The Anti-Socialist

New Re-Obsession

2010-11-16T09:26:00.003+01:00

I've recently become re-obsessed with my Flickr account.

I've been on Flickr for about 4 years now, but have not really done anything with it since I started my cake blog.

But, since I'm such rubbish with sending pictures to relatives, and the new Hotmail is even more rubbish at uploading photos I recently upgraded my account. Woo!

My Flickr site.

Nothing terribly exciting going on there, but when I signed up for a Pro account I did get a free photo book from SnapFish, which was awesome too.

Jupiter's Chicken

2010-11-01T11:32:00.006+01:00

I have recently inherited a stash of undershirts from Sarge. Since he only wears his blues uniform once a week, these shirts are practically new. And I've been needing new work out shirts something awful.

A plain white t is not really my bag.

So, a plain white t + too much Spartacus: Blood and Sand =

Jupiter's cock!!!

I wear this out in public, so I could not be too literal, still, I don't think that many people will get it.

Here it is used in context.

Question Time!!

2010-09-23T18:50:00.001+02:00

SO.

Say you're standing infront of a table of tshirts that you may or may not want to buy. Each shirt has a sticker on it that states the size and the price. There is obviously only one shirt in each size on the table, and easily visible but not reachable boxes of tshirts behind the table.

Oh yes, and you see me standing behind the table with an expectant smile on my face. Ok, well, it's more of a strained grimace.

Do you...

A. Ask me how much the shirts are?
B. Walk off with a tshirt?
C. Throw the tshirts all the hell over the place, including under the table?
D. Ask what size shirts there are?
E. Tell me the size of shirt you would like, and have your money out and ready to pay?

If you said A, B,C, or D, then you were at my open house. That's right, my elementary school open house, not a Jonas Brothers concert.

Out of the $2200 sold, I swear only about $100 was sold to people who would have chose "E".

This seals it, I could never survive in retail again.

And those of you who "know" me, this does not entitle you to walk behind my table and bypass all the folk waiting to buy their shirts to ask me your inane questions, or buy your shirts. Forgive me if I tell you to hold on and help everyone freaking waiting in line until you walk away.

The school year has just started, and look at me, already bitchy!

Bragging

2010-09-19T13:55:00.002+02:00

Well, kind of.

It helps if you realize that I am the most lazy, unathletic, lazy person in the world. Unfortunately/Fortunately?? I married Mr. SuperAthletico. Over that past 10years he's been slowly converting me to less lazy, and semi athletic. It also helps that my girlfriend Sunflower totally kicks my ass if I don't show up to the gym every day.

Anyway.

Friday's workout.
CrossFit Total.
My score:
Back Squat: 115 (best ever!!!)
Shoulder Press: 85
Deadlift: 145 (Almost bodyweight!!)

Yay me!

2010-09-15T21:54:00.001+02:00

Oh yeah, there was another reason I did not update this blog for so long.
My computer keyboard was broken, I guess I spilled coffee or something on it, and the underscore button would not work, and guess what symbol is in my log in?!
Of course!

O My!

2010-09-14T17:40:00.003+02:00

Ok, I seriously want this t-shirt! Of course I can only find it online in a Men's Large and up. And, to boot, it's fracking $25!!! Could I pay $25 for a tshirt?!
Oh, heck yeah, when it's as awesome as this one.

Of course all you bastards who get to go to things like DragonCon, and freaking Star Wars Celebration. I hate you, hate you all.

The View From Where I Sit

2010-09-06T10:10:00.005+02:00

Canoeing on La Sorgue, France.

So, it's been over a year.

Multi tasking has never been my forte, so keeping up two blogs, pretty much not going to happen.

However, the cake blog is too vanilla, and there are some things that I really cannot post. Here however on Anon-o-Blog....

So, maybe I'm back. We'll see.

Just doing my part

2009-08-05T08:53:00.004+02:00

Just like Mrs. S over at Snarkolepsy I'm doing my part to ruin the earth.

I ordered this cake pan along with a couple other things from Target.com. Not only did the rest of my order ship completely separately, but I got the pan, which is less than 2 inches thick in this HUGE ASS box.

Of course, 95% of the box was stuffed with those air filled plastic pillows.

WTF is up with that??

But I'm totally excited to try out my new cake pan. Look, it makes CAKESICLES!

Geek vacation!

2009-07-27T10:06:00.002+02:00

Where would us dorks choose to go on vacation?

Where we can all be geeks!

LegoLand!!!

A pretty good deal for this time of the year. I think we paid about 511 Euro for 3 nights at a nice hotel, and two day passes to the park for all three of us.

This is why we don't go on many holidays, Sarge has a heart attack whenever we have to shell out for vacations. He's been watching our savings grow, and whenever we make a large purchase, I think it physically hurts him.

The he had a second heart attack when I reminded him that we would probably come home with another 100 Euro in Legos.

I hope they have all the Star Wars figures!

The small things

2009-07-25T11:05:00.002+02:00

I felt pretty good about myself yesterday. I managed to rip about 10% of my CD collection onto iTunes. Yeah, yeah, big deal..

Sadly this all took alot of research on my part. Seriously.

First I ripped about 4 CDs to the Real Player program on my computer. Then I realized that was not going to work so much. So I actually had to go search the help files. Ok, find the Windows Media Player and start ripping there. Hmmmm...open iTunes and see if I can start transferring stuff there.

WHAT?!?!?

Copy my CD's straight to iTunes? DOH!!!

Yet, it does not end there.

For some reason each song was taking about 3 minutes to copy. This is going to take forever!! What's that? Window's Media Player is still open?

Well, look at that, it's just blazing through now.

So yeah, that took up most of my night.

And crap, a single episode of Mythbusters takes 8 hours to download!! 8 HOURS PEOPLE!!

Like I told my friend Mama Bird, the internets are not the only slow thing in this house.

Awesome!

2009-07-09T09:36:00.006+02:00

Spending time at the German hospital I tend to notice the little changes. No, this is not a picture of a weird European toilet. It is a Dyson Airblade!!
I love most things Dyson, Dyson himself is pretty freaking cool.

Of course I took a video of it drying my hands, but I could not get it to load on Blogger. Boo!

You can actually see the skin on my hands rippling! Crazy!

Question of the day

2009-07-08T08:30:00.003+02:00

So.

If a person...say...ME, has pulmonary embolisms, granted very small ones.

What does it mean when blood tests show hemophilia?

LOL, WUT??

AAAAAaaahhhHHHH!!!!

2009-07-07T17:05:00.001+02:00

New toy!!!

Now if I can figure out how to use it.
For real, no user manual.

Busy

2009-07-02T08:00:00.002+02:00

Well, one of the excuses I have for not updating this blog is my hands have been pretty busy.

I started making cakes for friends on their birthdays, which turned into referrals to others for cakes for parties and other occastions.

I have a little side business going. I've even started an un-anonymous blog to direct people to when they are intersted in seeing past cakes.

My cakes!!!

I'm getting a little worried about making cakes this summer though because the weather is turning very humid. Fondant tends to get a little weird in humid weather.

But, my goal is to be able to buy an iTouch at the end of summer. Only 4 more cakes to go before I reach my goal!!

Heh!

2009-06-28T18:28:00.003+02:00

Hmmm... this picture is kind of small, but...

One of those things you might only see in Germany.
Tweens on ponys riding down the sidewalk...huh.

Decisions...decisions...

2009-06-14T18:33:00.005+02:00

Today Piko deGallo and I were discussing next year's costume for the Star Wars mini-convention held here on base.
She wants something a little more girly than last year.
And we cant decide between

Queen Amidala's Parade gown

Or Senator Amidala's Lake Dress.

Oh my, both are pretty difficult dresses. I'm thinking I'm glad we started discussing it early.

I'm sure further updates will occur. I'm thinking I might document this one in a tutorial of sorts.

She also wants to be Xena for halloween...WOW.

FYI

2009-05-25T20:04:00.003+02:00

This is the cake I want for my birthday.

It's an AT-AT cake, YO!!

This one is by Jennifer Luxmore of Sin Desserts.

I seriously want the motorized Lego AT-AT too, but it's about $200. I just can't justify that level of Geekdom.

Snip! Snip!

2009-05-21T12:21:00.003+02:00

From this...

To this...

In eleventymillion teeny tiny little steps!

Fun but frustrating, I almost want to make another one, because I'm sure it will come out about 40% better than this one. I just don't have enough time. This one is going on a cake tomorrow morning.

I also need a pair of very sharp fine pointed scissors. What I dont need is another hobby.

I'm Bleeeeeding!!!!

2009-05-16T06:36:00.000+02:00

So the blood thinning treatment progresses apace.

I go in to the hospital twice a week to have a Quick Test done, I guess to check my clotting, or lack of.

Yesterday, two funny things happened.

One, I took Her Doktor's secretary some chocolate chunk brownies. She almost fainted, and asked me for my recipe. I told her I would just bring her some boxes of Dunken Hines brownie mix. I've never seen brownie mix in the German stores. I'm hoping that this will grease the wheels a little and cut my wait for asessment down to 45 minutes instead of an hour and fifteen. They have the warmest office waiting area ever. I think I've fallen asleep three times out of five.

The second funny happened with my Phlebotomist. After taking my wee bit of blood, she put the "plaster" on my old insertion site, and not the one she had just made. I didn't notice until I ran up two flights of stairs and my arm inside my jacket felt wet. Holy crap! It was not dripping from my fingertips or anything, this was just a needle prick, but it was still a mess. My friend Mrs. Major said I should have faked a fainting spell. Maybe I should take the Lab some brownies too.

DILF

2009-05-15T00:21:00.004+02:00

So I found out yesterday that one of the 3rd grade teachers thinks Sarge is "hot". She spotted him at one of the Police Week demos at the school.

Huh. Okay...

Don't get me wrong, I find Sarge super-duper hot.

He's a 9 to my 6.

Don't you agree?

He would be even hotter if he actually washed that pan after cooking his breakfast.

Public Service

2009-05-11T07:11:00.003+02:00

This week is National Police Week.

National Police Week in Washington D.C.

Take some time to support your local cops (even if you don't like them 80% of the time). Many of them, like my Sarge, often have to put their lives on the line in dangerous situations. Some die in the line of duty, and much of the money raised during Police Week events goes to support families affected by such tragedies.

You never know when you might need one.

And yes, Sarge's favorite doughnut is the one with pink icing and sprinkles, just like Chief Wiggum.

2009-05-01T06:43:00.003+02:00

As we were driving to school yesterday morning Piko de Gallo and I are listening to the one American radio channel we get in the car.

Of course the topic is OMGSWINEFLUOMG!!!!

This is what I hear, and I'm pretty sure I heard it correctly.

"This does not affect mission status travel, however, if you're planning on traveling to Mexico to say, have your baby, you might want to abort that."

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WUT?

And of course, obilagtory OMGSWINEFLUOMG macro.

2009-04-28T22:47:00.004+02:00

Just in case anyone is wondering what 175 EUROS looks like.

Here ya go

Yeah, woo-FRACKING-hoo, more drugs for me. Maybe this time I will take a picture of the belt of bruises I get from having to inject myself with an anticoagulant twice a day.

Probably not, that's not an image for public consumption.

When discussing my blood thinning treatment Herr Doktor tells me:
"If you have bleeding, you MUST come in."

Well, I'm no medical expert, but DUH!

Not Perfect

2009-04-26T09:09:00.002+02:00

What do you suppose it means when one of your supposed closest friends says:
"Well, we all can't be perfect ALL the time."
Directed at you when you are discussing a funny and fantastic fail of a project.

I wish my "Classic" girfriends were here. Friend "Lite" are just not cutting it.

Not a political statement

2009-04-16T10:08:00.006+02:00

OMG!!

Best cake ever!!

Before cutting

After cutting.
SHAZAM!!!

I used this tutorial, but made my cake the regualr way, not with the soda. And frosted with home made buttercream frosting.

Yummy! And superduper cute.

Deligate!

2009-04-15T06:54:00.003+02:00

I'm a very do it myself kind of person. Not saying that I can gut a house and rebuild it, but with projects and tasks, I just like to take care of it myself so I know it's going to get done.

Well, being out of commission I had to deligate several events to other people. The first one went off without a hitch, as I knew it would.

Today, I was supposed to host an event. GAH!

The reason I like to take care of things myself is that I know what needs to be done, and I can make decisions myself. I hate getting three phone calls asking me "Should I do this?", "Is this how you want it done?", "Is this going to be ok?".
No, no, and NO!

If I hand over a project to you with some guidelines and say "This is what I usually do, but this time it's your show, so do whatever you feel like doing." I'm not saying call me and email me all day long to get ideas, and approval for what is now YOUR event. I'm saying "This is what I usually do, but this time it's your show, so do whatever you feel like doing." Make a damn decision yourself and leave me alone. People won't care that the event is different from the last time as long as there is plenty of NOMS.

I handed over this project so that I could get some rest. Not so I could be stressed out even more.

Freedom!

2009-04-14T18:53:00.002+02:00

Well I'm out.
This is how I judged the time.
I was able to see two new Sundays of Post Secret.
And, four instalments of Multiplex.

That's a pretty long time.

Now it's just outpatient treatment.

I have to inject myself twice a day with an anti-Thrombosis medication.

Fun times.

Paging Dr. House

2009-04-07T10:17:00.005+02:00

Ok, so I came in with Pneumonia, they found "some" pulmonary embolisms.

Now it seems I have Legionellosis!

The Pneumonia was more than likely caused by the Legionellosis, but does not cause the pulmonary embolisms.

Differential diagnosis?

The best part was calling the germophobe secretary at the school I substitute at to let them know I had to contact public health.

PS.

Just lucky like that

2009-04-04T10:50:00.002+02:00

That's me.
I'm in the hospital this week. No worries, just a touch of Penumonia that led to some tests that led to something else.
So here I am.
For a week.
Yay me.

That is not the bit of luck I'm talking about.

What is it about me that compels people to tell me things???
My roomate right now is a 50 something German local who speaks excellent english. We communicate well.
Too well.
I learned over the course of one evening that she is from the local area all her life, she has two grown children, likes to go out dancing, does not love her husband, has a boyfriend in a city 2 hours away. What?!?
Wait, it does not end there.
Boyfriend is also married (he is a sweetheart from her school days), he has three daughters (she showed me pictures), and the youngest (16) is pregnant!
Hell.
I suppose it gives her some relief to talk about it, since she knows I don't know them, will never meet them, and who would I talk about it to?? Well, other than the whole world on my blog, but who the hell reads this? I don't want to know this stuff, but I'm too polite to tell her to shut up. Plus, she translates for me, and got me apple juice when I had to drink that nasty stuff in preparation for my intestinal examination.
It is all very strange. I have spent my week catching up on my reading (3 books so far), and watching old seasons of CSI and House. She has spent it on the phone, IM-img, and sending notes to her sweetie. It's disconcerning, as she is old enough to be my mom, yet acts like my daughter.

Somewhat entertaining, and distracting, obviously nice, but strange.

Finally!!

2009-03-23T16:31:00.003+01:00

So.

I have been trying to get a picture of this basically since we moved here.

Backstory: Since our vehicle is registered with the district of Bitburg our license plates all start with BIT. Naturally, since I am immature and inapropriate I laugh every time I see a car that contains the call letters BIT**CH###. I have never been in a position to take a picture, always driving or speeding down the Autobahn, never the passenger. UNTIL TODAY!!!

Awesome.

Hinamatsuri!

2009-03-03T11:08:00.004+01:00

Happy Girl's Day!!

It's like a little army of "KAWAII" coming to take over the world!

I used this tutorial, slightly modified, to make the little girls.

Piko deGallo has a summer birthday, and I always feel bad that she never gets to take cupcakes to school. I had a summer birthday, and I never took cupcakes to school either...hmmmmm....projecting much?!?!

All Signs Point To: NOT GOOD.

2009-01-20T19:48:00.003+01:00

Yeah. Throw me a pitty party.

So far it's not shaping up to a great New Year. Not that there has been catastrophic hapenings in the deGallo household. It's just an abundance of small things that are bringing me down.

First of all, Sarge's health seems to be going. He's getting cold after cold, and never seems to recover. That bacterial infection in '08 seems to have messed with his immune system in a big way. That's more of a bummer for him though.

Second, Girl Scout Cookies. Oh how I hate to love to hate them. Given the smallness of our community everyone knows about 5 or 6 people selling. I hate to be the 10th person to ask someone if they want cookes, but I have 98 boxes to get rid of, and I'm not buying them all. Luckily Sarge is a cop, and we all know cops love their cookies....Just kidding, they love doughnuts.

Third, friend drama. THIS is why I'm normally an Antisocialist. And really, it's not a problem with my friend, it a problem with her husband. See, he takes umbridge with the manner in which my husband does his job. That is that Sarge actually DOES his job and does not let them cheat and slack. And that is my problem how?!? I don't know why Friend's Husband(FH) has to complain to me (EVERY TIME I SEE HIM), I guess we all know I'm actually Sarge's boss at work too?? I can see the end of this as being me no longer being able to be friends with this gal because FH can't separate his work from his wife's friendships. So, are crap friends better or worse than no friends?

I'm a little grouchy today.

Oh yeah, and not a fabric store to be found in my area.

And, why does spell check on this thing never work?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T08:36:00.004+01:00

Coming out of my cave today.
Something interesting and post worthy finally happened.
Check out the fireworks we bought in the German grocery store!

This was just small spinning things, and sparklers. So I guess I can understand the name. And, as it turns out our kid is kind of a budding pyro. She set most of these off herself.
You can imagine it was a pretty noisy night.
Next time we're geting some of those rockets that were as big as Piko de Gallo.

OH MY WOOKIE!!!

2008-11-11T11:38:00.002+01:00

AAAA!!!! I want to put this on my MP3 player!
This might possibly be even better than the Weird Al Star Wars tribute!

Country Living

2008-11-09T07:34:00.006+01:00

Usually I hate getting stuck behind a tractor on our winding country road.
But I love getting stuck behind a tractor when there's a doggie bouncing along in the cab with the driver.
And this time I had my camera!

CUTE!!

Right after I took this picture, the tractor started to pull to the side, and I though he was letting me pass. BUT NO!!! Another tractor, just as wide, was coming from the other direction!!! Piko de Gallo and I screamed!!!!!

More proof

2008-11-05T07:10:00.000+01:00

I know I keep going on and on about how I'm turning Piko de Gallo into a mad geek.

Well, the Halloween season was ripe with opportunities for her true (unprompted) geek-ness to shine through.

Here are the cakes I made this year for the school's cakewalk.

Piko deG sees them. "Ooooh!! The eyeball cakes! One normal, and the other one THE GREAT EYE!!!! But Mama, the Great Eye is all red!"

Geek.

My Girl

2008-11-04T07:29:00.000+01:00

So this morning, Piko deGallo tells me to vote for John McCain.

"Because he's handsome."

Yeah, that's my girl.

Well...

2008-11-03T06:59:00.002+01:00

It's been a busy month. And not busy-funny, or busy-interesting. Just busy.
And it's my own damn fault for saying I'll do stuff, so I'll just shut up about it.

And I'll tell a sort of funny story.

Our landlord had to come over the other day to fix something. We have not seen him in about 5 months. It's a good thing really, we wait on the little things until something big needs fixing, then we add on all the little jobs.

Anyhoodle.

We were talking a bit about the property he owns around our house (which is quite extensive), and he tells us his dad used to have honey bees here.

"I likes the honeys" he says.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Me too, Mr. Landlord, me too.

Piko Want Big Boom!

2008-10-06T06:14:00.010+02:00

So.

The lovely Mrs. S stood in line for me, not once, but possibly THREE TIMES!!
You can read how much she loves lines here, and here. So you get the picture of what a big deal this is.

Anyway, when she went to this tech-convention last month she got signed t-shirts for Piko de Gallo and myself. Big deal? You bet. Because of who was there!!

Naturally we had to officially "break it in".

Piko de Gallo's "Cola Cascade"

Of course we did not deploy our Mentos very well, so our cascade was not that great. The second one we did was as tall as Piko deGallo, but of course I missed that picture.

And then to add pressure to my life (as if). Look at what else she sent!

A rainbow pyramid of HFC!! I feel the pressure to make something nice. Nice and yummy!

I'm feeling the bloggy love people, feeling it!

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

2008-10-04T18:48:00.003+02:00

So today was the Star Wars convention on base.

Piko de Gallo made a new friend.

Practiced her saber technique.

Defeated an old enemy.

WON FIRST PLACE IN THE COSTUME CONTEST!!!!!!

Scooped some swag.

And went grocery shopping.

Busy Jedi day.

In A Galaxy Far Far Away...

2008-09-28T18:43:00.004+02:00

...dun-dun-dun-DUN-da-DUN-dun-da-DUN!!!!

She's so spoiled, this is not even her Halloween costume. This is for the Star Wars convention we are going to on base next weekend.

I used the patterns from The Padawan's Guide. The over tunic and obi are muslin, the inner shirt is a thrifted sheet, the tabard is a thrifted pair of men's pants, and a couple of old belts for the utility belt. The robe is made from a dark brown sheet. I wish I could have found a flannel sheet for that though.

Oh, we have the best ammunition for when she gets older.

Still kicking

2008-09-27T07:50:00.002+02:00

The rash has worn off, and we've found a Lyme disease treating antibiotic that won't potentially kill me, so all's good on that front. If you consider good to be having to wake up at 12am to take the antibiotic good. At least there's no rash...yet.

However, not to be outdone by deadly antibiotics, I have found new and exciting ways to injure myself.

Did you know that people are crazy about apple butter? Me neither, I had no idea until I took my first batch to the school and handed it out.

"OH MY GOD!!!!! APPLE BUTTER!!!!! I LOOOOVE APPLE BUTTER!!!! NOMNOMNOM!!!!"

That was pretty much the reaction I got.

Anyhoodles, back to the hurting of myself.

Hot apple butter is freaking hot. And it splatters. Lots. I'm going to have apple butter burn scars on my hands and wrists. Sexy I know.

Then there is "Popcorn Thursday" at the elementary school. For those of you not fortunate to have ever experienced popcorn day at your school, we popped a bag of popcorn for every child in the school. That was about 450 bags. For the most part, I did very well dealing with the hot bowl, and oil and those obvious dangers. Until the very end, when I was cleaning the machine I managed to burn the heck out of my forearm on the edge of the bowl. Sizzle and burn baby.

I think I might need some new hobbies.

The Horror!!! The Horror!!

2008-09-17T11:24:00.003+02:00

It continues.

Yep, I'm allergic to damn antibiotics. I have to flush my system, so they gave me the 'Roids!

I have to take a big dose of Prednisone once a day for 4 days, and hope that works a trick. I'm doubtful at this point because last night I couldn't sleep for the itching. I even took Benadryl to no effect.

This morning I woke up to find that the rash on my chest has merged into one HUGE hive that covers my neck, chest and shoulders. And yesterday when I said I was covered about 70%? Well, today, make that 95%, and that includes the tops of my hands, feet, my throat, and other...places...

Check it.

This is just my legs, so you can imagine.

Poor Piko deGallo, we were supposed to go swimming on Friday....I'm thinking not so much.

OMG!!

2008-09-16T07:56:00.003+02:00

What. The. HELL!!??!!

Seriously, is it because I'm getting older?

Guess what I found out this week. Not only am I allergic to Amoxacillin (rash), only the most commonly used antibiotic out there. I'm also allergic to Septra (chills, nausea, difficulty breathing, persistent headache, achy joints), and freaking Doxycycline Hyclate(severe rash and swelling)!!!

Ok, so I already knew that I was allergic to Amoxacillin, but I had no idea until this week that I was allergic to anything else! I woke up this morning after one day on the Doxycycline to discover about 70% of my body covered with an itchy rash, and my lips, eyes, and ears are swollen. At least now I know what I would look like if I decided to get collagen implants in my lips.

NOT HAPPY.

This all started out with what I thought was a spider bite on my back that would not get better. Guess what? It's not a spider bite after all. The wound has taken on a decidedly more BULLSEYE shape!!

WTFBBQ?!?! People!!!

Dog Damn WebMD, how do you treat freaking Lyme disease if you're allergic to all freaking antibiotics out there?!? Not that I know for sure I have Lyme disease. But I might!! AGH!!!

Tree to Pie

2008-09-11T11:50:00.005+02:00

In just afew (sorta) easy steps.

1) Apples in the tree. Very crisp and tart, perfect for future apple pies.

Too many apples!

Don't mind my laundry there, it was the first sunny day in a while. Add that to the fact that we got our first electricity bill. OUCH!

2) Apples waiting to be washed, peeled, cored, and sliced.

3) A couple of hours later (I have a small range, it took a bit to get the water boiling).

Step 4 to come in a couple of months.
I think I'll use at least one as topping for some vanilla ice cream, maybe make some fried dough.....NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM-nom-nom!!!!

Dumb things I have heard

2008-09-09T09:06:00.001+02:00

This is my version of Overheard in Germany.

In the video store:

Customer: Is this a good movie?
Clerk: Yes, it's excellent! You know it's in Spanish though, so it's subtitled.
Customer: Really? Why? Did it come out in the theatre that way?
Clerk: Uh. I guess?
Customer: In Spanish, huh. I wonder why.
Clerk: It's really good, and worth it to watch.
Customer: But was it originally in Spanish or just on this DVD?
Clerk: ......
Cutomer: I guess I'll look for something else.

The movie was Pan's Labyrinth. Besides wouldn't the DVD have a language option?

At the Medieval festival:

Guy: Hey, check out those guys in the armor!
Lady: That's pretty cool.
Guy: They must be so hot! I bet they're sweating alot.
Lady: Yeah, don't get too close, you know there wasn't deodorant back in Medieval times.
Guy: (Laughing) You're right.
Lady:...or soap.

Um, WHAT?!? I'm pretty sure there was soap in Medieval times. Weather or not they used it, or that bathing was in fashion, is another thing entirely.

Things like this hurt my brain.

Tourists

2008-09-08T09:33:00.008+02:00

We live in an area that is fairly well known for it's wine. Much of the wine region is along a wide and long river called the Mosel. This past weekend we attended a wine festival in Bernkastle-Keus called “Weinfest der Mittelmosel”(wine festival of the Mosel river). It was lovely, and enjoyable even though Sarge and I are not big wine drinkers. We started out at the midway, where Piko deGallo got to jump on this jumpy...thing. She was having a great time, and the rest of the "jumpy things" were not busy, so the guy let her jump a little while extra, and even slingshotted her high up in the air once.

We then walked along the hand crafters market to the bridge that spans the Mosel, and got a great view of the castle ruins.

We crossed over the river to the opposite bank where all of the wine booths were. The town is beautiful. The streets are cobbled, and the houses and buildings all look like they just had a fresh coat of paint. There were many examples of what I would consider to be German architecture. I don't know the exact term for it, but they are those kind of stucco houses with the wood beam inlays, it might be called "half timbered". I know, I'm a real expert. Winding narrow streets, and the occasional traditional band playing were awesome, we're planning another trip back there just to view the town. Unfortunately it was also filled with hoards of obnoxious drunken Americans.

Since we are lame, and don't drink wine, we got some ice cream and headed back over to the other side of the river. We got there pretty early, and wanted to wait for the fireworks. So we bought some fantastic antipasto from a vendor, and spread out our blanket on the bank directly across from the castle. Piko deGallo of course was only interested in the swans. Really, looking back on it, I suppose I'm not the best person to give advice on the whole Wine portion of the festival. But it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and the fireworks were spectacular!
Gotta love fireworks set to the Star Wars theme.

Geeky Movie Madness!!

2008-08-27T10:34:00.002+02:00

Though we still have not had our TV service hooked up yet, we are enjoying our lovely new TV. We watch alot of movies. Alot.

Luckily the video place on base has a great rental deal, and the library has a pretty decent collection as well. A couple of weeks ago was "early 80's movie week" for us.

We got Krull(1983), which is surprisingly still pretty awesome after all this time. The special effects are pretty impressive considering the age of the film. The story is pretty good, and the acting decent. And did you know that Liam Neeson was in that movie?!? I had no idea. I wish I could find a good picture of him from this movie. I didn't recognize his face at first, but I was thinking "That really sounds like Lian Neeson!"
I did find this picture, that's him on the left.

Krull got the thumbs up from both Piko deGallo and myself.

Then we rented another childhood favorite.

I'm sad to say that this movie did not stand to the test of time, or adult taste. The acting was pretty mid-range, and the effects were laughable. But to be fair, this movie was made in the early 80's, 1981 to be exact, and I remember absolutely loving it when I was a kid. Sarge and I were only amazed by Harry Hamlin's super large lips, and crazy hair, and then he fell asleep as soon as Perseus chopped off Medusa's head. And so Sarge missed the best part of the movie. The Kraken!

Which, looks surprisingly like Paul Sr. from American Chopper!

How could I not find a picture of him yelling at his kids?

Clash of the Titans got thumbs down from me and Sarge, and a thumb's medium from Piko deG (mostly because she didn't understand what was going on, but liked the owl and Pegasus).

Piko deG seems to like treasure hunting movies (she loved Sahara, and enjoyed Fools Gold...maybe she just likes Matthew McConaughey..shudder...), so I picked up Romancing the Stone(1984). Unfortunately I forgot that there was very little actual treasure hunting, and several references to drugs, alcohol, and a scene where Kathleen Turner, and Michael Douglas are obviously naked in bed together. Oops!! Piko de Gallo had it all figured out though. She knew that they were getting married at the end of the movie since they kissed THREE times. Obviously!!! Still a great movie though, and I enjoyed seeing it again.
Romancing the Stone gets a thumbs up from me, and a ?? from Piko deG.

Unfortunately neither the library or the video store has the true best of 80's movie geekdom.
TRON!!!Oh, this is such a truly good and geeky movie of the 80's. I'm dying to see it again. Maybe we should get a NetFlix subscription.

Tasty...

2008-08-25T14:40:00.001+02:00

So I know that kids are picky eaters, that's normal. But I swear my kid is not normal.

She does not enjoy anything that is made from potatoes. That means no mashed, scalloped, or baked potatoes, not even potato salad. And possibly most surprising no french fries! No french fries. Can you imagine that? She does not even care much for potato chips, and would rather eat some kind of corn chip, even plain Tostitos. Weird.

And then this is what she brings me to have as a snack yesterday.

Yeah, that's DRIED SQUID.

She better brush her teeth before Sarge comes home from work.

Now to people brought up in Hawaii this is really not an unusual snack. Someone sent this bag of Ika to me from home. I was even surprised when she started eating this stuff, because it smells exactly like what you would imagine, and has a very unusual texture. I'm pretty sure it is a case of monkey see, monkey do, because my dad always has this stuff at his house, and on our last visit Piko deG always wanted to do whatever G-Pa was doing.

Back to School

2008-08-24T14:00:00.006+02:00

WOOO!!

I actually feel kind of bad that I'm so happy that school is starting again.

But I am.

I think that Piko de Gallo is just as happy to be seeing her friends again, and having something new to do.

Anyway, BTS shopping is not quite as good here as it is back home. I guess I'm just a little surprised that the BX on base does not coordinate with the schools a little better. It seems like they should carry whatever is on our school supply list. But not so much. And it's not very easy to shop locally since it is considerably more expensive, and there are different size/dimension standards. It's not horrible, but they did not bring in any pencil boxes, fat pencils, or plain pink erasers. All of which were on our list. Most people end up having family or friends back in the states send them stuff, but really, what a hassle. Not "I'm so mad about this that I want to kill someone", but more like "What's the deal man."

On a more positive twist, since there were no pencil boxes I did get to try out a new sewing skill.

I sewed my first zipper. I'm sure I did it wrong, but it zips properly and that's all that counts.

I made Piko deGallo a pencil pouch.

Here is a detail of the little bird I embroidered. It's actually chirping her real name, but I decided to block that out.

New neighbors

2008-08-16T08:16:00.000+02:00

We have some new neighbors. They're three gals, pretty shy, keep to themselves.

AAAAGGGHHH!!!

2008-08-14T10:10:00.003+02:00

Ok, so it should come as no surprise that I'm a tad anal retentive.

But look at this!!

AAAA!!! This is one of the library books that I checked out this week. AAAAAA!!! All of the dates are stamped on AAAAAA!!!! not on the lines!!!! The guy that was checking out the books did this to every single one! Then the kicker. He gets to the last book, and there are no more lines at the bottom to stamp the new due date in. So he heaves a big sigh, AND THEN STAMPS THE NEW DATE IN A SPACE BETWEEN TWO OLDER DUE DATES!!!!!

WHAT?!

I can't believe I forgot this!

2008-08-12T09:58:00.002+02:00

A couple of weekends ago our base held a Flugshau for the base members and surrounding local area residents. I guess it was a big hit. We're not allowed to actually have many planes or jets flying, I think that Germany does not allow this because of several disastrous accidents in the past.

I personally do not get the whole airshow thing. I only go because Piko deGallo likes to look at the stuff, and there is usually a funnel cake booth. Andrews AFB where we lived in Maryland has a huge air show every year. We only went twice in the seven years that we lived there. Too crowded for me.

Anyway, since the flugshau is open to the locals as well as the base members there is some local entertainment provided. Guess who was there!!1

GERMAN ELVIS!

Awesome.

The Edge of a Kinfe

2008-08-04T09:34:00.001+02:00

It's official.

Tomorrow I will be walking that knife's edge between closer to 30, and closer to 40.

Not that I particularly care. I suppose that it helps that people are surprised to find out my age. I tell them that it's because I'm Aaaaasssian, and I use "Perrrrrr crrrreeeeaam" to keep my face young and soft.

Actually, that's not true, I use Cetaphil, and only when I can be arsed to remember.

Anyhoodles. How must I celebrate? Well, let me tell you, it sure won't be with a honking big cup of steaming coffee!!

That's right, the curse of my family has finally struck me. High blood pressure.

So I get to enjoy my the morning of my 35th year with a nice tall glass of cold water, and a 25MG tab of Hydrochlorothiazide. Oh yes, and don't forget that banana to stave off the potential potassium deficiency.

Damn!! DAMN!!! I miss that coffee. But Sarge says he'll kill me if I die.

Ok, so maybe one thing...

2008-07-31T10:04:00.000+02:00

Summer storms are pretty frequent in our neck of the woods, and apparently in our little valley. Every afternoon last week at about 5:30 or so the thunder and clouds started to roll in, and Piko de Gallo and I would go around the house unplugging everything. The storm usually passes in about an hour or two, and we return to our regular Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Lord of the Rings/Walking With Dinosaurs geek fests.

One night we had a particularly lingering storm that would come and go all afternoon and evening. At about 2:30AM Sarge bolts upright in bed and says "Unplug the TV!!", then runs down to the living room to do just that. Shortly after we are rocked by some serious lightning and thunder.

A side note about Sarge and his TV. When we first met, he had a rather large TV that he was in love with. Mostly because he bought it for about $200.00, it was about 36". Whenever we moved it was always the last thing packed, and the first thing unpacked. This was our only TV for 8 years. He finally sold it at our last yard sale since we were moving overseas and didn't want to have a TV on a power converter for 4-6 years. I should have taken a picture of him hugging it goodbye. When we got here and we looked at new TVs he was outrageously apalled, or outraged and apalled by the cost of a TV these days. He ended shelling out "a ridiculous ammount", but in the end I think that he loves his new one just as much as he loved his old one, which kind of explains his lightning premonition at 2AM.

Anyway, I thought that was pretty much the end of it, but we discovered that some areas just up the street were actually hit!

SHAZAM!

I asked Sarge if I should send these pictures to his mom. She hates thunderstorms. Hates them as in yelling in panic whenever one rolls over their house. He thinks no.

I Use Big Words

2008-07-30T09:44:00.002+02:00

Summer ennui has enveloped the deGallo household.

Seriously nothing going on, nothing to post about.

For example, the one "exciting" thing that happend last week. I bit my tongue so hard at lunch on Wednesday, that it still hurt when I woke up the next morning.

Yeeeeaaaaahhhzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Note to The Librarian

2008-07-10T15:23:00.000+02:00

Dear Librarian,

Did you take a close look at the packaging that that ~~g-damn~~ fabulous High School Musical microphone came in?

If not, here ya go...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

Inadvertant PORN!!!

P.S. Happy Birthday!

Day Trip to Trier

2008-07-09T16:02:00.005+02:00

Sunday we drove down to Trier, which is the largest city near us. It is apparently the oldest city in Germany, and is known for it's Christian reliquary collection, wine, and original Roman architecture.

We of course went for the shopping. Though, it was Sunday, so none of the reguar shops were open, but there was a handcraft fair at the Porta Negra.

There were some very beautiful things, and a booth with great Regency/modern style hats, but at 60+ Euro, nothing I could aford.

There were some blacksmithing demos, which was fascinating to Piko de Gallo.

What was truly fascinating to me however was the abundance of "manpris".

This picture, also an example of a German line-up. If you're wondering where the actual line is...that's right!! There is none.
Daddy manpris.
Even the older guys were getting into it. Egads!
I swear I even saw a guy at the bus stop wearing a pair of pris, and Teva style sandals with socks. How do you say "NO!" in German? Nein!!!Nein!!! Nein und abermals nein!!!

Sarge had told me about this "style" when he was deployed. He said that it was very popular among the UK and Australian soldiers. I didn't believe it until I saw it myself. Yikes!

So, Sarge had a hard time getting served at the waffel booth, because he didn't know where the line was. Well, duh, there is not line, hello, German style. I told him that he should buy himself a pair of pris, and the next time his wait will probably be shorter. No f-ing way, he tells me. And actually, I can't imagine it either, gives me chills.

Eddie

2008-07-06T08:24:00.000+02:00

This is Eddie
Eddie likes to stand in the middle of the road leading to our house.

And, as Sarge discovered the other day, Eddie likes to take poops on our driveway.

We don't like Eddie very much.

Trouble on Am Schmeideberg

2008-07-04T19:43:00.005+02:00

We got trouble, with a capital T that rhymes with P and that stands for

POWER SURGE!!!!

Yes, we've been watching The Music Man, and yes, MdG, make big bang...AGAIN!!!

There was a thunder storm here the other week, and the only thing I forgot to unplug was the telephone. Well, apparently the telephone pole outside is taller than our roof.

SHAZAM!!!

It actually blew the DSL splitter apart, and off the wall!! Fried the modem, and possibly my old computer, which will not turn on now. Old houses, gotta love them.

In other Germany news...

Ikea, why do you not take Visa or Master Card?!?!?
Seriously! We got up to the checkout, and oops, I had to run to the ATM. I suppose it really was my fault since I didn't look for the Visa/Master Card sticker on the entrance. So I was a sucky American, since I was not prepared.

However, Germany, you have the most awesome bicycle stores EVER!! We went to one today that had a little track around the display area where you could try out any bike or other ride on they had in the store.

I of course rode a scooter, but Sarge was too busy looking at padded pants to take our pictures.

Tomorrow is Piko deGallo's 6th birthday!!! And she has her first loose tooth!!

It Should Come As No Surprise

2008-06-24T11:26:00.002+02:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

However, taking Christina G's lead, and taking the test as a "Husband", my results were a little different.

As a 1930s husband, I am
Superior

Take the test!

Similar to what she got, poor wife, good husband. Though I was a much bigger failure as a wife, and a considerably less superior husband. How funny!

Alive and Doing Fine

2008-06-22T18:09:00.002+02:00

Sarge comes home from the hospital tomorrow. Hoo-ray! The reason that they were keeping him there for so long was that his white blood cell count was very low due to the bacterial infection. So they were waiting for it to go back to normal, just to avoid a relapse or something like that. He's itching to come home in the worst way.

One good thing:
We have discovered the best walk to take Dog on. It's a loop that goes around the back of our house into the fields, and back down our road. It's easy enough that we can all do it and not be exhausted. This included Dog, because she is way out of shape. It is quick enough that we can complete it in 30 minutes, with one short rest half way through.
And we can lengthen it or shorten it, depending on our stamina and time limitations. We walked it twice the first day, but Dog was not so happy about the second outing. Sarge says she's a "one walk a day dog". She would much rather be upstairs sleeping on my bed.

One bad thing:
"Mysterious blue smoke" Yes, it was released from my less than one year old computer, when I plugged it into the 220V socket. And yet, my older than Piko de Gallo computer seems to be working just fine.

Now to find a computer repair shop where English is spoken.

Getting around Germany

2008-06-18T14:16:00.002+02:00

Well, we now know where the hospital is.

Sarge has come down with a bacterial infection that has kept him laid up for about a week.

He has the laptop too, so there is very little internets for me.

Other than that, things are pretty great.

There's a fabulous bakery right across the street from the hospital. Yummy seasonal fruit tarts to sooth my worries with.

There is a truth universally acknowledged...

2008-06-10T16:44:00.003+02:00

...if there is a tomato that looks like it's growing a penis, I will buy it.
If only to take a picture of it and post it here for some cheap laughs.

Life Without the Internets

2008-06-09T11:19:00.004+02:00

Well, say what you like about Germany (that's for you Mrs. S. You can start ragging now), there may be no internets, and phone service is slow to be hooked up. But oh, we have ice cream!

Delicious ice cream. I'm so glad that this shop is not in our town or we would be huge and fat at the end of the summer.

So what does one do without internet service? Well, normally I would be a couch potato, or work on one of my many sewing projects. Unfortunately we have no TV, no service, and no actual TV to hook up. And my BFF is still in route (delivery is scheduled for the 12th!!). So we've been tackling the garden, unfortunately I have no pictures, but imagine 20 years of free growth. And I don't know what's a weed and what's a plant, so I've just been pulling everything that does not look familiar. I have dirt impregnated into the palms of my hands, and that's the way I like it. Hopefully we'll be able to wrestle it into submission soon enough.

Wildlife spotting so far:
A hedgehog, a jackrabbit, and a huge ass buck.

Bleh!

2008-06-06T15:33:00.002+02:00

We are currently without internets.

Hopefully posting will resume soon.

Mrs. S, if you are still reading, I have to post some pictures of all of the awesome tile in our house.

I'm crossing my fingers for internet service.

I <3 British TV

2008-05-30T17:55:00.005+02:00

I would say that it is pretty well established that I love me some TV.

But I especially love British TV. BBC, in all it's glory, iTV. Yay!!

Where else can you see something as awesome as TJ Wheels!!!

And then there was "Hoop-La-La". Hoop-La-Freakin-Awesome if you ask me. I do have to say that they really benefited from the professional styling that the show gave them. They were on Britain's Got Talent. Even Simon ended up liking them.

Of course this video does not work now, but you can view it on the Hoop-La-La website. I think I just like saying "Hoop-La-La".

Lots of great variety talent shows on, that I enjoy so much more than Crap Idol.

Some things

2008-05-29T07:39:00.000+02:00

I've noticed that the Germans are obsessed with their plants!! Not just their gardens, which are very wonderful as well, but house plants.

I remarked to Sarge the other day that when you drive past the oldest, ex-barn, tin roofed, run down house, there are always tons of plants in the windows. It's like they see an empty windowsill, and feel the need to fill it. Fill it with plants.

I have not taken any photos as examples, because I think it's kind of weird to take pictures of peoples front windows.

As a comparison, there is the front window of out American friend's house.

Only a few plants, and quite afew of those are dying. I laughed at her, but she said she warned her landlord when she moved in, and told him that she was death to plants, but he still left them.

Another funny/geeky thing.

These are the trash cans in the laundry room at the hotel we are staying at.
EXTERMINATE!!!!EXTERMINATE!!!!EXTERMINATE!!!!

I'm such a dork. Though in the photo they don't look quite as Dalek-y as they did when I initially saw them.

Target. WhatTheWhat??!

2008-05-23T08:14:00.004+02:00

Oh Target how I love thee. I really will miss walking the halls of the bullseye on a regular basis. However your on-line site is made of win too, so there is some slight relief there.

But what's up with this??

I bought some rain boots for myself, some school shoes for Piko deGallo, a t-shirt, and a solar system mobile. I was taking advantage of their free shipping offer.

I got 4 different "Your order has shipped" confirmation e-mails!!

No, not that they e-mailed me 4 times to tell me that my order has shipped. 4 separate shipments!!

Is that normal? I suppose it could be that each item is coming from a different fufillment warehouse, but still. I guess I should just smile and be happy that I got free shipping on all of the items.

Come on, it's not just me, that's weird.

P.S. Mrs. S. I looked up the word for composting bin. BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAA!!
it's Kompostierungssortierfach. Like I'm even going to to be able to say that to my landlord!! 25 letters man!!

Resting

2008-05-21T08:57:00.000+02:00

Another day, another move.

We've gone from our base house in MD, to temporary lodging on base, to the LaQuinta Inn (THE AWESOME BTW) outside of Baltimore, to temporary lodging on base in Germany, to an efficiency apartment in a town outside the base.

We finally move into our house on June 1!!!

While on the base I was walking everywhere, safety briefing, commissary, post office, gym, housing office, Piko deGallo's school. Pretty much every day. This base is small, but not *that* small.

Our car gets here somewhere around the 10th of June. Though I don't even have my drivers license for Germany yet, so it wouldn't even matter if the car was here.

Side note!!! Hooray, I just got a call that some of our furniture has arrived! Woo!

So I'm in a wee town, with no car. I guess I'll take the day off from waking, and just veggie with the internets, and my 3 English language TV channels. Maybe walk around the village and get some Doner Kebab for lunch.

This is my happy thought.That is the view from our house's back porch.

Not complaining, just updating.

Good Girl!

2008-05-17T17:22:00.000+02:00

I know I complain alot about Dog DeGallo. Or well, I complain about her alot to people I know IRL.

But she really is a great dog. Hello, she puts up with my occasionally dressing her up in Piko deGallo's tutus, and stuff like this:

I was a bit worried about her in all of the hotels and temporary housing we were going to be spending time in during the move, but she just makes herself right at home.

I'm making it official and putting out there on the internets.

I love my dog, farts, dandruff, snoring, bad breath and all

Best Sign

2008-05-14T07:01:00.003+02:00

This sign was posted at the vehicle shipping center in Baltimore.

It was maybe the funniest thing I saw that week.

Ah, Germany!

2008-05-12T16:55:00.004+02:00

The Commissary is small.
The Post office is inconvenient.
There are no Slurpies.
Too many Americans.

However....
Rolling green fields, and hillsides covered with grapevines in bloom.
A great elementary school for Piko deGallo.
We found a house with a garage for Sarge, a yard for Dog, a tree for Piko's swing, and a garden for me.
Yummy delicious, wonderfully crusty, delicious bread!!
The very wee commissary has Greek yogurt. Yumm!!!

All in all, this place is great!! I'm so glad Sarge took these orders.

Hotel Limbo

2008-05-02T01:27:00.003+02:00

We're currently in a La Quinta Inn about 20 miles outside of Baltimore.
Just waiting to catch a plane to Germany.
Sarge, Me, Piko, Dog. One room.

Moving Jitters? And a Gym Rant

2008-04-24T11:16:00.005+02:00

This morning I woke up at 4 freaking 30 AM!! 4:30 folks!! And I couldn't go back to sleep.

The movers are coming today. All that was running through my mind was what items I have to put notes on so that they don't pack them. The last time we were moved, a little piece of baseboard from the kitchen was found lovingly wrapped among our belongings. Granted the movers were Belgian, and probably though we were crazy Americans anyway.

So an early morning post for you all to keep me out of the kitchen. I don't think that Totino's Pizza Rolls at 5:00 AM goes along with Sarge's diet plan.

I'm using Sarge's laptop, which has a whole other set of bookmarks than mine, and I stumbled across this awesome post from Rob the Doorman over at Clublife. This pretty much sums up my whole attitude about people at the gym. Sarge would agree heartily with #1, and #9. I'm more of a #4, and #5.

While I'm not the most athletically gifted person by any stretch of the imagination, I did dance for quite a few years when I was younger. I would like to think that this gave me a pretty decent ability to mimic movement, or at least to see when my body is not doing what I want it to. Many of the exercises we are doing following the CrossFit plan are totally new to me. Clean and Jerk, Split Jerks, and those other Olympic type weightlifting moves. It took me some time to understand the right way to lift my elbows and thrust them under the bar in the same movement, I'm still not great, but I'm better. But I can definitely tell when I'm not doing it right. Sarge and I always talk about the funny we see at the gym, which is sometimes comically considerable. Sarge says that it's because people have a very hard time mimicking movement that they see. But I wonder, there are mirrors in the gym. Everywhere. Maybe they're looking at their awesome pecks, and are distracted. The worst offenders, squats, walking lunges, and dumbbell shoulder presses. Seriously? Squats and lunges are some of the best exercises for overall strength and fitness. If you do them right!!! Also, what's with doing the same exercises every week, and taking the 10 minute recovery rests between sets? Sarge says that this is the result of not altering the workout since High School, or reading. Look, I'm no exercise guru or anything, but let's just say results speak for themselves. I've been doing CrossFit for about a month with Sarge. I have more muscle definition in my arms and legs, and I have increased my strength by about 25%. Try something new at the gym people! That's what the internets are for, not just porn! What worked for you at 17 is not going to do it at 30. Granted I have the best, most patient workout partner ever, so it makes my voyage to the dark side so much easier.

We're not going to the gym for the rest of the week, mostly because of the move, but also because I'm sick. Moving and sick. Awesome. But I did look at the workout for today anyway. Ha-Freaking-HA! I probably would have barfed.

Too Much

2008-04-24T00:37:00.003+02:00

Well, we're packing, again.
Do you think I have too much fabric?

See you all from Germany!

Take Me Out!!

2008-04-16T01:31:00.004+02:00

The view the instant you step out of the Metro. The stadium is literally half a block away off of the Navy Yard stop.

This was the view from our seats. Piko was intrigued/obsessed with the big "W" on the grass. Sarge did a pretty good job with our seats. They were waaaaaay up there, but they were still very good. That guy in the blue hat kept blocking my view of home plate though.

Piko was having a great time.

We watched the first three innings complete. Then since we were on the verge of horribly under dressed, it was pretty windy and cold. Piko and I set off in search of some hot chocolate. Wouldn't you know, we walked around the whole freaking stadium, and there was only one vendor who had hot chocolate?!??! It took so long for us to find it that by the time I thought about it, all of the potato knish's were sold out!! BAH! We finally made our way back to our seats for the end of the 6th inning. By the 7th inning stretch Sarge was ready to go, so we made our way down to the main concourse.

Here they are, stopping to view the game from another angle.

Of course we stopped briefly at the "Strike Zone" and let Piko have a go in the bounce house. But we had to be quick to get outside to line up for what was surely the highlight of the day.
Kids run the bases!!!! It was mighty awesome to go out on the field. The Rushmores were at every base cheering the kids on as they ran around.

All and all, Piko gives a day at the Park the thumbs up!

Ow!

2008-04-15T00:53:00.003+02:00

Look at what happened to me today!

Sarge and I were done with our workout today (hang power cleans. My max load 65lbs! WOOT!) and were messing around wasting time. I'm determined to be able to do a pull-up some day. Seriously, I can't do even one. It's pretty pathetic. He was showing me how to swing to work my way up to a pull-up. Suddenly RIIIP!!! OW! MAN! I have been working on building up that callus for some time now.

Dang it! Now I have to be a lame-o and wear a glove on that hand for about a week.

A Question

2008-04-13T17:38:00.004+02:00

So, I was thinking I would take a sort of poll.

I just finished this quilt for our bed.

Here is a close up of the fabric.

I love it. It is the first queen sized quilt I have ever made for myself.
Anyhoo, several of my friends have commented on it while it was in progress.

"Oh! That's nice. Is that for your room? Sarge is going to let you put that on the bed? My husband would never sleep on something so flowery."

BUH??!?!?!

This is not the first time that I have experienced this either. Some husbands will not "allow" pink towels, flowered sheet sets, or any other color than blue for a bath poof.

Sarge, what does he care. If it's soft and comfy he'll use it. It's not like the man police are going to bust down our door and arrest him for pink sheets. Besides, see that yellow pillowcase under the blue one on the left? That's his pillow, it has flowers and butterflies.

Anyway, do men really care about stuff like that? Or are my friends just lame?

Really though, I do already know the answer.

Big Sigh

2008-04-11T13:30:00.004+02:00

Well, only 2 more weeks until our house is packed up and loaded on it's way to Germany.

I got the reality check when a friend dropped by yesterday to pick up some of my container gardening items. Librarian, you will be happy to know that the planter "Turkey Dinner" gave to you, and you gave to me, is going on to a new good home. It's funny to look out into my yard and see those bare spots where things used to be. It's also kind of sad because the weather is slowly coaxing my garden back to life. Too bad too, because last year was a transplant year, so much of what I had was very sad during the growing season. This year, I was really hoping that my peony bush would actually bloom. Not to worry though, I'm sure I'll be able to have a great garden in Deutschland.

In other busy deGallo news. Sarge has taken to calling me "The Sewing Hermit". That's pretty much what I'm doing all the time these days. Teachers at the school found out that I'm leaving, so 4 of them put in orders for seat sacks. I had to cut it off after those 4 were done. Uniform orders keep showing up at the door, literally. I opened the door this morning, and a bag of uniforms was there. I told Sarge that they've taken to just leaving them like orphans on our doorstep. I'm trying to bang all of this "work" stuff out so that I have time to finish some personal projects before I lose my BFF for a couple months. Not that I'll be able to use it much over in Germany. Sarge did say that I could buy a 220V machine though. WOO!

In between relocating appointments and sewing, Sarge has managed to convert me over to the dark side of his exercise plan. CrossFit. And while I am always bitching and moaning about exercise, I actually kind of like this program. The exercises are extremely varied from day to day, and some workouts are long, some are short. And hello, yesterday, I deadlifted my body weight. Well, my body weight -10lbs. But that's still pretty good, cause I'm no 98lbs!

And on a creative front, I've made these water bottle holders for the kids in Piko deG's class.

We are going to miss the "Field Day" celebration at the school. So I thought that these might be good for the kids to carry their bottles of water in. That way they can keep their water with them, and they don't get misplaced as easily, or mixed up with each others.

Here is the action shot.

I hope that they use them.

Henna Party!

2008-04-05T13:42:00.005+02:00

Last night we had a Henna/Movie/Pizza night at our neighbor's house.

Awhile ago my neighbor came back from a trip to Florida. She and one of her daughters had visited an amusement park there where they were doing henna tattoos. They didn't have time to stop for one, but brought a kit home. I was over at their house one day and noticed the kit. I love doing henna!!! The librarian can attest to this. When we were roommates after college the whole Madonna/henna thing hit the mainstream, with her Ray of Light album. I spent some time decorating myself and my roommates. It was some fun.

Anyway, that first henna kit she bought from the amusement park was for crap, and didn't take. So, she went to AC Moore and bought this kit. This kit is awesome! The henna powder is very fine and has no clumps or debris. They provide a great applicator bottle, with an awesome fine tip that makes wonderful lines. There's lots of eucalyptus oil, and the mordant liquid they provide is pre mixed and does not stink at all.

And though the amount seems very small, it was enough to do all of these designs.

Plus, my own left arm, and my feet.
I don't have any "after" pictures yet. but just based on Piko, and my results, it came out very well.
Is it bringing back memories Ms. Librarian?

I forgot to add the funniest moment of the night. A couple of us were in the kitchen applying henna, and the rest of the children (3, 1 of mine, 2 of hers) were in the living room "playing". Suddenly there is crying and yelling. It went something like this.
Kid 1: Waaaaaaa!!!! She broke my wand!!!
Kid 2: I did not!!!
Mom: What happened?
Kid 1: She broke my wand! WAAAAAAAA!!!
Mom: Kid 2, did you break her wand?
Kid 2: Well, yeah....
Mom: Why would you do that?!? I think you should apologize.
Kid 2: Yeah, but...
Kid 1: She broke it!!! She didn't even say sorry!
Mom: Tell her you're sorry!
Kid 2: Yeah, but she was hitting me with the wand, and that's why it broke!!
Mom:................You kids are going to make me crazy!!
Me: (in the kitchen, to myself) Too late.

Well....Thanks, I Guess.

2008-04-02T14:08:00.002+02:00

I came home from marketing the other morning and Sarge greets me with:

"I got you a present!!!! Well, actually it's more of a presnt for you that's for me."

You know I don't like Victoria's Secret! I tell him.

"I know that!!" He says. "It's much better! I got baseball tickets!!"

Well. Yay?

"They're for the Nationals, at the new stadium!"

Ok, I'll admit, this does kind of sound like a good time to me. We used to get tickets for an Orioles game about once a year whenever the Red Sox would play in Baltimore. But we have been slacking quite a bit the past two or so years. I know that Sarge probably bought the cheapest seats available, and is bringing me along so that I can keep Piko deGallo entertained, but I'm easily swayed by overpriced hot dogs, lemonade, and cotton candy.

Anyone want to take bets on how many innings we get through before Piko and I end up here?

Oh! My Aching Shoulders!!!!

2008-03-29T14:04:00.008+01:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Sarge is trying to kill me.

Thursday at the gym we did this workout. I think my time was something like 17:35, but I substituted a 25lb dumbbell for the kettleball, and had about 110 on the pull-up weight stack. Since I couldn't do a pull up to save my life, seriously. Then we played about 20 minutes of tennis. Man, we suck at tennis, that's the reason we play tennis, we are equally sucky, so nobody gets mad, it's fun and not competitive. But COME ON!!! That was a combined run of .75 miles, 63 dumbbell swings, and 36 pull-ups.

The previous day I had been working on this for a friend:

I guess her church is having some kind of singles luau/dance.
So my shoulders were pretty achy already. That freaking thing was bout 9 feet tall, and 12 feet long.

Thursday afternoon after I had gotten the approval on the finished mural, the friend reminded me that I was going to do a Tiki mural as well. Well, crap. So I got started on that one as well. As I was finishing up with the coloring and shading of that one, a PTA friend called an let me know that the dance Piko deGallo's school was having the next day needed decorations. I agreed to show up for that after dinner.

I show up at the school, and the only person there to decorate the cafeteria besides me is the friend who called me. Dude, we must have blown up about 500 balloons that night. Thankfully she had these little hand pumps that did most of the work, but AGH, again with the aching shoulders. We get mostly done there at about 9:30, and I head home.

Crap! The Tiki still needs detail outlining. Shoulders again! I wish I was ambidextrous. But it turned out freaking awesome! I want to paint one of these in our house, but Sarge says not. Though as you can see, it is totally Piko approved.
This gives you some idea of the scale I was working in.

Back to the school on Friday for the "dance". Pre-K, and Kindergarten are first, so Sarge and I attend. Balloons popping galore. I guess we have to replenish the stock for the other classes. Which means more using of the hand pump. Ow, OW! OW!!
But the kids had a great time, (however the DJ kept playing that damn "Apple Bottom Jeans" song, which is another rant entirely!) and by the time the 2nd graders got into the dance there was less popping of the balloons. Thank goodness.

So I guess I'm blaming Sarge, but it looks like he was only about 25% responsible for my current state of pain. My own stupid volunteering self is responsible for the other 75%.

Though last night, he was trying to convince me to do the split jerk workout. Um, NO.

Maine Photolog

2008-03-28T23:38:00.005+01:00

As you can see, there was quite a bit of snow built up. Piko deGallo is standing at the top of a snow bank (or "snow hills" as she calls them) on the edge of the in-law's driveway.

Funny enough, I checked the weather in Sarge's town this morning, and guess what?! IT WAS SNOWING!! LOLerskates!

Piko deGallo and Sarge put up a pretty impressive snow person in the front yard. And then that was pretty much the end of the outdoors for us. It got very cold overnight, and rained, so that nice snow turned into slick ice.

The first of some wonderfully fresh seafood we had. Though this was the only bit that was not battered and fried, as is the way in Downeast Maine.

Yum, fresh steamed clams!

Piko deGallo learned to ride a bike without training wheels. Thank you so much Grandpa deGallo!!! She only dumped seriously once, and I got it on camera.

And then I couldn't go a week without being a tad bit crafty. I reeled Piko deG, and her cousin off of the computer and we created some very festive Easter egg trees. I didn't feel like blowing a whole bunch of eggs, so I bought a bunch of fun foam and cut out egg shapes, then had the girls decorate them. I then cut out some cute birds from some cheap scrapbooking paper. So cute!

Holy Crud!

2008-03-27T11:07:00.003+01:00

Well, we're back!

And we're leaving in a little more than a month!

I've officially had to start thinking about the fact that we're really moving to Germany, and all that entails. Crud. Packing, yard sales, last minute appointments, dealing with the dog, cleaning my house. All things I thoroughly enjoy of course.

Maine was pretty good though. Lots of snow, fried seafood, chocolate milkshakes, Piko deGallo milestones, and family. Low on privacy, high octane coffee, companionable silence, and privacy, did I mention privacy? I'll post some pictures later.

We also drove up (in 13 hours!! a deGallo personal best!!) in our Sienna, and drove back in an Outback! Seriously, Maine must be the Subaru capital of the universe.

We're off! Yay?

2008-03-14T14:45:00.003+01:00

Maine ho!!!!

Woo-freaking-hoo. It's finally starting to get warm here, and we're heading off to the land of 6 foot snow drifts.

It's better than here though I guess. Monday night the PTA imploded, the new board cut funding for almost all of the student activities the previous board was supporting. They blamed the previous board for mismanaging the budget, and for sabotaging the latest fundraiser (whhhaaaa????). I did get my money for the Science Fair refunded though, so there was a plus for me. I'm seriously hoping that the next school we're at has a PTA that can actually work together, and do, you know, work.

So away from here, to the frozen north. It's going to be a great visit, I can already tell. The other night Piko deGallo tells Sarge.

"Do Grandma and Grandpa have more than one TV? I don't want to have to watch CRAP IDOL with them."

I swear, Sarge must have peed his pants from laughing so hard.

I'm looking forward to going to the discount fabric store. Thank goodness we got our tax return!

Snip! Snip!

2008-03-10T15:37:00.005+01:00

Snip!

Hey-ho! We all have short hair now! I bet the inlaws are going to haaaate it! MWAHAHAHHA!

We're Fancy

2008-03-06T15:29:00.005+01:00

Piko deGallo presents her spring after school line of lounge wear for the active pre-tween.

Best show EVER!!

2008-03-05T13:07:00.005+01:00

We watch it on BBCAmerica.
TOP GEAR
Seriously. Sarge and I spent the night laughing on the couch. We watched the episode where their challenge was to fly to Miami, buy a car for $1000 and drive it to New Orleans, and then sell it. Yeah. So, of course, hilarity ensues. Suffice to say, one of the car dealers shows them his gun(s), they "eat" road kill for dinner, and almost get killed by rednecks while driving through Alabama. Meanwhile they mercilessly bag on James May's choice of car and hit it with their cars as often as possible. Cue immature giggles from Sarge and I.

Honestly though this was just an episode of them in the US. The show usually takes place in Brittan and the rest of Continental Europe. Equally as hilarious.

But, it really made us think. How interesting to get an idea of how Europeans, the British specifically, view America. It was both funny and sad. Of course they were afraid of getting shot, well, the car dealer showed them his gun. Jeremy Clarkson found a blood stained shirt in one of the pockets of his car. Then as a "challenge" they wrote funny(to me, and them at least) slogans on the sides of each others cars as they drove through Alabama. They almost got killed. Seriously, "the boys" started pulling up in pick up trucks and pelting them with rocks. "Yew betta git otta heah!" It was funny. But also not. Here is what Richard Hammond's car looked like, to give you a sample of the things they wrote.

So British dudes driving across the American South in $1000 beaters. Funny. Horrible American stereotypes brought to light. Also funny.

Happy Birthday!

2008-03-02T16:43:00.007+01:00

Tomorrow is DR. SEUSS's birthday!!

Of course I'm a huge dork and made this for Piko deGallo's kindergarten class.
What the?
"That's great Mommy!" Piko deGallo says. "It will be better when you put the face in"
The action shot, with the "face"!

Check out SkipToMyLou for some awesome Dr. Seuss activities.
Like making your own Cat in the Hat hat.
Have fun with Ooobleck!

The Little Things

2008-02-29T13:31:00.002+01:00

This is Sarge's idea of "doing the laundry."

"Woman!" he says, "I do the laundry ALL THE TIME."
Whatever Sarge. More like you START the laundry all the time. Then the unfolded basket of clean laundry sits in the living room for a week staring at me while I'm on the computer. And the other half of the stuff stays in the dryer, half dried I might add. So now I have to re-wash that load. Thanks a lot!
Please stop "doing the laundry". Much obliged.

Science Fair awards. Still not reimbursed! Saw the school principal last night (she's no "Pal" of mine I tell you). "Great job on those ribbons Miss. DeGallo!" she tells me. Yes, she calls me Miss. Reallastname, yet expects to be referred to as Dr. Principal. And no word or mention on reimbursement for the cash I fronted.
They did look nice though. Damn, I hate this school.

Piko deGallo's School Sucks! With Tutorial!

2008-02-26T02:36:00.010+01:00

Also known as, how I'm stupid enough to spend $90.00 of my own money so that the kids in the FIRST EVER science fair (which Piko deG is not even participating in!) can have nice awards. Hello!!! How do you even plan a competition without some kind of budget for awards?!?! So dummy me, goes ahead and buys what the teacher in charge says she "WANTS" to give out, thinking that's what she has money for. Surprise, surprise, she has not been approved anything for awards. Oh, did I forget to mention that the Science Fair is on Thursday??!?!! AAAAAAAAAGGGHGHGHGHGG!!!! Sarge is going to kill me.

I am The Awesome though, I was able to get a donation for 3 First Place trophies for the winners from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes, on their individual projects. If you're ever in the area and need trophies, may I direct you to the nicest trophy shop ever!!

This is actually my tutorial for making Rosette Ribbon Awards.
I forgt to mention what you get for $90.00. I was able to make 7 -1st, 7 -2nd, and 6-3rd place rosettes. And I bought about 24 "honorable mention" type flat award ribbons.

Materials:
Double sided satin ribbon. I used 1 1/2" wide ribbon in 1 yard lengths.
Marking pen
Ruler
Fabric or craft glue. I used this stuff:

Make your own pinback button. I purchased mine from AC Moore for $1.00/ea, because I needed them right away. You can order them from Oriental Traders for a better price. Create an appropriate image for your award using your graphics program and insert into the pinback.
Flat Award ribbons. Again, I paid about $1.00 a piece for my flat ribbons at the dollar store, but if you plan ahead you can order them for a better price.
Heavy thread in a coordinating color to the ribbon you are using.
Sewing needle
Hot glue gun.

Step 1.
Lay out your ribbon, and with your ruler and pen, mark out 1" increments. Remember I used 1 1/2" ribbon, if you use a wider or thinner ribbon, you may have to adjust the width of this mark.

Step 2.
Place a small dot of glue on the bottom tip of the WRONG SIDE/unmarked side of the ribbon, and fold the edge backwards to meet up with the first 1" mark.
Step 3.
Turn the ribbon over to the right side, and place a small dot of glue on the first 1"mark. Fold the second mark over to meet the first mark, and hold in place while the glue dries.

Repeat this process along the length of the ribbon.

When you get to the end, the second mark from the end will be left.

Fold the end edge backwards to the wrong side of the ribbon, and glue into place where the last 1" mark is.

Your 1 yard of ribbon should be smaller, and naturally starting to spiral a little.

Step 4.
Starting at the beginning of your now ruffled ribbon, fold the first ruffle in half, and sew it in place. This might be a little hard because the glue makes the ribbon a little tough.

Step 5.

I've placed the pin here to demonstrate where you should be folding your next ruffle. This is about half way between the two ruffles.

See here, I've folded it at the pin, and have created a more ruffly section. Sew these areas into place.
Repeat the folding and sewing along the length of the ribbon. When you get to the end, match up the edges so that they form a nice circle, and you've hidden the edges. Sew into place.

Ta-DAH! Your finished rosette.
Step 6.

Ribbon assembly. Using your hot glue gun, glue the flat ribbon to the wrong side of the rosette. Make sure that you check from the front to make sure that the wording on your flat ribbon is properly displayed, and not covered up by the rosette.

Step 7.
Draw a bead of hot glue along the inner edge of the front of the rosette.

Step 8.

Place your decorated pinback into the open circle so that the pin part of the button is showing through the center hole of the rosette. Press into the hot glue so that it stays in place.

TA-DAH!!! Your finished rosette ribbon award!!
2nd place was decorated with extra thin ribbon son either side of the flat award ribbon. I used wired ribbon for this one, and it didn't really make much of a difference in folding and sewing the ruffles.
1st place was added to with 1 1/2" satin ribbon and thin gold ribbon.
I pinked the edges of all the ribbons so that they would match the flat award ribbon's edge.

I Don't Get People

2008-02-22T13:03:00.004+01:00

People, you confuse me.

Some examples.

#1.
I did uniform patches for a guy Sarge works with. Normally these guys come grab their uniform, pay me and get the heck out. This guy though, well we discovered that we are both from Hawaii. Woo! Big woop. He ends up standing in my hallway talking for about 1/2 hour. This is not the confusing part. About 6:30, I tell Piko deGallo to start cleaning up her stuff, she asks me why, I tell her she needs to get to bed soon. The normal stuff we do/say every night. This guy is amazed. "She goes to bed this early? Damn! I wish my kid would go to bed early" How old is your kid? "He's 4. Last night he was up till about 2am!" Whaaaaa??!? "Yeah, I fell asleep, and woke up at 2, and he was sitting on my bed staring at me and eating a piece of bread." Ooookaaay... "He won't go to sleep, he always stays up till at least 11:00"

I'm seriously confused.

This guy works the opposite schedule as Sarge, which means he gets to work at about 4:45am, and gets off about 5:30pm. When Sarge worked that schedule he was in bed by 8:30 every night, needless to say this guy is not, and according to Sarge, he gets paperwork for being late all the time. Since when does your 4 year old dictate what time they "want" to go to bed? The hell man, they're freaking 4!! I think people like this are crazy when they're surprised that Piko deGallo goes to bed when I tell her, like I have some kind of magical power over my child. Well, actually I do I guess, it's called: I'm the adult and she's the child. I make the rules, she follows them. It's not amazing, it's not magic, it's not mean. I'm not saying that Piko deG always follows my direction, but I make sure she does for the important things that keep her safe and healthy. What the hell this guy is going to do next year when his kid starts kindergarten and has to be up by 6:15am, I have no idea.

#2.
Oooh, a big storm is coming!! We might be trapped in our home for, holy crap!, 24 hours!! Everyone and their mother must rush to the market NOW to stock up on bread, toilet paper, milk and eggs!!!

Obviously my marketing experience yesterday was less than enjoyable.

#3.
Why are you having a baby shower for a 4th child?? Especially when child #3 is going to be all of 1 1/2 when #4 hatches. Though this person gets a semi-pass when I found out that she's having her first girl.

No, I wasn't invited to the shower. I heard about it while having coffee with some of my PTA ladies (a whole other post in itself). I kinda, sorta know this lady, I we coached her oldest son in soccer this past year. I was going to make her a small baby quilt anyway, because she's usually pretty friendly to me. I didn't expect her to actually have a shower.

#4.
Piko deGallo!!! You confuse me the most!

Why do I have to drag you out of bed every day this week, moaning and whining about how tired you are (see #1, this is why I have her go to bed at 7:15, even with 11 hours of sleep it's a struggle to get her up sometimes). WHY??!! WHY?!! then do you get up at 5:30 AM on a snow day?!?!? Dude! We totally could have slept in!! It's not even really snowing, it's more like drizzly cold rain, that might turn into ice! So there's not even snow to get excited about.

And thanks for pointing out that Daddy's clock and my clock don't say the same time. For. Freaking. Fifteen. Minutes!!!

So...

2008-02-17T23:43:00.005+01:00

So yesterday Piko came home crying. I though it was because we were making her come home so we could run errands. I'm all "Suck it up girl, you can play with them when we get back!" Not so much. Apparently her "friends" were calling her the "Queen of Losers!" And threatening to "tell on her" for what, I have no idea.

WHAT?!?!WHAT!!!???!!!

Now, I am the first to recognize that my kid can be somewhat of a namby pamby, and needs to grow some. But she's really not used to being called names. These girls that she plays with are sisters, and they can be pretty mean to eachother. Who knows, maybe the fact that they are now extending the name calling to Piko means that she's part of their family now.

I try not to get involved in this kind of crap when it goes down with my kid. But this time I'm a little torn between telling her to deal with it herself, and going over to talk to the mother. This mom's oldest child is being bullied in school, and she's under the impression that her daughter is not sticking up for herself, and is totally blameless in this bully situation. But based on what Piko is telling me, either she is not totally blameless, and/or it is affecting the way that she is interacting with other children.

Who the hell knows. I wasn't there to witness the interaction, so I don't know what exactly went on. The middle daughter is the one who walked Piko home, and was telling me a little bit about what happened, but I'm sure that she didn't really want to rat out her sisters.

Anyway, I'm really just venting, because it's anoying.

I ended up telling Piko that she was not going to be playing with them for the rest of the weekend. And that if they ever start calling her names again she is to stop playing with them immediately and come home. I don't care how much fun she was having, do not stay over there and take it. What else can I do? On a normal day she gets along very well with these girls, and they are the only kids on the block her age to play with.

Should I talk with the Mom? GAH!

P.S. We ended up staying inside, so we worked on Piko's science project.

VOLCANO!!!!

This Week's WIP

2008-02-14T00:50:00.000+01:00

Oofah!!
File last week under "She'll never learn".

There was the Cruise backdrop. First, I bought the wrong kind of paper, it is a bit too thin, and the paint made it wrinkle something awful. It got better as the paint dried though.
Here is a stage one shot. See the wrinkles and the pulling?

And the finished product. I am getting better at remembering that I have to work back to front, and top to bottom to save myself painting over and over the same areas.This was not my favorte project ever, but I have to say that when I would be working in the kitchen I would catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, and it was like I was looking out a large window. That was kind of cool.

Valentine's Day projects galore!

Fabric flower corsages for the teachers and staff at Piko deGallo's school. Fabric flower pattern can be found at Wise Craft.

I was a bit worried that the feathers and ribbon might be a bit much for the teachers. But I was reminded by another mom that the teachers are mostly ~~older women~~ women of a more "mature" taste level. Right.

I was also up until 1:30 Saturday night compiling the master list for the PTA's Valentines Day lollipop fundraiser. I would have been done earlier, but Piko and I watched POTC Dead Man's Chest. I was sitting for so long that my butt got sweaty. EW! The PTA sold over 600 lollipops at the school. Something that I noticed while making up the list is that it looks like the people who bought the most pops for their friends received very few pops in return. Hmmmmm....school social politics, I sure don't miss that.

Here is how the flowers are going to be given to the teachers on their sacks of lollipops for their classes.

Piko got some as a hair clips too. She's so spoiled.

These felt flower hair clips are gifts for Piko's female classmates and friends. This pattern is from Betz White.

The action shot.

This is a very crappy picture of it, but I made this "pet carrier" for Piko's favorite stuffed animal. It's a bit of fabric fastened with velcro around the belly of the cat, with a short and long handle to carry her around with. Piko likes to bring this cat along whenever we go out, but worries that she'll lose it somewhere, so this way she can brng it along and keep her hands free without worrying about it getting forgotten.

Another thing for Piko deGallo. When we move she'd getting our guest bed, which is a Queen, so I'm making her a big, big quilt for the bed.

I just love fabric charm squares. These charm squares are Moda "Full Moon Forrest".

And then the funniest thing happened Sunday morning, Piko came out of her room strutting around in this ensemble. The first thing that I thought was "OH NO!! It's LiLo!!" Love the leggings and the scarf there Piko.

My plastic valentine...

2008-02-08T12:03:00.000+01:00

I mentioned yesterday that I just realized that next week holds Valentine's day.
Woo-hoo.
So, I was at the commissary this afternoon picking up afew things, and I though I would get some caaaannnndeeeee for Piko deGallo.

Question.

When the hell did Cinderella turn into Dr. 90210 plastic Botox Cinderella?!?

View.

Cinderella circa 1950

Cinderella 2008!!

She looks like she had cheek implants, collagen, Botox, an eye job, and some major veniers put on those teeth! Man, I know she's like 58 or something, but good plastic surgery "freshens you up", not makes you look like a totally different person!

Is she a candidate for Awful Plastic Surgery?!!

2008-02-07T13:00:00.001+01:00

And so I find that it is Wednesday.
Looking at my calendar I realize that not only is next week Valentine's day, but I have a mini mural to do for some officer's club. Oh yeah, by tuesday. Oops.
I kind of ranted a bit last time about having to do a last minute mural, but who the heck am I kidding, that's the way I work even when I have a 3 week lead time.

I guess this means that I'm off to the store to pick up my painting supplies. So I'm off, and it's a bit early so Michael's is not open yet, so I hit the Target next door. I need some lightbulbs anyway.

8:30 am in the middle of the week, I figure I'll pretty much have the place to myself. Not so much.

The hell?!?! Target is chock-a-block full of mothers and their young ~~spawn~~ precious angels. Which, hey, I get. They probably have been up since 5 am (which is when Piko used to get up), and need something to do, Target is clean, open, and probably empty. Kids are fine, don't get me wrong, I like kids, have one of my own. What I hate is this:

Mommy: Don't touch!
Mommy's Little Angel (MLA): I'm nawt towching.
Mommy: Don't!
MLA: I'm nawt!!!
Mommy: Don't touch that or I'll put you in the cart!
MLA: OOOOHHH!!! Look Mawmeeeeeee!!!!!!! Can I have some candy?
Mommy: I said don't touch that!
MLA: I'm nawt. Candy Mawmeee!!
Mommy: No!
MLA: Caaaaannnndddeeee!!!!Maaaawwwwmmmmeeeeee!!!
Mommy: Didn't I tell you not to touch?! I'm going to put you in the cart!
MLA: No cart Mawmee!!

I swear to whatever deity is the most powerful!!! Put your damn kid in the damn cart already!! I'm not buying anything from that aisle because I can hear very well that they touch everything in it!!! Can a person not browse the totally cute baking and packaging aisles in peace?!?!

I'm so evil, but when I'm with Piko and we hear that kind of behavior, and if she is behaving herself despite outside influence. I loudly offer to buy her some candy.
Evily.

The Year of Healthy Eating

2008-01-31T23:39:00.000+01:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
Sarge's metabolism has finally caught up with him.
Pardon me a moment.
AAAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!

Ok.

So he has decided that WE are going on a healthy eating, meal overhaul. Oh joy. Well, admitidly we are both in need of this. We exercise, but don't necessarily always eat well. Lots of starches, bread, rice, potatos, pasta, too much butter and margarine, way too much salt and sugar. Yeah.

Sarge insists that he and I eat as few carbs as possible. This sucks. Our meals should be made up of fresh fruit, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats.

Yay. Not.

He ALSO has it in his head that all grains are bad, no seeds, no legumes. WHAAA?!? Screw that, I'm still eating my cheereos and oatmeal.

Anyway, since we are on this "healthy" kick, I though I would put up my Sarge approved super simple Quinoa salad.

You need some Quinoa, fresh veggies, we use cucumber, tomato, red onion, all diced. One can of Black Beans drained and rinsed, one can of chickpeas also drained and rinsed (I know, legumes, but Sarge likes them), 1 package of crumbled fetta cheese. Fresh ground pepper, salt, and olive oil.

Cook your Quinoa according to package directions. Be sure not to over cook, or your Quinoa will lose it's crunch. I use about 8 oz, or half of a box of Trader Joe's Quinoa. Rinse in cold water, and drain well.

Mix together your veggies, cheese, beans, and Quinoa. Add about 3 Tbsp. olive oil, more if you find your salad to be too dry. Add some pepper to taste, and a very little salt; not too much because as your salad sits in the fridge the Fetta cheese will salt it up a little more (found this out the hard way). You may omit the salt alltoghther if you wish.

Store salad in the fridge. Eat it just as it is, or be like me, and mix in some baby spinach or arugula. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, almond slivers, rasins, or cranberies. I guess you can also add some grilled chicken to it as well.

Yum, YUM!!

Of course you can add whatever fresh vegetables you like. Other options would be heart of palm, artichoke hearts, beets, olives, The Librarian suggested some lemon juice. Really, you could add just about anything I think.

My New Love

2008-01-30T15:20:00.000+01:00

Oh yum, how I love thee.
Fage.
I buy the plain, I didn't see the ones with the fruit in them at Whole Foods(aaaaaAAAAAHHHH!!! Sound of angels singing). And, I got it in regular, though I think that the next time I'll get the 2%. Or, maybe the 5%, since the 2% has less calories and fat, but more sugar. Oh who knows!! I was just so excited to find it! Had it last night with a bowl of mixed berries, had it this morning with a cut up nectarine. Yum, yum, YUM!!!

Seriously, how can a large grocery chain like Safeway not carry this?!?! I know that this brand has been in all the women's health and style magazines, as the "NEXT GREAT THING!!!!!"

Sidebar: So, the whole Bifidus Regularis , and L. casei Immunitas in yogurt thing. That's in all yogurts right? Not just the ones that are advertised and pushed as such, like Yo+ and DanActive. Because I would rather eat huge tubs of Fage, with it's low sugar content, than a small tub of another brand with high fructose corn syrup as it's second ingredient. Well, I would rather just eat Fage all the time anyway.

And, as much as I love Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I'm really not up to driving over there every other week to get my fix. Because you know eventually I'll cave to Sarge and bring home a $20.00 Ostrich egg.

File it Under "Need a Life"

2008-01-27T14:23:00.000+01:00

Sarge and I were watching Live Free or Die Hard a couple of weeks ago. This is the conversation we had.

Sarge: Who's that bad guy? He looks really familiar.
Me: I don't know. He kind of looks like Ryan Secrest.
Sarge: That's not Ryan Secrest. That American Idol guy right?
Me: I know that's not him. It just really looks like him.
Sarge: Ryan Secrest is not an actor.
Sarge: **Dorking it out looks it up on his laptop**
Me: I know that guy is The Mac, and that other computer guy is Kevin Smith.
Sarge: Timothy Olyphant!! Oh! It's Bullock!
Me: What?!? Really? I guess I don't recognize him unless he's seething with barely repressed rage. Totally not sexy without the moustache and rage.
Sarge: What's that?
Me: Totally looks like Ryan Secrest.

What the heck am I on about? See for yourself.

Ryan Secrest

Timothy Olyphant

Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock. Broody and HOT!

I'm only seemingly obsessed with this because I watch too much TV, and that sorta crappy Jennifer Garner movie "Catch and Release" is on heavy rotation. I keep catching glimpses of the guy.

I need to get out more.