More Changes

Last night I finally bit the bullet and got myself a new phone. Cell phone that is. For several months,  I had been unable to actually use my phone as a phone. It was dropping calls so bad that I gave up trying to talk on it. On the one hand, I liked having a legitimate excuse not to have to talk to people. No offense,  lol. On the other,  I couldn't make appointments for the kids as needed and whatever else. As my long time readers know,  I'm a gadget whore. That probably makes you wonder why I put off getting a new phone for several months. Well, it was because I couldn't decide what I wanted. I've had an iPhone for years and as much as I love it, I wanted something new, but did I *really* want to mess with new apps and moving my music around and blah blah.

Anyway, last night I girded my loins and went to Verizon with no idea what I was going to get. I got lucky with a really patient and funny Verizon guy. He introduced me to The Little Sister aka, the Galaxy S 3.

Day two, and I like it so far. There's definitely a period of adjustment that I'm going through. I can't make it do things that I want because I keep treating it like an iPhone. It's a little frustrating but I'm coming along. I like the finger drag typing. It's way fast. I also like the widgets. Since I'm still figuring it out, the iPhone seems easier to use with a more straightforward interface but I'm holding off my final opinion on that for a bit.

I typed up this entire post on my new phone which is a first for me in all my years of blogging. I have always used a computer for blogging. So score one for the new phone.

Anyone else ever transitioned from an iPhone to an Android phone or vice versa? 

Teenager Truism #2

Like I said last week, I've been through the baby, toddler, child, and tween years. Being firmly entrenched in the teenager years, I can tell you this:  The terrible twos were a piece of cake. For those of you with kids, you know when people tell you to enjoy them while they're young? Well, as parents, we don't listen to that advice as carefully as we should. I know that I didn't.

Teenager truism:  The first 12 years of raising a child are a walk at the beach compared to the next five or six.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

 From Barnes and Noble:

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Publication date: 9/4/2012
Series: Century Trilogy , #1

Ken Follett’s magnificent new historical epic begins, as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits.…An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House.… A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy.…And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution.

From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again.…

I just finished this novel a couple days ago. It took me forever to get through it. Normally, the set of criteria I use to rate a book includes length of time it takes me to read it. I'm a fast reader, especially when I love a book. Still this book is 960 pages long and that should take anybody more than a day to read. But the reason why it took me so long is because I had to put it down at times. You know when you're watching the movie Titanic and you know it inevitably ends in tragedy but you still wish that they'd just make that stinking course correction a little sooner and a little faster? Well, that's how I felt reading this book. I know the course of events surrounding World War I and I hoped that they would find an alternative to war clear up until the fighting began. I stressed myself out reading this book and therefore, I had to give myself a break from it from time to time.

Follett is a strong story teller. He clearly cares about his subject matter and writes accurate history. I know because I looked up quite a few events in the book to see if they were actually true or not. I don't have a strong grasp of World War I, sadly enough. I know even less about the Russian Revolution and the various economies and politics of other countries. Where Follett lacks, in my opinion, is character development. It's obvious that telling the story, the actual events, is his focus and the characters are secondary. This is the only reason why I would not rate this book a five out of five. I also thought that when he was wrapping up the ending, he did it a little too neatly and he also did it quickly like it was a task to get through, something on a checklist. Overall, I found it to be a good read and would recommend it to history buff and Follett's fans, but Follett will never be one of my favorite authors.

I'm ambivalent about reading the rest of the series. I love the time period in which Fall of Giants takes place (Thank you Downton Abbey) but I'm not all that interested in modern history after 1930. If I cared more about Follett's characters and what happens to them and their future generations, I'd have Winter of the World lined up on my Nook app but instead, I'm rereading another series. I'll probably read the second and third book in this series eventually, when I'm stumped for something to read.

So, I'm Not a Mommy Blogger

Both of my girls are teenagers. I write from the perspective of having been through the infant, toddler, child, and tween years. Here's what I know.

First of all, my girls were very different babies. The Oldest child was probably pretty close to perfect. She was tiny, pink, and beautiful. She never fussed a whole lot. She was never sick. When she was done using a pacifier, she threw it out of the car window. True story. When she was done with her bottle, she threw it out of her crib and refused to drink out of one ever again. She was not even a year and a half old at this point. Then, when I was close to giving birth to her younger sister, I decided that I didn't want two kids in diapers so I pushed her through speed potty training. I put a dress on her, a cloth diaper without a plastic outer pant thing and set her on the floor. She peed herself ONE time and that was all it took for her to use the potty consistently. Her sister, on the other hand, is a whole other story.

She had cholic, thrush, and baby acne when she was born. Do you know what it's like to breast feed a baby with thrush?? It's like white hot fire on a very delicate part of your anatomy that causes you to clench your fists and curl your toes in agony. 14 years later, and I still remember. There were nights when she and I would be downstairs on the couch in the middle of the night crying our heads off because she wouldn't stop crying and go to sleep and I was exhausted and at my wits end. Potty training was a freaking nightmare. The only thing she had going for her was that she was never sick.

Now as teens, they are the complete opposite again. The Youngest child is the easy one and the Oldest is causing me to lose sleep at night. The Youngest comes home from school, immediately sits down, and does her homework without being told. The Oldest, well, she consistently lies about doing her homework and that's when she's not up until 11 pm or later trying to get it finished. Why? She comes home from school and goes to sleep. Or she's on her phone. Or she's on her iPad. Or she's supposedly staying after school for extra help. Who knows. Sometimes she does her homework and then doesn't bother turning it in. Can someone please explain to my why someone would go through the trouble of doing the work and then taking a zero on it???

The Youngest child is going to look back on her teen years as endless days spent outside playing with her friends. The Oldest is going to look back at endless days of being grounded. She's currently grounded until next month, lol. I'm hoping that when we move, starting at a new school next year will help her turn a new leaf.

So, my first teenager truism:  Teens are not always capable of making good decisions. I read somewhere that this is a physiological thing at their age. Anyway, despite making bonehead decisions, this doesn't mean that they are bad kids.

Cafe Escapes

I mentioned a loooooong time ago that I'm a Bzz Agent. I have been an agent since 2006 and it has been, for the most part, a great experience. One of my absolute favorite things is trying out new products. I get to do this with Bzz and for free! What more can you ask for?

I thought I'd share my most recent campaign with them.

They sent me sampler boxes of new Cafe Escapes K-Cups for my Keurig brewer. In my box, I got the Cafe Caramel, Cafe Vanilla, Chai Latte, Cafe Mocha, and Milk and Dark Chocolate hot chocolate flavors. The Milk Chocolate hot chocolate wasn't new to us. I often buy them for the youngest child since she's the only one in the house that doesn't like coffee. It's always a big hit.

So far, I've tried the Cafe Caramel and Cafe Mocha, which are my favorites, and the Chai Latte which I thought was gross.

First of all, I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners. I occasionally use Truvia to sweeten my tea but I prefer honey. I also drink Coke Zero Vanilla and Pepsi Next which are artificially sweetened but tolerable. I do NOT like Sweet and Low or Equal. Big, giganto, YUCK!! Cafe Escapes sweeten their treats with a combination of sucralose which you may know as Splenda, sugar, and glucose syrup for about 60 calories per K-Cup.

The Cafe Caramel and Cafe Mocha are so yummy and rich in flavor, that the artificial sweetener taste dulls in comparison. I'm having the Cafe Mocha right now and I'm sad that I only got one of those in my sampler. I thought that the caramel and chocolate flavors in each drink was genuine and very tasty.

The Chai Latte was just not for me. It was probably a combination of it being a black tea and the overpowering sucralose flavor, but I took one sip and dumped the rest down the sink.

If you're looking for something new to try in your Keurig and don't have an aversion to artifical sweeteners for whatever reason, I'd totally recommend trying the Cafe Escapes. They even have lemonade and hot apple cider for something different other than coffee or chocolate flavors.

Choosing a Path

I've been reading back through my old blog posts to see if that would help me decide what I want to do with this blog. I'm in the middle of 2008 and I've been reading them in order. There is so much that I've forgotten. Wow. I had also forgotten how much of my blog I had deleted going through massive Vermont drama. Ahhh. Good times. Or something like that.

I've tried keeping traditional-type journals over the years. Even when I was a girl but I never keep up with them. I've tried audio journaling, picturing myself as someone from Star Trek making daily logs, lol. I think I did that about two times and I have no idea what happened to those files. The closest that I've ever come to keeping track of my life is on this blog.

And oh my gosh!! Reading back over old posts and comments (Yeah. I actually used to get comments on a pretty regular basis.) I had forgotten some of the ladies that used to blog the same time that I did. I miss them!! A lot. I wish I could go back to those "hey days" but as I said before, I really think personal blogs are in the past.

I'm going to keep going with mine, for myself if nobody else. I also miss talking about books. I used to blog about books that I was reading quite frequently and I stopped doing that. I don't have anyone to talk about books with anymore.

I really wish there was a way to get some of the "old timers" back to blogging with me. Jennifer, Pam, Liz, Dana, and many others along the way. Pretty wishful thinking on my part, I'm sure. Still, it'd be nice to have some familiar company. Maybe I'll happen along some new bloggers. We'll see. I hope that I have at least one reader out there who will continue my journey with me. ;)

The ABCs of Me

No decision has been made. In the meantime...

 

A. Age: 35. I'll be the old lady age of 36 in June. Does it mean anything that I don't feel that old??

B. Bed size: Queen but I wish it was a king.

C. Chore you dislike: It'd be a tie between cleaning the bathtub, putting away laundry, and mopping.

D. Dogs: Bailey is still plodding along at the ripe boxer age of eight.. She's too fat, has skin issues, and sore joints but she's still our Bailers.

E. Essential start to your day: I don't have a morning routine. Being scared awake by my alarm is enough to get me going.

F. Favorite colors: I like greens. Like sage green. And blues. Soft blues.

G. Gold or silver: Either.

H. Height: 5'4"

I. Instruments you play(ed): Regretfully, I've never played an instrument.

J. Job title: Stay at home mom.

K. Kids: Two girls ages 13 (14 in 10 days) and 16 (17 in July). Where does the time go?

L. Live: For 119 more days (yes, I'm counting down), we live in San Diego, California. In June, we'll be relocating to Pensacola, Florida.

M. Music group:  I dunno. I like the Foo Fighters as always. The Imagine Dragons. The Illumineers. The XX. Grouplove. Muse. ::shrug::

N. Nicknames: I don't have one.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Three: I had my appendix removed and then I had two kids removed. Ha.

P. Pet peeves:  Where would I begin? I have many. Bullies. Inconsiderate neighbors. Not replacing an empty toilet paper roll with a new one. And the list goes on.

Q. Quote from a movie: I can't think of one off the top of my head. Had this been "quote from a TV show" I would've had many.

R. Righty or lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: I have one older brother and one younger sister.

T. Time you wake up: 7 am on weekdays and not that much later on the weekends and holidays.

U. Underwear: I prefer bikini cut underwear. I think I'm getting too old for thongs and besides that, I've never found them to be comfortable. I don't like low cut because they constantly feel like their coming off. And I would blush constantly if I went commando.

V. Vegetables you don’t like:  Celery. I hate celery unless it's chopped up in Thanksgiving stuffing. Celery is the ick. I'm not fond of artichokes. I only like asparagus if it comes with chicken marsala or on the side of filet mignon at a very nice restaurant.

W. What makes you run late: Unexpectedly finding ice on my windshield in the mornings. And the oldest child. She is ALWAYS running late for school in the mornings.

X. X-rays you’ve had: I've had a few. I broke my arm in the 8th grade. I had chest x-rays when I was sick with bronchitis and everything else lung related. And then when I temporarily lost my eyesight in my right eye, I had chest x-rays again. I forget why the doctors said it was the thing to do.

Y. Yummy food you make: I make an awesome lasagna, black bean chili, guacamole, and my mac n cheese is pretty good too. These are all dishes I make without a recipe. Give me a recipe and I can make anything good.

Z. Zoo animal you like: Giraffes. I think they are one of the most beautiful and unique animals on the planet. They have such soulful eyes.

Assessing...Reassessing...Or Something

I read somewhere once, quite a while ago, that as a blogger, you're not supposed to publicly acknowledge when you've lapsed in posting to your blog. You're just supposed to go on like it hasn't been two months since you've regularly posted to your blog and hope that nobody points it out. I am, however, a nonconformist at heart and will tell you, the one single person left still reading my blog, that I'm well aware that my blog is neglected. Why? Well, I'll try and explain myself.

First of all, the holidays wreak havoc with all of my habits and schedules. My house is a wreck, all of my clothes are dirty (I finally did all my laundry yesterday and had to wear an old Marine Corps track suit of the Mister's because I didn't have anything left of my own to wear.), and my blog is in limbo.

Secondly, I started the final semester of my illustrious, long-drawn-out, seemingly endless, undergrad career. My final two classes are American Lit 1914-1945 or something like that, and American Drama. Trying to figure out what I'm going to do once I graduate and contemplating having to start paying back my student loans is sucking the life out of me.

Third of all, anticipating our fifth big move (and fourth coast to coast move) in 15 years is taking up a lot of my mind as well. We're thinking of trying to buy a house again and frankly, I have all kinds of misgivings considering the absolute hell of the whole Vermont house thing. So, do we buy or rent? There are so many unknown variables for the next four and a half years (what's left before the Mister retires) that buying seems like a bad idea but who knows. Anyone have a crystal ball that works??

Lastly, and most importantly where this blog is concerned, is that I think my blog has grown stale. Furthermore, I think personal blogs, such as mine, are going the way of the dinosaur (I love that saying). When I first started blogging, general, all-purpose, personal online journaling was all the rage. There were hundreds, probably even thousands, of blogs popping up online. Those blogs started evolving into niche blogs, like political opinion, book review, and travel blogs to name a few. Then that evolved into mom blogs that were geared towards people with smaller children and product reviews. Moms making money off of being consumer moms. That's a little judge-y but true nonetheless. To be fair, it's not just moms making money off of their blogs, but lots of different types of people and blogs. I've always resisted labels and pigeonholing myself and refused to jump on the mom blog bandwagon, persisting in my blog being the personal journal-type of blog. Again, I think those kinds of my blogs, hence, my blog, have become unfashionable and those original communities of bloggers have broken up. I can only think of one or two blogger friends of mine that are still blogging. Having teenagers, I don't fit into the mom blogger community anyway.

So, I'm at a crossroads. I've been debating for the past couple months, longer really if I'm honest with myself, about ending this blog. It will be ten years this fall since I started blogging. That is such a long time, I can hardly believe it's been that long. I'd be sad to give it up but maybe it's time. Or, maybe it's time to repurpose my blog and blog about something specific like reading/books, knitting/crocheting (which I've been totally into the past few weeks), television and/or music, cooking/recipes, pets, blah blah. I just don't know yet. Plus, my interests ebb and flow so what I'm into now (knitting and Downton Abbey) won't necessarily be at the forefront a month from now. We also bought a totally nice DSLR camera and I'm thinking about taking up photography. Times like these, I think I'm ADD.

I thought typing this up would help me make a decision, but I haven't sorted my thoughts out at all. I still need to think about it I guess.

Why the USPS is Going the Way of the Dinosaur

#USPS #badUSPS

This arrived in my mail yesterday:

It's postmarked from December 28th and it once contained a prepaid gift card inside of it. First of all, it took the post office almost a month to get it to us so that we had some idea of why it never arrived. Second of all, they apologize for it arriving damaged but not for the fact that it had obviously been purposely opened and the contents stolen.

Luckily, when it didn't arrive in a timely manner, I was able to let the person who had sent it know and they were able to contact the bank who was able to verify that the card had never been used and then proceeded to cancel it. So a big fat HA to the thief.

But seriously, the USPS has been struggling for years to compete with e-mail and other delivery companies and to stay afloat. They're considering not delivering mail on Saturdays and raise the price of a stamp annually. Personally, I can probably count on one hand how many times a year I use the USPS to send a letter or package.

This is most definitely not the first time I've had issues with the USPS and have even had to file official complaints when I didn't receive packages because the postal worker was too idiotic to read the mailing label. And that was seriously why we never got them, because they were delivering them to the incorrect address even though the correct address was written on the mailing label and then that person was keeping our stuff.

Maybe, just maybe, if the USPS would raise the level of customer service and actually do something when a customer has an issue and catapult themselves into the 21st century and actually compete with technology and their competition, they might not be having such a hard time staying a viable option when it comes to people's mailing needs.

USPS, you don't care.

November 16, 2012: Blog Hopping Friday

I have to say, I simply cannot believe that Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Where does the time go? Today is my kids' last day of school before they get an entire week off. Again, I have to say that I'm really looking forward to that. Life is so much more uncomplicated when I get to keep my family home with me.

Getting to the point...

1. My best quality is my honesty. If you ask my opinion, you can rest assured that I'll tell you like it is.
2. One of my less flattering qualities is my amazing ability to hold a grudge. I always think that by letting things go, I'm letting someone take advantage of me or get away with being a terrible person to me.
3. I'd rather be drinking coffee than tea this morning. But I'm changing my ways and having morning tea instead of coffee. That doesn't mean that I've stopped drinking coffee, it's just that I'm trying to start my day with green tea which is detoxifying rather than stopping up my system with coffee first thing in the morning. We'll see how it goes.
4. Something I have been challenged with lately is keeping up with NaBloPoMo. I gave up on the one picture a day thing on Instagram. I've had an extremely rough week and have given myself two mulligans with NaBloPoMo. Take that NaBloPoMo.
5. I am looking forward to my kids having school off this next week and Thanksgiving dinner.
6. A super random factoid about me is I am sad that Hostess is going out of business. I don't remember the last time that I had a Twinkie, but it was somehow comforting knowing they were out there if I ever had a craving.
7. I want to have an entire room filled with books and yarn. I want this room to have a secret door that only I know where it is. It would have an entire wall that is floor to ceiling windows that look out over green rolling hills as far as the eye could see. And it would be soundproof.

This week's Five Question Friday is being guest hosted by Kate at Kate's Life.

1. What snacks/drinks do you eat at the movies? I always have a soda and buttered popcorn. Then I have either Sour Patch Kids or Twizzlers. Sometimes I'll have Raisinets but usually it's Sour Patch Kids or Twizzlers.
2. What's one food you refuse to ever try? The reproductive organs of any animal. I'd rather eat bugs first. 
3. What's your favorite nail polish color? This is such an easy question for me. I absolutely love Essie's Scarlet O'Hara. It's the most perfect red and I get compliments almost every time I wear it. 
4. What's your favorite Thanksgiving tradition? Making and eating dinner. Everyone in my little family helps out. And of course, eating it is always good.
5. What are your least favorite words in the English language? Entitled because I dislike people who figure they're entitled to everything without following rules and regulations or having to actually work for it. Smile because it sounds funny when I say it. Same goes for drawer too. Any word that I mispronounce because I hate mispronouncing words.

Three Blogs I Always Read

#30DaysHathNovember

Scrolling through my subscriptions, I think it would be easier to find three blogs that I used to always read. Blogging has pretty much reached it's peak and gone beyond it and a lot of my favorite blogs haven't been updated in ages. :(

Anyway...

The Bloggess

Tudor History Blog

Wine Harlots

Style Inspiration for the Season

#30DaysHathNovember

Something I'm Proud Of

My restraint. This day made it into the top ten worst days of my life and I didn't kill, run over, or beat anyone. No matter how much they could've used a bitch slap to the face. And I don't want to talk about it so don't ask.

The Last Item I Purchased

I am such a very boring person. The last thing I purchased was dinner at Weinerschnitzel. Something slightly more interesting than that is the thing I purchased before that. Say hello to Click & Grow.

If you know me at all or have followed my blog at all, you know that I have a brown thumb. I kill everything I try to grow with the exception of cactus and succulents. If I don't kill it, snails do. Well, I can grow an obscene amount of tomatoes. So many tomatoes that I still have nightmares about them. Overall, I am just a plain old unsuccessful gardener/horticulturalist which is a shame because I love plants, flowers, herbs, and homegrown veggies. 

I heard about Click & Grow around some social networking something. Probably Twitter. It sounded pretty foolproof so I decided to give it a try. I got my kit in the mail on Thursday, rushed it into the house, and broke it out of its box. Setting it up was extremely simple. A mere five days of being turned on and watered and I already have sprouts!! I just noticed today that I had life in my pod. Woot!!

If my cockscomb grow well, I will definitely be ordering more plant cartridges. I love that this combines my obsession with technology with my want to grow things. I also really like the speed with which I received my order on Nov 2nd and it delivered on Nov 8th. They were also really good with order and shipment confirmation. I appreciate speed, accuarcy, and being kept in the know.

Keep your fingers crossed that my batteries don't die and that I don't get a rogue snail that kill my sprouts.

Three Years Ago Today

#30DaysHathNovember

I have to stop and figure out what that year is. November 11, 2009. I looked back through old blog posts to see what I was up to and luckily, I posted pretty regularly and I can tell you exactly what I was doing on this day three years ago:  vacationing at the Outer Banks. It was our last OBX vacation before we moved back to California. It was also when Nor'Ida rolled through which was pretty memorable.

I love California, in particular, San Diego. It's home as no place has been for many years. But, North Carolina's beaches are beautiful, especially at the Outer Banks and I miss vacationing at the OBX. San Diego's beaches are beautiful too, but in a more dramatic way with its cliffs and bluffs and huge waves. North Carolina's beaches are serene and warm and more welcoming in my opinion.

Ugh. This post has made me depressed. I miss having an annual vacation!!!

A Favorite Recipe

First off, Happy 237th Birthday to the US Marine Corps and to all Marines, past and present, who have served their country with dignity and honor.

Now, I have a LOT of favorite recipes. I share them on Pinterest, this blog, and Facebook from time to time. In honor of the fact that fall has finally arrived to San Diego (it's rained off and on the past couple days with temps only in the 60s) I'm going to share a recipe from Cooking Light that always gets play at my house during the colder months. It's from their January 2006 issue which means we've been having this for almost seven years now. In fact, we're going to be having it sometime in the next week. It takes a little prep time since you have to make the sausage yourself, but with using ground pork and ground turkey, it's super lean, very tasty, and worth the extra effort.

Ingredients

Sausage:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Dash of kosher salt
• 3/4 pound lean ground pork
• 3/4 pound ground turkey breast

Chili:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups diced onion (about 2 medium)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
• 4 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
• 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
• 3 cups water
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans no salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup very finely chopped cilantro, divided
• Low-fat sour cream (optional)
• Sliced green onions (optional)

Preparation

To prepare sausage, combine first 12 ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
To prepare chili, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage mixture; cook 7 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add onion, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 tablespoon garlic, 2 teaspoons oregano, and chiles; cook 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Place 1 1/2 cups black beans and 1 cup broth in a food processor; process until smooth. Add puréed beans, remaining beans, remaining 2 cups broth, water, and tomatoes to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, 45 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in juice and cilantro. Ladle about 1 3/4 cups chili into each of 6 bowls. Garnish each serving with sour cream and sliced green onions, if desired.

November 9, 2012: Blog Hopping Friday

1. I like spending time with my husband. He's been on leave this week and it's been really nice hanging out together.
2. A life goal of mine is to travel and see the things I've only read about in books or seen on television.
3. The last thing you would ever expect me to like (even though I secretly do) is I have no idea. I'm pretty open about all my many obsessions. I like video games, sci fi, reading almost every genre of book I can get my hands on, and I'm an openly, unashamed, nerd. What else is there to keep secret? Hmm. I don't think I've ever talked about how I like lizards. There ya go.
4. Some wise words that I love are let people's well-intentioned, yet busybody, judge-y advice go in one ear and out the other.
5. Most mornings you will find me with iPad in hand, reading my e-mail and checking on Facebook while the kids get ready for school.
6. Right now I am super into The Walking Dead, Of Monsters and Men, The Lumineers, and writing.
7. Right now I am super over democrats and republicans and daylight savings. When will this country put an end to daylight savings???

1. If you had c-section do you wish you would have had vaginal? Or vice versa?  I've never had a c-section and don't wish that I had. I wouldn't want the long recovery time.

2. If vaginal did you go drug free? For the Oldest, I had a shot of Demerol which I regretted. For the Youngest, I didn't have anything. My labors were both too short for an epidural.

3. Did you have any complications? Nope.

4. Who was in the delivery room with you? For the Oldest, I remember having the Mister in the room with me. I think I told everyone else to get the hell out. For the Youngest, I had my mom. The Mister was in California and I was in Ohio and he didn't have time to fly out.

5. Did you document your labor and delivery? (Photos, videos, etc.) Photos.

6. Pick the birth story of one of your children and tell us ALLLLLLLL about it! I'd really rather not. Both of my labors were mostly normal and definitely short.

I usually do a third blog hop here from Feeling Beachie, however, Hilaryg and her family were severely affected by Sandy and then the Nor'Easter that just hit the east coast. If you haven't already, please take the time to donate to the Red Cross or another reputable relief effort organization. Please keep this family as well as all the many others who were devastated by these storms in your thoughts.

The Search for a Mythical Pond

I'm skipping today's #30DaysHathNovember. The topic is inspirational quotes. I'm very rarely inspired and quotes that stick out to me are the ironic or funny ones. Not really inspirational. Instead...

Yesterday, the Mister and I dropped the kids off at school and then went for a hike at Mission Trails Regional Park. The last time we went hiking, we saw trail head signs for Shepherd's Pond. The idea of a pond out where we hike is a little unbelievable. It's dry. Really dry. Maybe it's a seasonal pond and is only present during the rainy season. We decided to try hiking to this supposed pond. We went about 1.7 or 1.8 miles before we turned around. It doesn't sound like a lot, but we hadn't been hiking in a couple months and the trails are moderate to challenging. Anyway, at our turnaround spot, we still hadn't seen any evidence of this pond. Our total hike was 3.7 miles with a 555 foot elevation gain. We were going to go again today but Fall has arrived to San Diego, freaking finally, and it's raining today. I'm not big on hiking in the rain and the mud. Hopefully we'll have a chance to go again before the Mister goes back to work on Wednesday.

This is where we turned around. We decided we didn't want to climb back up this hill.

A pretty steep hill. It's probably why my calves are sore today.

We were socked in with fog yesterday. This is the last of it burning off.

Morning view at MTRP

A Song for the Day

#30DaysHathNovember


Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men




Flapper Girl by The Lumineers

A Book I'm Reading

#30DaysHathNovember

I recently discovered author, Rick Riordan. He's responsible for writing the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series which I'm sure a lot of people have heard about since the first book, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was made into a movie. I started out reading the first book in Riordan's series Heroes of Olympus. I knew about the Percy Jackson series but I thought they were separate series and they are, to a point. A lot of the same characters from the first series make appearances or are mentioned in the second as are some events. So, my OCD couldn't stand it and I had to read the first book of the Olympians series and I've set aside the Heroes series until I'm finished. Blah blah. Anyway, they're great books. The Greek and Roman mythology in them are fabulous. Riordan's fantasy world is well-developed if a little Harry Potter'ish. I'm finding that I like the Olympians series better because they are told in the first person from Percy's point of view. The first book in the Heroes series is told in the third person from three different character's points of view. There was a lot of internal dialogue and thought and not enough actual character interaction in my opinion.

Something I really like about Riordan's heroes is that most, if not all, have ADHD, dyslexia, or both. As it's explained, the kids have ADHD because they aren't challenged enough by the human world and they have dyslexia because they inherit the ability to read ancient Greek which makes it hard for them to read regular English. I think that's just a great message to send to kids that have these issues: Don't let it hold you back and maybe these conditions are just a unique way in which you view the world around you. Heroes can have ADHD and dyslexia too.

I also like that though there is a certain amount of violence, what with the heroes having to go off on quests against monsters and so forth, it's totally on par with kids and young adults. Supernatural blood, in Riordan's world, is gold ichor. Some monster, when slain, turn into clay, others gold dust. It's things like that that make Riordan's world fantastical and exciting, but not so scary that tweens couldn't read and enjoy either series.

I have to say that I've really enjoyed setting aside some of the heavier reading I've been doing lately to enjoy more lighthearted and somewhat simpler books and just plain fun books.