today i learned that my dad smoked a pipe for a year back before he met my mother.
this was just one of those things that came up while we were sitting around after eating a ridiculously yummy dinner provided by my momma for my birthday. as my dad and hubs smoked cigars, my mom and i reminisced on how the scent wafting gently towards us on the evening spring breeze reminded us of the pipe tobacco our respective grandfathers smoked when we were little. my mom said, more for conversation's sake than anything, that my dad should smoke a pipe.
which was when he told us that he had, once, and he just didn't like it.
to which my mom responded "WHEN WAS THIS?"
and he told her how it was before he met her, and only for a year or so, and that he just couldn't find the appeal in it.
i found this so interesting, i told him i would blog about it tonight.
so here it is daddy. the blog about your pipe smoking year. i'm glad it didn't stick. i think nowadays it would look a little snobby and affected. but the image of it will always fit my grandfather, who was dignified and refined with his pipe. you, as my daddy, just make much more sense with a cigar than a pipe.
and i will always inhale deeply when walking past tobacco stores.
:-)
5.14.2010
5.13.2010
mouse trap is more fun as a board game
today i learned that my husband and i have very different views when it comes to mice in your house.
let me explain.
a week or so ago, i sat down for breakfast at our kitchen table, and noticed a few tiny 'presents' that i recognized immediately as mouse droppings, having grown up in a 60 year old rancher that had its fair share of little visitors. when i pointed them out to sam, he told me there was no way that we had mice, especially not upstairs in our kitchen, and anyway, how would they have gotten on the kitchen table? so i dropped the subject, and later removed the table cloth to be washed and didn't bother to replace it.
that night, we opened the dishwasher and saw some more gifts from our four legged friends. sam, still reluctant to admit that we could have any such house guests, pointed out that it would be impossible for a mouse to enter our dishwasher in order to leave the suspect droppings behind. again, i dropped it, although i remained wary.
three nights ago (about a week after the initial sighting) i made barbecue chicken on the grill, and i used my little baster brush to get them extra barbecue-y. while doing the dishes, sam stuck the brush in the dishwasher utensil basket, with the bristles facing the top of the dishwasher. the next morning, half the bristles were littering the bottom of the dishwasher. scattered amongst the fallen baster were little mouseterds.
this convinced sam. he was not happy.
the next afternoon, i bought mouse traps. we set all four of them last night.
this morning, we woke up to find that two of the traps had been licked clean of the copious amounts of peanut butter i had slathered them with, one was just as we had left it, and the fourth one was... gone.
yup.
not there anymore.
and all i could think about was that somewhere in our house, most likely behind our fridge or stove, no more than 3 feet where i cook my meals, is a mouse, awkwardly caught in a trap, that is horribly injured and slowly dying. and soon, it will be dead, and it will start to get stinky. and nasty. and dead mouse-like. this turns my stomach.
sam, however, is triumphant at the idea of having caught one of the little 'suckers' (i changed a letter for politeness' sake). he doesn't care that it's off in some remote corner of our house slowly approaching its last breath. he's just glad its dirty little paws can't crawl around in our dishwasher anymore licking our plates and chewing our baster brushes to pieces. he can't stand the idea of mouse poopies showing up at random places around the house.
i can talk to him about mice roaming our walls and floors without even batting an eye, while his stomach turns and his baser instincts of defense and protection of his home roar into action. i, on the other hand, can't stand the idea of a mouse dying slowly in our midst, while sam proclaims it to the heavens as a fantastical victory over some unseen evil.
maybe this is why we work so well together.
in the end, we will both make sure we are rodent free.
let me explain.
a week or so ago, i sat down for breakfast at our kitchen table, and noticed a few tiny 'presents' that i recognized immediately as mouse droppings, having grown up in a 60 year old rancher that had its fair share of little visitors. when i pointed them out to sam, he told me there was no way that we had mice, especially not upstairs in our kitchen, and anyway, how would they have gotten on the kitchen table? so i dropped the subject, and later removed the table cloth to be washed and didn't bother to replace it.
that night, we opened the dishwasher and saw some more gifts from our four legged friends. sam, still reluctant to admit that we could have any such house guests, pointed out that it would be impossible for a mouse to enter our dishwasher in order to leave the suspect droppings behind. again, i dropped it, although i remained wary.
three nights ago (about a week after the initial sighting) i made barbecue chicken on the grill, and i used my little baster brush to get them extra barbecue-y. while doing the dishes, sam stuck the brush in the dishwasher utensil basket, with the bristles facing the top of the dishwasher. the next morning, half the bristles were littering the bottom of the dishwasher. scattered amongst the fallen baster were little mouseterds.
this convinced sam. he was not happy.
the next afternoon, i bought mouse traps. we set all four of them last night.
this morning, we woke up to find that two of the traps had been licked clean of the copious amounts of peanut butter i had slathered them with, one was just as we had left it, and the fourth one was... gone.
yup.
not there anymore.
and all i could think about was that somewhere in our house, most likely behind our fridge or stove, no more than 3 feet where i cook my meals, is a mouse, awkwardly caught in a trap, that is horribly injured and slowly dying. and soon, it will be dead, and it will start to get stinky. and nasty. and dead mouse-like. this turns my stomach.
sam, however, is triumphant at the idea of having caught one of the little 'suckers' (i changed a letter for politeness' sake). he doesn't care that it's off in some remote corner of our house slowly approaching its last breath. he's just glad its dirty little paws can't crawl around in our dishwasher anymore licking our plates and chewing our baster brushes to pieces. he can't stand the idea of mouse poopies showing up at random places around the house.
i can talk to him about mice roaming our walls and floors without even batting an eye, while his stomach turns and his baser instincts of defense and protection of his home roar into action. i, on the other hand, can't stand the idea of a mouse dying slowly in our midst, while sam proclaims it to the heavens as a fantastical victory over some unseen evil.
maybe this is why we work so well together.
in the end, we will both make sure we are rodent free.
5.10.2010
a peck of pickled peppers?
today i learned that pepper seeds need 2 weeks to "incubate" before they sprout.
which explains why i thought mine were duds; as my peas and green beans reached ridiculous sizes in very short periods of time, my pot with the pepper seeds remained simply a pot of dirt sprinkled with pepper seeds. boring and unproductive.
but, as i stood at the grill tonight flipping my shrimp and rolling the asparagus around to prevent charring that ultimately happened anyway, my neighbor hailed me from his little section of yard with a giant handful of plastic bags in his hand.
let me explain. there's a frost warning tonight, and after weeks of carefully planting and tending to his many veggie plants in his back garden (that we're technically not allowed to plant), my neighbor was doing his very best to save his mini produce section to get it through to the safer, warmer period of spring time. and of course, this led us (or maybe i should say, him) to a discussion on the different vegetables being grown in our respective backyards and deck pots. as i vainly tried to make sure our dinner of chicken, shrimp, asparagus, and potatoes didn't turn into a dinner of charred, burned, inedible, and rock-hard, while still being a polite neighbor, he explained how he had planted lettuce and was concerned the bunnies would get to them, and how he couldn't wait for his peppers to sprout, as it had almost been two weeks.
at which point, my ears perked up, i abandoned the grill, and i leaned interestedly over the rail of our deck. he went on and on about how it takes peppers so much longer to grown and how the wait is driving him crazy, and as i popped over to examine my pepper pot (it has been about 2 and a half weeks since they were planted) i noticed a few little green guys peeking out of the soil. which means my peppers are on the way, trying to catch up with the much more industrious peas and beans and tomatoes.
finally.
which explains why i thought mine were duds; as my peas and green beans reached ridiculous sizes in very short periods of time, my pot with the pepper seeds remained simply a pot of dirt sprinkled with pepper seeds. boring and unproductive.
but, as i stood at the grill tonight flipping my shrimp and rolling the asparagus around to prevent charring that ultimately happened anyway, my neighbor hailed me from his little section of yard with a giant handful of plastic bags in his hand.
let me explain. there's a frost warning tonight, and after weeks of carefully planting and tending to his many veggie plants in his back garden (that we're technically not allowed to plant), my neighbor was doing his very best to save his mini produce section to get it through to the safer, warmer period of spring time. and of course, this led us (or maybe i should say, him) to a discussion on the different vegetables being grown in our respective backyards and deck pots. as i vainly tried to make sure our dinner of chicken, shrimp, asparagus, and potatoes didn't turn into a dinner of charred, burned, inedible, and rock-hard, while still being a polite neighbor, he explained how he had planted lettuce and was concerned the bunnies would get to them, and how he couldn't wait for his peppers to sprout, as it had almost been two weeks.
at which point, my ears perked up, i abandoned the grill, and i leaned interestedly over the rail of our deck. he went on and on about how it takes peppers so much longer to grown and how the wait is driving him crazy, and as i popped over to examine my pepper pot (it has been about 2 and a half weeks since they were planted) i noticed a few little green guys peeking out of the soil. which means my peppers are on the way, trying to catch up with the much more industrious peas and beans and tomatoes.
finally.
5.09.2010
sandwiches! what else?
today i learned that the most delicious sandwich in the world is made up of the following:
- grilled pesto chicken
- homemade g-free bread
- baby spinach
- fresh mozzarella slices
- balsamic mayo
put it all together and "grill" in a skillet with olive oil. hoooooooooooly sandwich, it was good.
even better when enjoyed with your momma.
also, i'm beginning to see a trend in this blog. a lot of the things i learn are food related.
i love it.
- grilled pesto chicken
- homemade g-free bread
- baby spinach
- fresh mozzarella slices
- balsamic mayo
put it all together and "grill" in a skillet with olive oil. hoooooooooooly sandwich, it was good.
even better when enjoyed with your momma.
also, i'm beginning to see a trend in this blog. a lot of the things i learn are food related.
i love it.
5.08.2010
the motivating power of mint
today i learned that pulling 800,000 mint plants out of my back garden makes our backyard smell fab.u.lous. and also, tom petty makes awesome gardening music.
after tilling the flower bed behind our deck a month or so ago, sam and i neglected to do absolutely anything with it at all. anything. at all. so it's been sitting there getting almost uglier than it was before, as the mint spread like wild fire (see post from a few weeks ago) and a million bajillion random plants i don't know the names of sprung up from nowhere. so today, after a late night of being out on the town and enjoying myself a little bit too much, i decided a little fresh air and sunshine was just what i needed.
at first, i thought i would just sit on the deck and read a book or catch up on some work that i've put off for a really long time (end of the year reports are so tedious). but after about 30 seconds outside, i knew that just sitting wouldn't do. besides it was just a little bit too breezy to be able to get anything done without my papers blowing around all over the place. and since i could see a few of the heartier mint plants peeking over the edge of the deck as they grew to gargantuan proportions, i knew it was time to bite the bullet and just go to town.
so, i ran down to the garage and grabbed my $5 shovel and dollar store gardening gloves, tied my sneaks up tight and threw on some old clothes and hit the yard. hard. i was out there for about an hour and a half digging and pulling and tossing and digging some more. with every mint plant i pulled, the fragrance got more and more heavenly, especially as it mixed with the honeysuckle growing wild at the border between our neighborhood and the next one over. the bed grew emptier and the pile behind me grew higher and my sense of satisfaction went through the roof as the scent of mint went to my head and the sweat poured down my temples.
unfortunately, when the song american girl came on (thanks tom) and i was rocking out in a mint fueled nirvana of gardening and sunshine, i started to dig up a few of the plants with what has to be the largest root base i have EVER seen. and as i'm digging (and digging and digging and digging) and pulling and tugging and wiggling and really getting into it because i now have a personal vendetta against these freaking plants, i notice that the soil looks funny. like, wiggly. shifty. crawly. full of ants. they must have had a hill buried in my overgrown, obscenely hideous garden and were freaking out as i wreaked havoc on the awfulness that was their home. fortunately, i noticed before they ended up all over me, and managed to shake them off my gloves and shoes pretty quickly. but, i did have to give up on the ridiculously hard to remove plants until my wonderful husband came out and dug while i pulled and we finally eradicated our garden of all things awful.
after all that work, i got a trash bag and filled it with my day's spoils, and headed inside with the minty aroma of success and accomplishment floating in behind me.
it was a good day.
after tilling the flower bed behind our deck a month or so ago, sam and i neglected to do absolutely anything with it at all. anything. at all. so it's been sitting there getting almost uglier than it was before, as the mint spread like wild fire (see post from a few weeks ago) and a million bajillion random plants i don't know the names of sprung up from nowhere. so today, after a late night of being out on the town and enjoying myself a little bit too much, i decided a little fresh air and sunshine was just what i needed.
at first, i thought i would just sit on the deck and read a book or catch up on some work that i've put off for a really long time (end of the year reports are so tedious). but after about 30 seconds outside, i knew that just sitting wouldn't do. besides it was just a little bit too breezy to be able to get anything done without my papers blowing around all over the place. and since i could see a few of the heartier mint plants peeking over the edge of the deck as they grew to gargantuan proportions, i knew it was time to bite the bullet and just go to town.
so, i ran down to the garage and grabbed my $5 shovel and dollar store gardening gloves, tied my sneaks up tight and threw on some old clothes and hit the yard. hard. i was out there for about an hour and a half digging and pulling and tossing and digging some more. with every mint plant i pulled, the fragrance got more and more heavenly, especially as it mixed with the honeysuckle growing wild at the border between our neighborhood and the next one over. the bed grew emptier and the pile behind me grew higher and my sense of satisfaction went through the roof as the scent of mint went to my head and the sweat poured down my temples.
unfortunately, when the song american girl came on (thanks tom) and i was rocking out in a mint fueled nirvana of gardening and sunshine, i started to dig up a few of the plants with what has to be the largest root base i have EVER seen. and as i'm digging (and digging and digging and digging) and pulling and tugging and wiggling and really getting into it because i now have a personal vendetta against these freaking plants, i notice that the soil looks funny. like, wiggly. shifty. crawly. full of ants. they must have had a hill buried in my overgrown, obscenely hideous garden and were freaking out as i wreaked havoc on the awfulness that was their home. fortunately, i noticed before they ended up all over me, and managed to shake them off my gloves and shoes pretty quickly. but, i did have to give up on the ridiculously hard to remove plants until my wonderful husband came out and dug while i pulled and we finally eradicated our garden of all things awful.
after all that work, i got a trash bag and filled it with my day's spoils, and headed inside with the minty aroma of success and accomplishment floating in behind me.
it was a good day.
5.05.2010
how old are you now?
today i learned that 23 (almost 24) is quite old when it comes to working at american eagle.
if i didn't want the extra money so badly, and something to occupy my time this summer, i may have just stood up and walked out, apologizing for wandering into the wrong store, but the lure of a supplemental income to help ease the purse strings, get a discount on killer clothes, and possibly even make friends with girls my own age who live close enough to meet up with for a drink in the evenings made me stay.
it was a weird feeling being the oldest amongst a group of interviewees. one was a freshmen in college, another a junior in high school, and i was like the wise old sage, having been through all of these things, and then some. the worst part was, i think the high schooler was more well spoken than me. i have a horrible tendency to trip over my words, and even though i didn't feel the tiniest trickle of anxiety, i still managed to end a lot of my answers with so... yeah.... very wise, old sage. impressive to the umpteenth degree.
still, i felt confident when i left, and i'm pretty sure i'm going to get offered some kind of position, especially since i made it clear i'm willing to work part time beyond the summer. i have a feeling that, aside from a few of the managers, i'm going to be like the grandma of the store, but there could be worse things.
its just something new for me to get used to.
cross your fingers i get a call. go summer work!
if i didn't want the extra money so badly, and something to occupy my time this summer, i may have just stood up and walked out, apologizing for wandering into the wrong store, but the lure of a supplemental income to help ease the purse strings, get a discount on killer clothes, and possibly even make friends with girls my own age who live close enough to meet up with for a drink in the evenings made me stay.
it was a weird feeling being the oldest amongst a group of interviewees. one was a freshmen in college, another a junior in high school, and i was like the wise old sage, having been through all of these things, and then some. the worst part was, i think the high schooler was more well spoken than me. i have a horrible tendency to trip over my words, and even though i didn't feel the tiniest trickle of anxiety, i still managed to end a lot of my answers with so... yeah.... very wise, old sage. impressive to the umpteenth degree.
still, i felt confident when i left, and i'm pretty sure i'm going to get offered some kind of position, especially since i made it clear i'm willing to work part time beyond the summer. i have a feeling that, aside from a few of the managers, i'm going to be like the grandma of the store, but there could be worse things.
its just something new for me to get used to.
cross your fingers i get a call. go summer work!
5.03.2010
potato salad, yummy yummy.
today i learned how to make a bangin' potato salad.
and it went a little something like this:
-look up recipe in favorite cook book.
-realize i don't have yogurt.
-decide to modify based on what i do have.
-decide i want it to taste similar to deviled egg filling.
-pull out stuff i have and start drooling.
-cook potatoes.
-dice potatoes while still very, very hot (will not repeat this step again).
-throw in random amounts of stuff that seems to be yummy together (mayo, yellow mustard, sweet relish, onions, green peppers, pickle juice, salt, pepper, garlic).
-toss.
-taste.
-go weak at the knees.
-eat. and eat. and eat.
i love to cook.
(side note: can't believe i went 2 days without posting. sad.)
and it went a little something like this:
-look up recipe in favorite cook book.
-realize i don't have yogurt.
-decide to modify based on what i do have.
-decide i want it to taste similar to deviled egg filling.
-pull out stuff i have and start drooling.
-cook potatoes.
-dice potatoes while still very, very hot (will not repeat this step again).
-throw in random amounts of stuff that seems to be yummy together (mayo, yellow mustard, sweet relish, onions, green peppers, pickle juice, salt, pepper, garlic).
-toss.
-taste.
-go weak at the knees.
-eat. and eat. and eat.
i love to cook.
(side note: can't believe i went 2 days without posting. sad.)
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