eRamblings

My desk is a complete mess right now.

At a very last minute decision I ended up going to California this weekend. And my carry on bag has become my scrapbook backpack (which I love), but I use it all the time and so I had to take all the scrapbook stuff out to get my carry on stuff in. I have yet to put any of the scrapbook stuff back in the bag. It is still littered all over.

I had an absolute blast this weekend. I went to a pocket bike race. It is actually quite funny looking. All these grown men riding around on teny tiny bikes. The kids are cool looking though. A little less like a monkey in a circus. I surprised myself because I simply wasn’t sure what to expect. I like motorcycles, although I don’t ride. Yet. I knew it was kind of going to be a guys type of thing. But I was invited and I wanted to get out of town and spend the weekend with my husband and stepson.

I went to work on Friday at 5am which means I got up at 3am. I worked until 1:17pm. Went home, packed my carry on, fed the kitties, cleaned up the apartment a bit (not as much as I would have liked), showered, got into airplane clothes and then had just enough time to sit down to eat lunch. I got the airport (thanks dad) with enough time to buy a couple of magazines (People and Redbook). The moment I sat down the gate attendant came on to say that the pilots were not at the airport yet and we could not board until they did. Crap. So I waited. We took off about forty-five minutes late. I got to California and it was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT WEATHER. It was beautiful. A cool breeze and less than 90 degrees out. YES!! A complete fallacy because it was inordinately hot the following day.

We stopped at Wally-mart and bought a few things for the weekend. I got dinner. Then we went straight to the race track where we spent the next ten hours. I watched them practice run a million times. I watched them work on the bikes and tune them all up. I asked a million questions (because I can). And I drank tons of water and Gatorade. I made a few EWW faces because these men were so dirty. All the grease, exhaust, dirt, gasoline. You name it. D.i.r.t.y.

On Friday I had a twenty-one and a half hour long day. A long day. In 24 hours, I was up for 21.5 of them.

Holy crap. I was a bit tired.

We slept for about seven hours. As well as you can sleep in a hotel.

The next morning, I was able to convince the boys to head out to the track without me and let me get ready on my own time. Which was awesome for all of us. The moment they left, I dove straight back into bed with my coffee. About the time I was ready to head across the street to Denny’s for breakfast my husband was on his way to get me. So we swung in and got it to go.

What is it with men and not eating or sleeping? My husband can live off of one meal a day and about four hours (probably less) of sleep. I can’t do that. I need 3 meals a day (a few snacks in between) and at least 8 hours of sleep, but 10 would be better.

We then went back to the track for the entire day. Official racing started that night at 6pm.

I felt so bad for my husband because he spent the entire Saturday working on one or the other bike while the kid rode the track. Each time he would get one bike fixed the other would have some sort of problem. But I was also very proud of him for doing so. Only a good father would do that.

I think the heat got to me mid-day though. I spent some time sleeping in the truck, but didn’t feel so hot afterwards. We did take a break (thank goodness) and got some dinner and enjoyed some air conditioning for a bit before the official races started. I did feel pretty sick on Saturday night when we finally left (maybe it was early Sunday, I can’t remember), but once I got some sleep I was alright. On Sunday my husband asked me why I didn’t just take the truck back to the hotel. Shit! I hadn’t thought of that. That would have been a great idea.

My husband placed 4th in one of the races. YEAH! After all that tuning and little practice, that was just so cool. My stepson got better each and every time he went out on the track, but I don’t think he was feeling it so much. He actually got in a little accident a week or so before this and got the wind knocked out of him. Which has never happened before and I think it scared him a bit.

My husband actually went down in one of the races. He was turning with a couple of the other guys and somehow went down. The bike hit and he rolled a couple of times, but without a second hesitation got up and ran back to the bike to finish the race. I totally missed getting pictures of it because my jaw was so on the ground. I could not believe how fast he moved and without stopping, just one fluid roll and up.

And there was a girl (Rita Hererra) racing with all the guys. Way cool!

All in all it was really fun and quite a bit of new stuff for me to learn. I think next time I want to rent an RV and stay at the track. That way I can go into the ac, eat some food and get some rest/down time. We’ll see. I think hubby would rather leave me at home. lol

Here are some of my fav pics -

Isn’t he just the cutest? I know I am supposed to say cool, but really. Cute says it all!

This was me taking a breather in the truck.

Dad and son ride together.

Down time before the race.

One of the heats to find out where each rider will start in the final race. (Hubs is in lower right corner in orange and black)

Rest time in between practice and racing.

Probably one of my fav pics of the whole weekend. He was so filthy and yet exuding happiness from the inside out.

Edited to add:
My stepson actually passed up his father to ask me to help him take off his riding gear. He leaned on me resting his head on my shoulder when we were watching others ride, sitting on a hay bale. I had forgotten how easily it was for him to fall asleep. Forgotten so many things. Hubs and I laid him in bed and then snuck out for a moment to smoke outside. When we came back, I swore to hubs that he would be playing his video games which he was forbidden to play because it was time to sleep. We tip toed up to the door and listened. Not a sound. We snuck in and he was laying on his side barely breathing. I thought he was playing. I kept waiting for him to start cracking up laughing. Nope. He was dead to the world. Hubs even picked up his arm and dropped it on the bed. Not a movement. I miss sleeping like that. I missed that kid. Have you ever seen Coneheads? That is how he eats. With such voraciousness.

Hubs and I had the best quality time this weekend (my Love Language). Quiet moments without anyone else around. We haven’t slept in the same bed in over half a year. I had forgotten how incredible it feels to sleep next to someone (my someone). Every piece of skin touches; bodies intertwined without any space between; breathing in the same air; warmth passed back and forth. Course we haven’t slept like that for so much longer than half a year. I cherished every moment. We talked, really talked even if just for brief seconds. He has this incredible smile that lights up his face, exaggerates his dimple and he swaggers when he is really happy. He is sexy and fun.

I honestly have no idea what will happen. I don’t really care. Right now, I am enjoying every sweet moment God has decided to give us.  Without thought, without worry (most of the time). I am living for right now. And they happen to be in it too.

On Monday I wrote a post about cooking catastrophe.

Last night I had another although not with a casserole dish. I cooked salmon, potatoes, broccoli and corn. While I was putting the salmon in the boiling hot pot on the stove it slipped out of my fingers and sloshed boiling water onto me. I jumped back, but it still caught me. I was in complete shock. My husband stood there and kept asking me if I was okay, but I couldn’t talk. I was so stunned. My husband was quick to flick the salmon off of me and wipe off the hot water. When I came to, I started saying, “It’s hot! It’s hot!” He immediately ran me into the bathroom and started putting cold water on my burns. I got burned on my face by my chin, on my collar bone and on my belly (it went through my shirt). I couldn’t stop the tears. I tried to keep it together so as not to scare the kids, but it was too hard. It just plain hurt.

The entire time we were cleaning me up I kept thinking about the two other times I have been burned.

When I was very young my mother made a pot of coffee. When she poured her cup, the door bell rang. She thought she had put her cup far enough away from me. Somehow I was able to grab the cup and burning hot coffee  poured down my chest. It went through two layers of clothes (since it was winter I had on a turtleneck and sweater).

I was about five (i think) on July 4th. My sister and I were swirling sparklers around in the dark. Writing our names and making flower designs and whatnot. I got too close to myself and burned my belly button.

I held an ice pack on my belly and my neck while we ate dinner. Then after we put Neosporin on all the burns to help heal them.

All through dinner my stepson and niece kept saying, “Are you okay? Man, your face is red. Does it hurt?” Leave it to kids to state the obvious. They keep me humble.

This morning I woke up and thankfully the large red circle had almost completely faded, but I have a small welt on my collarbone and also a few on my belly still. They don’t hurt as badly as they did last night and I am thankful I wear low rise pants otherwise it would have been a long day at work.

See that little hole up there? No, not that corner! And don’t judge me just because I have tons of crap stuffed in there. The one in the top, right corner. It’s about 12″ x 12″.

Izabel has been eying that little square for months now. She wiggles her little head between the closed closet door and the wall, pushes the closet door open and then tries to figure out how to get up there. She leans really far forward, sniffs the air, wiggles her butt and then just as she is about to jump - she loses her nerve.

I am waiting. The day will come when she will eventually go for it. And that is the day I will come home (or be woken up) to all my shit on the floor. As you can see I have quite a bit of stuff stuck up in the back of my closet. Mostly blankets and sheets and bed stuff. It will be an avalanche.

Regardless she is the epitome of curiosity. I bring home bags of groceries and she can’t wait to stick her head in the them and root around. I get a box delivered and she is standing on her back legs with excitement of what it is inside - or maybe it is that she knows she gets to play in the empty box afterwards.

Personally I am torn. Part of me hopes she makes it because otherwise I will have a lot of cleaning to do. And if she makes it, she will be up there all the time. If she doesn’t make it she probably won’t try it again and will forget about it. But that is a long way down, for not making that jump.

I am on break yesterday, hanging out outside talking to one of my coworkers and he tells me,

“I am going to London next week.”

Reeeeeeeeally. “For business or vacation?”

“Kind of business.”

“Kind of. What are you a spy?” I laugh

He laughs. “Have to sign some paperwork.”

“Did someone die?”

“No.”

I honestly cannot remember how we got around to him finally telling me that he plays the stock market. And he is good. So good that he doesn’t have to work. He didn’t work for awhile (about a year or so), but didn’t like all the free time. Didn’t know what to do with himself.

Hmmmm, I don’t think I would have that problem.

You want to know what my first question was the moment I pulled my jaw off the floor and put my eyes back in their sockets was, “What the hell are you doing here?”

Now maybe I am totally guilable. I am a bit. This guy could be pulling my chain. He could be totally lying. There are all kinds of people at the place I work. But this guy has seemed nerdy from the moment I met him. And I mean that in the nicest way. I swear. I would not have pegged anyone to work where I work if they didn’t have too. I mean would you?

My next question will be, “What the hell can you teach me?”

So what would you do if you didn’t have to work? Would you work anyway?

I had just moved out of my parent’s house for like the fourth or fifth time. Honestly, I don’t really know, they kind of blend together. Poor things, probably can’t figure out if they did something right or wrong. Kid just won’t move away for good.

Anyway, I was dying for some real food. Which meant anything that wasn’t served out of a drive thru window. So I went to the grocery store. I wandered the aisles til I found something I could cook. Something that looked like real food. A real meal. Something maybe my mother would have made - only better.

I went home, opened the box (oh yeah a box), poured in all the contents and mixed. I turned on the oven and when it had preheated I put in the casserole dish. About twenty minutes later my apartment smelled like heaven. I could not wait. My mouth was watering.

Then all of a sudden I hear this loud noise. I walk around the apartment trying to figure out what it was. When I peek in the oven I see all the food in the casserole dish on the floor of the oven. Meaning it wasn’t in the dish anymore. The casserole dish had apparently gotten a crack in it during one of my last moves. It cracked down the middle during the high heat. I sat on the vinyl kitchen floor and cried, big sobbing tears. I called my mother and cried to her.

But no matter what, I would have to clean up the mess.
Instead of my wonderful home cooked meal, I ended up throwing out the food and cleaning for hours.

And I am guess, I probably went through a drive-thru for dinner that night.

Now that I think about it. I don’t know that I have very good luck with ovens. My mother made this incredible-we-haven’t-tried-this-before casserole dish. When the timer went off, she asked me to rotate it in the oven. Heaven only knows why she asked me. I must have looked somewhat non-klutzy at the moment. The casserole dish ended up wabbling in my hands and, of course, flipped into the oven top down. So thankfully I was well prepared for cleaning out my new apartment oven.

I still to this day have not replaced the casserole dish and to this day, I haven’t cleaned out anymore ovens either.

I think it is a sign.

A cooking catastrophe Monday Writing Prompt courtesy of Absolutely Bananas.

In a very playful mood last night, Tuesday jumped right into the board game box and decided to not let me take out money, She rewarded me with a nice, loving bite. Soft and insistent. She would not be ignored. She was going to get me to play with her if it killed her. Can you tell she wants me to mess with her?

Gives a new meaning to the game, Catopoly.

Today at work I swear it felt like I was in New York. The energy, the excitement. It was all a buzz. Every time I had to step out into the aisles, I felt like I needed to wait for n opening and then I felt carried along with the crowd of people.

It is officially Back to School. The kids and families were out in droves! It was complete and utter chaos, but I loved every minute of it! I can not wait for the holidays. Working in a very large store is so different and I can not wait. I will be buying my Christmas tree there as well! (WOOT!) Each family had at least an overflowing cart and the kids were leading the parent’s around picking out all this cool new stuff - backpacks, clothes, shoes, etc. Crazy!

I can not get over how much fun it was. I have worked in retail for over a decade, but this atmosphere is so different. Every one else has been warning me that the last quarter is always hell because of the holiday traffic, but I feed off of it. I love the excitement and the rush of chaos. There is this incredible electricity flowing through the air.

The people are in good spirits because they are buying gifts for others and themselves (well, majority of people anyway). There is always a million things I could sell them and they are happy to oblige. I get to talk up our clothes (because I love clothes) and I get to watch people walk around in stuff I was thinking of buying, but hadn’t tried it on yet. It is like having my own modeling show. Only I am not the model, other people are.

Completely unrelated -

I started a new page 101 things to do in 1001 days. A new project. So take a spin over there and give me some suggestions of things to add to my list or tell me what you would do or even start your own list, but make sure to leave me your link so I can visit yours as well. And if you happen to know when 1001 days is from Sept 1st please let me know I would be extremely happy for the assistance.

FYI: Please do not go into a store ask a sales person to help you and then proceed to call someone on your cell phone, talk to them for five minutes while I stand there and look at you WAITING to help you! I had a lady do that to me today. It was so rude. What is with people sometimes? I wanted to hang up her phone and say, Now where were we?

Have you ever had Gelato? I was driving home today from work and all of sudden had this craving for ice cream. The only place that was close to where I currently was (sitting at a stoplight about two minutes from home) was a Gelato shop. I had never been in, but as my mouth was watering I figured I would give it a try. It was so YUMMY!! Considering I was at work last night til 10pm and then back again at 6am, I felt I deserved a treat. Oh and did I mention I go back tomorrow morning at 4am? My god, I will be at work before my paper is delivered! I think I just got the vapors. (snicker) Anyway, I was so excited that they weren’t too busy that I sampled like five flavors and they didn’t care at all. And when they were ringing me up (aka: I already had my gelato in hand) I asked for a try of the vanilla bean - oh, so good! Each one was its own delectable burst in my mouth. Very sweet and soft. I haven’t really been pleased with how hard the standard ice cream is lately. It’s like eating snow - and yes I have eaten snow, just not the yellow kind. I ended up getting two flavors - Amaretto (which is vanilla, cherries and chocolate) and chocolate chip (I have not idea what they heck they called the chocolate chip, some foreign name that I can’t pronounce (or spell). Did I mention it was really, really good? I plan on going back there. Oh and I have leftovers. YUM!

Okay I have been thinking about buying some plastic containers to hold my cereal. Why, you ask? Because I just bought the mother load of cereal boxes. And I love cereal so much I am afraid they will go stale before I can eat them all.

And in all this in depth thinking about cereal, my question is why else do people put their cereal in containers in the first place?

Better storage? No mess, no muss? It fits on the shelf better?

To fool your neighbors? I mean do you really want the neighbor’s kid coming over and complaining that Heidi’s kid gets to eat the really, really, really sugary cereal and why can’t we? (i do like to be the cool parent)

Oh yes, people I like the good stuff. The stuff with all the sugar. Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, Froot Loops, Cocoa Krispies, Pops - the list goes on. I don’t do generic. Let me repeat that because this would be blasphemy in my house - we do not eat the generic cereals. Ever. I grew up on the kinds of cereal that puts hair on your chest (which I coincidentally shave off because it isn’t so attractive on women). Thank you mom and dad for giving me the best. Only the $5 boxes of cereal would do for me and my sister. And now that we are in a recession, still it is only the $5 boxes that are privileged enough to sit on my shelf. Who needs steak and potatoes when we can have a nice hearty bowl of cereal and milk?

I have learned that shopping at Target for my cereals can cut my grocery bill down a bit because their $5 boxes are really closer to $3 and sometimes, if I am lucky, $2. Lately, they have been selling the massive boxes with two bags of cereal in them for a meer $5. Too good to pass up. So I keep buying them. And I am wondering where exactly I should be storing them.

(life really is circular isn’t it?)

Which brings me back to my original question - why do people store their cereal in plastic containers?

I can tellyou that it would be a very nice thing to grab a box of cereal and not open the box only to find that the last person (big or small - not to name any names) did not or does not know how to fold over, roll down the cereal bag, closing the box as to prevent staleness. It would be nice to maybe buy the generic for my stepson, but that really wouldn’t be fair now would it? Course no one said anything about playing fair. It’s parenting for pity’s sake.

I did hear a really awesome mommy tip about taking all your leftover cereal pieces and putting them in one bag which provides for a very nice snack mix. Sin milk.

Now if I could only figure out how to leave the milk out of the fridge and it not going warm, we would be on track. Course I am not the one who leaves the milk out of the fridge either.

Motherhood Uncensored has so graciously started putting out the word to help out the bloggy rececssion we got going on here. I personally think it is because you are all getting lazy laying by the pool with your Margarita or maybe it is a Pina Colada. Kids, what kids? You are just not making the quality time needed to visit other blogs. Or maybe I am just a little bitchy. It is a recession, you know!

I would like to thank Mrs Mogul for putting this oh so missed song in my head simply from her ever so elegant title about Pumping it up! Ignore the girl in the you tube music video thing though, weird.

Instructions via Motherhood Uncencored -

If you feel like hopping on the bandwagon (c’mon, it’s fun and I’m a really great driver), then all you need to do is grab a button — see below, slap it on your blog, and [beg, plead] ask your readers to click through on their feed readers or blogrolls and do the same within a post.

Go visit her blog for all the other awesome info!

You could probably write a letter to the president if you had time, about this incredibly depressing Bloggy Recession. Or you could just stop by and visit some really fun and interesting blogs. Feel free to leave a comment or just filter trough their other posts as well. Let’s give a little bloggy love and support to all our fellow bloggies in the blogging community. (wow that was pretty good, the word blog three time in one sentence) Oh and don’t forget to pick up one of these ultra cool buttons! Everyone is doing it!

there that should be just the right amount of peer pressure .  .  . 

Yes, I saw The Dark Knight movie. And I seriously love that quote, very profound.

Yes, it was good. I think Christian Bale is one of the best Batman since Keaton (and he was my fav). Heath Ledger (as my husband said) was the perfect Joker, couldn’t have portrayed him better (not a direct quote though). Detective Gordon was probably the best role in the movie for me. I thought he did an awesome job being human, but the proverbial hero (behind Batman that is). A great equal of good and bad. I wasn’t a big fan of Rachel Dawes, but she really wasn’t in this movie all that much anyway. I am not going to say much more as I don’t want to give anything away.

The special effects were incredible. A classic blockbuster movie - lots of shit getting blown up, people dying, people being saved, cries heard round the world. Great for the theater. Batman had just the right amount of cool new gadgets. I wish they had made it a bit less scary as my 10 year old stepson would love this one. I am sure eventually he will see it somewhere. As all boys do.

Yes, it was long. Oh so very long. About an hour too long to be exact. Every time I thought “This is it! This is the end,” it would continue for another thirty minutes. It was like they could not decide to make another movie, but rather put two or three movies in one. Am I just getting old? Maybe that is just because I am not a die hard Batman fan or something.

Oh and the idiotic guy and girl who sat next to us in the theater not only needed to get a room, but SHUT UP! because hello, it is a movie and you don’t talk in movies. And after you have been shushed way too many times by more than a few people, SHUT UP! So annoying!