Category Archives: Life in General

60 Questions

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Ah, the meme, the writer’s block savior! Copied from someone else. I added some new questions to replace the ones missing from hers. Enjoy.

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? Flat tire kit. It’s pretty clean in there. I adore my car, plus, junk in cars is just extra weight wasting fuel.
2. When was the last time you threw up? Last weekend. Migrainey fluish thing.
3. What’s your favorite word or phrase? Deipnosophist! I love obscure words. The only problem is it isn’t intuitively descriptive.
4. Name 3 people who made you smile today? Ainsley, Elizabeth, Carlton, Amy, The cleaning lady at work
5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Working hard
6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Cleaning the kitchen and making beer
7. What is your favorite holiday? Good Friday
8. Have you ever been to a concert? Many times. I prefer albums actually, but the concert experience is fun.
9. What is the last thing you said aloud? I found my mouse.
10. What is the best ice cream flavor? Homemade Black Pepper and Sour Cherry. Honestly. Trust me.
11. What was the last thing you had to drink? Beer
12. What are you wearing? My husband’s t-shirt and some maternity cargo pants (haven’t been pregnant in 7.5 months)
13. What was the last thing you ate? Brown rice with carmelized root vegetables
14. Anyone have a crush on you? I wish. I really do! I think crushes are cute.
15. When was the last time you ran? I can’t remember. Elliptical doesn’t count, right?
16. What’s the last sporting event you watched? College basketball. North Carolina lost.
17. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Yap
18. Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on myspace? Ha ha, never had a non-spam MySpace message! I’m old.
19. Ever go camping? As a kid, yes. It seems like a good idea now, but also seems hot and sticky and buggy.
20. Do you have a tan? I have not had any amount of tan in years, even when I went to Hawaii. Hello, people, skin cancer! And wrinkles of course are not good either. Man, I’m old.
21. Have you ever lost anything down a toilet? Not that I recall- did drop a bar of soap in there and wondered how to clean it.
22. Do you use smiley faces on the computer a lot? Yes, especially the old-school ones that aren’t made into graphics.
23. Do you drink your pop from a straw? No. Straws are wasteful. I do use them occasionally if I’m given one in a restaurant.
24. What is the last adjective someone has used to describe you? Whiney.
25. What did your last text message say? “It’s OK if you hate me”
26. Are you someone’s best friend? Yes. I think I’m two people’s best friend.
27. What are you doing tomorrow? I am working from home so I can eat lunch with my daughter. I will also be making another batch of beer.
28. Where is your mom right now? I’m guessing she’s finished with a day of gold and is in her family room watching FOX News.
29. Look to your left, what do you see? Carlton’s laptop amid a mess of papers
30. What color is your watch? Gold, silver, mother of pearl, diamond.
31. What do you think of when you think of Australia? Reef fish! And my final resting place as a Reef Ball.
32. Ever ridden on a roller coaster? Once for one day. I loved it but have no desire to do it again.
33. What’s your zodiac sign? Who cares? But Libra, if you do.
34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Drive through. Hate going in. Seems liek everything is sticky.
35. Do you have any friends on myspace that you actually hate? Again with the MySpace. No.
36. Do you have a dog? My sweet Sunny Girl!
37. Last person you talked to on the phone? My mom.
38. Have you met anyone famous? Yes but I’ve talked about that before and it’s not that interesting.
39. Any plans today? Making beer. Ainsley’s in bed for the night, so this is just wrapping up the day and preparing for the next.
40. Are you still keeping any of your New Year’s resolutions? I restarted my diet in January, and also restarted going to the gym. Both are doing OK.
41. Ever go to college? Yes. Loved it. Miss it. Wish I could do it again.
42. Where are you right now? In the den/bedroom.
43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? Lack of sleep. Eight hours is the key to a good day!
44. Last song listened to? Ryan Bingham, Bread and Water. Music better than vocals.
45. Last movie you saw? Blades of Glory. I am ashamed.
46. Are you allergic to anything? Most perfumes/colognes. I recommend that everyone go scent-free for deteregents, body washes, et cetera for six months. You’d be amazed all the subtle smells you’re missing.
47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? Merrell Mary Janes.
48. Are you jealous of anyone? The lady at work with the great job, great clothes, and husband who just got a huge promotion so she can stay home. It’s healthy jealousy, though; I’m not mad at her and I’m not unhappy with my own life.
49. Are you married? Yes.
50. Is anyone jealous of you? I think people used to be, but now I’m just so boring.
51. What time is it? 8:32PM
52. Do any of your friends have children? Yes.
53. Do you eat healthfully? Yes. Lots of vegetables, whole grains, low protein.
54. Do you think tofu tastes good? Yes!
55. Do you hate anyone right now? Not any one single person. However, if I see an article about someone abusing animals/children/anyone, I feel hate.
56. Do you have a crush on someone? Yes.
57. How many kids do you want? Zero. But instead God sent me an angel.
58. What book are you reading? The China Study.
59. Have you ever been to Six Flags? No.
60. I deleted 60, as it was scatological.

What’s to Eat? How ’bout a Couple of Baby Feet?

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WARNING: Amy, there are foot pictures in here!!  I had to post a counterpoint to all the foot hating.

Sweet Little Wrinkly Bath ToesI love feet. I’m fascinated by the differences in people’s feet and the fact that I can already tell my daughter’s feet look just like my husband’s. Some feet are gross, gross, gross, but not mine nor my family’s.

Starting very young, I enjoyed foot rubs. I gave them to members of my family and sometimes they would return the favor. My dad preferred very firm hands; I would use pedicure tools like a foot file and lotion for my mom’s feet; my sister and I would exchange light foot rubs (more of a relaxing rhythm than actual rub) and my brother and I would read books and rub each other’s feet.

As I read that paragraph, I realize that we might look like a bunch of weirdos. But I’ll keep going…

I really like my own feet. Other than the few months of new motherhood, I’ve kept my nails neatly polished since age 14. When I was too pregnant to reach the toes, my wonderful husband applied the polish for me. My poor toes also showed the fact that I was a new mom…my polish was as ragged as I was! I like cute open-toed shoes and very high heels. Amy wonders how I deal with the pain. Easy: I’m an idiot.

My poor, swollen, fat, pregnancy feet. But cute polish, am I right?!?I wore size 7 or 7 ½ shoes. This was not a small-feet-are-dainty kind of thing; I just assumed my feet were done growing and, admittedly, I wanted to borrow my older sister’s shoes that were much cooler. Her feet are actually size 7 ½. When I was 23, I was professionally measured for steel-toed boots at work and found out I have one foot that’s size 8 and one that’s almost size 9! My poor feet had been shoved into shoes that were too small and I just thought that all shoes (even tennis shoes) were a bit uncomfortable. So now that I wear my actual size of 8 ½, I don’t flinch at a little foot pain. I can even dance in 3-inch heels (low boots are best for dancing- less chance of an ankle twist and no straps to cut into my toes).

I still really love to give foot rubs- even more than receiving them. I’ve found that few people understand how to give a foot rub. I’m one of them the few, and it’s very enjoyable to me. But don’t misunderstand: I love a good foot massage. I’ll even settle for putting my feet in my husband’s lap so he’ll rest his hand on them.

I haven’t had the luxury of time to have a pedicure in over 2 years but my toes are still freshly polished and groomed, even in the winter when nobody can see them. The pregnancy messed with my joints, so my feet have been cracking lately. I hope I’m not in for early fracture!!

Amy mentioned her foot memories that included plastic bags in her moon boots. I, too, suffered from Bread Bag Foot. I have to thank whatever crummy manufacturer made big, hot, clunky boots that weren’t even waterproof. My favorite shoe memory is of my wedding shoes, which I now wear as funky Mary Janes. I was in an airport during the beginning of this whole shoe-bomber nonsense and they x-rayed my shoes, then took them out in a search. Apparently they have metal plates in the sole and vamp, plus two metal rods in each heel! No wonder they’re so heavy.

I’m still searching for the Holy Grail of shoes: four-inch heels that feel like flats. Christian Louboutin can forget it- those things are torture devices. He even once referred to the fact that he didn’t care about anything but how the shoe looked. The famous Manolos and Jimmy Choos are a little better but are now not my first priority where money’s concerned.

So there you have it. I love my feet, and like to dress them like little dolls on the ends of my legs. Um, that sounds icky. Sorry.

Internet Flames: My Hot Sauce Collection

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Dead SoldiersYou’ll never catch me flaming someone…unless my mouth is on fire.

In my twenties (ah, youth!), I started liking hot sauce. Wellll, I developed an affection for hot sauce. OK, obsession. I put hot sauce in or on almost everything I ate. I used one packet of hot sauce on each bite of a fast-food burrito. I discovered lots of sauces that were not just heat, but flavor.

I started collecting the sauces from vacations and specialty shops. I had tasting notes on various sauces and different dishes for using chipotle versus habanero-based sauce. I didn’t collect full bottles anymore- I saved empties. Why let those wonderful sauces sit unused??

I grew my own peppers. I learned that peppers are hotter if watered less frequently so my garden was a desert. One day, I decided that it would be fun to eat one of my habanero peppers whole. These things are about 300-400 times hotter than jalapenos, by the way. I chomped down on the pepper’s tip, the least-hot part of the pepper. Hmm, not bad. Delicious flavor and needle-like heat. I decided to go for the hot part- veins, seeds, all of it (ah, youth!).

The flavor disappeared behind searing heat. My mouth watered uncontrollably. Standing alone in my kitchen over the sink, my mouth watering like a leaky faucet, I groaned from the delicious pain. Oh, it hurt. Oh, it really hurt. But the experience was worth it.

I recently read a blog about simplifying life and focusing on things that increase rather than decrease her family’s pocketbook. My hot sauce collection is not a big money drain, but it does cost money and even more, it costs time to maintain and precious space in my home. I haven’t looked at the collection in three years other than pulling out a bottle to use. It has sat in a dark closet wasting space.

Now, I don’t grow my own peppers. I trade a few bottles of my homebrew for a neighbor’s freshly grown peppers and homemade sauce. Less waste, less cost, and it builds a friendship too.

My collection is growing more and more into a bunch of empty bottles. I used up these two bottles in the picture and was going to write up tasting notes, clean them, and add them to the collection. But it wasn’t worth my time. I don’t need those bottles anymore. So I rinsed them and put them in the recycling bin. This weekend, the rest of the ~150 bottles are going in the bin.

It’s such a small, small thing. But it represents a little piece of me. I used to have the time to do it and now I just don’t. My job is more demanding; my family is more demanding; I’d rather spend the time with friends and family, not polishing some bottles of a collection that nobody sees but me. It is the right thing to do but it just reminds me that I’m not so young and free anymore.

I’m Gilbert Grape

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Everything was eating me today. I was cranky about little stuff. I had a whiny, typically blogoshperey-crabby post all composed in my head.

But

I decided to write this one instead. Here’s what’s making me happy today:

  1. The security guard at work who, when I said “have a good night,” responded with “you too, sweetie, have a good night,” in a tone that made me feel like one of her very own children.
  2. The Montessori school teacher who, despite all odds, returned to teach my little girl.
  3. The best friend who made me dinner and shared a wonderfully impromptu evening with me. (And didn’t wince when I showed her the baby. I might have. 🙂 )
  4. The peer at work who thanked me for my hard work.
  5. My husband who supports and nurtures me.
  6. The baby who.  Who everythings.

The Bale Girls

Look how un-glam I am!  And yet publishing the photo.  I think my joy is prettier than makeup.  Thanks, little Ainsley.

What Time Is It?!?

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Can you believe how pretty 6AM can look?As I start this post, it’s 0635AM, also known as, literally, 0-dark-thirty. (I took this picture through a window, so no, we aren’t on a planet with three moons, but it’s too cold to go outside).

I’ve already fed Ainsley, unloaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen, washed and folded three loads of laundry, started working on a project for work, and, yes, all of this was made possible by my first task: I made a pot of coffee.

It doesn’t hurt that I went to bed at ten. On a Friday! In years past that would have meant I had a migraine or something. But I’m so behind on work that I must do chores and business stuff while Ainsley sleeps or we’ll have no quality or quantity time at all this weekend.

Yesterday was awful from a work perspective. I started early- 0530AM- so I could finish early. At 0620PM, I stopped for the day. I was interrupted by twenty different things, all spurred by the phone call of my Montessori school’s teacher calling to say she would be late (don’t get me started). She had a sick kid so I didn’t want to chance her bringing the flu to the student! Add to that stress that I realized that I forgot my computer keycard at work, thus could not connect to work. I worked on offline documents for as long as I could but had to drive to work to find the card so I could drive back home to work from home. It felt as dumb as using a wet towel to dry off.

I could keep griping, but I’m choosing the other road. My husband had a planned vacation day to work on household projects. Due to the lack of a teacher for Ainsley, he and I had to switch our schedules and decide who would do what all day. I’m so behind on work that I basically demanded he drop everything (wow, what a nasty attitude).

Feeding the hungry fish together- my crewHe didn’t complain. He spent almost all day with Ainsley, and not begrudgingly. I would take work breaks and walk through to see wonderful moments. He played with her, he read her books, he worked on physical development with her. I heard him talking to her about which organic fruits and vegetables had just arrived at our front door. He even made a delicious pasta primavera for us, stirring the pots at arm’s length to keep the heat away from Ainsley.

After her bedtime, we gave Mr. Kitty (Baja) his fluids, let Mini out for some play time, I brushed Sunny’s teeth and gave Silo fresh carrot tops, and we watched a show together. Our house is developing a good rhythm. Finally.

Well anyway. I have less than an hour left before most of the house’s sleeping creatures stir. Off to do some work projects.

Am I Blue?

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Thanks to Oz. I’d say I need to work on the “sense irritation” part:

you are deepskyblue
#00BFFF

Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You’re conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn’t even suspect.

Your saturation level is very high – you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn’t be afraid to lead people, because if you’re doing it, it’ll be done right.

Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.
the spacefem.com html color quiz

24 to Go

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aeb-knh_before_walk_01-05-08.jpgWell, my weight seems a little stuck. Even though feeding Ainsley burns about 500 calories per day, I’ve plateaued at 24 pounds above my goal weight. I gained two pounds, if you’re keeping track. My diet is (mostly) healthful. What else can I do? I know, sawgrass diet pills and laser cellulite reduction!

No, actually, I’ll choose the exercise route. The recent cold snap was unforgiving. I have precious little free time and I do not choose to jog in the ugly cold, unable to take Ainsley due to the temperature. I just stayed home and read books to her.

However, this week has been almost balmy. I couldn’t take the stroller- too rainy. I also thought that holding a 12-pound weight could make the exercise more efficient. So I bundled my little girl into a front pack, zipped my husband’s coat over both of us, grabbed an umbrella and hit the bricks.

She didn’t seem to care one way or the other. She sucked on her toys and was pretty content. She wasn’t looking around much but the umbrella blocked most of her view. Unfortunately, she started to develop some congestion so I had to quickly turn home. She has a deviated tear duct and it’s really important that she not develop congestion or (worse) a cold- it can cause an eye infection for her.

So I had about 10 minutes of exercise. Better than zero, right?

Cabin 2007

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cabin_12-23-07.jpgAs usual, the cabin did not disappoint. There were guests in and out, and I sadly missed the guitar concert that started the morning. Listening to my brother play guitar is one of life’s great times for me. I felt especially excited to be there because I’d thought there was no way I could do it because I had a kid. Yet again, Carlton proves he’s dad of the year!

We ate delicious food and treats, many prepared by the host’s mom (my cooking inspiration since high school). There were also decadent fried biscuits and apple butter. These are Nashville mainstays that are required for the cabin-ness to be complete. We watched a bit of the Colts game and talked while the adults were there (I call them the adults but realize that I am technically an adult- but I cannot call them by their first names, so you know what I mean, right). After the adults left, we exchanged some gifts and got down to the business of gaming. Our host had, of course, a new game for all to try. I’m in!

Citadels was an absorbing, fun game. It was very easy to learn the mechanics and we started playing quickly. The only hitch was that the host had to write the character classes on a napkin so we could remember order of play; the game, being card-based, could have had this printed on a master card. It did contain some game mechanics on cards for each player.

With each round, the play changed. First people vied for their favorite characters (not shockingly, there was a spat between LBFH and Ken over who would be King each round. Ah, the Alpha male!). I stupidly played obvious characters, making it easy for other characters to guess who I was and assassinate/rob me. At one point, maybe feeling sorry for me because I kept losing, Thurbrand passed me the card of the character I wanted to play that round. It was very nice, but I definitely realized my game style was obviioouuuus! It became a very good intellectual game, with some things left to chance but others required strategy, bluffing, and knowing your fellow players’ styles.

I noticed with amusement that I, and some of the others, were resisting using Magic-style moves with our cards, such as tapping, even though no such mechanic was needed. It must be in our blood…

It took about 1-2 hours for play, and was taking longer and longer as each round, the players were more savvy and were going through more permutations of next moves and other meta plays. It can be a quick parlor game or a serious battle to the death, depending on the players’ skill, experience, and BAC.

I loved the game so much that I’m buying it. I want to have a little gaming session at my house, just to see old friends and also to play games again. I do miss gaming. The nice thing for me about games like Citadels is the defined end, as opposed to role playing. For me, I tend to fade quickly due to my demanding parenting schedule (Five AM is ugly early). I can play middle-earth-type games, visit with friends, and opt out for an early bedtime without risking my character’s life (I’m looking at you, Athran the Button Pusher).

We had a between-games break before starting a round of Carcasonne, during which LBFH pulled out the guitar and several of us sang along. We caught sight of a gorgeous moonbow that Ken noticed while out on the deck. Sadly, though I was supposed to have one of my brother’s deliciously prepared cabin breakfasts, I had to depart early. Ah, parenthood!