Eleven Things

Back before I even knew what blogging was, I had a Xanga account, just like all my other friends in college.  We all wrote posts and commented on each others and had serious conversations about two other Xanga pages when they started stalking us and making crazy comments on every thing we wrote.  Of course, those two crazy people turned out to be one person pulling the wool over our eyes in a genius manner! 

But the other thing we did all the time was memes. MySpace was also a good place for those, and while I do not miss MySpace at all, I do have a fondness for memes. 

So because Leah tagged me here, I'm playing along! 

1. What is your favorite type of cheese? 

I like most cheeses (except goat cheese. I've tried it many times. It tastes like a goat's pen and I just cannot) but my favorite would probably be brie.  Baked, cold, room temperature, with cranberries, or pears!

2. What are you excited about?
That summer is almost here! I know having kids around with no agenda is stressful for many, but for me, it's more of a break. No rushing to get to school and back to work.  I can send Elise and Jacob out to the backyard and let them play in the sand or with the water. Eating lunch on the patio and letting the bunny roam around the car port! Summer means a lot more freedom for us, and we have a great neighborhood for kids. 

3. How did you celebrate your last birthday?
We didn't! Which is fine, end of summer tends to be a bit busy for everyone.  I worry more about how Jacob will feel if the same business gets in the way of celebrating his day. 

4. What is on your bedside table? 
A lamp with a classy silicone potholder on top to keep the room dim at bedtime.  A Bible, which I am terrible about opening and reading. A pair of headphones for the iPad when I was watching Breaking Bad in bed every night.  And a corn warmer for my feet, although it's nice enough now to leave the windows open at night.  Finally! 

5. What do you order from the movie theatre's concession stand? 
Popcorn and a soda. But we split it between all of us, although I do think that the popcorn has gotten to be terrible. Fake butter of the past was much better than the new fake butter. 

6. Do you have a garden? What's growing?
We do have a garden! But right now it's only growing weeds.  Chris decided that he wanted to pour a concrete curb around it this year, rather than our signature mark of neon orange plastic fencing.  It took a very long time to get the trench dug, but it's finally finished and we just need to rotor-till the ground and plant the seeds.  I don't see us getting much of a crop this year, but that's ok. 

7. Any summer plans? 
Getting the kids in swim lessons as soon as possible. Working in the afternoons is very hard in the summer because the pool opens at one.  So if we can do morning lessons, I feel better about missing out on pool time.  Chris really wants to take a trip to Yellowstone, so we are trying to work that plan out in the next week or so.  At least we won't haul a boat that far, unlike last summer's trip. 

8. Which TV couple's are you rooting for? 
Well, I have a very large backlog of TV to get through. I'm behind on Nashville, Scandal, Mad Men, Modern Family, etc. Mostly because I've been reading (The Passage series! OMG, scary.) and because I hardly have time to sit down to watch it alone. It's not very fun to start a show at 11 PM. Although I will start a sewing project that late because I'm crazy. 

9. What's the last thing you bought?
We went to the mall last weekend and I got new undies and 2 new shirts. And fabric to make an apron for a gift.

10. What is one thing you are passionate about?
This one is kind of tricky.  I love my job and my kids and my hobbies and usually my husband. But sometimes I get burned out by work, and I yell at my kids too much. I really neglect my husband as I have a lot of jobs to do and as the other adult, he get's the shaft of my attention.  I know things will calm someday, but for now it feels like I don't have enough time to be passionate about anything. 

11. What are you grateful for this week?
That we've had rain, my kids are happy to be outside, I can go running, and it's a payday week!

Party!

My party was on the small side. Three people small. Technically, four but the last one came over just before we packed it all away. So now I have to get at least six people to order before I get any of the Hostess benefits. Soooo anyone want to order some pretty, sparkly jewelry? It's very nice and well made, and has a lifetime warrenty! Even if you break it five years from now! Personally, as a mother to a small monster, this last bit is quite important to me. If you do want to see some of the bling, please go here: Silpada and then let me know if you see something you like!

I personally want this, this, and this. I've only just begun to wear jewelry again since Jacob was born. I never went anywhere when he was little and wearing earrings was just dangerous when he couldn't understand "nice touches." But now that I am trying to dress a little more like I did before a baby and nursing took over my life. Which means I can wear nice shirts and pretty necklaces and dangly earrings without worrying that it's going to be spit up on, broken, or pulled from my earlobes.

I hope someone out there can take a look and help me fill my remaining six orders. Don't let all my pizza making, brownie baking, and wine buying go to waste! And if you feel cheated by getting jewelry and not getting the delicious food? I will sent you some brownies. Extra chocolaty, gooey brownies.

Crafty. Like A Fox.

I don't know if it was the change of seasons or if I am so starved for creativity that it had to come out somehow, but I have been on a rampage of crafting. I can't stop! I keep buying fabric or knitting needles and picking up books on knitting. I'm searching Etsy daily, looking for ideas of things to make or fabric I covet. (Why is fabric so expensive? It's the only thing holding me back.) I've already started a stash of Christmas gifts. I finally made myself finish a scarf for my uncle that I started FOUR YEARS AGO. I started it twice, to be fair. But seriously, four years. And it was delicious yarn, so why was it so hard? I made Jacob a tiny bedwarmer, filled it with dried peas instead of rice. I got buckwheat over the weekend and I'm excited to see how that pans out for the next batch of bedwarmers. I made Jayden a crayon roll. Actually, I made two, but I gave up on the first and started a second one when I didn't think through my "quilting" part of it. I learned that I am terrible at quilting. Good thing she's only five. I felted a knitted bowl and I have a plan to needle felt it, except I discovered that my needles are bent. I have no idea how they are bent and I broke one trying to bend it back into place. It still works, just looks wrong. I probably need new ones, but that can come later. The worst part of this "crafty sickness" is that I used part of my Verizon rebate/birthday gift card to buy more crafty items. Fabric that I will probably sew up and give away! I fail. But in my defense, I did buy a set of Halloween PJ's from Target with part of it. That was probably a mistake though, as I now want three more sets. Target is a bad place for me. Bad, but oh so good.

So You'll Probably Shoot Me For This

I went to Dooce's reading in Denver last week. I got there really late because I assumed that the only Tattered Cover was down on Colfax but the actual signing was in Highland's Ranch which is as far away as driving to Guam. I should have just given up when I found out at 7:10 but instead I drove across town to make it just before 8 PM. Of course, this means that I had to sit way in the back and that my number for the signing was 170. Sitting in the back wasn't so bad since I have a noisy baby who likes to make himself known. I was more bummed about being #170 in the book signing line because I had the baby with me and his current bedtime is 9 PM. I bought the book and waited around forever to get it signed and I think that Heather is a lovely woman and I do not know how she sat there for three hours and signed books while 7 months pregnant. Kudos to her! I wish she wasn't so famous that the bookstore was packed with fans because it would have been great to have a small gathering, much like the author visits in college. A few days later, I finished her book and I have to say that I'm disappointed. I think she's a wonderful writer and I love her blog and she's one of the few bloggers that I've gone through and read all her archives. I love that she can support her family on her website. But I was under the impression that I paid $30 for a book I haven't already read online. I can understand taking some of your blog and putting it into the book. But so much of the book has already been published and you can read it for free! I'm still interested in reading the book she put together from other bloggers about fathers, but I wish I would have saved my money. Of course, I'd regret it if I hadn't gone and gotten it. I'm always so remorseful.

CS found this post yesterday and thought I wrote it yesterday. He didn't say anything about it all afternoon and it wasn't until evening that he said something about how he needed to make more money. A lot more money. To which I said "No you don't. Why do you think that?" He says"So you'll have kids with me." WHA? Finally I figured out that he read an old post from August a year ago, and thought I wrote it that day.

That'd be really nice of me, wouldn't it? Yeah, CS, I love you but ummm, there's no way we can have kids until you make about 25,000 dollars more a year. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

All in all, though. I am amused.

What Are You Doing...Oh...How'd You Find That?

While I was making dinner, (ground beef with egg noodles and tomatoes and some spice) I happened to have a second and I waltzed into the living room to see what CS was doing online. He was reading a blog, actually.

Mine.

By the way.

For a second, I felt a whole lot of anxiety, but that faded away pretty fast. For as much as he's on the internet, I highly doubt he's going to make my blog his priority. Unless of course he wants to read stories about us for "insight" to the crazy. Although, he told me tonight that "I'm easy" so I don't think he's looking for relationship advice.

I guess to find the blog o'Hunter, you just have to use Google Blog search, type in my name, and click "Search the Web" and it will bring you right to my profile on NaBloPoMo.

Thanks, Internet! Making stalking easier since...1995? Or whenever MySpace started.

Internet, Let's Make Out!

No that I no longer get to play online for hours upon hours a day, I am relishing in my time spend online. I've found a slew of new websites to read, mostly cooking blogs, and I'm just loving it. I wish I could link to some things I've found recently, but Safari doesn't allow me to create linked sites. Why? Because it's L-A-M-E! Honestly, I don't understand that. I've had my Mac for three years now, had numerous Safari downloads, and still it's lacking. Are there other Mac compatible browsers that have everything I need?

I'm at the point where I want to have a real masthead, have a design for my blog. If I'm going to post frequently, then why not make it look good! Plus, I just signed up for NaBloPoMo! I'll be posting everyday in November. Won't you join me?

I'm in love with www.vogues.com. They have amazing chocolate products, and I'm desperate to try what they make. Chili powder and wasabi in chocolate? Sign me up! This weekend, I made pumpkin cheesecake brownies from Coconut and Lime. Tonight I made stuffed red peppers from Smitten Kitchen. I ordered two birthday presents off of Etsy this past month.

Annnd, I just remembered that i had a lot of grading to do tonight for my "Night" test on Friday and I did none of it. Plus, it's bedtime for this girl. This girl who now wakes up at 5 AM to go listen to aerobics music and hop around on a step like a tone deaf drunk in a bar.