TV for Geeks

Posted on by
Reply

My family watches tv. In fact, we watch a lot of tv.

I’ve always been less than fond of the crap that passes for humor on tv- I don’t find laugh tracks and off-color situations in 25,000 variations funny. So, I never thought I’d say, “let’s watch tv.”

But… there are some shows I adore.

And, I’ve realized, what they all have in common is a certain…geek factor.

Mythbusters? Heck, yeah. Things blowing up, jokes about things blowing up, and, oh, yeah, MORE stuff blowing up. In a scientific way. Kerblooey!

Dirty Jobs? Heheheh. Okay, squeezing poop out of day old chicks may not amuse you, but…yeah. It’s funny as hell to me.

And, my family’s current favorite?

Big Bang Theory! All I can say is, we live with Sheldon. In fact, each of us is a little Sheldon-ish in our own unique way.

Me: That’s my spot. Where all things are perfect, and the world is in alignment. In a Cartesian graph, it is  my “0 -0-0″.

Hubby: “Look! I can turn on the lights by sending a signal through the internet and around the world!”

Eldest: “Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur, happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr.”

Middle: No personal boundaries. None. She’ll discuss anything. Anywhere.

Son: “Bazinga!!!” (As he recites pi to 15 decimal points)

I want to go play in a giant ball pit, and pretend the balls are electrons. I want to have a roommate contract that specifies that if there is ever a zombie apocalypse, my family will not kill me if I get bitten by a zombie.

Does that make us a family of geeks?

God, I hope so!

Nickel Update…

Posted on by
Reply

….because that’s all it’s worth!

I was horrified when I looked and realized it’s been about two weeks since I last posted.

What’s my excuse?

It’s a good one! I have a new job and I’ve been plugging away and learning tons of new information.

Getting into the groove with a new schedule is challenging, and I have let some things slip that I normally wouldn’t.. like blogging. And knitting. And laundry. And working out.

Last night I made homemade mac n’ cheese. Yum. I love that stuff.

Recipe?

Mac n’ Cheese

1 lb box elbow macaroni
3 c. shredded cheese
1/2 package cream cheese
2 tbl. butter
2-3 tbl. flour
1/2 c finely chopped onion
Lawry’s seasoning salt
Dry mustard
Ground pepper
2-3 cups milk
Panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 375. Get out 9″ x 13″ pan & grease. Cook macaroni, drain, and dump in greased pan.

The sauce:

Saute onions in butter until soft. Add flour and stir into butter and onions-this is the base for a roue- a flour thickened sauce base. Add milk gradually and stir. I usually put in about 1/2 cup at a time, and let it kinda dissolve the flour and butter “lumps”. Bring to low simmer, and let thicken. Add  1/2 tsp dry mustard, Lawry’s salt, and pepper to taste. Cut up cream cheese into small-ish chunks, and add to sauce. Add 2 1/2 c. shredded cheese (reserve the rest to sprinkle on top). Mix until cheese melts.

Pour on cooked macaroni, and stir well. Seriously. Stir it in. You don’t want any noodles to not have cheese on them. Spread out in pan, then sprinkle with reserved cheese. Sprinkle a little of the panko bread crumbs on top, and if you want to be fancy, a little ground paprika for color.

Bake for 30 minutes in 375 oven.

We’re Midwestern heathens, and eat our mac n’ cheese with cornbread served with butter and pancake syrup. Serious carb loading. And one of my family’s favorites.

Enjoy!

Advertising for What?????

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve seen or heard advertising for just about every product on the face of the earth. Viagra? Check. Feminine products? Check. Pet stuff, kids’ stuff, stuff you don’t know who would want, stuff to store your stuff, and other random stuff? Check.

But the radio ad that I heard the other day made me go… “WTF”?

It was a March Madness ad.. with a twist. It was for men to get vasectomies, and included… free…a bag of frozen peas.

I’m not kidding.

Really.

And what do you want to bet there are wives out there that think, “Hmmm. That might stretch my grocery dollar.”

*evil laugh*

The Cogs are Turning….

Posted on by
Reply

I am so contented right now, I can’t think of words for it.

Really.

I’m not kidding.

I took my daughters out to lunch at a Japanese steakhouse today, and they had a wonderful time. Meal and a show! And my eldest daughter was giggling.

We got to talking about prom dresses, and middle daughter would love to rock a steampunk dress… so I was looking online. There are some fun outfits out there. And I had a thought…

Wouldn’t it be fun to do a steampunk tea party?

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a steampunk tea pot, with gears and valves and such?

And dress up?

It would almost be a Victorian tea…but with a twist. Quirky.

I could totally have fun turning a thrift shop tea pot into something funky.

Like this: http://www.hartford.com/event-detail.php?id=1168

Steampunk=Renaissance Faire garb for this generation. Am I too old to play too?

 

My Wildlife and Other Problems

Posted on by
Reply

So many options about what to write about today.

My new job? (Fun, but not what I want to write about.)

What I’m knitting? (See above for “new job”. Knitting productivity has gone waaay down.)

My kids? Nah.

My pets? Nope.

The coyote problem in my back yard? Sure, why not?

We’ve had an ongoing coyote presence since we moved here five years ago. Howling in the distance at night, an occasional sighting as we drive in and out of the neighborhood.. it’s all fine and good. Except the “presence” is starting to take on more of a “Twilight Zone” effect recently.

The pug likes to go out and meander along the property line in back, and I was fine with that until a few weeks ago when I spotted a coyote crossing in front of our shed at about 9 pm at night. So now I go out with him, and keep him on his tie out in the evening.

Today I was motivated by my neighbor’s efforts, and poop scooped our back yard. Except…most of what I was scooping was not pug poo. Trust me, after as many poop incidents in the house as we’ve had, I can recognize my dog logs from twenty feet. This was distinctly not his. Some had bits of hair and feathers, some had bits of bone. I was getting squeemier and squeemier, and…. the final straw… there was one about 5 foot from our house with a MOUSE SKULL in it! Holy crap!!

I’m a little unnerved. Are they mousing up by my house and doing me a favor by reducing the mouse infestation? Are they responding to the fact that I have a male dog and territory marking? Or…. and this is what makes me nervous… are they growing bolder and planning on having a pug snack, since he’s now restrained to a smaller area up close to the back door?

I’m not sure what I should do, except maybe train the pug to do his evening business in a litter box. Or put up a 10 foot fence around my yard. Or toss dog food in the neighbors’ yards down the street so the coyotes go there instead of here. I’m open to suggestions. Yikes!

 

Was the Groundhog Right?

Posted on by
Reply

We may get snow today.

It’s been an incredibly mild winter, and I, for one, haven’t objected. My former co-workers are still trekking all the way down to the far south side of Chicago, and I am glad they are getting a break this winter. And with driving the kids here and there, and eldest daughter now having her driver’s license, I am very grateful that we haven’t had ice storms, and mountains of snow.

But it may be ending. We are supposed to get some “lake effect” snow today. February tends to be when the huge snow storms hit- remember last February? It collapsed parts of the roof at my work. Now THAT was an interesting week.

I’m counting down till spring, so if this is winter’s last hurrah, I’m fine with it. But if it’s winter gathering up her forces, and launching a full scale attack, I am so not going to shovel. Time for the kids to earn their keep. Want Starbucks? Go shovel. Want ice cream? Go shovel. Want world peace and everyone to just get along? Heheheh. Go shovel. (It’s worth a try!)

That’s what we have teenagers for, right?

 

Satire? Irony? Divine Retribution?

Posted on by
Reply

Animals must have a sense of humor.

That’s the only possible explanation for it.

I know, it’s anthropomorphizing, yada yada yada, but sometimes it’s just impossible that something just happened by accident.

What happened?

Well, let’s just say my middle daughter is going through a difficult stage. Difficult stage being a gross understatement, like saying an F-5 tornado is “a little wind”. She has been over the top obnoxious, mean, nasty, aggressive, and in general has been terrorizing the entire family for about three weeks.

At least twice in the past week, she has reduced me to tears.

Her sister is to the point where she is fantasizing about going away to college early just to avoid the sibling-tornado.

I am exhausted, fed up, and ready to take drastic action.

Last night was another round of her throwing things, screaming, threatening, verbally abusing, and overall being a nightmare.

So my pug, who is in general a good dog, stealthed upstairs.

And PEED on her pile of clean clothes.

I am awe-struck by his comedic genius.

And I can’t help it, but I petted his ears and whispered, “Good dog. That’s a good boy.”

Good Things

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes, I wake up and it’s a beautiful happy day. Actually, most days are beautiful happy days, but I’m talking about a whole new caliber of happy. We’re talking “fitting into your high school jeans” happy. Joyful. Rejoicing. And grateful.

I’m having one of those days today. Why?

-I got a job! And I start by Feb 15th. In this economy, that’s nearly a miracle, so I can only give thanks to all the people who were cheering me on, and to those who included me in their prayers. It worked!

-I got carded yesterday. For us old chicks, getting carded is like standing next to a supermodel, and having your spouse tell you that YOU are more beautiful than the supermodel, and having him MEAN it.

-The very very late Christmas present that I’m making for my dearest cousin is almost finished, and I get to mail it out to her on Monday.

-Techno-Genius ( aka Hubby) cleaned the kitchen, including the entire oven, and under the oven, and is now fixing “bake” mode on it. It’s been wonky since Thanksgiving, so I am very thrilled to have my very own engineering wizard here (who helped design the controls, no less) fix it for me. And, when I say cleaned, I mean, CLEANED, to the degree that makes car detailing guys look like slobs.

-Super Pug got to play last night with the neighbors’ dog, and today with a dog at the horse barn- so he is tired, and a tired pug is a good pug.

The sun is shining, no kids are crying, and the chores are getting done without any parental interference….So, today is a happy day!

Have a good Saturday!

D’oh.

Posted on by
Reply

It took me many years to realize this, but… life isn’t easy.

It’s not that I was walking around going “la di la di la” before, it’s just that I never sat down and  thought “yup, this is what life is” and shrugged and got on with doing what had to be done.

I questioned. I ranted. I complained, and good grief, can I complain (in my family, I think it’s an Olympic sport). I worried, and judged myself as lesser because I let myself get tangled up in the emotions and angst of being alive.

I’d get angry, and explode in frustration, because this particular life of mine is NOT what I see on tv, or read in books, or see the Joneses down the street having. I felt like ” have-not” in a world of “haves”.

I didn’t want to deal with my alphabet soup of  problems-problems with Adolescence,  Barf,  or Car- all the way to Health or Money or Zits, or get another call from school, or hear that this child or that child was upset, and it was “all your fault, Mom!!” I didn’t want to look at myself, and see the extra 30+ pounds I’m carrying around.

I certainly didn’t want to sit down and brood about it. But somehow, that’s what I’d always find myself doing at 2 am in the morning, and wondering what I had done wrong, that my life was so HARD.

But, here’s the thing… I’ve dealt with worse, and come out on the other side. So have “the Joneses” of the world. Worrying about not having a job hasn’t made a job magically appear. Worrying about my kids hasn’t improved their grades or made school any less frustrating. Worrying sure as heck hasn’t taken off the 30 extra pounds.

So… for the last six months, while I’ve been unemployed,  I’ve been avoiding fussing about the “hard stuff”.  I redefined the “hard stuff”. I slapped a definition on frustration, and worry, and ripping myself up, and called it all “hard stuff” instead. I opted out of making myself crazy with angst, and chose to see it all as part of living. Not easy, not hard, just…life.

So I’ve been getting up every single day, and living life one step at a time- that’s given me positive experiences. Sitting down, and writing about the craziness that happens every day in my life, and seeing the funniness of it (have you ever tried to clean a litter box with an audience of three cats???), that’s made me happier and a more cheerful person. Knitting and felting and other craftsy nonsense may have saved a few lives in this house a couple of times. Because I’m choosing, as best I can, to substitute something positive for the negative that threatens to fester in the back of my mind if I give it a toe hold.

Has it made a difference?

Do I have a job? Nope.

Do I still get calls from school and crabby kids? Yep.

Have I lost that 30 pounds? Hah. Not a chance.

Am I okay with it? Not 100%. Not even close. But, I’m trying to not let it rule my life. I chose not to explode at my poor Hubby this morning simply because the cat peed on the rug. I chose not to vent my frustration in an ugly, cruel manner simply because I thought “my life is HARD”.

Life isn’t easy. No one’s life is. That’s the nature of living. And I can be sad and worry, or I can step up and smile and see the good around me. I just have to make that choice. And I’m trying to, every day.

Wish me luck.

Is It Spring Yet?

Posted on by
Reply

I love this time of year.

Not the weather, which is unpredictable and usually miserable. Not the Valentine’s Day hoopla, although I do like the chocolate. Certainly not Groundhog Day, which involves abusing a poor rodent and finding out that yes, winter does suck. Nope.

It’s all about the seed catalogs.

They should start trickling into my mailbox any day now.

Beautiful full color photos, descriptions with exotic and over-the-top phrases.  Words like “heirloom”, “organic”, and “guaranteed to grow”. My eyes grow glazed, and I develop a nervous twitch as I go from one catalog to another. I start mumbling to myself about “days to harvest” and “growing zones”. I stay up late, and discover that seed catalogs are now online, and begin telling my spouse that I’m doing “nothing” at 11:30 at night when I’m clicking from screen to screen on the laptop. I angle the screen away from him, so he can’t see the 30 varieties of peas that I have added to my fantasy shopping cart at Burpee Seeds.

I contemplate tilling up the entire backyard, and turning it into a quarter acre of Heaven on Earth.

Seed catalogs are like garden porn.

They tempt you into unnatural thoughts, and feed the addiction. They make you think that you, too, like Traci Lords, can do incredible feats of daring prowess, and end up with prize winning melons.

I may need an intervention.

I know, in my heart of hearts, that come August, when the water bill for the garden comes in, and the weeds are winning, and I never ever want to see another tomato ever again, I’ll swear off of gardening, and vow that next year, I’ll just plant one or two tomatoes, and do the rest as flowers. I’ll stop weeding in August, and pretend that I don’t see clusters of tomatoes like grapes when I look out the back window. I’ll stealth zucchini the size of baseball bats into the compost pile, so no one will know I’ve given up on even trying to come up with one more zucchini and tomato recipe.

But in February, they are so tempting. Someone, anyone – I think I need Nanny software to block all garden sites, and someone else to bring in the mail and toss the seed catalogs before I see them. Otherwise, we’re all in trouble, because there’s a whole backyard out there, and really, who needs this much grass to mow?