Rant and Rave Wednesday

Wednesday, March 31, 2010....




Any readers following me on a regular basis know if it's Wednesday, it's time to Rant and Rave about the past week. Without further adieu, here are my Rants and Raves from the past week:

Rave: Caught up with a friend this week and am amazed at how quickly things change in 1 month. [Note to self: get together more often]

Rant: Mockingbird outside my window. He's lonely and chirps. He's been there for days and sleep is just a 5 letter word to me.

Rave: The incredibly funny Facebook responses I got from people on how to solve my Mockingbird problem. The chain of discussion got very off track, but made me laugh.

Rant: Grocery store parking lots. Does driving at 50 mph down the lot really get you a space quicker? No. But, it does make quite interesting for the shopper with the cart going from the store to their car (I felt a little like I was a character on a video game and the win was that I was to stay alive)

Rant: Rain, rain and more rain. Ugh....

Rant: People who don't read emails. If I take the time to write an email with the answers, please read it.



Okay, that's it for me. I would love to read any Rants and Raves you want to share? Just click on the linky thing for anyone that wants to participate in Rant and Rave Wednesday -- or leave them in the comments section here. Please, please be respectful and do not use the linky thing if you are just promoting your blog (yes, this is another Rant of mine).

Match.com and eHarmony, Here I Come.....

Tuesday, March 30, 2010....


Do you think if I join these dating sites I can find a suitable match for the Northern Mockingbird living in my backyard?

He's lonely.

Because he's lonely, he chirps...ALL NIGHT LONG.

According to the articles I've found on the Internet, he chirps because he's looking for a mate and will continue until he has one.

My husband doesn't hear a thing. How could he? Between his Ambien and snoring, he wouldn't be able to hear a thing.

Why do I get the only bird that can't find a mate? I mean, he's not shy because he hasn't an issue chirping letting all the female Mockingbirds know he's available.

I have a feeling these dating sites couldn't help him even if they allowed birds. What female wants to date a whiny noisy male who is never able to shut up?

Ugh...

My only hope is a deaf bird who flies into him by mistake because I also learned Mockingbirds mate for life.

Respect the Scotch Bonnet

Monday, March 29, 2010.....

I'm talking about the pepper, not what may happen during an intimate moment between 2 people. That could be a Thursday TMI story for LiLu, but I'm keeping my story clean and discussing the hot killer pepper which I now officially hate!

Hate is not a strong enough emotion to describe my run-in with the stupid pepper on Saturday. In my quest to try out all the Cooking Light recipes in the Jan/Feb 2010 magazine, I worked with a Scotch Bonnet pepper for the first time.

It's small, I'm large, AND yet, it kicked my ass more than my trainer ever did.

Sure, I got pepper juice on my fingers and immediately touched my eye liked an idgit. I broke Rule #1:

While handling hot peppers never touch eye, mouth or any open scratch until hands have been thoroughly washed (wow, I sounded like a 1950's ad geared towards kitchen safety for housewives).

I own my stupidity on breaking Rule #1, but you would think that after washing your hands all the pepper juice would be gone. Nope. I had the hidden cut, the cut the size of a paper cut or from a small knife while chopping positioned under my nail. The one where pepper juice could make it's way in to, but soap couldn't.

All night, burning sensation. All night scrubbing hands. All night cursing the peppers -- not only because my hands burned, but because it was a component in probably the worst dish I've tasted in ions. A dish requiring so much mincing and chopping items into julienne strips that it pushed this dish on a scale of 1 to 5 to a negative 4 (-4).

Taste ranked the dish at "0", but the prep time pushed that sucky dish down 4 more points.

I went to bed, shaking my hand (like that would stop the burning sensation) and finally realized this damn pepper beat me.

I washed my hands one last time and took aspirin. It worked, and I learned my lesson: Scotch Bonnet peppers are NOT as cute as they appear.

Question of the Week....

Thursday, March 25, 2010....



I've decided to make Thursdays my "Question of the Week" day because I always have questions and am always interested in people's answers.


This Week's Question: Would you rather be the driver or passenger on a car trip?

99.9% of the time, I love being the passenger. I love to look out the window (we've established I'm a people watcher from Monday's post) and I love to nap on long trips.

No stress of knowing the difference between North, South, East and West (I'm directionally challenged),no stress of staying awake on long trips, AND I catch up on my magazine reading.

Sure, I may be a crappy passenger because I fall asleep, but heck most people choose to be the driver and I feel staying awake is their responsibility, not mine.

I wonder...if in my past life I had a limo driver because that is how much I love being a passenger and NOT the driver on car trips.

Rant and Rave Wednesday

Wednesday, March 24, 2010....




Any readers following me on a regular basis know if it's Wednesday, it's time to Rant and Rave about the past week. Without further adieu, here are my Rants and Raves from the past week:

Rave: Got to see my old roomie from college this past weekend. Hubby and I drove up to have dinner with her and fiance and see her new home and puppy. We had a great time and we should not wait 1 1/2 years in between visits.

Rant: Her house is great! I'm not jealous, but floored at the difference in pricing between the northern and southern part of the state. Her house was almost triple in size with a full acre (I have 1/3 acre) and if I were to buy down here, well, I just couldn't.

Rant: Hubby snoring.....no sleep last night. Ugh...


Rave: The recent Spring weather we've been having (except past 2 days) but I'm OVER WINTER so I'm psyched. This means time to start planning our gardens.

Rant: On a planning committee for my local park's annual plant sale and the local papers are not calling back with their rate cards for ad space. Ugh. Seriously? I thought newspapers were hurting and I'm trying to give you business. CALL. ME. BACK. EMAIL. ME.



Okay, that's it for me. It's a short week because my brain is a bit fuzzy, but I would love to read any Rants and Raves you want to share? Just click on the linky thing for anyone that wants to participate in Rant and Rave Wednesday -- or leave them in the comments section here. Please, please be respectful and do not use the linky thing if you are just promoting your blog (yes, this is another Rant of mine).

People Watching

Monday, March 22, 2010....


I LOVE IT!

There, I said it with my out loud voice. But observing people in public is one of my favorite things to do -- especially, when no one is watching.

Places that are great to people watch include bars, gyms, restaurants (when someone is waiting for other party to arrive) and church (actually, watching kids and how parents react to their child is the fun part).

For purposes of this entry, I'm talking about the gym because it's been a decade + since I stepped into a church when the service wasn't for a wedding, funeral or I was visiting Westminster Abbey in London.

I love people watching in bars, but the gym is FAB-U-LOUS! I mean bright lights and no alcohol to ruin your people watching observation skills. Here is what I observed today:

- Man who wants to look like Sam Elliott. He had the long hair and moustache, but points off for the hair. It was salt-n-pepper, but mostly salt. CUT YOUR HAIR so you can eliminate the appearance of being a child molester.

- The man who walked erect across the gym floor. Ya know the ones who walk with their head so high that their face is facing the ceiling. Lucky for him there were no low walkers in the gym (low walker is one that keeps their head down, avoids eye contact - yes, I am a low walker) otherwise collision city.

- The man who clearly hasn't a clue what he's doing on the equipment and puts the weight at some insane #. Hello? Why not man up and admit you can only pull 20 lbs, but you opt for the 80 lbs and make a face as though you're constipated. Who are you trying impress? No women is going to be impressed with a man who makes bowel movement faces (okay, maybe I'm being presumptuous, I know I wouldn't find this a turn on if single); but my favorite look at the gym is:

- The woman with the fresh coat of make-up on. I'm not talking about the woman who has make-up on because she's just come from work, or someone like me who is still wearing last night's make-up because I can (okay, I was too lazy to take off). I'm talking about the woman whose foundation and eyeliner is flawless and a fresh coat of lipstick was applied nanoseconds before entering the gym. These women are fun to watch because many have read some chick mag telling them the best place to meet a man is the gym.

Yup.

I love people watching.

Acceptance

Friday, March, 19, 2010.....


Acceptance, according to Merriam Webster is "favorable reception or approval".

I find it easy to accept others, but when it comes to me, I find this to be the hardest word in the dictionary to understand.

For the past 22 months, I've been forced into a period I'd like to call "limbo" or "purgatory for the unemployed". The market hasn't been kind, but it has forced me to really look at who I am and what I want.

Some things haven't changed since the day I lost my job. For instance, while working, cleaning was never a priority on my list of everyday tasks. In fact, I loathe it. Once unemployed, I thought the elimination of being too busy with work would give me the time to really clean and organize my home. No such luck.

I admit to ironing my sheets and that is about as Martha Stewart as I get. Yes, I love to cook, but she takes home care and organization to a level I've finally decided is just not me.

Instead, I watch Hoarder programs on t.v. and that scares me enough to keep some semblance in my home and purge things on a regular basis (my definition of regular is not to be compared to what I believe Martha would call regular).

Hating to clean is just an example of how I've been facing things about me and accepting I'm not perfect and letting go.

Yes, there are things I still want to change or modify about my life, but am I going to beat myself up because I'm not perfect or it takes me longer than most to make the change is something I'm working on. I'm finally learning to accept I march to a beat of a different drummer and beginning to embrace that this is okay.

Question of the Week....

Thursday, March 18, 2010....



I've decided to make Thursdays my "Question of the Week" day because I always have questions and am always interested in people's answers.


This Week's Question: Are you a celebrity news junkie?

Note: For purposes of this entry, I am defining celebrity as any political person (elected or royalty), actor/actress, powerful business person and sportsperson.

Earlier this morning, my sister, YogaGirl, called me on her way to work. We chatted a bit before she brought up the rumor/news that Sandra Bullock split from her husband.

I like Sandra Bullock. I know many people don't, but even if you don't, you have to admit, if the rumor is true, it must be hard to have one of the happiest moments in your life coincide with one of your saddest.

I probably wouldn't have heard about Sandra Bullock's split unless Yahoo did a big splash about it on their homepage because I'm not a celebrity news junkie.

This is not to say I'm not interested when anyone tells me about so-and-so, but if left to my own devices, I'd probably hear about the story in question a week after its happened.

How about you? Do you love celebrity gossip? Subscription to any of the entertainment magazines or a watcher of any t.v. entertainment shows like TMZ or Entertainment Tonight?

Rant and Rave Wednesday

Wednesday, March 17, 2010....




Any readers following me on a regular basis know if it's Wednesday, it's time to Rant and Rave about the past week. Without further adieu, here are my Rants and Raves from the past week:

Rave: See my lovely new Rant & Rave badge, well, Mrs. 4444 made it for me! I was pleasantly surprised to get her first email last night telling me she wanted in on R&R this week, but when she sent over 2 badges for my opinion, I was stoked.

Rave: Food Pantry Dinner was a lot of fun last week. Our group is pretty diverse, so our conversations are always fun. The pantry was happy to receive over 50 lbs of food and especially happy to get some pasta because they had run out.

Rant: Getting up at 3 a.m. to bail out a sump pump for several hours before the electricity came back on.


Rave: I'm finally starting to get out of my "cranky/moody-ass" funk I've been in. It started late Thursday and yesterday was the first day I didn't want to hate the world.

Rave: Spidey Man, a.k.a. dad, did not get flooded this past weekend. He lives by the water and has always freaked out about the house getting flooded. It's happened twice in my 44 years of life.

Hubby's Rave: Yes, I'm giving him one because he mentioned a rant & rave last night. Although he doesn't want his own blog, he wants people to know what he's thinking. His rave was seeing all the trees down because that meant free firewood for our wood burning stove.

Hubby's Rant: When I told him I saw a guy out and about yesterday in his pickup truck picking up the cut up trees on the side of the road that hubby wanted for wood burning stove.

Rave: My friends are celebrating their 20th Wedding Anniversary. They've had their ups and downs, but are one of the few couples I've come across that are truly happy.

Rant: Asking for extra ice in my soda at McDonald's and pulling up at the drive-thru to get a soda with no ice. I asked for a cup with extra ice and got 1/2 cup. When I asked for more I got the response "I have to charge you for extra ice if you want more". Seriously? If you put ice in the drink in the first place, I probably wouldn't have requested more ice (note: a non-flat fountain soda with extra ice truly puts a smile on my face. I know. I'm whacked).


Okay, that's it for me. I would love to read any Rants and Raves you want to share? Just click on the linky thing for anyone that wants to participate in Rant and Rave Wednesday -- or leave them in the comments section here. Please, please be respectful and do not use the linky thing if you are just promoting your blog (yes, this is another Rant of mine).

Taking for Granted Modern Conveniences....

Monday, March 15, 2010.....

Very brief recap of my weekend....

Wind - 60 miles per hour

Rain - hours and hours of it which is fine until....

Loss of Electricity which means NO SUMP PUMP

At 3 a.m. hubby and I went downstairs to empty the water filling up our basement because the sump pump was out and we don't own a generator.

Luckily, my basement serves as the laundry room so there is a large sink we used to dump the buckets of water into.

We were not able to get a generator (Home Depot sold out of all 20 in 10 minutes and none were available in the other surrounding stores), but the electricity came on around 8:30 a.m. (16 hours after it went off).

The cable t.v. and Internet back on another 12 hours.

Odd how much we take modern conveniences for granted - no lights, no use of cordless phones, no connection via tv or Internet to outside world and NO DAMN SUMP PUMP. I missed that the most.

I hope everyone had a better weekend. Rain today, but no complaining because I have electricity.

Question of the Week....

Thursday, March 11, 2010....



I've decided to make Thursdays my "Question of the Week" day because I always have questions and am always interested in people's answers.


This Week's Question: Do you think one's success has anything to do with the people they associate with?

Take aside individuals born into royalty or wealth, do you think the average person is more successful because of the individuals they surround themselves with?

Is it the belief in oneself or the energy from successful people that drive you to strive for success?

I have no opinion on this and am just curious to read what other people think.

Rant and Rave Wednesday

Wednesday, March 3, 2010....


Any readers following me on a regular basis know if it's Wednesday, it's time to Rant and Rave about the past week. Without further adieu, here are my Rants and Raves from the past week:

Rave: Meeting 2 friends for drinks tonight. I haven't seen them since my wedding in October 2008.


Rave: Food Pantry Dinner tomorrow night. I am happy that I'll be collecting 42 lbs of food for local food bank.

Rant: Raging out-of-control headache at moment. Oh. My. God. I'm just hoping these aspirin kick in.

Rave: Talked with an old indirect boss at my previous company, and although unemployed for 22 months, glad I'm not there.

Rave: Hubby went fishing this weekend and caught 22 lbs of cod. We had some the other night and it was rather tasty.

Rant: Seriously? 22 lbs of cod. It's good, but it's a lot of fish...

Rave: Got to have lunch with YogaGirl on Sunday.



Okay, that's it for me. I would love to read any Rants and Raves you want to share? Just click on the linky thing for anyone that wants to participate in Rant and Rave Wednesday -- or leave them in the comments section here. Please, please be respectful and do not use the linky thing if you are just promoting your blog (yes, this is another Rant of mine).

Sex of Boss....

Tuesday, March 9, 2010....


Green-Eyed Momster posed an interesting question to her readers today: Do you prefer to work for a male or female boss?

I openly admit, I've always thought I enjoyed working for men over women until I was fortunate to work for one female boss.

At my last place of employment, I was there for 5 years and during that time had 5 bosses. It was a bit insane as each had a very unique style. Some good, some bad. Because my first boss at this company was female and incredibly difficult to work for, I naturally came to the conclusion that I hate working for female bosses.

Luckily for me, I was proven wrong.

During my time at this company, I had to go out on disability only to return to be told I'd have a new boss. A new female boss and to boot from England. Dear God, what was my employer putting me through.

I didn't know her personally and the VP of my department described her as 'soft spoken, but someone you shouldn't mess with'.

Great. A soft spoken bitch. Yay for me!

It was true she was soft spoken, but one of the best bosses I've ever had. She was confident, patient, a great teacher and had a killer sense of humor. The one regret is that she left the company to pursue happiness (although I'd think having me as an employee would be the bomb!).

So, Green Eyed Momster, I don't think the sex of the boss matters, I think it is the qualities that make up the person that do.

When I look back at my career, the strongest bosses who I've learned the most from were women. However, that is not to say, I haven't worked for some crazy-mean-ass women because I have.

Perserverance, Determination and Just a Touch of Insanity....

Friday, March 5, 2010.....


I'm always on the hunt for the perfect bite. I'm constantly cooking new recipes, trying new spices or tasting new dishes at restaurants. I admit, I'm a foodie.

I'm a foodie that needs to lose weight and the past few months I've been trying various low-fat/low-calorie recipes from my cookbooks. Some good and some I swear if I closed my eyes I'd think I was eating cardboard. Bland, ick and yucky are terms I often use with some of the low calorie recipes I've tried.

For the next few months, I'm getting serious about finding low calorie foods that will not only satisfy me, but put that smile on my face. I've decided to cook ALL the non breakfast recipes from Cooking Light and Weight Watchers.

In addition to taste, I'm looking for recipes that won't break the bank or contain ingredients impossible to find in supermarkets (one recipe contains duck fat and I'm not sure where I'll be getting that item). As an unemployed person looking to lose weight, I'm very concerned with not breaking the bank.

This month, I'm starting with the recipes from Cooking Light's Jan/Feb 2010 edition.

Forty-seven recipes, up teem servings (I calculated the WW points based upon nutritional info they supply), and a calendar mapping out the first week's menu, I'm ready to go.

I started yesterday, but hubby already put a monkey wrench in the calendar and I ate bean burritos for lunch and dinner yesterday and will be again today.

They were easy to make and I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty they were. I had the preconceived notion of them falling short and not satisfying me, but I was wrong.

However, one small burrito equals 7 points and I was a bit hungry an hour later. By dinner, I smartened up and added a kick ass salad. Sure, I felt a little like a rabbit, but I was happy and full. Verdict: I'd make them again.

The insanity part of this quest is syncing up the # of servings with the # of meals I will actually get from the recipe (yes, we eat leftovers here) combined with staying within my WW points and I have to food journal.

Plain and simple, food journaling works, but sucks! You record EVERY DANG BITE THAT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH. It eliminates the mystery of why you may wonder when you look in the mirror and see 5 or 10 extra pounds. It is your friend, enemy and slap in your face tool.

Actual Scale told me I could swipe her "bite it write it badge" for the month of March which she has officially entitled as "March is officially if you bite it write month".

I'll let you know what I think at the end of the entire experiment in terms of taste, cost, ease for cooking and ease for finding ingredients.

As Julia Child would say Bon Appetit...but minus the unnecessary calories!

Question of the Week.....

Thursday, March 4, 2010....



I've decided to make Thursdays my "Question of the Week" day because I always have questions and am always interested in people's answers.


This Week's Question: Do you think with the current economic conditions in the US, we're becoming a society in which the 'middle class' will be eliminated?

If you've read my profile, you know I've been unemployed for a very long time (not going into the trials and tribulations of job searching here), but I know I'm not alone.

I hear and read all about the home foreclosures, layoffs and senator from Kentucky who holds up Congress with his 'no' vote on extending the unemployment benefits (luckily, he gave up - turd).

This all has to take a toll on the people experiencing the misfortunes of the economy and after draining their savings and 401ks do you think the US is becoming more a nation with just a rich and poor class with the middle class dying off?

Rant and Rave Wednesday

Wednesday, March 3, 2010....


Any readers following me on a regular basis know if it's Wednesday, it's time to Rant and Rave about the past week. Without further adieu, here are my Rants and Raves from the past week:

Rave: Today is my 4th year anniversary of my 1st date with hubby. We're going out to celebrate and when my gf asked us where we were going the other night at the gym, hubby said BK because we have coupons (I thought of Brian when he said this...scary, but true)

Rave: Called in for a focus group last week. I wasn't chosen and made $100 for doing nothing.

Rave: KLo wrote an entry mentioning the blogs she likes to read and she gave me a shout out. KLo is one of the bloggers I admire and plan on checking out some of the other suggestions she has given.

Rant: Cleaning out the closet from hell and because I hate doing it, and the crew from Hoarders won't come over and do it for me, it's taking me FOR-EVER.


Once again, I have dust bunnies in my head because this is all I got. I would love to read any Rants and Raves you want to share? Just click on the linky thing for anyone that wants to participate in Rant and Rave Wednesday -- or leave them in the comments section here. Please, please be respectful and do not use the linky thing if you are just promoting your blog (yes, this is another Rant of mine).

A Trip to the Gym....

Tuesday, March 2, 2010.....



Last week, hubby and I joined one of our local gym that had an amazing price we couldn't refuse.

I'm not thin, but was a lot more active for many years until I had my 3rd surgery in October 2005 (prior 2 in September 2004). Afterwards, my body HATED me. It would ache in so many places that walking was incredibly difficult. This went on for about 3 1/2 to 4 years.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I joined a gym LAST Tuesday and went for the first time last night (I have my own special rhythm) with hubby to meet up with a friend.

She's training for a 1/2 marathon in October and I'm training for 3.1 mile run (last part of sprint triathlon with 2 sisters in September in NJ). However, a 3.1 mile run is the equivalent of a marathon to me.

My husband, has never stepped inside a gym. His job takes him outdoors where there is a lot of walking, so indoor gym equipment has never been his thing.

Did I paint a good picture...if not let make it clearer for you: two goofballs in a gym to workout with a friend.

The gym is packed and finding 2 treadmills together is almost impossible, but we do. I go to show hubby how to work the machine and am having difficulty. The machine is new, but they make them user friendly (they have to or people would throw hands up-in-air and declare "What? You want me to sweat and think?"). We figure out there is a problem with my treadmill, get hubby set up and I hop on the one next 2 away from him.

Girlfriend shows up (I should tell you something of importance, we were going to meet for coffee to catch up) and a treadmill opens up next to me and she hops on. Bravo! We start to chat and it hits me...I can't walk, talk and think at the same time. Sure, I can walk and chew gum or walk and talk, but add a 3rd element into the mix and I got nothing. I told her so and she said it was a good thing we didn't go for coffee (I swear, I can eat, think and talk so it wouldn't have been a wasted trip).

As she begins to run, hubby looks over at me and I ask "how far have you gone?". I thought he said 5 miles and I'm thinking (not talking because we've established I can't do all 3 on a treadmill) he's gone 5 miles in 20 minutes and not walking that much faster than me. How? Well, it turns out he went 5 LAPS!!! Big difference.

The treadmill on the other side of me opens up and he asks me if we're at Global Gym (Dodgeball movie reference) and I just laugh. He asks how much longer and goes into how I should jack my incline up to 15 (this is after I showed him the incline button). I tried, but got to 8 and then he wanted me to reach over and lower friend's m.p.h. button so we'd go farther...

She laughed at us. She told me she didn't realize how competitive we were and I asked her how many people in her life were a 'youngest' sibling. Other than me, none.

My husband and I are the youngest in our families and we epitomize the traits of a youngest. We get from point A to B by stopping at point Z first, clown around, voice our opinion (YogaGirl calls this trait 'whining', but since I never heard of the word, I ignore her) and we don't like to be ignored.

There are many other traits of a youngest and if you're lucky enough to be friends one, embrace them; we're the best.

We left 45 minutes later and agreed to meet up with friend this Friday. I had to ask and emailed her because I wanted to make sure we didn't scare her away.