Archive | November, 2011

Random Stuff Y’all Have Asked Me

By on November 30, 2011 in NaBloPoMo, The Blogger, The Challenge

Remember how I said it’d be quiet around here this week?

INSANITY.

Without further ado, RANDOM STUFF Y’ALL HAVE ASKED ME RECENTLY THAT I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ANSWERED AT THE TIME.

Q: What do you put in your green smoothies?

A: I’m not at all methodical about the contents. Which, have we met?, is surprising. I basically add the following items to my grocery list on Sundays: 3 apples, a bag of seedless grapes, a big bag of “tender” spinach (I don’t know why it’s tender), a bag of frozen mixed berries. I throw a random combination of those items into my Magic Bullet cup every morning. (Although, to be honest, I usually cut up the apple the night before and stick it in a baggie with the spinach, and sometimes do two and three baggies at once so my weekday mornings are a bit less hectic.) The great thing is that you can use whatever. Some people swear by bananas, some people use mango or pineapple.. whatever floats your boat. The spinach is REALLY good for you, but with a mild taste of “greens”, so it’s easily masked by the fruit.

Q: I have sensitive skin/skin prone to allergies. Would Birchbox work for me?

A: Dude, I have no clue. Everyone is different, right? BUT I will say that when you sign up for the delivery service, you answer a long list of questions regarding your skin type, coloring, preferences, etc so that you get the right “blend” for your buck. While I can’t remember a specific question about skin allergies, I am 99% sure I answered a question regarding my skin’s sensitivity. (Which, seriously, all the way to eleven.) To be fair, I also chose a Preference for Natural and Organic Products, so a lot of what I get is something that wouldn’t flare my skin up anyway.

Q: Have you seen The Hunger Games trailer?

A: OhEmGee, did I ever. And yes, I am totally stoked. I saw the “sneak peek” trailer .. whoop-dee-doo, look at her run through the unscary forest .. and wasn’t really impressed. But the full-length trailer? DUDE, I cried. I volunteer! I volunteer as Tribute! Oh, tears. I am ready to really, really love this movie. (Mockingjay, however, is a different story altogether.)

Q: What do you think of your homemade laundry detergent?

A: This totally deserves its own post, but the short answer is: I’m glad I did it. It made a BUNCH – I filled a 2 gallon cookie jar and still had enough to give Jenni and Courtney Ziploc-gallon bags – and it’s kind of cool. I think all of the materials, total, cost me less than $20 and I even got some extras. I did add the remaining of my Downy Unstoppables for added scent. Were I to do it again (Bryan’s not sold on it yet), I would add more OxiClean to it .. it’s not quite as effective as a cleaning/brightening solution as I’d like. It cleans well, but for things like Socks of Boys .. they look a bit drab. Clean, mind you.. just drab.

Q: What do you think of your homemade liquid soap/body wash?

A: I think that was so insanely easy that I don’t know why I didn’t do it years ago. Tony uses castille soap (I have a soft spot for Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Castille Soap) for his sensitive skin, but the big bottles are really expensive. A bar of it, however, is only $3. One bar of $3 soap, and 10 cups of hot water got me a refill of the original bottle (a 16 oz, I think) AND an empty milk-jug. I didn’t use glycerin, as all the recipes called for, because I had none on hand. Next time, I will though.. the soap currently solidifies somewhat in the bottle. (A quick shake fixes it right up.) But I think the glycerin will fix that.

Q: What’re y’all doing for Tony’s party this year?

A: HA! Remember my grand aspirations? Yes, they were grand. And had we more time and money, they would be SO MUCH FUN. However, we looked at the calendar, realized he’s only turning four, and said, “Let’s all get together and have a pizza party instead with the family!” Because when you’re four, you just want to be around the people who will coo all over you anyway, right?

Q: Are you going to The Blathering 2012?

A: Oh, I think we all know the answer to this one, right?

Comments { 3 }

There’s Always Gonna Be That Somebody

By on November 29, 2011 in NaBloPoMo

The reality of .. well, reality .. is that you’re always going to have a battle to overcome.

(You can pick your battles, a lot of the time.)

I don’t want to infer that it’s generational, but I run into so many people who simply crumble at the first sign of resistance. By that same number, I know a lot of folks who just don’t know when to back down.

And I think the two groups are who keep eachother in population control.

No matter what you’re doing, there’s ALWAYS going to be that somebody who is against you. We all laugh because it doesn’t matter the topic – about an hour after I post something on here that’s semi-opinionated, in a matter of hours, people are emailing me telling me that one or two of my faithful readers is online, spouting the exact opposite opinion. They LIVE for that.

(And honestly? I do not. Having that is ALMOST enough to make me pity Dooce.)

And that’s just something as silly as blogging. I also have a few faithful readers of my Twitter, and they love to scuttle about when I tweet things, and whisper in people’s ears that I said this and that and the other. There are always going to be those people.

When you lace up your shoes to go running, there is always going to be that somebody who looks at you and says that you? There’s no way you can go running. There’s always those people who hit below the belt, criticizing your weight, your physique, your determination.

When you take a chance, there is always going to be that somebody who waits for you to fall. They sit at the ready, drool hanging from their open mouths, as they salivate on the prospect of your failure.  They cannot wait to be the first ones to shout I TOLD YOU SO! when things don’t work out.

When you decide to bottle-feed, there is always going to be that somebody who tells you that breastfeeding is EASY and WHY DON’T YOU LOVE YOUR CHILD ENOUGH? When you decide to breastfeed, there is always going to be somebody who’s going to judge you for doing so in front of anyone else, no matter how modestly you cover yourself.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. There’s always gonna be that somebody.

PROVE. THEM. WRONG.

Comments { 6 }

Um, It’s Gonna Be Quiet Around Here for a Week.

By on November 28, 2011 in The Unexplainable

I’ve been asked to assist a team in getting a project out the door – which, YAY! I do love this work! – but this will mean I’ll have very limited time, if any really, to write here.

I started Bootcamp today, and I did so without popping ANY bones out of joint! HUZZAH! Then I came home, took out the recycling, made myself a “green” smoothie (spinach in the morning!), and was out the door by 7:30. I feel like I could totally kick the world’s ass today, but also I’d really like a nap.

Thanksgiving was awesome, netting me this fantastic picture:

In which all boys in the room decided to try and balance on their forearms in some display of manliness. I don’t know. All I know is that when she saw this picture, Kim immediately proved why we’re friends by exclaiming, “My brother and my dad and I have had this SAME balance-off before!”

Also, I read the first and second Harry Potter books and Y’ALL. Don’t know if you knew this, but those are some damn good books.

Also, I made my own: laundry detergent and liquid body wash. Because when I do something, I do it ALL THE WAY.

(Reviews to come.)

So for now, hope y’all all had a lovely holiday with your families. And hope your life back in the real world is not too hectic.

Comments { 4 }

Thanksgiving and All.

By on November 23, 2011 in NaBloPoMo, The Blogger

Holy frijoles, NaBloPoMo almost got away from me today. I COMPLETELY forgot about posting here today. I’ve got cranberry sauce cooking, sweet taters working, and working from home with a very grouchy little boy. “Balls in the air” as no one once said.

I guess I should talk about what I’m thankful for. But .. I don’t know. I mean, I have the obvious stuff to be thankful for – roof over my head, gainful employment, a loving (and PATIENT) husband, two rambunctious and healthy boys – but I feel like we’ve come to a place where we have to out-hipster eachother and find a more meaningful reason to be thankful. Or a theme for our thanks. We want to put a hashtag on our thanks.

(No, obviously, you’re not who I’m talking about here. It’s everyone else.)

I’m thankful for everything, really. And in that sappy, first-grade kind of way. And I’m thankful that you’re here, reading this. And I hope that you take time out from wiping your sweaty brow with the back of your flour-covered wrist, in between snapping at your kids to STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN OR I’LL SELL YOU TO THE GYPSIES and sobbing to your husband to PLEASE JUST HELP ALREADY PLEASE, to realize that it’s just a day, just a meal, just a chance to get everyone around a table.

(The above rant is entirely hypothetical.)

We have no big plans this year outside of our normal “travel to Nonna and Poppa’s for the meal” routine. We’re all taking what we’re good at – for me, it’s sweet taters, stuffing, and cranberry sauce – and not stressing about it. New this year is what I hope will become tradition: Aunt Gee and Dude are taking the cousins on Friday afternoon to do .. holiday stuff? I dunno. All I know is that I casually mentioned it to Tony two weeks ago and he’s literally asked me “Is it Friday November 25th yet?” daily. He’s ridiculously excited, because After Thanksgiving not only means going to Aunt Gee’s, it also means that his birthday and Christmas are right around the corner.

We’ve been debating what to try for as far as Santa’s concerned this year, since he has a longstanding history of disliking the man who brings you presents:

And then last year, we didn’t even try.

So we’ve been talking this guy up a lot, is what I’m saying. We role-play, with me pretending to be Santa and Tony playing himself. We talk about how nice Santa is. Hell, we even LOOK AT THIS PICTURE and Tony will say, “I be nicer to Santa this year.”

You can imagine our SHOCK! and AWE! when we walked into the mall two weeks ago (TWO WEEKS AGO. NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING.) and saw the big purple chair. Tony FROZE. Demanded we leave the mall. Or at the very least, maintain a floor between us and that evil, evil man.

So should we do the elf on the shelf thing? I want to, so badly, if for no other reason than I think it’d be fun. For me. Let me clarify: I would have fun with this thing, therefore I am all gung-ho for it. But .. the child is already terrified, so ..

Hell yes, we’re doing it.

I’m thankful for therapists.

Comments { 15 }

Extra Crispy Wings No More

By on November 22, 2011 in NaBloPoMo, The Mouth of the South

One of the most depressing parts of the recession – obviously, outside of job loss and home foreclosures – is that a lot of our local institutions have suffered.

My favorite coffee house at work fell under in August.

I’ve seen more and more businesses – mostly local, mostly restaurants – fall victim to the economy.

BUT Y’ALL, SHIT’S GETTING REAL.

Beauregard’s, which has been a place to get wings for Y-E-A-R-S, is closing. Like, SATURDAY.  I am so completely heartbroken about this. Our local wing joint is CLOSING. We’ve had countless birthday parties there over the years. We ate there the night Bryan asked permission to marry me. Tony knows the menu by heart, and those checkerboard/newsprint tablecloths are prevalent in photos.

More importantly: THEY UNDERSTAND HOW TO COOK WINGS. Oh. I am so picky about wings. I want them crispy. EXTRA crispy. I cannot feel the ooey gooey ness of potentially undercooked meat. I want them CRISPY. FRY THEM LONGER. Yes, I know it sounds simple. AND YET.

Hell. We named our dog Beau. AFTER THE BEAUREGARD MASCOT.

I am crazy sad about this. Mostly because we’ve grown up there. Also because .. adieu, extra crispy wings.

Comments { 8 }
← Older posts