[[krystal]]’s Neighborhood

Well we are sick again.  This time it's hit all of us.  The bad part is I am taking care of 4 kids next week.  Hopefully mine will be feeling better and me too. 

chunk had the croup night before last and pooter got new shoes in his brace + cutting teeth.  no fun.

well i had to cancel the crop i had scheduled for myself but I was able to finish all my canvases.  I actually did all of them yesterday i think to stay awake lol.  I just have to write in stuff and I hate to do that so i am procrastinating alittle.  I usually don't post my stuff but here they are.  The first two are eh. I might redo them or figure out something ...i think i used too much modge podge..lol.  oh well i have doubles.

I'm going to sell all of my stuff. 

heat in large dutch oven/pot over medium-high heat.

• 1 tbsp olive oil

add & saute 3 min or until tender:

• 2 c. onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

add & stir:

• 3 c. water, divided
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, un-drained (recipe actually calls for 2)
• 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed & drained
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed & drained
• 1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, rinsed & drained
• 1 (16 oz) cannellini or white beans, rinsed & drained
• [optional: we added 2 more cans of beans]

combine in bowl; stir w/ whisk; stir into bean mixture:

• 1 c. water
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

bring to a boil; reduce heat & simmer 5 min or until thoroughly heated; ladle soup into bowls; top with:

• 1/2 c. (2 oz) red. fat shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

yield: 8 servings (1 & 1/2 c.)

from: cooking light?

nutrition: roughly 276 cal, 3.5g fat, 12.7g protein, 14.7g fiber

rating: 9 out of 10

tex mex lasagna

preheat oven to 450; combine 1st 4 ingredients into sauce and spread 2/3 c. in bottom of 8-inch baking dish (or four small separate dishes) coated with cooking spray:

• 3/4 c. salsa
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. gr. cumin
• 1 (14.5 oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 oz) can no-salt-added tomato sauce

remaining ingredients:

• 6 precooked lasagna noodles
• 1 c. frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
• 1 c. (15 oz) black beans, rinsed & drained
• 2 c. (8 oz) pre-shredded red-fat 4 cheese mexican -blend cheese
• 1/4 c. chopped green onions

 arrange 2 noodles over sauce; top w/ 1/2 c. corn & 1/2 of beans. sprinkle with 1/2 c. cheese, top with 2/3 c. sauce; repeat layers once; top with remaining 2 noodles; sprinkle w/ remaining 1 c. cheese. cover and bake at 450 for 30 min or until noodles are tender and sauce is bubbly. let stand 15 min, sprinkle with onions; yield: 4 servings

nutrition per 1 of 4 servings: 415 calories, 13.3 g. fat, protein 27.2 g, fiber 10.4

from: cooking light?

rating: 8 out of 10

Yet another memorable moment in life occurs when your two thumbs are finally healed and you sprain another finger. Your coach tells you to do back extension rolls (just backwards somersaults that go to handstand) across the floor and the first person to finish can skip conditioning. Knowing that you have a good chance of winning, you decide to speed through the rolls a little too quickly and fall on your head with your arms up and jam your middle finger into the floor. Then you pause for a second, realize that you can't finish because you're in pain, and have to apologize to your partner for making her do conditioning.

So here's what one may learn from this experience:

1. You have bad luck.

2. You've been afraid of too many things in your gymnastics life and this is the gymnastics god's way of punishing you.

3. The gymnastics god has a point.

4. Tape does not stick to sweaty hands, no matter how pretty purple athletic tape may be.

5. Doing gymnastics without hands for the past two weeks really sucks.

6. However, your lack of hands has helped you to learn several new beam dismounts, a ton of new skills on the trampoline, and your dance has become much more graceful.

7. You suck at one arm handstands. 

8. Your wrists feel much better since you haven't used them in two weeks.

9. Your coaches have forbidden you to attempt easy skills...You're only allowed to try the hard ones because they never seem to cause injuries.

10. You are VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY stupid!

Will someone in New York please get me an iPhone and send it to me?  We're all out in Washington and the store on 5th Avenue in NY has plenty in stock.  What the fuck.  Don't they know that there are way more techy geeks in Seattle?  Seriously, I'll pay you back.  I want the 16GB in white (2nd choice black). 

Thanks.

I took one small step towards my secret plan to work for myself from anywhere in the world today.  I came up with the perfect name and purchased a domain name for it without compromising on the URL at all.  Mwaahahahahaha!  I'm gonna do this.  I'm getting my mojo back.  I'm starting a new business again.  The only failure is if I don't continue to try.  It has been a wish / dream of mine to run my own business and sustain my lifestyle with it.  I want to follow that dream again.  It has been put on the shelf and gotten dusty for too long.

Drew and I finished our shopping tonight and decided to stop at the McDonalds in Walmart to have a coffee before heading home.

The only table available was a long bench connected by individual tables. We got our coffee and sat down. Drew across from me - me on the bench.

Sitting on the bench next to me (at the next table) was an older woman...probably in her 70's.

A well-groomed- looking good for her age -70's...but 70's non-the-less.

She is sitting there all alone..when suddenly..this older (70ish) man approached her. He asked if he could sit with her.

She politely replied that she was waiting for someone and was obviously not interested in making conversation with him.

He smiled and took a seat (on the same bench) at the table next to her.

It was quite obvious he was trying to score, and even more obvious as he tried to make conversation with her.

But she continued to play hard to get.

The conversation went on for a few minutes as he asked if she was from town and blah blah blah.

Still this woman seemed disinterested in his advances and spoke very little back to him.

Until finally he made a comment about her scarf...

Him :"that's a pretty scarf you have on there. It brings out the color in your eyes"

Her: a smile. "Thank-you that's nice of you to say"

Him: pardon?

Her: "I said, thank-you that's nice of you to say"

Him:"Your Welcome"..(as he slides over on the bench and is now sitting next to her at the same table)

Him: "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, I forgot my hearing aid, so I'll have to sit next to you"

Her: "OH...ok" (extends hand)" Hi..my name is Mary"

Drew: (whispers)..."Damn...70 years old and still got it."

7.18.08

We've had some "incidents" at our house recently. While some people might call us "amateur arsonists," we consider ourselves "sleep deprived." Last week, we had a security system that we did not want installed. Let me 'splain. The house was a mess. The Direct TV Dude was here to fix the satellite on our roof that some doofus installed in the plywood rather than in the rafter, so that everytime the wind blew the slightest bit, our damn TV went out, and as we live in the Midwest (aka Tornado Alley) that was quite a bit, but I digress. Anyhoozle, while Direct TV Dude was here, and I was juggling babies, the Please Buy Our Security System Guy shows up at the door. Actually, he referred to himself as the Hey, We're Just Introducing Ourselves In the Area And Are Giving Four Security Systems Away Free, Do You Want One Guy. He SHOULD have introduced himself as the We Are CLAIMING That The Security Systems Are Free, But Then We Lock You Into A 5-Year Contract Guy. Again, I digress.

So, Tom is not yet home from work, I am trying to get Direct TV Dude into the backyard to fix the satellite, Security System Guy is giving me his schpiel AND giving Tom his schpiel via the phone. I tell him we're probably not interested, and Tom tells him we're probably not interested, and I think he is done. Then he keeps making chit chat and is here when Tom walks in the door. Babies are starting to cry for their dinner, Tom is talking to Direct TV Dude and Security System Guy is trying to find out when Tom moved to the States from Ireland, and we finally cave and agree to said Security System that we really do not want.

Fast forward to 3 days later. We call the Security Company to tell them we have decided we don't want the system, and to please come and remove it from our home. Done deal - they will call in a day or two to schedule a time to come remove the system.

Fast forward to 2 days later. Mom has been spending the night with us every night to help with the babies since Gavin came home. It is 4:02 a.m. I know this because at 4:02 a.m., both of our smoke alarms and the new security system go off simultaneously. Tom and I leap from bed and run into the hall at the same time mom does from the guest room. We run downstairs to the kitchen that is filled with smoke.There is a saucepan on the burner that is turned on, which mom had turned on at the previous feeding to warm up the bottles, and then, in a sleep induced haze, forgot to turn it off. Said saucepan has now burned dry and is black with a small flame in the pan. I grab a towel and start fanning frantically at the smoke alarm in the hallway while Tom does the same with the smoke alarm in the stairway. They both stop their horrendously loud siren, but the damn security system alarm keeps on going.

Why is the security system alarm going off when it has been cancelled, you might ask? I might ask the same thing. You might also ask if the fire department showed up at the door, or if the security system company called us to see if everything was okay. They did not, and no, they also did not. NICE. Meanwhile, the security alarm is STILL going off, and because we cancelled the contact and did not bother to remember the access code to disarm the system, we cannot turn it off. By now Tom and I are both shouting obscenities at the security alarm while trying to stop the blood flowing from our eardrums. Tom unscrews it from the wall, takes it into the garage and slams the door, where I am waiting to hear the death of the security alarm via hammer. Finally, mercifully, the damn thing stops. Tom did not kill it, but rather, unhooked the wires to the alarm. Mom feels terrible, I tell her it is okay, everyone is fine, we go back to bed and lie there wired until the next feeding.

To make a long story longer, fast forward 2 days. Tom, mom and I are watching a movie in the family room, and keep hearing a "crackle, crackle" noise. I ask "what IS that noise?" to which Tom replies "I think it's on the movie." We keep hearing it, and I mute the TV and STILL hear it. "OH SHIT," I say, jump off the couch, and run up to the kitchen to see flames SHOOTING from another saucepan on the stove which I have been boiling nipples in, and obvoiusly forgotten. I grab a pot holder, throw the pan in the sink and turn on the water. Again, the kitchen is filled with smoke. However, since we disabled our smoke alarms a few days prior, they clearly did not go off. "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE?" Tom shouts, "IS THIS HEREDITARY????" Apparently it is.

Since that night, mom and I have agreed NOT to boil nipples, not to boil bottles, and basically not to use the stove, light candles, smoke cigarettes, burn insects with magnifying glasses, or eat anything with hot sauce, just in case.

Speaking only for myself, I believe I got married and still believe that I might consider marriage again when the following main items are met:

• I want to completely and fully commit myself to the other person
• Have a partner, a companion in life that I can rely on
• Have someone to grow old together with
• Have someone that I trust to start a family with
• In love with each other
  

As I am getting up there in age, and I know how long it takes for me to trust someone completely, I'm not sure if I will be having children in this life time.  It has never been a goal for me to have kids. It is only something that I wanted if my partner in life also wanted, for the sharing of experience of being parents together.  So the likelihood for me to get married again is low.  Besides, I don't think I can go through another divorce again.  It'll probably kill me for realz the next time.