happy birthday just for fun! you are 1 year old today!

shocking new photos of yesterday's entry's victims

if you are sensitive to violence, you might not want to view these disturbing photos.

what a bad kitty.

what a strange little beasty

zoe cat loves to lick plastic. and this seems strange to me.

the first time i noticed, she was licking the bag from some panda express takeout and that seemed at least a little normal. hey, there might have been some chinese food fragments or just leftover smells. but she must get some sort of weird endorphin rush from plastics because she wants to lick them all. there's a bag of yogurt covered raisins on the coffeetable. she doesn't want to chew the bag open to get the candy, just wants to lick the bag. any bottled water or soda, got to keep it out of her reach. cellophane wrappers from new dvds...i just don't get it.

and there's our baby girl curled up in the sink in the extra bathroom. andrew talked me into decorating it all things penguin. we have quite a collection of stuffed penguins displayed in there, and all the towels are black and white. there is a penguin calender. etc. i think you can see the penguin soap dish in the picture. well, on the back of the toliet tank, there were some small stuffed penguins. a beany baby and a puffkin. just the little cutest ones. except there was one penguin with especially frizzy hair and big crazy eyes. i personally was a little scared of that one.

the first morning we found him in the hallway. the second morning, we didn't find him at all. and then this morning, all the penguins were gone. along with the tub stopper.

we found one penguin in the tub. the rest, along with the tub stopper, were in the closet. she's apparently been chewing off their fingers. not their toes or noses or anywhere else, but all of their fingers. and that seems so mean. they can't fly anyway, why chew their wings off? not only is she a bandit; she's a fiend.

and one other thing

we've been making some lower carb choices at the grocery. andrew's really got some goals, i'm just there to make better choices. i mean really, if i'm honestly just as happy eating the yogurt with four grams of sugar as i am eating the one with twenty seven, i should go with the four. and if the low carb white bread is just as soft and fluffy as regular, why not? if you don't at all feel deprived, why did you need the extra stuff before?

so. having said that.

we found and purchased, just for the adventure, fat free sugar free carmel swirl ice cream. do you know what ice cream is like once you've taken the fat AND the sugar out? its really just plastic and artificial flavoring at that point.

no thank you. where is the ben & jerry's please?

its just that not too much interesting has happened

yeah, i know, i have't blogged in weeks. i was talking to my mom on sunday and she mentioned it to me. its pretty bad when mom's nagging me about updating...lol

so what's happened? um.

andrew went back home for a week to visit army friends. and he came back. which is always a nice thing.

i ended up getting my permanent crown for my tooth and did not have to have the additional root canal. that was nice too.

stuff has been fiesty at work. someone who had been promoted decided she didn't like the new job and wanted the old job back, which of course had already been filled. that's finally been resolved, i think to the minimal satisfaction of most everyone.

andrew and i went to see 300 at the imax. highest possible recommendations if you enjoy comic book/action fightin films.

this past weekend we bought a new mattress. it was how we decided to blow our tax refund. the mattress was delivered yesterday, and i think we picked out the most comfy bed ever. but in order to appreciate that completely, you've got to know the history of the old mattress. you remember that time in your life, probably just a couple of days after college is over, when all you have to your name is a futon, a cat, and a margarita blender? well, i needed a bed, and a friend of a friend of a friend knew someone who had an extra bed they were selling. turns out the queen size mattress had been living in someone's basement for quite a while, and i bought it for discounted price of ten bucks (truth be told, i didn't have any cash on me that day so my friend spotted me the $10, and i never got around to paying him back). that was years ago. if i'd choosen the hardest, most awful, cheapest bed in the mattress store it would still have been the upgrade of a lifetime. today was an especially bad i-don't-want-to-get-out-of-bed fit.

i'm getting my haircut on thursday. wish me luck. my first cut here in vegas was a disaster. this time, one of my coworkers is going to chop away at my mop. i'm only a little nervous...but my hair has grown so long and terribly misshapen that really, she can't make it worse.

zoecat has done ludicrously cute things lately, but i'll save those stories for later in the week...

he said, she said

all via text message

she said, hi!

he said, hi honey! whats up?

she said, just reviewing files and thinking of you...
(i audit files for low and middle income housing)

he said, poor people with questionable histories make you think of me???

she said, snicker

for some reason, his question just made me laugh so much.

woot canaw

first off, let me say, i've had better days.

see, i have this one tooth that has given me problems for nearly two decades. after the braces came off, there was a huge cavity on a back bottom molar. it was fixed up and then sometime during high school the filling chipped out some and it needed to be replaced. then shortly after college i was in a car wreck and lost most of my fillings (not that i have all that many, i do brush sometimes). the dentist that patched me up seemed to think that wasn't too terribly uncommon. i guess you just clench your jaws so tightly sometimes in wrecks that you actually pop out your own fillings. i've never done any solid investigative research on that, mostly because i just don't really want to think about it. *aaiihh* since then i've broken the filling two more times. it was just such a large one to begin with, then everytime it gets worked on it gets bigger (pretty much the outside half of the tooth). normal wear and tear grinds it down because its faux tooth not the real deal, making it prone to chipping. late in the fall i chipped it again. tragically, the last dentist told me last time she fixed it that the next time would be a crown. naturally i didn't call the dentist for six or so more months. it was just cracked, not broken. clearly i didn't need to call.

then monday night it out and out broke so tuesday i called.

each time the filling breaks, there is some seepage and a bit more decay. each time the filling breaks, the drill gets a little closer to the nerves. and once you are down to nerves, your options really only include pulling the tooth and root canal.

they prepared me for the worst. couldn't tell till they drilled. but thankfully now i'm at home sitting on my couch with my temporary crown. however, i'm still in jeopardy. if it hurts really any at all over the next two weeks while i wait for my permanent crown, they'll do the root canal.

and i came down with a head cold yesterday. so i was extra special gross and germy at the dentists. you know, when you are drooly and gaggy and having trouble breathing and swallowing because there are a dozen fingers and weird metal objects in your mouth, that just isn't the time to add a head cold on top of it all. if there ever was a day to have pie for dinner, i think its today (with full intensions of brushing and flossing moments after swallowing the last bite). but i can't taste it or smell it and it just seems silly to eat that many calories if you can't honestly enjoy them. maybe i'll have ice cream for breakfast...

just take it all

thirteen things i should just sell in a garage sale or on ebay or give to goodwill(week #24) 1. those green pants i keep trying to wear but just don’t fit 2. that light blue dress shirt which does not match anything else i own mostly because its the strangest shade of blue 3. the old cable modem 4. double movies. when andrew and i combined our dvd collection, we both had braveheart, minority report, the secret of nimh, princess mononoke, the rock, swordfish, drop dead gorgeous, and somehow we own three clerks. 5. we also own several double books: blackhawk down, several harry potters, clauswitz's on war, neil gaiman's good omens, some anne rice, and a couple bhagavad gitas 6. the off white knit top that isn’t long enough in the torso and so i pull on it and fidget every time i wear it 7. the half dozen unwanted mugs stashed on top of the fridge 8. the blue/grey dress coat with white fur cuff/trim which i have not worn in about five years 9. there is a whole slew of tote bags in the hall closet that should go to good homes that aren't mine 10. the fire shoes. i own a pair of black doc martins with flames on the sides. they are just the coolest shoes i've ever owned but simply do not fit me well and so i only wear them every year or so 11. andrew sold a bunch of stuff on ebay last week but still needs to ship it, this includes a miracleman comic and some buffy trading cards. so someone else owns it now, just the box is still sitting by the door at my house. 12. this next week's round of his ebay sale includes an ironman action figure, a forest full of magic cards, and an army of g. i. joes 13. 41st BCT patches and unit crests/pins which were purchased on ebay last month when we thought andrew would be in the oregon guard but now since he's not, back to ebay they go

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now that's entertaining!

the other day andrew was sitting on the couch and looked over at me. "i'm so boring," he said. i mulled this over. "you are exciting to me, so wow, how boring does that make me??" i answered.

and then we proceeded to spend the evening putting together a puzzle.

green sticks

lately we've been experimenting with new and different side items because there is only so many times you can have canned corn. some have been mostly ok, a couple have been so so, and this one is great!

rolled asparagus

one bunch of fresh asparagus
one pack of prosciutto
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

mix bread and cheese. wash asparagus and break off bottom ends because they are extra hard, about a third of each stalk. boil the asparagus for about 5 minutes. drain. roll in one slice of prosciutto. roll in breadcrumbs/cheese mix. place in shallow baking dish and once all asparagus are arranged, spray the whole thing over lightly with butter flavored non stick spray. bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until breadcrumbs appear crispy. enjoy!

get involved

i've added new stuff to my sidebar. well, actually yesterday i got around to updating most everything on the sidebar.

in the 'other things i like' portion of the sidebar, i still have some staples. my cute huband links to his myspace page, even though he never goes there anymore. then we have cnn, which i prefer over the other newsy channels. and dilbert is still there because most days i feel like i work in that office instead of a normal one.

there are two things that have just been updated to different links. first, we haven't joined a church here in town yet, but we've been going to one in particular (university united methodist) consistently enough to update the link to my united methodist church. second, i was heavily involved with rescue mission, a homeless program, in lexington and hope to become more involve here in las vegas. we have the second highest homeless population in the country, i believe second only to DC, and while there are many causes of homelessness which i won't get into here, i do think that everyone deserves to eat a meal. so the link is now the local people of this national group.

lastly, there are two new things. there is a link to a second comic strip which is just too cute, pearls before swine. they are the comic from yesterday; the little animals are too much fun to not read on occation. and then a link to a site called volunteer match. just type in your zip code and it will bring up a list of all the volunteering opportunities in your area. its all kinds of stuff like painting the insides of goodwill stores making them more inviting to handing out water and help with timing/scoring at local fitness events. the search menu has a drop down for interests so i think everyone out there should be able to find a volunteer opportunity in your town which is a meaningful match with what you like to do. so, get involved where you live!

for all the tofu lovers out there

i'm also a tofu lover so when andrew read this in the funny papers last week, he remembered to tell me about it. its just that you can make it taste like anything, sorta like chicken.

and if you want more swine, then just click the link.

magic makes everything better

thirteen steps to Magic Chili week #23 i had this friend in college who was magical. you know those people, the ones that are the smartest and most attractive and just everything works out perfectly. jonathon was also a wonderful cook. every couple of weeks we'd all march down to his house and eat something splendid. i try to make chili a couple times each winter but for some reason it hasn't happened just yet this year. and while, yeah, its the first of march, its been springish here a couple for most of february. so i guess if i'm going to do this, i'd best get on it. but many of you out there still have lots of time. enjoy! 1. saute in a big stock pot 1 T. oil, medium onion chopped, and 1-2 cloves garlic chopped 2. cut up 1 green pepper, 2 carrots, mushrooms to taste 3. add veggies to pot 4. cube up a package firm to extra firm tofu. add to pot. 5. open a can of white corn, can blackeyed peas, can black beans 6. open a can red beans and drain them 7. add all cans to stock pot 8. open small can tomato paste, 1 can Italian tomatoes, and 2 cans tomatoes with chilies. 9. add to stock pot. 10. add 2 T. brown sugar, 2 T. chili powder 2 tsp. cumin, and 2 tsp. Italian seasonings 11. stiring occationally, simmer for two or more hours until you like the texture of the carrots. they are the last to cook up and won't ever really get smooshy. 12. if you want smooshy carrots, use canned rather than fresh. 13. serve with crackers and shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream

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