) and began staining. and didn't think about it being july and how hot it is. which, for painting cabinets outside isn't bad. it's just bad when the cabinet borders have to be painted INSIDE the house . . . which means the a/c goes off and the windows are opened. and that means the house gets to be about 100-degrees and you can't stop sweating and there's no relief from the fumes of the stain or the heat of the day.
and it takes a lot longer than one weekend to finish. and quite frankly, we're still not finished. we still have cabinets left to hang and i think we're also going to have to paint another coat of stain onto the cabinet borders. it ended up going so much smoother and way more quicker in my head. but i think that overall, the cabinets look good. we're now looking to see what else we can stain . . .
anyhow, here are some pictures of our almost-completed project:
7.27.2010
july -- and possibly august & september -- home improvement project
so lately, the beau and i have been doing little "home improvement" projects around the house. nothing too pricey, but something that betters our home and is definitely noticeable. this month, we've been tackling the stainage of furniture and cabinets.
last year, we bought some new furniture for the house : bedset, dining room table with chairs, barstools. we bought it all in this beautiful mahogany red color. while i loved the dark-colored wood, the rest of the house has light furniture accents, like oak or something. and i don't like the way that it doesn't mesh. i'm sure no one else notices it, but because i'm crazy about everything matching in my house, i have noticed. we have some really nice unfinished patio furniture (thanks, daddy or chad . . . or whomever we got it from) that we decided to stain a mahogany red stain we found by minwax. we get it all stained up and head to lowe's the other day to find a sealant for it. we talk to the guy in that department and he informs us that the stain we have used on our outdoor furniture is actually for interior wood . . . which i admit, pissed me off. after all, we had gotten that specific stain based on one of lowe's employees. but the guy assured us that putting a sealant on it would help it last longer and since it sits under a covered patio and never gets direct sunlight, it should be good for years. so now my anger has subsided a little. my beau covered it in a few coats of stain and put the sealant on it. it's really nice now. but the thing is, we had half a gallon-sized can of stain left over. and what happens? we get the brilliant idea to stain the kitchen cabinets!
we start the job and finish 17 cabinets the first day. only after putting the first coat of stain on the 17, moving them to the garage to dry and putting everything away do we realize we left two cabinet doors unfinished (the ones above the fridge that we use for nothing). since we also have some drawers in the kitchen, we decided to just stain the two cabinets we missed with those. sunday rolls around and start applying a second coat to the cabinets. we only did like 12. and then the interest petered out. and guys . . . this is not good! we still have more to do, as well as the cabinet border and the backside of the cabinets! i think this is going to be a lot longer of a project than we thought. and i hope we can continue with the motivation to get it done. especially since we have the spare room furniture to stain still (my beau doesn't know we're doing that yet).
anyway, i've decided that from now on, before we jump into a "little" project, we will definitely think it through. and research it. and consider that while a project may be cheap, it's not necessarily little!
before cabinet:
after cabinet:
last year, we bought some new furniture for the house : bedset, dining room table with chairs, barstools. we bought it all in this beautiful mahogany red color. while i loved the dark-colored wood, the rest of the house has light furniture accents, like oak or something. and i don't like the way that it doesn't mesh. i'm sure no one else notices it, but because i'm crazy about everything matching in my house, i have noticed. we have some really nice unfinished patio furniture (thanks, daddy or chad . . . or whomever we got it from) that we decided to stain a mahogany red stain we found by minwax. we get it all stained up and head to lowe's the other day to find a sealant for it. we talk to the guy in that department and he informs us that the stain we have used on our outdoor furniture is actually for interior wood . . . which i admit, pissed me off. after all, we had gotten that specific stain based on one of lowe's employees. but the guy assured us that putting a sealant on it would help it last longer and since it sits under a covered patio and never gets direct sunlight, it should be good for years. so now my anger has subsided a little. my beau covered it in a few coats of stain and put the sealant on it. it's really nice now. but the thing is, we had half a gallon-sized can of stain left over. and what happens? we get the brilliant idea to stain the kitchen cabinets!
we start the job and finish 17 cabinets the first day. only after putting the first coat of stain on the 17, moving them to the garage to dry and putting everything away do we realize we left two cabinet doors unfinished (the ones above the fridge that we use for nothing). since we also have some drawers in the kitchen, we decided to just stain the two cabinets we missed with those. sunday rolls around and start applying a second coat to the cabinets. we only did like 12. and then the interest petered out. and guys . . . this is not good! we still have more to do, as well as the cabinet border and the backside of the cabinets! i think this is going to be a lot longer of a project than we thought. and i hope we can continue with the motivation to get it done. especially since we have the spare room furniture to stain still (my beau doesn't know we're doing that yet).
anyway, i've decided that from now on, before we jump into a "little" project, we will definitely think it through. and research it. and consider that while a project may be cheap, it's not necessarily little!
before cabinet:
after cabinet:
7.26.2010
a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong survey
i'm a little bored today and figured i'd bore you with a bunch of useless questions and answers **cuz i can.** and you'll read it and you'll like it. and maybe you won't and maybe i don't care. but for your reading pleasure anyway :
BASICS
Name: holly olga pritchard. okay, so maybe olga isn't my real middle name, but in high school i told everyone it was. and when i graduated and walked across the stage, they announced it as such. my mom was mad.
Date of Birth: 06/07/1980. can't believe i turned 30 this year . . . seems like i was just a teenager sneaking into the movie theater with my best friend leslie to meet up with our boyfriends, brandon and richard!
Birthplace: dothan, alabama. i left that place when i wasn't even one yet and never plan on going back. i may have been born in alabama, but i'm a texas girl at heart!
Current Location: killeen, texas. it's home.
Eye Color:
Hair Color: well, at the moment, i have brown trailer park roots with blonde ends. one day i'll make it back to my stylist and get my hairscut and have it highlighted, as well. in the meantime, i wear it in a ponytail every day in an attempt to disguise my horrible roots!
Height: 5'6 1/2" . . . "sometimes a girl needs a half."
Heritage: you know, every time i talk to my siblings or parents about this, my heritage changes. i think there is quite a bit of dutch and maybe some german or english. and of course, some sort of native american and maybe even some finnish or something. i think it's just easier to say i'm american.
Piercings: nope. no longer. my body rejects all metals.
Tattoos: oh tattoos. i do have four of them, and i must admit, i regret the days i got each of them. being young and dumb has left a permament "scar" on me.
FAVORITES
Band/Singer: this is a loaded question. i have so many favorites that i'd never be able to narrow it down to just one. at the moment, i'm loving tom petty. ask me tomorrow, however, and i may tell you talib kweli.
Song: again, way too many answers. however, i will say i *love* to sing fleetwood mac's "everywhere" to my beau. i absolutely love that song; he abhors it.
Movie:
no other movie has ever brought me so much joy and made me happy when i was sad. i love singing along and quoting it. makes me even happier when all my sisters and sisters-in-law quote and sing with me. when the movie isn't playing. simply to annoy my brothers and brothers-in-law.
Disney Movie: i always loved "peter pan" growing up.
TV show: right now, the beau and i are hooked on all sorts of shows like "river monsters," "modern family," "the office" and "i survived." we don't get to watch TV often, but we do DVR quite a few to pass the time when we do!
Color: charcoal grey. i have been told several times that that is not a color, but rather a shade. really, though -- is there that big of a difference?
Food: oh so many answers, so little time and space to write them all. food and i are friends. there isn't much i won't try. aside from sushi. the thought of it makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
Pizza topping: black olives, onions, bell pepper and pepperoni, please.
Ice-Cream Flavor: hmmm . . . for all of you *not* in texas or who do not HEBs in your area, i will say mint chocolate chip. those of you who do have HEBs in your area and have had the pleasure of eating creamy creations ice cream, i'm going with nutty chocolate sugar cone. or something like that. little explosions of heaven in your mouth.
Drink: triple tall sugarfree vanilla breve latte. i once tried to give them up, but just couldn't part ways. they are just that good.
Coke: let me preface this answer by saying this question was asking me my "favorite soda." however, no one in texas calls it a soda. and so i had to change it to make sense for all my fellow texans ;) and with that, i'll say dr pepper.
Store: sadly, my favorite store has changed from a fashion store to a grocery store. yes people. today, on my blog, i declare HEB to be my most favorite store. ever. nothing is quite as heavenly as that place.
Clothing Brand: i go back and forth on this one. usually, it's gap. but since becoming poor lately, it's gone back to old navy. essentially the same thing; gap just costs more and has somewhat cuter clothes. sadly, however, the quality is the same. and it's becoming harder and harder for me to justify spending $44 on a shirt. i never thought i'd see the day that i said that.
Shoe Brand: depends on what i am using the shoe for. working out it's either nike or new balance. when i played soccer, it was adidas. flip flops are whatever is comfortable. no jimmy choos or anything like that for me; those would cost me a month's paycheck.
Season: fall. nothing like fall in texas. and hayley -- i know you say there are no seasons in central texas, but believe me . . . someone from here knows the difference between summer and fall. it goes from being hot hot hot to just hot.
Month: i don't know why, but i have always loved october. it has nothing to do with halloween, cuz that is my least favorite holiday. we don't even pass out candy or open the door. we just sit at home and ignore the doorbell.
Holiday: this is a tough one. i love christmas because of all the good memories i have associated with it. it's not quite a big deal anymore now that i'm grown. maybe the first time we have the kids on christmas morning it will be a bigger deal. but i really love the fourth of july. i love the fireworks and the BBQing and the time spent with friends and family. plus, i'm a patriot and am in love with america and all that we are afforded in this country. i am so thankful for the freedoms i have.
Flower: my favorite flower has always been the star-gazer lily. my wedding bouquet (yes, for those of you who have forgotten : i was once married) was made of them. but lately, i have loved the hibiscus. maybe because we bought a pretty red one from lowe's and it has actually survived all summer under my care (which is a miracle in itself). i love them.
Make-Up Item: it's funny. i always remember my gramma telling me growing up that a lady doesn't leave the house without putting on makeup. even when she was near the end of her life and didn't leave the house much, when she did, i helped her powder her nose, rouge her cheeks and color her lips. and for the longest time, i believed that sentiment and you wouldn't catch me anywhere without makeup. except maybe the gym. but now, it seems like i'm always running late and quite frankly, i'm not looking to impress anyone. and the first thing to go was my makeup. i keep reminding myself that a lady never leaves the house without it, but then i also rationalize it that i'm more of a tomboy than a lady. but if i had to choose, i would say mascara. it makes me feel complete when i do wear it.
Board game: hmmm . . . it's a toss-up between clue and scrabble. i'm good at both. quite frankly, any game is my favorite as long as i win.
THIS or THAT
Sunny or rainy: definitely sunny. rainy is only good when you don't have to leave the house and have plenty to do on the inside.
Chocolate or vanilla:
Fruits or vegetables: i like both, but am a bigger fan of vegetables. but they have to be cooked.
Night or day: night cuz day means i have to be at work.
Sour or sweet: hmmm, between the two, i'll choose sweet. but i'd rather choose salt.
Love or money: why does it always have to be one or the other? why can't it be both?
Phone or in person: either works for me.
Looks or personality: again, why can't it be both? my beau has both.
Coffee or tea: coffee. tea is bad for you.
Hot or cold: inbetween. summers in texas are too hot and the winters are too cold. i want fall year round.
YOUR
Goal for this year: lose 40 pounds (refer to two posts below this one)
Best physical feature: well that all depends on who you ask. i like my booty, but i'm sure my dad will tell you something different!
First thought waking up: SNOOZE!
Hypothetical personality disorder: hmmm . . . either OCD or anxiety.
Preferred type of plastic surgery: i don't prefer any. the less time spent under the knife, the better. i'm not trying to die anytime soon.
Sesame street alter ego: i guess big bird since i'm the boss ;)
Fairytale alter ego: none . . . most fairytale characters are waiting on their prince charming to come and take care of them. while i love my beau, i am capable of taking care of myself.
Worst crime: i hope there are no cops reading this. i was once involved in a hit-and-run. i was 17 at the time and scared to death. it took place in my mom's van and i hit a little tiny chevette. moved it to another parking space. i never stopped and lied for years about it to my parents. i still can't believe i did that.
Greatest ambition: to be successful.
Greatest fear: dying young and dying alone. would be even worse if i died young and alone.
Darkest secret: i really can't think of any dark secrets.
Favorite subject
Worst habit: my inability to delegate at work. i'm trying to be better at it, but i still feel guilty when i ask someone else to do the work that i'm ultimately responsible for.
DO YOU
Smoke: nope. nasty habit.
Drink: rarely. and i mean that, mama and daddy.
Curse: i really try hard not to. especially since we have kids around a lot more often now. usually i will if i hurt myself. or i'm super incredibly mad. but otherwise, i say thinks like "blast" or "crikey" or "bastard!" (which mama, is not really a curse word).
Shower daily: sometimes twice.
Like thunderstorms: as long as they don't knock my power out, i'm fine with them.
Sing: much to the chagrin of my beau, i do. and i sing loud and horribly. and he secretly loves it when i do.
Play an instrument: i can pick a tune or two out on the piano. i used to be really good at it. and the french horn. now? not so much.
Get along with your parents: swimmingly. i am happy to say that my relationship with my parents is a complete 180 from how it was when i was a teenager. i talk to my mama just about every day and we see them quite often during the week. they do a lot for me and i could never thank them enough.
Wish on stars: only on shooting stars.
Believe in fate: yes and no.
Believe in love at first sight: no. i'm a realist. that's called lust, people.
CAN YOU
Drive: yes, but i'm what you'd call a distracted driver. and so i don't drive often.
Sew: not at all. not even a button. i guess in theory i could sew on a button if i had to, but i just let my beau take care of all that. he used to be in the marines, so he says it was required of him to do that.
Cook: i can.
Speak another language: only a little bit of restaurant spanish, and that might not even be the case anymore since i haven't worked in a restaurant in years.
Dance: of course. although i haven't done it in a long time.
Sing: not at all, but that doesn't stop me from pretending i can!
Whistle: not well. barely at all.
Curl your tongue: yep.
HAVE YOU EVER
Been Drunk: more times than i can remember or am willing to admit to.
Been Stoned/High: not unless you can count my ambien highs. never been high on any sort of illegal drug.
Eaten Sushi: i think i have tried eel before with my sister. she thought i'd like it cuz it's salty. i couldn't get passed the texture. i settled on teriyaki chicken.
Been in Love: sure, why not?
Skipped school: i almost didn't graduate cuz i missed so much school my senior year. we used to go shopping in austin. leave at 8am and get back in time for the final bell at 401pm. those were the days.
Made prank calls: not recently. everyone has caller ID now. and no one answers blocked calls, so it would be no fun.
Sent someone a love letter: ah, back in the days. now i just facebook my beau and tell him i love him. how romantic, right?
Stolen something: just a few hearts ;)
OTHERS
What annoys you most in a person?
*i think lying annoys me the most. i hate when people lie to me.
Are you right- or left-handed?
*right handed.
What is your bedtime?
*sadly, it's like 830pm. i take my ambien at 8pm and am usually falling asleep 30 minutes to an hour later. yes, i know the sun is still out at 8pm. what can i say . . . i'm an old lady.
Name three things you can't live without:
*coffee, bottled water, phone
What is the color of your room?
*tan and red (more specifically, ponytail and bangkok rust)
Do you have any siblings?
*i have enough siblings for me and you. seven total.
Do you have any pets?
*i'm ashamed to admit that i am now a pet owner. his name is inspektor phinneas von owens, III. he is a miniature pinscher. he is 11 months and way too hyper:
Would you kill someone you hate for a million dollars?
*i don't really hate anyone that i can think of, so i'm not sure i'd be able to kill someone for a million. however, i might be able to break someone's legs for a million. i'd just make sure to pay their medical bills.
What are you nicknames?
*you know, i don't really have a lot of nicknames. my mama calls me holly dolly or hol dol. my dad calls me pumpkin or squirt. and my beau calls me babe usually.
Are you for or against gay marriage?
*i'm not about to tell anyone who they can or can't love, nor am i going to get into this topic here on my blog.
What are your thoughts on abortion?
*whatever my thoughts are, they are my thoughts. and again, i don't feel like sharing them. buh-bye.
Do you have a crush on anyone?
*oh, i do. have you ever seen "river monsters" on animal planet? if so, then you know who jeremy wade is. and that's my crush. and before you go and criticize me for having a crush on someone other than my beau, know this : he has a man-crush on him, too, so it's okay.
Are you afraid of the dark?
*negative . . . the darker the better.
How do you want to die?
*happy.
Would you take a bullet for the one you love?
*oooh . . . as much as i love my beau, i love myself more. so no. i'd be sad if he were shot, but this is survival of the fittest, people!
What is the last law you’ve broken?
*ummmm, driving from my mama's house to my house with no seatbelt on.
What color shirt are you wearing?
*white
Name three things that are physically close to you:
*laptop, bottled water, cellphone
What is the last book you read?
*
Are you or were you a good student?
*i don't know that i was necessarily a good student; i just picked up easily on things and knew random things. i also learned good study techniques which came in handy. especially for those days i slept in class.
What's your favorite sport?
*to play:
to watch:
Do you enjoy sleeping late?
*oh how i love it! i actually slept til 11am on saturday and 10am on sunday. it was marvelous!
What's the weather like right now?
*
Who tells the best jokes?
*you know, he may not tell the best jokes and quite frankly, he's prolly one of the worst joke tellers i've heard tell a joke, but my little brother (scott) wins this category. the kid can tell an entire joke and forget the punchline. gotta love it.
What was the last thing you dreamed about?
*the last thing i remember dreaming about was my dad and me smoking the biggest blunt you've ever seen. it was a swisher sweet stuffed full of weed. and huge. and we were very high.
Do you collect anything? If so, what?
*i collect cash. if you're interested in donating to my collection, hit me up. i have plenty of room to add yours to mine.
Are you proud of yourself?
*i'm proud of what i have accomplished, but i do think i should have accomplished more by now.
Are you reliable?
*i really try to be.
Have you ever given money to a bum?
*that i have. however, since i started watching "intervention," i have a hard time giving money to them. i'd rather buy them a meal than give them cold hard cash.
What's your favorite invention?
*hmmm . . . this is a good question. there are so many i love, but i am going to have to say an espresso maker!
Is your room messy?
*i prefer the word cluttered. and it's mainly cuz we don't have any shelving in my room. if i had it, it would be a lot less cluttered, for sure.
What do you like better: oranges or apples?
*
Do you give in easily?
*um, i do when i'm guilted. and my mama can give a mean guilt trip!
Do you have a job?
*i do . . . and i think i like it.
What time did you wake up this morning?
*late. way later than usual. had to rush.
What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
*um, i didn't exactly eat breakfast. i came to work and had every intention of eating; however, my yogurt expired on 8 July.
What's your favorite day of the week and why?
*i am a big fan on the weekend. i used to love tuesdays, but now i have to work on tuesdays. i'll say sundays because we get to eat at mama's house and see the family.
Would you ever go skydiving?
*i don't think i would. i prefer to keep my feet on the ground.
What toothpaste do you use?
*colgate total. sometimes gel, sometimes paste. sometimes whitening, sometimes not. really depends on if it's on sale.
Do you enjoy challenges?
*i enjoy being told i'll fail when i know i'll succeed.
What's the worst injury you have had?
*concussion in the ninth grade. the only game my daddy was ever late for. and he missed the whole thing. however, he did stay most of the night in the hospital with me.
What's the last movie you saw?
*we watched "the bounty hunter" the other day. one of the worst movies i've seen in a long time.
What does your last text message say?
*"okay" from my beau. he was asking me for a grocery list and i told him i hadn't made one.
What is your dream vacation?
*at this point, any vacation is my dream vacation. i'd love to go to italy, hawaii or puerto rico. hopefully we'll do all three in the next three years.
What is your favorite animal?
*any animal i don't have to take care of.
Do you need to do laundry?
*that i do, even though my beau just did it friday. i am out of jeans.
Do you listen to the radio?
*only my iPod or pandora.
Where were you when 9/11 happened?
*
What color are your bed sheets?
*the ones on my bed now are dark brown. i try to keep the same colors throughout all of my house, including the sheets.
What's your ringtone?
*depends on the person. most are the generic, iPhone xylophone ringtone. my mom's is stewie from "family guy;" little brother's is "encarnacion" from nacho libre; colby's (my nephew) is "have you ever seen the rain?" by CCR; daddy's is "california dreamin'" by the mamas and the papas; my beau's is "jammin'" by bob marley; heather's is "tarantula" by bob schneider.
Do you watch cartoons?
*never on purpose. whenever we have the kids, a lot of cartoons filter onto the TV. and it sucks. unless it's phinneas and ferb, which i think is funny. but i hate spongebob now.
Do you hold grudges?
*oh how i wish.
BASICS
Name: holly olga pritchard. okay, so maybe olga isn't my real middle name, but in high school i told everyone it was. and when i graduated and walked across the stage, they announced it as such. my mom was mad.
Date of Birth: 06/07/1980. can't believe i turned 30 this year . . . seems like i was just a teenager sneaking into the movie theater with my best friend leslie to meet up with our boyfriends, brandon and richard!
Birthplace: dothan, alabama. i left that place when i wasn't even one yet and never plan on going back. i may have been born in alabama, but i'm a texas girl at heart!
Current Location: killeen, texas. it's home.
Eye Color:
Hair Color: well, at the moment, i have brown trailer park roots with blonde ends. one day i'll make it back to my stylist and get my hairscut and have it highlighted, as well. in the meantime, i wear it in a ponytail every day in an attempt to disguise my horrible roots!
Height: 5'6 1/2" . . . "sometimes a girl needs a half."
Heritage: you know, every time i talk to my siblings or parents about this, my heritage changes. i think there is quite a bit of dutch and maybe some german or english. and of course, some sort of native american and maybe even some finnish or something. i think it's just easier to say i'm american.
Piercings: nope. no longer. my body rejects all metals.
Tattoos: oh tattoos. i do have four of them, and i must admit, i regret the days i got each of them. being young and dumb has left a permament "scar" on me.
FAVORITES
Band/Singer: this is a loaded question. i have so many favorites that i'd never be able to narrow it down to just one. at the moment, i'm loving tom petty. ask me tomorrow, however, and i may tell you talib kweli.
Song: again, way too many answers. however, i will say i *love* to sing fleetwood mac's "everywhere" to my beau. i absolutely love that song; he abhors it.
Movie:
no other movie has ever brought me so much joy and made me happy when i was sad. i love singing along and quoting it. makes me even happier when all my sisters and sisters-in-law quote and sing with me. when the movie isn't playing. simply to annoy my brothers and brothers-in-law.
Disney Movie: i always loved "peter pan" growing up.
TV show: right now, the beau and i are hooked on all sorts of shows like "river monsters," "modern family," "the office" and "i survived." we don't get to watch TV often, but we do DVR quite a few to pass the time when we do!
Color: charcoal grey. i have been told several times that that is not a color, but rather a shade. really, though -- is there that big of a difference?
Food: oh so many answers, so little time and space to write them all. food and i are friends. there isn't much i won't try. aside from sushi. the thought of it makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
Pizza topping: black olives, onions, bell pepper and pepperoni, please.
Ice-Cream Flavor: hmmm . . . for all of you *not* in texas or who do not HEBs in your area, i will say mint chocolate chip. those of you who do have HEBs in your area and have had the pleasure of eating creamy creations ice cream, i'm going with nutty chocolate sugar cone. or something like that. little explosions of heaven in your mouth.
Drink: triple tall sugarfree vanilla breve latte. i once tried to give them up, but just couldn't part ways. they are just that good.
Coke: let me preface this answer by saying this question was asking me my "favorite soda." however, no one in texas calls it a soda. and so i had to change it to make sense for all my fellow texans ;) and with that, i'll say dr pepper.
Store: sadly, my favorite store has changed from a fashion store to a grocery store. yes people. today, on my blog, i declare HEB to be my most favorite store. ever. nothing is quite as heavenly as that place.
Clothing Brand: i go back and forth on this one. usually, it's gap. but since becoming poor lately, it's gone back to old navy. essentially the same thing; gap just costs more and has somewhat cuter clothes. sadly, however, the quality is the same. and it's becoming harder and harder for me to justify spending $44 on a shirt. i never thought i'd see the day that i said that.
Shoe Brand: depends on what i am using the shoe for. working out it's either nike or new balance. when i played soccer, it was adidas. flip flops are whatever is comfortable. no jimmy choos or anything like that for me; those would cost me a month's paycheck.
Season: fall. nothing like fall in texas. and hayley -- i know you say there are no seasons in central texas, but believe me . . . someone from here knows the difference between summer and fall. it goes from being hot hot hot to just hot.
Month: i don't know why, but i have always loved october. it has nothing to do with halloween, cuz that is my least favorite holiday. we don't even pass out candy or open the door. we just sit at home and ignore the doorbell.
Holiday: this is a tough one. i love christmas because of all the good memories i have associated with it. it's not quite a big deal anymore now that i'm grown. maybe the first time we have the kids on christmas morning it will be a bigger deal. but i really love the fourth of july. i love the fireworks and the BBQing and the time spent with friends and family. plus, i'm a patriot and am in love with america and all that we are afforded in this country. i am so thankful for the freedoms i have.
Flower: my favorite flower has always been the star-gazer lily. my wedding bouquet (yes, for those of you who have forgotten : i was once married) was made of them. but lately, i have loved the hibiscus. maybe because we bought a pretty red one from lowe's and it has actually survived all summer under my care (which is a miracle in itself). i love them.
Make-Up Item: it's funny. i always remember my gramma telling me growing up that a lady doesn't leave the house without putting on makeup. even when she was near the end of her life and didn't leave the house much, when she did, i helped her powder her nose, rouge her cheeks and color her lips. and for the longest time, i believed that sentiment and you wouldn't catch me anywhere without makeup. except maybe the gym. but now, it seems like i'm always running late and quite frankly, i'm not looking to impress anyone. and the first thing to go was my makeup. i keep reminding myself that a lady never leaves the house without it, but then i also rationalize it that i'm more of a tomboy than a lady. but if i had to choose, i would say mascara. it makes me feel complete when i do wear it.
Board game: hmmm . . . it's a toss-up between clue and scrabble. i'm good at both. quite frankly, any game is my favorite as long as i win.
THIS or THAT
Sunny or rainy: definitely sunny. rainy is only good when you don't have to leave the house and have plenty to do on the inside.
Chocolate or vanilla:
Fruits or vegetables: i like both, but am a bigger fan of vegetables. but they have to be cooked.
Night or day: night cuz day means i have to be at work.
Sour or sweet: hmmm, between the two, i'll choose sweet. but i'd rather choose salt.
Love or money: why does it always have to be one or the other? why can't it be both?
Phone or in person: either works for me.
Looks or personality: again, why can't it be both? my beau has both.
Coffee or tea: coffee. tea is bad for you.
Hot or cold: inbetween. summers in texas are too hot and the winters are too cold. i want fall year round.
YOUR
Goal for this year: lose 40 pounds (refer to two posts below this one)
Best physical feature: well that all depends on who you ask. i like my booty, but i'm sure my dad will tell you something different!
First thought waking up: SNOOZE!
Hypothetical personality disorder: hmmm . . . either OCD or anxiety.
Preferred type of plastic surgery: i don't prefer any. the less time spent under the knife, the better. i'm not trying to die anytime soon.
Sesame street alter ego: i guess big bird since i'm the boss ;)
Fairytale alter ego: none . . . most fairytale characters are waiting on their prince charming to come and take care of them. while i love my beau, i am capable of taking care of myself.
Worst crime: i hope there are no cops reading this. i was once involved in a hit-and-run. i was 17 at the time and scared to death. it took place in my mom's van and i hit a little tiny chevette. moved it to another parking space. i never stopped and lied for years about it to my parents. i still can't believe i did that.
Greatest ambition: to be successful.
Greatest fear: dying young and dying alone. would be even worse if i died young and alone.
Darkest secret: i really can't think of any dark secrets.
Favorite subject
Worst habit: my inability to delegate at work. i'm trying to be better at it, but i still feel guilty when i ask someone else to do the work that i'm ultimately responsible for.
DO YOU
Smoke: nope. nasty habit.
Drink: rarely. and i mean that, mama and daddy.
Curse: i really try hard not to. especially since we have kids around a lot more often now. usually i will if i hurt myself. or i'm super incredibly mad. but otherwise, i say thinks like "blast" or "crikey" or "bastard!" (which mama, is not really a curse word).
Shower daily: sometimes twice.
Like thunderstorms: as long as they don't knock my power out, i'm fine with them.
Sing: much to the chagrin of my beau, i do. and i sing loud and horribly. and he secretly loves it when i do.
Play an instrument: i can pick a tune or two out on the piano. i used to be really good at it. and the french horn. now? not so much.
Get along with your parents: swimmingly. i am happy to say that my relationship with my parents is a complete 180 from how it was when i was a teenager. i talk to my mama just about every day and we see them quite often during the week. they do a lot for me and i could never thank them enough.
Wish on stars: only on shooting stars.
Believe in fate: yes and no.
Believe in love at first sight: no. i'm a realist. that's called lust, people.
CAN YOU
Drive: yes, but i'm what you'd call a distracted driver. and so i don't drive often.
Sew: not at all. not even a button. i guess in theory i could sew on a button if i had to, but i just let my beau take care of all that. he used to be in the marines, so he says it was required of him to do that.
Cook: i can.
Speak another language: only a little bit of restaurant spanish, and that might not even be the case anymore since i haven't worked in a restaurant in years.
Dance: of course. although i haven't done it in a long time.
Sing: not at all, but that doesn't stop me from pretending i can!
Whistle: not well. barely at all.
Curl your tongue: yep.
HAVE YOU EVER
Been Drunk: more times than i can remember or am willing to admit to.
Been Stoned/High: not unless you can count my ambien highs. never been high on any sort of illegal drug.
Eaten Sushi: i think i have tried eel before with my sister. she thought i'd like it cuz it's salty. i couldn't get passed the texture. i settled on teriyaki chicken.
Been in Love: sure, why not?
Skipped school: i almost didn't graduate cuz i missed so much school my senior year. we used to go shopping in austin. leave at 8am and get back in time for the final bell at 401pm. those were the days.
Made prank calls: not recently. everyone has caller ID now. and no one answers blocked calls, so it would be no fun.
Sent someone a love letter: ah, back in the days. now i just facebook my beau and tell him i love him. how romantic, right?
Stolen something: just a few hearts ;)
OTHERS
What annoys you most in a person?
*i think lying annoys me the most. i hate when people lie to me.
Are you right- or left-handed?
*right handed.
What is your bedtime?
*sadly, it's like 830pm. i take my ambien at 8pm and am usually falling asleep 30 minutes to an hour later. yes, i know the sun is still out at 8pm. what can i say . . . i'm an old lady.
Name three things you can't live without:
*coffee, bottled water, phone
What is the color of your room?
*tan and red (more specifically, ponytail and bangkok rust)
Do you have any siblings?
*i have enough siblings for me and you. seven total.
Do you have any pets?
*i'm ashamed to admit that i am now a pet owner. his name is inspektor phinneas von owens, III. he is a miniature pinscher. he is 11 months and way too hyper:
Would you kill someone you hate for a million dollars?
*i don't really hate anyone that i can think of, so i'm not sure i'd be able to kill someone for a million. however, i might be able to break someone's legs for a million. i'd just make sure to pay their medical bills.
What are you nicknames?
*you know, i don't really have a lot of nicknames. my mama calls me holly dolly or hol dol. my dad calls me pumpkin or squirt. and my beau calls me babe usually.
Are you for or against gay marriage?
*i'm not about to tell anyone who they can or can't love, nor am i going to get into this topic here on my blog.
What are your thoughts on abortion?
*whatever my thoughts are, they are my thoughts. and again, i don't feel like sharing them. buh-bye.
Do you have a crush on anyone?
*oh, i do. have you ever seen "river monsters" on animal planet? if so, then you know who jeremy wade is. and that's my crush. and before you go and criticize me for having a crush on someone other than my beau, know this : he has a man-crush on him, too, so it's okay.
Are you afraid of the dark?
*negative . . . the darker the better.
How do you want to die?
*happy.
Would you take a bullet for the one you love?
*oooh . . . as much as i love my beau, i love myself more. so no. i'd be sad if he were shot, but this is survival of the fittest, people!
What is the last law you’ve broken?
*ummmm, driving from my mama's house to my house with no seatbelt on.
What color shirt are you wearing?
*white
Name three things that are physically close to you:
*laptop, bottled water, cellphone
What is the last book you read?
*
Are you or were you a good student?
*i don't know that i was necessarily a good student; i just picked up easily on things and knew random things. i also learned good study techniques which came in handy. especially for those days i slept in class.
What's your favorite sport?
*to play:
to watch:
Do you enjoy sleeping late?
*oh how i love it! i actually slept til 11am on saturday and 10am on sunday. it was marvelous!
What's the weather like right now?
*
Who tells the best jokes?
*you know, he may not tell the best jokes and quite frankly, he's prolly one of the worst joke tellers i've heard tell a joke, but my little brother (scott) wins this category. the kid can tell an entire joke and forget the punchline. gotta love it.
What was the last thing you dreamed about?
*the last thing i remember dreaming about was my dad and me smoking the biggest blunt you've ever seen. it was a swisher sweet stuffed full of weed. and huge. and we were very high.
Do you collect anything? If so, what?
*i collect cash. if you're interested in donating to my collection, hit me up. i have plenty of room to add yours to mine.
Are you proud of yourself?
*i'm proud of what i have accomplished, but i do think i should have accomplished more by now.
Are you reliable?
*i really try to be.
Have you ever given money to a bum?
*that i have. however, since i started watching "intervention," i have a hard time giving money to them. i'd rather buy them a meal than give them cold hard cash.
What's your favorite invention?
*hmmm . . . this is a good question. there are so many i love, but i am going to have to say an espresso maker!
Is your room messy?
*i prefer the word cluttered. and it's mainly cuz we don't have any shelving in my room. if i had it, it would be a lot less cluttered, for sure.
What do you like better: oranges or apples?
*
Do you give in easily?
*um, i do when i'm guilted. and my mama can give a mean guilt trip!
Do you have a job?
*i do . . . and i think i like it.
What time did you wake up this morning?
*late. way later than usual. had to rush.
What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
*um, i didn't exactly eat breakfast. i came to work and had every intention of eating; however, my yogurt expired on 8 July.
What's your favorite day of the week and why?
*i am a big fan on the weekend. i used to love tuesdays, but now i have to work on tuesdays. i'll say sundays because we get to eat at mama's house and see the family.
Would you ever go skydiving?
*i don't think i would. i prefer to keep my feet on the ground.
What toothpaste do you use?
*colgate total. sometimes gel, sometimes paste. sometimes whitening, sometimes not. really depends on if it's on sale.
Do you enjoy challenges?
*i enjoy being told i'll fail when i know i'll succeed.
What's the worst injury you have had?
*concussion in the ninth grade. the only game my daddy was ever late for. and he missed the whole thing. however, he did stay most of the night in the hospital with me.
What's the last movie you saw?
*we watched "the bounty hunter" the other day. one of the worst movies i've seen in a long time.
What does your last text message say?
*"okay" from my beau. he was asking me for a grocery list and i told him i hadn't made one.
What is your dream vacation?
*at this point, any vacation is my dream vacation. i'd love to go to italy, hawaii or puerto rico. hopefully we'll do all three in the next three years.
What is your favorite animal?
*any animal i don't have to take care of.
Do you need to do laundry?
*that i do, even though my beau just did it friday. i am out of jeans.
Do you listen to the radio?
*only my iPod or pandora.
Where were you when 9/11 happened?
*
What color are your bed sheets?
*the ones on my bed now are dark brown. i try to keep the same colors throughout all of my house, including the sheets.
What's your ringtone?
*depends on the person. most are the generic, iPhone xylophone ringtone. my mom's is stewie from "family guy;" little brother's is "encarnacion" from nacho libre; colby's (my nephew) is "have you ever seen the rain?" by CCR; daddy's is "california dreamin'" by the mamas and the papas; my beau's is "jammin'" by bob marley; heather's is "tarantula" by bob schneider.
Do you watch cartoons?
*never on purpose. whenever we have the kids, a lot of cartoons filter onto the TV. and it sucks. unless it's phinneas and ferb, which i think is funny. but i hate spongebob now.
Do you hold grudges?
*oh how i wish.
7.25.2010
the passing of the celica . . . and horsepills
so when i went away to college in my early twenties, i was the proud owner of a 1981 ford ranger F100. nowadays, a ranger is a tiny truck that really has no purpose, i don't think. but back in 1981, it was a bad ass truck . . . very big and bulky and made all of metal. i ran over things and ran into things and never once dented my truck. it had an oil leak that was so bad that i literally carried a case of oil in the bed of the truck. every morning, i popped the hood and poured an entire bottle of oil into the engine; repeated this ritual just about every single morning for the year or two i owned this truck. it had the original push / knob radio, a cloth bench seat and most importantly, it could hit about 65mph tops when it was warmed up. it took me all over college station and back and forth to and from killeen on weekends i didn't have to work.
and then one day, it suddenly became unreliable. the leak got worse and worse and it started to have trouble making the trip back and forth from college to home and back. i was a poor college student, though . . . worked a full-time job, went to school full-time but still never had enough money to do much of anything. and in stepped my father.
he had gone onto the "lemon lot" on fort hood a few times over the months i had been having car trouble and he found a sporty little toyota celica for me. the GI selling it was getting ready to deploy and he really just wanted to sell it. one guy offered him $2000 cash; Daddy offered him a $1500 check with a sob story about his daughter in college. needless to say, daddy got the car. he and mom drove it down to college station one weekend and we traded cars. he got my truck to take home and use for his pool business; i got a reliable, sporty (albeit somewhat ugly and banged up) celica to cruise around town in. i loved it instantly.
my friends and i had great adventures in that car when i was in college. one summer, between spring and summer semesters, my best college friend (veronica) and i hopped into the celica and took a week and a half road trip to california. we had never been and it seemed like a good idea. we got out of texas and into new mexico the first night; onto california the second day. we hit the beach and knew we were styling in my sports car, whom by now i called Celi (pronounced 'Selly'). after our week in cali was up, veronica and i loaded celi back up and made the long trek back to texas. we even outran a cop on the new mexico border into el paso. my celi was the shiznit.
a few years and a few wrecks later, my poor celi was no longer as fast as she once was, and was even uglier than she was when i got her. mismatched -- and later, i found out, not even the same sized -- tires seemed to help add to the flats and blow-outs i had often. i had a blow out on one of the tires one night in a rain storm on my way to see my college boyfriend. i sat on the side of the road for over an hour waiting on him to come get me. he finally did and ended up dumping me that weekend. perhaps celi was trying to prevent me from going down there that weekend, from getting my heartbroken. it was definitely an omen. but i lived and learned, i suppose.
celi made it's way back home with me to killeen and we both settled nicely into my parents' house. one morning, someone broke into my car and stole the only nice thing i had in the car -- my sony XPLODE sound system my parents' had paid for and had installed in my car not even a year prior for my birthday. i drove around for a long time with cardboard and duct tape on the back window before my brother pulled a favor from someone and they fixed my window for me. and then there were wrecks and soon the bumper was falling off and the trunk didn't open. it was a mess.
one afternoon, i took it into the mechanic (the same mechanic we have used for like 20 years) and i was told i would be better off buying a new car rather invest in fixing everything that was wrong with it. and so, i faced a dilemma because i didn't have money to buy anything. my brother, again, stepped in and helped me buy a 2000 dodge stratus from a major on post who had used the car for the live-in nanny he employed. he wanted $8000 for it, and quite frankly, he could've prolly gotten more for it than that; we offered $5000 and he took it. and then suddenly i had this stratus and my celi was no longer needed.
fast forward a few months to me being out of a job for one reason or another and suddenly i'm $600 behind on the rent i owed my parents. at this time, dad's van was in bad bad bad shape and he was looking for a beater to get him around, to and from work, etc. in stepped celi. daddy and i agreed that i would essentially "sell" him celi for the $600 i owed him and then the love affair of celi and my daddy began.
for years they went all over town. and they broke down all over town. but dad managed to get things fixed on it little by little -- nothing aesthetic, of course. my daddy's theory on cars is that it is a tool. no need to have something pretty when you're just gonna run it into the ground anyway. and believe me, it was run into the ground -- and quite a bit of poles, too -- and about on it's last leg.
mom and daddy decided they needed new cars eventually. one got a camry, one got a corolla . . . and like that, celi was the red-headed stepchild no one wanted. she has sat in dad's driveway for a few months now, never running, never moving. nothing. he and mom finally decided to call a charity and have it donated but then i intervened.
my beau and i have been looking for a car for him to use to get to and from school, and to serve papers. we had been sharing the stratus for a few months now : he drops me off at work in the morning, and picks me up at lunch so i can take him to school and take the car back to work. after work, i pick him up from school and we would serve papers in it. problem with that is, my stratus isn't the most gas-efficient car out there. and surprisingly, the celica is. and so i asked dad if i could re-own the stratus from him. i didn't wanna pay anything for it aside from the fees to change the title over to our name and to pay any taxes on it. ended up costing $100.60. about $100.60 more than i wanted to pay, but at least now we have a second means of transportation.
and although it's his car and he'll be the one driving it, my beau asked me not to ever mention that. he usually has the same theory my daddy has on cars -- that they're just tools. but today, we took it for a ride around the block and to get it washed, and we were both thoroughly embarrassed by it. blue smoke pours out of the back pipe thing and it smells bad. we took it to the carwash to see if that would help, but after we were done washing, we realized it was still an ugly car. and so i decided, at that moment, to take the proud owner approach and post pics of my beauty. and without further ado, here she is, MSSSSSSS. CELI!
and my absolute favorite, cuz it shows the seat cover:
and PS : when did the pharmaceutical companies start making pills the size of a horse suppository? this is a picture of my calcium pill, which i am required to take since i'm on the b/c shot, compared to my sleep and anxiety pills. it's huge:
hopefully tomorrow's post will be a lot more interesting than tonight's. i'll be posting all about our home improvement projects! i know, you just can't wait!
and then one day, it suddenly became unreliable. the leak got worse and worse and it started to have trouble making the trip back and forth from college to home and back. i was a poor college student, though . . . worked a full-time job, went to school full-time but still never had enough money to do much of anything. and in stepped my father.
he had gone onto the "lemon lot" on fort hood a few times over the months i had been having car trouble and he found a sporty little toyota celica for me. the GI selling it was getting ready to deploy and he really just wanted to sell it. one guy offered him $2000 cash; Daddy offered him a $1500 check with a sob story about his daughter in college. needless to say, daddy got the car. he and mom drove it down to college station one weekend and we traded cars. he got my truck to take home and use for his pool business; i got a reliable, sporty (albeit somewhat ugly and banged up) celica to cruise around town in. i loved it instantly.
my friends and i had great adventures in that car when i was in college. one summer, between spring and summer semesters, my best college friend (veronica) and i hopped into the celica and took a week and a half road trip to california. we had never been and it seemed like a good idea. we got out of texas and into new mexico the first night; onto california the second day. we hit the beach and knew we were styling in my sports car, whom by now i called Celi (pronounced 'Selly'). after our week in cali was up, veronica and i loaded celi back up and made the long trek back to texas. we even outran a cop on the new mexico border into el paso. my celi was the shiznit.
a few years and a few wrecks later, my poor celi was no longer as fast as she once was, and was even uglier than she was when i got her. mismatched -- and later, i found out, not even the same sized -- tires seemed to help add to the flats and blow-outs i had often. i had a blow out on one of the tires one night in a rain storm on my way to see my college boyfriend. i sat on the side of the road for over an hour waiting on him to come get me. he finally did and ended up dumping me that weekend. perhaps celi was trying to prevent me from going down there that weekend, from getting my heartbroken. it was definitely an omen. but i lived and learned, i suppose.
celi made it's way back home with me to killeen and we both settled nicely into my parents' house. one morning, someone broke into my car and stole the only nice thing i had in the car -- my sony XPLODE sound system my parents' had paid for and had installed in my car not even a year prior for my birthday. i drove around for a long time with cardboard and duct tape on the back window before my brother pulled a favor from someone and they fixed my window for me. and then there were wrecks and soon the bumper was falling off and the trunk didn't open. it was a mess.
one afternoon, i took it into the mechanic (the same mechanic we have used for like 20 years) and i was told i would be better off buying a new car rather invest in fixing everything that was wrong with it. and so, i faced a dilemma because i didn't have money to buy anything. my brother, again, stepped in and helped me buy a 2000 dodge stratus from a major on post who had used the car for the live-in nanny he employed. he wanted $8000 for it, and quite frankly, he could've prolly gotten more for it than that; we offered $5000 and he took it. and then suddenly i had this stratus and my celi was no longer needed.
fast forward a few months to me being out of a job for one reason or another and suddenly i'm $600 behind on the rent i owed my parents. at this time, dad's van was in bad bad bad shape and he was looking for a beater to get him around, to and from work, etc. in stepped celi. daddy and i agreed that i would essentially "sell" him celi for the $600 i owed him and then the love affair of celi and my daddy began.
for years they went all over town. and they broke down all over town. but dad managed to get things fixed on it little by little -- nothing aesthetic, of course. my daddy's theory on cars is that it is a tool. no need to have something pretty when you're just gonna run it into the ground anyway. and believe me, it was run into the ground -- and quite a bit of poles, too -- and about on it's last leg.
mom and daddy decided they needed new cars eventually. one got a camry, one got a corolla . . . and like that, celi was the red-headed stepchild no one wanted. she has sat in dad's driveway for a few months now, never running, never moving. nothing. he and mom finally decided to call a charity and have it donated but then i intervened.
my beau and i have been looking for a car for him to use to get to and from school, and to serve papers. we had been sharing the stratus for a few months now : he drops me off at work in the morning, and picks me up at lunch so i can take him to school and take the car back to work. after work, i pick him up from school and we would serve papers in it. problem with that is, my stratus isn't the most gas-efficient car out there. and surprisingly, the celica is. and so i asked dad if i could re-own the stratus from him. i didn't wanna pay anything for it aside from the fees to change the title over to our name and to pay any taxes on it. ended up costing $100.60. about $100.60 more than i wanted to pay, but at least now we have a second means of transportation.
and although it's his car and he'll be the one driving it, my beau asked me not to ever mention that. he usually has the same theory my daddy has on cars -- that they're just tools. but today, we took it for a ride around the block and to get it washed, and we were both thoroughly embarrassed by it. blue smoke pours out of the back pipe thing and it smells bad. we took it to the carwash to see if that would help, but after we were done washing, we realized it was still an ugly car. and so i decided, at that moment, to take the proud owner approach and post pics of my beauty. and without further ado, here she is, MSSSSSSS. CELI!
and my absolute favorite, cuz it shows the seat cover:
and PS : when did the pharmaceutical companies start making pills the size of a horse suppository? this is a picture of my calcium pill, which i am required to take since i'm on the b/c shot, compared to my sleep and anxiety pills. it's huge:
hopefully tomorrow's post will be a lot more interesting than tonight's. i'll be posting all about our home improvement projects! i know, you just can't wait!
7.21.2010
this little piggy had roast beef . . .
it's a hard realization to accept being fat. and i'm not one of those skinny jerks who looks in the mirror and sees fat when there is none. i am genuinely big. like over 200 pounds big and prolly about twenty more than that. no one can tell me i'm not fat and make me believe it.
the size 16 clothes i tried on -- or should i say attempted to try on -- that were way too tight told me i'm fat. all of my size 14 pants i tucked away neatly for later use a few months ago told me i'm fat. my mirror told me i'm fat. and i'm finally listening.
last year -- a mere 14 months ago -- i was 40 pounds lighter. yes, FORTY pounds. how does a person gain that much weight in just over one year? how has my body not imploded (or rather, exploded) from the sheer force of an extra forty pounds? how have i been okay with this all this time? why do i seemingly not care?
i believe that over the last year, i have rationalized my weight gain. last year started off fantastically. i was forty pounds lighter, for one, and was the smallest, and more importantly, the healthiest i have been since i played soccer in high school. i felt great. full of energy and life! i worked out monday-friday and ate healthy. and even when i ate unhealthily, i was able to balance that with exercise. and when i had one bad day, i made sure i had at least five good days.
now my one bad day has turned into 14 months of bad days, with maybe five good days in there total.
last year, i met a man. i'm not blaming him, however, as i realize he can't force me to eat what i have eaten. i do know i am happy with him. and with that happiness has come complacency and relaxation. i finally feel like i have met someone who is just about perfect for me and i have reveled in that. i stopped caring about what i looked like cuz, after all, i found someone who loved me for me and told me i was beautiful at a size 10, size 12, size 14, and tonight, even more than a size 16. but honestly, who wants a fat mate?
i have always been very aware of my weight. i have known that carbs cause me to gain, and so for years i avoided sweets and tried to limit them to a healthy number daily. to me, it was never a big deal and i never craved sweets. i never bought them and never ate dessert at sunday dinner. however, within the last year or so, i started giving in to someone's birthday cake or someone else making homemade brownies or bringing over creamy creations ice cream. and i have indulged, believe you me. it's even become the joke at my parents' house on sunday nights for me to say, "well, tomorrow i start my diet." i say it every sunday. and i've realized that in the last year, when i meant it before, now i just say it for laughs. i know that deep down i haven't had intentions of a diet for a long time now.
my sister-in-law, whom i won't name for purposes of privacy, once mentioned something about "having a food baby." you know . . . when you eat so much at a meal that your tummy pooches out and no matter what, you can't suck it in and you look pregnant. sadly, this has become a joke in my relationship for awhile now. every night, i lay on the bed and rub my belly and talk to my food baby to make my beau laugh. and we laugh together. really, it's upsets me, but i know if i laugh about it, i can make myself feel better about it.
i have really noticed how fat i am here recently because i have noticed how well my daddy is doing on his diet. he had gastric bypass surgery last month after struggling for years with his weight. it seems like every time i see him, he is skinnier and skinnier and can fit into clothes he, literally, hasn't worn in years. and that's when i realize i'm no longer fitting into clothes i have worn for years. i'm growing out of everything. and quite honestly, neither my ego nor my wallet can afford that.
i must point out that i didn't write this blog for people to feel sorry for me, to tell me i look great, to lie to me. i wrote this because i need to face the fact that i am fat. that i am unhealthy. i am lethargic and, i admit it, lazy. i can't remember the last time i exercised or the last time i ate something not smothered in some sort of sauce or gravy or butter. i wrote this because i want everyone to hold me accountable for my actions as i need to hold myself accountable. and i won't be cheesy and say something like, "and so, on this blog, i vow to lose weight!" but i will say i am going to do my damndest to be healthier. i will do my damndest to exercise. i will do my damndest to make better decisions for myself.
my goal is to lose forty pounds in the next year. i figure that's a realistic goal. i mean, if i gained forty in a year, i should be able to lose that much in a year. after all, my sister lost 100 pounds in a year from exercise and eating healthy.
secretly, my real goal is to be able to wear a bikini next july and not have the fabric be lost in the rolls of my fat. because believe me, it's not a pretty sight.
the size 16 clothes i tried on -- or should i say attempted to try on -- that were way too tight told me i'm fat. all of my size 14 pants i tucked away neatly for later use a few months ago told me i'm fat. my mirror told me i'm fat. and i'm finally listening.
last year -- a mere 14 months ago -- i was 40 pounds lighter. yes, FORTY pounds. how does a person gain that much weight in just over one year? how has my body not imploded (or rather, exploded) from the sheer force of an extra forty pounds? how have i been okay with this all this time? why do i seemingly not care?
i believe that over the last year, i have rationalized my weight gain. last year started off fantastically. i was forty pounds lighter, for one, and was the smallest, and more importantly, the healthiest i have been since i played soccer in high school. i felt great. full of energy and life! i worked out monday-friday and ate healthy. and even when i ate unhealthily, i was able to balance that with exercise. and when i had one bad day, i made sure i had at least five good days.
now my one bad day has turned into 14 months of bad days, with maybe five good days in there total.
last year, i met a man. i'm not blaming him, however, as i realize he can't force me to eat what i have eaten. i do know i am happy with him. and with that happiness has come complacency and relaxation. i finally feel like i have met someone who is just about perfect for me and i have reveled in that. i stopped caring about what i looked like cuz, after all, i found someone who loved me for me and told me i was beautiful at a size 10, size 12, size 14, and tonight, even more than a size 16. but honestly, who wants a fat mate?
i have always been very aware of my weight. i have known that carbs cause me to gain, and so for years i avoided sweets and tried to limit them to a healthy number daily. to me, it was never a big deal and i never craved sweets. i never bought them and never ate dessert at sunday dinner. however, within the last year or so, i started giving in to someone's birthday cake or someone else making homemade brownies or bringing over creamy creations ice cream. and i have indulged, believe you me. it's even become the joke at my parents' house on sunday nights for me to say, "well, tomorrow i start my diet." i say it every sunday. and i've realized that in the last year, when i meant it before, now i just say it for laughs. i know that deep down i haven't had intentions of a diet for a long time now.
my sister-in-law, whom i won't name for purposes of privacy, once mentioned something about "having a food baby." you know . . . when you eat so much at a meal that your tummy pooches out and no matter what, you can't suck it in and you look pregnant. sadly, this has become a joke in my relationship for awhile now. every night, i lay on the bed and rub my belly and talk to my food baby to make my beau laugh. and we laugh together. really, it's upsets me, but i know if i laugh about it, i can make myself feel better about it.
i have really noticed how fat i am here recently because i have noticed how well my daddy is doing on his diet. he had gastric bypass surgery last month after struggling for years with his weight. it seems like every time i see him, he is skinnier and skinnier and can fit into clothes he, literally, hasn't worn in years. and that's when i realize i'm no longer fitting into clothes i have worn for years. i'm growing out of everything. and quite honestly, neither my ego nor my wallet can afford that.
i must point out that i didn't write this blog for people to feel sorry for me, to tell me i look great, to lie to me. i wrote this because i need to face the fact that i am fat. that i am unhealthy. i am lethargic and, i admit it, lazy. i can't remember the last time i exercised or the last time i ate something not smothered in some sort of sauce or gravy or butter. i wrote this because i want everyone to hold me accountable for my actions as i need to hold myself accountable. and i won't be cheesy and say something like, "and so, on this blog, i vow to lose weight!" but i will say i am going to do my damndest to be healthier. i will do my damndest to exercise. i will do my damndest to make better decisions for myself.
my goal is to lose forty pounds in the next year. i figure that's a realistic goal. i mean, if i gained forty in a year, i should be able to lose that much in a year. after all, my sister lost 100 pounds in a year from exercise and eating healthy.
secretly, my real goal is to be able to wear a bikini next july and not have the fabric be lost in the rolls of my fat. because believe me, it's not a pretty sight.
12.05.2009
guess who's back?
so i have been MIA for a few months now. not entirely sure why. just haven't spent the time getting on here to write. prolly cuz my life is pretty bland and boring right now. but i will write when i can think of anything to write about. kinda hard since my beau is in kuwait and i do pretty much nothing. ooooh . . . perhaps i'll post tomorrow about my venture back into the restaurant business. remind me of that.
and hayley -- i'm totally buying myself a SNUGGIE for christmas.
and hayley -- i'm totally buying myself a SNUGGIE for christmas.
9.25.2009
9.17.2009
an issue being addressed that really shouldn't need to be addressed . . .
so i have developed quite the pet peeve while working here with my new company. it's not something that has ever been much of an issue at my past jobs, but this job takes my pet peeve to a whole new level. what is it?
**people not flushing the toilet when they're done using it.**
and i'm not talking just about "number one." i mean the whole sha-bang, the whole enchilada, the "number two." so far, i have gone to the bathroom seven times today -- blame all the water i drink (so far three bottles, which is actually less than i typically drink) for the amount of times i use the lavatory, but this is all not the point -- and five of the times i have gone, **i have had to flush behind someone** (and three of those times were for more than just pee and toilet paper).
okay, i guess i didn't have to flush behind them, but i am just that person. no one wants to walk into a bathroom stall and !surprise! there's last night's dinner floating in the toilet, in the form of, well, "number two" (i'm trying to keep this post somewhat clean, despite the nasty topic). and so i irritatedly flush the toilet so that the next person who walks in isn't caught off guard by what i saw.
now i know there is another business that is located here in this strip center, so i can't entirely blame it on my co-workers. but the only other business here is a "daycare" for the mentally handicapped, and anytime one of the clients goes to the bathroom, they are accompanied by a supervisor, whom i always hear tell them to flush the toilet. and that makes it even less acceptable, if they aren't flushing the toilet, because there are two people there who can flush.
i have never left a stall without flushing first, and yet **it seems pretty commonplace here at my job.** i just don't understand it. i hear people in the process of potty-training a child tell that child to "flush the toilet." it's something we all have learned. i work with people WITH DEGREES! with MILITARY EXPERIENCE! you would think they would be able to police up after themselves. i am not the united states and my co-workers are not foreign countries.
**there is no reason that i should be handling their business.**
**people not flushing the toilet when they're done using it.**
and i'm not talking just about "number one." i mean the whole sha-bang, the whole enchilada, the "number two." so far, i have gone to the bathroom seven times today -- blame all the water i drink (so far three bottles, which is actually less than i typically drink) for the amount of times i use the lavatory, but this is all not the point -- and five of the times i have gone, **i have had to flush behind someone** (and three of those times were for more than just pee and toilet paper).
okay, i guess i didn't have to flush behind them, but i am just that person. no one wants to walk into a bathroom stall and !surprise! there's last night's dinner floating in the toilet, in the form of, well, "number two" (i'm trying to keep this post somewhat clean, despite the nasty topic). and so i irritatedly flush the toilet so that the next person who walks in isn't caught off guard by what i saw.
now i know there is another business that is located here in this strip center, so i can't entirely blame it on my co-workers. but the only other business here is a "daycare" for the mentally handicapped, and anytime one of the clients goes to the bathroom, they are accompanied by a supervisor, whom i always hear tell them to flush the toilet. and that makes it even less acceptable, if they aren't flushing the toilet, because there are two people there who can flush.
i have never left a stall without flushing first, and yet **it seems pretty commonplace here at my job.** i just don't understand it. i hear people in the process of potty-training a child tell that child to "flush the toilet." it's something we all have learned. i work with people WITH DEGREES! with MILITARY EXPERIENCE! you would think they would be able to police up after themselves. i am not the united states and my co-workers are not foreign countries.
**there is no reason that i should be handling their business.**
9.16.2009
pink pink, you stink!
so sometimes i am a mean person (surprise, surprise). i never intend to be, but there are **things that happen or outfits that people wear** that bring out the mean-spiritedness in me and i just can't contain myself.
said bad outfit occurred yesterday. and i couldn't resist. he is a co-worker, so i did the courtesy of cropping his head out of the picture. but the rest of this outfit? **too classic not to post.**
notice the salmon-colored pants, the light pink shirt . . . just notice it all. and laugh. cuz sometimes, **i think it's okay to laugh at other people's expense.** it keeps us sane.
and perhaps, **it will make us all think twice** about wearing certain outfits!
said bad outfit occurred yesterday. and i couldn't resist. he is a co-worker, so i did the courtesy of cropping his head out of the picture. but the rest of this outfit? **too classic not to post.**
notice the salmon-colored pants, the light pink shirt . . . just notice it all. and laugh. cuz sometimes, **i think it's okay to laugh at other people's expense.** it keeps us sane.
and perhaps, **it will make us all think twice** about wearing certain outfits!
9.13.2009
frank, jr.
so if you know my father, you know that he is just about the clumsiest guy ever . . . tied with three of my brothers. those three are all just about as clumsy as he is. however, his girls are all equally as clumsy (including me). we may not all look like ol' frankie one eye (as we like to call him since he lost his right eye to cancer and had it removed), but **we all inherited his clumsy gene.**
and before he comments on this note and says he's not clumsy, let me just give you **a rundown of some of his most famous "moments" :**
-- fell down concrete stairs playing santa claus at church and broke his ankle. ended up in the emergency room in full santa garb.
-- kicked a watermelon once on accident. the rind ended up wedging itself between his toe and his toenail. he had to have surgery to have it removed.
-- dropped a frozen pork roast on his foot and broke his ankle. twice.
-- had corrective surgery on his nose to fix his deviated septum; something ends up happening that i can't remember and he runs into a guy or something and his corrective surgery? done for nothing. guy breaks his nose and dad again has a deviated septum.
-- was sitting on the bench of a picnic table; picnic table ends up flipping over and he falls into a fire, burning his hand.
-- is standing inside a small pop-up trailer that my brother failed to mount properly, while preparing his bed for the night; trailer flips on one end and my father falls and gets trapped inside the trailer until my brothers come to his rescue.
-- middle of vietnam war : dad is walking in the dark in his barracks, kicks a bunk bed and breaks his toe (i think it was a toe; it might've been his foot); he likes to tell the story that had they been under attack at that very moment, he would've received a purple heart for his injury.
-- is getting out of the cab of a semi tow truck. misses the step, falls out of the tow truck. stands up, bloody from head to toe, thanks the man for the ride in the tow truck, shuts the door and goes inside the house.
pretty sure that my list can go on and on, but as you can see . . . my point is proven. **my daddy is, by far, one of the clumsiest men i know and now, prolly one of the clumsiest men you know.** so why am i talking about this today? cuz unfortunately, as mentioned previously, i am my father's daughter.
i run into walls constantly. and it's not like i am walking in the dark or in an unfamiliar place. i am typically walking from the living room to my bedroom, via the kitchen. for some reason, whenever i take that corner from the kitchen to my bedroom, **nine times out of ten, i run into the wall.** and i have the bruises to prove it. funny thing is, i have had conversations with my brothers and sisters and they all do the same thing. that one time out of ten that i miss the wall? it's cuz i have to consciously think, "i will not run into that wall" when i am walking by it. my brothers and sisters do the same thing.
once, at dinner, daddy noticed some of my bruises and asked what i did. i told him **my beau beats me.** my beau looked mortified (mind you, this was still fairly new into the relationship). my daddy laughed and asked me what really happened. he knows me too well. turns out, i could only tell him what happened with one of the bruises. the other twelve? not sure where those came from, but undoubtedly, they were from a wall or a desk corner or something of that nature.
last weekend, my beau and i spent the better part of it cleaning and organizing. at one point, he leaves the bedroom to put something away. what do i do? **walk by the bed and kick it,** stubbing my toe to the point that i was pretty sure i broke it (and it's still sore, by the way). of course i screamed and said a few expletives and my beau comes running in. he asks me what happened, am i okay and i just tell him i'm fine. again, he asks what happens, but i refuse to tell him, stating that he makes fun of me and calls me "frank, jr" whenever i hurt myself. he shakes his head, turns and exits the room, leaving me there to rub my toe and wipe tears out of my eyes.
i would go ahead and list all of my latest debaucles but quite honestly, i can't remember how i got most of my bruises. i do remember that i once stepped off the front porch at my parents' house, landing half on the sidewalk, and half in a hole. **twisted my ankle and ended up tearing all the ligaments on the top of my foot.**i still have a bad ankle from that. and once you hurt an ankle in the pritchard family, you always hurt that same ankle.
last night **which brings me to the whole reasoning behind this post** i was putting things away in my room. i happen to have a full-length mirror resting against one of the walls in my bedroom cuz i haven't yet hung it on said wall. let me preface all this with the fact that a couple of times that this mirror has been moved from my room to other places and then put back against the wall in my room for various reasons, i have managed to chip off one of the corners of the mirror, basically leaving a sharp, jagged edge (see picture below).
so what do i do? walk too close to the wall and the said mirror and slice open my "pinky" toe. i can't say that the cut wasn't bad enough for stitches, but since i have no medical insurance, i knew that that wasn't happening. **three bandaids and five bloodied tissues later,** my toe stops bleeding enough for me to put a bandaid on it that i don't have to take off ten minutes later due to the fact that it's blood-soaked and no longer effective at stopping the bleeding. and i can't help but laugh at myself and to silently thank my daddy in my head for those clumsy genes.
and so now, **whenever my beau calls me frank, jr., i just laugh it off.** i might as well quit denying my fate and realize that should i ever have to have kids one day, they'll prolly end up with the same clumsy gene, and their significant others will call them "holly, jr." at least i have someone else to blame for my genes.
**i'm not sure where my daddy gets his from.**
and before he comments on this note and says he's not clumsy, let me just give you **a rundown of some of his most famous "moments" :**
-- fell down concrete stairs playing santa claus at church and broke his ankle. ended up in the emergency room in full santa garb.
-- kicked a watermelon once on accident. the rind ended up wedging itself between his toe and his toenail. he had to have surgery to have it removed.
-- dropped a frozen pork roast on his foot and broke his ankle. twice.
-- had corrective surgery on his nose to fix his deviated septum; something ends up happening that i can't remember and he runs into a guy or something and his corrective surgery? done for nothing. guy breaks his nose and dad again has a deviated septum.
-- was sitting on the bench of a picnic table; picnic table ends up flipping over and he falls into a fire, burning his hand.
-- is standing inside a small pop-up trailer that my brother failed to mount properly, while preparing his bed for the night; trailer flips on one end and my father falls and gets trapped inside the trailer until my brothers come to his rescue.
-- middle of vietnam war : dad is walking in the dark in his barracks, kicks a bunk bed and breaks his toe (i think it was a toe; it might've been his foot); he likes to tell the story that had they been under attack at that very moment, he would've received a purple heart for his injury.
-- is getting out of the cab of a semi tow truck. misses the step, falls out of the tow truck. stands up, bloody from head to toe, thanks the man for the ride in the tow truck, shuts the door and goes inside the house.
pretty sure that my list can go on and on, but as you can see . . . my point is proven. **my daddy is, by far, one of the clumsiest men i know and now, prolly one of the clumsiest men you know.** so why am i talking about this today? cuz unfortunately, as mentioned previously, i am my father's daughter.
i run into walls constantly. and it's not like i am walking in the dark or in an unfamiliar place. i am typically walking from the living room to my bedroom, via the kitchen. for some reason, whenever i take that corner from the kitchen to my bedroom, **nine times out of ten, i run into the wall.** and i have the bruises to prove it. funny thing is, i have had conversations with my brothers and sisters and they all do the same thing. that one time out of ten that i miss the wall? it's cuz i have to consciously think, "i will not run into that wall" when i am walking by it. my brothers and sisters do the same thing.
once, at dinner, daddy noticed some of my bruises and asked what i did. i told him **my beau beats me.** my beau looked mortified (mind you, this was still fairly new into the relationship). my daddy laughed and asked me what really happened. he knows me too well. turns out, i could only tell him what happened with one of the bruises. the other twelve? not sure where those came from, but undoubtedly, they were from a wall or a desk corner or something of that nature.
last weekend, my beau and i spent the better part of it cleaning and organizing. at one point, he leaves the bedroom to put something away. what do i do? **walk by the bed and kick it,** stubbing my toe to the point that i was pretty sure i broke it (and it's still sore, by the way). of course i screamed and said a few expletives and my beau comes running in. he asks me what happened, am i okay and i just tell him i'm fine. again, he asks what happens, but i refuse to tell him, stating that he makes fun of me and calls me "frank, jr" whenever i hurt myself. he shakes his head, turns and exits the room, leaving me there to rub my toe and wipe tears out of my eyes.
i would go ahead and list all of my latest debaucles but quite honestly, i can't remember how i got most of my bruises. i do remember that i once stepped off the front porch at my parents' house, landing half on the sidewalk, and half in a hole. **twisted my ankle and ended up tearing all the ligaments on the top of my foot.**i still have a bad ankle from that. and once you hurt an ankle in the pritchard family, you always hurt that same ankle.
last night **which brings me to the whole reasoning behind this post** i was putting things away in my room. i happen to have a full-length mirror resting against one of the walls in my bedroom cuz i haven't yet hung it on said wall. let me preface all this with the fact that a couple of times that this mirror has been moved from my room to other places and then put back against the wall in my room for various reasons, i have managed to chip off one of the corners of the mirror, basically leaving a sharp, jagged edge (see picture below).
so what do i do? walk too close to the wall and the said mirror and slice open my "pinky" toe. i can't say that the cut wasn't bad enough for stitches, but since i have no medical insurance, i knew that that wasn't happening. **three bandaids and five bloodied tissues later,** my toe stops bleeding enough for me to put a bandaid on it that i don't have to take off ten minutes later due to the fact that it's blood-soaked and no longer effective at stopping the bleeding. and i can't help but laugh at myself and to silently thank my daddy in my head for those clumsy genes.
and so now, **whenever my beau calls me frank, jr., i just laugh it off.** i might as well quit denying my fate and realize that should i ever have to have kids one day, they'll prolly end up with the same clumsy gene, and their significant others will call them "holly, jr." at least i have someone else to blame for my genes.
**i'm not sure where my daddy gets his from.**
9.09.2009
do you think the surgeon general smokes?
so on my way to work yesterday, i passed a very pretty girl driving a very pretty car. i happened to notice her cuz she almost hit me as i was passing her on the highway. when i looked over to shake my fist at her, i realized the reasoning of her subpar driving: she was texting with one hand and flicking her cigarette out the tiny crack of her window with the other. and you know, i wasn't even mad about the texting or the whole no-hands-on-the-wheel bit.
**i was upset about the cigarette.**
like i said, the girl was pretty. long flowing hair, dark complexion. i didn't get to gaze into her eyes or anything like that so i can't tell you what color her eyes were, but i thought that she was very attractive. until i saw that cigarette. that took away the prettiness and it was replaced with an image of an old wrinkled lady with a hacking cough, choking up a lung while sucking on her oxygen and cigarette alternately.
**not a very pretty site, huh?**
i can remember being in the ninth grade and playing soccer with a girl who, for the sake of this blog, i will call "jane doe." one day, while we were changing for practice, jane doe realized she had forgotten an extra practice shirt. because i had worn a t-shirt to school that day, i gave her my intended practice shirt, wore the same one i had on already, and we went out to practice. a couple of days later, we were again in the locker room getting ready to change and she mentioned that she had brought my shirt back, freshly washed the night prior by her mother. she pulls the shirt out of her bag, presses it to her face, and takes a long sniff and tells me how wonderfully clean it smelled, like fresh flowers or something. she throws it to me and tells me to smell. i lift the shirt to my nose and take a huge whiff . . . and **smell nothing but stale cigarette smoke.**
of course, i don't wanna hurt jane doe's feelings, so i lie to her and tell her how flowery it does smell as i stifle a cough and try to hold in the tears that have quickly formed in the corner of each eye. and because she has made such a big deal about how great this shirt smells, another girls grabs the shirt out of my hand and presses it to her nose. **and she isn't so nice.**
"EEEEEW!" i remember her screeching. "that doesn't smell flowery! that smells like cigarettes!" and she throws the shirt back at me. jane doe looks at me as if her feelings are hurt, and i shrug my shoulders, throw the shirt in my dirty clothes bag and locker and quickly run out to the practice field.
i don't really have a point to this blog, other than to say that i think smoking is dithguthting. i have a few friends who still do it and they all know my opinion. i am one of those people who makes a HUGE deal when someone lights up in front of me. i cough, i act like i can't breathe -- in general, **i make them feel bad** for doing it. i don't do it to insult anyone or to offend any smokers out there, however. i just prefer to breathe fresher air than a cloud of cigarette smoke allows. and okay, okay -- i guess i have to admit here that frankly, i kind of like being an ass sometimes.
**so sue me.**
**i was upset about the cigarette.**
like i said, the girl was pretty. long flowing hair, dark complexion. i didn't get to gaze into her eyes or anything like that so i can't tell you what color her eyes were, but i thought that she was very attractive. until i saw that cigarette. that took away the prettiness and it was replaced with an image of an old wrinkled lady with a hacking cough, choking up a lung while sucking on her oxygen and cigarette alternately.
**not a very pretty site, huh?**
i can remember being in the ninth grade and playing soccer with a girl who, for the sake of this blog, i will call "jane doe." one day, while we were changing for practice, jane doe realized she had forgotten an extra practice shirt. because i had worn a t-shirt to school that day, i gave her my intended practice shirt, wore the same one i had on already, and we went out to practice. a couple of days later, we were again in the locker room getting ready to change and she mentioned that she had brought my shirt back, freshly washed the night prior by her mother. she pulls the shirt out of her bag, presses it to her face, and takes a long sniff and tells me how wonderfully clean it smelled, like fresh flowers or something. she throws it to me and tells me to smell. i lift the shirt to my nose and take a huge whiff . . . and **smell nothing but stale cigarette smoke.**
of course, i don't wanna hurt jane doe's feelings, so i lie to her and tell her how flowery it does smell as i stifle a cough and try to hold in the tears that have quickly formed in the corner of each eye. and because she has made such a big deal about how great this shirt smells, another girls grabs the shirt out of my hand and presses it to her nose. **and she isn't so nice.**
"EEEEEW!" i remember her screeching. "that doesn't smell flowery! that smells like cigarettes!" and she throws the shirt back at me. jane doe looks at me as if her feelings are hurt, and i shrug my shoulders, throw the shirt in my dirty clothes bag and locker and quickly run out to the practice field.
i don't really have a point to this blog, other than to say that i think smoking is dithguthting. i have a few friends who still do it and they all know my opinion. i am one of those people who makes a HUGE deal when someone lights up in front of me. i cough, i act like i can't breathe -- in general, **i make them feel bad** for doing it. i don't do it to insult anyone or to offend any smokers out there, however. i just prefer to breathe fresher air than a cloud of cigarette smoke allows. and okay, okay -- i guess i have to admit here that frankly, i kind of like being an ass sometimes.
**so sue me.**
8.29.2009
TDY again
so i have been at this academy for work since monday. it's basically a two week long course on how to use this program that i work with. it's pretty boring and i prolly should study more, but i think i have it down. i guess we'll see once i take the final exam on it this coming week.
in the meantime, i got my first "assignment" for work. brace yourself . . . i am going to camp shelby, mississippi. i am not entirely thrilled about it, but i hear it's only two hours from new orleans. i'm hoping that that is true and that i can make my way down to new orleans at some point when i'm down there. i haven't been there in forever and was only there for two days when i went. when i was in college. at mardi gras. so i am looking forward to heading that way again and doing some touristy things that have nothing to do with mardi gras or fat tuesday.
trying to think what else to write about. quite frankly, i live a boring life and don't have much to write about. i know i had something to write about, but now i can't think about what it was i wanted to say here. so i guess for now, i'll close this out and be boring.
in the meantime, i got my first "assignment" for work. brace yourself . . . i am going to camp shelby, mississippi. i am not entirely thrilled about it, but i hear it's only two hours from new orleans. i'm hoping that that is true and that i can make my way down to new orleans at some point when i'm down there. i haven't been there in forever and was only there for two days when i went. when i was in college. at mardi gras. so i am looking forward to heading that way again and doing some touristy things that have nothing to do with mardi gras or fat tuesday.
trying to think what else to write about. quite frankly, i live a boring life and don't have much to write about. i know i had something to write about, but now i can't think about what it was i wanted to say here. so i guess for now, i'll close this out and be boring.
8.20.2009
i now pronounce you . . . father and daughter?
at my office, i sit in a room with other people who do the same job as i do, or one very similar. we sit at long brown tables, typically 2 or 3 people per table. there are no cubicles and **virtually no privacy.** because of that reason, i'm careful with what i do and what people can see on my computer. right now, my desktop picture is one of my niece and nephew, right after she was born. i don't have pictures of my beau on there or anything that i wouldn't want unwanted questions about. naturally.
i just happened to glance up and notice my co-worker's screensaver slideshow contains a picture of beautiful pregnant lady, whose belly is exposed, with the only thing covered being her breasts, with a small black strip, which from this angle, i can't tell if it's something she was wearing, or if the picture was censored. i could see that being on some young kid's laptop at home or even in this dude's pictures folder on his desktop or external hard drive. the creepy part is that **the picture is of his daughter.** i just don't think i'd ever feel comfortable enough to take a picture like that to give to my father. not to mention the pants she wears in the picture are incredibly low-cut. but it's just not that picture. he has several on there of his daughter in otherwise seemingly sexy poses. and even some of his wife, whom you can tell is older but is very pretty. just think of glamour shots in the mall and you know exactly what poses these girls are in. nothing too suggestive, but something that will definitely make the imagination wander.
to me, i just don't feel that **it's entirely appropriate for a work laptop.** granted, the man has other pictures on there -- pics of his motorcycle, of him riding the bike, of his daughter's wedding. but there are just several provocative pictures of his daughter that, in my opinion, should've been given to her husband and not her father. and he proudly displays them.
**again, can i reiterate the word creepy here?**
i just happened to glance up and notice my co-worker's screensaver slideshow contains a picture of beautiful pregnant lady, whose belly is exposed, with the only thing covered being her breasts, with a small black strip, which from this angle, i can't tell if it's something she was wearing, or if the picture was censored. i could see that being on some young kid's laptop at home or even in this dude's pictures folder on his desktop or external hard drive. the creepy part is that **the picture is of his daughter.** i just don't think i'd ever feel comfortable enough to take a picture like that to give to my father. not to mention the pants she wears in the picture are incredibly low-cut. but it's just not that picture. he has several on there of his daughter in otherwise seemingly sexy poses. and even some of his wife, whom you can tell is older but is very pretty. just think of glamour shots in the mall and you know exactly what poses these girls are in. nothing too suggestive, but something that will definitely make the imagination wander.
to me, i just don't feel that **it's entirely appropriate for a work laptop.** granted, the man has other pictures on there -- pics of his motorcycle, of him riding the bike, of his daughter's wedding. but there are just several provocative pictures of his daughter that, in my opinion, should've been given to her husband and not her father. and he proudly displays them.
**again, can i reiterate the word creepy here?**
8.19.2009
long lost picture of heidi . . .
so in case you are wondering who heidi is, i'm not talking about the piggy-tailed blonde swedish girl from the fairytales. i'm talking about my oldest sister. she lives on a 400-acre ranch in rural arkansas with her husband and 7 kids (well 6, since one resides in idaho for the next two years).
regardless, i was looking through some old pictures i have, and found this one of my oldest sister. it was taken a few thanksgivings ago, when the weather was still warm enough to run around without a shirt and in shorts. this is her at the town's annual "redneck festival" (seriously, that's what it's called), where she took home the title of REDNECK QUEEN for her bellyflop. we're all so proud of her!
enjoy and comment!
regardless, i was looking through some old pictures i have, and found this one of my oldest sister. it was taken a few thanksgivings ago, when the weather was still warm enough to run around without a shirt and in shorts. this is her at the town's annual "redneck festival" (seriously, that's what it's called), where she took home the title of REDNECK QUEEN for her bellyflop. we're all so proud of her!
enjoy and comment!
five-star cooking, right?
so apparently not cooking for almost a month can really affect one's cooking skills. or at least mine, anyway. last night, my beau had a few errands to run right around dinnertime, and even though i promised him i wouldn't cook and he could cook for me when he got home, he took too long, i got hungry and in turn, started cooking. simple enough task . . . saute the chicken, steam the broccoli, boil the pasta and make a quick cheesy lemon garlic sauce to pour over the broccoli and pasta. easy enough, right? **apparently not.**
first of all, i admit that whenever i cook, i have a timing issue. i typically don't consider that something like chicken takes a lot longer to cook than, say, broccoli. and so i start the broccoli at the same time i start the chicken and my broccoli ends up being ready quite a few minutes before the chicken and is only lukewarm by the time we actually eat. it's something i've been trying to work on, but **i'm completely scatterbrained most of the time** and i forget and make timing mistakes all the time.
well last night, it was a little different. my beau had already seasoned the meat and cut the broccoli before he left for his errands. when i got hungry, i went into the kitchen and started getting things in pans and whatnot, at the same time talking with my roommate about schizophrenics (she's a social work major AND we were watching true crime). **apparently this was all too much for my brain to handle,** and after putting the vegetable steamer in the pot and the broccoli in that, i just turned the stove on and threw the pot on the burner. without water in the pot. and let it "steam" that way for prolly close to ten minutes before i noticed a bad odor and remembered what i had done. i quickly pulled the pot off the stove, put water in it and put it back on there. needless to say, the broccoli had a slightly-burned-tasting-a-lot-like-metal flavor to it that we both had to drown out with tons of that sauce i was telling you about.
and about that sauce. see what had happened was . . . to start the sauce, you have to melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan. so i turned the burner on, on high of course cuz i wanted to get the pan hot really quick, and threw the butter in. and then i forgot that butter burns very easily if it's too hot. and so my butter burned. all this was going on when my broccoli was supposedly steaming (pre-water in the pot) so you can **just imagine the sweet smell of burned butter and heated metal** wafting through my kitchen. it was at this point that my back was turned to the stove and i didn't even realize anything was burning when my roommate asked me what the smell was. and that's when it dawned on me that my butter was scalding and the broccoli had no water in it. of course i couldn't wholely smell the burning cuz the chicken was already sauteeing at this time and it did smell good.
as all of this is going on, my chicken is cooking and the noodles are boiling. by now i've thrown out the burned butter and started over with the sauce. everything seems to be going well. and then the chicken gets done, the sauce thickens, the pasta softens . . . and the broccoli still isn't cooked. remember what i said about timing? this time it was backwards, though. had i put water in the pot originally, i'm inclined to say that **everything would've prolly turned out done at about the same time.** but this time, because the broccoli took so long, the noodles were a bit cold and the sauce was just a bit too thick. the chicken was still okay, but the onions i threw in with it were now pretty much caramelized.
the broccoli finally finishes steaming -- or is as steamed as i was going to let it get cuz i was tired of waiting for it to become completely done. it was a bit crunchy, but nothing that was unedible. i mean, people eat raw broccoli all the time anyway, right? right. i make up two plates, one for me and the other for my beau, and we settle in to eat. and all i can taste when i eat the broccoli is burned metal. and since i didn't scrub the burned butter out of the bottom of the pan, the sauce tastes a bit like that, which adds to the burned flavor of the broccoli and kind of ruins the pasta. the noodles are lukewarm and the **sauce has the texture of oatmeal** at this point. i admit it: not my best meal.
and then my beau takes a bite of everything, and tells me how **great it all tastes.** and then i remember why i keep him around . . . no matter how bad my cooking is, or how horrible of a mood i'm in, or how irritated i get so quickly, he is always there to tell me how great my cooking is, how amazing i am, how he's lucky to have me in his life.
**and that always makes me feel better.**
first of all, i admit that whenever i cook, i have a timing issue. i typically don't consider that something like chicken takes a lot longer to cook than, say, broccoli. and so i start the broccoli at the same time i start the chicken and my broccoli ends up being ready quite a few minutes before the chicken and is only lukewarm by the time we actually eat. it's something i've been trying to work on, but **i'm completely scatterbrained most of the time** and i forget and make timing mistakes all the time.
well last night, it was a little different. my beau had already seasoned the meat and cut the broccoli before he left for his errands. when i got hungry, i went into the kitchen and started getting things in pans and whatnot, at the same time talking with my roommate about schizophrenics (she's a social work major AND we were watching true crime). **apparently this was all too much for my brain to handle,** and after putting the vegetable steamer in the pot and the broccoli in that, i just turned the stove on and threw the pot on the burner. without water in the pot. and let it "steam" that way for prolly close to ten minutes before i noticed a bad odor and remembered what i had done. i quickly pulled the pot off the stove, put water in it and put it back on there. needless to say, the broccoli had a slightly-burned-tasting-a-lot-like-metal flavor to it that we both had to drown out with tons of that sauce i was telling you about.
and about that sauce. see what had happened was . . . to start the sauce, you have to melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan. so i turned the burner on, on high of course cuz i wanted to get the pan hot really quick, and threw the butter in. and then i forgot that butter burns very easily if it's too hot. and so my butter burned. all this was going on when my broccoli was supposedly steaming (pre-water in the pot) so you can **just imagine the sweet smell of burned butter and heated metal** wafting through my kitchen. it was at this point that my back was turned to the stove and i didn't even realize anything was burning when my roommate asked me what the smell was. and that's when it dawned on me that my butter was scalding and the broccoli had no water in it. of course i couldn't wholely smell the burning cuz the chicken was already sauteeing at this time and it did smell good.
as all of this is going on, my chicken is cooking and the noodles are boiling. by now i've thrown out the burned butter and started over with the sauce. everything seems to be going well. and then the chicken gets done, the sauce thickens, the pasta softens . . . and the broccoli still isn't cooked. remember what i said about timing? this time it was backwards, though. had i put water in the pot originally, i'm inclined to say that **everything would've prolly turned out done at about the same time.** but this time, because the broccoli took so long, the noodles were a bit cold and the sauce was just a bit too thick. the chicken was still okay, but the onions i threw in with it were now pretty much caramelized.
the broccoli finally finishes steaming -- or is as steamed as i was going to let it get cuz i was tired of waiting for it to become completely done. it was a bit crunchy, but nothing that was unedible. i mean, people eat raw broccoli all the time anyway, right? right. i make up two plates, one for me and the other for my beau, and we settle in to eat. and all i can taste when i eat the broccoli is burned metal. and since i didn't scrub the burned butter out of the bottom of the pan, the sauce tastes a bit like that, which adds to the burned flavor of the broccoli and kind of ruins the pasta. the noodles are lukewarm and the **sauce has the texture of oatmeal** at this point. i admit it: not my best meal.
and then my beau takes a bite of everything, and tells me how **great it all tastes.** and then i remember why i keep him around . . . no matter how bad my cooking is, or how horrible of a mood i'm in, or how irritated i get so quickly, he is always there to tell me how great my cooking is, how amazing i am, how he's lucky to have me in his life.
**and that always makes me feel better.**
8.18.2009
a question . . .
so i got this cavity filled the other day, and i must say that my tooth is bothering me more now than it did when it wasn't filled.
**is that normal?**
**is that normal?**
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