There Should Be a Cosmic Rule

I think there should be a cosmic rule that if you have a cold, you don't have to also suffer with allergy symptoms. It's not fair. My head has felt like it is going to explode for days now and cocktail of prescription/OTC drugs is concerning. At this point I almost don't care if I OD...I just want to be able to breath some place other than the shower (hot water has been my friend lately). This morning I got up early because I couldn't sleep anyway and I was still 30 minutes late to work because I had to tend to my cold/allergy symptoms every 5 minutes. Ugh!

Drum Roll Please...

After years of trying, I have finally managed to get 4 tulips to bloom (and 3 more should follow before the week is up)! This is by far the best thing that has happened to me in quite a while. Pathetic I know.



I guess now I need to get on the ball and do something about the rest of the flowbed before this gets mowed over. Of course because of some recent unfortunate circumstances, it might be a wile before there is a "real" border around this. May just be sticks and strings for a while.

But before you get too jealous of my tulip success story (go along with me here and pretend you are...I need someone to be jealous of something in my life right now)...my other flower bed has a HEALTHY crop of weeds growing. I think weeding is on the agenda for this weekend.

Welcome Spring

What's better than the 70+ degree weather we're supposed to have today? Spring inspired sugar cookies!




I signed up for March Birthdays at work and since I had been dying to experiment with my new cookies cutters AND try out my new Pampered Chef Decorator Bottle Set, my office is getting sugar cookies (and peanut butter kiss cookies because I didn't get get as many cookies out of a batch because of the size of the cookie cuters).


By the way, LOVING the Pampered Chef Decorator Bottle Set. I wasn't sure if they would work as well as the bag method, but for what I am using them for, they made the job so much faster. I only wish I had another set. 3 bottles just isn't enough. There are a few things I will do differently next time, but all things considered, not bad for a first run...and I have something to update my Etsy shop with (which has been neglecting lately).

Multiple Post Friday

Oh where do I start? Let's start with the good news.

Tulip Watch 2010 is well underway. I am so excited that I might actually have blooming tulips this year!!! Heads are starting to appear among the leaves. I am a little nervous about this weekends unnecessary/unwanted/unseasonal snow storm so I will be going out after work today and covering them with plastic to shield them from the cold. I did not come this far to let a little weather ruin my tulips!!!

See...lots of tulips making an appearance this year. I better get a border up before they start mowing or they'll be goners!

If you look close, you can see one of the heads starting to appear. There are at least 3 of these so far.

Now for the frustrating news. The owner of the unit next to mine finally did something about the hole in his siding that was allowing critters into my attic. Not the most professional job, but the hole had been patched...at least for now. But it seems that these critters are not deterred by a little patch job. Instead of taking a hint and going elsewhere, they found a new way in. The little boogers just peeled back the screen on one of my eve vents. Actually, since both the patch job and the hole in eve vent just appeared in the last week, I'm thinking they got trapped in by the patch job and found a new way out. You would think they would learn, but it still sounds like they are having a hay day in the casing around my fire place.

This hole is actually big enough for a raccoon to get in...which is unsettling.

Not wanting them to take up permanent residence there and not wanting them to rediscover my attic (oddly, trap has remained untouched in the attic for almost 3 months now)...I was planning to pull out the big guns last night and toss some poison in the eve and fix the hole myself, but sadly my 13' extension ladder is not quite tall enough to reach. So for now I just have to deal until I can hire someone to come fix it.

This is why I can't fix it myself. My 13' ladder only makes it to the bottom of the window.

Oh and if you'll look at the board just above the roof line, they've done a number on that recently too. I can't tell if there is a hole there yet or not. There better not be!

My Career as a Cookbook Author May Be Short Lived

Long story how this has come about, but I have been formatting a cookbook for my church camp in my off time. In the process, I have been reminded of one of those minor pet peeves I have.

As a person who likes to cook…it annoys me to get a recipe and not have all the ingredients listed together at the top. Why? Because it never fails, I’ll be in the middle of making something and halfway through when I’m at a point where I can’t stop, I realize that there is a necessary ingredient that I don’t have because it was tucked away in the ingredients and I didn’t have it on my check list.

So to all of those people out there (who probably aren’t reading this anyway) who submitted recipes to the camp cookbook…if you are offended because you’re recipe is not entered verbatim the way great-grandma whoever gave it to you…tough. Your recipe will be included, but in a functional, organized format. And if you submitted a recipe for – let’s say cinnamon rolls – and you left out the ingredients for the filling…I just co-authored your recipe. Can’t make cinnamon rolls without the cinnamon filling. Just say’in.

This is SOOO Wrong

I recently mentioned that I have waited for 9 years to see the ending of The Pretender. I even watched the entire series from the beginning to refresh my memory. This was my personal quest…to have all the answers to all the unanswered questions about the lives of Miss Parker and Jared.

Friday, Netflix did me a favor and sent me the final disk in addition to the movie they had already sent me (thank you Netflix, you’re back in my good graces). Saturday morning I just couldn’t wait any longer. I knew I had a house to clean and a meal to prepare, but I just HAD to see how it ended. All I have to say is “shoot me now!”

-- Stop here if you plan to ever watch the series because potential spoiler ahead --

Yes, some questions were answered, but the most important questions still remained… and some new questions were left unanswered. How did Katherine Parker and Jared’s mom know each other? What happened to Mr. Parker and Bridgett’s baby? Will Jared ever be reunited with his family? AND if the Triumvirate didn’t want Jared because he was a pretender, but for another reason…WHAT WAS IT?!?!

-- Okay, you can start reading again --

Seriously, I have never been so perturbed at the end of watching something (even more so than Jake choosing Vienna and Jason dumping Melissa for Molly). Ugh! All I have to say is all you "Lost" fans, beware…you don’t always get the answers.

Cruel & Unusual Punishment? I Think So.

I have noticed lately that Sonic has been heavily “encouraging” their carhops to be on skates. They’re surveys ask if your carhop was on skates. Their commercials even are starting to state that they’ll skate your order out to you. I guess they’re trying to go back to their early days. But I think this is unnecessary cruel and unusual punishment.

Case and point, I went to Sonic on Saturday to get a drink. The guy to delivered my order was on skates and it was quite obvious he was not comfortable on skates. The poor guy almost bit it twice that I saw. And this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a skating carhop struggle to stay upright. My question is if this attempt at some sort of unique branding ploy is worth injury to their employees and worth the amount of food lost because a carhop loses their balance and drops a tray of food. To me, that slows down service. And frankly, I could care less if my order is delivered by someone on skates. I can’t imagine that Sonic could FORCE their carhops to be on skates, but there has to be some sort of “incentive” to get their carhops to do something they are so obviously not comfortable with. Let’s just say I’m glad I don’t work at Sonic.

Netflix: I’m Disappointed

Dear Netflix,

Generally we are great friends. I look forward to getting that little red envelope in the mail (I would probably REALLY enjoy you if I could afford the necessary components to watch you instantly on my TV). You have made it possible for me to watch the entire season of "The Pretender" and FINALLY get to see the Season 4 Finale (which turned out to be the series finale, but I digress). All these years I have waited to find out what has happened, and now all that is left is “Pretender 2001/Island of the Haunted” – the movie that answers ALL the questions. I was so looking forward to FINALLY having all the answers, but this morning when I looked at my queue, you decided to send me “Up in the Air” instead.

Yes, I know people say it’s a good movie. Yes, I know it was in my queue. BUT it was NOT on the top of my list. I know you’re excuse will be that it was not available at my location at the time you processed my next shipment (though it SAYS it’s available now). But really, who else on the face of this earth could possibly care to watch “Pretender 2001/Island of the Haunted” at the exact same time I did? Really. I think there is some sort of conspiracy going on here. Netflix, you’re kill’in me!

Thought of the Day

I stole this from a high school friend's facebook status today:

Some people are like slinkies...not really good for anything but bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs.

Oh 5:00…Where Art Thou?

Ever had one of those days that you just know is destined to be “one of those days”? I’m having one. Can’t really say it’s because of anything particular that has happened. It has more to do with a dream I had during the early morning hours that just put me in a funk. It wasn’t even a bad dream really…just left me with a lot of questions and no answers. I know its all about attitude and ultimately I choose my mood. Today, I don’t feel like putting forth the effort needed to make it a “good day”. Putting forth the effort to get out of bed was about all I could handle today (and I didn’t want to do that). I just want the day to be over and start new tomorrow. Oh 5:00…where art thou?