Waldo's Lady

I think that out of 25 years of dressing up for Halloween this year's costume was my favorite. Of course I wore princess costumes for probably the first 12 years of my life, so there isn't too much competition for favorite costumes.  This year after going back and forth on some creative ideas I came across one I could not pass up.  That is right, I was a Where's Waldo character.  Apparently Where's Waldo had a girlfriend named Wenda that I never even knew about!! I decided I must be Wenda.  I found some bold red and white striped tights, a jean skirt, a striped polo t-shirt, hiking boots, borrowed some glasses, and took a quick YouTube class on how to knit a hat....and then knitted a red and white hat. I was loving the costume more than my previous princess dresses that I wore growing up.

A friend was throwing a birthday/halloween/costume party at which I decided to reveal this amazing outfit.  I dressed up in by beautifully striped outfit and headed down to the party, a half hour drive away. Half way there I receive a text from my friend asking if I could pick up some paper plates from the grocery store. Uh Oh. I pull into a spot in the Albertson's parking lot and look in my mirror with my glasses and hat, look down at my amazingly bright red striped outfit, and suddenly realize I was about to go into a public place looking like a nerdy elf.  Why did Waldo and Wenda have to have red stripes????

After regaining some nerve I get out of my car and dash into the store to find the paper plates.  I received looks from people as if they thought I normally dressed that way and almost yelled that it was halloween just to clarify my attire.  Finally on my way out of the store this young teenager asked me "Do you have a Waldo, and if not do you want one?".  He knew who I was!  After years of dressing up and trying to be a beautiful  princess for Halloween, or trying to make myself attractive to the male specious I have finally learned how to attract a boy in a grocery store.  Dress like a nerdy candy cane elf.

Toilet Sprinkler

A few nights ago I was laying in bed and was jarred awake by the sound of a light misty spray sound coming from my bathroom.  It was the same sound as if a outside water hose were turned on and water sprayed out between the hose connection and the house.  I crawled out of bed at 3:00 AM and tripped over piles of clothes to get to my bathroom....well, more like mounds of unfolded clothes, piles sounds too clean.  I stared blankly at the toilet and decided in my supreme 3:00 AM wisdom, that it must just be the toilet running and I could crawl back in bed since the bathroom was not flooded.  I fell back asleep and woke up about an hour later to the sound of dripping water in the bathroom.  It was then that I walked in and discovered the wall behind my toilet was soaked, along with my shower curtain, and that there was a puddle forming on the ground from water misting from some unknown location.  Seeing a knob on the back of the toilet I decided to turn it and amazingly enough fixed it!  Well, at least it turned the water off.

 The next day, rather than call the maintenance people, I decided to try to fix it.  What if there WAS a knob to turn that would fix it?  I turned the water back on and after getting a face full of water, discovered that there was a hole in the water line that connected the toilet to the wall.  Not fixable....at least by me.

My maintenance people were able to quickly fix it today and I now no longer have a fountain toilet.  I had been putting off calling them to give me time to clean up my room so they wouldn't trip all over the clothes in my room to get to the bathroom.  Unfortunately you can only go so long without using the bathroom before needing to call maintenance. 

Festive Organic Crafts??!!?

I went to the pumpkin patch/cider mill today.  It was a lot of fun but it started raining, and the pumpkins were all mushy.  So.......we took a picture of us in the pumpkin field, ate some amazing apple fritters....and then bought pumpkins at Safeway where all of their pumpkins are perfect.  Hopefully, I can show pictures of us at the pumpkin field, and then carving pumpkins, and most people will assume we did the proper pumpkin field picking out process.  Being in a festive mood I bought more little pumpkins at Safeway to do a craft; of course, they only had organic ones. (Organic pumpkins???!!??)   I guess you know you are truly from the Pacific Northwest when you have organic pumpkins on your living room mantel. 

Flying Meetball Sauce

A good friend of mine became an elder at my church this last week.  It was really exciting to see him take this step in life.  So exciting that I made appetizer meatballs for our potluck after church today.  They were all eaten up so I didn't have to bring any home, which was nice.  Unfortunately I didn't clean out my crock pot before throwing it on the floor of the passenger side of the car.  This normally would not be a big deal, except I happened to pass a really good looking guy out for a walk on my way home.  Of course this involved a turning of the head as I passed by and eventually a slamming on of the brakes when I looked back at the road.  Suddenly slamming on the brakes resulted in a somersaulting crock pot filled with BBQ/Ketchup sauce from the meatballs which is now all over my the floor of my front seat in my car.  I was able to wipe it up...but I have a feeling my car is going to smell of meatballs for quite a while now.

Anthrax Quarantined?

I can now mark being quarantined off the list of things that have happened to me in my life.  Technically it was my cubicle area at work that was quarantined, but close enough.  I work in a corner of the office that has three cubicles.   One of the girls that sits near me opens the mail on a daily basis and today she opened an envelope that had a plastic bag with some powdery looking residue in it. 

We hadn't thought much of it for a minute, but then realized that it IS weird to receive a plastic bag in the mail with powdery looking stuff in it.  Being the geniuses that we are, we ended up putting the envelope outside under a rock and were told to call the police to be on the side of caution.  

The police advised us to seal off our cubicle area until they could look into the matter.  The police showed up and sealed the envelope up in plastic bags and took it away.  We were eventually given permission to go back into our cubicles and go on with our day and luckily were not surrounded by people in protective E.T. investigation gear.   Ultimately, it ended up being particles of paper residue and not some deadly disease outbreak. But just in case a plastic bag shows up the mail at work and you fear your life, throw it outside and toss a rock on top of it....just in case it's a deadly disease.

Getting My Geek On

I have finished all 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1!!!!  That is right, over the past three years I have been studying the ways of planetary travel through intergalactic wormholes....at least I think I have been.  I feel like I should now dress up and go to some kind of convention or something after having finished it.  Some of the characters made it a little easier on the eyes, but I think it all came down to dedication.  I now have the hard decision in front of me of which television show to tackle watching.  While browsing through options I have realized that there is a whole realm of new television that I was unaware of. 

I could watch the Desperate Housewife sagas, or go with a medical one and start Grey's Anatomy, ER, or House, a peppy Glee show, or classics like Lost or Heroes.  I do admit to liking the occasional Bachelor/Bachelorette shows, or my Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmare shows. They are always good.  This is a big commitment if I am going to be taking on another three year venture.  I think I am going to finish up Lost so I have my survival skills completed for now, while mixing in some Hell's Kitchen to work on my cooking skills.

Or...there is always Stargate Atlantis or Stargate Universe, apparently intergalactic space exploring never ends!

Conquering Fail Whale syndrome

About a month ago a close friend and I were discussing when we could meet to practice some music.  Our schedules would not match up and the conversation ended with him texting me the words “Fail Whale”.  I told him I had been eating healthy the last few months and he to this day claims he meant that it was a “Fail Whale” situation and he wasn’t calling me one.  I take the words "Fail Whale" to mean a large whale that has been beached because it fails at swimming. Of course I knew he wasn't calling me a large mammal, but it is fun to give him a hard time sometimes. The next day as I was talking to him I leaned against a shelf….and broke it; which immediately made me look at him and say "I am such a fail whale".  Rather ironic.

For the last three months I have been trying to live more of a healthy lifestyle.  This has mainly involved eating single portion servings instead of treating each meal as an all-you-can-eat buffet, drinking tons of water, somewhat counting calories, and just being more active in general such as taking walks on my breaks at work and not having cable which makes me go to the gym to see my Thursday night shows.  I’m not exactly following a “diet plan” but I am at least trying to somewhat be more conscientious of how I am living.  I of course have gone off track for a day here and there but have been able to get right back to it the next day and not get discouraged.  I have found that the key is to not deny myself something I want to eat, but rather portion size it.  I have lost about 10 pounds! Yay! Although this is not exactly high numbers for three months, I am feeling so much healthier and clothes that were tight on me before are getting a little loose.  I may be able to move some of my clothes into a fat wardrobe soon if they get too big for me.  I’ve never had a fat wardrobe, just a too small wardrobe, so that is exciting for me.

To reward myself for eating decently for three months, I decided to join a gym down the street from me and go to “Zumba” class.  I about died the first class.  Zumba is basically a Latin dance aerobic class on steroids.  What I like about it is that I can’t help but smile the whole time because I know how ridiculous I look, but don’t care because I am not Latino, and it is a given that I am not an expert at it….yet.  My goal is to learn Zumba until someone mistakes me for being Latino….and then move on to HipHop!! I WISH they had a kickboxing class.

After officially joining the gym this weekend I received a voice message today from a very good looking sounding personal trainer letting me know that with joining the gym comes a free session of discussing my goals, why I go to the gym, taking my circumference measurements, and measuring my body fat percentage.  

First of all, I know I am chunkyish; that is why I joined.  Second, If I EVER decided I wanted to see the figures on my circumference or what percentage of me is chunk, I do not want them to be taken by a Justin Timberlake look alike personal trainer!  As far as I am concerned I am feeling so much more energetic and healthy and slowly loosing some weight.  I think I’ll wait until I lose a little more weight, master Zumba and Hiphop, become a fail swan instead of a fail whale, and THEN give him a call back. :)

Unfortunately, I am very aware that no matter how many Zumba or Hiphop classes I take I will never be able to conquer "Fail Whale" situations, those happen to me all the time!  But with the help of Zumba, Hiphop, and everything healthy except celery, at least I won't think I'm being called one anymore.

Crime Scene Cubicle

I love V8 juice.  Not really.  I just like V8 juice sometimes, and only when I'm trying to feel healthy because they are so much easier to grab and take to work than a bag full of vegetables.  I can at least gulp them down most of the way, except the last little bit of the can is always a little gritty because I never remember to "Shake well" as instructed before drinking. 

This Thursday was a busy day at work.  I had gone out to eat for lunch and decided a healthy tomato drink would be best for my afternoon snack.  I popped the lid to the can and then quickly got distracted before taking a drink and ran around my busy office before sitting back down at my desk.  I start to deeply concentrate on going through my work emails and being the amazing multi-tasker that I am remember I need to drink my V8 juice.  While concentrating on my email I decide I am going to remember to shake it up this time before drinking it so that the bottom is not as gritty.  I proceed to vigorously shake the can.  It takes about three shakes before I realized I had already opened the can and my sweater and desk were now covered in V8 juice.  Having screamed from the shock of dousing myself with tomato juice, my neighbor cubicle co-worker comes running over and starts instantly laughing at me and my cubicle dripping of tomato jucie and looking like a murder scene.  I now need a new tide to go stain stick.....or maybe a bulk pack of them.

Football and Rhinestones

I was jokingly advised a couple weeks ago that I can sometimes be slightly guyish.  I think this loving opinion came from a combination of my recent venture of learning how to use nun-chucks from YouTube, my desire to some day own a larger dog once I have a house with a yard, my enjoyment of watching football, and my trying to win a man-cave through a drawing from beef jerky packages.

For clarification, the num-chucks are just part of my fun side, I am not going to try to run around and beat people with them.  My love for football really comes having moved across the country and watching my team reminded me of home every Sunday.  The man-cave....ok, maybe I can be slightly guyish I guess...but a huge screen tv sounds nice, and who wouldn't want to date a girl that has a man-cave?  It makes me a more eligible catch.

I can be girly, really!!  So...to prove it, the next time I was in a craft store (a girly craft store) I found a rhinestone platter for $3.00 on sale and decided to make pumpkin rolls for my contribution to our Sunday football spread.  I hope the rhinestones make the pumpkin rolls look slightly feminine.

My last attempt at making pumpkin rolls resulted in powdered sugar covering the entire kitchen with the smoke alarm going off.  I have always referred to powdered sugar as my arch nemesis.  Whenever I use it my kitchen ends up looking like a little kid stood in the middle of the room throwing powdered sugar like confetti.

I actually managed to not cover the entire kitchen floor this time!  My mother however borrowed the recipe yesterday as well to try to make them for a church function. I received a text message two hours later stating "there is powdered sugar everywhere!!".  I now know where I inherited the powdered sugar enemy from.

I have decided to post the recipe just in case someone wants to attempt to make them and NOT have their kitchen look like a winter wonderland.  Please let me know if it is possible!! I am also posting a picture of them to showcase my girlishness by baking and owning a black plate with fake rhinestones around the edge!!

Pumpkin Cake Roll from www.tasteofhome.com  (I get a lot of my recipes from there and they are amazing!)

Ingredients
3 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar  (BEWARE OF THIS INGREDIENT)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Additional confectioners' sugar, optional

Directions:
Line a 15-in. x 10 in. x 1-in. baking pan with waxed paper; grease the paper and set aside.  In a large bowl, beat egg yolks on high speed until thick and lemon-colored.  Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar and pumpkin, beating on high until sugar is almost dissolved.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.  Fold into egg yolk mixture.  Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and slat; gently fold into pumpkin mixture. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.  Cool for 5 minutes.  Turn cake onto a kitchen towel dusted with confectioners' sugar.  Gently peel off waxed paper.  Roll up cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with a short side.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Unroll cake; spread filling evenly to within 1/2 in. of edges.  Roll up again.  Cover and freeze until firm.  May be frozen for up to 3 months.  Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before cutting.  Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.

Need new pants!

I have been driving around the last three months with a box of baby books in my trunk.  My good friend and room mate had put her son's box of books that were given to her in my trunk one day, and of course, it took three months for me to bring them up to the apartment.

I was feeling ambitious last night and decided to open up my trunk to finally bring the box up.  Being in an ambitious mood, I decided to slightly clean out my car and carry a bunch of stuff up to my apartment, including bongos (don't ask), a plate from my other roommate's breakfast that morning, and a pile full of mail.  Since I am completely graceful, the box of books slid a little, making me face the challenge of saving the bongos, plate, or mail which all went flying.  I let the mail hit the ground, and unfortunately the plate shattered when I made the split second decision to save the bongos.  It just so happened to shatter right behind my car in our apartment complex.

I decided to clean up the shattered glass right away so that I wouldn't pop my tire the next day when pulling out in the morning.  I started picking up the glass, and suddenly hear a ripping sound.  I quickly feel my backside and decide it was not my jeans since I can't find a hole and it did not suddenly get drafty.  I quickly pick up all the glass and go on my way.

This morning, I put on my jeans, and there is a rip in my jeans right in the front by my inner thigh.  I think I can try to sew it, but with my luck it was not on the seem.  I think the lesson to learn out of this, is that when going out to the car to carry a heavy box inside......wear sweat pants, you never know when you will have to bend over and then suddenly need to buy new jeans (they weren't even my tight jeans!).

Trying to figure out how to blog.

Well, I have officially navigated through signing up for a blog, picked out a name...that is not all that original, and changed the URL about 60 times until I found one I liked that was not "already taken".  So here we go.  I will now embark on this new cyber experience.  I've decided I really need to keep up on blogging as well, since it took me forever to make it past the "decipher this word and type it in" box that verifies I am not a smart computer program.  Good thing I had a friend close by to help me figure out what in the world it said! So....here we go.