Umm..

Crap.

Yum Me...

I mean yummy...


My neighbor brought over a large bag of apples- wonderful organic apples from a friend's farm.
I'm finding it's quite nice to have friends in the produce industry. She also let me use a nifty gadget that suctions down and peels and cores things. I wasn't worried about getting them ready to cook, but this seriously was so easy that it made me want to have an apple peeling and coring party. With vino.




I decided to try my first apple crisp, because a) I didn't have any pie shells, and really making a pie shell from scratch isn't my thing, and b) it sounded easy.




Doesn't it look kind of like a pineapple?



I made the topping, tossed it all in a pyrex pan, and cooked it for 30 minutes.


Before:




Yeah baby, those are oats in there.

After:

I impress myself...but I also only used 3 apples.

Tomorrow will be an apple extravaganza.

P.S. Just because, here's my amazing salad which went amazing with the home made amazing pesto I put on whole grain pasta and amazing organic chicken breasts. There was a whole lot of fresh basil going on...(I'd post the salad recipe, but that's an amazing secret I'm keeping- but I will tell you that the stuff on top is all fresh garlic.)

Let's Sing s Song of Way Back Wednesday...

Welcome to WBW.

I thought I'd share this proud little photo:

Behold the glory of taffeta and velvet. If only you could get a good look at our hair. This was our lovely A Capella Choir outfits. It was conservative and demure..it's only too bad we weren't.

I was in some form of choir or another all through Jr High and High School. There were great auditions, themed concerts, and a class which involved surfing on ironing boards and thinking I was an all star drummer. I spent two years going to a "zero period"- which anybody who knows how I am with mornings will understand.

I may be biased, but I've yet to hear a composition of The National Anthem that rivals the one a small group of us had perfected with five part harmony. We even sang at Disneyland, on stage and everything. Yeah, we were cool.

I think the best memory I have from it all though, is each time we went to a convalescent home to sing. It's great to hold a concert and have all your friends and family come out and support you, but that still does not match the feeling some of those places brought me: A man who knows none of the singers but is on the edge of his seat with his hands clasped at his chest. Random old ladies shaking your hand and thanking you for making the hall sound like heaven. Walking to go sing to a man who cannot leave is bed, and a lady who calls you Susan when your name is Kim. Thankful. They were all so thankful and made us feel so special because we thought they were worth it.

And yeah, now I know how to ironing board surf. It is, after all, what all the cool second sopranos would do.

Updated Pics

Posts are always better with a visual. Check out the Schnitzel and the Knickers.

Stolen, because it fits...

It's all about the Schnitzel, baby.

OMG how the hell could I forget about Schnitzel-Giggle Friday night?! The yearly girls-only theme party where the only guys in the building are slaves to the partying women. What a blast. There was Hoegaarden on tap and schnapps jello shots. Oh- and lots of schnitzel. By now they've learned that if you're going to have that much free booze it's smart to offer free food too. And what's better than a plethora of sausage? Nothing, and yeah, the ladies loved it. The Schnitzel Board got some awesome comments on it by the end of the night. We thought this picture would be funny, but really it was starting to smell awful. Not a good sign when you're schnitzel smells bad:
Fuck. Yes.

I should mention that we had no idea what we were going to wear until 11PM thew night before. Thank goodness we're some crafty bitches. That St.Pauli bitch ain't got nothin' on me. (How about that for some wonderful grammar?)

Speaking of slave boys (because aren't we always?). The few men that are allowed in are supposed to be at all the women's beckon call. Because I'm that creative, we'll call these three slaves Chocolate Love, White Thunder, and Big Daddy. See the awesomeness that is the slave boys:

Doing what they're told. Isn't GiggleFest great? There were no complaints about the actual schnitzel either:

I will say that the night was a success. Who wouldn't while surrounded by all that schnitzel?

You Dirty, Dirty Girl.

Another weekend gone by- and none of it spent cleaning my house. Really, the place is a mess. Of course since I'm a neat freak a crazy gross mess to me is easily overlooked by most. How I can work at Faire and come home with unwashed hair and dirty feet but still not be able to tolerate dirty clothes strewn about my bedroom and anything old in the fridge is beyond me. I wash my hands 80 times a day and dust like it's going out of style. In my house everything has a place, and there's really no reason for it to be elsewhere.

Our neighbors have commented many times about how clean our house always is, and I sometimes I get the feeling that that they may think I care if they invite us over and their house is unkempt. They even said we could stay at their house to watch their dogs on Thursday so they don't mess up anything of ours. Really, they only live right next door. It makes me think I come off more anal retentive than I really am.

Am I anal retentive?

I am over-organized, yes. I keep everything clean, and apologise if you show up and I think it's not, but I honestly don't mind a mess. I don't care if something is spilled on the carpet or if my crystal gets broken. What's the point of having it if I'm not going to use it? And it's not like I iron T-Shirts and sheets, or scrub anything with a toothbrush (cleaning grout doesn't count, of course. How else is it going to come clean?). You bet your ass I'll randomly spot clean everything with my trusty Simple Green though.

Now that I'm thinking of it, Boobs was laughing at me yesterday because I folded everything in my tent and organized it all before I left, just so I can come back Friday night and unpack it all again for the weekend. Why? *Sigh* Why not? At least I'm not bringing a little hand-held vacuum out there- that would be anal retentive.

Off With Your Knickers!!

My college girlfriends and I used to joke that we could never start off anything by saying "We're going to have so much fun!", because we were likely to jinx ourselves. Sure you may know you'll have a good time, but one of the things that makes the best memories is when you have an awesome time unplanned. Expectations kill things most of the time- and expectations are a whole other blog.

The party Saturday Night was awesome. I didn't get any pictures- A, because only 4 pre-designated cameras are allowed, and B, I was behind the bar most of the night. We had approximately 600 people come through with an open bar and great music inside, band on the stage outside. There were very few issues, and with the exception of Chatter being slapped by some breezy, everyone had a great time from what I could tell. We even had a few people walk up to us the next day and thank us for the party. Yeah- my Archery family ROCKS.

I must say though that my favorite memory of the weekend was silly, unplanned, and we were tired, hot, and totally sober. I'll have to add some pictures later- which of course wont make total sense, because I don't care to share the whole story and the Cliff's Notes version would make it sound completely different than what it was...Although that may be kind of funny...Okay, here:

*Cliff's Notes*

Afternoon On A Hill

BigA: OMG I'm so tired and it's so hot out.

Me: Me too. Oooh- let's take out bloomers off!

BigA: Why didn't we think of that before!

Both: AAAAahhhhhhhh...

BigA: I wish we had a blanked.

Me: Me too.

BigA: Or a mattress.

Me: A futon.

Both: OOhhh a fuuutoon.

Chatter: Hey guys!

BigA: Do you have a futon?

Chatter: Yeah.

BigA: Can you bring it up here so we can lay on it?

Chatter: Are you both going to take your panties off?

Me: Are you going to bring your futon up here so we can lay on it?

Chatter: Take your panties off.

We get our futon.

*Fin*

Yeah, I know, great story. The only thing I kick myself in hindsight for is that we didn't trade our panties (which were both polka-dots, btw) for his futon earlier in the afternoon.

*Sigh* Back to work.

Friday Findings

(This is a posting the SaintOn has been doing for quite some time, and I liked the idea, so I stole it. It's how I roll, yo.)

Things I have learned this week:

1. Being appreciated for your skills in the workplace, and exceed expectaions makes a person fell damn good.
2. Being pushed to expand you knowledge on something can be stressful, but always works out for the better.
3. Your "chosen" family is sometimes just as important as your "given" family.
4. Obnoxious Pink Ninja Shades are always in fashion (and nobody can tell me otherwise).
5. Way too much booze during an extended amount of time will leave gaps in the memory. Huge gaps. (Let's not do that again.)
6. You're never too old to miss your mommy (she'll be here in aprox. 27 days).
7. If you don't use it, you lose it.
8. I am happiest when I have too much to do.

I am so excited for the weekend. CSGN will rock, and I'm using Giddy's tent, because she herself rocks, and now I can comfortably get dressed and store all my crap. Yeah, baby!!!

Happy Friday!

Let's just first start off by saying that I don't care if you smoke pot. Really, I don't. It means nothing to me.

Except, of course, when you keep parking across from my house and my neighbors house hot-boxing your vehicle. Often. In broad daylight. Which is also in front of a park...That many children play at.

When the kids first started this some 7 months ago, we and our neighbors took a laid back approach to the young kids, and my 6'2'' 250lbs. Italian neighbor told them he didn't care that they did it, just don't do it in front of these few houses. (Yeah, how about some of the mountains or thousands of acres of farm land, assholes?). At first The Hubby just shrugged it off, and I was the mean one. We came out one morning to get ready to go to the lake, and they were out there- before 8AM. Really? You can't wake-n-bake in your own house? I hadn't even had my coffee yet. I was pissed off and just stood their on my front porch and stared at them. When two got up to walk in the corner house (they park just out of window sight from it), I walked up to them- which they seemed a bit startled about- and told them it was disrespectful that Italian Neighbor asked them not to and they did it again. When I asked that they not do it again they just nodded and said "yeah, that's cool". At this point I'm even angrier, and the grandpa from the house came out to talk to us, which is when I kindly told him how I felt and mentioned that since we were nice before and his grand kids didn't care, we would call the cops next time.

Low and behold, after we and Italian Neighbors return from a long weekend, we find them out there again. We all walk out onto our lawns and stare at them, while SouthAF (Italian Neighbor's new wifey) calls the cops. Italian Neighbors gets in to a confrontation with the 5'5'' 130lbs. 18year old. And the only reason I know he's 18 is that he told IN that he was 18 and was a man and didn't have to involve any adult in the house. As he's in his tippy toes, of course.
We haven't had much of a problem since then. Which bring me to why I thought of all this again since it was months ago. I drive home from work, happy that I only worked 8 hours and not 10 again, and when I pull up to get my mail there are two young boys in a car, windows up, packing a bowl. There are kids playing at the park. Should I mention that I live in a nice neighborhood? If I was going to take my kid(s) to the park, and I saw 2-5 guys getting fucked up, would I feel comfortable to always come to that park. Nope. And the fact that it's in front of my house?

I talked to our little police department and asked them to cruise by when they can, just to make their presence known.

I mean c'mon, doesn't one of them have a friend with a parent that doesn't care if you do it at their house, or even just do it with you?
I'm getting old.

Why hello Monday...

It's almost 7PM, and I am still at work. Yay overtime I guess.

I have a lot to blog about, but no real time. So, yet to come will be too much vino, a fabulous wedding, and my high hopes for this weekend.

It's the biggest party of the year, yo...=)

Way Back...

Another Hump Day Way Back Wednesday.

Although things have been super busy for me (Today was a 12 hour work day), I find myself in a surprisingly good mood as of late. I also managed to drudge up a few pictures that go to my first WBW post. Check that here.

While I was looking for those gems, I came across this:
Can anybody seriously tell me that you would expect your small child to like this?? Have fun and smile with THIS hugging you? Come on now... If you could only see the look on my face. (Um, and is it me, or is he pawing my bosom? )


Just curious for all you parents, does Chucky Cheese still look like this? I assume in the last 25+ years he's bound to have had a makeover (or three). I remember Chucky Cheese having a dark theatre like setting, with huge mechanical heads coming up with spot lights on them singing loud songs, and holes cut in the wall like you were in a maze of Swiss Cheese...

No wonder my brother used to pull the heads off my barbies.