Tuesday, September 30, 2008

the squirrel


The other day I walked out of my house to go to work. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied a curious sight. The bird feeder I have out under my American Elm by the street was on the ground, broken apart, with birdseed spread all over. In the midst of the seed was a squirrel busily chomping away on the Smörgåsbord. I calmly walked over saying "excuse me?" while doing so--he just continued to chomp away faster and faster with his little squirrelly eyes looking for the quickest way out. He finally dashed up the aforementioned elm, and I started to scrape as much of the seed into a pile to put it back into the feeder. When I picked up the feeder, I noticed something quite amusing: he hadn't just knocked the feeder off the hanger. That little shit actually chewed through the hanger and it was irreparable. Are you kidding me? I couldn't help but laugh. If he's that ingenious, let him eat as much of the birdseed as he wants. Silly squirrel.

Oh, I did go out and get a new and improved bird feeder. The hanger is not made of plastic, and it is un-chewable!

can we all say awww

I don't know why I find this so unbelievably sweet and adorable. Enjoy!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

random weekend

Game night came off without a hitch once people arrived. It's funny, but just about everyone showed up at the same time. I'm just glad that the kitteh-allergic people didn't have problems. I vacuumed like a fiend! What was really funny was that at like 9:30pm, a couple of us started yawning and complaining about being tired. How lame are we??? I was kinda excited so I could get some sleep before the drive to McGregor Saturday morning. Not to happen! At 10pm, people started talking about leaving--ya, then we started talking, and that kept going on until almost midnight. Then I had to clean as much as I could with the injury. Oh ya!!! FYI--if you drop your favorite 8 inch chef's knife, don't try to catch it. =) I got lucky with that one. Only a small slice on my right middle finger. After being bandaged for 2 days, it's looking good. I hope a good time was had by all. Personally, I really enjoyed the Adult Mammoth Mad-Libs. I can always count on the H-bomb to keep it scandalous.

Saturday morning came very early. The alarm got me up at 8am so I could make it to my swim class by 9am. Dang, I might as well have stayed home because the brain/muscle connections were totally non-functional. I was so tired I kept forgetting to breathe. How does that happen?!? I'd turn my head, exhale, and put my face back in the water without getting a new breath. D'oh! After about 45 minutes of braindeadness, the coach finally decided we should do something different--back to dolphin kick. Thank goodness! That requires no thought.

After the class, I came home and finished cleaning up from the night before, threw some stuff in an overnight bag, and left for the burgeoning metropolis of McGregor, Texas. Surprisingly, I made it through crummy traffic in only 2.5 hours. The god daughter was soooooooo excited to see me; her mother hadn't told her I was coming. She's so freaking cute. Love that kid. After her birthday party, everyone involved took a short nap while she went to dinner with her father (the first time he's made an effort to be a dad since the split). Then KF and I went to the Founder's Day street dance thing downtown (if you can call that a downtown!). It was interesting to say the least, but we both pooped out by 10pm. As we headed back to the house, we noticed that the clouds had abated and the stars were out in full force since the moon was still below the horizon. When we got back home, we changed into comfy clothes and went outside to stargaze. It was amazing! It has been so long since I could actually see the Milky Way, but there it was. There were so many stars, I couldn't even decipher any constellations. Now for the funny part: while we were out gazing, someone came behind us and locked the deadbolt to the house. No matter how much knocking we did, no one heard us. Luckily, KF's brother lives across the street. We walked over and waited for him and his buddy to come back from coyote hunting (we could see the headlights coming through the field). Ya, did I mention this was all out in the middle of freaking nowhere? Across the street is still quite a hike. Well, KF was wearing all black, so I think he was quite surprised when she apparated out of nowhere in his headlights! He told us to get in the back of the pickup truck (which was outfitted with this homemade coyote hunting stand with chairs and all up over the truck) so he could drive us back to the house. It was so countrified, I couldn't quit laughing.

So that is my weekend in a nutshell. I got up at 6:15 this morning so I could be back in town to sing at 10am. The rest of the day has been a complete wash. I'm wiped out!

Friday, September 19, 2008

while I await party goers...

typical

I'm hosting Game Night tonight. I planned it since my house is (relatively) clean. Why not have my best friends over for a night of fun, right? Well, as of last Wednesday I've been feeling kinda crummy. I blamed it on allergies and the constant construction up at work. Well, I left work yesterday and haven't been back since. I still feel crummy. Yep, my head is ouchy, my body is achy, and I just generally feel like poo. I must prevail! I'm not gonna worry too much about tonight. I've got plenty of snack foods and soft drinks. The main room is clean enough for everyone, and all my friends understand that doing something on a Friday night is iffy anyway. Anywho, wish me luck kiddos. Oh, and btw, two of my friends who were planning on coming tonight also feel like ass crack. One backed out, and one hasn't decided yet. I sooooooooo understand guys!!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

you now it's bad when...

I'm IMing with a friend tonight, and I get this from him: "you are tipping off the crazy scale recently with your paranoia." Really? Is it that bad? I know I have my moments/weeks/whatever. If y'all notice me getting a little more, um, "crazy" than normal, please let me know. I think it's just too much free time and not enough time reading my genomics papers. Maybe he's just a little sensitive because I asked him about something personal (to him, not me). Meh, whatever. Time to go color the roots now! Give me a reason to act like a crazy redhead....
;-)

Monday, September 15, 2008

100 omnivorous foods

I got this from http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/. Feel free to take part in the goodness! If you don't know what a particular entry is, the original post has embedded links to some of the food items on Wikipedia.

Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
5) extra from the naughty mouse--italicize the items you haven't tried yet but would like to try!

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (in the States, we have alligator)
6. xxxBlack puddingxxx (I know what makes it black!)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (yes, I DID try them)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. xxxBrawn, or head cheesexxx
26. xxxRaw Scotch Bonnet pepperxxx
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a xxxfat cigarxxx
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (as long as chocolate covered ants count!)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (nom nom nom)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear (I tried picking my own once...wasn't successful)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. xxxDirty gin martinixxx
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (never again!)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. xxxKaolinxxx
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. xxxHaggisxxx
69. Fried plantain
70. xxxChitterlings, or andouillettexxx
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. xxxRoadkillxxx
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (I didn't know what it was until after I ate it)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Lessee, I've tried 79 of the 100. Good for me! How'd you do? =)

Monday Monday

Well, after all the gloominess of Saturday and Ike, I must admit I'm digging our current weather. It was the perfect morning for a pumpkin spice latte from *bucks. Ah, the gloriousness of the PSL! When I left my house this morning, the thermometer read 62 degrees F. I almost needed a jacket! This can continue for quite a while as far as I'm concerned. I hope everyone else is enjoying the beautiful coolness.

Have a great Monday y'all!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

another day, some more bad news

I know I've complained a lot lately about how the new "boyfriend" has been out of town a lot on business. I know you are all sick of hearing it. Well, at least this time he's not on business while he's out of town. Poor guy! He finally got home (Irving) about noonish on Monday. Yay! He came over, we had dinner, and we watched Monday night football. (Dude, the Packers were playing!) Then we futzed around on my computer before he left. Tuesday night we met the mmvgang to see Death Race. OMG, one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but it was still soooooooooo much fun! Great car chases, bad dialogue, Joan Allen saying things a lady would never be caught dead saying, beautiful Jason Statham's chiseled body.... But I digress. Unfortunately I had to go straight home after the movie to take care of some school work, so I left him fairly early. We didn't get a chance to talk Wednesday night, but I called and left a message anyway. So let me tell you why we didn't get to talk: his house was broken into and ransacked. Keep in mind, he is a recent addition to North Texas; he still has a house out of state that he's been trying to get ready to sell. Well, I guess some people figured it out and took advantage. His neighbors had been keeping tabs on everything really well. When one of them went to take his mail inside, he noticed the door had been kicked in and the place ravaged. When he told me this on the phone today (as he was waiting for his flight), the sound of dejection in his voice just about broke my heart. So, everyone say a little prayer for my guy. I hope it's not as bad as his neighbor made it sound. I hope there are some things that are salvageable. I really hope the cops find whoever did this soon and ream the snot out of them. I just want everything to be back to normal for him. He's had a bad 5 weeks. =(

Friday, September 05, 2008

the most random Friday ever

It's only halfway through the day, and so many bizarre/strange things have already happened. Maybe if I blog about them now, the rest of the day will be "normal."

First off, I was so stoked because I had a hair appointment this morning at 10am. I haven't had my hair cut in, um, I have no idea how long. It is so in need of shaping I could spit. So I head outta my place about 9:30--that gives me 30 mintes to get there right? Well, depending on how well you know me, you know it actually takes me a while to get out of the house. I forgot my phone: go back inside. I forgot to check which classroom my seminar was meeting in today at noon: go back inside and look it up online. Dang it! I forgot to take my vitamins: go back inside. So at this point it's 9:45--15 minutes to get there. Dagnabit! Needless to day, I wasn't necessarily the slowest person on the road. However, I wasn't passing anyone either. When I passed the cop hiding behind some bushes with his radar gun out, I knew I was toast. Yup, he pulled out as soon as he had the opportunity. Know what? He pulled over the guy behind me! Sweeeeeeet!!! While I'm sorry for the Caddy driving behind me, he was speeding, too. Thank the good Lord, my deferred adjudication wasn't screwed up by all that. I then obeyed the speed limit (to every other driver's chagrin) the rest of the way to the salon. Oh ya, I was on time, too.

Funny that I was on time. My stylist was not. Turns out no one ever told him last night that he had an early appointment (he normally doesn't go in until about noon). He felt awful when the front person called him and said he could be there by 11am; however, I had to be on the road for class in Arlington by then. Whoops. I just made a new appointment for tomorrow. In the mean time, my hair was a mess. I asked if there was anyone available to just wash my hair for me since I (at this point) really didn't have time to go home and do it myself. Not only did someone wash my hair, she then dried it for me, AND they didn't charge me a cent. How sweet is that?

You think that'd be enough randomness for one day right? No. Finally out at UTA (pronounced "ooh-tawh" in my world), I realized my seminar class is gonna kill me. That in itself was not too bad. I then had to go deal with parking issues. I forgot to get a parking permit when I registered, and since my parking fee in the garage was $5.75 for 2.5 hours, I needed the permit. I'm not paying that much or more every time I go out there! Then my thesis professor "forgot" we had a meeting after my class. I'm gonna kill this man. Yarrgh!

By the time I finally left the campus a little after 2pm, I was starvigating. What could I get that was high protein, low-ish fat and carbs, and portable? I did the drive through at McD's (not my fave, but hey, it's cheap) and got a McNugget Happy Meal. No, I didn't finish it. In fact, I picked off half of the "breading" and only ate half the fries. But onto the weirdness of the experience.... While I was waiting for my box of delight, a bee flew in my car. Dammit! I've only ever been stung once, and I want to keep it that way. Well, I opened the passender window and the sunroof. When it landed on my water bottle, I picked it up and bumped it on the roof through the sunroof. Aha! The bee was gone! Well, before I could close the windows and sunroof, the little bugger was back in my car. I almost had a really girly moment and freaked out. Deep breath. The windows got closed and the sunroof reopened. When it finally landed on a piece of paper, I tried to fling him out the sunroof. Little bastard must have had sticky goo on its feet because it wouldn't let go! Guess what I did? I closed the sunroof with the paper still sticking out. Yes, it prolly looked all white trash, but the bee was out of my car for good. By the time I got to the highway, he was gone. Then I had to get the paper back inside--couldn't be caught littering!

Wish me luck. I still have many hours left in this day.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

poll

Okay, so I'm watching reruns of Sex in the City, and an interesting question was posed. I'm going to pose it here. Please add a comment (anonymously or not) and let me know your answer/thoughts.

Do all women really just want to be rescued?

Monday, September 01, 2008

ah, a weekend

Labor Day weekend. It's been nice not laboring much. I do, however, have a couple amusing anecdotes with which to entertain you.

Yesterday morning, I was running late for church because I slept late. Big shocker there. Anywho, we were supposed to be taking some pictures for the Rally Day choir table next week. I stuck my camera in my purse and started to head out the door. Then it occurred to me, I should put my contacts in my eyes. I was so tired that I was feeling extra vain for the "photo shoot." I get the right contact outta its case, stick it in my right palm, add some solution out of the bottle, and proceed to clean my contact. Well, as I'm rinsing the thing off, I notice the edges are all crenated (wrinkly). I thought it was because my hand was still too wet with water when I started the cleaning process. So, I added more solution. Are you seeing where this is going? Ya, it was not contact solution. I had used an old bottle to make a somewhat dilute solution of tea tree oil (to keep around as a natural antiseptic). Yes friends, I cleaned my contact with tea tree oil and put it in my eye. That smarted just a little bit. Luckily I guess my eye sensed the wrongness of it all and closed before I got it totally in my eye. Wow, I knew I was tired, but really? I then proceeded to rinse the contact with the real contact solution and insert it into the aforementioned right eye. Whoa nelly! That was the most painful (and stupid) thing I've done in a really long time! Either I didn't get it rinsed off well, or the original tea tree oil was still in my eye. It was difficult to get the contact out, and when I finally did do it, (after much tearing and wiping of tears without messing up the vanity inspired make up) I wore my glasses for the rest of the day.

Then last night, I was on borders.com because I had a discount code and was trying to get some Christmas shopping done. OMG!!! Their new website sucks ass! It kept kicking me out, not loading pages, or saying "we're sorry, this page is unavailable right now." Ugh! So I got back on today and had a little better luck until it came to entering the code. The code worked yesterday, the site just wouldn't let me check out. Today, it wouldn't accept my code. Yarrgh!!! WTF??? Both days, I've tried to contact the customer service line, but "the customer service center is closed." Really? I'm soooooooooo irritated. I'll try calling again tomorrow, and if they don't accept my discount code, I'm gonna kick some ass. I deserve this code, and if I can't use it, some people may not be getting what they deserve for Christmas. I love my family and friends, and I'd like to get them something nicer than I can actually afford. This was going to allow me to do that. Stupid Borders!

As an addendum: the border.com site now has a "gateway timeout." What in the world is that??? I'm gonna keep trying!