Blah.

So, let's pretend that I don't have a full-time job and I don't attend school part-time.  We'll just pretend I'm some slacker who has nothing better to do than sit around all day.  What would I do?  

I think my days would start around 9-ish.  I'd eat breakfast and chill with the dog.  There'd be reading.  Lots of reading.  And TV/movie time.  And video games (even though I'm terrible at them).  And time on the computer, of course.  I'd have more time to cook and bake.  And with all that free time, I might actually exercise now and then.  And, if I could motivate myself to go anywhere alone, I could go take pictures whenever I wanted.  Nothing would be rushed, and things would get done when I was ready to do them.

Now, back to reality.  My day starts at 7:30 when I let the dog out and get my computer all ready to go.  Breakfast normally occurs sometime between 8 and 9, and is eaten while I work.  I usually have some kind of frozen food or leftovers for lunch around noon and then take my official lunch break at one (during which I typically play video games or do chores).  I work until just after four and then I usually take a post-work nap to revive myself.  After that, it's a combination of finding/fixing/eating dinner, watching TV with Hubby, doing homework, keeping up with FB or Skype, and a few video games here and there.  By 11, I'm usually brushing my teeth (if not already in bed), and then (if I'm awake enough) I have time to read a bit before I go to sleep.

Weekends are only slightly different.  Instead of work, I do homework all day (alternating with naps, puppy cuddles, and computer time).  But the same general stuff applies.  

I'm not really complaining.  I like working from home (even if I'm not crazy about my job), and 7:30 isn't nearly as early as most people probably get up for work.  I do get time to do some fun stuff in between, but weekends are mostly blown because on weeknights, all I want to do after work is relax, so homework gets piled up for Sat and Sun.  It's not bad, but I do look forward to the day when it's only work and not work + school to worry about.  Too bad it'll be another 4 years...

This blog post really didn't turn out the way I thought it would.  Not going to bother posting on FB.  Whoever reads it, reads it.  No one will be lost or missing out if they skip it.     

Keep Both Eyes on the Puck

It's for your own safety.

Last night, Hubby and I went to a Milwaukee Admirals game.  (For those unfamiliar with the Ads, this is our local AHL team.)

Now, I will be the first to admit that I don't know dick about hockey.  Here's the extent of my knowledge:

People hit a puck with a stick and try to get it into the other team's goal.  

OK, I know a few other things, too, I suppose.  Like, it's OK to slam someone into the wall (in fact, checking seems to be encouraged, at least by the crowd), but if you do something too naughty (hooking, slashing, tripping...), you get sent to the penalty box (which means power play for the other team).  

Anywhoozles, I don't care.  Without knowing anything about it, hockey is damn fun to watch.  It's fast-paced, semi-violent, and exciting.  What else do you need?

Well, going to an Ads game reminds me of going to a minor league baseball game (Mallards, anyone?).  Any time there's a small break, there's some kind of contest or trivia going on.  And between periods, we get to watch random fans do ridiculous things to win a prize.  Also, Zambonis.  Need I say more? 

Last night was pickle night (apparently today is pickle day?), so most things were pickle-related.  There was a pickle-eating contest, pickle trivia, and even pickle relay races on the ice.  Hubby got to wear a paper pickle hat, which made my whole night.  And I learned things!  Like, Cleopatra apparently attributed her beauty to eating pickles.  Who knew?  

My favorite part of any Ads game is the mini-blimp that putters around before the game and between periods.  I always want to find the guy/gal who controls it and ask if I can give it a whirl.  It just looks like fun!  Plus, it drops coupons on people.  What's not to love?  Add a pirate ship to the mix and you've got one heck of a show, my friends.

The game was a close one, and it came down to 4-on-4 sudden death OT.  With mere seconds left on the clock (the main clock said 3.1, but I've heard it was more like 4.5), the Ads scored for the win.  It was pretty insane, and a TON of fun to be there for!  If you want to check out any of the highlights, you can go to the Admirals TV page for videos.

Aside from the normal hockey related things, other items of interest included:

• A little girl in the bathroom whose mother wanted her to hurry up so they didn't miss the game.  "OK, the game's going to start!  Let's get going!"  Little girl pops out of the stall.  "Ta da!!"  I told Hubby about this, observing that small children are instantly 400 times funnier when they're in a public bathroom.  This prompted Hubby to ask, "What was that little girl's song?"  And thus I began singing, "I love potatoes!"
• A little boy (maybe about 5 or 6?) across the ice from us who was dancing up a storm all night!  He even busted out the sprinkler.  I was thoroughly impressed.
• An awesome older lady got to ride along on one of the Zambonis.  She spent the whole time waving to the crowd and smiling.  That woman is my new hero.
• One of the poor girls involved in a pickle race kept mooning the stands when she bent over for a pickle.  Not good.  I'm pretty sure that would be one of my worst nightmares come true.
• David Greuber was sling-shotted down the ice into giant boxes of Uncle Ben's.  If you're from Milwaukee, you know who David Greuber is.  "One call, that's all..."  I was glad he didn't win the contest.  That man annoys the piss out of me.

So, it was a fun night with the hubs, and we agreed that we definitely need to go watch more hockey games!  Maybe I'll learn something about it one of these days...  



    

Las Vegas to Milwaukee: Points of Interest

Hello, dear readers!  Hope you're all doing just peachy.  I don't have time for an extensive retelling of my recent road trip, but here are some points of interest in a brief recap!

Thursday night, 6/16: Though non-stop flights are less hassle, I was reminded that four hours on a plane next to people I don't know in a seat I can't possibly get comfortable in is not one of my favorite activities.  

Friday morning, 6/17: Spent my birthday morning in my pjs watching TV (huzzah for Degrassi reruns on The N and Family Guy on DVR!).  It may sound boring, but it was pretty glorious.

Friday afternoon/evening: Celebrated 'Chranksgiving' with K, S and some of their friends.  It's essentially a combo of the best foods of Christmas and Thanksgiving, but in the summer.  Who says turkey should be a winter food only?  My contribution was cutting up bread for the stuffing and picking my own birthday cake.

Friday night: Spent about $30 at Red Rock Casino.  God, I love penny slots.

Saturday, 6/18: Waited for K to get packed and headed out.  K drove the whole day, since I'm not as familiar with mountains.  We drove from Vegas to Denver.  Dinner that evening was a bag of M&Ms.

Sunday morning, 6/19: Headed to Rocky Mountain National Park!  My first trip there (and only my second nat'l park).  Seeing so much snow in June is a bit of a mindf*ck.  Loved it.  It even snowed on us in the park!

Sunday night: I drove from lunch in Loveland, CO to our hotel in North Platte, NE.  I drove in some epic rain.  I was just taking it slow, doing what I needed to do, and cars kept pulling over and throwing their flashers on.  It was crazy!  K decided we should stop for gas at the next exit and wait some of it out.  About 30 seconds after that suggestion, we started getting pelted with hailstones.  Ended up parked along the side of the interstate for 20 minutes, and spent another hour at a gas station in Brule.  I got us safely to North Platte after that, earning some major respect from K.

Monday, 6/20: Got to see the Kool-Aid exhibit at the Hastings Museum!  Drove part of the afternoon, and we got into West Des Moines around 6, the earliest we'd reached any of our destinations.  It was nice to have an evening to relax.

Tuesday, 6/21: West Des Moines, IA to Milwaukee, WI.  Stopped along the way to see a giant wooden nickel, the future birthplace of James Kirk, and the world's largest truck stop.  Sleeping in my own bed was like Heaven.  

Summary:  Had a freakin' great time!  But there really is no place like home. :-D

Disney References, Molestaches & Mexican Wrestlers

As you can probably (not) tell from the title of this post, it was a most excellent/interesting weekend.  Allow me to explain.

Disney References: Friday night and much of Saturday was spent studying for my Meteo final, which I took Saturday night.  Now, as I may (or may not) have mentioned, I am not a fan of the professor/instructor for this class.  Within the first few weeks, he put me off by seeming unfriendly and unwilling to accept criticism.  He also didn't give great answers to questions when they were asked (he was one of those, "Well, what do YOU think the answer is?" kind of teachers), nor did he do much in the way of feedback.  Boo.  

Anywhoozles, I started the exam on Saturday night after TONS of studying, and I actually had to give the prof some credit.  For one, the exam wasn't nearly as brutal as it could have been (it was cumulative for the whole semester, which made me think it would be the death of me).  Many of the questions were very straightforward (whereas questions on weekly quizzes had often been hard to follow or tricky), which was much appreciated.  But what really got me was one of the first questions.  I forget what the actual question was, but it was related to water, and it essentially asked, "The concept of blahblahblah relates to the idea that ____________."  Since all questions were multiple choice, I had 4 answers to pick from.  Fortunately, I knew the right answer, so when one of the possible choices was, "All drains lead to the ocean," I actually giggled.  All I could think of was Finding Nemo, and that helped me relax for the rest of the exam.  I got an A.  :-)

Molestaches: Sunday was a lazy day, since it was my first day being done with the semester.  I did almost nothing all day.  But last night was an event I had been looking forward to for a loooooong time.  Yes, my dears, I went to see Bowling For Soup!  They.  Were.  AWESOME!  Fortunately for us, Shank Hall is a smaller venue in the Milwaukee area, so it was a relatively small concert.  As such, a girl in the audience (near the stage) raised her hand.  "Um, we normally don't do Q&A, but what the hell!  What's your question?"  The girl then asked why the bassist had decided to grow a molestache (aka a mustache that makes one look like a molester).

Now, the poor guy wasn't feeling well.  He had almost no voice, but he didn't let it stop him from not only playing, but completely rocking out.  Instead of taking the blow of a potentially harsh insult, he actually retorted with, "Maybe you'll find out later."  I about pissed myself.  LOVED it.  

Mexican Wrestlers:  On our way home from the show, we went through part of downtown Milwaukee.  During this drive, my husband randomly said, "There's a Mexican wrestler over there."  I looked out my window and there was a group of 3 people walking, one of which had a Mexican wrestling mask on (along with the standard T-shirt and jeans attire of springtime in Wisconsin).  "Huh...  So there is!"  

Clearly, it was a fantastic weekend.  Well, aside from a whole day of studying on Saturday.  But still!  At least I got an A out of all that studying.  Booya!

Also, for those interested, Bowling For Soup was a great show to see.  If you get the chance, I encourage you to go!  Not only are their songs fun and full of energy, the band members themselves seem to have a great time on stage, which makes it even more fun for everyone involved.

Oh!  And before I forget, I am now one of a handful of people who can say that they learned of Bin Laden's death from Bowling For Soup.  Random, but awesome!    

Holy wow, man.

1) It was 80 yesterday.  It's 50 today.  Wtf, spring?

2) I am SO behind with work, but have little to no motivation to get caught up.

3) We got rear-ended yesterday on our way to pick up dinner.  We're fine and all, but it was kind of scary.

4) I miss being on vacation.

5) 3 more weeks of the semester... I can do it!  I think...

New Theory

You know how sometimes you wake up before you have to because you have GOT to pee?  You pretty much have two options: Stay in bed and hope that you can sleep through it without waking up soaked in your own urine OR get up and pee.  I typically get up and pee.

My theory is that when you do this, your bladder only expels as much as it needs to in order for you to be comfortable enough to get back to sleep.  Because seriously, no matter when it happens, I STILL have to pee first thing when I get up.  So unless I'm sleep-drinking, my bladder clearly isn't getting emptied that first time around.

This has been a random theory by yours truly.  Have a good day!

5 Reasons The Day After St. Patrick's Day Should Be A National Holiday

1) People won't need to call in hungover (er, "sick").  Many people use St. Patty's Day to drink themselves into a stupor.  This is fact.  Thus, I have to assume that a number of people call in sick the day after.  That means that the rest of us have to work extra hard to make up for their absences, and that just blows.

2) It's a wasted day.  Those that DO come in hungover are clearly not going to be on their A game, but don't want to use a sick day or paid time off when they can just slack off on the company's dime.  Again, those of us who didn't render ourselves useless may have to work harder (boooo-urns) or will just sit around talking about the adventures the others had the day before.

3) It's just time for a break.  Many of us haven't had a holiday off since New Year's Day.  It's about damn time, so why not the day after St. Patty's?  Otherwise we have to wait until Memorial Day, which feels like for-ev-er.  We're getting restless, which means productivity could be dropping.  Why risk it?

4) I have two words: Spring Fever.  The weather is finally getting nice enough to enjoy!  Let us have a day to actually enjoy it instead of staring longingly out the window wishing we were enjoying it.

5) Not everyone is Irish, but most everyone can agree that a day off is a good thing.  We can call it People Appreciation Day or Random Day Off Day.  I don't care.  I doubt anyone will care.  Just do it.  

Spring Break Weekend

I've technically been on spring break for the past week.  It's not nearly as exciting when you're still working full time, but them's the breaks.  

Anywhoozles, we did have ourselves a tropical night on Friday so I could pretend I was somewhere far away and warm.  We had surf and turf kabobs (made on our George Foreman grill), our normal tropical salad with homemade pineapple vinaigrette dressing, and some tropical style drinks.  Our tropical movie selection for the night was Joe Versus the Volcano, which is a fantastic little movie, if not all that tropical (they're only on the island for a bit toward the end of the movie, but oh well).  All in all, a good night was had. 

Our original plans for Saturday were to go exploring around Cedarburg for the afternoon, since it was a recent feature in the paper's "Weekend Getaway" part of the Travel section.  But, we woke up to find that the weather wasn't being so cooperative.  22-28 mph winds, some rain, many clouds...  Boo.  

Instead, we went to IHOP for breakfast and then went to Menards to shop for a bit.  Not exactly a romantic day together, but still fun.  I had the Nutella crepes at IHOP, with the bananas and strawberries and whipped cream... OMG, so good.  I also go a side order of turkey bacon, which I LOVE.  We also had our favorite waiter there (not that we're regulars; we just happened to have him the last time we were there, which was probably January).  This guy is awesome.  Seriously!  He has a positive attitude about everything, and his memory must be phenomenal.  He took our orders (didn't write them down) and then went to chat with the table behind us for a bit, and I kept thinking, shit, something is going to get fucked up.  Either Hubby's eggs will be wrong or I won't get my turkey bacon or something.  But I should've remembered just how awesome he is, because he came out later with our order just as perfect as could be.  At the end of the meal, he handed me the check and said, "You're married; I know who has the money here!  I'm married and have 4 kids - I don't get to see any money!"  We joked about how he doesn't get asked about his day when he gets home, just how much money he made for the day.  The thing is, maybe I'm completely naive, but I really just think he's trying to have fun with his customers, not trying to get sympathy or extra tips.  He really just seems like a good guy who's making the best out of life.  It's inspiring to me, and so that's how I choose to see it.  

Menards was...  Menards.  You have to understand that I hated...  No...  I loathed Menards growing up.  It was the most boring place on Earth.  No contest.  The only things there that kept me from going insane were the doorbell section (I loved the different noises they all made) and the door section (where I would open and close doors, wandering through them like it was some kind of maze for me to get through).  When I got a little older, I would just bring my Walkman in with me and listen to my cassette tapes while we wandering through the store.  My parents (or, more specifically, my father) were always looking at the most boring things, and music kept me entertained.  These days, I actually don't mind Menards, but I still hold some of that resentment.  I mean, I was clearly old enough at some points to have stayed home by myself for an hour or two, but instead my parents dragged me along to Hell.  Maybe they thought the torture was character-building.  Who knows.  

Anywhoozles, we ended up watching most of the Band of Brothers marathon on Spike last night while we cuddled on the couch and ate our dinner.  Hubby got the grill out last night for our steaks.  The first grill of the season was definitely a success.  Man, I love a good rib-eye on the grill!  Droooooooool.  

Today, the hubs is off to help his dad get some things done, so it's just me and the pooch.  I'm sure I'll end up doing fascinating things like laundry or homework or sleeping.  No matter what, I had a great weekend. :-)  

Noms!

So Friday night I wanted to have a Mexican food night.  To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to have guacamole.  I loves me some guac!  So, I hunted down some good looking recipes for entrees and off we went to Sendik's for ingredients.

There are two things you should know about me: 1) I love going to the grocery store with my hubby.  Mostly.  When he starts playing with the cart like it's a race car, I tend to get a bit annoyed, but otherwise, it's actually something I enjoy doing.  2) I especially love grocery shopping at Sendik's.  For anyone who hasn't been to Sendik's, I highly suggest it.

Sadly, I was a bit disappointed by our Sendik's trip.  They didn't have pre-made guac, for one.  Really?  I can go to most any Pick n Save and find already made guac.  Sometimes it's already packaged for me, too.  Step it up, Sendik's!

For another, NONE of their normal avocados were ripe.  We had managed to find a guac mix ("Just add avocados!") and figured we'd give it a try.  But the avocado selection was less than stellar.  They were like bumpy green stones.  Not cool.  We spent six dollars getting two "organic" avocados (and justified it by saying we weren't getting any other ingredients for it, like onions, tomatoes, etc).  It ended up being pretty tasty, but still.  

For dinner, we made chimichangas.  Here's the recipe.  I was seriously surprised that this recipe was as easy as it was, AND it was tasty!  We substituted ground turkey for the ground beef (as we almost always do) and I melted some cheese over the top of the chimis, but otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely.  With a little taco sauce and some sour cream on top...  Mmmmmmm...  Now I'm getting hungry, dammit.

Anywhoozles, just thought I'd share a good food experience with y'all.  :-)  This weekend we're going for another tropical night, so stay tuned!  

In The Ayer

Oh hot damn, this is my jam.

Anywhoozles, it's been awhile, so I thought I'd stop in and say hello to the world.  

Hello, world!

That being said, I'm quite ready for spring.  I know it's only March 2nd, but I'm ready for sunshine and flowers and greenery.  Well, in all fairness, I do have the sunshine.  For the moment, anyway.  But the others would really make life much nicer.  

Also, hubby and I just got DVR.  It's an amazing thing and may actually be my undoing.  Time will tell.

TTFN!

Things

Just a few things I need to get out there.  No real reason.  Just feel the need.

1) Looking through the "People You May Know" section of FB. Of course I know most of them.  I went to school with several of them for a minimum of 4 years (a few I've actually known since pre-school).  I went to / worked at camp with many others.  But my theory is that of these people, my guess is that 90% or so of them don't remember who I am and/or don't care to be friends with me on FB. And I don't feel the need to guess who the other 10% are in order to add them.  

2) Teachers strikes suck for kids.  It's true.  I wish things could get resolved without the kids getting screwed over.  That's all I'm going to say about that for fear of getting into politics.  I prefer to remain a-political most of the time.

3) A banana split sounds excellent right now. 

The Sky Is NOT Blue

Well, it is.  But it isn't.  Really.  Apparently it's only blue because our brain associates the visible radiation with what we've been taught to call "blue" or "sky blue."  So our brain (not our eyes) sees it as blue.  Weird.

(Forgive me if you already know this and are thinking, "Wow, Erika...  Just catching on, are you?"  It was part of my meteorology reading last night and I thought it was cool.  So nah!)

Anywhoozles, sorry to disappoint, but we ended up not making ANY recipe on Friday night.  Instead, hubby made himself a steak and I got an asparagus and cheese stuffed chicken breast from the meat counter at Pick n Save that I heated up in the toaster oven.  We also grabbed a couple of rolls and had some drinks (mmmm... amaretto stone sour).  Nothing fancy, but still delicious.  :-)

Hubs made dinner last night, so tonight's my turn, I suppose.  I've got a couple chicken boobs thawing, so hopefully I can make something tasty out of them.  We'll see.

Oh, and if you feel like taking a break from the blah-ness of Tuesday, here's a fun quiz to take: Troy McClure Film or Actual Terrible Movie?  This quiz is probably more fun (or at least a bit easier) if you're a Simpsons fan, but even if you aren't, some of the actual terrible movies are still pretty... terrible.  

Enjoy!

Thursday, Thursday

Hmmm, not as catchy as "Monday, Monday" I suppose.  No wonder there's no song about it.

Strange, but true: Today is actually National Cheese Lover's Day.  Now, if you're from Wisco like yours truly, every day is cheese lover's day.  But, it's nice to see the whole nation included in this affair we Sconnies celebrate on a daily basis.  Yay cheese!

On a non-cheese related note, this is also the date that Skeet Ulrich was born and Audrey Hepburn died (in 1970 and 1993 respectively).  Just a few "fun facts" about January 20th.

Moving on...  

Tomorrow, hubby and I plan on having a night in, which is one of my favorite things to do.  We're going to watch a movie ("What About Bob?" for those curious) and make dinner.  The problem is, we're stuck on what to make for dinner.  I found a few yummy-looking recipes, but I'm not sure what to attempt.  When the decision is made, I'll be sure to post.

Have to make it through today first, though.  Here goes nothing... 

For fun - what's your favorite cheese or cheese-related snack/meal/whatever?  I'd have to say cheese curds.  Squeaky, fried, I don't care.  I just love me some cheese curds!

Do You Mind?

That was the title of last night's psych lesson about the mind-body debate.  Here's how I know I'm in the right field - I was geeking out right and left about some of the stuff being discussed.  No lie.  I am a nerd and a half, kids!  Love it.

Anywhoozles, there was some pretty crazy stuff that came out of the lesson and I figured some of it was interesting enough to share.  Here goes.

• People used to think that "madness" (what we would typically now call mental illness) was caused by, well, the devil.  They thought people were being possessed or that there were demons in the brain.  All sorts of crazy shit, right?  Even crazier was that in the Stone Age, they thought drilling holes into people's heads to let the demons out was a reasonable (and helpful) form of treatment.  Ouch.
• Approx 90% of Americans believe in some form of Heaven, and another 72% believe in Angels.  People tend to believe that the mind and body (brain) are separate entities and that one's mind - spirit - lives on after death.  In fact, some people actually think that within the next decade or so, we'll be able to upload our spirits to a computer once our bodies have expired so that we can later be downloaded to a new vessel.  And that, my friends, creeps me the hell out.
• Hippocrates (you know, the guy we named the Hippocratic Oath after) was kind of out there.  He thought mental illness was caused by an imbalance of what he called "humors" (biological fluids).  So, essentially, if one of our fluids was out of balance (too much, too little, etc), that's when mental illness strikes.  Even weirder is the fact that he related some of these fluids to different elements and personality traits.  For example, Fire = Blood.  This fluid is responsible for traits like confidence and optimism.  Whereas Earth = Black Bile, which causes depression and frustration.  I guess I have a little too much Earth and not enough Fire, then, eh?

These are just a few of the random things I learned last night.  I'm not going to lie...  I'm excited for the rest of this class now!  If we're going to be learning crazy things like this, I am SO in!  :-D

Rodeos & Dead-Cat Swinging

There are so many phrases and words out there that go underused in my life.  For example, "You can't swing a dead cat without hitting one."  Or "It's not my first time at the rodeo."

In fact, I think I'm going to start making every effort to use some of these underrated phrases.  Even when it's not appropriate.  Kind of like, "How's it going, Erika?"  "Well, it's not my first time at the rodeo!"

In other news, I am approximately 95% over my cold.  Huzzah!  Well, at least 90%.  Maybe not quite 95%.  After I typed that out, I had a case of the sniffles, so... I don't want to jinx myself, you know?

Also, I am back in classes!  Yes, after a semester off, I'm back on the path to my BA.  And I've already learned something new: there is such a degree as Turfgrass Science.

No, I'm not making that up.  Seriously, I don't even think I could make that up.  It would be awesome if I had, but it's a real thing.  There are at least 5 people in my science class this semester who are working toward this degree.  At least 3 of them work at/run golf courses, so I guess I get it.  But, really?  I didn't know this was a thing.  Never heard it before.  Huh...

Here's to a new semester, full of turfgrass!  

Moronic Monday - Congrats! You Made The News...

In many of these cases, however, I think most of us would want to avoid the spotlight.  In fact, someone else can gladly have my 15 minutes of fame...

Although they aren't all moronic, many of them are.  And the rest are just plain amusing.

My favorite?

"LAKE BLUFF, Feb. 27 -- A resident of the 500 block of Shore Acres took two days to report finding a 6-foot concrete ostrich on his front porch."

Um...  To whom, exactly, does one report a giant concrete bird?  And what is the standard time-frame for doing so?  I'm not sure I actually would report it.  I think I'd keep it there and track how long it takes for someone to contact ME about it.  And if nothing else, I'd decorate it for the holidays.   

P.S.  The cookies ultimately failed and fell back into their natural state of goo.  Sad.

Lazy, Lazy

I'm pretty sure I've done nothing productive today.  Wait, no, I take that back.  I might have been productive for about 20 minutes somewhere in there.  But, as it is, I could have been cleaning or doing laundry or exercising or something like that.  Instead, I watched America's Next Top Model re-runs and worked on a puzzle.  Awesome.

Ok, in all fairness, I did cut out pictures for our thank you cards.  And I picked up some dishes and stuff around the living room.  And I tried working on Christmas presents (which I just can't focus on because it's not even Thanksgiving yet, FCOL).  So I sort of tried!

I just can't do anything when Zach's not here.  I don't know if other couples function this way or not, but when he's not here, I just don't feel comfortable.  I get so bored doing things that I normally do.  If he were home, I could spend all day on my computer playing games and just being a dork.  But with him gone, I've spent maybe a total of an hour on the computer so far today.  I just don't know what to do with myself with an empty house!

On the plus side, I managed to get Maxine to sleep in bed with me all night, so that was nice.  I think she tried to wake me up a few times so I could pet her, but when I ignored her, she just curled back up and went back to sleep.  I really do love my dog.  

Tomorrow it's off to see my parents and stay overnight as I have a doctor's appointment on Monday morning (annual physical... joy).  The good thing about next week is that I only have two FULL days of work.  I'm off Monday morning for my appointment and I'm off Friday morning* for travel purposes, and of course I'm off on Thursday, so that leaves a full day on Tues and Wed!  Awesome!!

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving.  It's not my favorite holiday (that would be Halloween, of course), but I think it's the most relaxing for me.  I know most people get all up in a tizzy about Thanksgiving - stress from family and cooking and trying to be perfect - but it's never been like that for me.  

Growing up, Thanksgiving was normally my mom, my dad, and me.  Throw in my hubby for the past few years (though, this is our first Thanksgiving as a married couple), and the puppers this year, and you still have a pretty chill gathering.  

As tradition dictates (I'm HUGE on tradition - blame the OCD), I'll wake up early-ish to watch the Macy's parade with my mom while she starts cooking (because that is one parade you are never too old for!).  Then I'll get hubs up to watch some football with dad and me (and may make some Chex mix or some other snacky item).  

We'll probably do some family trivia after that (this is normally done via the numerous newspaper Super Quizzes my dad has saved up), then have Thanksgiving dinner (which, we actually have at dinner time, not in the afternoon).  Then it's time to make hand turkeys (a tradition just for me and Zach) and probably watch the Peanuts Thanksgiving special.  Dad normally has a fire in the fireplace, and he and Mom are often half asleep, enjoying its warmth.

And last, but NEVER least, comes dessert.  Pumpkin pie.  Or some variation thereof.  Sometimes mom gets a pecan pie for Dad, but nothing is quite like pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.  The BEST tradition of the year is when Dad and I make whipped cream together.  

Dad will have the bowl in the freezer for hours ahead of time, waiting for us whenever we're ready.  Then we get out the heavy whipping cream, the sugar, and the vanilla extract.  There's no recipe or measurements to be followed.  One of us will pour in the cream, while the other starts getting sugar ready.  Dad starts up the mixer, and tells me when to start (and stop) putting the sugar and vanilla in.  When we think it might be ready, we grab spoons and taste it.  If it's not to our liking, the solution is normally more sugar.  And eventually, it'll be just right.  It always is.

So I know there's some big thing about being against Thanksgiving because of what it stands for, etc, etc...  But I never think about the history involved.  Maybe that's naive of me, but I prefer just to think about what I'm thankful for and enjoy the day with the people I love the most.  

My advice?  Stop over-thinking holidays.  Have they been commercialized?  Sure.  Are the things they were founded on maybe less than happy/PC/whatever?  Sometimes, yeah.  But does that mean they have to be ruined and we should all be unhappy and stressed?  Hell no.  Make holidays what you want them to be.  They're much nicer that way.  :-)      

   

*Yes, I actually do have to work Friday after Thanksgiving.  In fact, the only reason I have that morning off is because I requested it almost 2 months in advance.  No, I'm not in retail (thankfully).  No, I don't get overtime or holiday pay.  Yes, it sucks.  

Flookies

I have this habit of baking for my husband for special trips he takes.  For example, when he went fall camping last month, I sent him with Snickerdoodles.  A few years ago I made peanut butter cookies for him to take hunting.  I've made sugar cookies once or twice as well.  I like to bake this time of year!

So last night I attempted chocolate chocolate chip cookies, only I made them with peanut butter chips AND chocolate chips.  They're fine, I suppose (hubs likes them), but they turned out as flookies.

What, you may ask, are flookies?  Flat cookies.  Flookies.  Yep, that's what they are.  

This term got coined while I was on a road trip with my non-biological sisters in August 2009.  Kristy had made these cookies that were really tasty, but flat.  I mean really flat.  At some point, we stopped asking to be passed the "flat cookies" and started asking for the "flookies" instead.  Thus, a word (or Phippsism, if you prefer) was born.

And now, apparently, it was my turn to make some flookies.  

Again, they're tasty enough, I guess, but they just look so goofy, especially compared to the pics shown with the recipe (apparently using shortening could have helped, so say the reviews, but I tried just using butter).  And it's even more amusing to me because I just read my friend Sarah's blog yesterday about the cookies she attempted where she had almost the opposite problem.  

Why are some cookies just hard to make?  They should be easy and tasty and wonderful!  And yet, sometimes, you get flookies. Oh well.  They'll still get eaten.  :-)

So, anywhoozles, hubby will be going hunting this weekend (alas, yes, I am to be a hunting widow), so the puppers and I have big plans to do a whole bunch of nothing.  Well, that's not entirely true.  We're going to see my parents on Sunday, so I guess that's something, eh?  I really don't like sleeping in the house alone while he's gone, though.  Just feels so empty.  I usually try to make Maxine sleep in bed with me for the company.  We'll see if she puts up with it.

And now, I leave you with 5 random songs you should listen to today for fun.  Why?  Why not?

"Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna

"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" - They Might Be Giants*

"In My Room" - The Beach Boys

"Love Is A Dirty Word" - Jason Collett

"End Of The Line" - The Traveling Wilburys

*Or you can listen to the original by The Four Lads.  I just like the TMBG version. :-)

Sing... Sing a Song...

So this is random, but I figured it was a good time to give a peek into my weird taste in music.

There are 3 bands/artists that dominate my iTunes list:

• The Beatles - There's really no explanation needed here.  Even if you don't like the Beatles (which is clearly wrong, and you must have some kind of defect that keeps you from enjoying the better things in life), you have to admit that they were pretty iconic.  I grew up listening to the Beatles with my parents, and now I have nearly every Beatles song recorded in my possession.
• No Doubt - This is actually by accident, sort of.  Don't get me wrong - I love No Doubt.  I grew up on Gwen and the gang!  Tragic Kingdom was actually one of the first CDs I owned (the very first being The Score by The Fugees).  But the only reason I have as many No Doubt songs on my computer as I do is because we went to see them play at Summerfest in 2009.  After we bought our tickets, we got access to download every single No Doubt song recorded - for free.  How could I pass that up?
• The Glee Cast - Yes, I am a full out Gleek.  Love, love, LOVE everything about Glee!  The show, the music, the actors...  Everything about it makes me happy in my heart (to borrow a phrase from my bestie).  As such, I own a plethora of Glee songs!

 So, that's probably not too weird, I guess.  Taking a look around my "25 Most Played" songs, Glee easily has the majority of the list on lock-down.  However, also on that list are Chris Brown, Queen, Buckcherry, Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, 3OH!3, Incubus, Badfinger and Murray Head.  

If that's not eclectic enough for you, you should see the list of bands I've seen live.  It goes all over the board, from Peter, Paul & Mary (whom I actually saw in concert twice) to Pat Benetar, Sugarcult to Sugarland, and 311 to 3OH!3.  Sadly, I'm getting to the point in life where I'm really not up for the screaming and insanity that many concerts bring (we've left a few concerts early), so the number of shows I'm attending has dropped significantly in the past year or two (though, you wouldn't know it by looking at the past few weeks - sheesh!).  

Anywhoozles, there's really no point to this post, but why not?  (Ah!  Ah!  I said it!  That's the title!)  I leave you with the following random songs that you should probably listen to, just for fun.  Or not.  Your call. 

"Hold On Tight" - Electric Light Orchestra

"Hard To Believe" - VOTA

"We Belong" - Pat Benetar

"Time Of The Season" - The Zombies

"Take A Chance On Me" - ABBA