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.