5 Days and Counting...

Until fun in the sun! I am sure that I have mentioned that Lindsay and I are going on a cruise, but did I mention that it is in 5 days?!?! I am getting really excited and also really nervous because I fear the unknown and despise crowds. But I know it will work out and Lindsay is really good at reigning in my insanity. I put on my bathing suit this morning and although I am displeased with my shape, I think it will be fine and no one will be paying attention to me, they'll all be having fun in the sun and so will I! And I'm looking forward to eating some wonderful food on the cruise, and that will probably make the suit tighter but that is not important.

Now for a little Christmas update. Mircea and I went down to my parents' house in North Carolina and although I was apprehensive about the trip, it was fantastic. It was so nice to see my family and share in the season. Everyone LOVED Mircea and continually complimented me on what a great guy I had found. He had a really good time too and it was a positive trip. Unfortunately we only had two days there, as we had to get back home to pick up Yukie from the vet. He was so cute when he got home. He loves his Vet girls but he loves to be back with his Daddy (and Mommy to some extent). He slept with us all night and took turns rubbing up against each of us. The girls were less than happy to have him back, but happy to see us. Great Christmas!!

I enjoyed reading all your posts about your Christmas celebrations, scares, and miracles. I am glad that everyone had a good time with their families and friends. I may have time for one more post before I leave, otherwise, I'll be disconnected until the 13th as Lindsay and I cruise the Caribbean. AHHH!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

Ok, the point of this isn't my HORRIFYING ugly picture of myself I took two years ago in San Diego. I was looking through old photos, found this and said "boy, I look like my grandpa" and then slapped myself in here and got not one, but two, Czech supermodels. (yeah, I know) The point of course being that I should be a model. Wait, that wasn't the point. The point was that I still feel there is some mystery clouding my whole adoption and that I really am someone's kid that I've lived with my whole life and that someone is Slovak/Czech. I wouldn't really jump that far b/c of two Czech hotties on MyHeritage, but its something I've been thinking about a lot. To be continued...

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

I Found This in My Email Box...

and started laughing like a hyena in the office. I have to post this.

I think this video is hilarious and I randomly watch it at work when I clean out my email folders (leaving this of course for the next time I clean). Look for my next Colt's post-it ain't pretty!

25 Questions of Christmas

Chantelle tagged me for this meme. And today, I say "why not?". So here goes!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Either one. I am TERRIBLE at wrapping gifts. I mean, like I sometimes have to have "filler" paper to cover the seams.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Always had a real tree when I was little, but with my desire to "save the world one tree at a time we have an artificial tree. And I upgraded this year to a prelit LED tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? Normally Thanksgiving Day, but this year it took a little longer.
4. When do you take the tree down? I like to take it down on January 2nd.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yup! LOOOVE the soy version too.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I loved the Barbie and the Rockers tour bus that had the cassette "boom box" on top of it.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad and stepmother. Oh and stepsister.
8. Easiest person to buy for? any children. I've got them pegged.
9. Do you have a Nativity scene? I have a small scale Nativity music box.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. This year no lame Christmas letter since nothing thrilling happened.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Michigan State sweatshirt from my Dad the year I graduated from Purdue. He said "well, we lived in Michigan." Touche dad. Except that I liked University of Michigan.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie: I liked the Santa Clause.
13. When do you start Christmas shopping? Whenever I can find stuff and match it up with a person
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I did this year.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My sweet tooth is in full swing.
16. Lights on the tree? Clear lights are the best
17. Favorite Christmas song? What Child is This?
18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Unfortunately we have been travelling.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Maybe
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Nothing this year.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Mircea and I have pretty much opened all our presents already. I can't remember when we do it at my parents house.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowded parking lots and crappy traffic.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I have a lot of random stuff, I actually like a fairly sparse tree.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Mashed potatoes. And that yummy broccoli thing my parents make.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? The ability to get in the bathtub and submerge myself in water. Strange, yes, but I miss baths so much with this surgery.

I tag anyone who feels the spirit of Christmas!

Geriatric Friday

I keep forgetting to post this fun little tidbit. For the past couple of years Mircea has been receiving some very interesting mail. Other than the standard "Miss Ighian" postal confusion (which makes me laugh about Ms. Chanandler Bong) Mircea has been tagged by an interesting group. AARP. I'm talking magazines, credit cards, mailers, voting guidance, etc. I went to AARP's website, only to verify that they do indeed "help people 50 and over improve the quality of their lives". I don't know why this is so funny to us, but it really is. I think it is because there are always the wonderful letters to him about his "twilight years" and that "now is the time to really live (before you die)" I also really enjoy that since we started getting those we've also started receiving other strange mailers to the house, like from Liberty Medical, with a roving review from Wilford Brimley. (You have to click this link...I laughed so hard that they were calling him out on his pronunciation of diabetes.) It's just really funny. I've called them to say that we would prefer that they cease their mailers as it's a waste of paper and we simply recycle it...but they appear to be obsessed with Mircea understanding how his Medicare Part B doesn't cover enough and that he should purchase supplemental insurance. Oy vey. My only idea about how this happened is that his pharmacy company (he does it by mail) sold his information to AARP or some other mailers and they know he has high blood pressure (Or had, actually) and they assume he's considerably older. I just thought it was funny and hope you got a kick out of it too. Have a good weekend.

A Morning in the Life

I had an interesting morning, but it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I have spent a couple days sick to my stomach and vomiting and yesterday I had an issue that required the use of Pepto Bismol. I couldn't wait and had to get it as soon as the store opened so I called ahead and made sure that they had handicapped carts as I'm still not strong enough to walk any distance greater than couch to bathroom. (which I've been doing a lot of) They did have the carts so I started my trek. The grocery store is a way different place from the perspective of an electric cart. First of all, they are not the easiest to drive, and I'm able bodied so I can handle it but it wasn't great. I felt the store was really accessible, as I'm sure is required by law, but I was impressed. I was able to get everything on my little list (i figured i was there i'd get the other essentials) except one thing that was at cart level, but if it had been crowded i would have never made it. It just got me thinking as I drove the cart over the brick entry way and thought my leg would fall off from the jostling pain, how judgemental I have been about the cart people, and how pain really does change people, and that the world is very different with any form of disability. I mean, I was talking to Lindsay about setting up the Wii at the new house but I couldn't do it b/c I couldn't bend my knee and get down to the ground-silly right? But these little things are taken for granted and I hope that I never will do that again. I am so lucky that this is just a temporary problem, but I think of all the people that aren't experiencing this on a temporary basis and live this life everyday-they are definitely stronger than I am. In a side note, as I've been laying on my ass for 3 weeks, I wonder if many of the hefty cart people that we see and wonder if they only need the cart b/c they are chunky started out with an injury and the weight gain and pain got away from them and they are in a vicious cycle...I've been lucky to gain only 8 lbs, which is still insane, but I've probably walked a total of 400 steps in 3 weeks, not the recommended exercise for a normal gal.

I was also thinking about people that are in pain. I feel like hell in a handbasket and I'm bitchy as a wet cat and I can't imagine if someone felt this everyday. My mother was in constant pain (and chose to overmedicate to deal with the pain) but she was always so moody and I never understood until I've started experiencing my own pain. And it makes me think about how strong so many people really are-we all know the warrior who has struggled through Cancer, disability, etc., and i am in awe of their strength. I've got some knee pain combined with some dehydration and I was pretty much screaming to Mircea to call me an ambulance as I was "going to die" (yes, he's teased me for that, as I deserved) I can't sleep etc. And I'm not saying that anyone should feel bad for me because I chose this and I am going to be ok. But for those people that didn't, I am sorry that I didn't understand and I wish there was something I could do.

I realize this post is rambling (as always?) but I have just really been thinking the last few days. I'm a wimp. I have zero pain tolerance and am a huge whiney crybaby. I need to grow up and buck up and toughen up. I guess we all want our mommies to take care of us sometimes, but I think sometimes I fall into wanting my mommy all the time to take care of me. Time to take care of myself.

Crappy Commercials

There are two commercials that are driving me, well, Nuggnuts. The first, I've already indicated. The new McDonald's Nuggnuts commercials. Are they kidding us? Do they really want to draw attention to the fact that if you are eating McDonald's nuggets that you might actually be a Numbnuts? Do they want to draw that line? I love the wedding cake of chicken nuggets, the cocktail party with the nuggets and the beautiful dipping sauces. It is so silly and the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Well, not the stupidest thing...

This is the stupidest thing. The other McDonald's commercial that is a pathetic parody of an R&B song where the gentlemen is singing that his girl is out "creeping" and "are you dipping on me?" as though to indicate that his woman is in fact sneaking around with a 10 piece of nuggets. But she continues to deny him, including his request that she has a 10 piece "don't be stingg-gy".
McDonalds Commercial - R&B Song - The most amazing home videos are here


I think I've done my job here today. Man, this song is so stupid but it does make me laugh my butt off. And if I ate meat, I think it might even make me want some nuggets...NOT!

10 Days of Commercials

I have been watching tv for 10 days straight and with that I've watched a lot of commercials. Here are some quick observations...

• My new favorite commerical is a commercial I originally thought was stupid. It's the Campbell's soup commercial where a guy is sitting at his desk enjoying his soup, exclaiming things like "mmm" "yummy" etc. Another guy is walking around trying to fill out a request for signage for the cubicles and asks the man his name. The guy ignores him as he is engrossed in the soup. Fast forward to the day the name tags are ordered and the guy walks up to his desk and the name on the cubicle is Num Yummy. He says "Who's Num Yummy?" and I laugh my ass off every time. It must be the drugs, but that is now completely hilarious to me. I tried to find a video online but couldn't, so I hope you've seen it so my description makes some sense.
• Free Credit Report Dot Com: F to the R to the E to the E to the C to the R to the EDIT Report to the dot to the Com, come on everybody grab your blank and sing along. I used to hate these commercials but now I find them charming and especially enjoy the one where they are at the Renn Faire, because we all know how I feel about that.
• I'm tired, so I'm keeping this short. The last commercial is one of the genious "ad wizard" commercials from stupid Comcast. This guy says how much he loves advertising with Comcast because it helps him get to all this customers. He says "My business helps people get their life organized with closet systems, storage units and frameless shower doors" I'm not sure how that helps people out, but that is ridiculous.

There are probably a ton more but I can't think of them. I'm trying to come up with better posts but I still feel icky and don't like sitting upright all that much to type.

Quick Pained Post

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Instead of getting lots of reading done, doing Christmas cards and catching up on the Tivo, I've spent the last several days writhing in pain, and once I got stronger meds, sleeping all darned day. This knee surgery sucked, and the recovery is nothing like I expected. I took (or was given) my first shower yesterday and it was lovely, lovely I tell you. I feel so clean...as I typed that Lily walked out of the litter box and scooted her dirty butt on the carpet. I guess she is feeling clean now too.

It's been an interesting couple of days, filled with nice phone calls from friends, lots of gentle cuddling with Fern and Lily, several terrifying doorbell rings where I prayed the doors were locked. (They were, and it was actually an edible arrangement delivery from work which was super cool)

My post isn't all that great, but I wanted to move the poor Olive picture down a little ways and bring some good cheer. So GOOD CHEER TO ALL and I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I will be enjoying some stuffing and mashed potatoes that were promised to be vegan. I can't trust Mircea's mom on that sometimes, but at least they'll be vegetarian. I've been on an interesting diet the past few days. Since I can't move anywhere and Mircea is working 12 hour days he just leaves me with a weird grab bag of food. Yesterday it was a pretzel and a bag of assorted (disgusting) crackers. Today I got some cold perogies and really watery coucous, but it was better than the nasty grab bag. He's so sweet trying to be my nursemaid and work all those hours so I am trying to think of a good "thank you" surprise when I am finally mobile again. Somehow I have a feeling it will involve a lot of summer sausage and cheese, but we'll see. I may find another way to his heart.

Goodbye Tiny Baby

She came to us on a beautiful day, her little meows heard through the wind. Today, the day we lost her, was also a beautiful day, but so much sadder than when we saw her little face for the first time.

Poor little Olive was with us for 12 days. She was so little and sickly, but so sweet and loving despite her pain. I took her to the vet for the second time on Friday because she still wasn't eating, and they'd suggested our best option was put her down if she didn't pass her blood tests because she seemed very ill. Her blood came back fine so they put her on an IV try to get some fluids into her little system. It seemed to work and she came home happy as a clam. We had a great day full of cuddles yesterday and this morning, and then things went really really badly. I just held her and helped her the best I could, and she passed away peacefully in my arms, the sweet little angel that she was. We never wanted 4 cats, but now my heart feels empty without her.

This is such a depressing post that I just want it to be over with. I am having knee surgery tomorrow and although I'll have a ton of free time I'm not sure I'll be able to balance the computer on my lap without a lot of pain. Hope everyone has a great Tofurky Day (ha ha) and enjoys great time with friends and family.

I'm Ranting a Bit...

I'm in a mood tonight. I just feel like blogging because I am too lazy to look for my journal, so here it is.

• I am ridiculously nervous about my knee surgery. I have my pre-op tomorrow and my surgery is the 24th. I just don't like the whole idea of it, other than the feeling better and being more active again. There is no reason to be scared but I am terrified.
• I am going to San Diego tomorrow for approx 36 hours. I'm very annoyed to fly all the way there and back just to witness 12 hours of lab testing...which by the way if from Noon-Midnight. Which is like 3 pm to 3 am to my tired body, so I'm just thrilled as hell. On a positive note I get to see George, Rebecca, John and Allison, so that is great, but I'll be really tired b/c it's 11 pm for me. But I'll man it out b/c I love them!
• Olive (the new kitty) is even more high maintenance than Lily. She isn't eating nearly as much as she should be, and most of the time I'm encouraging her to eat, I've even hand fed her nasty little balls of wet food. And she got her tests all back from the vet and she's fine, so I don't know what her deal is. She has been pretty good with the other cats, but she's mostly lethargic. I don't know why I'm being so impatient with her-it's only been 5 days, but I'm used to my "seasoned" pussy cats.
• I'm a little frustrated with all the painting. I want it done so it's all over and the house can look pretty. But man, I'm so sick and tired of painting that I just want to leave the Bratz dolls up forever. Mircea is working hard on the other house and I feel pressure to get this one done perfectly, but that's my fault
• Mircea went to the Cowboys-Redskins game tonight with a friend. And the friend's girlfriend and her family. Am I the only one that thinks there is something wrong with this picture? For you couples out there, don't you usually do things as a couple? I'm not annoyed that Mircea went, I'm annoyed that once again his friend only thought of a ticket for him. He did this for a concert too, and it's not that he didn't have other tickets, he gave them to other people. I like that Mircea and I do things seperately but at the same time I'm also sick of all Mircea's "american firsts" are experienced with others. I think I'm just in a bad mood and I'm mad about this for no reason. But a little annoyed nonetheless.
• I'm irritated with my waistline. I'm not looking forward to wearing a bathing suit on the cruise, but I know it will be fine b/c it's just me and Lindsay and Lord knows that I won't be wearing a two piece. I'd like to do some activities but I baby the hell out my knee b/c I think I'm sort of saving it up for the flight of stairs at the house. I dread those stairs like you don't even know.
• I feel better having typed this out. I have no reason to be too whiney, I'm just a little frustrated and I try to hide that from Mircea b/c he gets annoyed (b/c he can't help me). I laugh at myself sometimes that I let this little crap get to me when there are so many bad things in the world, but man, if I focused on those I'd probably never come out of the bathtub.

Hope you all have a nice beginning of the week. I'll be on a plane-hopefully sans snakes!

I Don't Even Know How to Title This Post

I'm experiencing a sense of dread as I type up this post. Dread because I know that I will be called the Crazy Cat Lady and laughing because I know I deserve it. A little background might hopefully let you all go easy on me.

Mircea and I were over at the old house on Veteran's Day to do some demo to another room. We were working for about an hour or so and I was taking some stuff out to the truck when I saw this weird creature in the yard across the street. It was just yelling it's little head off, so I got a closer look (those who know me well know I'm blind but refuse correction) and saw it was a cat. A little tiny cat who looked similar to the cat who had been snitching Yukon's food a couple weeks prior. So I went inside and got some cat food that we still had there and went across the street to offer it. The cat was timid at first but then started eating so hungrily that I almost cried. Even Lily doesn't eat like that! I gingerly picked the cat up and just felt all bones. This cat is literally vertebrae. So I walked the cat across the street and said to Mircea, "well, we've got to do something" so we put the cat in one of the cat carriers (that is still in the shed) and took it back to the house and got it warmed up away from the other cats. We took a quick look at it's privates, saw it was a boy, so we named it (the original) Maverick, as our old house was on Maverick road and that's where we found him. So I called the vet and they said I could bring the cat over. We sat at the vet together for about an hour b/c there was an animal emergency and I let Maverick out of the cage and we cuddled for awhile. The receptionist was like "oh let me see him" and then she looked at his privates and said "This is a girl silly, but it was hard to see". We all had a good laugh that I didn't know the difference between a girl and a boy and I sighed in relief that I still only had one baby boy. But what to name the cat? Hell, I didn't even know if the cat had a disease or not, but I was thinking of names. Turns out, she checked out fine in the initial tests and I'm waiting to find out if she has worms, so I bundled her up and brought her skinny butt home. She really is sweet and she seems to be getting stronger with every day, so that is good. We named her Olive because it just suits her. I'm enjoying getting to know her and I'm glad to be able to help her get healthy. Here's a picture of our little sweetie, that we're still trying hard not to get attached to just in case something happens.

New House Photos

I know you are all just besides yourselves waiting for pictures of the house. Well, wait no more, at least for before pictures. Mircea and I have been hard at work repairing, painting, cleaning, etc. So I'll have some after pictures pretty soon to share as well. I'll start the photo tour with the good, but it gets pretty ugly pretty quickly (but nothing a little paint can't fix).

Supporting our teams. Go Colts!

The view from the front of the house. You can see the Chesapeake Bay from the house and we can see more and more everyday as the leaves fall. I'll take it!

The fireplace...I'd already started priming the room.


In a sad turn of events, I hadn't started priming this room. We think they ran out of paint while they were painting it. Love the pink carpet too. The previous owner had two little girls.

Mircea should be ashamed of this picture. It doesn't show that gorgeous Bratz doll wall border on the wall. I'll retake that one later so you can see. It's crazy.

The dining room. Which we will use approx 1x a year, but it's nice to have the space. I had a blast steam cleaning all of the carpet. And it still needs replaced, but alas, I'd need a second job to afford that.

The master bath. My favorite room in the house. It's about the size of our old master bedroom so we definitely appreciate all the room that we have. It also has a two person soaking tub, and Mircea actually got it to work. So we used it once...but man if it didn't take so much hot water I'd be in there daily!

A not so exciting picture of the master. I told Mircea he is fired as photographer. Chantelle, wanna come over?

The kitchen, a total mess b/c it was cleaning central.

The living room, which is actually our office because what the heck would we do with a formal living room. It's nice to have the big office space too.

Well, that's all I have. The after pictures will be slightly more exciting, and I'm sure this is just so thrilling for everyone, but I'm so happy to get to share this experience with my friends. I thank you for all your support through this roller coaster ride (and the many I seem to allow myself to be a part of) and listening to me vent. You're the best, and there's a hot pink guest room with your names on it!

Teaser Update

I only have about 5 minutes to make a quick update so here goes.

• Despite the slight delay we are getting all settled into the house. I've done a ridiculous amount of painting and have a huge arm muscle to prove it. Next week is the kick-off for "getting the old house done" so we'll be very busy, just not at the new house. I know that I owe everyone pictures but our home computers aren't set up and darned if my camera doesn't hook up to the Navy computers.
• I am enjoying spending ridiculous amounts of money. Ok, that isn't really true, but there are certain things that I have had to purchase which despite the cost bring mass amounts of joy. My new washer and dryer literally make me sing with happiness, I may even include a picture when I do the house tour. We also bought a King sized bed. We have not slept in it yet because we don't have the frame and box spring yet (we're getting them tomorrow) but we tested it out by me doing a somersault and Mircea couldn't feel me moving so I think we may actually be able to share a bed without killing each other.
• The cats are adorable in the new house. Yukon hasn't been begging to go outside (nor peeing on anything stationary) so he has just been a little bundle of joy. Fernie has always loved stairs so she is happy, and Lily is still completely confused and acts brain damaged so pretty much everything is normal.
• It was great to see that so many people voted in this election. Regardless of political affliation it is great that the American people exercised their right to vote and made history with their participation as well as their selection. But boy oh boy, the doomsday attitude in my office is starting to crack me up.
• Hope everyone is doing well and I'll catch up with your blogs when I have some free time. I miss my online buddies!

Finally!

I'm about to go watch the Colts on Monday Night Football but I wanted to do a quick update that we did close today. I'll tell you more later, but it didn't go as planned but it turned out to not be that bad. The house is beautiful, everything we ever wanted, and we realized today that we can see the Chesapeake Bay through the dining room. Woo hoo!!!!!

Thanks for all your support with this roller coaster. Hugs to you all!!

Horror Story #1

I am not a homeowner yet. We were on our way over to do the walk-through and our Realtor called and said "the dog is still here, and so are they". We drive up and it's all true. So then Pam (our realtor) calls Felecia (their realtor) and says they'll be out in 15 minutes. When that time passes we call back, and she says another 15 minutes. Mind you, we've got 30 minutes before we're due to close. So Felecia calls again and says "they've got everything out do the walk-through". We go in. These are a few of the pictures I took.

Mind you, the whole time we're there Pam is on the phone with Felecia and the homeowner (who apparently left so she could find a new place to stay...TODAY) telling them the condition, like 4 kids are in the house with the huge rottie trying to clean up a little bit but then ended up just sitting on their asses when they could hear us saying that we weren't going to accept it. Their realtor was trying to convince us to go to closing and accept the house (like I said, the seller signed yesterday) and they'd have it cleaned out by tonight. Oh yeah, like we're going to do that. Then Pam called our lawyer who says that if the seller doesn't release us from closing on the house today that we are actually in default since she already signed. Felecia said that the seller would sign the paper, but it looks like we'll close on Monday morning. I'm not surprised. I've always known this would go like this which is why I was so quiet the whole way through and then I went and jinxed myself by posting the picture last night. The house is in shambles. Shambles. Mircea took the entire weekend off work (several grand mind you) we got all the utilities switched over, and I have two days off next week. Our whole house is packed.

I need a pity party. I'll update you as I know more but I had to document this as it is simply unbelievable. How's that for robbing us of all of the joy of our first home together.

And yet part of me feels so much sympathy for them. They are basically getting kicked out of their house and didn't even have a place lined up to live. But then I don't feel bad because they always knew they couldn't afford this place and got in over their heads. It was so bad, I can't even describe. These are just a couple of the pictures I took on my phone. It was bad. Bad bad bad.

Homeowner's Eve

Tomorrow is a big day for us. We'll do the final walk-through in the morning and then head over to the title company for closing. The seller is actually doing their paperwork today so it will be interesting. We're a little concerned about the condition of the house but we'll find out at the walk-through. Hopefully they didn't make a big mistake by damaging anything because Mircea and I are completely prepared to walk away if they did any damage to the house. No worrying now though, I'll deal with it tomorrow.

So I probably won't be blogging for awhile, but when I come back I should have pictures of the house (taken by moi) and hopefully no moving horror stories. Here's the outdoor picture of the house from the listing, but don't worry, we'll make it prettier and give it a paint update (in the spring).

Wish us luck!

Movie Review: 88 Minutes

ZERO STARS!

This movie, 88 Minutes, starting Al Pacino and a host of B list celebrities, was terrible. Laughable.

Ridiculous. Stupid. Do you even want to know anymore?

The premise of this movie is that this forensic psychologist's testimony put a man in jail for a brutal rape/torture (yes, the movie opened with this and it was uncomfortable). Well, fast forward 9 years and it's the day the man is to be executed and all of a sudden another murder with the same M.O. happens. Which of course raises doubt that this man was the real killer and he gets a stay of execution. Well Al Pacino gets a phone call and says "you have 88 minutes to live" and for the next roughly 100 minutes we watch what could best be described as this guy's "worst day ever" and it's laughable, ridiculous, and corny. We only finished the movie because we had to know what happened. Let's just say it was dumb. Really really really dumb. OMG it was dumb. So the movie ends, and I turn on Monday Night Football and feel a little better. But still, it's on the list of terrible movies like Wicker Man and Twisted. Blech!

This Made ME Hoot

more animals

The Kids

Most of my friends have human children. I have fur babies, and at this point in my life, I'm happy with that, except when they are vomiting, flinging their litter around or, horror of horrors, spraying pretty much everything in sight (damned Yukie). So I wanted to share some pictures of the little cuties. They really are a joy to have in my life, despite their fur and nagging. They are all unique and I hope that when I have human children they take on some of the characteristics of these little guys. I might have already posted this photo. I don't get many of Lily because she is pretty much always doing the same napping pose and when I get close she wakes up and makes a sleepy cute face. Pretty much every picture. Mircea walked into the kitchen a couple days ago only to find Fernie up in a basket that sits on top of the cupboards. So cute. She was pretty much yelling at us while we took the picture. All the cats do this, but I happened to get this picture of Fern during her dinner where she pretty much had her head buried in her food dish. They love that Fancy Feast.Yukon getting "in" to the catnip. They were wild that night. I have a video to post later.Yukon is a Steelers fan, which can be a problem in a Colts-Eagles household, but we manage. He grew up in a Steelers house, so I thought it was only fair that he could represent. So I bought him a little hankerchief which he proudly wears on game days. So cute, with the exception of my stringy wet hair and glowing red eye scaring up the photo.He fell asleep about halfway through the game. He has his own room, which is the bathroom, and all that stimulation from the game got him going. I often have to touch him to make sure his is breathing because he is always just sort of zonking out and he really gets some deep sleep.



Hope you enjoyed the dorky photos!

Seen On the Way to Base

While I understand the theory behind this license plate (Devil Dog- Marine Corps) I think it is a bit much. I mean, come on, who puts the number of the Beast on their license plate? That's all, I just thought it was taking things a little too far.

Paint Colors

I'm trying to make some paint decisions and it is literally killing me (no, I did not mean figuratively) as I consider all the options. I have to paint every inch of the new house (in an underwhelming announcement we close next Friday-but it can still fall through, no jinxing, I am not partying until keys in hand...and the party will be awhile b/c i have a lot of work to do) and I just don't know scheme I want for the place. I know I want neutral tones for the living room and general "all house" color. So I think I've finally determined the living room color (sort of a latte-it's called "Wicker". Whatever, this is all unimportant. I need you, kind reader, to help me make a decision. I am totally married to having a green bedroom. Sort of a dill but it's called pine needle. Married to this. Except I found a beautiful blue color that I like and then I love the idea of having a slightly less blue bathroom to complement it because that would be nice and peaceful for the tub. Light green doesn't seem as soothing. Help help help. What do you think? I can't have the green bedroom with the blue bathroom, that just seems wrong. And the bedroom is the second room I have to paint as that and the living room are pretty much the only rooms that will have furniture in them because the house is such an upgrade in size. Oy.

I've got one picture I can share, and it's a horrible tease because it's the only picture I've taken of the house and it was just so I would remember what color the kitchen counter is. And although it looks gray and you'd think the Wicker theme wouldn't work, it has beige flecks in it to stay neutral. And yes, it's only the counter, but I'll post pictures (before and after) once we move in...oh how I'm counting the days. It's 10 more days...

It's That Time of Year Again

Yes, Ye Olde Renassaince Faire. I believe I mentioned last year in the aforementioned post that I hate the Renn Faire. Hate it. Robyn's husband went the first year, but last year he boycotted stating that he would "Never ever go again". I followed suit last year and said the very same thing, in a much higher voice. Alas, when Robyn asked us to go this year, I made the crucial mistake of not simply telling her "no way in hell" and asked Mircea if he would like to go. He said "oh yes" in an even higher pitched voice. Plus, we haven't seen Robyn in a long time, and Ben moved up to D.C. a couple months ago, so it is best that we spend some time with them. And then Mircea drops this little b.s. bomb on me. "Kate, I want to work next weekend so I won't be able to go to Renn Fest. But after work I'm going to go watch the Eagles game at a friend's house." Are you effing kidding me? So now I'm going to the damned Renn Fest without my stud muffin. I'm swearing, vowing, promising...NO MORE DAMNED RENN FEST.

**I wrote this the night before we went to the Renn Fest. It's just how I remembered it, but not as hot as last year, thank goodness. And, my Skinny German wasn't there, which is total b.s. since that is pretty much the only thing I was slightly interested in. Also, darned Lindsay made mention of a fried Oreo (that she'd never had either) and I was obsessed with the idea of having one. So Ben's girlfriend and I got some fried treats-some Oreo's and a Twinkie. We each took a bite from the Twinkie and it was trash-worthy, and the Oreo's only redeeming feature is that there was chocolate in it. Our verdict: Underwhelming. Don't waste the calories. I really don't want to go back again, but somehow I have a feeling I'll get drug there. Whatever. It's $12.50. Oh and lest we forget, I missed watching the Colts kick the pants off the Ravens, which is great living near Baltimore. Yeah we stole them, and then we brought them back to kick your butt!!

Cooking Catch-Up

I'm not going to pretend that everything I've made in the last few weeks looks wildly appealing. Or that my pictures are very good (I really like my old camera) . But the food was all pretty darned delicious. I'll share some of the recipes, some aren't mine to share.

I decided that I wanted to have some italian food, other than pasta with sauce. I decided that there was no reason I couldn't bread tofu, bake it, and put a little pasta sauce on it. It was awesome. In the oven the tofu sort of took on a cheesy sort of texture and flavor and it really seemed like a huge mozzarella stick. I put a little Follow Your Heart Mozzarella on it and it was just delicious. Easy peasy. I popped it in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes, flipping halfway through. Oh man, that was so good. I had that last night.
I have no idea what this is. I think is is tofu, zucchini, squash, and maybe some tomatoes. Whatever it was, it's pretty and colorful and I guarantee tasty because if I don't like it, it goes into the compost.

This is that herb soup I posted about from Veganomicon. It was good but I had an overload of dill so it was a bit much. Those crackers in there are the Everything crackers from Trader Joe's. They are a must buy.
I have to shout out to Lindsay that she opened my eyes to the idea of a vegetable fajita. I don't like peppers. Oh wait, I never had them. I don't like green peppers, but red and yellow are really good. These were my super colorful fajitas with a lot of avocado on there. And I didn't have sliced olives, so I just threw some whole ones on there. DELICIOUS!!
From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. My "poop icing" version of a chocolate on chocolate cupcake. Tastes like Heaven. HEAVEN.
This is the pineapple quinoa meal from Veganomicon. I thought it was ok. I like the quinoa but this left a lot to be desired. I blame myself b/c I didn't have all the fresh ingredients, but such is life.
This last one is Rodica's (Mircea's mama) version of potato salad. It basically consists of black olives, tomatoes, green onions, cucumber, red pepper, olive oil, salt and a little vinegar. It is awesome, except I don't like cucumber or red pepper (raw) but she was here and it was her special request. Seriously, it is delicious. Plus, it's the best part of being vegan-potato salad you don't have to refridgerate. Is that really the best part? Maybe.

Friday Funny

I found a new blog that cracked me up. This is the blog of unnecessary quotations. Always a "good" time.

Enjoy!

Check Out This Little Gem

I was talking to Marc today and he asked if I had seen the website called Cake Wrecks. I hadn't, but I spent a little time this afternoon laughing my butt off at some of these cakes. Hilarious!!



Here's one that I ran across, not the funniest one, but it had Eagles on it, so it was a shoutout to my sweetie. I've also included the commentary.

You know your mom is cheap when...you have to share your own birthday cake. With a boy. (Yeah, I'm taking Ashley's side. Why? Because a) she likes Disney stuff, b) she's enduring what I'm assuming must be a sports logo on her birthday cake, and c) she's a girl. But mostly the Disney thing.)I like the unintentional irony of having Eeyore on the cake, though. A glum donkey for a glum-ass cake - it's quite appropriate. Still, I have a few questions:

1) Since the "Eagles" logo is blue, why is the icing green?

2) Can anyone see the colors green & purple together and NOT think of either Mardi Gras or the Joker?

3) How come Glen gets his name capitalized, but not Ashley?

4) Did anyone else first read this as "Happy ashley Birthday Glen"?

5) Doesn't Glen's side look bigger? Hey, I think it IS bigger. Mo-oooommm!!!

My First Curry

Last night I decided to go on a journey to India. So I put on my jammies, went into the kitchen, and pulled out my Penzey's Sweet Curry and looked around my kitchen for what I could flavor. There were really only three things I had at the ready, but my meal turned out awesome. All I did was chop up 4-5 shallots, 4 red potatoes, and a package of Trader Joe's extra firm tofu. I got a big ol' skillet and heated up a tiny bit of coconut oil and pan fried the whole lot of it (after sprinkling some curry power on). It took FOREVER because it's kind of hard to pan fry raw potatoes. It turned out awesome though and I just added a little salt when it was done. I didn't take a picture because I was so hungry yesterday, but I'll take a picture next time I do it. Any suggestions for the potatoes? Do I have to boil them first or just cut them really small?

Feeling Blessed

I am one who usually rants. I know, you're surprised at that revelation. I want to take a moment to share with my readers (all 3 of you) the things in my life that make me feel blessed.

• Wonderful friends. Some old, some new, some local, some far away, you are all so special to me and I thank you for the gift of your friendship.


• A good job. In this time of financial strain and struggle I am thankful that I have a career that affords me less worry than some others may have during the struggles of our economy.


• My wonderful pets. I am so thankful that they found their ways into my life and I consider every day with them a gift. The three of them are unique and bring me great joy...most of the time. When Yukon is lost, Lily is whining and Fernie is puking I'm annoyed, but I am thankful for their friendship as well. I love being their "Mommy".


• My family. We're not close, but we try our best with each other and I'm thankful for the relationship that we do have. I love my father very much and appreciate the sacrifices he gave for my well-being.


• My Mircea. We've had our ups and downs, but he truly is the love of my life. Our relationship has grown in our time together and I look forward to our future. And he's a cutie pie


• My health. Despite what often feels like falling apart, I am doing alright and have no terrible damage. A bum knee, a chubby rear end, terrible allergies, and allergy on-set asthma isn't going to kill me, and there seem to be solutions for all of them. Sadly, it's not donuts.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day and remembering to count your blessings. I forget a lot of the time, and I hope to remind myself more often.

I'm a Little Freaked Out

I am going to have knee surgery. I haven't scheduled it yet because 1.) I'm terrified and 2.) They call me to schedule it and I just had my appointment today. 3.) See 1.

I went to see an orthopedist today who said that the problem with my knee isn't all the jazz that can be fixed by PT (which hasn't been working) and that I was born with my knee being out of joint. He said a fair amount of people have this problem, but if they don't run or exercise they won't know it. I hope he's not just trying to snip me, but he seemed to be sure it would be easy, outpatient and should help me resume my normal activities. But I'm still terrified. And I will be awake, and I'm even allowed to watch, which I most likely will not be doing as I will definitely be vomiting on myself. I can't watch anything that resembles a surgery or opening up of a body, or...oh, I can't talk about it. Seriously, had to put the computer down and put my head between my knees for a second.

I'll probably schedule the surgery for mid November, which shouldn't interfere with some other stuff going on in my life. I need to be able to climb stairs because I will not always live in a 1 story house. (Or will I?-see not jinxing)

Ok, enough of that. On a side note I pretty much followed the receptionist all the way from her house to the orthopedist. She lives a street over from me I guess and I just noticed b/c she drove a Prius, but I was on her ass and kept making all the turns she made, and then we walked in together. I asked her how many MPGs she gets...her answer: 40. What is the point? I get at least 50, at 40 y0u could have just driven a Civic. People, you've got to learn the techniques. She should be ashamed.

As If I Don't Disclose Enough

Chantelle tagged me to particpate in this meme. Like I don't tell you random stuff all day, but in the spirit of bloggyness (it's a spirit) I'm all up for participating. (oh and chantelle, i share your number 1, big time. it's weird)

The Rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog. Some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as linking to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.



The stuff...

1. I remember so much about random people in my life that it borders on obession. I remember conversations with random people in classes, remember their names, etc. I can't remember what I did at work yesterday, but I remember the day that Beth Bringle wore the same shirt as me. WTH?

2. I am always afraid of "jinxing" something. I won't talk about the football game (Purdue/Indy) on the day of, I will always speak in hypotheticals regarding sports, raises, large purchases, etc. I will NOT relax this whole house thing until I have keys in hand. (and i won't say anymore about the house because I'm afraid of jinxing it. Seriously, I had more written here and had to delete it because I was too afraid to share)

3. I have two classics that I sing in the shower. Consistently. They are Rhythm of the Rain and Last Kiss (not pearl jam's version-well, not always). If I'm home alone in the shower I will belt these two songs out. And I remember the first time I sang them in the shower at my house in Goshen. There's number 1 coming into play. I also cry every time I hear Last Kiss on the radio, like sobbing, blubbering tears.

4. I want to have a male child. And I want to name him James. So when I sing James Taylor's Baby James it will mean more. I'm not kidding.

5. I think that I should be on a game show. I am super good at trivia and I always kick ass at Cash Cab and Jeopardy! Jeopardy being the more difficult one, but I just know random shit.

6. I use waaaay too much toilet paper. I feel bad about it too because I know it isn't environmentally friendly, but I use the awesome charmin and lots of it.

7. I want to go back to school to be a veternarian. I've looked up all the prereqs and I really want to go to school again for it. And I'm not sure why I didn't go the first time around. I think it is because my parents were telling me they weren't paying for school and I just went to college to be with my then boyfriend. Guess I got lucky because I did very well at Purdue and now I have a great job, but I didn't really follow my dreams because no one really ever instilled that "sky's the limit" mentality in me. Whatever, I can push James (the son I don't have) into following my dreams so I can live vicariously through him. That's good parenting.


I'm too lazy to tag people. If you feel like posting this, please do so. If not, you're a spoilsport.

Ha!

Ugh

Yes, this happened in my town. In my neighborhood, less than a mile from me. And it is terrible and there is a special place in hell for people who abuse/kill/hurt children. No one knew where Lusby was, and now it's the place where evil lived. Sick.

I've been dreaming about eating meat a lot. Which is weird. Last night I had a dream where Jim and Pam (from the Office-not the actors, the actual characters) took me to Burger King and I got a double cheeseburger. And had my hair petted by Jim. Ahhh, lovely.

I also dreamed that I was looking for a place to tinkle. And kept finding places (one was the Burger King bathroom) but couldn't seem to pee. I finally found a quiet place in the basement of a courthouse (whatever, I'd driven my motorcycle there) and was just about to relax enough to pee when...the alarm went off. I'm pretty sure I was one second from wetting the bed b/c I really had to go when I woke up. Not sure why I'm sharing this, but I guess it's easier to wet the bed as an adult than I expected. Especially since the only time I've EVER wet the bed was when I was on medication the first night I was in San Diego. Yeah, I wet my jammies a little and the hotel bed...but moved the next night and washed my jams, so it wasn't so bad. It was only a little!!! Why am I admitting these things? Katey Piss Pants!

I made some lentil soup from Veganomicon. No good. Does anyone have a good lentil soup recipe? I admit, I thought it would taste better with some ham, but God knows I don't want that.

I am obsessed with Metallica lately. Yeah, I know, whatever.

Too Much Drama Today

Today our little town had some "big city issues". You can read a little blurb here. Basically, a woman who worked at a local bank was kidnapped from her house at gunpoint (with her two small children) forced to drive two armed men to the bank where she worked and told to rob the bank. She did as requested, and the gunmen dropped her and her family off in a parking lot, and then ditched her car a few miles away where they got into another car and haven't been found. The victims are fine, called the police and an all-out manhunt began. Actually it began earlier than her release, as the bank teller who assisted her at the bank (they were coworkers) called the police as well. So ALLLLLLLLLL the roads in St. Mary's county were blocked off, stopping anyone from going out. They had helicopters everywhere, and they kept coming back to base to refuel and it was very creepy. The problem for me? Well, I had my allergy appointment today, over the bridge in Calvert county (where I live). Well, the news reported that they'd closed the bridge. So I left waaay early and got to pass all this drama as it was still happening. I had to go through several "armed" check points but since I was in a white prius and not a black nissan it was a little easier to get through. I get to the bridge and it's open...but there was a 4 car pile-up on it, so it was still slow, but nothing like the detour I might have had to take. It was very dramatic, they haven't caught the suspects, but the victims are fine, though shaken up. The area is really getting a little scary lately, especially in a "triangle" of crime, from area roads.

As for the allergy test-I don't have the full list of everything I'm allergic to because they are mailing it, but out of the 31 allergens they tested for, I was allergic to 28 of them. Cats, dogs, molds, all plants, dust, all the good ones. I am now drugged up to help with the allergies and related asthma, so we'll see how it goes. I may be getting allergy shots, but we aren't planning that for a few months because I have a lot on my plate right now and we want to see how the meds work. So sorry Lily, you can't sleep with me anymore. And by sleep I mean, kick and scratch me all night, pushing me into Daddy who yells at ME for being a bedhog when it's really your rolley poley body. But I'll let you in when Daddy works late, don't worry!

Lots of Miles on My Car

I had quite a long weekend. With a lot of driving. On Friday I drove up to Northern Virginia to see Lindsay and her family. About 30 minutes in I got a call from our Realtor and had to turn around to go sign a paper, so I was a little sidetracked. I finally got to Lindsay's and we went to Sunflower cafe again for lunch, which is the vegan restaurant. So good. I got the same meal again (the bento box) and Linds got this avacado and jicama sandwich which was also really good. Then we went to Penzeys, which is a spice store. I about died with excitement. It was like the best place ever. Then we went to Trader Joes to pick up some Lambrusca. Delicious! Our last stop was Cake Love, which is a cupcake/cake place in the mall. They had vegan cupcakes, which is nice, but I will confess...I didn't choose the vegan cupcakes. I didn't. None of them were chocolate so what is the damned point? So yes, I ate some eggs and milk. And butter. AWESOME. The terrible flatulance after, not so much, but delicious at the time! I thought the cupcakes I make are a little better, but whatever. Probably the guilt factor added to that. Then we came home and went out with her husband and son to the local Mexican place. Yummers!

The next day was my day with her son. We were planning to go to the Air and Space Museum, but at the last minute he decided he wanted to go to the Marine Corps Museum, which we'd been to before. Good for me because it was super close, but I still want to take him up to the Udvar-Hazy. Maybe next time. Then we had a nice lunch at Burger King (his request) and he was very happy with the toy in his kids meal, even if it wasn't the Dragon that he wanted. Then we went to Wegman's to do a homework assignment for him, and then we were back at the house. Fun fun. Shortly after that I left...and I left my steam cleaner there because Lindsay's husband was still using it since I'd offer it's awesomeness to them. So I get home after the 2 hour drive. Oh, and Lily had vomited everywhere. Nice. So I had to clean that up sans steam cleaner. Whatever...still had a little stain. On Sunday, Yukon wasn't feeling well at all, and I ended up spending the day with him, watching him and consoling him. He had an infected tooth following his tooth extraction last week. Great. Well it went into Monday and I took him to the vet and they gave him meds. Which he threw up as soon as we got home. Making a HUGE mess. So I called Lindsay and the best option was that I was going to drive all the way back up there to get the steam cleaner because I desperatly needed it. So I drove ALL THE WAY UP THERE AGAIN. Got there, peed, and turned right around. Crazy. But the carpet looks great!

Please Respond as You See Fit

This was recently brought to my attention through an email from peta. Do not read if you are faint of heart, and certainly don't view the video.

I don't think everyone should be Vegan. I don't think that people shouldn't eat meat and that ALL farmers treat their products this way. What I do think, is that large conglomerate companies are much harder to keep track of and employ individuals that aren't "farmers" but "factory workers". This abuse of animals is terrible, terrible, terrible, and while I believe that is is an anomoly and not the norm, I certainly won't be purchasing products from Hormel until I hear that the inviduals involved have been terminated and their practices changed. Whether you care about the treatment of animals or not, the fact that workers urinated into the areas where they feed the animals may be of interest to you.

Again, please don't take this as terrible propaganda but I felt it was my responsibility to get the word out to my small circle of friends that Hormel wasn't such a great place to get your meat products. I know Mircea will cry b/c I won't buy him Dinty Moore anymore, but I know that our tastebuds aren't worth the pain inflicted on those animals that provide us life sustaining nourishment.

Off my soapbox, but this just boils my blood and makes me afraid of the world we live in where humans could treat ANYTHING this way.


UPDATE: I received the following email in response to my letter to Hormel. They are saying that they are not the owners of the hog farms, but indicating that they are suppliers for Hormel. They also provided a link. I am not sure if this completely apeases me, but in fairness, they did respond.

A video was released the evening of September 16, 2008 that showed images from a
hog farm in Iowa. It is important to note that the farm in the video is not a
Hormel Foods' farm and the people are not Hormel Foods' employees.
We find
the images in this video appalling and they are inconsistent with our standards
and industry standards for animal handling.
The abuse on the video depicted
practices that are completely unacceptable.
We expect all current suppliers
to adhere to the proper animal handling standards from day one and continue to
do so throughout our relationship.
We are working with our supplier to ensure
this activity is no longer taking place, and they are investigating this matter
and will take appropriate disciplinary actions, including terminating
employees.
Underscoring our company's zero tolerance policy, we have in the
past terminated employees, truckers and contracts with producers when animal
welfare issues have arisen.
Animal welfare and animal husbandry have always
been top priority at Hormel Foods. This is simply about treating animals
humanely because it's the right thing to do. We take our zero tolerance policy
for the inhumane treatment of animals very seriously and have implemented many
standards outlined in our responsibility report :
http://www.hormelfoods.com/responsibility/process/animalWelfare.aspx.
Rochelle
Kroc
Manager Of Consumer Response

It's Wednesday!

I really don't have much to say. Hopefully early next week I'll be able to write a whole post on how our offer was FINALLY accepted on the house we want. But at this point, I'm still patiently waiting. Our Realtor called yesterday to say that the Seller's Realtor said it should be approved by then, so we'll see. We're actually looking at some other houses tonight as back up...and to ensure that we've made the right choice (that is if we get it) so we'll see.


Oooh, I bought a pretty green sweater yesterday and when I got home (I'm wearing it today) today, my sweet Fernie jumped on my lap and I realized that the sweater is the same color as her eyes. We're so beautiful together!! I love that baby.

Countdown to new episodes of the office...8 days. Oh, I may fall over with excitement.


Shout out to Lindsay-hope you feel better. Strep sucks!!

I Haven't Given Up!

I just don't have the time to keep track of two blogs. Or more. ;-)

Please come visit me at my "regular blog" that has plenty of vegan stuff on it, as well as what is actually going on in my life.


Hooray for Veganism-I'm loving it, well after my 30 days!

Dear Veganism

Dear Veganism,
Oh how I love you. Let me count the ways you make me happy...

1. I never have to worry about my food going bad if I forget to put it in the fridge. With no dairy products or meat, I don't have to refridgerate things all the time (which comes in handy for a picnic)
2. I am afforded a luxurious life of regular BMs. Ahhh, the regularity. It's ok to be jealous.
3. I have the opportunity to try out all kinds of new healthy recipes using ingredients I'd never imagined
4. I am able to spread the word (I am not a Vegonomicon thumper, don't worry) when people ask about the yummy food I've brought
5. I have experienced some weight loss, but my knee pain and massive appetite have not allowed it to stay as steady as I'd like. That seems to be a constant struggle for me-vegan or not
6. I find that my decisions about my diet have helped me to stay flexible as well. This may be a terrible thing for strict vegans to hear, but I have a rule...Vegetarian 100% of the time, and Vegan 98%. I haven't eaten cheese or had a glass of milk or an egg, but I have had food that had some egg white or milk in it...I find that flexibility to help me out in emergency situations, and also shows people that are interested in the lifestyle that you can deviate and still make healthy, animal-friendly choices
7. I'm discovering vegetables, spices and flavors I've never tried, and finally learned to love tomatoes, which is crazy for me, but the ones out of my garden were amazing!
8. I've met a lot of wonderful internet "friends" who share their recipes and experiences and provide me motivation with continuing the lifestyle

Ok, enough lovey dovey kissy veganism. It just makes me happy and I'm glad that I am doing it. And how the heck can I like tofu this much? Even I don't understand.

Recipe Thursday

Spinach Linguine w/Basil-Cilantro Pesto and Artichokes

This was really good. It sort of reminded me of the yummy basil pasta that is in the Lean Cuisine...and yes, that is a compliment. The authors of the book Veganomicon said that I would find myself craving this, and they were right. I had some at lunch and I can't wait for dinner!

Ingredients

Pasta

1/2 pound spinach linguine

2 T olive oil
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced in half moons
4 cloves garlic
2 T white cooking wine, veggie broth, or water
1/2 t salt
several pinches course ground black pepper
1 recipe Basil-Cilantro Pesto
1 15 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and sliced in half

Basil-Cilantro Pesto
2 Cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 Cup loosely packed fresh cilantro
1/2 Cup slivered or sliced almonds
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 t salt
1/4 Cup olive oil

Directions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the linguine according to the package directions, usually about 10 minutes.

2. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onion in the olive oil until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for a minute more. Add the white wine, salt and pepper and cook for another minute or two. Lower heat to low.

3. When the linguine is ready, don't drain it. Use a pasta sppon to transfer it to the pan in batches. When you add on batch, add a bit of pesto too, and mix to coat the linguine. Put the rest of the pesto in and coat.

4. Add the artichoke hearts and toss to coat. Cook gently over low heat until the artichokes are heated through. Serve immediatly.

For the Pesto

Place the basil, cilantro, almonds, garlic, lemon juice, and salt in a food processor and blend until pasty, scraping down the sides occasionally. Drizzle the olive oil in until the pesto is relatively smooth.

Notes

I actually used cashews for the pesto because I was out of almonds. It still tasted delicious, but I think the almonds would have been better.I was also out of linguine, spinach or otherwise, so I used angel hair pasta. Still awesome!!! This is so rich and creamy you will never know this is Vegan.

P.S. I don't think it's my fault all my pictures suck. Even though I read all the reviews in the whole wide world when I bought my camera (the Canon SD 11ooIS) I do NOT like it. Or I suck at taking pictures.

Cat Pictures for the Lot of Them!

I have been taking some pictures of the "kids" lately because they've just been so darned cute. Especially that darned Yukon. He really is my teddy bear. Speaking of him, he is scheduled to go to the Vet on Wednesday to get the "knot" on his face looked at. It may be a tooth abcess, but it may be a tumor, which would be horrible, but I need to talk myself off the ledge as he is 15 years old and has lead a great life. Sure hoping it's the tooth. Enjoy the pics-and if you don't like cats, I'm sorry...but come on, they are so cute!!

Happy Birthday to the Love of My Life

Today is Mircea's 26th birthday (spring chicken that he is). I wanted to take a moment to share my love for him, though he never checks my blog and probably won't see it.

• I love that we always laugh together about the stupid pictures of our "community areas" on every house we look at on the web. Like a picture of a twirly slide is going to make or break our decision.


• I love that you love our pets as much as I do.


• I love that you are always cool under pressure and help to calm my nerves with your peacefulness.


• I love that you think Call of Duty is the greatest game ever created-and don't mind that I sit next to you playing the Sims2 all afternoon.


• I love that we both think Picard and Data are fantastic Star Trek characters, and laugh at pretty much everything Data ever says.


• I love that you clean the litter boxes more than I do, even though you whine about it, but come on, you're better at it.


• I love that we both think the Coors Light/Coaches commercials are stupidly hilarious.


• I love that we are buying a house together and taking the next step in our future together.

I love you with all my heart and soul and hope that you have a wonderful birthday! Hugs and kisses from Yukie and the Girls too.

Crappy Blogger

That's me. Its been hard for me to think about anything but this house adventure so there really isn't much that I want to talk about, let alone anything else on my mind. We were supposed to find out today if it was ours, but we haven't found out yet. It is listed as "under contract" on the Multiple Listing Service, but we haven't heard yet if our contract has been ratified. At the very least this is over, either we got it, or we didn't, but I'm looking forward to finding out which way the cookie crumbled. It turns out the Realtor was trying to screw us over with that $5k "discount" so who knows what is going on, you know?

I made cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for Mircea's birthday. They were really good and I'm currently on a sugar high. They were FAR from low fat though, so I will have to stay away from them. Mircea will take them to work tomorrow to share with his co-workers. And he told me he couldn't tell that they were vegan. I didn't take pictures because they weren't beautiful because I had none of the supplies I thought I had. I didn't even have my muffin pan, and just cooked the cupcakes in the pan liners...with nothing holding them up. They are sort of a weird shape, but pretty darned tasty. And the super fattening frosting-AWESOME!! My tummy hurts a little from all the sugar, but I'll live. And yes, I'll share the recipe...that is, when I have a picture because I'll definitely make them again.

We found a lump on Yukon's face today. It is sort of like the tumor that Squeaky had on her face, so we're pretty nervous. We're going to watch it tonight and tomorrow and if it doesn't go away (it might not be a tumor) I'll take him to the vet on Friday. My baby!!!

Its a Though She's Trying to Kill Me

This house thing is getting to be too much. It's 1 am, I can't sleep, and I should be celebrating right now because our offer was accepted. However, the seller's realtor seems to put a monkey wrench in anything she can to get us to not get this house...but has no problem selling it to others. I'm starting to think it's a race issue and I'm getting pissed.



Here's the deal. We put in a low offer on this house a few weeks ago, expecting a counter, or even a rejection. We get nothing. NOTHING. So we talk about it and decide that since this sale requires Third Party Approval, that we'll put in our high end offer and just wait. Ok, so this is what we do. All of a sudden, the seller accepts it and says we have 30 days to close. We gently remind her that we need the Third Party Approval (TPA) and she signs an addendum saying that we don't have to do all this stuff (appraisals, inspections) until the bank approves. DUH. So on Wednesday I get a call from our Realtor saying that they approved the sale on the house for our asking price, but that they would not cover closing costs. We look at our finances and decide, you know what, we want this house, so we'll accept the Bank's offer, good to go. Our Realtor calls theirs and has to leave a message to accept. Then our Realtor goes online and looks at the listing. The Seller's agent has posted online that the Bank has approved the sale for "Blank" dollars and won't cover closing. Hurry up they want to close now. I'm sorry, but isn't this our offer to respond to since we have a contract in? Fast forward to Thursday morning, when she calls our Realtor who asks her why she has changed the price of the home, as well as volunteering our offer to others. Their Realtor says, "Oh, if they want it, just give me an offer of "5K less than Blank" and we'll get it ratified, etc. Our Realtor says that we accept this price and we'll send the paperwork. We get the stuff signed and then Mircea says to me "why would they offer it to us at 5k less than what they offered yesterday?" Good question. So our brains are just spinning right now. Of course I signed the papers yesterday that said the 5k less amount, because that is what the Realtors discussed, but why the heck would that even be the case? Why would they give that to us? I really think she made us do a counter offer to wait for another offer and start some bidding war. Why would she do this? I mean, am I supposed to trust a woman who it appears really doesn't know how to do her job? Why do we get a special deal? Why the hell couldn't we have just said "we'll do the full price", but who in their right mind would do that when she made that offer to our Realtor?



Ok, I know that I probably sound like a ranting lunatic, but what the hell is this? This is already the most stressful thing I've ever done in my life, I'm borrowing from my retirement to do it, I'm taking a huge step with my boyfriend, and I can't get straight answers from anyone. If we lose this house because of this 5k difference, I am going to fall to pieces. To pieces. I'm already there because I have no idea what is going on, and in a great turn of events we're coming into a long weekend so I shouldn't expect anything until at least Tuesday, and oh wait, their realtor is a psycho so who knows what this whole set up is.



So that's why its Friday morning, 1 am, I'm on the verge of tears, I can't sleep at all (this is several days now) and I'm putting all my trust in a woman who it seems doesn't want us to have this house. I don't know if I need a hug, a drink, or someone to just tell me what the heck is going on. I know that it's going to be "ok", but if it's "ok" without us in this house because of a measley 5 grand, I think I will curl up in fetal position and not come out until Mircea finds some other house for us to buy. I'm done. I have expended everything I have into this and I'm pulling from reserves to get my work done at the office because that has been really stressful as well.

Movie Review Monday

Into the Wild

3 stars

This movie was really interesting, just seeing how a person can give up all their worldly possessions and follow their dreams. Based on a true story of a young man who graduated college and “threw it all away” to travel across country with a backpack and a dream that lead him to Alaska for the winter. The cinematography was amazing, but the story was touching as well. Very good movie and lots of big name actors in it. Some nudity, but nothing sexual. There was just something about this movie that I can't describe. There was nothing exciting or thrilling about it, but there was just this feeling that you were "witnessing" something special.