Why I don't lose weight.

I love to cook. I love to eat. End of story. Here are a few of my recent dishes. I've been in a gourmet mood lately and the husband is loving it. He does think I'm certifiable though, for taking pictures of my food. Who needs those stinking expensive restaurants!

#1 This is a CrazyDogMama favorite. Penne pasta with chicken in a gorgonzola cream sauce topped with diced hazelnuts and parsley.

#2 Crab cakes in a vodka tomato cream sauce accompanied by a small tenderloin steak and baked golden potato with chives, bacon and sour cream. Yeah, no calories in this dish.

#3 Stuffed pork tenderloin in a red wine demiglace. Super yummy.

#4 Alcoholic dessert anyone? This is a German spiced wine, pretty cheap, but a 10 on the yum-yum scale. Just heat on the stove and serve with a cinnamon stick. (That's Louie in the background, he motors around the kitchen when I'm cooking.)

#5 The wine in a pretty cup.

OK, enough with the white shit already.

I am looking painfully out of my work window at the big-ass snowflakes falling on the already frozen snow. It is not that bad here (yet), but we still have a good 6 to 8 inches where I live, and I can just imagine how my commute home is going to go. *Sigh* I love the snow when I can romp and play in it, but a 6-hour commute with idiot drivers isn't my idea of a good time.

Only going to get just a few inches MY ASS!

Yeah, we got like a little over a FOOT of snow. It is 11 pm and I just got home from WORK. Bah! The snow is fun now that I can torture the dogs in it, but driving in it, SUCKS ASS.

Cracking Skulls

We had quite the little scare with the teenager a couple of days before Christmas. My stepson decided that jumping onto a moving car would be a hoot. Not so much. His friends and him were goofing around and he jumped onto the trunk of his buddies' car, just as it was about to be gunned forward. My stepson smacked his head on the pavement (literally). He actually cracked his skull and was bleeding out of his eardrum. His friends rushed him to the hospital, and my husband and I were the ones his friends decided to notify first. We flew out of the house and when we got there, they had him in a neck brace. Talk about having a panic attack!

It turned out that the neck brace was just a precaution, but they did do X-rays and later an MRI and a CTI Scan. They said he would be fine, but then the next day he started developing this weird face-thing. His eyes did not blink at the same time, and his smile was crooked. Face paralysis. GREAT. After seeing a specialist, they told us he got really lucky. He will be fine. Thank God. Here is a funny part, he was wearing a T-shirt that said "I do my own stunts" the day of the accident. It was a little comical seeing it all bloodstained in the hospital.

Here is a picture of the delinquents. Bill (my stepson) is the one in the back in white. They are all in drama club together.

First Christmas Present.

The first present I opened, need I say more? Diablo will be proud of me. We chatted a few times on her website before she was a superstar. A real sweetheart.

Happy Mode

I am finally in the Christmas spirit. It took a while with all the stress in my personal life, but today I just realized how very blessed I am. I have some of the best friends a person could ever ask for, and I'm sitting in my little cozy home (that we have come close to losing so many times) having a little spiked eggnog, complete with fuzzy appendages attached to my hip. (Louie and Maggie, the furbutts.) A lot has happened this year, both bad and good, but in reflection I can say that everything has come to such a peaceful end for me in 2006. Sure, there are still the stresses of finances and work and the like, but I know in my heart everything is going to be OK. I give the credit to God for that. For the families out there who are struggling, or for the soldiers who are at war, my thoughts and prayers are with you. 2007 is going to be a year of giving and helping for us, as we have received so much of that ourselves in this past year.

Pictures are a little fuzzy, but I wanted to take them without flash. Our pretty little tree looks great against my red wall! Sparklies!

CrazyDogMama vs. Deer

OK folks, I am going for the all-time record in plowing over deer with my vehicle. Last Friday night made THREE. I have hit THREE deer since 1997, all with different cars. This is a major statistical feat, wouldn't you say? Obviously, I have lived through all of them the deer not so much. Due to the snowstorm last week, I get to drive around a lovely Hyundai for two weeks while my SUV is fixed. I don't have a scratch on me, in fact all I said after I hit it was "goddamnit" very calmly. I have apologized to God for that.

Snow was more fun when I was a kid.

Now it is just a pain in the rectal region. I had a lovely 3-hour commute home last Monday night when another little winter blast started right as I left work. Then, neither Jim nor I could get to work the next day. Driving has been stupid and slow. The only fun thing is watching the dogs try to maneuver in it. We got about 7 inches in our backyard, then we had a deep freeze (17 frigging degrees), then a nice ice storm.

Here are some pics from the drive, and my iced-over windows which take a millennium to unthaw. Good times. Driving home on solid ice, I really should be paying attention to my driving, but I digress.

Turkey, Napping & Snow

All in all, a nice holiday weekend, complete with a winter storm. The news said we are to get 3 to 6 inches of snow tonight!

Crappy photos for your viewing pleasure: Jim working his turkey magic. My kitchen, the disaster area. Jim eating light with one turkey-plate, and one side-dish plate. Dog butts frolicking in the snow, and "Snowback Mountain".

MOM, enough with the flash already!

I know I take too many pics of my puppies, but this one cracked me up. The flash made poor Lou scrunch his eyes closed, LOL!

Thanksgiving Menu!

Well, I'm taking tomorrow off to start cooking for turkey day. I love holidays that revolve around FOOD. Here is my plan, please tell me what your plan is! I love new ideas!

Appetizers:
Baked Artichoke Dip with Baguette Bread
Cajun prawns
Wine and Beer

Dinner:
19-pound Butterball Turkey
Seasoned Stuffing
Poultry Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Baked Pineapple (old family recipe)
Green Bean Crunch
Cranberry Sauce
Rolls
Apple Cider

Dessert:
Pumpkin Pie
Dutch Apple Pie
Banana Pudding Crunch (family recipe)
Baileys and Coffee

Pictures to follow...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope it's a good one!

Starbucks Cream Liqueur

OMG, do NOT try this, or you'll be in danger of becoming an alcoholic. Seriously.

One word MEME from Sarcomical.

You can only use one word to answer the questions.

Yourself: Zombified
Your partner: Funny
Your hair: Messy
Your mother: Hospitable
Your father: Love
Your favorite item: Camera
Your dream last night: War
Your favorite drink: Mocha
Your dream car: Hummer
Your dream home: Cedar
The room you are in: Cube
Your ex: Gone
Your fear: Betrayal
Where you want to be in ten years: Happy
Who you hung out with last night: Jim
What you're not: Sane
Muffins: Chocolate
One of your wish list items: Money
Time: Quick
The last thing you did: Cigarette
What you are wearing: Clothes
Your favorite weather: Stormy
Your favorite book: Horror
Last thing you ate: Oatmeal
Your life: Crazy
Your mood: OK
Your best friends: Nuts
What are you thinking about right now: Food
Your car: Dirty
What are you doing at the moment: Writing
Your summer: Hot
Relationship status: Married
What is on your tv: Nothing
What is the weather like: Grey
When is the last time you laughed: Yesterday

Yes, I am alive.

I know, I know, it's been 2 weeks since I have posted. Let me tell you, LOTS has been going on in my life lately. Let me start with the flooding.

Last week we had some serious rain, and the town I live in was under water. My house was OK because I live on a hill, but getting back and forth to work wasn't happening well. We're talking only one way out of town, and 30 billion people going that way at the same time. Here are some pics I took driving:

All the poor downtown businesses were under water. The water was coming up to the road, water should not be on the right at all. (Notice the really nice crack in my windshield. Stupid trucks.) There was one part where I'm like "OH SHIT", the water is spilling over the bridges!

It is hard to take pics when you are driving and starting to get a little nervous.

After a 3.5 hour commute the next day, I decided to stay with my mom for a couple of days who lives 5 minutes from where I work. I don't like being away from home, but there was (OF COURSE) an audit going on at my work, and it was critical that I get there.

I worked 30 hours in two days because of the audit. Ugh. THEN, when I went back home, Jim and I got into a huge fight and I went back to my mom's for the weekend.

My birthday was Sunday, too. I am not all that thrilled with turning 35, but Jim and I made up that day, so it turned out nice.

Let's see, hmm. Oh! I had a migraine yesterday and had to stay home from work. Is that enough drama to get out of blogging for a few weeks? I think so. But I'm back now.

Boy, this would really suck.

Since I have been slacking on my earthquake fear mongering lately, here is a nice up-beat read:

Worst-Case Scenario – Cascadia Subduction Zone (survivingcascadia.com)

Things that irritate me, part four million and six.

1. When people honk their car horns, and it is NOT an emergency. It scares the crap out of me.
2. When people spell LOSE with two O's. (Loose). OMG! Come ON! (I may have mentioned this before, but it REALLY bugs me.)
3. People who do not have a sense of humor.
4. Cutesy home decor. Like cartoon stitchery angels and shit. GAG ME.
5. Too much clutter on your work desk that is not work related. We all have some, I'm talking ridiculous amounts here.
6. When people put their kids on the phone. I do not wish to have a conversation with a toddler, thank you. Put your dog on the phone instead, it will be more intellectual for me.
7. People who think their kids are too cute to be annoying. YOU ARE WRONG.
8. Tailgaters. I will slam on my brakes, don't do it.
9. People at Costco who will not MOVE OUT OF MY WAY when I say excuse me.
10. People who hum.
11. People who don't like dogs.
12. When people stand too close to me. Get out of my personal space.
13. When people don't stand by their word.
14. When you tell someone to shut up at the movie theatre, then they have an attitude with you. OH PLEASE COME OVER HERE AND LET ME SMACK THE CRAP OUT OF YOU.
15. Reality shows. (Sorry, everyone)
16. Packaged things that are too hard to open.

If you do any of these things, it doesn't mean I hate you, I'm sure I annoy plenty of people. Get over yourself.

Undecided

I am really having a dilemma on whether or not I will give out the two HUGE bags of candy I got from Costco tonight to those damn punk teenage kids who DON'T EVEN DRESS UP anymore, they just come to the house, ring the doorbell 50 times in a row, make the dogs nuts, and then stand there with their pants hanging down to their knees saying, "Trick or Treat, Dude". I don't know if I can take it. I think I will just eat all the candy myself and risk the vandalism. Fuck it. The only thing I will miss are the really cute 2-year-olds in the lion and dinosaur costumes. I'm not a kid person, but damn they are cute. I remember last year when my husband was dressed as Leatherface with blood all over him, and this cute little, tiny girl was smiling at him and wanted to touch his deformed face. I melted. All the other ones cried and screamed, but I wanted to adopt that little angel!

Louie is also quite fixated on the candy. I will not let him have any because as you know chocolate is poison to dogs, but that little fuzbutt follows me around, tries to lick the chocolate off of my lips and climbs up onto the coffee table to steal the candy wrappers and run with them into his crate for safe keeping. Ahh, Halloween.

Headaches, Hair Products, and Hunger

So yesterday was interesting. I had a migraine headache from hell. It was one of those headaches where you want to turn all the lights off, need it to be incredibly quiet, and lay down so you don't throw up. Of course, I was at work where the lights are brighter than a fricking football stadium, everybody was running around nuts and LOUD, and I couldn't lay down because it was hella-busy. Driving home was fun, I was seeing spots and weird colors. For EXTRA fun, they were doing construction on the road up to my house and they have it detoured about 10 minutes out of the way. It was awesome.

All better today, but I had to tell you about Christmas in the company bathroom. There is this girl who bought all of this fancy foo-foo hair product and face stuff and decided she was never going to use it, and instead of throwing it away, she put it all in the bathroom at work and told us to take it away! We're talking Aveda, Bed Head, Clinique, etc. I WAS SOO ALL OVER THAT. I'm stocked now!

Lastly. I'm hungry. I'm always hungry. I can't get my mind off food. Especially comfort food. I want turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and ham and scalloped potatoes and gravy and I don't think I'm going to make to Thanksgiving. Want. stuffing. NOW.

The Silly Viking

We were trying on hats in Leavenworth, and Jim is silly.

CrazyDogMama fell down and went boom.

My new "I hate the fucking treadmill so I'm going to play Racquetball instead" idea is sucking today. My feet stopped abruptly on the court, and the rest of me didn't. I landed hard on my right knee. I got the shot, though, I'll have you know. My knee is purple and pounding right now and I'm getting a headache. *Sigh* I'm such an R-Tard.