Twenty

20 Facts About Me You Probably Don’t Care to Know

So this is my twentieth entry. . .yay!!! I was reading through old entries on a schoolmate’s blog, (whose writing I envy, but in a good non-evil way) and she did something like this on one of her milestone entries. I loved the idea, so I’m totally stealing it. I am making it a little bit “my own” as I am grouping them. I hope you don’t mind, aforementioned schoolmate.



I. Things I Can’t Stand
A. Most Republicans, especially this one.

B. Stupidity
C. PETA
D. Mean domineering men.
E. Animal Cruelty.



II. Things I Love
A. Pens. Yes, the kind you write with. All kinds of them. . .but my favorite is ball point.
B. These guys.


Um. There is no pic in the world more awesome than this. . .



C. and these guys. . .YUM.

D. Tattoos
E. Purses



III. Things I Want For Myself (right now anyway)
A. To be thin. Not like bony thin, but thin.
B. Debra Messing’s hair.




C. Vera Bradley bags in every pattern and style.



D. The next tattoo I have in mind.
E. A pen that makes me have perfect pretty handwriting.



IV. Randomness
A. When I was little, I used to hate it when my cousins from Knoxville came to visit, as they took away my grandparent’s attention from me. As a result, I referred to them as “The Yuckies”.
B. Besides my present cat, Baby, the best pet I ever had was a mutt with one eye and no tail, named Bobbi.
C. No matter what kind of insect it is, when it first lands on me, I will spaz like I have some sort of terrible seizure disorder.
D. I want a Puma for a pet.



E. It took a lot of coaxing from several people to ever get me on stage to do theatre. . .believe it or not.

The Friday Randoms

I don't have any huge points or arguments to make for this post, but several little tidbits sauteing around in my head. . .

I'm really picky about what music I listen to. If I had to make a pie chart of what I listen to, the stats would look something like this. 75% Classic Rock (I include the Black Crowes in this because they have that wonderful classic rock feel.), 20% Musical Theatre, 4% REM, 1% "other". In my opinion NO good music has come out in the past 10-15 years, except from the bands I mentioned above. Other than todays pop, my least favorite genre is the "sad bastard in front of a piano/guitar* type. The John Mayer and Ben Folds type artists (and I use the term artist very loosely). They make me so sad. Their lyrics don't make me sad, the fact that they think they're cool makes me sad. What has happened to the males in the music industry? Have they all sprouted vaginas? It makes me sad. Give me a long haired gritty hippie any day.

So, all of that ranting brings me to my list of favorite songs for right now. They change with my mood.

12. Waltz for Eva and Che - from the musical "Evita"
11. Small Time Blues - Pete Droge
10. Soul Singing - Black Crowes
9. When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
8. Nightswimming - REM
7. Find the River - REM
6. Remedy - Black Crowes
5. Tom Sawyer - Rush
4. Reelin' in the Years - Steely Dan
3. What Is and What Should Never Be - Led Zeppelin
2. Wiser Time - Black Crowes
1. In My Life - The Beatles

That's pretty much in order. Wow, how many times did the Crowes make it, three times? I love them. Gorgeous men, gorgeous music. . .who could ask for anything more?

So, as far as I know I'll be heading to Tucson to see CJ in May. I really need to get going on the whole weight loss thing. I'm devising a plan in my head using equipment I already have laying around the house. I need to eat better too. Foods that are bad are so much more convenient, and when you have no energy like me, it's hard to pass that up.

So yeah, that's what I've been thinking about. <3

A Stolen List. . .

I got this from my long lost choir buddy, Heather. I have a sick addiction to survey type things, so I just HAD to do this. Mine is not gonna have all the nifty pics though. My last blog did, and now I'm done with uploading them. I'm also lazy.

If I could be a month, I’d be October.
If I could be a day of the week, I’d be Friday.
If I could be a time of day, I’d be 7pm.
If I could be a planet, I’d be Pluto, because it's little.
If I could be a sea animal, I’d be a Manatee.
If I could be a direction, I’d be North.
If I could be a piece of furniture, I’d be that awesome recliner at Maw-Maw's.
If I could be a liquid, I’d be perfume.
If I could be a gemstone, I’d be an Iolite. . .no wait Morganite. . .no. . . (I'm a gem whore).
If I could be a tree, I’d be a Weeping Willow.
If I could be a tool, I’d be a pen. (me too :-D)
If I could be a flower, I’d be an aulstromeria lily.
If I could be a kind of weather, I’d be a perfect autumn day.
If I could be a musical instrument, I’d be an old, beat up, but thoroughly used and perfectly tuned acoustic guitar.
If I could be a color, I’d be pink.
If I could be an emotion, I’d be hysterical laughter.
If I could be a fruit, I’d be a strawberry.
If I could be a sound, I’d be kitten purrs.
If I could be an element, I’d be Helium, because it can fly.
If I could be a car, I’d be an old Camaro. No way. . .I'd want to be my car (2002 Kia Sportage, white with champagne colored trim, named Fiona), because I love it so much, and I want to be loved that much.
If I could be a food, I'd be a make your own bowl at Stir Fry Mongolian Grill on Carl T Jones in Huntsville.
If I could be a place, I’d be Ireland.
If I could be a material, I’d be soft cotton, like a worn in tee shirt.
If I could be a taste, I’d be make your own bowl at Stir Fry Mongolian Grill on Carl T Jones in Huntsville.
If I could be a scent, I’d be Honeysuckle.
If I could be an object, I’d be a purse.
If I could be a body part, I’d be a heart chakra.
If I could be a facial expression, I’d be a smile.
If I could be a song, I’d be "In My Life" by The Beatles
If I could be a pair of shoes, I’d be some trusty old Chuck's (that can morph into a pair of open toed heels when needed).

Fun Things from the Interwebz

Stumbleupon.com is now my favorite site. It shows you everything that is cool that you’re interested in.

So, I have nothing else to ramble out, other than Fibromyalgia sucks (which I’ll keep to myself); therefore, I proudly present “Cool crap stumbleupon.com has shown me":




You’ll never guess what this person used to make these. . . seriously. . .guess.



Really. . .




It's gonna blow your mind probably. . .








STAPLES!!!!! See-




Wow, I wish I had 1/10 of this artist’s creativity “jhuyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyynm” (That is input by my cat, Baby, who is desperately trying to make me quit computing.. . .see-






I think she’s up here to see what I’m going to talk about next which makes sense.)

Anyhoo, The info about this is in French, so I don’t know what it says, but, here’s the link.


The thing I stumbled upon before this was photos of celebs with Cats. I just thought it was so heartwarming, and I wanted to share some of my faves. You guys know I love the kittehs. I get Lol Cats in my inbox every morning. They’re my little piece of happy for the day.























My last item of randomness; it has nothing to do with stumbleing - watching Cake Boss on TLC makes me want cake. Bad. I want to marry Buddy.

On a completely different topic, I am using the Special K Protein Shakes in my weight loss endeavors.

That is all.

A Few of My Favorite Things- EZ Combs

First off, don't laugh at me, and don't judge. I think the best invention of the last decade is the EZ Comb. Stop laughing.




I wasn't so sure about them when I first saw them on TV. I thought to myself "Are these tacky?" I thought they might be a bit "too much" for every day use. I'm pretty much a black ponytail elastic and bobby pin kind of girl. Then, they finally came out in stores. My mom bought a set at Wal-Mart for the two of us. I tried them various ways, and now, I adore them. I don't even mind the copious amount of blingage in my hair. They're comfortable, they hold like a charm, they're pretty versatile, and they hold well enough to hang onto shorter hair.

Another one of my New Year's resolutions was to not cut length off of my hair for a year. I say length because I will need some trimming, and will need someone to run the thinning shears through my hair as it is super thick. I am taking Andrew Lessman's "Healthy Hair Skin and Nails" vitamins. You can get them from QVC if you're interested.I thought I got ripped off (hair-wise, I saw a difference in my nails in a week or two) for about six weeks to two months, then my hair just started growing and growing and hasn't stopped. I love it. The pic I use here as my profile photo was taken late October of '09. Since then, I've had one professional trim at the beginning of December, to even up months and months of self haircuts. It didn't make that much of a difference in length. Now, my hair, at its shortest point is touching my shoulders, and the longest is about an inch longer than that. I'm so excited!

So, my main points are: 1) EZ Combs are awesome in general. 2) EZ Combs are even more awesome if you're growing out your hair.

<3

Standard of Beauty: Part II

I have become a stumbleupon addict. It’s bad. I could stumble for hours. It is actually more of a time suck than facebook. That is REALLY saying something.
Today I stumbled upon something that made me so angry, I almost started crying, and that takes a lot of angry.

It’s a website (www.about-face.org) that focuses around female body image, and exposes “violators” of companies and websites that tear down the normal female. Of course this website doesn’t make me angry. While browsing on their site, their number one violator was www.askmen.com. In particular, a top 10 list they compiled titled “10 Subtle Ways to tell Her She’s Getting Fat”. It is more sad and infuriating to read than watching a baby be punched in the face.

The link to the whole article can be found here. But I’ll break it down for you. . .
(Text in quotes is actual quotes from the article.)

10. Buy her clothes that are too small- “Oh . . . I thought you were a size eight. Isn’t that what you were last summer? “
9. Sign her up for Yoga under the pretence of “stress relief”.
8. Set out on your own weight loss plan.
7. Serve her unsatisfactory portions. “When dishing up meals for the two of you, try giving her smaller-than-usual-amounts. By making her ask for more food, you might succeed in shaming her into acknowledgement of her recent weight gain.”
6. Improve your own diet.
5. Playfully grab her love handles.
4. Ask her to wear an old dress. “Plan a romantic night for the two of you, and insist that she wears something from when you first got together; particularly one that you know doesn’t fit anymore.” . . . “Follow it up by telling her how good she looked in those days. . .”
3. (My personal fave) Sabotage her chair. “. . . nothing says “better lose some weight” like a broken chair. After you loosen a few screws or remove some important slats of a chair in which you know she’ll sit and subsequently break, sit back and watch the guaranteed dietary transformation that ensues.”
2. Leave “now” and “then” photos lying around. “By consistently reminding her of how she used to look, she’ll inevitably be more inclined to do something about her excess flab. Appropriately chosen and strategically placed photos should accomplish this quite nicely. Keep in mind, if she confronts you about trying to shame her into losing weight, the key approach here is denial, as you reply: “Do you actually think I would be that manipulative?”
1. Take her to places where she has to wear a swimsuit.
If she seems content staying at home eating donuts in her track pants, why not start taking her to places where she has no choice but to where (-5 for spelling. . .it’s WEAR, asshat) a swimsuit? As she awkwardly looks around at all the slender bodies having a great time, she’ll more than likely vow to do something about her recent weight gain, especially if she knows she’ll be back there in the not-so-distant future.

What man would do these things? What man would actively try to humiliate their significant other because they put on a few pounds? Actually, in my life, I have observed that the first person in a relationship to start putting on pounds is the guy. So maybe you need to put on your old clothes and see how they fit before you try to belittle your girlfriend/wife. Chances are, she knows she has gained a few, and she doesn’t need your simple ass to tell her.

Not only is this emotionally harmful, but sabotaging her chair? Do you not care that she could get hurt this way? Is a broken coccyx or pinched nerve really worth it?

I was chatting with my boyfriend as I was typing this blog, and telling him what the article said. I posed the question “What’s wrong with a girl having a little meat on her bones?” He came back with a quick reply of “Nothing. More padding for my boney hips *smiley face*” So there you have it. The opinion from your typical football watching, muscle car obsessed dude. I love him.

So, Thomas Foley (author of this article), I hope you become super-obese, and thus forced to live a life of unintentional celibacy.

What to do for Valentine's Day. . .

I crave it A LOT of the time. Steamy, hot, and I'll be damned if it's not better the second time around.

What? I'm talking about meatloaf, you freaks!

This is my specialty. I love it. I will tell you any day of the week that my meatloaf is better than your mamma's and your grandmamma's combined. There's not many things I make that I would step up to a mamma or grandmamma about. . .but trust me. . .mine is infinitely better.

As my Valentine's Day (yuck) present to you all, to show how much I love you, I will give you my recipe. Make it with the confetti salad (scroll down for that recipe), and and a side of mac and cheese or mashed pertaters. . .and you will have your man at your beck and call for the rest of the month.

Loaf part:
-1 lb of ground whatever you like. (beef, round, chuck, turkey- whatev; but chuck is the best.)
-1 egg
-1 heaping handful of breadcrumbs
- 1/2 of a good sized onion
- 1/2 of a bell pepper
- load and a half of garlic
- cayenne pepper (powder or flakes, whatever you got)
-ok, here's where the present part comes in. . .I'm telling you my secret ingredient. . . .curry powder. There, I said it. . .curry powder. A liberal amount of curry powder. It gives it this splendid earthy taste.

* Squish this up with your hands. I know, it's totally gross. . .but you want to get all that goodness mixed up.
* Plop it into a loaf pan, and squish it flat in there. I also have a set of mini loaf pans that I like to use for single serve versions. . .or if you don't have that, a muffin pan works too.
* Take the end of a spoon, or a straw or something, and poke several holes in it.

Bake it for 30 mins at 350. (Remember to preheat)

While it's baking, make the topping.

Topping:
- Lots of ketchup
- Several dashes of soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, dale's or any kind of dark salty liquid you might have in the fridge.

* set it aside until the loaf part is done.
* get on the net, read a book, play with the cat.
* When the loaf part IS done, schmear the topping on, and bake it for about 15-20 mins. Drain off any grease before you do.

Meatloaf keeps a little secret from us, and I made it talk. It's actually versatile.

Variations. . .

Meatloaf Italiano:

Use Italian Breadcrumbs, add some Italian Seasoning. The mixed kind is good. . .it's got oregano, basil. . .and other herby goodness. For the topping (after you've poured the grease off the top) lay down some slices of mozzarella, or grated mozzarella and/or provalone. On top of that, smear on a good bit of your fave spaghetti sauce (I like the kind with mushrooms in it), black olives, and parmesean cheese. It's ooey gooey goodness.

Mexican Meatloaf:

Add some taco seasoning to the loaf part when you're in the squishing phase. For the topping, sprinkle on a good bit of that grated mix cheese in the mexican variety. Cover that in either Ro-Tell tomatoes, or your fave salsa. If you like even more heat, add some jalapeno to that.

Wavy Gravy:

Nix the onions in the original loaf part. For the topping, either mix up some gravy from the packet, or get a jar. Schmear it on. Saute the onions until they're getting transparent, but not gooshy.

Can't think of any other kinds. . .<3

Standard of Beauty

I should start out by saying that I do love my grandparents. They helped shape me into who I am today . . . good and bad.
They used to hound me about my weight when I was just a child. You guys know I haven’t been skinny since I was eight years old or so. Once after listening to my Grandmother critique my weight when I was about 12, I asked her why she would do that to me. She said, “I want you to be pretty and have boyfriends one day.” It is 16 years later and I have never forgotten it obviously, and I have to say it has warped me. When I was a teenager, I used to crash diet to the point that I passed out cold at a drugstore once when I was 15. That’s something a lot of people don’t know about me.


To this day I am envious of “those girls”. You know who I’m referring to . . . size two, gorgeous, the “whole package”. I just want to cram Crisco down their throat while they’re sleeping.


You’re probably wondering why I’m ranting about this. I was “stumbling” and “stumbled upon” a site where someone had posted photos of Zigfield Follies girls from the early 1900’s. They’re beautiful, in my eyes . . . and not at all skeletal like what is considered attractive these days. . .








If these women posed for a magazine today, they would be called fat.

I'm by no means a Britney fan or supporter, you guys know better than that. . .but in this disastrous performance, she was called fat.



I don't know about you guys, but if I had that body, I would never wear clothes. No wonder young girls are cramming their fingers down their throats.

I just looked up medieval beauty standards, and this is what came up. . .



*Sigh* I was totally born in the wrong era...

Go Get It: The Ultimate in Skincare Happiness.

I am addicted to cosmetics and skin care products. I really am. The nice people at Betty Ford need to make a wing especially for me. No they don’t. I could never give it up. I could stand at a makeup counter for hours. I could peruse the makeup section of any department/drug store for days. I would love to know how much money I have spent on beauty products. Actually, no, no I wouldn’t; I could probably have bought a car. That’s ok though, it makes me happy. It’s like a hobby for me; trying to fix myself.
Anyway, my point, and I do have one; I have found the ultimate “happy” in skincare. It’s this. . .


L’Oreal Go 360 Clean


It comes in different types too.




I got the cream cleanser because my skin dries like the Sahara in the winter time. Come summertime, I’ll probably need to explore the other kinds of this line.
The most awesome part? That little oval in the center pops out, and you have what L’Oreal has aptly named . . . the scrublet.





When I first saw this on TV, I thought the scrublet was made out of hard plastic, and would scrub the hide off of one’s skin. It’s not though; it’s either silicone or very soft rubber. It feels like a million little fingers getting in every pore and scrubbing the crud out of it, but in a way that will not irritate your skin. Mine is pretty fragile, especially in the winter; and after I put a little of this. . .




Neutrogena Ageless Intensives Tone Correcting Night Serum.
They make a day version too that’s a cream, but I love the feel of the night serum.


My skin felt amazing.


Dudes also should take advantage of this too; especially dudes that keep some scruff on his face. By the way, thank you for keeping it there, YUM! The little fingers in the scrublet will really get into those facial hairs and give the skin underneath a good polishing. Don’t feel like a puss for going to a store to buy it either . . . girls love a guy with nice skin. :~)


So yeah, I love this so much I had to blog about it. You guys all go get some so they won’t stop making it! I’m saving all the scrublets from every bottle I buy just in case they do. . . .