Friday, August 15, 2008

Can You Spare a Square?

Ladies, I know you are with me on this. What IS it about the placement of the toilet paper dispensers in public restrooms? Sometimes they are so close to the commode that you can't even sit (or squat) without it cramping your style - stubbing your shoulder or elbow, or forcing you to sit instead of squat on that nasty seat. Other times, they are so low to the ground that you practically have to do yoga reaching down there, and then you only get little shreds and pieces that wouldn't be worth the effort if it weren't such a desperate situation! And heaven forbid any of those bits of paper touch that nasty, disgusting public restroom floor. Certainly, whomever installed the contraption(s) wasn't thinking about how the placement might affect anyone other than Kate Moss or the Olsen twins. Or perhaps, THEMSELVES.

Then again, men probably don't spend a lot of time sitting down in public restrooms.

All I'm sayin'...

This Cooken is Chicked!

So, anyone who has ever spent any small amount of time around my family knows that sometimes what goes through our brains, doesn't necessarily translate correctly into words - a touch of dyslexia, if you will. This evening, I was munching on some leftover chicken casserole, and thinking to myself that the chicken was getting a bit over-cooked after having spent a bit of time in the oven over the past two days staying warm, and then reheating. (Yeah, sometimes I like to do things the "old-fashioned way" and skip the microwave.)

So, as I was eating, "this chicken is cooked" somehow came out "this cooken is chicked". Other notable minced words (since we are on the food theme this evening):

By my sister, Karin, when telling her daughter, Stephanie, that she had left a CD on her bed, "Leftanie, you Stephed your CD on the bed".

Or, my personal favorite from the man of few words... my younger brother, Kraig, when asked what type of barbeque sauce he'd like with his chicken fingers at a fast food restaurant, "I"d like the bunny-roasted harbeque sauce".

I don't care foo you are, that's hunny right there.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Oh, the 80's...

A walk down memory lane...


Here's one of me and Karin at her wedding in June 1988. Her dress was Gunne Sak (Jessica McClintock) and I made mine. WOW.



And here's a senior pic of me in 1989...



Personally, I love the hair. Let's bring back the perm!!! Ha ha ha ha ha!

The Evil Cookie


I was experimenting in creating a recipe for M&M cookies while Steph was here. I took a bite of one, and this is what happened. In the words of Jenny, "Man, that cookie has fangs!"


Weekend Update - July in a Nutshell

How did I get into this nutshell? Help!!!

Sooo, it's been quite a while since I have posted. The month of July just breezed on by, as time seems to churn faster and faster.

Steph arrived on June 30 and stayed for just over two weeks. We really enjoyed her visit. We were able to take her out on the lake once while she was here (the weather decided to be flakey and rain most of the time she was in town), and David let her help light the big fireworks on the 4th following our neighborhood block party. (Okay, so who knew she'd turn out to be a pyro... ha ha!) We also finally made it down to Carolina beach one Saturday afternoon. As it turns out, Steph had only been to the beach once before in her life, and that was also with me but on the left coast about 8 or 9 years ago. It was a quick day trip, but we still enjoyed it and the beach was PACKED! I have never seen so many people on a beach. In fact, we had tried to start out at Wrightsville beach, but unfortunately the entire town was so packed with people that we couldn't even find a place to park!
Carolina Beach

I also taught Steph a few different things to cook. She's 18 now and will be out on her own soon. We had several good conversations as well. We got massages and pedicures also. It was nice to spend some quality time with her and get to know her better. She will probably be irritated at me for saying this, but man, she reminds me of my sister (her mom) in so many ways. Yet at the same time, there are also some very distinct differences in their interests and personalities. Not many, but a few. :o)

In other news, two days after Steph went home we had an HOA meeting at our house. David has been on the board since the beginning of 2007, and I am now on the board for the rest of 2008 and 2009. It should be interesting. I will be performing the secretary/treasurer role, so I will basically be managing the books and all of the paperwork. I bet you're jealous, right? (Ha ha! Yeah...)

Work also took a turn for INSANELY BUSY, which is a change (for me) from the past few months. We just went through a system implementation and that was LOADS of fun. Not to mention business suddenly picked up as well. This is great news for us because more business means more money and added stability for my job, but it also means that I don't have a lot of free time right now. David has also been swamped with work, which really isn't anything new. He has taken on keeping watch over the Clinical group while their manager is on extended leave. That has certainly added some adventure to his plate. He also hired a new recruiter three weeks ago, so they are working on getting her up to speed. That is always a fun thing.

In personal news, David is still running about 5 times a week as he pursues his goal of completing a marathon this fall. Personally, I think he just wants to be equal to me (ha ha). I'm sure he will SMOKE my completion time... And hopefully he won't end up with more knee problems like I did. He's been very diligent with his training, and our treadmill has certainly seen better days as a result. (We'll see if it makes it through to the end.) As for me, I started physical therapy for my back last week, and after 4 visits it's starting to feel a teeny bit better, and I can actually get dressed in the morning without wanting to cry. I start in the pool on Monday, and although I'm not looking forward to squeezing into my suit and flaunting my (ahem!) "curves" in public, I do love the water and I am hopeful this will help get me back on track (no pun intended).

One other kind of neat thing that happened last month was reconnecting with a childhood family friend from our days in Indianapolis. I found one of the kiddos my mom used to babysit back in the day on myspace. His older sister was one of my really good friends back then and I was really excited to hear that they are all alive, well, and happy. Of course, I was only 10 years old when we left Indy, and he was my younger brother's age - so he's now 32 - and a radio DJ! It was so funny when I saw his picture on his myspace page - I totally knew it was him. I think he was only about 5 years old last time I saw him, so it was really cool to see pictures of him now, as well as his wife and kids. Just kind of a neat little thing.

As far as recent events, last night was an outing to a Durham Bulls baseball game (of the movie "Bull Durham" fame). We didn't get to stay for the whole game because I had to get home to do Owen's insulin shot - which was three hours late. But in spite of a raging tension headache that came on at work that afternoon (on my part), we still had a good time. I do enjoy a good live game of baseball every now and then. Even though it's almost an hour's drive, we'll have to make a point of catching a game more often that once a year.

So, coming full circle, July has come and gone. It's August 1st. It's hot. Summer seems like it has been really long this year already. I'm actually quite glad we've had a pretty fair amount of rain this year after all of the panic over last year's drought. The lakes are up and the trees and grass are healthy and green. Our lawn actually looks like a lawn. I really love living here in NC. It's taken some getting used to - small town life is very different than what I've been accustomed to most of my life - but it's definitely a beautiful place to be. I'm looking forward to fall, with the leaves changing colors and the cool, crisp air - something I really didn't get to experience in California or Texas. We get to experience all four seasons here, which is nice. Before we know it, it will be Halloween, then Thanksgiving and Christmas... and another year under our belts. Time just keeps moving faster and faster it seems.

Oh, and yes, my Starbucks opened shortly after the last post, and boy, has it been great. :o)

So, maybe I should blog more often so these posts aren't so darn long, huh???