crockpots miffy and holidays

wondering
how come i always pass the 'bad earbuds jogger' at the exact same place every single day. when you factor in that i am going south at 4.44 miles per hour and he is jogging north at probably 35 mph (or however fast joggers run... i have never jogged a minute in my entire life) it's quite amazing and serendipitous that we always pass at Amagansett, even if i'm running late. i know he'd enjoy his run so much more with better earbuds... apple earbuds are just horrible.

banning
the fast forwarding of songs on my 'walking ipod' from now on (i still reserve the right to FF song endings in the car, i cannot stand the endings of songs :) i honestly believe the walk takes longer in my mind, because i listen to just half of so many songs. if i listen to songs in their entirety, however excrutiating that is, it's less excrutiating than the walk seeming to last forever. sadly, i am not one of those odd hard-to like people who gets addicted to exercise, and i have to bribe myself daily, that on my birthday, it will all be worth it :)

realizing
on my walk when a swarm of bees came towards me, that i have never been stung by a bee... so i have no clue if i'm allergic to them. my sister is deathly allergic to them... i wonder if that raises the odds.... hmm

needing
a crockpot. since i saw Jessica Seinfeld's cheesy (AND vegetarian:) crockpot lasagne on Oprah, i can think of nothing else, day and night (peanut butter aside, naturally...) i would just buy a crockpot, but it's so close to Black Friday it would be a shame to not get one for $10 online with free shipping (and no tax of course) with a free smaller crockpot for nacho cheese and the like! i am so desperate to make that lasagne, i actually in a moment of tummy-rumbling hunger, considered pulling the big block of wax out of my paraffin bath and making the lasagne in it - i think it's just a crockpot but filled with wax. i once saw a recipe with paraffin wax in it, so clearly it's not poisonous....


waiting
for a shiny new 1970s type thin waffle maker!! i had to have one... it arrives on Friday :)


also waiting
for this MP3 player. because i am a teenage japanese girl at heart :) i got the yellow one :)

wondering
how come 'mew' is a word but 'meow' isn't on bookworm. 'meow' is SO totally a word i use everyday :(

realizing
why we are so completely burnt out and tired out and disillusioned with OC... we have only had 3 nights of vacation time away from home this entire year :| in the words of Madonna "we NEED a holiday!!"

at the pumpkin patch... he keeps asking to go back to the "circus fing" :) Sam stayed at home to work on his book report (i think this officially means my first baby is growing up...)

he's four feet tall not standing on tip toes

in the terrifying hay maze (SO dangerous!!! i have to follow him to check for bogey men)

loving
that Cricket, the sweetest shelter kitty ever, got a home on saturday!!! whoever adopted him, MWAH!!! on both cheeks!

hating
school (even more than i did as a kid...) i am so dreading friday, the halloween parade/party day especially... two simultaneous parties in two different classrooms. kill me now :| there isn't enough chocolate in the world to take that amount of pain away....

wondering
if i'm the only person on earth who doesn't love Halloween....

loving
homemade meat tofu-loaf with baked sweet potatoes (and not a deadly nightshade in sight, Alicia Silverstone would be so proud :)

hating
the school. did i say that already? they piss me off in the worst way

wondering
how anyone can lose 41 pounds in TWO WEEKS.... how???! i have to stop watching 'the biggest loser' (i have only watched one episode so far) it's far far far too depressing :|

this is Patrick and naturally, i love him :) all these pictures are huge - i would fix it but i love big pictures :)

we found a paperclip at Petsmart :)

sweet Oreo

help me i am in hell :|

to quote a nine inch nail, who clearly wrote this song after stopping in miserable soulless Tustin Ranch on his way home from San Diego :|

i don't like my boys' school AT ALL and i am having to take serious amounts of alka seltzers and smooth dissolve tums to keep from spontaneously combusting all over the place.

last week it was the ducks. the rotten pathetic little rubber ducks that cost $107 in fundraising for 3 ducks per child (oh no, i didn't) yesterday it was the pumpkin patch - 394 children all fighting to make sand art pixie sticks at a table for 12 :| today it's the dinosaur dash - it's a downward spiral, i tell you...

Sam got a note home from his teacher stating that since dino dash attendance was low this year, she would give 25 extra points of science credit to each kid who signed up, thus giving the school $5 of each $25 admission fee. which made us wonder, as people who don't particularly like to dash or spend $100 on something insignificant.... if you don't particularly care to dash/spend $100, what's the alternative way to earn the science credit? maybe do a home experiment...? or if it's about exercise, how about a hike! well apparently, there is no alternative available;) so it's just about giving money in return for the extra credit? ohhhh nooooo... because that would be bribery and you can't BUY a grade :) but apparently, you can't earn one either. unless you 'choose' to pay $100 to spend sunday morning walking 1.25 miles around the miserable soulless Tustin Ranch market place :|

i don't like this. i hate organized, heavily populated anything - theme parks, parades and fairs etc. i might even have some kind of disease, maybe i should wear a little bracelet that asks people to please respect my three feet of personal space. so the thought of shuffling 1.25 miles through miserable soulless Tustin Ranch on a sunday morning at 1.25mph with 50,000 other people makes me want to turn green and burst out of my clothes and also cry and bite my fingers really hard till they bleed from the stress. attending the dino dash is just not an option :| and neither is just forking over the $100, since buying the grade is just so sooo wrong ;)

if i was a tea kettle, i would be boiled completely dry and ready to explode at any second :| thankfully there is calm and assertive Aaron who can actually breathe and talk, and not cry and threaten to stab things when provoked :) he'll know what to do... hopefully :)

what i did today

didn't sleep much - i almost went grocery shopping at 2:10am for crunchy peanut butter but i thought better of it...

walked 8.25 miles roundtrip to Albertsons for crunchy peanut butter. didn't buy sweetener with fiber however because it was $7 for 50 teeny packets and i refuse to pay oprah money for something so insignificant. the cat's severed head has been cleaned up from the orthodontist's lawn, thankfully. i still got the heeby jeebies walking by though....

had 10 grapes and a banana for lunch

was on the fence all day about buying a stupid waffle maker. i want one that makes thin 1970s waffles... i saw this one that's a total bargain, but it's at buy.com and i don't like to shop anywhere but amazon because of the sales tax thing. plus it's refurbished and i don't want to find a strangers' crusty waffle crumbs in it's nooks and crannies (i got goosebumps just typing it).

so then i looked at amazon and found this one which is double the money but rectangular, which suits Aaron's waffle preferences. but then i wondered if we would really even use it that much.... and i want it by sunday morning, naturally. then i noticed you can get things delivered on saturdays from amazon... (i was just saying UPS should deliver everyday) and next day shipping is only $3.99 - how on earth do they do that?! so, i was about to buy it, when i noticed this sinister review:
"Black & Decker should recall this evil monster"
now i don't know what to do... i just know i want waffles on sunday, but i don't want an evil monster making them :(

went to Trader Joe's for some ebelskiver thingies (round pancake things from Denmark, apparently...) and indian food for dinner (which i forgot to make....) Danny and i tried some really yummy apple coffee cake at the tasting hut. George Clooney's identical twin (i am so not kidding, he was actually much cuter, more Danny Ocean circa 2001) was in front of us in line - he was SO CUTE, checkers appeared from nowhere to scan his wares :) the nice cashier, gushing with niceness, gave Danny a chocolate bar which he shared with me :)

went to the school pumpkin patch :| it didn't rain :| i hate those things with a passion :|

watched 20 minutes of Lisa Marie on Oprah... there's only one thing worse than Oprah - and that's Oprah talking to another celebrity... hence only 20 minutes :)

went to In N Out and ate 8 french fries, and not even 8 animal fries :)

went to pump it up :) only suffered one skinned elbow :)

went home. thought about the waffle maker more and still couldn't decide :| time for Dr Phil and hopefully some clarity :)

peanut butter, fiber and rain

thanks to sweet Corey (and i mean it like "THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!" not sarcastic "gee thanks..."), i am completely and utterly obsessed with putting a teaspoonful of peanut butter in my oatmeal. so obsessed that on sunday, i ate oatmeal for every single meal :) today i am on the hunt for crunchy, reduced fat, slightly better-for-me peanut butter that still thickens oatmeal to the point where you can sculpt with it. oh yes, it's that good :)

AND i also want to buy sweetener with fiber in it, i am assuming in this time of barcode reading phones, there is such a thing. but i don't want it to make my coffee taste like it has balls of jello in it like that boba stuff. so if it tastes like boba, i want a refund

i dream of the day when i might be able to put a whole tablespoon of peanut butter in my oatmeal... but i'm in the fight of my life with the scales and i refuse to let my evil nemesis win. it's my birthday gift from me to me, you see, and i have 3 months and one week to reach my goal :)

i tried a new perfume on our datenight on saturday, by philosophy called 'fragrance for the soul' - i am sure it has some other name but i couldn't figure it out. i didn't buy it, but as soon as i got home i decided i really really wanted it and we duly drove back to get it (i love my hubbie!) it's on my desk. i love it. it smells kind of like clean man on a date blended with girly citrusy datenight perfume, if you know that smell :) i don't sell it very well but i love it ;)

off to walk - i hope it doesn't rain but then it does rain when it's the school pumpkin patch thing so we don't have to go ;)

stuff i love

• a warm neutrogena shower after walking 7.26 miles in the rain

• Chanel no 19

• tieless Obama (and his crinkly eye smile :)

• Danny proudly bringing home his first written sentences :)

• Jerry hanging out at my desk all curled up in his paw-printy rattie scarf (that i made:)
  

• 'nightswimming' by r.e.m. on a quiet rainy night

• 'fall on me' by r.e.m. on the same quiet rainy night

• Dr Phil (i unapologetically LOVE him)

• getting rid of Just Dance Two :)

• sweet potato fries

• catching up with the Dog Whisperer's techniques on NatGeo (he's so completely adorable - he has the crinkly eye smile thing going for him too:) and 'tsst' really seems to fix any behavioral problem :)

• listening to Stevie Wonder

• superwalmart and other such un-snobby stores
  

• warm slightly salted brownies at bedtime

• weeds (even though it definitely jumped the shark, i miss Agrestic soooo much, it was just like here... maybe they'll move back and bring Celia back - i miss Celia too....)
  

stuff i hate

• Yo Gabba Gabba - yes it makes the baby squeal and kick with pure delight. but when the DVR goes on the blink and the nice happy black man disappears in a puff of smoke, the squealing kicky sounds are not so happy :( maybe i should say i dislike Time Warner Cable... the happy man really is not to blame here...

• walking 7.26 miles in the rain, in sandals, with only 10 songs, all by XTC on my ipod - i don't advise trying this at home :(

• getting back my blood test results and finding out i am in perfect health.... i wanted a (non serious) deficiency that would explain my inability to lose 7 pounds in one week

• seeing a little pussycat looking all sad and lost in the rain and going over to help it and discovering that it had no body :| it's just the HEAD of a pussycat, eaten by coyotes :| (vomit)

• Just Dance Two - i absolutely hate it. it has really awful lame duets so half the time you're stood there waiting while your imaginary Patrick Swayze does his part :( and the moves aren't fluid and repeated 8 times like on Just Dance. and it's all just jerky and Elaine-y and awkward and really just designed to be hilarious for drunk people at parties. and i take my dancing very seriously!! and i really hate the wham! dance... whoever choreographed the wham! song with the odd mashed potato move in the chorus should be shot - it's beyond criminal.

• the fact that now i am gun shy to buy the MJ experience... if it's even remotely as crap as Just Dance Two, i can't even consider buying it anywhere other than gamestop, pre-owned, so i can return it for a full refund if it sucks, as i suspect it might now. which means i can't buy it the day it is released, because i have to wait for someone to buy it and hate it and turn it in for 25% of the value in store credit :(

• the real housewives of Atlanta - they are so boring, i miss the DC housewives :(
  

• really dark days - yes i love the rain but it's sooo dark, like 3200 iso kind of dark :(

• also on a rainy day, going out to dinner seems much too insanely hard to even consider :(

• wanting to make chicken tikka masala, with some chickenless tikka masala for me, but not having the energy to cook

• Cricket still not having a home... two other wonderful cats were adopted this weekend (horray!!) but Cricket is still there and it makes me sooo sad, i want to adopt him a little bit more with each passing week - each week i hope he'll be gone but he's always there, begging for some love and playtime with the boys... i also love the sweet maine coon and ginger tom that were left in pet carriers in the carpark - they are the best cats ever and i know someone must have loved them so much, because they are so affectionate and friendly.... and the really shy Charlie Girl who hides from me - she needs so desperately to be shown some human kindness and i would love to bring her home but Aaron is deathly allergic to her.... and Trista with the most amazingly soft fur.... sigh, i love them all

back later with pics and a more upbeat list xoxx

pans canisters and browned butter

i am saying it three times so i don't forget, but it's picture day today at school :)

my poor sad heel is really really really sore for some reason (probably because the rest of my body isn't sore so i notice it...?) i couldn't sleep last night because of a little tiny almost healed 1cm cut on my heel :| and this morning just stretching made it tear open again and hurt like crazy. it's official: i am a total baby :)

BUT!! the scales have moved in the right direction!! and this (kind of) made up for all the walking!! how i l-o-v-e that bossy thintervention lady :)

last night, in an unprecedented move, i wrote a kind, but brutal, note to the manager of a local-ish restaurant. it needed to be done, the place is brand new and just plain awful, even though it's named after one of my children i wanted to love it, i really did.... anyway i shamelessly asked for exactly what i wanted - a full refund minus the cost of drinks because they were the only things that were fresh, so bummed was i at a misspent datenight. and the manager said yes. he also tried to get us to "go back and give them another chance" but i declined that part and said the cash was fine :) ohh, i like the new calm and assertive me!! thanks Cesar Millan, it works with HUMANS too!

this is tragic (but he seems Jewish so i kind of get it...) Jonathan Adler at HSN :( really? i bet he isn't selling his decorative uppers and downers canisters there....

i can't believe the first step in the recipe for madeleines requires me to brown butter for 20 minutes??? i didn't read any further due to shock... 20 minutes is an eternity to me :| and they have lemon zest in them... how on earth do i zest a lemon....? maybe i should just quietly give the pan away......

off to walk the pack (just think how cute THREE black dogs be in descending size order be, from gangly long-legged hound down to teeny tiny chickawawa?? i know - SO cute!! fingers crossed :)

ps what did i do without amazon prime?????! it's just awesome but i do kind of hate feeling like a prissy white princess who has to have things overnighted to her...

collages and walks and George Clooney

loving
these palm springs collages - i don't know if the link is clickable but if not, believe me they're so cheery and colorful (and i want to copy them be inspired by them naturally :)

loving
the new walk i invented... it's 6 miles long but it feels more like 3, is shady all the way with a gentle westerly breeze on the homestretch and i don't pass a single solitary soul or encounter any traffic the entire time. getting paid to push a stroller is kind of nice too :)

loving
our new freezer to pieces.... having 25 cubic feet of space is positively heavenly

loving
getting an out of the blue check in the mail (from the dentist... a refund?!)

loving
this picture for OBVIOUS reasons :)


loving
my camera for being able to capture him exactly as he is



loving
this little dog so much... she neeeeeeeds a foster home... she's eight months old and a chicka-wawa (chihuahua if you don't speak Danny:) would it be so crazy to have three dogs, two cats and one (sob) rat...? it would make a cute tree shaped christmas card.... and she could wear tutus and diamond collars... and ride in the basket of my bicycle, howling with glee as her ears fly back in the wind... her name's Nina but i'd change her name to "Illusion" in honor of the dog whisperer's ex-wife, of course. which reminds me.... i wonder why he named his patent pending "Illusion" dog collar after his wife... must investigate :)

Cesar Millan, sore heels and silly bands

wondering
(while feeling really shallow and lame, instead of just being awestruck by the recovery...) how sweaty and gross the rescued miners feel, being hoisted up and straight into the world's spotlight, after being trapped underground for so long (maybe they had showers underground? i still didn't read the whole story... reading ADD and all that...)

disliking
the person at barnes and noble who decided that absolutely no-one could take pictures of Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer... pish posh to that, i say! pish effing posh!!

recovering
from walking six miles with blisters all over my poor sad heels... i stopped to change my band aids 4 times before having to stop at the drugstore to buy huge industrial strength ones....

thanking
my lucky stars i had those postcard sized band aids in my purse at b&n when Danny fell on the escalator and scraped all the skin off his poor little shins.... stupid overpriced two storey bookstore that only sells books for full retail price and doesn't even accept starbucks giftcards... i could go on and on.... because i love amazon.com to the moon and back :)

awaiting
with baited breath my madeleine baking tray from amazon.com tomorrow! i am going to be whisking up batches of madeleines all day long :)

because i have a mad crush on the dog whisperer, i HAD to sneak a picture :)

or two... and shake his hand too :)

i love his little hearts :)

he loves silly bands

Friday loves dogs as much as she hates cats (ps that head scratcher thingie behind the pets is pretty much the best thing ever!)

a few of the wonderful kitties we take care of - i love them all and WISH we had a big house in the country for them to take over...