What the FRIG is a POPCORN POLICY!!????

I felt like I was in an episode of 'The Office."

We are all in the kitchen at work the other day and the new I&R girl (lady... chick... WOman....) comes in with a box of microwave popcorn and says, "Do you guys have a microwave popcorn policy here?" I about spit out my diet pepsi laughing because I have never even HEARD of such a thing and the whole concept just struck me hilarious. If that wasn't enough... a few of the people who have been there for many, many years chime in... in ALL seriousness.... "Yeah, actually... we have had one since we were over in Brewer, but it hasn't been enforced in awhile and it's not really in writing, I don't think, so I wouldn't worry about it unless someone says something to you." Seriously. A "popcorn policy." It's a REAL THING.

A trip to the city forest n' stuff

Rick is away at a conference so the kids and I have been staying busy doing lots of stuff!! I don't know why, but I get so much more done when it's just me. I think I need to figure out why that is because I love the feeling of accomplishment that I have ended the day with the past couple days and I'd like to keep that going even when Rick is home!!

Tomorrow is another busy one! Our morning schedule is a bit messed up with B and Grampa in Boston and after school Jessi has her first home game. One of today's "accomplishments" (lol) was exchanging her field hockey stick cuz my little field hockey freak already broke the one we just got at the beginning of the year! Those girls may wear skirts, but they are NO SISSIES!! There were FIVE injuries at the last game!!

Stuff coolness and hotness to hold you over til I REALLY blog ;-)

My Aunt sent me these... and I feel I must share...

And MY personal favorite....

And some eye candy (i.e. hotness), as promised....

That expression just screams... "You KNOW you want a piece of this."

Can you handle a little more? I know you can. I REALLY wanted a shot of him barefoot on the beach from that mexico video... but I could only find tiny ones :,-(


Ah what the hell.... here is the video... you know you want to watch it....


-----deleted cuz it was effing annnoying------

Natalie Dee is FUnnnY!

A fun little survery.... cuz it's fun

Here are the instructions:

1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. To cross out stuff you put < --strike-- > the word < /strike > (without the spaces and dashes that I used between the brackets that I had to put in or it would have looked like this ...and that isn't a very good illustration now, is it?
4. Commentary is welcome!! ....and I have no idea what the VGT is about. I found this survey here

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare ---Well... not in the fancy schmancy way, but I used to eat bits of mom's meatloaf before she cooked it and one of my 6th grade friends favorite snack was raw hambuger with salt. My stomach now turns at BOTH of these things!!
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding ---Not sure what it is but it does NOT sound like a good thing.
7. Cheese fondue ---made with swiss... not a fan.
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho--- WTF is PHO??? Gonna need to google this one!
13. PB&J sandwich ---HATE them!
14. Aloo gobi--- Google time again
15. Hot dog from a street cart ---YUMMO!
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns- like bread made of pork????
20. Pistachio ice cream- yuck
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans ---Want to like them SO badly and try them all the time... but just don't like 'em
25. Brawn, or head cheese (Ew!)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava ---A TEENY piece only please... otherwise I'll yak
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas ---HOT WATER BURN BABY!
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut YUM!
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea -that sounds just wrong, I prefer my food clot-free thank you very much.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut ---Sweet Jeebuz heaven on earth!!
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal ---I can't even be in the CAR when somoeone is eating a big mac without feeling the overwhelming need to hurl!
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis ---NO EFFING WAY!
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill ---move along folks... would rather not discuss this one......
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie ---hostess pudding pies, yes.... fruit, no.
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict ---No but I REALLY want to ever since Pioneer woman made them!!
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. huh?
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse ---no FLicka for this Filly
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Wow.... I have not tried very many things. I am not doing all those strike-thrus.... that would take all freakin day... there must be an easier way to do that. Just assume that if I haven't tried it... I probably ain't gonna! Except Kobe Beef... bring summa that on ANY DAY!

Off to google some of that stuff. I'll probably be back with some horrifying results.

GAME DAY!!

Someone ELSE was NOT in a great mood this morning.

Took a doofus to the Hampden Rec/Stream today

Antiquing!

Today Nicole and I went antiquing. This is a new "obsession" for us... there is SO much cool. weird, and funky crap in some of those places! And there is ALWAYS something to laugh about, or get inspired by!

Autumn always gets me all watered up to make stuff and decorate my house! We stopped at Silkweeds and they had the neatest sprays made of seed beads and sequins. Nicole insisted I could make them myself for much less. So when I dropped Jessi off at Liv's, I popped over to ACMoore to get the stuff to make some. Now that I have it all here, I think I would have rather bought the things at ACMoore ....LOL! I am not a huge fan of tedium.

After a long day of shopping I came home to a DELICOUS meal that Rick made... asparagus, steak and baked potatoes... ALL on the grill! I snipped some chives out of my window garden and mixed them up with sour cream for the taters... YUMMO!!!!!

Tomorrow Rick and I have to work on cleaning out the basement a bit and I promised Nicole I would help her hang stuff in her new place!

Some pics from a busy week!!

To Noah the Tattoo Guy "Ummm.... You are doing a REALLY great job.... but I have to say you are REALLY not my favorite person in the world right now!"

Here is where we went.

Noah say, "Nah... it doesn't really hurt... it's more of an annoyance really." Me thinks Noah lies. Another of my gems.... "HOLY CRAP... It feels like someone is coloring on my skin with a NEEDLE!!!!" LOL
DONE!!! Wayne the body piercing guy was pretty disappointed that I did not crap my pants as I had promised... Sorry Wayne.

I LOVE my tattoo. I also love Nicole's words that she had added to hers, so I think I am going to add some sort of design to mine that goes up and around my ankle a little... some more swirly wind or something. Maybe I'll get that done when Rick goes to have his armband done :)

ETA: Why the leaf?

Last year when we went to North Conway our motel was beside a tattoo shop. When we first saw it we joked, "Hey we should get matching tattoos to signify our trip every fall!" Over the weekend we kept talking about it and what we would get. Since there are maple leaves on 95% of the signs down there... we kept coming back to that idea. We went to the shop to do it that Sunday before we left, but they were closed. So no tattoo that year.... but we always planned to do it next time. The tattoo shop where we were going to get them done didn't survive the winter slow season and closed down, so we went to White Mtn down the road a bit.

So that's the why... also.... I just LOVE ME SOME AUTUMN! It's my FAVORITE time of the year! :)

North Conway '08!!!

We had a GREAT, action packed, time!!! I have to admit that when plans changed and Jessi was now coming along, I was a little worried that she'd cramp our fun a bit, but she didn't at ALL!! She was just "one of the girls" all weekend long!

Friday morning we headed out bright and early. it was a bit of a rough start since my tank was on 'E' and the Irving in Hampden had no gas... what is THAT about!!? So on a wing and a prayer we made it to the Irving in Bangor and filled 'er up.

We stopped in Freeport and did a little shopping, then in Portland for lunch. (LOVES ME SOME ORANGE CHICKEN!!!!!!) Can I just say that TomTom RAWKS MY WORLD!!? TRUST IN THE TOMTOM!!!! I TOTALLY need one!!!! We also stopped in lots of roadside antiquey places, one of them (Wild Plum) was SO COOL, a big old barn, decorated like CRAZY with neat stuff EVERYWHERE.

Once we arrived and checked in to our favorite little family run motel , we were all ready for dinner. We TRIED to go to the place across the street from the motel that we liked last year. We waited forever, finally got our seats, and coudln't even read our menus because it was SO loud and infested with spoiled children, exhausted from a day at Storyland and parents getting their drink on. It was CRAZY and not in a good way!! So we ditched the place before the waitress brought our drink orders to us. We instead went back to our motel and then walked downtownt to eat at Horsefeathers... which also was not so great... but it WAS quieter.... until we got there and starting laughing so hard that our stomachs hurt :)

Day 2 we shopped til we dropped at the Settlers Green to the lovely music entertainment of a few 80 year old dudes and a karaoke machine. It was hot. After shopping and Cold Stone.... it was TATTOO TIME!!! Oh YEAH!! I DID IT!! That story will have to follow later as all the pics are on Nicole's camera and this blog already got a long longer than I had originally planned!

A little Ramble......

OK… so I really don’t have much to blog about, but I had to blog SOMETHING to knock the Nicky blog down a bit.

Tomorrow morning we are off to North Conway. It’s usually just Nicole and I, but since we couldn’t go last weekend, and since I had taken tomorrow off to take Jessi shopping, we decided to all go to North Conway together. And lucky for us, our motel had a room available!! Jessi is very excited to come along!

Since we are going to be away, Rick decided that he would take off too and spend the long weekend at the camp on East Grand. Sean can’t wait to go up and do some fishing with “the guys.”

This weekend is JUST what everyone needs after a rough couple weeks. The kids are still having a bit of a tough time missing Nicky. Sean carries around Nicky’s collar everywhere, and his webkinz Collie and Jessi still cries a lot, though her Myspace says “Jessi is feeling a little better about the whole Nicky thing.” (Dontcha just love how we can see our kids real moods and feelings on their myspace pages? ;)). I ordered her a silver charm bracelet with a little Collie charm. I’m sure we will all be missing Nicky for awhile, but school and fall activities will be starting up next week so that will be a good distraction!

Nicky was a great dog and we will miss him :(

It's so weird around here. We have gone from an over-abundance of people and dogs and chaos... to WAY too quiet.

Stayin' Busy

Things have been very busy around here with me getting ready to go down to NH for Nana's funeral and for Mom's short visit afterward. I have also been helping Nicole pack and get ready to move. Getting rid of crap and packing at Nicole's got me really wanting to clean and purge my own stuff! I started yesterday with my bedroom and it's now so clean and organized that I want to spend all my time in here!

So here I am on my big comfy bed watching Big Love and surfin' the net!

Rick seems to have caught the bug as well, he is getting our basement all cleaned out. I LONG for the day that 1/2 our bedroom is not a workout room!! It would be nice to have a craft area someday again too!

My Nana died yesterday.

It was very sad news, but she seems to have passed away in her sleep and I think that is the nicest way to go.

Apparently I am not the best at doling out news like this since when I called my brothers they both said, "What!?..... Are you kidding!?" And then I unfortunately had to give my mom the news as well... and she thought I was kidding too! Like I am the kind of person who goes around telling people that their grannies are dead and then yelling, "PSYCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I also had another "weird thing" happen before I heard the news. (Not as weird as the dream when my Grampy died last year, but still weird) I was bringing Jessi and Mikayla to Mikayla's house and on the way there she told me that she was moving away to New Jersey next year. I dropped them off and tears just started streaming down my face and I could NOT stop crying. I was also kinda laughing at myself because I was thinking, "WOW... I am NOT this sad about Mikayla moving away! I mean I like the girl and all, but this is just plain craziness. Why the hell am I crying like this!!??? I think I'm losing my freakin' mind!"

They said that it looked like Nana got up and had a little breakfast, then went and laid back down, so the timing of my "episode" probably would have been right when she passed away.

Not sure what that all means, but when I talked to Rick about it, he said, "WOW... I think it just means that you all have some kind of psychotic connection." Good thing I didn't marry him for his strong vocab skills.

I will miss my Nana very much. She was somethin' else!! But I am glad that she was able to go so peacefully.

I really wanted that bigfoot to be real!!

You may not know this about me but I LOVE me some cryptozoology!!

So I watching the videos on Jessi's youtube channel....

Maybe that camera wasn't the best idea after all.... ROFL!! Way to go fairy godmother Nicole!!

Just forget you ever saw that blog a week or so ago about that whole "save not spend" thing ;-) ;-)

Today Madden 2009 AND the New Jonas Brothers CD came out, so being the dutiful mom and wife that I am... I ran out to Best Buy on my lunch break and snagged them both.

I already know all the lyrics to the new JB CD... I think Jessi likes it. A lot. A REALLY lot. And surprisingly... so do all the critics... even Rolling Stone!

It doesn't REALLY count as frivolity though... Jessi paid for her own CD, and Rick definitely paid for his game with buckets of overtime AND on-call pay.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Because maybe all the good stuff is blocked at your office too so you never got a chance to watch it....

Or maybe because you live under the rock with Rick who certainly hasn't seen this, but it's pretty funny, so share I must.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Oh yeah... and just in case the rock you are under is REALLLLLLY big and deep (yes Rick and Jerry... I said "deep"). That vid is in response to this one....

Very nice weekend!

I skipped out on the Tupperware party and instead Jerry and Julie came over. I was a little grumpy (sorry... blame mother nature), but I think we still had fun!

Saturday I was pretty lazy most of the day, and then in the evening Rick drove Nicole and I out to Tom's for his PARTAAAAAY! Rick was going to come along too, but we had no sitter and the kids are still a little too young to be home alone at night. That would freak them... and us... right out! Plus Rick is on call and he was afraid he would get paged all evening long. So... my sweet, sweet husband carted Nicole and me to the party in Glenburn, and them came and picked us up later on that night! He should have been rewarded... but again... blame mother nature for the lack of reward ;)

Sunday we stayed super busy and got groceries, cleaned up the yard, reorganized the pantry, and took the kids to the playground. It was a gorgeous day and I am LOVING that you can feel in the air that fall is on the way. I LOVE ME SOME AUTUMN!!!!!

I need to take some freakin pictures! These photoless blogs are BORRRRRRRRRRRRING!