PS...

I know some of you can't (or won't) come to Kenny's memorial. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to me!

You are cordially invited...

To Kenny's (the microwave not the 'scary' clock) memorial:

To be served - some of Kenny's favorite memories:

Burned popcorn
Boiled water
Still frozen TV dinners
Defrosted chicken with a wilted Spinach garnish

Eulogies will be shared as we bid adieu to Kenny as he joins LJ's Mom's 30-year-old washing machine, Scary Kenny and the deep fat fryer that shocked us all.

It will last until his replacement, Natasha, kicks you out with her timer of delight.

See you there!

The Microwave is the walrus

So today is a sad day for my mom and a happy day for me. How could two people, who claim to be great friends feel so differently on any given day, you ask? Wouldn't I out of sympathy feel bad if my ma feels bad and shouldn't my ma be happy for me if I am happy?

Normally I would say yes.

Today, however, her microwave that has traveled with her through this life since 1983 has gone to a farm to play with other old microwaves and was replaced by a smaller younger microwave. Presumably one that is not emitting cancer-causing waves at any one's mid-section. To give you an idea of the age of the older, freer microwave, it has fake wood metal sides, that were dented. It was bought when Erikka was a baby. It was larger than the entire packing and boxing of the new microwave.

koo-koo-ka-choo, baby.



The object showing scale in these pictures is a CD envelope.

Rainy Tuesday...

Hello all - long time no post!

I have been 1 part busy, 1 part lazy and 1 part delicious. So that explains why I haven't posted!

Busy: We officially have 3 gypsies in the part and they are definitely keeping me busy with 2 of my least favorite jobs. 1 is cleaning the bathroom. Yuck yuck yuck. The 2nd job is just doing my absolute best not to be Shanghai'd (is this a slur?) by them. They like to pay late and for varying amounts of time, so just keeping who has paid for what and when they are due is complicated!! Other things keeping me busy includes the grass and weeds. Although I still love the mowing (especially now that Ingrid is back on her wheels), it seems like I mow at least a little every day. And today I mowed for no less than 4 hours. Wowza.

Lazy: I had 3 books out from the library and I was working fervently to get through at least 2 by today as they are due back in 3 days. I did manage to finish "In Cold Blood" and "Water for Elephants". "In Cold Blood" was a very well written true crime - even if the language was a little old-fashioned. It was written in 1965 and I would say has stood the test of time. "Water for Elephants" - sooo good. A really good fiction novel. LJ- read this one! Right now I'm reading "The Year of Magical Thinking" which (80 pages in) seems like it will be very good as well.

Delicious: I'm working very hard, now that I'm here alone, not to let my diet slip to much into what I will call "Bachelor Food". And I did make 2 real meals last week and enjoy the leftovers for a long time. But last night I "batched" it - Totinos and Chocolate Ice Cream. YUM!

Today it rained on me a little bit as I mowed. Why does my skin feel so soft after even just a tiny bit of rain?

Toodles!

Stamped scrapbook

Last night I went to stamp club - huge dork, eh? But this is what we made - feel free to look!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=qtllvws.31s1dqjw&x=0&y=xwapru

Beppo video

Colbert Report: God's Pet Chimp Man was created in God's image. Chimps were created in God's chimp's image. Sent by cassie@w3ha.com Chimp Watch your favorite shows, exclusive clips and original web shows on MotherLoad, our broadband video player. Terms of Use | Privacy Statement http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/?lnk=v&ml_video=85567

Vagueness

Sorry my last post was so vague.

The Colbert Report is a parody news-type debate-type show on Comedy Central. They just make fun of everything. And in his 'monologue' type thingy, he was talking about Jesus' pet monkey, Beppo. Apparently Beppo knocked over a jar of locusts (causing a locust plague presumably) and Jesus yelled "Beppo!!!" And it was funny. And it was good. I just like hearing the name Beppo. :)

Other good things about the Colbert Report:

• how it's pronounced - as if it's French Col-bear Re-por
• there is an 'anchor' who looks just like Laura Judy's dad if Laura Judy's dad was black
• Stephen Colbert (Col-bear) is one handsome piece of fake Republican man meat (Republican jerky? Republican Bologna! My Bologna has a first name...)

So hopefully this clears up some of the vagueness and if I can find a video clip of the "Beppo" incident, I will definitely post it! Or if one of you can find it, send it to me!

Beppo...

...was mentioned no less than 3 times on the Colbert Report tonight. Delightful.

Ingrid...

...is back in one piece. After replacing the blades and fixing the broken shearpins, we realize something was still amiss. Jeff looked around and asked if I had seen a spring. Apparently when I hit said rocks, I managed to dislodge about a 6 inch long spring. Luckily it isn't that dark here yet and we did find it and Ingrid sounds much happier.
And Tara - you were wrong on several accounts - one: Ingrid is hilarious. As soon as we put that spring back on, she launched into this "knock, knock" joke routine. Jeff peed his pants. Seriously funny stuff. Second: rocks will definitely slow me down. As my mom mentioned, I did hit my head on some rocks, I thought I needed stitches. Mom and Dad figured since I didn't need any stitches from the time they threw the saw at my head, rocks didn't warrant a trip to the emergency room, either.

My back is aching like a little old lady, so I'm off to lay down on my heating pad.

The circus is in town!

Well not exactly - but I was right, the gypsies are here. I didn't think it would be obvious but when you have a woman leaning out the window of her hunormous truck to her Arkansas Razorbacks T-shirt wearing husband waving cash yelling "Elvis! Elvis!" you think to yourself "... here they are, the gypsies." If one of them offers to read my fortune, I have to admit that I will buy into that scam, but I don't think they are 'see the future' kind of gypsies. Unfortunately.

Anyway, today was a beautiful day, so I decided to finish the mowing this morning. Hit a couple of rocks first thing and then no grass would be cut by that mower. Now I want you to imagine my panic. Although there were no hiccuping tears on the outside, you know that scene in "Christmas Story"? "Fuuuuuuuuuudddge"? That's me at that point. Understand: my mom loves this lawn mower more than 3 of her children. Here's the heirarchy:
Molly
Erikka (She beats the mower b/c she provided said grandchild)
Lawn Mower
CariMikeCassie

I don't take offense to this (and neither should Cari or Mike). I mean who can blame her? The name - Husqvarna - just say it. It's phonetic. It's got a q without a u. I can't compete with that. And it's orange! And much more useful than I am, most days. I figured this was the end of my riding mower fun - my mom was gonna say put it away and weed-wack the entire park from here on out. (The only problem with her saying that is that at the end of a couple of weeks of that, my biceps would be 'Ultimate Fighter' type and then she'd have to deal with me when she got back. Wouldn't be pretty.) Well, when my right hand man Jeff came home he was able to look at it and it seems very fixable. Phew. My mom will let me live another day.

For Dan Judy - from my Grandma Rae

Warning About Bacon Grease

DO YOU USE BACON GREASE?

We were raised on bacon grease (lard) as kids and even into adulthood.
I will never use it again. I hope you will throw yours away whenever you fry bacon from now on. It seems as though nothing is safe to eat anymore.

COOKING FOOD WITH BACON GREASE CAN MAKE YOUR FEET SMALL !! WARN EVERYONE THAT YOU CARE ABOUT THAT MAY USE BACON GREASE.

All day today!

So my parents left this morning... and I know they will be back, but I am just really bad at goodbyes - to anyone! But I've managed to keep myself pretty busy. Not with anything around the campground mind you. I have actually only done actual campground work for about 20 minutes today. One thing I did do is take a reservation - I think it was one of the gypsies. Every year I guess some Alabama gypsies come here...and this guy's name was Elvis. I am not kidding. And he was really vague about how many RVs are coming and how long they will be staying. Could be interesting. Elvis is a man of mystery!

So this is what I kept myself busy with this afternoon, since work was slower than molasses (learning to talk gypsy).
Pretty, eh?
We never did get any snow last night and even though it was pretty cold here, it didn't rain at all today. Which means tomorrow I will probably be out mowing! My favorite campground job!

Tata!

Man, oh man...

...I suck at goodbyes. Luckily, it's not something I WANT to be very good at.

Such a glutton for praise...

Lookie what I made!

Ok - I realize you probably can't tell what I made. But it's a really cool card. Some of you know I'm into stamping, which is like scrapbooking, but slightly more badass. You won't catch any Soccer moms stamping. It's more like TaeKwonDo moms. Do TaeKwonDo moms and Cassie like stamping? Does a bear shit in the woods? Um...yeah. Anyway, this is a really cool card that I made tonight and it's pretty and I love it. So you should too.

Maybe I am no poet, Aunt Sandi. But I can make a pretty sweet card.

Now Tara, obviously LJ, I and others have not a silly bone in our bodies. So your initial analyses were correct. We were against impotence and consumerism. Seriously.

Findings to note (variations ARE my butt)

...ok... so for now the photos are spared. Although if I can get Dan to send me a picture or pattern to use for fashioning them into cooking protection, I may have to change the plans for the photos. I found some ski goggles today that could be part of the 'shield'.

As unpacking continues I have found some things that I can't help but share-

One thing I found was a piece of paper that was from college that I think (correct me if I'm wrong LJ) we would leave out on the coffee table and write poems. Random crazy poems (Tara if you want to try to analyze these, feel free). These are all separate poems, even if one may have inspired the next. Please to enjoy:

Boy I'd
love to see
an impotent raptor.

black man
eatin
broccoli
sits on an
orange coat
a fence post
laughs at me
wildly

an impotent squid
could definitely
MAKE MY MACARONI
and cheese!
(for free)

variations
are my butt

but,
how is life possible
with so
much
cake?

the evil
inside all
califlower men
is too much
to bear

indeed, but
Mickey Mouse is
my best
enemy

I don't know which of us wrote which of these... so some are definitely me and LJ, but some could be Alyssa, Ilisa, Jillian or even Dan. I really got no idea. But it's classic and a demonstration of greatness.

unpacking day!

Finally this day was here... well a little bit here at least.

Just so everyone understands 90% of my stuff has been in storage since last July when I first left Denver. I literally didn't even understand until I just thought about it. Well, today mom started packing and as she is packing for the shift to Arizona, I am unpacking. So today I found some books and office supplies. As well as those pictures that last July I didn't really know how to deal with. I still really don't. The wedding pictures or vacation pictures of Mike and I don't really make me sad anymore, but it feels strange to hold on to them, and it feels more strange to throw them away. Hmm... enter your comments here: what should I do with the old pictures? Burn? Box and save to find again in a year? I dunno.

Anyway, over the weeks and days ahead, I will get to continue to free my stuff from the terrible world of storage. YAY .. stuff! I do have to say though, I've learned how little I can live without! I wouldn't call myself a 'volunteer' minimalist, but if I have to be a minimalist I can. Apparently. I'll will complain constantly though, so don't make me.

Hey Dan - I cooked bacon today. And man, oh man, do I STILL hate cooking bacon.

Happy Easter

I can't believe I forgot about Easter... hope you found all the eggs and none of the little buggers are rotting and stinkin' the joint up around you!!

Looong weekend

Or at least it felt long. It was still really stinkin' cold outside and there was way too much to do. We had to finish the bathhouse renovation and everything inside is complete!! So we can relax a little you think? No no no! We did work a little slower this weekend, but still plenty to do. And it seemed like all of it needed to be outside for some time.
Saturday was the Eisenhower Marathon here in Abilene and it did bring back a few memories. Some good (the end) and some bad (everything from about Mile 3 to the end). I was definitely glad that Heather and I ran in it last year; the temperature Saturday morning was barely 20. At least last year I think it hit 50 in the afternoon! I didn't wake up to see the start of the race though - I wanted to, but when 7:00 am came I thought "ughhhhhhh" and fell back asleep.
Anyway... a lot of work this weekend, not a lot of play, so very little to blog about. Two new recipes I'll be trying this week.. that's called a cliffhanger.
Tata and good night.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Or at least late fall, early spring. It actually is snowing here. I was wearing shorts on Sunday and eating ice cream (well...whatever is in the non-dairy products sold by Dairy Queen) with LJ and today it is snowing and we are worried about the pipes freezing.

In other news, the major, major projects in the bath-house renovation project are complete. We shall drink and be merry tonight. By the fire. As we sing Christmas carols and string popcorn.

In response to comments: I'm also happy to be back blogging...I've missed the glory and fame! Bacon is a fun food to blog about, but one of my least favorite to cook. The splashing, the opportunity for pain and the cholesterol are all big negatives in my book. But the ability to say "Yes, I DID eat some animal fat today!" that's priceless. Mountain oysters... actually barely a week ago I was offered mountain oysters. When the guy said "They used to be mine, until I gave 'em to my mom." and "They are a real pain in the ass to clean." I politely declined.

2 posts in one morning!

If you are one of the geniuses (geniusi?) to receive my emails and run right here to see... you are lucky! Two posts in one day! Granted this one is just a couple of pictures but still.

This one is on a nice day if I lie down on the tree swing. Relaxing, eh?

And then yesterday we got some horses in ... cool!

Hello Again

Hiya!

Well..it's been 3 months since my last blog post on my Korean blog and I was thinking this weekend that a 2nd blog wouldn't be bad. :) I really liked being able to keep you all up to date with what's happening to me out in Kansas (and trust me, it's a lot!) So this is a little like the Korean blog, but will probably have less to do with food. Although if I try a new recipe I'm likely to post it here. Or a new restaurant. Or if I eat something really yummy. Or just get so busy that I forget a meal I'll probably whine about it here. So, it may have more to do with food that I originally thought! Well, at least I'm consistent. My favorite snack at this moment in time? An apple smeared with peanut butter. More blogging gold to come.